Yogurt Caesar Toast with Roasted Tomato

COOKING & CREATIVITY

I don’t remember how I learned to cook. There was no concrete event or particular pedagogy. There was no single moment in time where I sat down with the intention of honing any technical knowledge at all. But one thing I can nail down is how I cultivated an appreciation and thereby a passion for cooking. Growing up in a family that loved and gathered around food, taught me that good cooking is an act of love and respect. And through spending time with my Mom in the kitchen, I began to soak in the motions and methods that make up an intuitive chef.

My family kitchen growing up was loud and bright - adorned with pastel yellow cabinetry and large printed yellow and silver leaf flowers on the ceiling (no joke!). What it lacked in space it made up for in personality. And while it couldn’t have been larger than 100 sq feet, it felt larger than life. It was the epicenter of our home, the public square of our little village.

And it was in this kitchen where my Mom showed me how to cook. Our cooking lessons were not really lessons at all, but rather pockets of time (often before Shabbat), where I observed her casually throwing together a formal dinner for five and effortlessly creating something that the whole family savored. I watched her motions and tendencies. She never looked at recipes. Instead she moved through the kitchen gracefully in a dance- her hands in spirit finger pose releasing spices on simmering vegetables, and gliding to tend to boiling pots and roasting pans. Her instinct for cooking was ingrained- like muscle memory, honed after years of prepping large communal dinners around the Shabbat table.  

I memorized and modeled these movements - the way she would pinch the salt and sprinkle it over sautéing onions, the way she rocked her knife as she diced vegetables, and smashed garlic with the back of a spoon. When it was time for me to serve as sous chef, my Mom walked through the steps to cook and taste some of our most coveted recipes, passed down for generations. Our meatball recipe for example is one of the most beloved dishes in our household, and knowing that it was the meatballs that gave me the ability to make everyone in the house feel happy, made me feel like I had a secret weapon- a super power that filled everyone with joy. And these recipes that I learned in my mother’s kitchen did not involve measuring cups, or spoons. Like many traditional recipes, the measure of balance came from the 5 senses - taste, smell, feel, sound and sight. Learning how to cook in this way is the single most important factor that paved the way for me to innovate in my own kitchen.

I recently had the honor of meeting two women that I admire, Samin Nosrat, author of Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat and Alison Cayne of Haven’s Kitchen and author of The Haven's Kitchen Cooking School: Recipes and Inspiration to Build a Lifetime of Confidence in the Kitchen. Both Samin & Alison believe that if you know how to eat, you can learn to cook. They note that once you understand a few basic rules around cooking, you can make nearly anything, and you can make it delicious too. And once you learn how to strike that transcendent balance between saltiness, acidity, fat and texture you can create dishes unique to you. It’s a simple, yet radical idea. It’s a liberating idea. And this philosophy matches up to my experience and point of view in every facet of my food ventures.

The recipe that I’m sharing is inspired the pineapple DC (check us out if you're a woman in food and like to meet amazing, inspiring women!) event that showcased Samin’s work. The gathering included an inspiring Q&A with Samin, followed by a demo on how to make caesar dressing with no recipe. And while our guests went off to make dressing of their own, the pineapple staff (including me!) hovered over Samin’s dressing, dipping bread into it, savoring the perfect palatable balance of salt, fat and acid. It was delectable. And like Samin encourages in her book, I allowed my taste buds to guide me. This fun impromptu bonding moment inspired me to create a caesar toast, and incorporate the pleasant crispy texture of toasted bread to accent the creaminess and savoriness of the dressing.

INGREDIENTS

* note use your taste buds to adjust these quantities as needed! It's a fun exercise

• 1/2 cup of yogurt
• 4 dashes of worcestershire
• 2 tbs of pounded anchovies
• 1 tbs of pounded and salted garlic
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/4 cup of good parmesan
• 1 tbs of milk to thin out the yogurt
• 1 tsp cracked black pepper
• tomatoes, roasted with olive oil and salt
• toasted bread
• shredded romaine

DIRECTIONS

Arrange dish by spreading caesar yogurt on bread, top with romaine, roasted tomatoes and parmesan. 

Here are my main tips for being innovative in the kitchen: 

• Buy Salt, Fat, Acid, and Heat and Kitchen Confidence - they're both great starting points, and have lots of information on the fundamentals on cooking to set you up to innovate. Learn the basics and create within constraint
• Don’t be ashamed of looking at recipes or cookbooks
  • Recipes and photos are great for flavor inspiration even if you don’t need the finer details and measurements
• Like Samin mentions, the perfect balance of salt (like feta, anchovies, soy sauce), acid (lemon, ferment, lime, vinegar), and fat (avocado, cream, butter, oils) are the forces that make a dish sublime. Use your palate to tweak your dish and add an element if it needs that extra something.
• Use travel to inspire and note your flavor combinations. Carry around a notebook, and ask chefs what they put in their dishes. Go to local markets to see the spices that are used in that region.
• Practice! Invest the time in learning.
• Learn to enjoy the market (super or farmers), and let the ingredients inspire you
• Have your friends and family taste your creations and ask for their feedback
• Cook with friends and family to learn their traditions and recipes

Crispy Bread with Ricotta, Honey, Black Pepper and Mint

The Wandering 08  // Food Future Reflections

There’s no shortage of impressive young people in DC. In fact, I'm surrounded by so many, that I feel that one of the reasons I’ve been able to kickstart my creative pursuits is the pure inspiration and excitement I feel when I exchange ideas with such impactful and ambitious people. Kathleen, Jeff and Kristoff play this role in my life, and they are perfect examples of hard working, visionaries, working tirelessly to create a better world. They're the founding team of Up Top Acres; a rooftop farm enterprise, transforming the DC food culture and making agriculture a fixture of city life. The Wandering 08 sparked conversation around a revolution in DC’s food future. And Aley and I did so by showcasing businesses that are transforming our food community, and the possibilities for the future.

The vibe of this gathering felt like a blend of connection, inspiration, learning and growing. Our guests trickled in, visibly dazzled by the greenspace and energized by the potential of growing food on the concrete landscape overhead. It’s estimated that around 30% of vacant growing space in cities is occupied by rooftops. The possibility of cultivating unused space to grow food can solve a huge problem- the challenge of finding space in cities for agriculture. And so we were able to use the rooftop as a platform to talk about what was possible.

We kicked off the gathering with light bites featuring the early summer harvest - a bounty of radishes, carrots, strawberries, herbs; savory lentil hummus, and toasted sourdough with ricotta, honey, black pepper and mint (recipe below!).

In addition to highlighting Up Top’s efforts, we hosted True Syrups, a DC and women owned small-batch cocktail mixer company, to talk about the next link in the local food system chain- processing local food into consumer products. She spoke about the impact of working with local producers, and the integral role that small businesses play in propagating a local food economy. Her herby cocktail recipe was pretty delicious, too ;)

 Their was a palpable energy from the group as we sat down for dinner, wrapped in the warm sunset glow on the horizon. As the wanderers settled around the table, Whole Foods talked about their local food program, and the impact that supermarkets and larger distributors can have on scaling the vital work of ethical farmers. And this all helped me understand that while our original intention was to create a nourishing summery cookout, what we found along the way was that the real story of our menu reflected the journey of our food community and how far we’ve come in creating a healthier and more sustainable system.

Working with partners like Up Top, True Syrups and Whole Foods made me appreciate that being a part of a system means that we all have a role to play. Up Top produces the food. Whole Foods sells the food. True Syrups processes the food. The Wandering creates accessible experiences to celebrate the food. And only together can we create a better food reality for each stakeholder along the way. There’s so much opportunity, and it’s ours to lose. And despite tricky times for our environmental policies, I’m optimistic that with grassroots efforts and unrelenting passion, we can create the future we seek for our world and community.

the dinner table

INGREDIENTS

• Sourdough, sliced and toasted
• Whole milk ricotta
• Black pepper
• Honey
• Mint, chopped
• Olive oil

DIRECTIONS

Toast your bread. Top with ricotta, followed by olive oil, honey, black pepper and mint.

dessert jars // buckwheat shortbread with soaked berries and coconut cream

me & aley

jeff // co founder of up top acres

dinner plate // sweet potato burger, strawberry mint and macedamia nut salad, pickleback slaw, steak fries

Texas Peas with Pepitas, Charred Spring Onion and Chipotle Broth

TEXAS LOVE

When I began planning a road trip within Texas, I would have never believed that I would leave feeling so enchanted. Dramamine in tow, expectations low, Benny and I boarded a connecting flight, Houston bound. We embarked on a journey, a 14 day trek through The Lone Star State.

