Sunshine Salsa

May is a golden month, but curiously, in the Golden State days often begin with a foggy condition known locally as May Gray. During May Gray and its complimentary months of June Gloom and No Sky July, the low altitude clouds that form over the Pacific ocean are moved mainland by the same lofty coastal winds that make landing at LAX such a treat for us nervous flyers. If the marine layer is heavy that day, that contributes to the overcast skies.

 

May Gray took me by surprise the first time I encountered it, but no card-carrying goth such as myself can really complain about gray and gloom. Goth may be monochrome, etched with winter's beauty; but contrast is one of the most potent poetries, by and about design. May Gray contributes to everything from San Francisco’s famous fog to the Catalina eddy, and is as much a fact of local life in California as soot is in New York City. That said, May Gray usually burns off by noon, and the sunshine that spills through the clouds and then overtakes them as they move past or evaporate reminds us, every noontime anew, why we came west.

 

This month, Urban Home Blog has been celebrating golden May with golden treats from the kitchen. You could hardly find a more LA-centric holiday than Cinco de Mayo; we celebrated ours with a beautiful and potent tequila sunrise. We snuck a scant shot of tequila into our May canning project of Habañero Gold. Perhaps it turned out so well that we’ll enter it in the county fair that will usher in autumn and its palate and palette just as surely as Memorial Day – almost here! – brings summertime.

 

The vibrancy of our May kitchen continues with sunshine salsa. This is actually a citrus salsa but in our urban home, when I first made this dish John declared that it tasted like sunshine. It remains his favorite and a house specialty. It could hardly be more southern California: it is light and healthy, hot and sweet, and laced with the local crop of citrus. John still calls it sunshine salsa, and now you can not only call it that, you can make it. Serve it with the tortilla chips at your next get together, or alongside poached chicken or grilled fish for a simple, good weeknight dinner.

 

Sunshine Salsa

All of the ingredients for this salsa should be available at the grocery store, farmer’s market, or if your harvest has commenced, from your own garden.

 

1 grapefruit

1 navel orange

1 tangerine

1-2 medium yellow tomatoes

1 Spanish onion

1 yellow banana pepper

1 bunch fresh cilantro

Salt

1/4 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper

1/4 teaspoon ground white pepper  

1. Fill a mixing bowl large enough to hold the tomatoes and pepper 1/3 with cool water. Add a few drops commercial vegetable cleaner to the water.
2. Place the tomatoes and pepper into the bowl containing the cleansing water. Swirl the vegetables around to ensure that they are well cleaned.
3. Drain the vegetables into a colander. Run the colander under a stream of cool water to rinse them well.
4. Rinse the cilantro (you will only be using the leaf end) and set aside to drain on a double layer of paper toweling.
5. Place a large mixing bowl beside a clean cutting board devoted to fruits.
6. Peel the grapefruit (put on food safe rubber or latex gloves if you wish). Do your best to remove not just the peel but the bitter white pith underneath.
7. Use your hands to gently break the grapefruit into its segments. Inspect each segment and safely use the tip of the knife to remove seeds if any. If you save seeds for planting or trading, set the seeds aside; otherwise, discard them.
8. Use the knife to cut each grapefruit segment into bite-sized pieces. Transfer the grapefruit pieces and their juices into the mixing bowl.
9. Peel the orange (put on food safe rubber or latex gloves if you wish). Do your best to remove not just the peel but the bitter white pith underneath.
10. Use your hands to gently break the orange into its segments. Inspect each segment and safely use the tip of the knife to remove seeds if any. If you save seeds for planting or trading, set the seeds aside; otherwise, discard them.
11. Use the knife to cut each orange segment into bite-sized pieces. Transfer the orange pieces and their juices into the mixing bowl containing the grapefruit pieces.
12. Peel the tangerine (put on food safe rubber or latex gloves if you wish). Do your best to remove not just the peel but the bitter white pith underneath.
13. Use your hands to gently break the tangerine into its segments. Inspect each segment and safely use the tip of the knife to remove seeds if any. If you save seeds for planting or trading, set the seeds aside; otherwise, discard them.
14. Use the knife to cut each tangerine segment into bite-sized pieces. Transfer the tangerine pieces and their juices into the mixing bowl containing the grapefruit and the orange pieces.
15. Use a large mixing spoon to mix the citrus together.
16. Remove the cap from each tomato. Roughly cut the tomatoes and transfer the tomatoes and their juices to the bowl containing the citrus. Sprinkle the tomato-citrus mixture with salt.
17. Peel the onion and remove the root and stem ends. Halve the onion from root to stem; halve each half. Cut across the halves to form half-moons. Cut across the moons to form dice. Transfer the diced onion to the bowl containing the tomato-citrus mixture.
18. Place the pepper on the cutting board. Cut the pepper in half from cap to bottom. Cut away and discard the stem; cut away and discard any white pith from inside each half. Rinse each half under warm water to remove the seeds; if saving seeds, do this step over a fine mesh sieve to catch the seeds. Working one half of a pepper at a time, flatten each half, skin side down, against the cutting board. Cut each flattened half into 1/2-inch strips and cut across the strips to form dice. Transfer the diced pepper to the bowl containing the tomato-citrus mixture.
19. Use the spoon to mix the vegetables together. It is okay if the mixture is wet.
20. Wrap the sooty root ends of the cilantro with the paper towels. Hold the cilantro head side down over the sink and gently shake it dry. Cut off just the heads of the cilantro about one-third to one-half down the bunch. Transfer the chopped, cleaned cilantro to the bowl containing the salsa mixture.
21. Add the ground cayenne and white pepper to the salsa mixture.
22. Use the spoon to thoroughly mix the salsa.
23. Cover the salsa and allow to sit 30 minutes for the flavors to combine.
24. Serve or refrigerate, covered, up to three days.

