URBAN ROOTS
Screening and Discussion
Tuesday, Feb 7th, 7:30 p.m.
Bossone Research Center (3140 Market St)

Urban Farming is the topic of the timely documentary film by Tree Media, Urban Roots, which explores the urban farming phenomenon in Detroit, Michigan. The Westphal College at Drexel University will host the Philadelphia theatrical premiere of Urban Roots on Tuesday, February 7th at 7:30 PM in the Bossone Research Center (3140 Market St.). Food grown locally in community gardens and urban farms is starting to make a positive impact for families faced with food challenge issues in Philadelphia. A panel discussion following the film with members of Philadelphia’s urban farming community, local food advocates, and the film’s director, Mark MacInnis, will focus on Philadelphia urban farming and how to get involved.

Prior to Urban Roots, there will be a screening event of Clay Hereth’s documentary short West Philly Grown at 6:30 PM. Clay’s film tells the story of the Mill Creek Farm, an urban farm at 49th & Brown Sts in West Philadelphia that grows a variety of organic vegetables, herbs, and fruits in addition to providing educational programs on urban farming. Please consider arriving early as we’ll be providing information on Philadelphia’s urban farming movement and ways you can get involved. The event is $5 for the general public and free with a Drexel ID, for more information call 215-895-1029 or visit www.drexel.edu/westphal. Event is presented by Drexel Green, The office of University & Community Partnership, Westphal’s Film & Video program and Westphal’s departments of Architecture & Interiors and Media Arts.

Panelists include:

• Dr. Eugenia Victoria Ellis: Drexel professor and co-director of the Drexel Engineering Cities Initiative, moderator


• Chris Bolden-Newsome, Farmer Educator, Bartram’s Gardens


• Phil Forsyth: Orchard Director, Philadelphia Orchard Project


• Ryan Kuck: Co-Founder Preston’s Paradise and farm manager Greensgrow


• Mark MacInnis: director, Urban Roots
  


• Dan Pohlig: Communications committee, South Philly Food Co-op


• Johanna Rosen: Co-Founder/Co-Director, West Philadelphia’s Mill Creek Farm


• Sarah Wu: Mayor’s Office of Sustainability

 

Are you are looking for something to do for Valentine’s Day?  Show your love by attending our Love Your Co-op event on Sunday, February 12th!

Join us for chocolate, cheese and wine tasting as well as a demonstration by Pastry Chef, Chad Durkin.  Chad was the Executive Pastry Chef at Susanna Foo’s restaurant, The Water Works Restaurant and Lounge and has competed on several Food Network Shows.  He’ll be demonstrating an easy to make-at-home dessert that you can replicate for your loved one on February 14th.  (Don't worry, it's not the gingerbread house pictured below!)



In addition to the demonstration, you can enjoy complimentary chocolate, cheese, wine, Little Baby’s Ice Cream, and a chocolate fountain with fruit, pretzels, and pound cake!

When: Sunday, February 12, 2012
Where: 842 Wharton St, Philadelphia, PA 19147 (Board Director’s Home)
Session 1: 2:00pm to 5:00pm (Demonstration begins at 3pm)
Session 2: 6:30pm to 9:30pm (Demonstration begins at 7:30pm)
Tickets*: $12 each ($7 for member-owners**) 

Reserve your tickets by going here for the afternoon session and here for the evening session.  (Each session is limited to 30 people so get your tickets now!)

 *Parents: Kids under 12 may attend for free and do not need a ticket!
**Members: To receive your member-owner discount when purchasing your ticket, enter your membership number under the promotional code.  Example: Member62

We hope to see you there!

I played with a lot of different names for this, but the reality is, it's honey mustard dressing. It's not thick, creamy, guilt-laden dressing though. It's light and made of food, and it's tangy and sweet and zesty and everything you need to brighten up a lazy salad (mine is just lettuce and onion). It's fat-free, if that's your game. Phrases like "Light honey mustard salad dressing," and "Fat-free honey mustard salad dressing" sound like they refer to a dressing with something missing. This one isn't missing anything.

This is the go-to dressing at Saturday's Mouse HQ. I make a few others, but they're more complicated than three ingredients in a jar. Two minutes from plain lettuce to salad.

So get yourself a jar. Make sure the lid fits tightly.