I’m not sure what we expected, but what we discovered along the way viscerally surprised us both. Texas was warm, strange, charming, extreme. We set out to experience Texas the way Texans do, and by doing so became well acquainted with the area's most endearing qualities and quirks. We took in the subliminal catchiness of the music. We embraced the twangy melodies of rockabilly and the brassy guitar string scratches of folksy americana. We awkwardly two stepped around a vacant dance floor at a seedy honky tonk- unable to mimic the movements exactly, and instead moved more like two bar mitzvah goers attempting the cotton eyed joe. We tip toed through desert plains at high noon- so as not to commit the ultimate tourist fail of stepping on a rattlesnake disguised as a branch - and retreated back to shelter lightheaded and woozy from the punishing sun. We ate our weight in tacos at virtually every stop, and never grew tired of them. We met ardent artists in ghost towns- individuals of integrity who were unwavering in their commitment to their craft, and we listened wide eyed as they gushed about mundane intricacies with such passion that it actually seemed fascinating. We shacked up with a colony of moths that swarmed in plumes around our ceiling fan- one of the many curious, albeit distressing, natural phenomena of desert wildlife witnessed on our trip.  We played pictionary in White Sands national park to recap favorite moments and review stand out memories.

I’ve written about the impact of travel on the creative process before. This trip proved to me once again that travel is the key to unlocking a trove of untapped creative potential. Travel forces you to open your eyes, see and appreciate the novel - no matter how uncomfortable, and activate on that experience by producing inspired work.

My favorite way to activate ideas inspired by travel is to cook. The recipe that I’m sharing in honor of this trip is inspired by a meal that I had at Chicon in Austin. Our meal was followed by a visit to a honky tonk that featured performances by local country and bluegrass musicians. And so this recipe is inspired by the experience. It’s a dish that reminds me of the oppressive Austin humidity, the nostalgic American music, the spirit of spring, the smell of beer and smokey bbq along East 6th Street. 

INGREDIENTS

• 1 cup of spring peas
• ½ cup of pepitas
• 5 spring
• Cilantro
• chipotles in adobo
• ¼ cup of tomato sauce
• ½ cup of vegetable broth
• 2 tbs of honey
• 1 clove of garlic
• 1 tbs apple cider vinegar

DIRECTIONS

Cut the onion bulbs into quarters and roast them on high with olive oil salt, and pepper for 40 mins, until charred.

Place chipotles, tomato sauce, vegetable broth, honey, vinegar, and garlic in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to simmer, and cook out for 30 mins. When the sauce is cooked down, strain the liquid into a blender, and add 1 pepper and the garlic clove. Blend the sauce.

Boil and shock peas. Meanwhile sautee spring onion greens with olive oil and salt. When peas are ready toss them in the sautee pan and let them warm.

Assemble dish by placing broth at the bottom of the bowl, followed by the peas, pepitats, spring onion and cilantro. Top with cojita cheese and radishes. Enjoy!

 

T E X A S     F I E L D    G U I D E

 

Austin

TO DO

Jacob’s Well // a 120 foot deep natural perennial karstic spring, about 45 mins from Austin, through Texas Hill country. A thrilling and refreshing dive on a warm humid day.

The White Horse // Live country music venue and sprawling honky-tonk with a taco truck outside. Great place to practice your two-step! Or just people watch…

Mohawk // Multilevel space with a bar, roofdeck & indoor/outdoor stages hosting local & touring acts. Main venue in Austin - great place to see large headliners and smaller indie bands.

Graffiti Park // Outdoor space that occupies the remains of an old building foundation, covered in graffiti. It’s a 3 story art park and is the largest in the nation. Very cool!

Jacob's Well

The White Horse

Graffiti Park

TO EAT

Josephine’s House // Go for brunch, get the almond and strawberry scone and huevos rancheros

Black’s BBQ // Go to the Lockhart location, fill up on sides! Mac and cheese, pecan pie, beans.

Vinaigrette // Get the la pepita salad

Veracruz // follow the truck, devour the migas taco

Launderette // get everything! Especially dessert

No Se // grab a kouign amann for breakfast

Manana // for fire coffee

Josephine House, Huevos Rancheros & Eggs Ala Carte

Launderette, Feta Cheesecake with Corn Ice cream, Kettle Corn and blueberries

TO SHOP

Uncommon objects // best place to find doodads

Spartan //  one stop shop for airy, light, minimalist trinkets

---

Marfa

TO EAT

The Get Go // better for you grocery store featuring organics and fresh produce

L'Aventure // fun spot for bites, brunch and books

Squeeze // light brunch bites 

Yogurt Bowl @ Squeeze

 TO DO

Chinati foundation // contemporary outdoor art museum and sculpture field based upon the ideas of its founder, artist Donald Judd

Bike around marfa // rent biks from El Cosmico hotel and bike around the town’s flat plains

Prada Marfa // a permanently installed sculpture by artists Elmgreen and Dragset, situated 1.4 miles northwest of Valentine, Texas, just off U.S. Highway 90, and about 26 miles northwest of the city of Marfa

Robert Arber studio // Do not call him Bob! Nicest guy in Marfa - really passionate about his art and the artists he’s come to work with and know in Marfa

 TO STAY

El cosmico // Outdoor glamping, with a retro flare, promoting free spirited frontierism and communal living. Stay in a teepee and ignore your inner prude and take an outdoor shower.  

Teepee of El Cosmico

 TO SHOP

El Cosmico // best store for bohemian wares and boob mugs. Yes, I got one!

Moonlight Gemstones // best spot in town for local volcanic rocks, jewelry and rose quartz

---

 

Big Bend

TO STAY

Big Bend Holiday Hotel in Terlingua // remote, wilderness 

View from Rock House, Big Bend Holiday Hotel

TO TREK

Big Bend Stable // Horseback riding at sunset 

Lost Mine trail

St Elena Canyon

Closed Canyon

Hoodoos Balancing Rocks

Closed Canyon, Big Bend

TO EAT

Starlight Theater // An offbeat eatery that offers standard tex mex eats & live music amid murals of the Wild Wild West.

 

Strawberry Salad with Macadamias, Mint and Lime Honey

WHAT A STRAWBERRY CAN TEACH US ABOUT VULNERABILITY

Strawberries are the quintessential icon of spring. And while wondering what to write about in this post, I found myself in a deep meditation on strawberries. They’re beautiful and, curiously, one of very few fruits that bare their seeds on the outside. It’s as if they’re unabashedly proud of who they are, scars and all. Strawberries have nothing to hide and they display the most fragile part of their body for all to see. They’re both proud and vulnerable. And that to me is a pretty remarkable quality.

It’s a quality that I admire in others, but have a hard time actualizing in my own life. Creating The Fennel Frond, leaping head first into starting and growing my own business, and living in the 21st century where you need to promote yourself to excel (especially as a woman), I find that this “take me as I am” quality does not come naturally to me. I’m a harsh critic of my work and art, which often leads to a vicious cycle of self doubt, lack of confidence, and an unwillingness to motivate and move forward. What’s more complicated is that I battle anxiety and periodic depression- issues which are taboo enough in their own right, and even more so in the entrepreneur space.

Depression and its relationship to leadership is not a part of our everyday discourse, yet there are many leaders that struggle with it. And I believe that these leaders should be brought out of the dark. Social shame hides the fact that individuals who experience emotional pain also experience a special kind of growth that can be an asset in leadership. These leaders are valuable, and can offer a unique skill set to the world. Like strength & grit, because trudging through a mental health crisis and persisting in life results in profound fortitude and emotional awareness. They can also offer empathy, because their experience gives them the ability to wholeheartedly relate to others who face similar struggles in the workplace and beyond. After all, they know and understand what it feels like to be sick, but not show any physical symptoms, and have achieved and progressed with immense courage and confidence despite their secret pain.

