Kids Dish

I’m not Irish and I’m not a huge fan of typical St. Paddy’s day fare. Corned Beef and cabbage doesn’t really appeal to me, soda bread isn’t particularly exciting, and as I mentioned yesterday dyed green foods aren’t my cup of tea.

Irish potatoes may be the only St. Patrick’s day food I really love and I’m not sure why. They’re sort of sickly sweet and if you want to get technical they’re pretty much cream cheese frosting with coconut rolled in some cinnamon. I’m not generally a huge fan of cinnamon either, but for this candy the cinnamon really helps cut the sweet. Made with cream cheese, butter and sugar, they’re fattening and addictive and I’m sad to say that since no one offered my pregnant self any this year I may have to make my own. Luckily, aside from the time it takes to chill the ingredients, it’s a very simple recipe

Irish Potato Candy
· 1/4 cup butter, softened
· 1/2 (8 ounce) package cream cheese
· 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
· 4 cups confectioners’ sugar
· 2 1/2 cups flaked coconut
· 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon

DIRECTIONS
In a medium bowl, beat the butter and cream cheese together until smooth. Add the vanilla and confectioners’ sugar; beat until smooth. Using your hands if necessary, mix in the coconut. Chill for about half an hour. Roll into balls or potato shapes and chill for another 15 to 30 minutes until firm. Roll in the cinnamon. Place onto a cookie sheet and chill to set. If desired, roll potatoes in cinnamon again for darker color.

I am not usually a fan of pork roasts. I’ve only ever had them with my in-laws, and honestly the majority of the roasts I’ve had their have been cooked for an hour or two too long, making excessive quantities of gravy a necessity. But for some reason I bought a pork roast from my pastured meats buying club on a whim. I think I imagined that I’d make pulled pork for sandwiches from it, but after the roast sat in my freezer for a few months and I looked up some recipes I realized that the boneless pork butt roast was too small, I don’t have a smoker, and it’s not the perfect cut of meat anyway. So it was back to Mr. Google for some recipe ideas.

An Epicurious recipe for Garlic-Roasted Pork Shoulder looked sublime, but it called for a bone-in pork shoulder which I just didn’t have. A recipe from Tyler Florence at the Food Network for Roasted Pork Shoulder seemed to be similar, but for some reason it just didn’t look quite right. So I split the difference. I prepared the roast using the method from the Epicurious recipe and cooked it according to the Tyler Florence recipe. It was superb.

The recipe calls for several hours of marination so I let it sit overnight, but popped it in the oven a bit too late the next day. We ended up eating a quick dinner of pasta and veggies while the roast cooked. When I removed it from the oven, the skin was brown and crisp. I was sorry we’d eaten. The following day I sliced the meat and reheated it in a gravy made from pan juices. My in-laws joined us for dinner and the meat was so tender, so flavorful, they assumed they were eating beef, not pork, until I told them otherwise. My father-in-law who claims to hate garlic ate several servings, not even noticing the garlic paste clinging to the meat.

If I get my hands on a bone-in pork roast I’ll be sure to follow the New York Times recipe exactly (and eat the meat immediately), but for boneless, the compromise worked well. This cheap cut of meat makes an incredible meal.

Garlic Roasted Boneless Pork Shoulder
adapted from the two recipes linked above

1 head garlic, cloves peeled
2 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon kosher salt, divided
1 1/2 tablespoons dried oregano
2 tablespoons distilled white vinegar
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 3-4 pound boneless pork shoulder with skin

Mash garlic to a paste with 2 tablespoons kosher salt using a mortar and pestle or side of a large heavy knife, then stir in oregano, vinegar, lemon juice, and 1 tablespoon pepper.

Pat pork dry. Using a small sharp knife, cut a wide pocket at large end of roast to separate skin from fat, leaving skin attached at sides and stopping before roast narrows to bone.

Make 1-inch-deep slits in pork under skin and on all meaty sides, twisting knife slightly to widen openings, then push some of garlic mixture into slits with your fingers. Rub any remaining garlic mixture over roast (not skin). Wipe skin clean, then rub with remaining teaspoon kosher salt (to help it crisp). Transfer pork to a glass or ceramic shallow dish and marinate, covered and chilled, at least 8 hours.