Habañero Gold

First harvest is high season for the home canner, but the urge to preserve first resurfaces in spring. Spring vegetables are at their most tender, and many of them, from spring peas to green beans can be blanched and flash-frozen. Early and hothouse cucumbers may not take well to hot- or cold-pack pickling, but a batch of fresh pickles enlivens many a lunchtime relish tray. There may even be enough of a variety of organic produce at the farmer's market to can a popular batch of giardiniera. Peppers, especially chiles, are widely available year round. New Mexico's famous green chiles adorn the regional specialty green chile cheeseburger. Serve your burger with a side of pico de gallo. Jalapeños are a key ingredient in a hot and tart Cuban-inspired chicken soup. With so many green chiles in the kitchen, there is temptation, and time, to pickle some jalapeños.

One of the favorite ways to preserve peppers is to make pepper jelly. Pepper jelly is one of the stars in the canning and preserving pavilion at the county fair. Ribbons adorn jars of robust red pepper jelly and vegetal green pepper jelly. These savory jellies are not for everyone, but non-initiates who try them on a cracker with a smear of queso blanco or a triangle of cheddar often find themselves converted on the spot.

 

And then there are hot pepper jellies: savory jellies made with chiles. It surprises some that chiles take well to canning, but they do. Canning focuses flavor but sometimes flattens it out. With hot peppers, the heat will be somewhat mellowed by processing, but it will also be more concentrated. So the key to a successful hot pepper jelly is juxtaposition: though hot pepper jellies whose flavors focus on the heat from the peppers do exist, hot pepper jellies perform best when that heat is cushioned against a sweet or savory flavor.

 

Habañero Gold may sound like a tequila, but it's not. It's a hot pepper jelly made with habañeros, the tiny Mexican peppers which register 100,000 – 350,00 on the Scoville scale when raw. (To learn more about the Scoville scale, click here). Upon cooking, habañeros mellow while focusing their heat. This makes them ideal for canning, especially when contrasted against the lush flavor of apricots. This jelly is easy and satisfying to make, beautiful to look at shimmering red-flecked and golden in jars, and delicious to eat. Habañero peppers are widely available in supermarkets and specialty grocers including green markets, the farmer's market, and Latin grocers. However, if you want to mix up the flavors and the colors of this jelly, use a mixture of habañero and scotch bonnet peppers. Whatever mix of peppers you use, don't skip using the gloves!

 

Habañero Gold

It is essential to follow safe canning practices. For instructions on safe canning, click here: http://www.uga.edu/nchfp/publications/publications_usda.html, or here: http://www.freshpreserving.com/getting-started.aspx.

 

1/2 pound dried apricots

3/4 cup white vinegar

1 teaspoon silver or reposado tequila

1 small red onion

1 medium red bell pepper

1/2 pound habañero peppers

3 cups granulated sugar

1 1.75 ounce box powdered pectin

 

Four hours before canning

1. Place the dried apricots onto a clean cutting board reserved for fruits and vegetables and use a small, sharp knife to cut the apricots into thin ribbons. Cut across the ribbons to form tiny dice.
2. Tightly pack the diced apricots into a measuring cup to equal 1/2 cup. Reserve extra apricots if any for a second batch of jelly or for apricot bars.
3. Measure the vinegar and the tequila into a large non-reactive saucepan. Swirl the mixture to combine.
4. Add the measured, diced apricots to the vinegar-tequila mixture. Use a wire whisk to gently stir the mixture so that the apricots separate and float out into the mixture. Place the lid on the pan and let the mixture macerate, covered, for four hours.
5. While the apricots are macerating, peel the onion and remove the root and stem ends. Place the onion on a clean cutting board reserved for vegetables. Halve the onion from root to stem; halve each half. Cut each quarter into thin crescents. Cut across the crescents to form dice. Measure 1/4 cup diced onion into a large mixing bowl.
6. Place the red pepper sideways on the cutting board. Chop the stem and cap ends off of the pepper and then slice the pepper in half lengthwise. Remove the pith and seeds from one pepper half then flatten the half. Slice the half-pepper lengthwise into strips, then cut along the strips to form dice. Measure 1/3 cup diced red pepper into the bowl containing the diced red onion.
7. Put on a clean pair of food-safe rubber or latex gloves. Keep the gloves on the entire time you are contacting the habañero peppers, and don’t allow the peppers, their oils, or your gloved hands to contact your eyes or skin.
8. Working a few at a time, place each hot pepper on a clean cutting board. Cut away and discard the stem of each hot pepper. Cut each hot pepper into dice, retaining the seeds and pith. Scrape the diced hot pepper into the bowl containing the onion and red pepper as you go.
9. While still wearing the gloves, use your hands to mix the onion and peppers together.
10. Cover the bowl containing the pepper-onion mixture with plastic wrap. Allow the mixture to sit undisturbed while the apricots macerate. 