I believe that people who have battled emotional challenges are crucial to business and relationships, and so it’s important for these leaders to share and celebrate their story. It’s a story that has the potential to inspire someone else to keep marching forward even in the throes of adversity with mental health. And the more we remove the stigma, the more supported, empowered, and connected victims of depression and anxiety will feel. Leaders need to know that through hardship, we can cultivate strength and coping mechanisms that may bring others comfort. Above all else though, I think it’s important to recognize that these people (like me!) exist, and are leading forward despite sickness. It’s important to say that they are not alone and that their experience can help others. Their pain can be a source of strength and sharing their story could be the key to someone else's success.

And so I’d like to take a cue from the lowly strawberry, and set an intention to channel my vulnerability and use it as a force to be reckoned with; to bare my seeds on the outside, and use my emotional battle scars to lead fearlessly and connect with an open heart.

SALAD

• 1 pint of strawberries, quartered 
• 4 sprigs of mint, chopped
• 1 cup of macadamia nuts, toasted and chopped
• 2 cups of arugula, chopped roughly

DRESSING

• 1/2 cup of olive oil 
• 1/4 cup of lime juice
• 1/4 cup of honey
• salt and pepper

Passover Friendly, Matzah Free Bowls

YOU ARE WHAT YOU EAT. DON'T BE MATZAH

Eating on passover makes me anxious. I obsess over questions like, will I have access to real food at my parent’s house? Will I be able to eat how I usually do? Will I show restraint or will I binge eat coconut macaroons because they’re just there? Will I or won’t I be bloated for three straight days? Can I pull off not eating even one morsel of matzah for the entire holiday? Because you know, it’s inedible and all.. Also, how many matzah farfel cookies will I eat, and when will “but these cookies have been in my family for generations” no longer be a legitimate justification for eating the aforementioned cookies?

These questions plague (!) me each time Passover rolls around. Which is why I decided to take a look at how I normally like to eat - whole foods, plant based, eating with the seasons- and inject that framework into passover friendly recipes - dishes that do not have chametz. What’s chametz you ask? It’s an esoteric category of restricted ingredients including foods that contain any amount of wheat, barley, rye, oats, and spelt- essentially anything that can leaven, or “puff up.” The reason for the tradition is to pay homage to that time when the Jews became free, fled Egypt with haste and so didn’t have time for their bread to rise. Oh, and you’re also not allowed to eat seeds, beans, chickpeas, corn, or many other things delicious. That I can’t really explain.

But diet concerns aside, I am grateful to have strong Passover traditions (thanks Mom & Dad!). My Dad, for example, constructs a tent in our living room, held up and jerry rigged with shower curtain rods, waste bins and bricks. After 5 years, it’s never collapsed, but it has come close, and as far as I’m concerned, we’re on borrowed time. Each year we sit underneath the rickety yet beautiful tent, surrounded by a panoramic painted background of ancient Egypt and sarcophaguses made from old cardboard boxes. And we tell stories about the history of the Jewish people, what it means to be free, fortunate, and privileged, and how that translates to our current reality. And underneath the many rituals and liturgies, we find ourselves in deep discussion about philosophy and politics. The table becomes a platform for us to connect and speak openly, passionately about our unique points of view about the world. It’s a pretty incredible thing…  I hope you can make it to our Passover table one day. Until then, here are my three passover friendly, matzah free bowls. Because, again, matzah is indigestible.

Spiced Carrot & Lemon Yogurt Bowl

• 2 lbs of carrots, roasted with cumin, salt, pepper, smoked paprika
• 2 cups of quinoa, boiled for 20 mins with 4 cups of water
• ¼ cup of golden raisins
• ¼ cup of almonds
• ¼ cup of mint chopped
• 1 cup of yogurt with ½ lemon, squeezed, 1 clove of garlic, minced

Roasted carrots with spices on a pan at 425 for 45 mins. When finished, place quinoa in bowl and top with carrots, raisins, almonds, lemon yogurt and mint.

Root Mash & Mushroom Bowl

• 1 lb of carrots
• 1 sweet potato
• 1 tbs coconut oil 
• salt
• pepper
• cumin
• cinnamon
• paprika
• chili powder
• 2 cups of mushrooms
• ¼ cup of white wine
• 1 tsp butter
• 1 tbs thyme
• pistachios
• micro greens

Boil carrots and sweet potato for 30 mins until soft. Blend with 1 tbs. coconut oil, salt, pepper, and 1 pinch of cinnamon, cumin, paprika and chili powder, until smooth. Meanwhile, heat a pan on med heat with 1 tsp butter and 1 stalk of thyme. Add mushrooms and saute until the mushrooms are crispy, they add 1/4 cup of white wine. Let simmer until evaporated. Place root mash in bowl and top with mushrooms, pistachios and micro greens

Spaghetti Squash, Honey Roasted Radish & Radish Green Pesto

• 1 spaghetti squash, roasted for 45 mins with 1 inch of water
• 1 lb of radishes, roasted with salt, pepper, and honey
• ¼ cup of radish greens
• ½ cup of olive oil
• ½ cup of pistachios
• ½ cup of mint
• ¼ cup of scallions
• salt
• pepper
• 1 clove of garlic

Blend olive oil, pistachios, mint, scallions, salt and pepper and garlic in a blender. Assemble shredded squash, pesto and top with radishes and parsley.

Shakshuka with Black Olives and Soft Egg

MOVE OVER WHEATIES....

There's a new champion in town. 

Shakshuka (Moroccan dish with stewed tomato and baked egg) is the perfect breakfast meal. It's hearty but won't leave you with that weird carb hangover feeling you get after you eat pancakes or almond croissants. 

And while I wax poetic about my dear stew, I can't help but smile when I recall the first time I was introduced to to it. Interestingly, I discovered Shakshuka not on my many trips to Israel, but many years before I even stepped foot in the country, as a child on a beach vacation in Myrtle Beach with my family. We visited the one kosher restaurant in town, a Mediterranean joint run by sun-kissed Israelis, a detail which normally would have excited me, as I always relish running into Israelis in unexpected places. But in Myrtle Beach it wasn't so novel, because we frequently ran into Israelis all over the city. They peppered the board walks, peddling crass T-shirts and sugary snow cones, and license plate magnets advertising names like Kelly, Daniel, Justin, and Amy. Anyways, it was at that Israeli kosher restaurant that my cousin Franny (12 at the time, while I was 10) introduced me to my first bowl of shakshuka. 

Since then I've tasted many iterations of the classic dish- green tomatillos, red pepper, shakshuka & hummus... and I've tested a few versions of my own - tomato and watermelon, fennel tomato, tomato & pesto... but this version is my all time favorite- stewed tomato with black olives, sun dried tomatoes and za'atar. I top it off with a bit of silan (date honey), and tons and tons of herbs. It's transcendent. 

I debuted the dish publicly this morning at our 7th Wandering (wow!). And I've made this recipe many times before, but this time, there was a twist. Instead of baking the eggs directly in the stew, I soft boiled them separately. This technique renders the dish accessible for both vegans and non vegans alike and preserves the eggs (they last in the fridge for about 5 days, stored in an airtight container). And so it was the perfect example of a recipe that could be prepared ahead of time, stored for many days, and applied in many ways, throughout the work week. These are qualities that I seek out in most dishes that I make. These are the qualities that make healthful eating EASY.  And easy breezy wellness  just so happened to be the focus of our brunch....

The brunch was hosted by Logan Exchange, a new co working space in DC. Inspired by the space, Aley and I sought out to use the space to discuss strategies to effortlessly and organically infuse wellness into the workweek.

And so we kicked off the morning with a batch plant based cooking workshop - tips and hacks to make healthy eating easy throughout the week- and a desk friendly yoga session. We then migrated upstairs to the main conference room, a dazzling space that overlooks Logan Circle, and pours in buckets of soft natural light. 