Put pork, skin side up, on a rack in a flameproof roasting pan, discarding marinade, and bring to room temperature, about 1 hour. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Roast the pork for 3 hours, uncovered, until the skin is crispy-brown. Let the meat rest on a cutting board for 10 minutes before slicing. Meanwhile, pour pan juices through a sieve into a fat separator or bowl and discard fat. Add 3/4 cup water to roasting pan and deglaze by boiling over medium-high heat (straddle 2 burners if necessary), scraping up brown bits, 1 minute, then add to pan juices along with enough water to bring total to 1 1/2 cups. Serve meat with pan juices.

When I was young and idealistic I swore I’d never fall into the consumerist, commercial trap of licensed character toys for my child. I still have not succumbed to the temptation, and though I’ve bought him a few Curious George books, all other licensed character items have come from others. I won’t buy them, but we borrow videos and books from the library feeding his licensed character addiction. Worse, I’ve actually suggested exactly which licensed character toys, namely Thomas the Tank Engine, to purchase for my little train-a-holic.

For his birthday I went to the next level. Rather than serving a regular birthday cake I borrowed a Thomas the Tank Engine cake pan from a friend. It was an arduous, painful process, but I colored two batches of frosting, and even made a practice cake in case I screwed up. I will never have a career in cake decorating, but considering my only tools were a small icing spatula, a butter knife, toothpicks, ziploc bags and my fingers, it didn’t come out too badly. The recipe, straight from the pages of Cooks Illustrated, was superb.

Yellow Layer Cake
from Cook’s Illustrated

* Move oven rack to the middle of the oven, and preheat to 350°.
* Grease two 9â€? round cake pans and line bottoms with parchment paper. Dust pans with flour. (I was using one Thomas shaped pan so I did not line it with parchment fearing I’d lose the details necessary for proper frosting.
* Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and 1 ½ cups sugar in a large bowl.
* In a separate bowl, mix together melted butter, buttermilk, oil, vanilla, and egg yolks.
* Beat egg white in a stand mixer small bowl until foamy, about 30 seconds. Then slowly add the remaining ¼ cup sugar to the egg white while beating. Continue to beat until whites hold peaks, but mixture still looks moist.
* Add butter mixture to flour mixture and beat until just incorporated. Gently fold in 1/3 of the egg white mixture, then add the remaining egg white mixture and gently fold in until fully incorporated.
* Divide batter between two pans, tapping filled pans gently on counter to dislodge air bubbles. (I just used the one pan. A sheet pan works too.)
* Bake 20-22 minutes or until done. (Using the oddly shaped pan this took a lot longer- maybe 34 minutes? If you don’t use a standard sized pan check often to avoid over- or under-cooking the cake)
* Cool 10 minutes before removing cakes from pan. Remove cakes from pan, and cool on a cooling rack for 1 ½ hours before frosting.

I just made a standard white frosting so it would dye well. Cooks Illustrated recommends serving this cake with chocolate frosting. Next time I will.

I love macaroni and cheese, especially the real kind. I like the stuff in a box too, especially Annie’s brand, but the real stuff, baked in the oven is superior. I’ve fiddled with a number of recipes over the years and found two that have stuck out. The first is Patti Labelle’s insanely decadent Over the Rainbow Macaroni and Cheese. This stuff is the real deal, the mac and cheese of legend. The recipe calls for a stick of butter, five kinds of cheese, eggs and some seasoning. There’s no milk, no flour, no breadcrumbs. It’s insanely good, but since I’ve become more aware of what I eat, it’s hard to justify buying processed cheese food like Velveeta when other recipes exist. If you don’t have similar qualms, run out for the ingredients right now and bake this mac and cheese. It’s worth every calorie.

If you do have similar issues about strange orange cheeselike substances, skip Patti Labelle’s heart attack in a greased casserole dish, and give this recipe from the New York Times a go. This is also the real deal, pasta and cheese mixed to perfection using a ratio of 2:1 cheese to pasta. I love the recipe because you don’t have to precook the pasta- it cooks perfectly in the oven. I’ve made it several times now and each time people have raved about it. Yesterday I made a double batch for Sam’s birthday party. I got distracted and left it in the oven for 20 minutes too long, alerted to my mistake only by the heavenly smell of cheese wafting through the house. It wasn’t as creamy as it is ordinarily, but the extra 20 minutes produced a nice brown crust all over. Overdone or not, it was still fantastic.

Creamy Macaroni and Cheese

Time: 1 hour 15 minutes

3. Uncover pan, stir gently, sprinkle with reserved cheese and dot with remaining tablespoon butter. Bake, uncovered, 30 minutes more, until browned. Let cool at least 15 minutes before serving.

