mr. wizard in the kitchen

Sal's currently on a fermenting bender. It started with a couple of heads of cabbage we needed to use up -- remember the soup from last week? -- and he's been meaning to make a batch of sauerkraut (blech) for awhile now. So some of the cabbage went into the soup and the rest into a big glass jar he uses for fermenting. More fridge cleaning and in went a couple of turnips and a few beets.

When our organics bin arrived Monday, he was beside himself to see what else he could stick in his mad science jar. "Celery root!" he exclaimed. Would I mind if he used it in his sauerkraut? Sure, okay. "Maybe some more turnips?" Well...okay. (Keep in mind the organics delivery is our produce for all meals unless we specifically go to the store, so we actually do use the things in it for, you know, dinner and stuff.) "Oh, and some carrots!" Hey, mister, I do need at least some things to eat. That guy and his food science obsessions....

Anyway, last night he talked me out of another beet (golden chioggas this time), a couple more turnips, and two rutabagas. (And I have until next week to to use the rainbow Swiss chard or he's sticking that in the jar, too.) He spent the next hour happily slicing things up and adding them in careful layers atop whatever crazy brew has fermented already. Aww, so cute.

lunch, blue bunny & moons:

• wraps -- mozzarella in sun dried tomato tortillas
• Thai peanut chicken (originally roasted on skewers)
• carrots and broccolette (a cross between broccoli and Chinese kale)
• Minneola tangelo sections and Pink lady apple slices
• yogurt covered raisins with a piece of orange dark chocolate on the diagonal

Comments

[Anne Hawley]

I will be eager to discuss this fermenting thing with Sal. I've read a lot about it, but have never tried it, and I personally LOVE sauerkraut.

Hope you got some fresh veggies to eat.

[Bitty]

He'll be eager to discuss it with you, I have no doubt. He is a fermenting fiend. Which would also be an awesome super villain name.

[jpe adamski]

when you rinse the kraut and add just a tad of sweetening..it can be great stuff. I have had mixed results with adding some stuff.. the turnips, ok, but the carrots may turn out mushy.. ginger is tasty..
Perhaps a little bigos, with a nice sausage? or not, if you're vegetarian. And latkes!

[Bitty]

Thanks for the tips, Joe. I may have to try a bit with a little sugar and see if that changes my opinion on sauerkraut.

He didn't end up adding carrots after all. Ginger probably would be good -- I'll mention that to him. Not a huge fan of ginger myself, but he'll love the idea, I'm sure.

Had to google bigos, now I want to try it. And mmm, latkes....