DC-Inspired Recipes are written by Laura of Lauralicious in DC.

CSAs (Community Supported Agriculture) have been discussed a few times before on PoP. With the beginning of the fresh produce season upon us, it’s a great time to make recipes with delicious local vegetables.

I joined a CSA for the first time this year, Norman’s Farm Market, which had its first week last Sunday. I brought home a half-share of delicious vegetables and fruit. (I picked Norman’s partly because they offered 8-week memberships instead of 20-24 week ones, which meant that I wasn’t out a lot of money if I didn’t like the weekly selection.)  One of the greens in my box was a lovely bunch of red-stemmed swiss chard, along with potatoes, strawberries, beets, squash, zucchini, peas, and tomatoes.

Check out this recipe for sauteed swiss chard with lemon.

Continues after the jump. Read More

“DC-inspired recipes” are written by Laura from Lauralicious In DC.

This week’s recipe comes straight from an Eastern Market vendor. Ever in the mood for some poultry that’s different from ho-hum-yawn chicken breasts? I like to try something new on occasion. However, before cooking new foods, I have to know that the dish isn’t going to require that I buy extra equipment or invest in seldom-used ingredients.

Recently, I picked up some cornish game hens while shopping the fresh meat counter at Eastern Market. If you’re like me, and have never tried this poultry before, I can tell you these birds are cheap and easy. Objective No. 1: make sure any unusual meat products will not require ridiculous preparation wizardry. From the label, and from talking to the vendor, I determined that cooking a game hen would not require any special roasting pans, magic wands, or slaving over a hot stove. Objective No. 2: make sure essential ingredients are ones I can use again. Luckily, when I talked to the vendor, he was kind enough to suggest what seasonings to cook with a hen. The ingredients were all items I had in my cupboard or that I buy often. Objective No. 3: Only buy as much as I can finish in 1-2 days. This one’s already taken care of – a hen’s no bigger than about 3 moderate servings. Suggested ingredients in hand, I came up with my interpretation of the recipe at home. Here’s Eastern Market’s recipe for Cornish Game Hen.

Full recipe after the jump. Read More

“DC-inspired recipes” are written by Laura from Lauralicious In DC.

After hearing debate about proposed DC soda taxes, I thought, why not try making home-made soda?

An easy way to make a homemade soda is to buy flavored syrup and just add it to seltzer water. As in, peach syrup+seltzer=totally refreshing.

You can also go one step further and make your own flavor base by using fruit and/or herbs and simple syrup. For example, here’s my recipe for Mango-Lime Soda.

Mango Lime Soda
-Fresh or frozen mango
-Simple syrup, such as Lime simple syrup (also useful for mojitos and margaritas!)
-Lime
-Seltzer water
-Blender or food processor

1. Cut a mango into chunks, or defrost frozen mango in the microwave.
2. Puree it as fine as you can using a food processor or blender.
3. Add spoonfuls of the mango puree and simple syrup in a 1:1 ratio to the bottom of a glass, depending on how tall your glass is (2-3 small spoonfuls worked for me).
4. Squeeze a lime slice into it.
5. Top off with seltzer water.
6. Garnish with lime.

Any kind of fruit that can be blended easily can be used. You could also personalize it with herbs like basil or mint, or other ingredients like agave nectar or balsamic vinegar.

Any of you have any other favorite recipes for homemade fizzy drinks?

“DC-Inspired Recipes” are by Laura from Lauralicious In DC.

I never would have been turned on to drinking bourbon if not for Bourbon on 18th (of epic chalk art fame). So when I emptied a bottle of bourbon recently, I held onto the bottle since it still had that certain sweet, rich, authentic flavor about it. Here’s a recipe for Bourbon-Infused Honey Mustard that incorporates a subtle note of bourbon to my favorite summer condiment.

RECIPE: Bourbon-Infused Honey Mustard
-1 just-emptied bourbon jar
-1/2 cup mustard seeds
-3/4 cup apple cider vinegar
-1/3 cup water
-honey
-other herbs, if you want
-food processor

1. Soak the seeds in the vinegar-water solution, in the bourbon jar, for 2 days. This is the part where you might feel like you are doing a science experiment.
2. Then, pour some of the seeds in a bowl, and pour the rest into the food processor. This is so you can re-mix the whole grains with the smooth paste later.
3. Process the grains with honey (to taste) and other herbs (if you want) until it’s smooth.
4. Mix the grains back in, and there you have it.