While Aley and I have actively tried to avoid the topic of work at our gatherings, we saw a true desire to discuss tactical plans to reduce work stress and create routines to support a healthful life at work and beyond. This shakshuka is just one example of a dish that can be prepared on a Sunday, and used throughout the week in a multitude of ways, such as: 

• soft boiled egg as a topping for a grain bowl
• soft boiled egg as a topping for a salad
• shakhuka stew on whole grain pasta
• shakshuka stew on a sandwich with grilled chicken
• shakhuka stew with chickpeas and lentils
• shakhuka stew with polenta
• shakhuka stew with spaghetti squash and melted cheese

It's a dish that's easy to make, easy to store and easy to enjoy. Healthful and mindful eating is a powerful force in combating stress. It's an important act of self care and helps you become strongest, sharpest, most nourished version of you. If time is the biggest barrier to eating well, this dish (and others that we shared at The Wandering) could change the way you respond to stress. Eating is an impactful act on your body and mind, and it's one of the most powerful tools we have in alleviating stress. After all, how could we possibly manage to stave off anxiety & stress, and truly be mindful & present, if we've got a weird pancake hangover to deal with? ;) 

INGREDIENTS

• 2 tbs olive oil
• 1 white onion 
• 1 clove of garlic
• 1/4 cup of black olives
• 1/4 cup of chopped sun dried tomatoes
• 1 can of fire roasted diced tomatoes
• 1 can of pureed tomato
• 1/4 cup of vegetable broth
• 1 tbs of date honey
• 1/4 cup of chopped parsley
• 1/4 cup of chopped dill
• 1/4 cup of chopped scallions
• 7 eggs, soft boiled (5 mins, rolling boil) 

DIRECTIONS

Saute onion in olive oil, salt and pepper, on med heat until translucent. Then, add chopped garlic. Cook until fragrant. Add the olives and tomato, cook for a few mins. Add the tomatoes and broth. Bring to a boil and simmer for 20 mins. 

Drizzle date honey on top of stew. Add all the chopped herbs. Top with soft boiled eggs and coarse salt. 

Peanuty Noodles with Peppers, Sweet Potato, and Soft Egg

THE OPPOSITE OF ADDICTION IS CONNECTION

Last week I lost Adam, an old friend who I loved.

I’ve spent this past week, awake at night, reflecting on my history with him. I was friends with Adam in high school. We were both members of the same crew- a close knit group of friends tightly bound through a shared love of music, social justice, and freedom. At the center of our world was Adam- the pumping heart at the core. He was caring, kind, and had an effortless charm that was enchanting and unforgettable. He had the ability to draw you in and make you feel so close to him, like you were his own personal sidekick. I have such fond memories of playing guitar with him, and listening to music together. My favorite memory together was when one night I walked over to his house and we stayed up until the sun came up, listening to one of my favorite albums by Wilco. I remember how he would obsessively pause at specific breaks and riffs and replay them over and over, analyzing every detail and melody. And through sharing his own enthusiasm, he inspired me cultivate a deep passion for music and art- a quality has stuck with me even now. He's such a crucial part of who I am today.

this is adam

Despite unwavering love & support from family and friends and efforts at rehab, Adam succumbed to addiction, a misunderstood disease that crippled his mind and isolated him from the world. Beyond Adam, I have friends and family who suffered from the nightmare of addiction. The question I wonder more broadly, now that I’ve experienced another devastating loss at the hands of addiction, is how to move forward. How can we strive for a better health care system and treat addiction the way we do cancer or diabetes- as a long term, daily struggle that requires resources, relentless professional intervention, and a band of strong support systems. The general reality is that addiction is decidedly not viewed as a public health crisis, but a moral failure that relegates its victims to live in a state of secrecy and shame.

And so we need to change this reality, but how? How do we prevent these senseless deaths? Sadly, there’s no linear solution for effecting widespread societal change. What I do know is that perhaps it would be more effective if we stopped treating addicts like criminals and instead treated them with compassion. After all, studies show that people who lack connection or feel isolated from the world are more susceptible to develop an addiction. Why then do we treat addicts as outcasts when that is the very reason they sought escape in the first place? I do hope for a world where people in recovery are not shamed, but rather brought out of the dark and celebrated so they may foster meaningful connections with the suffering and inspire others to beat the battle. I long for the day where there is no stigma attached to addiction, and is no longer viewed as a weakness in will. As the Rabbi mentioned in his eulogy, Adam's struggle and death are a shame, but not shameful. Millions of people struggle with addiction yet only a small sliver of those people receive the help they need to attain long term recovery. I don’t know how to solve this complicated issue, but one place to start is by supporting organizations that are at the front lines of the fight. If you’d like to support the effort of fighting the addiction epidemic, please consider giving to an organization that helped Adam, The Helping Up Mission, and is actively helping many other men in Baltimore to overcome addiction. Every dollar counts!

The recipe that I’m sharing comes from the refrigerator of Allison Hartman, Adam’s amazingly strong, compassionate, and generous mother, who I had the honor of reconnecting with this weekend. I have a glorious memory of this dish when one afternoon we were scrounging around Adam’s kitchen and discovered an enormous bowl of peanut noodles. I fell in love with them, and have been making them in my own kitchen ever since, with my own special spin of course. It’s a dish that I’ve thought about a lot this week- every time I make them I’m flooded with memories of Adam. Making these noodles has brought me so much comfort during this week of mourning and deep reflection, and I hope it brings you comfort too. 

INGREDIENTS

• spaghetti or soba noodles, boiled
• 1 large sweet potato, diced and roasted
• 1 red pepper, sliced thin
• 1 green pepper, sliced thin
• 1 cup of parsley, chopped
• 4 scallions, chopped
• 1 clove of garlic
• 1 inch knob of ginger 
• 1/2 cup of peanut butter
• 1/3 cup of olive oil
• 1 tbs maple syrup
• 3 tbs. sesame oil 
• 1/4 cup of rice wine vinegar
• 1/3 cup of soy sauce
• 3 tbs. black sesames
• 1 soft boiled, 5 min. egg 

DIRECTIONS

Boil noodles. Roast sweet potatoes. Meanwhile place garlic, ginger, peanut butter, maple syrup, olive oil, rice wine vinegar, sesame oil, soy sauce in a food processor and blend until smooth. When noodles are ready place in a bowl with sauce, sweet potatoes, peppers, parsley, black sesame and soft egg. 

Burnt Carrots with Parsley Oil & Feta

Tap, tap… This thing on?

Hello, universe, I’m back and better than ever. It’s been a minute since I posted last on TFF (sorry!), and I have to say that it feels great to jump back in. How I’ve missed every stage of the process! Conceptualizing and testing a recipe (my husband loves this step most of all), finalizing a dish, photographing the beautiful ingredients, and writing & reflecting when the dust settles.

Since I last posted, my work life has picked up steam. I’m busier than ever, and eternally grateful- even in challenging moments- that I get to pursue creative work for a living. Yet I find myself struggling to balance my career and self care. There are days when I feel like my head isn’t screwed on - constantly jumping from one task to the next without having even a second to breathe or internalize. Then there are other days when time passes slowly, without urgency.

This month, in my morning meditations, I think about creating balance in my life. My intention is to openly welcome challenges that help me develop untapped skills, and teach me new things about my work, while appreciating the blessing of slower days- days with plenty of open time to work on passion projects like The Wandering, and The Fennel Frond.

Burnt carrots with parsley oil & feta is a recipe that manifests this idea of harmony, especially when I recall how it was conceived. The dish is inspired by a snack that was put together by my dear friend Sam, who truly lives out this idea of self care & balance. He tunes into his needs, and constantly negotiates between productivity and rest. The recipe came to fruition a few weeks ago when Sam came over to my apartment after a long day of work, large bag of carrots in toe. After quickly popping them in the oven, he finished them with parsley and feta and a drizzle of olive oil. It was simple & delicious- the perfect bite after a taxing day, the perfect way to honor your body and nourish your soul.

INGREDIENTS

• 2 lbs. carrots
• 2 tbs + 1/4 cup of olive oil
• salt & pepper to taste
• 1 tsp smoked paprika
• 1 cup of parsley chopped
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 1/4 cup of feta

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 425. Wash carrots and dry. Place carrots on sheet pan and drizzle with olive oil, salt, pepper and paprika. Roast for 35 mins or until golden brown. Sprinkle with chopped garlic and roast for another 5 mins until fragrant. 

Meanwhile, place parsley, remaining oil, garlic and salt in a food processor and pulse until well incorporated. 

Top carrots with parsley oil and feta & enjoy.