When ready to can

1. Prepare canner, jars and lids.
2. Remove the lid from the pan containing the apricot mixture. They should have absorbed a great deal of the liquid.
3. Put on a fresh pair of food safe latex or rubber gloves.
4. Remove the plastic wrap from the bowl containing the pepper-onion mixture. The mixture should be very pungent.
5. Use a silicon spatula to gently scrape the pepper-onion mixture into the apricot mixture. Use the spatula to mix all of the ingredients together.
6. Place the saucepan containing the jelly misture onto the stovetop. Turn the heat to medium-high. Use the wire whisk to stir the jelly mixture as it heats. The mixture should start bubbling and expressing more liquid. It will be very pungent, so keep your eyes clear from the steam.
7. Stir the jelly mixture constantly, turning down the burner heat if the mixture starts to steam too much, until the mixture reaches a full rolling boil that cannot be stirred down, approximately three minutes.
8. Once the mixture reaches a full roiling boil that cannot be stirred down, empty the envelope of pectin into the mixture. Use the wire whisk to incorporate the pectin into the mixture; two to three stirs of the whisk should suffice.
9. Add the sugar all at once to the jelly mixture. Use the wire whisk to incorporate the sugar into the mixture, stirring well to dissolve the sugar. Readjust heat to medium-high and cook, whisking constantly, until mixture reaches a full rolling boil that cannot be stirred down.
10. Once mixture reaches full rolling boil that cannot be stirred down, use a slotted spoon or skimmer to skim foam off of jam and into the bowl that contained the sugar. Turn off the heat.
11. Place a clean towel on a counter near the canner.
12. Use canning tongs to remove hot jars from water bath. Do your best not to touch the hot jars; let the tongs do the work. Place hot jars mouth up on the clean towel.
13. Clamp a jar lifter around a hot jar. Use the jar lifter to transport the jar to the pan containing the hot jelly. Place a clean canning funnel into the mouth of the jar. Use a clean spoon or ladle to fill the jar with jelly to the ½-inch mark.
14. Repeat step 13 until all of the jars are filled. It is okay if there is jelly left over; refrigerate it for use within 1 month.
15. Check for and remove air bubbles if any (see instructions).
16. Use a clean, damp sponge to wipe the rim of each jar. Center a clean, hot lid (see instructions) on each jar. Screw a band down on each jar until it meets resistance; increase just until tight.
17. Use canning tongs to return the jars to the boiling water bath. Add more water if necessary to ensure that the jars are completely covered by boiling water by 1 inch. Process in boiling water bath for 10 minutes.
18. After jars have processed for ten minutes in the boiling water bath, turn off the heat. Remove the canner lid and set aside. Let jars sit in hot water ten minutes.
19. After ten minutes, use the canning tongs to remove the jars. Being very careful of the hot jars, lids and liquid, place jars upright on the towel. Allow to sit 24 hours. After 24 hours, check for a vacuum seal (see instructions). Label each jar with the contents and the date prepared. Safely prepared, stored and sealed, the jelly will keep for one year from date of preparation.

Urban Bar: Tequila Sunrise

It is an exaggeration that there are no seasons in southern California. The transitions are there, but they are subtle, and I can understand how someone used to the noticeable seasonality of the northeast would question whether springtime in southern California was worth the name. Still, in Los Angeles we’ve been able to take lunch on the patio since March, while missives from our family of friends in New York City still referenced icy mornings and gusty lunch hours, and I have to admit that if there is a trade-off, I’ll take it.

Now that spring has arrived in its fullness, mornings often dawn steely as clouds roll across the lowlands from the Pacific -- a phenomenon known locally as May Gray. By mid-morning, the sun typically burns through the cloud layer to bathe the day in golden rays. We lucked into an apartment that is walking distance from my favorite bar and a lovely local park. On most days, my constitutional takes me to the park, where amid the stately watchfulness of palms I take the sun before rousing myself to close the loop down this stretch of Santa Monica Boulevard that is also Route 66. LA is not known as a walking town, but in the Plummer Park neighborhood, we all walk, and we do so in companionship with each other and with nature, from clouds to sunshine, from spiky agave to riotous bougainvillea, from dogs on leashes to ravens in treetops.

It is a social area, with a surprising street culture not dissimilar to Astoria. Here, the stoop gatherings of brownstones is replaced by the patio gatherings of haciendas. This weekend, neighbors did just exactly that in the courtyard of the apartment building across the street, in what I learned is an annual May Day tradition that combines a tag sale, a bake sale and a block party. Everyone stopped by, from seniors who stashed cookies in napkins for later to surfers in jams who heard about the sangria and the pinata. It was an outdoor open house to welcome spring upon the arrival of its high point, and it happened in a quiet area just steps from the clamor of Sunset Boulevard.

The opening spirit of May Day will culminate in the summer season’s unofficial gate-opener of Memorial Day, but first we stop at Cinco de Mayo. In Mexico, Cinco de Mayo is a holiday in celebration of Mexican culture. As I’ve noted before, Los Angeles is a party town, and with the full blossoming of springtime as an excuse, here Cinco de Mayo is a major event; really the first big party of the season. It is a destination celebration everywhere from LA’s famous bars and clubs to those haciendas and patios. There are music and games, dancing and laughter, and, yes, food and drink.

