A Sustainable Kitchen brings people together to learn, share, innovate and discuss sustainable strategies for everyday life. Welcome to the table!

Thursday, February 28, 2013

It's Chowder Time

10 CHEFS, 10 LOCAL FISHERMAN, THE FRESHEST SUSTAINABLY CAUGHT SEAFOOD, YOU PICK THE WINNER.....

Come visit ASK at the sustainability table. 
This time we are literally "bringing good ideas to the table". 

Joining us will be:
 Edible Westside with current and back issues of the magazine
 Alex Weiser, sustainable farmer extraordinaire, from Weiser Family Farms
 SEE-LA (Sustainable Economic Enterprises) with the latest farmers market news
Burkhard Organics will be sampling their amazing organic navel oranges 
U.S. Green Building Council - LA Chapter with information on the LEED Platinum rated building right on the Aquarium's grounds.

So join us for a delicious afternoon and support Seafood For The Future!



Tuesday, February 26, 2013

A Sneak Peak At the Renovation Project at Food Forward


The Fruitmobile transports volunteers and the fruit they have gleaned to redistribute to over 40,000 hungry Angelenos per month !

A new intern station ! Check out the repurposed fruit picker that is now a lighting element.


Happy volunteers !

Taking advantage of daylighting, reclaimed wood, and a pop of color.

Tuesday, February 19, 2013

Farmers Market Recipe: Heart Healthy Pesto Baked Turbot


from Contributing Food Editor, Katheryne Phillips
In the spirit of love and Valentine's Day, this recipe is not only a great idea for a romantic dinner for two, but it's super heart healthy as well.
I’m super excited to share this recipe with all of you, because it includes one of my favorite fishes, Turbot. Most people don’t even know about this delicious flat fish. It's firm, yet delicate, with an extremely buttery taste. I would compare it to Sea bass in texture and taste, but it's less than ½ the price per pound. That makes this recipe not only good for your heart, but good for your wallet too. There are a lot of steps to this dinner, but they are easy steps, and so worth the outcome.

Pesto baked Turbot with leeks and roasted tomatoes, rainbow quinoa, and parmesan romanesco.
2 6-8oz fillets of turbot skin off
2/3 cup rainbow quinoa
1 1/3 organic chicken stock
6 crimini mushrooms chopped
2 leeks chopped and soaked clean
Handful of cherry or grape tomatoes
1 head of romanesco (about 1lb)
¼ cup good quality fresh cello grated parmesan
1 shallot diced
2 cloves of garlic (smashed and diced)
1 cup of fresh basil leaves
1 cup fresh spinach leaves
Zest of one lemon
Juice of one lemon
Teaspoon of dried oregano
Teaspoon paprika
Olive oil
1 sauce pan
Pot with lid
Tinfoil lined baking sheet.
Oven safe glass or casserole baking dish