Beet Hummus with Za'atar & Avocado Tahini Mousse

ON COOKING & HEALING

There are times in my life when I close my eyes and make a promise to myself to never forget the gravitational power of that present moment. This weekend had many such moments- pockets of time that felt like history in the making. The weekend started with various attempts to stave off a looming cloud of anxiety in the wake of Trump's inauguration. Such attempts included activities like cooking, writing, photo editing, reading, distracting myself with work, and dinner-ing with friends. None of it really worked, but at least I put my best foot forward!

But Saturday was a new day. That morning I shook off the dust, and experienced one of the most empowering events of my adult life thus far. Alongside hundreds of thousands of people, I marched to defend the rights of women, immigrants, people of color, the environment, the LGBT community. I marched to defend all of the values that I hold dear, and protect the many rights that are currently at risk of being stripped away. The march itself felt like a meditation on healing- almost like a recovery group that consisted of a sea of people, all of whom extended their open hearts towards the broken and downtrodden. It was inspiring to be around so many people that were as outraged as me, and channeled their passion by taking action to have their voice heard. It gave me hope. 

Later that evening, I hopped in an Uber to head to a dinner. While en route, my driver asked me- "What was the goal of the march?" I initially balked- taken aback by the sheer enormity of the question. But after contemplating my response for a few seconds, I felt that answer was simple. The goal was to cultivate hope, and to connect with the huge community of people that [like me] feel offended by the rhetoric, victimized and marginalized by those in charge, embarrassed by leaders who make a mockery of the positions they hold, and wholly scared for the road ahead. The goal was to band together, and prove that we are powerful. That we have a voice. That we have a huge stake in the welfare of our country, and huge role to play actualizing the future that we envision. I explained that there are so many threats to my belief system, that I actually had trouble making a sign for the march- that I felt like I had to pick only one issue to broadcast despite the fact that so many concern me. 
 

One of the best moments after the march was discovering the sheer magnitude of the impact. While grabbing a bite to eat that afternoon I noticed that Democracy Now! was playing on a screen by the bar, and was live streaming marches around the country. My jaw dropped to the floor of the restaurant when I learned that like DC, marches in LA, Austin, Chicago, Atlanta, Boston etc. etc. all had marchers that came out in droves. That moment confirmed it- we were officially a part of something much (much!) larger than ourselves.

To serve as the perfect bookend, the weekend concluded with our 5th Wandering event- a healing yoga class at Flow Yoga, followed by light bites around a long communal table. The mood was optimistic, hopeful as guests trickled in, many still riding the high from the march from the day before. We set out to host a gathering that allowed for our guests to step away from the chaos, and find respite around community and wellness on a weekend that demanded so much of energy and focus. The gathering lived up to the goal, and gave each of us an opportunity to breathe, pause and connect. 

Throughout this whole rollercoaster weekend, I was really grateful that I had The Wandering to look forward to. Cooking is incredibly healing for me (so much so that immediately after the march I randomly made homemade gnudi, despite overwhelming exhaustion...), it was the perfect outlet during a time that was so replete with emotion. Here are my two favorite recipes from the gathering- Avocado Tahini Hummus, and Beet Hummus with Za'atar. These dishes that you can whip up in a flash and that will provide instant comfort in times of chaos and unrest. After all, you can't be stressed when you're eating hummus ;) 

BEET & ZA'ATAR HUMMUS

• 6 beets, peeled and chopped, and boiled until soft
• 1/4 cup of tahini
• 1 garlic clove
• 1 tbs. of salt
• 1 whole lemon, squeezed
• 1 tbs. of za'atar 
• 1/4 cup of pistachios
• 1/4 cup of olive oil

AVOCADO MOUSSE

• 4 avocados
• 1 clove of garlic
• 1/4 cup of tahini 
• 1 whole lemon, squeezed
• 1 tbs. salt
• 1 tsp. pepper
• 1/2 cup of dill
• 1/4 cup of olive oil
• 1/4 cup of scallions, chopped

DIRECTIONS

Blend all ingredients together in a food processor. Top avocado mousse with scallions and dill, and top beet hummus with za'atar, pistachios and olive oil. 

Herby chop salad with stems and pumpkin seeds

SERIES •• THE MIDDLE EAST FEAST // ENTRY 1

Travel inspires me. When creativity is a central part of your job, it can be hard to drum up original and inspired ideas on demand. But when I travel, I break the mundanity. I come across new ideas with speed and ease by osmosis- by simply surrounding myself with new people, perspectives, rituals, flavors. The exciting melting pot of newness provides me with a never ending source of ideas- new dishes that I dream up (literally and metaphorically), new projects to begin, new conversations to have.

My husband and I just returned from a 10 day stint in Israel. I’ve been there dozens of time and even lived there after high school. But this trip was different. I packed my bags and boarded the many planes that got me there with an explicit intention- to take in each experience with an open heart and open eyes, and allow myself to get inspired. In many ways this trip wasn’t very different from trips past. We visited friend and family. We went to the dead sea. We went on hikes. But this time I was awake, present in each moment and aware of the potential for each and every experience to become of point of supply for ideas.

Most importantly, I’ve become inspired by the food. Food in Israel is complicated. In some cases, it’s a single unifier among communities in contention, a centerpiece around conversations between persons divided. More commonly though, it’s axiomatic of the Conflict at large- a symbol of cultural appropriation, friction, historical dispute, and discord. But politics aside, food in the middle east is like a tapestry, each thread coming together towards a greater whole, each ingredient coming together to create culinary brilliance. One of the most exciting dishes that I had on my trip was a Dukkah spiced hummus – a plate that celebrates the culinary traditions of Arab Israelites and Palestinians and their Egyptian neighbors.

Like food in Israel, I strive to create recipes here that embrace the AND, the fusion of culinary heritages, unlikely flavor combinations, and complimentary textures.

Herby Salad:: This is the first entry of The Middle East Feast series. I will be posting 4 recipes that each have been influenced by my trip in Israel, featuring endemic ingredients that celebrate the Place, and stories that celebrate the Spirit. I had this salad at my cousins wedding in Ashdod and was found so much beauty in the simplicity of flavors and ingredients. Every flavor was identifiable, and each ingredient existed in harmony with the rest. Herbs are an important part of Middle Eastern cuisine, and so in a way this salad is like Israel in a bowl. 

INGREDIENTS

• 2 cups of parsley chopped, include stems
• 1 cup of mint chopped, include stems
• 1 cup of scallions copped
• ¼ cup of pumpkin seeds
• ½ cup of sesame oil
• ¼ cup of apple cider vinegar
• 1 tbs of maple syrup
• 1 tsp of salt

DIRECTIONS

Chop the herbs. Place in bowl with pumpkin seeds. Whisk the remaining ingredients in a bowl and pour of salad. Betavon.

Shredded Brussels Sprouts with Parm, Toasted Chickpeas and Lemon Zest

HOW NOT WASTE FOOD AS A FOOD PHOTOGRAPHER, CONTINUED

Short and sweet, yet another example of how I've been using of my leftovers from photoshoots, featuring tons of lemon zest from Mistfit Juicery, imperfect lemons. 

I’ve employed various strategies to prevent food waste in my own kitchen. While they may take a bit of extra effort, it’s actual a really fun way to get creative, give back, and be social.

Here are my top tips of avoiding food waste in the kitchen:

• Take stock

  • Look through your bermuda triangle-eqsue pantry to see what ingredients you have on hand.

  • Figure out what flavors work well with your leftover ingredients. Think about blending salty and savory, sweet and sour, raw and cooked. Be creative!

  • Look through cookbooks or do some online research with your selected ingredients in mind. Can any of these recipes that inspire you work with the ingredients you have? What about a stew? A salad? A frittata? 

• Make stock

  • When I have peels, stubs, odds and ends from cooking or from a photoshoot, I like to boil them in water and herbs to make a vegetable stock. I freeze the stock and have it on hand for months. It's an incredibly flavorful ingredient for soups, stews, braised vegetables, and grains. 

• Smoothies,  juices, sauces, dips

  • When in doubt, blend. Blend your leftover veggies into sauces, pestos, dips and blend your fruits into smoothies and sorbets. 

  • Juice your fruits and vegetables and keep them in the fridge for up to 2 days.