Most would associate beer and margaritas with the Cinco de Mayo bar, and that’s not wrong, but there is plenty of bar space at this party. From bartenders as formal as the vested gentleman working a shaker to those as informal as whoever’s filling plastic cups at the card table out back, there are numerous libations with which to pour that signature Cinco de Mayo spirit into a glass. You could start with aqua fresca, where the clean, cold taste of ice water is enhanced with a handful of strawberries, a few slices of mango or pineapple, a chunk of watermelon or a few curls of cucumber. You could also brew some hibiscus tea to serve over ice. A Michelada is reminiscent of a Bloody Mary with its a mixture of beer, tomato and lime juices, and pepper; or you could serve Bloody Marias. A Paloma is made with grapefruit juice or soda and tequila. Speaking of tequila, when you get around to setting out the shots, it is customary to serve them with lime wedges, a dish of salt, and slugs of Sangrita – orange or tomato juice spiked with chile powder. Just remember that, like Champagne, in order to have the name, your tequila must be distilled from blue agave, and only within the state of Jalisco or in some regions within the states of Guanajuato, Michoacán, Nayarit, and Tamaulipas.

Cinco de Mayo is at its most fun when it is free-spirited, so this is a celebration where that card table of bottles, mixers, plastic cups and ice is in perfect step with the proceedings. If you want to mix at your Cinco de Mayo celebration, margaritas are the fan favorite, but for our Cinco de Mayo and a good many other occasions besides, we like to serve Tequila Sunrises. A Tequila Sunrise is a cocktail built with tequila, orange juice and grenadine. It is called that for the lovely, and deadly, orange to peach to magenta gradient it achieves when grenadine is introduced into orange juice utilizing the classic bartender’s technique of pouring over the back of a bar spoon.

The original Tequila Sunrise was invented at the Arizona Biltmore during the World War Two era (some sources contend it was during the Depression era). The Biltmore sun rose on a 'rise built from tequila, crème de cassis and lime juice; something of an agave-fueled riff on a classic Kir. The invention of the contemporary Sunrise is credited to a wine country restaurant in the 1970s. It is a lovely, bright mingling of citrus and pomegranate combined with an ass-kick of good tequila. Just like its namesake, the Sunrise is elegant and splashy, pretty and optimistic all at once. Here is Urban Home Blog’s official recipe for the golden standard of agave cocktails: the Tequila Sunrise.

Tequila Sunrise
Ask for Anejo or Extra Anejo tequila – these are the designations for tequilas that are aged from one to three or over three years in oak. These smooth, woody tequilas will work best for this top shelf cocktail. One we like at our urban bar is Don Eduardo. Grenadine is a common bar syrup, it is widely available.

1 shot Anejo or Extra Anejo tequila
1/2 shot Grenadine
Orange Juice
Shaved ice
1 orange

Maraschino cherry

1. Place a drop of fruit and vegetable cleanser in your palm. Rub the orange with the cleaner and rinse the orange under cool water until the skin feels clean.
2. Use a bar- or citrus knife to cut the orange into rounds. Cut the rounds in half and place the orange wedges in a small bowl for garnishes.
3. Use a cocktail pick to spear the cherry and an orange wedge in that order, so that the cherry is at the top of the pick.
4. Fill a highball glass with shaved ice.
5. Pour the shot of tequila over the ice, saturating the ice with the tequila.
6. Gently fill the glass 5/6 to the top with orange juice.
7. Measure the grenadine into the shot glass.
8. Hold a teaspoon over the glass so that the back of the spoon is facing up. Gently pour the Grenadine over the back of the spoon and down the side of the glass, moving the glass in clockwise as you pour. This should achieve the gradient.
9. Spear the ice at the top of the drink with the cherry-orange garnish.
10. Serve immediately.

Potatoes Roasted with Sumac

We have delved into ancient and exotic ingredients this month at Urban Home Blog. Inspired by California’s love of oddballs, we welcomed the artichoke from the fields and dinner tables of ancient Rome to flavor a classic hot appetizer and to crown a bowl of Mediterranean inspired chicken stew. Inspired by the golden brush of mustard plants dotting the California landscape, we learned how to grow it, and then we mastered the classic French preparation to make a Dijon-inspired condiment.

For a California-inspired weeknight dinner, we serve our artichoke dip with a loaf of our own sourdough, before setting out bowls of chicken stew with artichokes alongside a light arugula or herb salad. Urban Home has wine recommendations – clearly, for this meal, a classic California Chardonnay. We even have your choice of desserts, from a lemony pound cake to snappy ginger cookies to a sweet springtime strawberry pie.

We close this month with another ancient and exotic ingredient: sumac. Unlike artichokes or mustard, sumac is not a significant ingredient at the American Table. Sumac is important in African and Middle Eastern cuisines, notably Moroccan, Lebanese, Egyptian, Turkish and Greek. It is a vital component of the spice blend za’atar for which, like garam masala, there is no definitive recipe but rather one specific to the kitchen of each cook who makes it.