Here’s the recipe for the Leek and Swiss Chard Tart I wrote about on Monday. It was excellent. I mentioned that I don’t love egg dishes. This one was similar to a quiche, but airier and fluffier. Without using too many ingredients it was rich and flavorful.

You can substitute frozen piecrust for the puff pastry or make your own, but using a frozen puff pastry sheet makes the crust light and crisp. I used spinach in place of the chard because chard was unavailable.

I have one complaint. The tart took forever to cook. Forever. I don’t think it was a problem with my oven since I’ve been baking cookies all week without a problem, but nowhere in the recipe reviews does anyone mention that the cooking time is off. The puff pastry browned and puffed in the time suggested, but the eggs took forty-five minutes, not the suggested fifteen to cook through. I don’t know if I was being overly cautious in not wanting to eat runny eggs because I’m pregnant, or if the runny eggs would have set in the resting time, but at one point I ran everything under the broiler hoping to firm things up quickly. It seemed to work, but when I cut all the way through liquid filling rose to meet me. I stuck the whole mess back in the oven for another ten minutes and it was finally cooked when I took it out. It was surprisingly not overdone.

Assuming your tart behaves better than mine did, this is an easy kid-friendly egg dish. If your kids like scrambled eggs they’ll like this. Call it egg pie if they’re suspicious. It would be great for brunch, but it was a nice dinner too. Serve with a salad or a side of veggies and you’ve got a healthy, complete meal.

Leek and Swiss Chard Tart
1 sheet frozen puff pastry (half of 17.3-ounce package), thawed
2 tablespoons (1/4 stick) butter
3 large leeks (white and pale green parts only), coarsely chopped
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 bunch Swiss chard, ribs removed, leaves chopped (about 2 1/2 cups)
1 1/4 cups whipping cream
3 large eggs
2 large egg yolks
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
Pinch of ground nutmeg

Position rack in bottom third of oven; preheat to 425°F. Whisk cream and next 5 ingredients in large bowl. Mix in cooled leek mixture. Pour filling into crust.

Double posted from Farm to Philly

One of the unfortunate side effects of pregnancy for me is an aversion to most vegetable matter. Ordinarily I cook several vegetable heavy meatless meals a week, but since learning I was pregnant in September we’ve mostly eaten take out pizza, meals involving ground beef, and cheesy pasta dishes. This does not bother my husband at all. My taste for vegetables eventually returned, but my desire to buy and prepare food other than pizza and cookies has been lackluster at best. I used to go out of my way to shop at the farmer’s market in Ardmore every week. Now I’m feeling ambitious if I manage to stop in to the Marketplace at East Falls on our way to the zoo or Smith Playhouse. Our refrigerator has never been so bare. One week we even forgot to get our Meadow Run Farm monthly meat order from the pick up site and sheepishly found it still on the porch the next day. It’s a good thing it’s cold outside.

Yesterday, after eating a cupcake and Utz (local!) pretzels with Bobbi’s (local!) hummus for lunch I figured it was time to cook something that wouldn’t be found on a school cafeteria menu. I knew I had a butternut squash still in the dark cabinet beneath the pantry and decided to use it. I found a recipe for Butternut Squash, Bacon, Rosemary and Phyllo Pizza on Epicurious and scoured the kitchen and freezer in the garage for the rest of the ingredients.

In the freezer I unearthed some bacon from Meadow Run and my rosemary plant is still thriving out back. I didn’t have scallions or red onion, but I had a regular onion that I sautéed in reserved bacon drippings with a clove of garlic from my CSA I found hiding behind the squash. There was half of a package of phyllo dough in the freezer, and to add some greens to the dish (since I had no intention of making anything other than the pizza for dinner) I pulled out some Swiss Chard I’d frozen early in the fall when I couldn’t bring myself to eat it.

I’m pretty good with phyllo so the whole thing took about an hour from start to finish. I wasn’t sure at first, but after my second slice I decided the pizza was delicious. It could have used a bit more rosemary, and the squash puree needed some seasoning other than salt and pepper, but on the whole it was good. Really, I’m a sucker for just about anything made with phyllo dough. (And it was a lot easier to make than the butternut squash and caramelized onion that filled my house with smoke last month.) I would definitely make it again as party appetizer using phyllo cups instead of sheets.

The local ingredients were bacon from Meadow Run Farm, butternut squash, garlic and Swiss chard from Red Earth Farm CSA and rosemary from my backyard.