Anyone else have any interesting recipes that incorporate bourbon or any other kind of liquor you’ve gotten hooked on in DC? Have any favorite cocktails at Bourbon? Or just care to comment on the epic Ketchup Vs. Mustard debate?

From an email:

“As you’re putting together holiday menu ideas for your readers, I wanted to share a great healthy salad created by the founders of organic eatery chain, Sweetgreen (www.sweetgreen.com). A nice balance and/or alternative to any high-calorie holiday meal is this amazing home-cooked baby spinach & mache with honey roasted turkey salad, topped with dried cranberries, and cornbread croutons with a White Balsamic & Black Truffle Vinaigrette.”

I think this sounds pretty tasty. I’ll be honest though, I’ve never heard of mache… We judged Sweetgreen back in June.

Recipe after the jump. Read More

Photo by PoPville flickr user Sanjay Suchak

This is pretty cool – from a press release:

“Food Network stars Mario Batali, Bobby Flay and Emeril Lagasse travel to the White House to take part in an unprecedented culinary competition in Super Chef Battle, a special two-hour episode of Iron Chef America. Greeted by First Lady Michelle Obama, the chefs are joined by White House Executive Chef Cristeta Comerford and receive their challenge: create a meal for America using The White House Kitchen Garden’s produce as their secret ingredients. The special episode premieres Sunday, January 3rd at 8pm ET/PT.”

Thanks to Yenni for this special guest post. Looks/sounds delicious!

Since many people on this blog enjoy tasting different cultures through local restaurants, I approached PoP about writing weekly recipes featuring fresh, local ingredients that you can prepare at home. I learned to cook in my Cuban grandmother’s kitchen and have lived in various countries in South America, so Caribbean and Latin food are my specialties.

There is an abundance of beautiful, multi-colored varieties of squash at local groceries and farmers’ markets this time of year. High in Vitamins A, B6, C and potassium, among other essential vitamins and nutrients, squash has a soft texture and wonderfully complements ground beef. This recipe is very versatile; you can use any type of squash or pumpkin, stuff it with the picadillo, which is a Cuban-style ground beef, then bake it in the oven for about an hour.

Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees and begin to prepare the picadillo with ground beef, one yellow onion, two small seeded tomatoes, one green pepper and five garlic cloves. Using a frying pan lightly coated with olive oil, heat the diced vegetables, – garlic first, followed by the onion, green pepper and tomatoes about five minutes until fragrant. Add some cumin powder, oregano, thyme, pepper and a whole scotch bonnet pepper with the stem cut off and membrane and seeds taken out. Cover this mixture, which is called a “sofrito” used to give seasoning to dishes, and simmer for about 10 minutes on the lowest heat. Meanwhile sprinkle the meat with adobo, turning it to get it all seasoned, then mash the meat into the sofrito and add the autumn spices which will enhance the natural flavors of both the meat and squash: a cinnamon stick broken into two pieces, cloves, allspice, nutmeg and a dash of brown sugar. While the meat is browning, add a small can of Spanish-style tomato sauce (Goya makes a good one for about $0.35), this will bind the meat. Lastly, add raisins, dried cranberries, slivered almonds and capers.

Let the picadillo simmer on low heat while getting the squash ready to bake. Cut the top off close to the stem, then poke the center of the squash with a foke and scoop out all of the seeds. Add a drop of olive oil to coat the inside of the squash and seal in all the flavors, then stuff the cavity with the picadillo, packing it down. Place the lid back on the squash and stick a skewer in it to remain closed while baking. Bake for about an hour, then remove from oven and sprinkle the rim of the squash lightly with brown sugar.

To serve, cut open squash and enjoy! This dish pairs well with a crisp apple salad and Dominican style red beans and rice, as pictured.

If anyone has any questions or recipe requests, e-mail me at [email protected].