  • Freeze your bananas, berries and fruits and blend them into a smoothie. No need to add ice and dilute the flavor when your produce is frozen ;)

• Recreate and reinvent

  • Figuring out how to reuse a dish that you've already made is one of the best exercises in creativity. Think about how you could reinvent your leftovers by turning them into soups, stocks, sauces, sandwiches, desserts etc.

  • For example, you can use your leftover sweet potato casserole as a [delicious] breakfast topping for warm oats, or use your leftover roasted veggies into main ingredient for a grain salad.

• Freezing produce

  • Freeze your pulp or produce that you can make use of. Then bring the produce to your local market and compost it. Or use your frozen produce over the winter months when not much is available.

• Donate    

  • Donate your produce to a local emergency food relief organization. Food pantries are always looking for fresh food, especially around the winter months when not much else is available or seasonal.

• Facebook PSA

  • Share the wealth! Update your facebook status to see if friends want to pick up your food, or host a dinner party using your excess produce.

Recipe using leftover produce, below. Perfect and simple recipe for your holiday table. Enjoy!

INGREDIENTS

• 4 cups of brussels sprouts, shredded
• 2 lemons, zested and juiced
• 1 cup of dried cranberries
• 1 can of garbanzo beans, roasted for 40 mins at 375
• 1 cup of parmesean cheese, shredded
• salt and pepper
• 1/4 cup of olive oil
• splash of apple cider vinegar

DIRECTIONS

Toss all ingredients together and enjoy! 

Rosemary, Pear & Vanilla and Pop Tarts

QUITE THE PEAR

Yesterday I had the privilege of creating content for my friends at Misfit Juicery- one of my favorite socially driven business. Their mission is to salvage unwanted fruits and veggies (a misshapen apple, or a lemon with a bruise) and turn them into a 21st century commodity, a staple product in every health conscious millenial's refrigerator- juice! 

In many ways, it was Ann & Phil (founders of Misfit) who inspired me to rethink my actions in the kitchen. According to the USDA, over 40% of food produced here in the US never makes it to market. Even more shocking, 1/4 of the food that consumers purchase and bring back to their personal kitchens ends up being thrown out, and 97% of that waste rots in landfills, producing air toxic methane. Our food waste system creates incredible pressures on our environment, and ourselves. In a very real way, it presents us with a paradoxical moral dilemma. How can we allow so much food to be wasted, when so many are hungry?

Over the past 3 months, I've gotten the opportunity to photograph and film food in a variety of settings. The only thing that has troubled me at these shoots is baring witness to heaps of wasted food. With these images seared into my brain, and the fact that I was shooting next to a food waste guru, I was doubly aware of my responsibility to do my part in preventing such a cycle. My apartment looked like the Garden of Eden yesterday - every surface occupied by a cornucopia of oddly shaped veggies. I made a promise to myself then and there to utilize each morsel of produce from this shoot, and beyond. After all, change begins at home.

Here's how I used Misfit's funny looking (yet flavorful) pears. More recipes using Misfit produce to come. Enjoy! 

INGREDIENTS

• pears, cored and diced
• 1 vanilla pod, deseeded
• 1 stalk of rosemary, chopped
• 1 tbs of red or white wine
• 1/2 cup of water
• 2 tbs maple syrup
• 2 cups flour whole wheat pastry flour
• 1 tbs of rosemary, chopped
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 tbs of maple syrup
• 10 tbs. cold butter 
• 5 tbs. of ice cold water

DIRECTIONS

First, drop pears in a saucepan over med. heat with water, vanilla, rosemary, and maple syrup. Bring to a boil. Add the wine, and reduce to simmer. Cook for 9 mins. 

In a bowl, combine flour, salt. rosemary and butter in a bowl, and mix (with hands or using a standing mixer) until the mixture is the size of peas. Then, add maple syrup and water until the dough forms. Flour a surface and roll out the dough until 1/6 inch thick. Cut into 10 rectangles. 

Place 1 heaping teaspoon of pear compote on 5 of the rectangles and use the remaining dough to cover them. Seal the tarts with a fork, and brush with the compote liquid. Slice the tarts to allow steam to escape. 

Bake at 375 for 25 mins or until golden brown. 

Curry and Squash Soup with Honey Kale Toast

LET FOOD BE THY MEDICINE

In the aftermath of the holiday, I'm left to reflect on an insanely fun week, the only vestige of which is terrible case of congestion thanks to my walking germ of a niece. At least she's cute! 

We kickstarted the week with my little brother's wedding. Our family gathered from all corners of the country (some even traveled from abroad) to celebrate and participate in the festivities. It was a surreal experience to say the least, but the wedding was a blast, and started the holiday off on a high note. 

The next day, my husband's grandmother had surgery on her knee at a local hospital in Baltimore. We didn't know this at the time, but her trials would become the focus of our weekend. Without a dedicated person to care for her, we became increasingly concerned with her wellbeing. We learned quickly that we had to advocate on her behalf in order for her to receive the care that she needed. We also understood the importance of simply being there, being present and showing up. We showed up, and showed up, and showed up again each time with edible gifts in toe. 

Of course, our week was chock full of decadent meals with family and friends, as well. We ate around the able, and at the hospital in the company of our crew, enjoying, sipping on wine, and, it should be noted, delicately dancing around all political conversations. My father even purchased a cowbell to ring if anyone brought up a politics. An essential tool when reuniting with family members that voted for Trump.

Anyhow, this dish is inspired by that gushy feeling you get when you sit down to eat with your family - chosen family or family of origin, whether in sickness or in health. Gathering around the table (or hospital bed) together is the most remarkable experience, and has the power to heal. After all, I'm  holding out hope that my cold ebbs away after a consuming big bowl of this soup. Enjoy!

INGREDIENTS

• 1 tbs of ghee, coconut oil, or olive oil
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 clove of garlic
• 4 cloves, ground
• 2 pods of cardamom, ground
• 1 tbs of curry powder
• 1 tbs of salt
• 1 tsp of pepper
• 1 butternut squash, peeled and cubed
• 1 cup of vegetable stock
• 1/2 cup of thick coconut milk
• 4 slices of bread, toasted
• 7 kale leaves, shredded
• 1 tbs of olive oil 
• 1 tbs of thyme
• 1 tbs of whole grain mustard
• 1/4 cup of vegetable stock
• 1 tbs of honey

DIRECTIONS

Place a soup put on stove and add oil. Bring to med heat. Add onion, and cook down for 4 mins. Then, add the cloves, cardamom, salt, pepper, curry, and garlic. Add the butternut squash, and add a pinch more of curry, salt a pepper. Mix. Then, add the vegetable stock and coconut milk, bring to a boil, then cover and simmer for 40 mins. When the mixture cools, place in blender or use an immersion blender to blend. 

Meanwhile, place oil, thyme, and shredded kale in a pan on med heat and sauté. After a few mins, add mustard and vegetable stock and cook until soft. 

Smear honey on toasted bread with kale mixture on top and enjoy with soup.

Sweet potato Skin Tacos with Chipotle Yogurt and Farro

LIKE TACOS, EVERY NOW AND THEN I FALL APART

.... a meditation on failure

Failure is the key to success. To risk sounding like a Silicon Valley tech-y, I'm going to start by getting ahead of what I'm about to say. Disclaimer: I fully acknowledge and recognize that this may come across as super cheesy, and may even be dismissed as meaningless jargon to be used only at the outset of a company wide meeting at a sexy start up. The truth is though, this idea is substantial, and such an important intention to continuously remind yourself of. This has been my north star, my mantra that has motivated me to trudge through, even in the face of challenges and defeat.

Now, back to this idea of failure. To achieve your goals, you have to fail and fail and fail, yet keep forging forward with your head held high. It's so easy to let the feeling of defeat and rejection knock your confidence down and entirely change your perception of yourself. When  failure punches you in the gut it's only natural to feel raw and vulnerable. The challenge here is to keep going. Keep learning. Keep creating. And don't quit. Because in a way, this action alone would be the ultimate failure. 

So far in my journey with The Fennel Frond and other creative pursuits, I've been pretty successful. By that, I mean that I've been able to work on projects that make my heart sing, and I've been making a living doing it. Yet at the same time, I've also failed. A lot. For the most part I've been able to keep my clients pretty happy, but I've also had to re-shoot, re-record, re-edit, re-write, to create something that I'm proud of. At this point, my goal is to shake off the dust, keep learning and doing, and get better and better as I build up a volume of work. 