Kidney beans are a great source of protein and fiber. Named for their kidney shape, they are great in chili. Here’s an easy crock pot recipe you can spice as much or as little as you like. This is also a great recipe for sneaking in vegetables. If you have leftover vegetables you can add them whole, finely chop them, or stick them in the food processor for a few pulses. You can do the same with raw veggies. I often add small pieces of carrots, broccoli and green beans. Sweet potatoes and squash are also good additions.

Crock Pot Chili

Serves 6 to 8.

We were away for the long President’s weekend in New Hampshire with two other couples. My plan was to make some sort of casserole or easily frozen dish to reheat for dinner one night. Bob, however, felt that my suggestions (spanakopita, lasagna) weren’t meaty enough- never mind that my favorite lasagna to make is lasagna Bolognese- so I scrapped the idea and brought nothing but a batch of cranberry muffins, a dozen bagels and cream cheese, fruit and Sam’s favorite snacks.

The two nights we cooked (the third night we had pizza) I ended up making the vegetable dishes and garlic bread to serve along with the pasta and salad. I can’t help but mention that all of the meals prepared over the weekend were most decidedly not meaty, but that’s neither here nor there. We had fettuccine carbonara the first night and baked ziti the second night.

Sam, in typical toddler fashion, preferred to snack on crackers instead of eating dinner. He did eat a ton of bacon on the carbonara night, something he’s never shown interest in before. But in typical Sam fashion he did eat the veggies and lots of them. One night I cooked asparagus, a vegetable we haven’t really eaten since spring. Sam LOVED it.

Asparagus is pretty versatile, but it’s really only in season for a short period of time. The rest of the year it can taste woody and stringy, especially if you’ve been lucky enough to eat it in season. While I learned to prepare it quickly and simply in spring to showcase its flavor, in the winter it benefits from roasting to bring out its sweetness.

Roasted Asparagus

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Lay the asparagus on a rimmed baking sheet in a single layer. Drizzle with olive oil. Shake the baking sheet back and forth so the asparagus is coated. Sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste. Roast for 10 minutes, or until fork tender. You want the asparagus to still have a bit of crunch. Thicker stalks may take a bit longer, thinner stalks will take less time.

Two days ago I started my second batch of the no-knead bread.

Based on suggestions that it would rise better in a smaller vessel I baked it in my smaller cast iron dutch oven instead of my enormous, Le Creuset enameled oven. But even baked in my smaller dutch oven it came out sort of flat. It never seemed to rise. After two hours I moved it upstairs to above the wood stove, hoping the heat would give it some incentive, but after a four hour second rise it never even came close.

Last night it spread out. It definitely expanded and took up more space than it did after being shaped, but never puffed up like it should. I started to troubleshoot. Was the yeast active? I mixed a bit with water and sugar and it started to bubble almost immediately? Was it the wrong kind of yeast? According to the original recipe, no, but according to a follow-up article in the NYT, active dry yeast is fine. Did it stay flat because my house is too cold? My house temperature is between 59-60 degrees most of the time, not the recommended 70 degrees, but the follow-up article does suggest that any temperature is fine. I even added more yeast this time in the hopes that it would make a difference.

The only difference between this attempt and the last failed attempt was that the bread, flat as it was, tasted amazing and had a bread like texture instead of being dense and hard like a rock. It’s seriously delicious. It may be flat as a pancake, but at 11 pm, when I finally took it out of the oven after letting it “rise” for an additional 2 hours, we had to stop ourselves from eating the whole thing right then and there.

I don’t know what I’m doing wrong. Based on the videos there’s nothing wrong with my technique. I have no problems making yeast breads ordinarily, but this one just seems to elude me. Give it a shot and let me know how you make out.

Since I started feeling sort of human again I’ve been in the mood for some Thai Red Curry. There’s something comforting about the sweet/hot combination and the Thai spices seem to clear the sinuses right up.

I wanted to make it on Saturday night but found we only had crème of coconut in the cupboard instead of plain coconut milk. This depressed me on more than one front. First of all, I wanted me some curry. Secondly, I was reminded of all of the pina coladas I can’t drink because I’m pregnant. Sadly, I resigned myself to a dinner of matzo ball soup.

Yesterday we picked up a few cans of coconut milk at the market so we were ready to go. But alas, last night we went to my in-laws’ house for a meal I thankfully didn’t have to cook. Instead of curry I ate a large meal of salty foods and gravy. It was comforting in its own way, but it wasn’t the Thai curry I wanted.