Culinary sumac is ground from the berries of specific food safe shrubs from the Anacardiaceae, a family of plants that includes a wide range of members including mango, cashew, pistachio, mastic and poison ivy. Anyone who grew up on the American prairie or readers of English murder mysteries will recall poison sumac, which causes significant irritation upon contact with skin and can be harmful or fatal if ingested. It is important to cook with sumac obtained from a reputable source. Sumac that is safe for cooking is available from gourmet and Middle Eastern grocery stores, both in person and online.

 

As an ingredient, sumac is identifiable as a brick red powder, either finely or loosely ground. It has an astringent sweet-smoky taste somewhere between smoked paprika, rosemary and cumin. Sumac is important in sauces and marinades, but one of the nicest ways to experience sumac is on its own, as the spice that it inherently is. A dusting of sumac on simple roasted potatoes reveals the drama of this obscure but spectacular spice. In Greek cooking, potatoes are often marinated in a mixture of olive oil, lemon juice, garlic and oregano before being roasted in a hot oven or even an open fire. Here that technique is tweaked for contemporary kitchens but dusted with the dramatic flavor of this ancient spice. Here is my original recipe for Greek-inspired roasted potatoes roasted with sumac.

 

Roasted Potatoes with Lemon and Sumac

Use good-sized russet potatoes for this dish; small or waxy potatoes will not cook properly. If you cannot locate food safe ground sumac locally, here is a good online source.

 

1 pound russet baking potatoes

¼ cup extra virgin olive oil plus extra for the pan

1 medium lemon, preferably organic

2 teaspoons table salt

1 tablespoon ground sumac

1. Heat the oven to 425 degrees F.
2. Coat the bottom of a large ceramic baking dish with a two-count of olive oil. Turn the dish or use your hands to coat the bottom of the dish with the oil.
3. Scrub each potato under cool water. Safely use the tip of a paring knife to remove and discard any flowering eyes or discolorations from each potato.
4. Fill a bowl large enough to hold the potatoes with water. Add 1 teaspoon salt to the water.
5. Working one at a time, lay each potato on a cutting board devoted to vegetables. Safely use a strong knife to cut the potato lengthwise into halves. Safely use the knife to cut each half lengthwise into quarters. If the potato is very large, cut the quarters into eighths. Transfer the cut potatoes to the water as you go.
6. Run the lemon along the counter under your palm. Cut the lemon into quarters. Hold a lemon press over a large mixing bowl. Use the lemon press to express the juice from each quarter into the bowl.
7. Measure the olive oil into a measuring cup with a spout. Use one hand to pour the olive oil in a thin stream into the lemon juice while using the other to use a wire whisk to whisk the olive oil and the lemon juice together.
8. Add the sumac and 1 teaspoon salt to the lemon-oil mixture. Use the whisk to mix the ingredients together.
9. Pour the potatoes into a colander. Shake the colander vigorously to express as much water from the potatoes as possible.
10. Gently transfer the potatoes to the baking dish. Do your best to place each wedge skin side down, and to keep the potatoes in a single layer.
11. Pour the seasoned oil over the potatoes. Use a silicon spatula to scrape the bowl and ensure that you get all of the season oil into the dish containing the potatoes. Gently shake the dish to ensure that the potatoes are coated with the seasoned oil.
12. Cover the dish with its lid or a double layer of aluminum foil, shiny side down.
13. Place the dish in the oven.
14. Roast the potatoes 30 minutes, no peeking.
15. After 30 minutes, use pot holders to safely remove the baking dish from the oven. Working carefully to avoid steam burns, remove the lid/aluminum foil. Use the silicon spatula to gently stir the potatoes in the dish.
16. Return the baking dish to the oven. Bake 20 more minutes or until potatoes are fork-tender and very fragrant.
17. Remove the dish from the oven and serve.

Making Mustard

Mustard is one of our most ancient and sacred foods. It is believed that prehistoric humans consumed mustard. There are biblical references to mustard, as well as documented representations from ancient civilizations including Egypt, Greece, Rome, China and Native America. No wonder our forbearers ate mustard: it is an easy to grow and versatile plant, and almost every part of the plant is edible. The greens are stewed in cuisines including Indian, African and Native American and served raw, often as a salad, in cuisines including Greek, Roman and African. The seeds are an important ingredient in Indian, African, Chinese, and Mediterranean cuisines. After pepper, mustard is the most cultivated spice in the world. Mustard fulfills this office as a vital component in curry, or, of course, in a jar of mustard.

Along with its culinary uses, mustard comes to us from the ancient world with a reputation as a curative plant. Those who believe in the curative powers of this herb cite its qualities for digestion and decongestion. It is known as a stimulant not just for the appetite – this is basically how it came to be known as a condiment – but for the blood. Those mustard plasters you hear about in old movies? They rushed blood to the surface of the skin in response to the heat generated by the mustard, and are occasionally used in treatment even today. Mustard is even healthy to eat. By proportion, mustard seeds are high in protein and are cholesterol- and fat-free. Mustard greens contain important elements such as calcium, magnesium and selenium and are a notable source of Vitamin B.

All mustards are crucifers, a family of plants, many culinary, that also includes broccoli, cabbage and cauliflower. While mustard plants are cultivated for both culinary and medicinal uses, they are also important to agriculture. As we learned in the previous column, mustard is planted as a ground cover to replenish soil. Once they plants are turned under, they release a significant amount of nitrogen to revitalize the soil, and they offer an almost effortless harvest of greens and seeds before they are turned under.

