L’hamd markad – Preserved Salted Lemons

March 30, 2007

...week by mooching some lemons off of a friend’s tree and preserving them by making one of the essential ingredients of Moroccan food, L’hamd markad or preserved salted lemons. L’hamd markad is easy to make. Here’s a recipe from Cooking at the Kasbah by Kitty Morse: 12 or more unblemished organically grown Meyer or other lemons, scrubbed Sea salt fresh lemon juice as needed Pat lemons dry. Cut a thin dime-sized piece from both ends of each lemon. Se...

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Irish Soda Bread

Mr. Homegrown

March 19, 2007

Bread, Food

1 Comment

...to post as representative of the best of quick breads. For years I’ve been making a much better whole wheat-ish quick bread (which he seems to have forgotten) and this is how it goes: Irish Brown Soda Bread 1 3/4 c. all purpose flour 1 3/4 c. whole wheat flower 3 T. toasted wheat bran 3 T. toasted wheat germ 2 T. old fashioned oats (note: change up or skip these nuggety bits as necessary–they just add texture) 2 T packed brown sugar 1 t. baking po...

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Growing Chayote

Mr. Homegrown

June 2, 2007

Gardening

16 Comments

...sely intertwined the chayote with an equally prodigious passion fruit vine making for a combo that produces many pounds of fruit all summer long. Chayote (Sechium edule), for those not in the know, is a wonder plant of the gourd family hailing from Mexico and Central America. It has a mild slightly sweet cucumber-like taste. They can be boiled, pan fried, steamed, baked, pickled or chopped up and tossed raw in a salad. Though requiring a fair amou...

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Physalis pruinosa a.k.a. “Ground Cherry”

Mr. Homegrown

April 30, 2007

Gardening

10 Comments

...names get so confusing. The back of the Tompson & Morgan seed package mis-labels this plant as the “Cape Gooseberry” (“Cape Gooseberry” is actually the very similar Physalis peruviana). Physalis pruinosa is part of a genus Physalis of the nightshade or Solanaceae family, which includes edible plants such as tomatoes and potatoes, and psychotropic plants such as datura and tobacco. Many plants of the nightshade family combine edibility and toxicit...

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Fallen Fruit

Mr. Homegrown

April 20, 2007

Events, Food, Foraging, Gardening

2 Comments

...nothing to lose but your hunger They also have a set of handy maps of publicly accessible fruit in a couple of neighborhoods and a video for those who missed the fun last night. Rumor has it they will be doing a jam making session sometime this summer and SurviveLA will be there. Now we just need another collective of clever revolutionaries to deal with LA’s other great street resource–abandoned mattresses and couches....

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