Despite the root vegetable's tricky pronunciation, jicama isn't hard to incorporate into your culinary repertoire.
Tip of the Day - Toasting Pumpkin Seeds
'Tis the season for pumpkin carving, but don't throw out the scraps! AOL Food's toasted pumpkin seed recipe and these tips make it easy to turn a pile of pumpkin seeds (or pepitas) into a tasty and healthy snack.
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Southern Food Museum Celebrates Neglected Sweet Potato Cake
Sweet potato cake. Photo: foodistablog, Flickr.
Sweet potato cake is so thoroughly obscure that René Simon, spokesman for the Louisiana Sweet Potato Commission, claims he's never tried it: "I've lived in South Louisiana all my life, and I don't think I've ever had sweet potato cake," Simon tells Slashfood.
According to him, the Pelican State's sweet potato scene is all pie, all the time. "Here, America means mom and sweet potato pie," Simon says.
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Circleville Pumpkin Show Gets Underway in Ohio
The Circleville Pumpkin Show. Photo: gorkon280/flickr
The show opened Wednesday for its 106th year and runs for four days with more than a hundred pumpkin varietals, the Columbus Dispatch reports.
The pumpkin varieties have been expanding every year," Kurt Engle, manager of the show's pumpkin sales, told the paper. "But most of what's sold are used for decorating."
Click pumpkin for more news from Slashfood.
[Via Columbus Dispatch]
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Tip of the Day - Winter Squash, Decoded
We all know and love pumpkin, but here are a few familiar and unfamiliar wonderful winter squash cousins -- and ways to prepare them.
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Make It Vegetarian
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| Luscious lentil tacos. Photo: Jennifer Iserloh. |
But I know quite a few vegetarians who cook for their meat-loving spouses and friends on a regular basis, as I do. I've always wanted to cook the dishes I crave, without having to make something separate when vegetarians come to dine. Here are my staple meat substitutions and how to use them. Now you can keep those classics on the dinner table without a trip to the butcher.
Chickpeas have a firm texture that makes them ideal for burgers. Use them directly out of the can -- just drain, then pulse in a food processor for a chunky base that works well as a ground meat substitution. When working with beans, remember to add some spice with lots of seasonings. I like to use Worcestershire and steak sauce that are both vegetarian but have the seasonings cooks usually pair with meat. A dash of hot sauce can also add depth and warmth to the dish.
More meat substitutes and my Luscious Lentil Taco recipe, after the jump.
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Beekman 1802 - Salsa Verde
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| Tomatillos and hot peppers. Photo: Brent Ridge, Beekman 1802. |
Earlier this summer, when a friend gave us a few small tomatillo plants, we weren't really that interested in them. Nevertheless, we found a spot in the heirloom garden and pushed them into the dirt.
Three short months later, as we watched every blight-bitten tomato turn brown and drop from the vine, we were thrilled to have those tomatillo plants.
Oddities in the garden, we've been asked more than once what they were. One visitor even exclaimed, "I didn't know you could eat Japanese Lanterns!"
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It's World Vegetarian Day on Slashfood
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| Carrots. Photo: ccharmon, Flickr. |
Today's the day to skip burgers and bacon -- it's World Vegetarian Day! Slashfood is celebrating the beginning of vegetarian-awareness month with lots of posts highlighting the best in fruits and veggies. They'll be a few roundups that aren't all-veg, but barring those, we're bringing you meat-free fare all day long. Check back here for posts on vegan wine, the best in vegetarian cookbooks and food festivals, plant-based recipes and more.
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Flashback to the Seventies: All-Purpose Marinara
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| Ripe summer tomatoes. Photo: The Ewan, Flickr. |
When I was a kid, the end of the summer brought with it a painful, unpleasant tradition. Every August, when the farmers' market was filled with tomatoes, my parents would buy a few bushels, and the whole family would spend a couple of days blanching, peeling and processing the fruits. Every time, the process resulted in clothing and skin that reeked of tomatoes, fingers that stung and a freezer full of watery tomato sauce that we would defrost throughout the year.
As an adult, I have continued the tradition, although I make my sauce in the fall, when cooking pleasantly warms and perfumes the house, rather than turning it into a sweatbox. I also prefer using canned tomatoes, rather than fresh ones: In addition to sparing my fingers from burns, they produce a sauce that is richer, more flavorful and has a better texture than my parents' marinara. On the other hand, I still use my mom's recipe, which she learned from her Italian godmother, although I add a little bit of red wine vinegar, which gives the sauce more depth. Ultimately, it's a spicy, fennel-accented marinara that freezes well, tastes delicious and is inexpensive to make.
Get the recipe for all-purpose marinara after the jump.
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Magic Mashed Potatoes - Tip of the Day
It might seem like a time-saver, but don't turn that tap to hot when prepping to boil and mash potatoes.
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September Food Festivals
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| Photo: www.houstonhotsauce.com |
Nappanee Apple Festival, Nappanee, Ind., Sept. 17-20: Apple season is upon us. Many are headed to pick-your-own orchards. This festival includes an apple-peeling contest, apple bake-off, pie-eating contest and the world's largest baked apple pie, weighing in at 600 pounds and a whopping 7 feet across. There's a daily lumberjack show, too.
The Houston Hot Sauce Festival, Houston, Sept. 19-20: Hot sauce festivals are on fire! Nationwide, they're popular, chilehead blow-outs. Attendees can sample and purchase a plethora of sauces, chiles and dry rubs. Don't forget to vote in the People's Choice for the Hottest Hot Sauce at this ninth annual festival.
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Toaster-Oven Tomato Confit
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| Tomato confit. Photo: Jennifer Iserloh. |
I like them best with pasta and although they do take time to cook, they are well worth the wait.
Making tomato confit isn't hard but it can heat up the house and seem wasteful to run the oven for hours -- so why not use an energy-saving toaster oven?
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Storing Cut Fennel - Tip of the Day
Fennel needs more than just an airtight container if you want it to last once its been cut.
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Spaghetti Squash with Bolognese
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| Photo: Jennifer Iserloh. |
She would transfer the two halves to her mangled cutting board and hand me a fork. We would both scrape the fork over the squash, freeing the steamy fibers that look very much like golden yellow strands of vermicelli.
I could hear the popping and perking of her homemade sauce warming on the stove. "Turn the heat down," she would instruct when the popping became too vigorous. She served hers with tomato sauce, but I like to use a protein-packed bolognese to make it a complete, cool-weather meal.
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Mushroom Sauté - Tip of the Day
Throwing mushrooms into a sauté pan usually requires a good dose of oil. But good news: There are ways to cut the fat without leaving half your dinner stuck to the bottom of the pan.
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What Can I Get You Folks? - Server Revenge
Reality-Show Celebrities Serve Up Chef Curtis Stone's 'Hundred-Dollar Burger'
Foods Celebrity Chefs Hate