For gardeners and cooks alike, the most common mustards are Brassica nigra, Brassica alba and Brassica juncea. For the kitchen herbalist, these mustards are known by the color of their seed: black mustard seed from B. nigra, yellow mustard seed from B. alba, and brown mustard seed from B. juncea. Black mustard seeds may adorn your hard roll or be sprinkled throughout your Caribbean curry. Brown seeds may swim through your Asian curry or burn through the mustard on your pu-pu platter. But for Western cooks, the most important mustard seed is yellow, which infiltrates everything from a tin box in the spice cabinet to the pickles and relishes we make when canning season rolls around. Yellow mustard seeds are also primarily what is found in the jars of condiments in the grocery aisle, and that brings us to this column.

Anyone who’s perused those aisles might conclude that mustard is the most popular bottled condiment at the American Table, but actually it is fourth, behind mayonnaise, ketchup and salsa. That noted, the variety of mustard is unmatched, from the neon yellow squiggle we all recognize from the picnic ground to fancy small batch mustards anointed with everything from horseradish to dill. Yes, we can easily buy mustard, but it is simple and rewarding to make our own. In doing so, we are engaging in the history of this important food. Each culture had its own way of preparing the condiment, from German beer mustard to Chinese hot mustard. But perhaps the most popular is French Dijon mustard, in which finely ground yellow mustard is slowly stewed with infused white wine. Dijon mustard is so important to French cooking that, like Champagne, in order to correctly wear the label, the product must be made by a specific method and only in the so-named area of the French republic. Here is Urban Home Blog’s recipe for Dijon-style mustard.

Dijon-Style Mustard
You can use any bulk powdered mustard seed to make this condiment, either from your own food-safe mustard plants or from a reputable herb supplier. This fresh canning recipe is not appropriate for hot water bath or pressure canning.

1-1/4 cup powdered yellow mustard seed
1/2 cup water
2 cups dry white wine, such as Chardonnay or Chablis
1 medium yellow onion
3 medium garlic cloves
1 sprig fresh thyme, rosemary or tarragon
1 teaspoon salt

1. Measure the dry mustard into a medium mixing bowl.
2. Measure the water into a mixing cup with a spout. Use one hand to slowly pour the water in a thin stream into the dry mustard while using the other hand to use a wire whisk to mix the water into the mustard. Once mixed, the mustard-water mixture should be smooth, thick and fragrant.
3. Peel the onion and remove the root and stem ends. Place the onion on a clean cutting board reserved for vegetables. Halve the onion from root to stem; halve each half. Cut each quarter into thin crescents. Cut across the crescents to form dice.
4. Peel the garlic and remove the root end. Half each clove; remove and discard any sprouting from the center.
5. Cut a square of cheesecloth slightly larger than the herb sprig. Place the sprig and the garlic cloves in the cloth. Wind the cloth tightly around the aromatics and tie the cloth with kitchen twine to form an herb sachet.
6. Measure the wine into a medium saucepan. Add the diced onion, the herb sachet, and the salt to the wine.
7. Turn the burner to medium. Bring the seasoned wine to a simmer, approximately three minutes. Simmer the seasoned wine until reduced by half, approximately fifteen minutes.
8. Once the wine has been reduced by half, turn off the burner.
9. Use one hand to hold a sieve over the bowl containing the mustard-water mixture and the other hand to slowly and safely pour the wine through the sieve into the bowl. The sieve will capture the solids from the wine. It is okay if the mustard-water mixture is very thick, even paste-like - the hot wine will break that up.
10. Set the sieve and the sauce pan aside. Use the wire whisk to thoroughly incorporate the wine with the mustard.
11. Use a silicon spatula to transfer the hot mustard to storage jars.
12. Refrigerated, the mustard should stay fresh for up to a year. 

Growing Mustard

The further one coasts along the Pacific Coast Highway from Los Angeles, the more the landscape changes. LA’s strip malls and condos and Santa Barbara’s mission rooftops crowd the road even as both give way to the very mountains. To the left, the Pacific ocean waits patiently, its steel gray waters churning against the rocky surf coast. The famous hot rods and hippie vans of countless beach flicks meander the twisty roads that bleed off of the PCH towards the beach. Anglers and philosophers (is there much of a difference?) settle along piers so long that the path seems to disappear into the fog that lies over the ocean.

The ride is contemplative save for the chatter of wine country plans among the passengers or the patter of the satellite dj when the riders feel quiet. As the last of the outlet malls and roadside restaurants melts away, the hills seem to move closer, and before you know it and somewhat surprisingly, you’re in farm country. Livestock from cowboy horses to beef cattle wander land that is parceled out by split rail fences. The occasional hacienda spreads along the rise, but for the most part, homesteads are hidden in the valleys on the other side of the hills. Even outbuildings are a rare sight from the road.

California’s famous crops march up the hillsides in impressive patches of lettuce, berry vines, orchard trees. Vineyards for public viewing are tended with an eye towards cultivation, but that will be most evident when you arrive in the Central Coast. Along the highway, working vineyards are planted for yield. The berries are trained upwards to tower over the earth even as they traipse in rows toward the horizon. Often in the fallow space mustard grows, like ochre fire at the feet of the vines.