Tonight was the night. I had cooked chicken ready to go, green beans that needed to be used, fish sauce and brown sugar aplenty, coconut milk in stock, bottled lime juice, a mango, canned pineapple and fresh Thai basil. I opened the fridge to take out the last necessary ingredient, the red curry paste and sadly found a jar of green curry paste in its place.

I like green curries too, but it just wasn’t what I wanted. There’s no knowing if either of the supermarkets within a mile of my house carry red curry paste for sure so rather than run out and risk further frustration and disappointment I decided to go for it and make the green curry instead. It was good. Not what I was hoping for, but it was good. Tomorrow the leftovers will still be good and I’ll be glad that I made it. But the can of coconut milk remaining in the cupboard is ear marked for red curry. No substitutions.

Red Thai Curry

2 cans coconut milk (unsweetened, not coconut creme!)
2 tablespoons prepared red curry paste
2 tablespoon fish sauce
2 tablespoon brown sugar
1/2 cup of fresh cilantro or basil
juice of 1 lime
1/2 cup unsalted roasted peanuts (optional)

1 cup or more of vegetables of your choice (green beans, snow peas, bell peppers, peas, broccoli, and mushrooms all work well)
Chicken/meat/tofu/fish

Add 1 cup of coconut milk to a large dutch oven and whisk together with the curry paste until most of the liquid evaporates, about 5 minutes. Whisk in the rest of the coconut milk with the fish sauce and brown sugar and cook about 5 minutes more. Add whatever veggies, fruits, and meats you’d like and cook through. Remove the pot from the heat and mix in the lime juice and herbs. Serve over rice and top with peanuts.

Sam and I are both suffering through a virus right now. Our symptoms include runny noses, hurty coughs, and low (but high enough make us feel like crap fevers. The other day, after not eating much of anything for more than 24 hours I decided to suck it up and make some chicken soup.

I used to save every last bit of vegetable I didn’t feel like eating. That half of an onion I’d forgotten in the fridge, the sprouting garlic cloves, the wrinkled carrots long past their prime, the broccoli stalks Bob turns his nose up at, and the tips of green beans all made their way into freezer bags which I’d save to make stock with. Depending on the other contents of the freezer- if I’d been saving chicken parts as well- I’d use the bags to make either veggie stock or chicken stock.

Since I started composting over the summer the contents of my freezer have reduced accordingly. There are far fewer veggies making their way into the freezer, which sadly results in less flavorful stock. To make up the difference, I decided to give the bouquet garni a bit of an Asian twist. I threw in a hunk of ginger, a hot pepper, some whole cloves, allspice and mustard seed.
I used the general recipe I posted a while ago, only instead of a whole chicken I used chicken carcasses, backs, necks and wings I’ve been saving the past few months and threw in a whole chicken breast in the last forty minutes of cooking. I thought about adding rice noodles, but thinking of my sick little boy I threw in some regular noodles that he’s more used to instead. Honestly, I couldn’t taste a thing. But Sam loved it and Bob seemed to enjoy it too.

If you don’t already and you like to reduce, reuse and recycle, give the stock bag a try. You’ll use vegetables and/or chicken parts that would otherwise go to waste, and you’ll always have something on hand to make a big pot of soup with when you just don’t feel like eating anything else.

Since I’m Jewish my knowledge of Christian religious traditions is rather limited. I remember every year I’d see people with dirty foreheads and I never really made the Ash Wednesday connection until I was in high school. I remember smacking myself in the forehead and thinking, “Duh,” when I figured that one out.

Today, the day before Lent begins, is Fastnacht Day, a German tradition that’s also celebrated not too far from me in Pennsylvania Dutch Country. I’d never heard of Fastnacht Day, until a few local bloggers, wrote about the tradition and linked to the wikipedia article.

Jennie wrote:

But most importantly, it’s Fat Tuesday here in Pennsylvania, which means any god-fearing life-long resident with a German heritage is making a batch of oh-so-bad-for-you-but-unnervingly-delicious fried fauschnauts (the counterpart to pancakes and doughnuts in other parts of the world that observe “Shrove� Tuesday). When I was growing up in the rural heart of Pennsylvania, my school actually celebrated Fauschnaut Day by serving homemade fauschnauts at lunch. To this day I am baffled by how a cafeteria renowned for its inedible cuisine was able to churn out these little balls of heaven once a year. My mom also made homemade fauschnauts during much of my childhood, and I adored swiping them straight out of the cinnamon sugar mixture while they were still piping hot. Ah, the memories…

A quick recipe search came up with several different versions of the Fat Tuesday treat but the one I’m going to share comes from Alice Faust, a Pennsylvania native. This recipe was originally printed in Dig It magazine. It’s one of three recipes printed and this one seems like it would be the best dipped in butter and cinnamon sugar.