I've thought about this a lot after listening to Ira Glass talking about the creative process. For those of you who are interested in the subject of self doubt, creativity, failure and success, you have got to check this out. Here's the gist of it: 

“Nobody tells this to people who are beginners, I wish someone told me. All of us who do creative work, we get into it because we have good taste. But there is this gap. For the first couple years you make stuff, it’s just not that good. It’s trying to be good, it has potential, but it’s not. But your taste, the thing that got you into the game, is still killer. And your taste is why your work disappoints you. A lot of people never get past this phase, they quit. Most people I know who do interesting, creative work went through years of this. We know our work doesn’t have this special thing that we want it to have. We all go through this. And if you are just starting out or you are still in this phase, you gotta know its normal and the most important thing you can do is do a lot of work. Put yourself on a deadline so that every week you will finish one story. It is only by going through a volume of work that you will close that gap, and your work will be as good as your ambitions. And I took longer to figure out how to do this than anyone I’ve ever met. It’s gonna take awhile. It’s normal to take awhile. You’ve just gotta fight your way through.”

This recipe represents two things to me. One is that it's comforting. After a series of setbacks yesterday, all I wanted to eat was tacos. So... that's how this recipe came about. The second is that this is a recipe that is wholly influenced by the mission of The Fennel Frond- to create healthful, accessible recipes using every edible bit of the ingredient and recipes that celebrate the seasons offerings. When it comes down to it, I owe a lot to this blog. Creating The Fennel Frond is what inspired to pursue my passion in food and design, and I believe that this recipe epitomizes the feeling, values and spirit of TFF. Enjoy!

Sweet Potato Skin Tacos with Chipotle Yogurt and Farro

INGREDIENTS

• soft corn taco shells
• black beans
• 4 tbs. olive oil
• 2 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. chipotle powder
• 1 cup of farro
• 2 cups of water
• 4 sweet potatoes 

CHIPOTLE YOGURT

• 2 cups of yogurt 
• 1 tbs. chipotle powder
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. pepper
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 1/2 lime, squeezed

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 425. Peel the potatoes. Keep the skins. Place skins in a cast iron skillet with olive oil, salt, and pepper and roast for 20 mins. Dice the potatoes, place on sheet pan with smoked paprika, chipotle powder, salt, pepper and olive oil and roast for 30 mins. 

Place a sauce pan on high heat and let water come to a boil. Place farro in the pot, covered, and let it simmer for 25 mins. 

In a pan, place olive oil, black beans over high heat and cook with salt, pepper, smoked chipotle and cumin for 10 mins. 

Assemble tacos with farro, black beans, sweet potatoes, chipotle yogurt with crispy potato skins on top. 

Roasted Acorn Squash with Chai Yogurt

SQUASH GOALS, ETC.

Squash is the quintessential symbol of fall. To be honest though, and I know I'm not alone with this opinion, squash is also really hard to prepare. The skin is rough and fibrous and difficult to both cut through and digest. So how do you make a squash that is silky and tender, but also roasty and nutty? The best way to achieve both textures is to first steam the squash and then roast them on high.

I'll be featuring this recipe at our fourth The Wandering dinner, on November 12th. We still have 4 tickets left, snag yours while you can. 

INGREDIENTS

• 3 acorns squashes, cut in half
• 3 tbs of maple syrup
• 6 tbs of coconut oil, melted
• 1 cup of water
• 1 cup of yogurt
• 1 tbs of maple syrup
• 1/2 tsp of cloves (ground) 
• 1 tsp of cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp of cardamom (ground) 
• 1/4 cup of pistachios, chopped

DIRECTIONS

Pre heat oven to 400 degrees. Cut squashes in half and remove the seeds and guts. Place each half in a baking dish. Cover each half with 2 tbs of coconut oil and 1 tbs of maple syrup. Pour 1 cup of water in the bottom of the baking dish. Cover with foil, place in oven and bake for 35 mins. Then take the foil off and roast for another 40 mins. Broil for 2 mins at the end. 

Whip up the yogurt, maple syrup and spices. Serve the squash with a dollop of yogurt and chopped pistachios on top. 

Sundried Tomato and Rosemary Pesto, The Wandering 03

SUNDRIED TOMOTO AND ROSEMARY PESTO, The Wandering 03

I'm writing this post while smiling and still riding the high from The Wandering 03. It was our first brunch, and certainly will not be our last. Let me first describe the setting. We gathered at Ceremony Coffee's workshop in Georgetown. The space is a small- an intimate room- peppered with shiny coffee equipment throughout, perfumed with the smell of toasty ground coffee, and illuminated with natural light pouring into every corner. Aley and I feel incredibly grateful to have had a space donated to us, as opposed the default plan that we've grown accustomed to- hosting the dinners at my apartment. This goes without saying but this was definitely an upgrade. 

The Wandering has truly been a labor of love for me. One word that I should emphasize is labor. The gatherings take time, collaboration, energy, patience, and lots and lots of planning. This gathering however, came together more organically than the others and was a little less demanding. I spent Saturday cooking leisurely, putting together my mise en place, and creating table cards. By the time Sunday morning rolled around, all I had to do was pop my dishes in the oven, "set it and forget it", if you will. I met up with Aley and Ceremony 3 hours before guests arrived which offered us plenty of time to catch up, set up, take photos, sip on locally roasted coffee, and design an enchanting space for our guests. 

And now the coffee. Where to even start...? Ceremony Coffee is just so comforting and tasty, and their love and appreciation for the craft is inspiring to be around. We were joined at the table by two coffee experts from Ceremony, who made sure that our cups were bottomless and taught us about the unbelievable amount of work and attention at each step of the chain to develop a well balanced cup of joe. The coffee endlessly flowed into our mugs. In fact, before the wanderers arrived I was already 3 cups deep and so by the event's end I felt so jacked up on caffeine that my hands were twitching and my heart thumped along to the subtle sounds of Tycho that emanated out of the speaker in the background. 

As usual, when our guest leave, and we're left to clean up the dishes and pack away the leftover food, I reflect on how very lucky I am to be able to do what I love- cook for others, and bond over a common food experience. 

One of my favorite dishes that we served was my unconventional take on pesto. Unlike traditional pesto, this dip had a deep autumnal red hue. The color came from juicy sun tried tomatoes and the oil they were packed in. The pesto was the perfectly balanced- sweet, savory, herbaceous, and garlicky. I served the pesto on toast was a generous dollop of mashed avocado and lemon, olive oil, chili flakes and smokey salt. Make this for you friends and family! They'll be smitten. And, keep an eye out for our November gathering announcement, coming soon. We hope to see you at our table.

INGREDIENTS

• 1 jar of sundried tomatoes packed in oil 
• 1/2 cup of pistachios
• 1 clove of garlic
• 1 tbs of smoked salt 
• 1 tsp of aleppo pepper
• 1 tbs of rosemary, minced
• 1/4 cup of olive oil

DIRECTIONS

Blend all ingredients together in a food processor, including the oil from the sundried tomatoes, until the mixture is smooth. If needed, add more olive oil. Serve on top of toast with mashed avocado and lemon, olive oil, chili flakes, smoked salt and pumpkin seeds. 

Apple Almond Bars

THE SWEETNESS OF BITTERNESS 

As the Jewish new year approaches, I can't help but reflect back on what has been one of the most rewarding periods of my life thus far. This year, I got engaged to and married a man that challenges me each day to be the most whole version of myself. I traveled to India and Italy; two places that are too different to compare, but whose contrasts have made me even more aware of how fortunate I truly am. I quit a job that provided me with security and stability and leapt into a risky world of uncertainty. I rediscovered dormant passions and sharpened untapped skills. I cultivated new friendships and deepened existing ones. I learned to trust my capabilities when so much was at stake. I became more comfortable with my identity and heritage and have found so much value in the legacy of tradition. 

Last Friday night, I gathered with old friends and new around a vegetable adorned table. As I looked around, a feeling of deep gratitude washed over me. Admittedly, this insight may have been provoked by our host's Shabbat tradition of welcoming the weekend with a gulp of mezcal, but that's neither here nor there... I gazed around and understood that each guest came from a different background, each with their own unique experience and history, yet we all met here, at a table to celebrate a year of progression and learning. We came together to celebrate Rosh Hashanah- a holiday that used to fill me with deep dread (sitting in a synagogue for hours just isn't my thing - is it anyone's?!), yet now brings me so much joy. To me Rosh Hashanah is about reflection, gratitude, and anticipation for what's to come. 