Along with grapes, mustard is California’s prize crop. It gets its due in Napa, but clusters of mustard plants are unmistakable along the travel routes of the entire state. In part this is because mustard, which is very hearty to begin with, takes especially well to the weather along the Pacific coast. But it is also because, to many a California farmer, planting mustard is just good agriculture.

Just as a slather of mustard is good for your sandwich, a spread of mustard plants is good for the land. Growers typically plant field mustard as a cover crop. Mustard germinates quickly and requires minimal care, so there is always a profitable harvest of greens and seeds either happening or imminent. Mature mustard plants function as a natural insect repellent. And, when the spent plant is returned to the soil, it releases a significant amount of nitrogen to reinvigorate the soil.

If it is provided with the right conditions, mustard can contribute much to the home garden. It is good as a border, especially in the herb patch, and grows well in containers if properly provided for. Mustard requires moist soil with a pH of no less than 6.0. If you’re not sure about your soil, take a soil sample to your local home center, nursery or county extension. They can test the soil and, if it is of lesser quality, advise which soil treatment will nourish the soil. In our urban gardens, we like to use organic fertilizer with a ratio of 5, 10 and 10. The county extension can also put you in touch with other herb gardeners – perhaps even mustard growers – and of course, they can advise how best to grow mustard in your USDA Hardiness Zone. Except for extreme conditions, mustard is sturdy against both heat and frost.

In most zones, the optimal time to grow mustard from seeds is spring, timed to final frost if there is one in that zone. (In some zones, you can sow a second planting in autumn timed to first frost). Place short holes in the soil at 6-inch intervals in a border or 3-inch intervals in a well-drained deep container. Sow a few seeds in each hole and cover lightly with soil. Mist the soil and prepare to keep it moist. Once the plants germinate, watch for thin or underdeveloped slips and pinch those off. With moist soil, the plants should grow tall and hearty fairly quickly. Once the plants are heartened off, transplant the smallest plants into another prepared plot or container, either for your garden or to give as a gift. Once mustard is established, it only needs water, sunshine, and routine care to thrive.

Finally, if you want to harvest the seeds, you will need to watch for the appearance of pale green pods. As a rule of thumb, mustard will present seed pods in 30 – 45 days. Once the pods appear, watch the plants carefully, for as the pod matures it will be oriented towards the goal of germination, which it does by falling off of the plant and bursting open to scatter the seeds within. As the pod matures, it will turn from green to a pale straw color. Once it achieves that straw color, use a boline to gently remove the pod from the parent plant. Tie a piece of string around the neck of the pod and hang it in a warm dry place over a tray outfitted with a clean fine mesh screen. The pod will either burst on its own or, once you sense that the pod has dried out, thereby indicating that the seeds are ready, you can use the boline open the pod over the screen. Pick through the debris from the bursted pod to gather the seeds. Return the debris to the compost. Clean the tray and scatter the seeds across the tray to dry. Once the seeds are dry, you can save, share or plant them. But be careful if you want to cook with them – make sure they came from a food safe plant, meaning nothing contacted the plant that would be harmful for anyone to digest.

Weeknight Dinner: Chicken Stew with Artichokes

In the previous column, we cooked with artichokes, one of the fundamental ingredients of California cooking. Their delicate flavor and chewy texture add a luxe touch to any dish where they happen to find themselves. These prickly herbs can be enjoyed fresh by anyone with the fortitude to hack through them, canned for usage in such classics as warm artichoke dip, brined for placement on the antipasto tray alongside the roasted peppers, the marinated olives, and the salumi.

Artichokes lend their sophisticated presence to this month’s weeknight dinner: a rich, fragrant chicken stew with a Mediterranean influence. Chicken evokes these early days of spring, from the peeping of the newly hatched chicks to the fresh eggs for Sunday omelets. On these first days of open windows, the aroma of chicken at the hearth is the homiest of kitchen smells, as welcome as that of fresh bread, apple pie or hot coffee.

It is an open secret among experienced cooks that the richest meat of a chicken is the thighs. In this stew, those richest pieces of fresh chicken are braised in a sauce of lemon, capers and white wine. Stew isn’t stew without potatoes, which add substance to the dish even as the surprise of canned antipasto awakens the springtime palate. Serve your chicken stew with a fresh arugula salad or leaf lettuces with sherry-orange vinaigrette. Because the dish is relatively easy to prepare, there is time to bake a quick bread for dessert. This stew pairs well with a fresh Italian white such as 2011 Santa Margherita Pinot Grigio, a flinty Sauvignon Blanc such as Babich Marlborough, or, for a true California sunset dinner, Gainey’s complex Riesling.

Chicken Stew with Artichokes
Free-range organic chicken has become widely available in grocery stores; there is no substitute for it for both its flavor and for supporting humane husbandry. If there are no boneless thighs in the case, get bone-in thighs and have the in-store butcher debone them for you while you do the rest of your shopping. Brined artichokes should be available in the Italian specialty section of the supermarket, as well as at the deli counter.

