Pear-Apple Sauce

My friend Eric gave us a bag of pears and apples from his yard, I made sauce from the ones that were bruised. Apple sauce is super easy to make and pears give it a nice texture.

Pear Apple Sauce
Peel and core the apples and pears, and get rid of the bruised portions. Cut them into 1" pieces then soak them in a large pot of cold water of with juice from half a lemon. Soak for 20 minutes and drain.

You’ll need: 
- 8 cups of apple and pear, cut and cleaned
- half cup water
- 1/8 cup sugar
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- pinch of salt
- 1/2 tsp powdered ginger
- 1/2 a lemon for soaking and for zest
- a large sauce pan with a lid
- wooden spoon

In a sauce pan bring water to a boil and dissolve sugar, then add apple and pear pieces. Lower temperature to medium and cover for 10 minutes. Now add lemon zest, cinnamon, salt, and ginger. Mash the apples and pears with a wooden spoon, stir and return cover. Mash and stir about every 10 minutes so that it doesn’t caramelize. In about 45 minutes or so you’ll have a sweet, tangy rustic sauce.

I like the lumps, they go well with oatmeal. But if you want a very smooth texture run the sauce through a ricer, a food mill, or blender. Store it jarred in the fridge to prevent you from eating the whole batch. For Eric’s video on making apple sauce go to GardenFork.tv.

Zucchini and Corn Fritters

The weather is quickly changing, it's much cooler and the sun is setting earlier. Time to make some dinner. This end-of-summer meal, Zucchini and Corn Fritters, is fresh from my Eric’s garden. I got the last harvest. I think of this type of recipe as typhoon food. We made a lot of fritters during that summer-long blackout of Typhoon Pamela (1976). This recipe combines dried and fresh ingredients.

This dish is typically made with young green squash, but just use a zucchini. You can also use a young pumpkin, the color is pretty. Use fresh or frozen corn, either works fine.

The spices lend an island flavor: cumin, oregano, chili and garlic. The version of this recipe is vegetarian (not vegan) but if you wanted a more authentic flavor, add minced dried shrimp to the batter and fry a piece of dried chili in the cooking oil. For this Zucchini and Corn Fritter recipe and tips on frying crisp, golden fritters, visit Gardenfork.tv.

A Monstrous Sweet Treatfrom a Little Red Bean

Here’s another childhood memory — sweet Red Bean Paste made from the Azuki bean. It’s sold in most Asian markets all year round, but usually it’s served during fall harvest festivals. Whole red beans are also candied and preserved. They taste similar to chestnut puree and pine nuts and the paste is as smooth as fine pumpkin filling. In Asian cuisine it’s used as a sweet spread or pastry filling in moon cakes and mochi balls. Red Bean ice cream is one of my favorite flavors, especially when it's topped with candied yam.

Koreans stuff Red Bean Paste into buckwheat pancake (pul-bang) as a traditional sweet dumpling. I like it with cream cheese on toasted bagels at breakfast, I bet these would be even better on waffles — very gaijin-gwai. If you make your own ice cream try this as a new flavor. It’s easy to make… and even easier with a blender.

To learn how to make Red Bean Paste and more... visit GardenFork.tv.

The purrrfect puree: Phillip the cat advises me on blender safety.

Not-so-slopy Joe!

Ever wonder what to do with that drawer full of Ketchup and Plum Sauce packets? Cook up some Sloppy Joe! TV trays, Gun Smoke, Kung Fu, or Charlie’s Angels, corn chips, an icy glass of Tang... I have such fond memories of the 70’s and Sloppy Joe Night that I barely remember that we were in a recession.

This is one of my favorite cheap eats. You can find this Not-so-sloppy Joe recipe on GardenFork.tv.

Tostones for Breakfast!

I thought I bought little red bananas the other day. When I sliced one open I could smell the scent of fresh cut grass. As it turns out, I bought a bunch of little red plantains by mistake — lucky me!

Although they look similar plantains are not really bananas, but a close cousin there of. They’re eaten green, or when they turn redish-purple to black. High in starch and low is sugar, they are prepared like a root vegetable... I like mine fried. Tostones are platano chips that are pressed flat and twice-fried, which makes them doubly delicious.

Tostones go with any meal that you’d serve with fries — I made them for breakfast. They aren’t hard to make but there is a little trick to peeling them. Lucky for us, we can find green plantains is most grocery stores, bodegas, and Caribbean markets here in Brooklyn.

You don’t need any fancy equipment — frying pan, sharp knife... if you don't have a tostonera press you can use a the bottom of a coffee mug. For a pictorial how-to and more, visit GardenFork.tv.

Huevos con tostones  — make this for breakfast.

Another Square Meal... Mushroom Frittata

I’m really getting into these cooking rings. Here’s another square egg dish: Mushroom Frittata with red pepper, parsley, cheddar cheese, and onion. It's served with cocktail sauce with a healthy side of buttered toast fries.

This recipe makes breakfast for two — or brunch for two depending how late your day starts on a weekend. It’s important not to over-fill the rings, otherwise they’ll flow over the tops of the rings as they cook. You’ll add the eggs into the rings to make layers, sorta like a parfait.

Since this dish is finished by steaming in a non-stick, you won’t need much butter, but that’s entirely up to you.

For this Mushroom Frittata recipe and more visit GardenFork.tv.