Alice Faust’s Family Recipe #2: Fashnachts with Yeast

2 cups scalded milk
½ cup lard
1 cup mashed potatoes
2 teaspoons salt
¾ cup sugar
2 well beaten eggs
1 package yeast
7 cups flour, approximately

Scald milk and add mashed potatoes, sugar, salt, and lard. Cool until lukewarm. Add eggs. Add yeast and enough flour to make a soft dough. Knead well and place in a greased bowl. Cover with a cloth and let rise about 1 ½ hours. Roll ¼ in thick on a
floured board. Place on a cloth and let rise until doubled in size and fry in hot fat.

Getting back to a few things from last week, the bread recipe was a disaster. It did not rise. Maybe my yeast was dead? Maybe my kitchen was too cold? Perhaps I just screwed up the very simple recipe somehow? I will try again because I’m a glutton for punishment. I’ll let you know if round two is any better.

As for the Arroz Con Pollo, it was great. I ended up throwing in a ham steak from my freezer instead of the chorizo sausage and it worked out really well. Honestly, I don’t particularly care for ham. I don’t mind most pork products, but ham just tastes kind of gross to me. In this recipe I didn’t mind it, and Sam who’s still not much of a meat eater ate it too.

Arroz Con Pollo

*Check the instructions on the rice package for the proportions of liquid to rice. They can range from 1:1 to 2:1. If your rice calls for 2 cups of water for every cup of rice, then for this recipe, use 4 cups of stock for 2 cups of rice.

Remove from heat and let stand, covered, 5 minutes.

I like baking bread but I’m definitely not a purist. I know that in order to be good at baking bread I should be familiar with the various stages of dough and gluten by touch, but I just don’t have the patience. I love the smell of freshly baked bread and I love the yeasty smell while I wait for it to rise, but I don’t find the act of kneading particularly therapeutic so I use my Kitchenaid mixer instead.

The problem with using the mixer (and the food processor which is even more frightening and dangerous) is that Sam alternately loves it and is afraid of it. He wants to turn it on and off and on and off and on and off then runs from it if it’s turned on too quickly. I don’t want him to get too comfortable with it, because the dangers and mess potential far outweigh the benefits.

Sure I could stick to quick breads like biscuits, but what’s the fun in that. Instead I’m going to give no-knead bread a shot. A recipe published not too long ago in the New York Times claims to produce a perfect loaf of bread with no kneading. The secret is a long, overnight rise. According to the NYT, what makes the “process revolutionary is the resulting combination of great crumb, lightness, incredible flavor — long fermentation gives you that — and an enviable, crackling crust, the feature of bread that most frequently separates the amateurs from the pros.�

Sounds good to me. I don’t have the right size cast iron dutch oven required for baking but I’m going to give the recipe a go anyway. I’ll let you know how it turns out.

The jícama (pronounced hee-ka-ma) is a South American vegetable, also called the Mexican potato. It’s not pretty, but the taste is surprisingly sweet. It’s similar in texture to a water chestnut, but sliced raw it tastes kind of like an apple or pear. You can do a lot with a jícama, but they’re best served raw with dip or in salads. Since it hails from Latin America it pairs well with other staples from the region, like black beans and corn. Sliced raw, it’s great for scooping guacamole.

Or you can use jícama in a dip and serve it with crudités. Here’s quick recipe for jícama salsa. Serve it with jícama slices, other sliced veggies and veggie batons, and tortilla chips. You can use a less intense pepper if your kids don’t like things too spicy, or use the spicy pepper but remove the seeds to lower the hot-factor.

1/2 small pineapple
a 1/2-pound piece jícama
3 ounces dried apricots (about 1/3 cup)
1 small red onion
1/2 cup packed fresh cilantro sprigs
1/2 fresh habanero or Scotch bonnet chile

Peel pineapple and cut enough into 1/4-inch dice to measure 1 3/4 cups. (You can use canned pineapple, just make certain to drain it or your salsa will be very soggy.) Peel jícama and cut into 1/4-inch dice. Coarsely chop apricots and chop enough onion to measure 3/4 cup. Finely chop cilantro and, wearing rubber gloves, finely chop chile with seeds. In a bowl toss together all ingredients and season with salt. Salsa may be made 6 hours ahead and chilled, covered.