1-1/4 – 1-1/2 pounds boneless chicken thighs, preferably free range organic

½ cup cake flour

2 6- or 1 12-ounce jar brined artichokes
3 tablespoons preserved capers

1 small white onion

½ pound white or Yukon Gold baby potatoes

4 medium cloves garlic

2 medium lemons, preferably

1 cup dry vermouth

Chicken stock, homemade or low sodium canned

Extra virgin olive oil

2 sprigs fresh rosemary

3 sprigs fresh oregano

3 leaves fresh sage

1 bay leaf

Dried or chopped fresh parsley

Salt

Freshly ground black pepper

1. Cut a square of cheesecloth long enough to hold the herbs. Place the rosemary, oregano, sage and bay leaf in the cheesecloth; fold the edges of the cheesecloth over the herbs to form a pouch. Tie the loose ends of the pouch with a generous length of kitchen twine. Place the sachet near the stove top.
2. Inspect the potatoes; safely use the tip of a paring knife to remove and discard any brown spots or sprouts. Place the potatoes into a colander. Rinse the potatoes with cool water and leave the colander in the sink to drain.
3. Peel the onion and remove the root and stem ends. Place the onion on the cutting board. Halve the onion from root to stem; halve each half. Cut each quarter into thin crescents. Cut across the crescents to form dice. Scrape the diced onion into a bowl and place the bowl near the stove top.
4. Peel the garlic and remove the root end. Half each clove; remove and discard any sprouting from the center. Slice each half longways into slivers and then slice each sliver longways into matchsticks. Cut across the matchsticks to mince the garlic. 
5. Gently scrape the minced garlic into a bowl.
6. Place a drop of food safe vegetable cleaner in the palm of your hand. Rub the lemons with the cleaner. Rinse the lemons under cool water until they feel clean. Dry the lemons with a paper towel.
7. Hold the lemon over the bowl containing the garlic. Use a zester to remove just the yellow outer skin of each lemon. Try to get just the yellow zest and not the bitter pith beneath the zest. Deposit the zest into the bowl as you go. Once you have zested both lemons, place the bowl containing the garlic and lemon zest near the stove top.
8. Cut one of the lemons into thirds and place the cut lemon along with a lemon press near the stove top.
9. Measure the flour into a large, clean plastic food storage bag. Sprinkle the flour with salt and several grindings of fresh black pepper.
10. Unwrap the chicken pieces and place them on a clean, disinfected cutting board devoted to poultry. Safely use a sharp knife to cut the thighs into the bite-sized pieces. It is okay if they pieces aren’t uniform in shape. As you go, place the pieces in the bag containing the flour mixture.
11. Once you have prepared all of the chicken, close the bag and shake it well to coat all of the pieces with the flour mixture.
12. Place a large Dutch oven or soup pot on the stove top. Heat the burner to medium.
13. Drizzle the pot with a five-count of olive oil. Position a heat-proof plate safely nearby.
14. Once the oil is shimmering, use tongs to carefully remove the floured chicken pieces from the bag. Shake excess flour from each piece and gently each piece into the hot oil. Brown each piece on all sides, and, once browned, place each piece on the plate. Work in batches; do not crowd the pan. If the pan starts to run dry, add more olive oil.
15. While the chicken sears, give the colander a shake. Cut each potato into coins about ¼” thick. Return the potato coins to the colander to continue draining.
16. Once you have seared all of the chicken, use a wooden spoon or spatula to loosen any browned bits from the bottom of the pan. It is okay if you can’t get all of the fond; just get what you can.
17. Replenish the oil in the pan. Add the onions to the pan and sauté the onions until they start to soften; about two minutes.
18. Once the onions start to soften, add the garlic and lemon zest to the pan. Stirring quickly, sauté the mixture until the garlic gives off its fragrance.
19. Measure the capers into the onion-garlic-lemon mixture. Stir to incorporate.
20. Gently pour the vermouth into the pan, standing back to avoid flare-ups if any. Use the wooden spoon/spatula to stir the mixture together and to scrape up any remaining browned bits from the bottom of the pan.
21. Gently transfer the chicken back to the pan along with any juices that have accumulated in the plate. Use the spoon or spatula to mix the chicken with the onion mixture.
22. Add the potatoes to the pan. Stir the mixture together.
23. Nestle the sachet into the stew mixture.
24. Gently pour enough chicken stock into the stew to cover the top of the ingredients plus 1 inch.
25. Use a lemon press to press the three pieces of reserved lemon over the pot, releasing the lemon juice into the stew.
26. Use the spoon/spatula to stir the mixture together until thick.
27. Place the lid on the pot. Reduce the heat to low.
28. Simmer the stew, covered, for 20 minutes, no peeking.
29. While the stew is simmering, open the jar/s of artichokes and decant the artichokes with their brine into one of the bowls you used for the onions or garlic. If there are large pieces of artichoke, use kitchen scissors or a knife to break those into smaller pieces.
30. After 20 minutes, remove the lid from the pot. Gently stir the stew, taking care to move all of the ingredients from the bottom of the pot. Replenish the stock if needed.
31. Add the artichokes and their brine to the stew. Stir the stew, then return the lid to the pot.
32. Simmer the stew for an additional 20 minutes, no peeking.
33. After 20 minutes, remove the lid from the pot. Use the tip of the paring knife to test a potato; it should be soft. If it is not, replenish the stock if needed and simmer the stew, covered, for an additional 5 minutes.
34. Turn off the burner. Ladle the stew into bowls and garnish with parsley and several grindings of fresh black pepper. Serve.