And open up the cupboards. Red wine vinegar, honey and your favorite mustard. You can use the mustard that makes you happy here, if you're into spicy mustard, do that, yellow, sure, deli, that's fine, whatever you like. I always use brown mustards and I like it best with very grainy mustard.

It's three parts mustard,

three parts honey,

and two parts red wine vinegar.

That's it. Give it a shake. This is where you appreciate a well-sealed jar.

And top your salad.

Keeps in the fridge for at least a week like this, I haven't tried for longer.

This recipe is cross-posted at Saturday’s Mouse, where I’m working on making food out of food. 

Ingredients

• 1.5 tablespoons mustard


• 1.5 tablespoons honey


• 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar

Instructions

Start with a mustard you enjoy. I like this best with something grainy. Put a tablespoon and a half in a jar.  Add as much honey.  Add a bit less vinegar.  Shake.  Eat.

Details

• Prep time: 2 mins


• Yield: 3 servings

This is what I'm thinking about today, in no particular order:

1.  Crocuses!

Yet another flower that blooms before most others.  I'm going to try to plant some crocus bulbs and see what happens - you're supposed to plant bulbs in the fall.  But last year I planted some in January and most of them grew beautifully and added some nice spring color.  I often forget about crocuses (I have some sort of idea in my head that I used to hate them as a child but I can't for the life of me figure out why) but now I think they are pretty and are much more than just Easter flowers.  And they're where saffron comes from!  So I think if you grew enough crocuses you could harvest their stigmas (three per flower according to wikipedia) and dry them and have saffron!  But please no one do that without checking a few other sources since there could definitely be important details that I've missed and I don't want anyone poisoning themselves by eating crocuses.

2.  Moving on!  I don't often pick up Grid but I actually think it's not a bad magazine and it's definitely good for keeping abreast of environmental/gardening goings on.  And here's what I saw today:  a workshop this weekend on gardening on your roof!  I've always been curious about gardening on roofs - we have a flat section of roof that would be great for a garden.  Unfortunately, the roof is leaky and since I do not own my house I'm reluctant to do something that could cause the whole roof to fall in, but it's definitely an idea I've stored away for the future.  As the above link points out, green roofs are really good for lots of things, from rain runoff to temperature control for both your house and the surrounding area.  Win win!  I'm not going to this but I'd thought I'd share in case anyone is interested.  Do let me know if you go!

3.  Lastly, I'm having a bit of trouble and am wondering if anyone could help.  That reads like I'm about to say something very personal and slightly embarrassing, but actually this is about my CSA.  Ha!  I signed up for the Greensgrow winter CSA which started back in December.  I really like it!  I went in on a Lancaster Farm Fresh CSA share (with three other people) when I lived in West Philly about five years ago but even though I was only getting a quarter of a share each week I still struggled to eat all those veggies.  But it was also awesome because it forced me to eat weird vegetables that I wouldn't have tried on my own and definitely made me eat healthier.  The Greensgrow CSA is every two weeks and comes with milk in a returnable glass bottle (YES), a different cheese every time and a choice of dairy (Pequea Farms yogurt, which is easily the most delicious yogurt I've ever tasted, a dozen eggs, butter or tofu.)  I've tried to eat everything each time but I'm failing.  Last Saturday we got acorn squash, onions, carrots, kale, beets and more that I can't think of right now.  We roasted the squash and sauteed the kale with garlic and onions and ate some carrots with hummus and have yet to do anything with the beets and the rest of it.  When I looked at the languishing veggies this morning, the carrots were shriveled into little orange witch fingers (you know what I mean?)  I'm doing this with my boyfriend so it's two of us eating and it's still hard.  Does anyone have any tips?  I seem to end up getting home from work starving and staring at some root vegetables that I'd have to roast for an hour and end up eating something like tortilla chips instead.  We're going to try planning some meals (something we both loathe but maybe this will be some sort of good lesson or something) and also picking up things like bread and meat to make more complete meals.  I should note that Greensgrow has a meat option but with my previous CSA experience I assumed it would be pounds and pounds of meat and I don't even like meat that much.  Turns out its a very reasonable amount of meat...next time.  So...any tips?  Other than "be less lazy" cause I already know I have to do that.