First step is the quinoa because it will take the most amount of time.
Quinoa: Begin by toasted the quinoa in a hot pan. Toast over med-hi heat for about 3-4 minutes or until you can smell the grain actually toasting. To prevent burning the quinoa, consistently swirl the grain around the pan. Once it’s toasted, set it aside.
Heat your chicken broth in a small pot with a lid until its boiling. Add a pinch of salt, and then toss in your toasted quinoa. Put the lid on the pot, and simmer for about fifteen minutes at low heat.
Now add your chopped shallots to a hot pan and sauté with a tablespoon of olive oil until they start to soften, add your chopped mushrooms, (more oil if needed) garlic, dried oregano, and sauté for another 3 minutes. Add a pinch of salt and cook for another minute. Once all of your veggies look soft remove from the heat.
If the quinoa has absorbed all of the liquid in its pot, remove it from the heat, and mix in the mushrooms and shallot mixture. Lightly stir all together. If you’d like to keep the quinoa warm while the fish bakes, put all of it back into your pan, turn heat to lowest setting, cover with a lid and let sit until dinner is ready. You may want to add a bit more broth at the end of this step if it gets dry.
Fish: Pre-heat your oven to 375F.
Put all of your basil, spinach, chopped garlic, lemon juice and a 1/3 cup of olive oil in to a food processor and blend together. Add salt and pepper to taste.
In a small bowl toss your tomatoes with olive oil and salt.
Heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a large sauce pan. Add your chopped and cleaned leeks, and a pinch of salt.  Sweat over med high heat for about 8 minutes or until the leeks have softened and turned opaque in color. 
Once the leeks become soft cover the bottom of your baking dish with them, this will create a soft bed for the fish to bake in.
Next place your Turbot fillets in the baking dish. Top the turbot with a heaping pile of pesto, and arrange your small tomatoes around the fish. Bake at 375 for 20 minutes. The fish will be flaky in texture when it’s done. After 20 minutes, remove the fish from the oven and cover it with tin foil. Set it aside and turn your oven up to broil.
In a mixing bowl, toss 3 tablespoons of olive oil, paprika, lemon zest, parmesan and a pinch of salt and pepper. Take the romanesco florets off of its core by cutting around the stem in a circular motion.  Once they are all free toss them in the olive oil, parmesan mix and lay them on your tin foil lined baking sheet. Place them in to the broiler for 6-8 minutes. Keep an eye on the florets, making sure they don’t burn while they broil. They should get soft and somewhat browned on all of their edges. The toasted parmesan should give them a bit of a crunch.
Now all you have to do is serve and enjoy the fruits or in this case fish of your labor.
This is a recipe by Katheryne Phillips of KatheryneCooks.com



Thursday, February 7, 2013

Profile: Red Bread



Who is the Founder of Red Bread?


My name is Rose Lawrence.  I am the founder and fermenter behind Red Bread. Previously I worked for international human rights law firms, education based NGOs, the U.S. Department of State, an architecture firm, and traveled the world performing as an actor. I have always been captivated by food and its significance in community and culture. I am committed to understanding the science, art, and magic of real food treated with care. I am a passionate baker, Master Food Preserver, Juris Doctor and am actively involved with food justice issues.
 

What is Red Bread?

Along with my husband we run Red Bread a Slow Food eGrocer.  Red Bread was launched in January of 2012 to bring whole, locally sourced, natural and artisanal food to the westside of Los Angeles. Wild Yeasted Sourdough breads and pastries were our first offering and remain at the heart of the eGrocer. We believe that bread should be nutritional and delicious. All it requires is good ingredients, care and time. We extend that belief to all our foods, constantly striving to bring the fields to your door.  Currently, you can pick up Red Bread at the SMFM on Wednesdays from 8am-1pm or have it delivered to your door on Sunday.  We will be opening a market/cafe at 13322 Washington Blvd 90066 in late spring, serving Breakfast, Lunch and Tea.


How does sustainability tie in with Red Bread?

In founding Red Bread, sustainability and our environmental impact at all levels was important to us. We begin with ingredients sourced from farmers utilizing organic practices and a high level of care for the food they produce. In our kitchen, we strive for zero waste; using every available part of an ingredient, preserving and fermenting our own pantry and vermicomposting whatever remains into our garden. The food crafted in our kitchen arrives at your door in compostable and recyclable packaging on one of our electric cargo bikes. Delivering by electric bike ensures Red Bread has a low carbon food print. Purveyors we feature in the eGrocer share many of the same values.  Additionally, 5% of all sales are donated to the LA Food Bank.

We believe all of these commitments, to our customers, to our food, to our packaging are necessary.  It is of the utmost importance that we understand and begin to think in systems.  Knowing our place in relation to the greater whole, our community, and acting always to add value ensures true sustainability.

What are the challenges ? 


It can be difficult when you are first starting out to locate all the purveyors you may need to stick to your values however, they are out there.  More of a challenge has been the perception that sustainability is a passing trend or marketing gimmick.  Always hoping to educate, we find ourselves talking with the public to enlighten as to why sustainable is not only admirable but the only real option we have in light of the growing burden on the farmer and the population boom.  This is specific to the food industry, but it is a new mindset we must adopt for the future in all endeavors.
 