We ended the meal with a delicious apple bar dessert (recipe below), made by my dear friend Ariel. The dessert (and apple honey dipping) reminded me of the Jewish idiom "have a sweet new year". It got me thinking about flavors- sweet and bitter. While they have a bad reputation, I happen to love bitter foods. Maybe I developed a taste for bitterness because compounds in bitter foods are healthful. Either way it's clear to me that whether literally or metaphorically speaking, bitterness is essential to life and wellbeing. And while people who wish you a sweet new year are well meaning, I'm sure, my intention this year instead is to appreciate bitterness, and to find beauty in moments that are challenging, scary, and arduous; the bitter moments of life. I truly believe that your outlook is the single most powerful tool to make lemonade out of of lemons. As such, I wish you all instead a present, tenacious and mindful new year replete with empathy, self-love and understanding ;) 

Apple Almond Bars (from At Home in a Whole Food Kitchen, adapted by Ariel Pasternack) 

INGREDIENTS

• 1 tbs coconut oil 
• 4 apples, sliced
• 2/3 cup and 1 tbs maple syrup
• 4 tsp vanilla extract
• 2.5 cups almond meal
• 1/2 cup of whole wheat pastry flour
• 1.5 cups of oat flour
• 1.5 tsp baking soda
• pinch of salt
• 1/2 cup of olive oil 
• 1/2 tsp almond extract
• 2 tbs apricot jam

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 350. Oil or line a 9x9 pan. Warm coconut oil in a skillet and add apples. Cook until brown, then add 1 tbs maple syrup and 2 tsp vanilla. Cook for another 5 mins. 

Add dry ingredients to a bowl and mix. Separately add olive oil, remaining vanilla and maple, and almond extract in a bowl and whisk. Add wet ingredient to dry, and mix well. Pack the dough in the pan, and bake for 15 mins. Arrange the cooked apples overtop, and cook for 25 more mins. 

To make the glaze, heat the apricot jam over med heat until melted. Brush the bars with melted jam. Enjoy.

Pear Crumble with Thyme and Ginger

PEAR CRUMBLE & THE WANDERING 02

Since our first The Wandering dinner, Alexandra and I set out to bring people together through a shared and memorable food experience. We continued this pursuit of our mission at The Wandering 02, a dinner influenced by the early fall harvest. At our second gathering on Friday night, glasses were filled to the brim with bright white wine, and gin n' juice- our new intoxicated detox gin based cocktail with pressed apple, ginger, lemon and cayenne - as strangers mingled effortlessly around our autumnal table, and dined on seasonally inspired dishes to welcome the new season into our lives. Our table was lined with savory dishes -warm mutbucha tomato harissa dip, smokey carrot hummus, raw beets, fried olives with citrus zest, tomato, bread and cannellini bean skillet, and dark leafy green salad with charred corn- and flanked by friendly faces of people who didn't know each other at all, yet left as friends by the night's end. One of our guests was a local musician as it turned out, and graced us (after a few minutes of pleading from the crew) with a vulnerable and tender rendition of Leonard Cohen's' "hallelujah", that perfectly captured the mood of the evening- intimate, warm, and open. 

That moment was the perfect segue for our grand finale, the dessert which was warming, savory, and sweet, all in one. I've always loved making desserts in skillets. It's easy and rustic, and also creates a crusty top from the generated heat. Below is my recipe for the perfect autumnal pear crumble. We served it with a dollop of soy ice cream. 

It's truly remarkable to see months of planning, visioning, and ideating coming into fruition. The idea of The Wandering is simple, yet elusive. There are simply not enough events like this in DC- dinners that are accessible, affordable, and plant focused. And we're setting out to bridge that gap. I'm grateful to be able to co-host such a beautiful event. 

 

SKILLET

• 7 pears or apples, sliced
• 1 tsp of fresh thyme
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• 1 lemon, juiced 
• 4 tbsp arrowroot starch or cornstarch 
• 1 tsp of ground cloves
• 1 inch knob of grated ginger
• 1/4 cup coconut sugar or maple syrup
• 1/4 cup of golden raisins
• 1/4 fresh apple sauce 
• 2 tbs of water

CRUBMLE

• 1 cup rolled oats
• 1 cup of flour
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 3/4  cup coconut sugar 
• 1/2 cup of walnuts, chopped
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tbs of thyme, chopped
• 1/2 cup melted coconut oil or butter

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 375. Place all of the filling ingredients in a large bowl, and mix well. Pour ingredients into a skillet. Then, mix the topping ingredients in a separate bowl, and top the wet ingredients. Bake the skillet for 45 mins - an hour (until the mixture is brown on top and bubbling in the middle). Serve with ice cream or whipped cream and garnish with chopped thyme or coconut sugar. 

Broccoli with grapes, pecorino, and pecans

ROCK OUT WITH YOUR BROC OUT

Nothing says early fall like fresh local broccoli. I love pairing the cruciferous vegetable with something sweet, tangy, and salty. It really makes for the most well rounded, flavorful dish. Here's my recipe for an out of this world salad featuring broccoli as the star ingredient. 

INGREDIENTS

• head of broccoli
• 1 cup of seedless grapes
• 1/4 cup of pecans, chopped
• 1/4 cup of parsley, chopped
• 1/4 cup of grated parmesan or pecorino
• 1/4 cup of olive oil
• 1/4 cup of white wine vinegar
• 2 tbs of honey
• 1 tbs of dijon mustard

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 425. Chop the head of broccoli into florets. Place broccoli on sheet pan with olive oil, salt and pepper, and roast for 25 mins. 

Meanwhile, whisk together the dressing ingredients. 

When the broccoli is done, assemble with the remaining ingredients and enjoy! 

Halloumi with Peach Confit and Mint

IT'S EASY BEING CHEESY

I get a lot of recipe inspiration from the culinary traditions of the Middle East. Part of my appreciation for the cuisine comes from fond memories of my travels to Israel as a child, eating unfamiliar food in an unfamiliar place, my first time outside of the US.

Aside from the nostalgia though, I'm intrigued by the shared appreciation for food across many different people. In a time of indefatigable conflict, the love of hummus is a salient unifier. The origins of many foods of the Middle East are barely traceable, yet coveted by all who live in the region. Falafel for example, is enjoyed by Arabs, Christians and Jews alike, yet no one truly knows who "discovered" the delicacy first. In a way, food in the Middle East is a common denominator, or a shared language amongst groups of people that normally cannot understand each other whatsoever- both literally and figuratively. 

Many progressive chefs believe in this concept, and want to use food to bring people together. Here's a quote by Jerusalem's Yotam Ottelenghi (Jewish), about his relationship with his co-author Sammi Tamimi (Palenstinian).

"It's funny because we are not those labels, we're just two people. We're quite similar in many ways and that similarity transcends everything else. We're not political animals. In a sense, we're not really good representatives of our own culture. So it's very easy for us to get on. And we love the same kind of food, we love celebrating food, and eating wonderful things and cooking hummus."

Politics aside, in honor of my love for Middle Eastern cuisine, I threw together a magical dish of fried halloumi with delicious fixings on top. Enjoy! 

INGREDIENTS

• halloumi (cut into 1 inch in width rectangles) 
• mint (7 leaves, torn) 
• 1 cup of walnuts, chopped
• 2 tbs honey
• 1 onion, sliced
• 1 peach, sliced
• 1/4 cup of apple cider vinegar
• 2 tbs maple syrup
• 1 tbs of zaa'tar
• salt and pepper
• 4 tbs olive oil

DIRECTIONS

In a saucepan, add olive oil, onions, peaches, salt and pepper. Cook down until onions are translucent. Then, add vinegar, zaa'tar and maple syrup. Bring to a boil, then reduce to simmer for 45 mins. 

Meanwhile, add 2 tbs olive oil in a pan. Bring to high heat. Sear the halloumi on both sides (2 mins ea.). Take the halloumi off the heat and cool. 

Assemble the halloumi with peach and onion on top, walnuts, sprinkle of honey and mint.