Happy 2012!  Now that it seems that winter has finally arrived I am looking for ways to add some life and color to my little empty (of plants) back yard.  Luckily I have the ivy left over from a previous tenant growing around the tree and up the back fence to at least provide some green during the winter.  But I want color!  If I can't surround myself with millions of tomato plants (slight exaggeration) then I at least want something to brighten it up out there a bit.

I know there are lots of plants that can handle winter outside but the majority are green (hello, evergreens) and while I love the color green with all my heart I just need something a little brighter in these dark months*.  Enter:  witch hazel!

Witch hazel is pretty cool.  It has leaves, but like other deciduous plants they fall off in the winter.  Then the bare branches produce yellow (or orange or red) flowers, meaning that they flower when every other deciduous plant just looks dead.  Plus they're bright and weird-looking which is instantly a plus in my book.

There are different kinds of witch hazel, all in the genus hamamelis.  My knowledge of witch hazel is not that extensive but there are varieties of the plant that have originated in the United States, Japan and China.  This one is hamamelis virginiana, one of the species that originated in the US:

Anyway, I'm not showing you my own photos because, well, I don't have any witch hazel.  Yet.  I'd like to plan a trip to this nursery in New Jersey because they have lots of different witch hazel cultivars.

I don't see too much witch hazel around Philly but it grows wild in the woods.  I remember seeing some in the Wissahickon one February or March a few years back.  Something about those bright, weird flowers really gets me.  Someday -- someday! -- I'll have a witch hazel to call my own.

*This is how dedicated I am to the color green:  Once, about 6 or 7 years ago, I was flying back to college and was at a newsstand looking for trashy magazines to read on the flight.  One fashion magazine caught my eye (I think it was InStyle?) because it was the "green issue."  Now this was before the word "green" became synonymous with "eco-friendly" so I eagerly grabbed the magazine, imagining pages upon pages of green clothes.  This is a fashion magazine, right?  Well, yeah - imagine my disappointment when I opened it up on the plane and found that it was in fact about recycling and there were absolutely zero pictures of green clothing.

Our friends at Cantina Los Caballitos (1651 E. Passyunk Ave) are generously donating 10% of the proceeds from all food purchased between 7pm-9pm on Tuesday 1/17 to the South Philly Food Co-op! So go ahead, get that extra appetizer and splurge on dessert - it all supports your favorite community effort to bring a cooperatively-owned grocery store to our neighborhood. Note: you do not have to be a co-op member to participate - so spread the word to your friends, co-workers, and neighbors! For more info or to RSVP please check out the Facebook event.

I've been lax about making bread. November - January is so busy anyway, I haven't been making the time. I very intentionally don't order bread through my buying club, because I'm planning on making it myself, and then I don't and everything is on a tortilla. Just the other day I went to the supermarket for fruit and a couple of staples and I was drawn in by the bread and bought some sandwich rolls, since I knew I wasn't going to make them this week.

Well, it's a new year. Let's make some bread. Not just bread, either, let's make some sweet and warm and cinnamony bread.

This recipe makes three loaves, which I think is perfect because you get one to freeze, one to give away and one for right now. If you don't have three loaf pans, do cut down the recipe.

First, scald some milk. Lots of folks out there will tell you that if you're using pasteurized milk, there is no need to scald it, but other folks tell you to go ahead and scald if you're making bread. Scalding is about bringing it up to just shy of boiling, stirring all the while, and then quickly turning it off.

I used skim, but you will experience a different level of luxury if you use whole.

Set the milk aside to cool. Get it down under 125 degrees before using it.

What I like to do, for efficiency, is wait until it's down to lukewarm, and toss in the butter.

We're going to need 4oz of softened butter anyway, why not soften it right here in the milk and that'll help cool the milk too.

Get some yeast foaming in a cup of warm water and a sprinkle of sugar. Once frothy, add a cup of sugar.

And three eggs.

And a teaspoon of salt.

Then slowly stream in your warm milk and butter, while mixing.

And then quite a bit of unphotographed flour. 8 cups - a mix of white and whole wheat. If you use all white, it'll be softer, more whole wheat, it'll be drier.

Also, while we're doing the ingredient thing, this is a good time to set aside some butter to soften. You'll need it for greasing the bowl the dough rises in and for greasing the loaf pans, and for brushing with butter near the end.

Mix it together either by hand, or until your machine gives up on you and presents you with dough creeping way up and over the dough hook.

At this point you can give up and revert to doing it by hand.

Knead until smooth.