Who inspires you? Do you have a sustainable super hero?

Johnny Appleseed for his generosity towards others and his conservationist efforts, for the land and animals.  The American Legend feels about apples much the same as we feel about bread, their worth goes far beyond sustenance.  Sandor Katz is my contemporary hero and an endless inspiration for preservation and sustainability in the kitchen.

Tuesday, February 5, 2013

Spiny Lobster Demo Pics & Recipe


from our Food Editor, Katheryne Phillips
Glutonous amounts of lobster meat, duck fat, matsutake mushrooms, locally grown greens, white wine and a charismatic chef that’s about to show me what to do with all of it.  That’s what went down this week at our Surfas Culver City demo. A Sustainable Kitchen teamed up with Kim Thompson from Seafood for the Future, Edible Westside, and Chef Ray Garcia of FIG, Hotel Fairmont, for a demo that highlighted the beautiful, and sustainable California native spiny lobster.
Chef Ray Garcia and his team did a great job of showing the huge audience how to break down and cook the somewhat intimidating, hence its name, spiny lobster.  The Chef executed an amazing salad combining elegant, fresh, and local ingredients to create a beautiful plate layered with bright colors and rich flavors. While constructing his masterpiece, Chef Ray Garcia explained everything he was doing step by step, all while taking questions from the audience. He was awesome!
Not only did the audience get a great cooking tutorial, a lavish meal with wine, but they also got a quick lesson on the California spiny lobster and sustainable fishing from Kim Thompson.
Did I mention that all of this was FREE!

If you’d like to try to remake this meal yourself most of the ingredients are available at Surfas Culver City, Santa Monica Farmers Market, and Santa Monica Seafood.
Chef Ray Garcia’s recipe is as follows
Grilled Lobster:
2 California spiny lobster
1 in of ginger
1 clove garlic minced
The juice of ½ lemon
4 tablespoons olive oil

To Prepare:
Bring a large pot to a boil. Drop lobsters into pot, cook for 3 full minutes. Using large tongs, remove lobsters from the pot. When cool enough to handle remove tails with a firm twist and then cut the underside of the tails down the center, lengthwise.
Lobster Salad
2 California spiny lobster tails seasoned, cooked and grilled
5 Matsutake mushrooms
1 tablespoon duck fat
1 teaspoon aged soy sauce
2 pink lady apples
3 celery stalks with leaves
2 oz extra virgin olive oil
1 oz fresh squeezed lemon juice
8 oz chestnuts
Slice mushrooms around 1/8 thick, rub lightly with oil and season with salt and pepper

To Prepare:
·       Slice mushrooms around 1/8 thick on a mandolin. Rub lightly with oil, season with salt and pepper and grill.
·       Remove from the grill and place in a shallow baking dish. Melt duck fat and add to dish with aged soy
·       Cover with foil and bake in a 300 degree oven until soft. Around 25 minutes
·       Once cooked, uncover and allow to cool to room temperature
·       Put chestnuts in a pressure cooker with just enough water to cover. Cook until soft. Once cool enough to handle puree with a little bit of cooking liquid. As the blender is running, drizzle in some olive oil, and then blend until smooth
·       Season with salt and pepper
·       Slice the apples to thin disks using mandolin. Cut assorted sizes of celery and pick the celery leaves from the stalks
·       Toss apples, celery, and leaves with EVOO, lemon, salt and pepper.

To assemble the salad, lay some chestnut puree on the plate or a bowl. Arrange apple and celery on a dish. Add Matsutake mushrooms and drizzle a bit of the cooking liquid around.     

Special thanks to Seafood for the Future, Edible Westside, and Surfas.

Friday, February 1, 2013

Fabulous Friday + Tip for the Event Tomorrow

Greetings Sustainable Kitchen Friends !

Tomorrow is the Spiny Lobster Cooking Demo, please arrive early as we know there will be quite a crowd coming thanks to the shout-out from Tasting Table yesterday. Consider taking Metro, the Culver City stop is very close to Surfas.

Yes, we know the pic is not a Spiny Lobster... the devil is in the details.