Then roll into a ball and set to rise in a *buttered* bowl.

Leave it to rise, covered, until doubled in size. I either put dough in my basement near my boiler, or I tuck it away inside my china cabinet.

Meanwhile, make the cinnamon sugar mix to go inside the bread.

That's cinnamon, white sugar, brown sugar, nutmeg and yes, cayenne. A pinch of cayenne doesn't make things hot, it makes things better.

See? You can't even tell there's cayenne once it's mixed together.

Once the dough has doubled (somewhere between 1 and 2 hours), take it out of its hiding place.

And divide it into thirds. You're making three loaves.

Roll a third of the dough out to about a half-inch on a floured cutting board. You're aiming for a rectangle, but no one is looking.

Dampen the dough with a little water - like a teaspoon, and spread that around. Then spread a third of the sugar-cinnamon mixture on top.

Roll the dough tightly from edge to edge.

This roll actually isn't so tight. Looser rolls mean gaps in the bread where the cinnamon swirls fall.

If the roll is too long now, give it a solid smush and then roll a bit more to re-shape.

Do that with each third of the dough and cinnamon-sugar mixture. Drop each into a *buttered* loaf pan and set aside to rise again. You want them to rise until they're fluffy up above the pan. Probably less than an hour.

Once they've risen, bake at 350 for about 45-50 minutes, but come back and visit at 30.

At the 30 minute mark, take the loaves out and brush with butter, then rotate them and put them back in.

They're done when they're golden brown, sound hollow when you thump them, and their interior temperature reaches 200 degrees.

Let them cool 5-10 minutes until you're comfortable touching the loaves (not the pans, the pans are still hot) and dump them out of the pans and on to baking sheets.

Give them 20 minutes or so longer to cool and then slice away.

We're all ready for a toaster and some butter.

This recipe is cross-posted at Saturday’s Mouse, where I’m working on making food out of food. 

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups skim milk (scalded)

 

• 3 eggs

 

• 1 and 1/4 cups, plus a tablespoon, sugar, divided

 

• 1 teaspoon table salt

 

• 2 packets or 4.5 teaspoons yeast

 

• 1 cup plus three teaspoons warm water, divided

 

• 1/2 cup (4oz) plus 2 tablespoons, butter, divided

 

• 3 tablespoons cinnamon

 

• 1/4 cup brown sugar

 

• a pinch of cayenne

 

• 1 tablespoon nutmeg

 

• 8 cups flour - mixed whole wheat and white

Instructions

• Scald the milk and set aside to cool. Mix a tablespoon of sugar in with the warm water and add the yeast. Let sit until frothy.

 

• When milk is lukewarm, add 1/2 cup butter.

 

• Add 1/2 cup white sugar, salt and eggs to frothy yeast mixture and mix together. Slowly add in milk and butter, stirring or mixing.

 

• Gradually add 8 cups of flour (I prefer 6 white and 2 whole wheat), stirring until well mixed.

 

• Drop dough onto a floured board and knead until smooth. Roll into a ball.

 

• Grease a large bowl with butter and turn the dough in that bowl to cover all sides. Set aside to rise until doubled (1-2 hours).

 

• Mix remaining sugar, brown sugar, cinnamon, cayenne and nutmeg in a small bowl.

 

• When dough has risen, divide into thirds. Roll each third out into a rectangle as wide as your loaf pan is long.

 

• Dampen dough with water and top with 1/3 of cinnamon-sugar mixture.

 

• Roll tightly and lay seam-side down in a buttered loaf pan. Repeat for all three loaves.

 

• Set aside to rise until fluffy over the top of the loaf pans.

 

• Bake at 350 for 45-50 minutes, brushing with butter and rotating midway.

 

• Bread is done when internal temperature reaches 200 degrees and bread makes a hollow sound when thumped.

 

• Cool for 5-10 minutes, then remove from pans to continue cooling.

Details

• Prep time: 30 mins

 

• Cook time: 50 mins

 

• Total time: 4 hour 20 mins

 

• Yield: 3 loaves

 

Meet Aubin Clever!

What do you do for a living?
I am an IT Business Analyst working for a large multinational holding company located in Philadelphia, PA.

Do you have a nickname?
I have many many nicknames, the most prevalent and common being Aubie.

How did you hear about the food co-op?
Through the Passyunk Square Civic Association.

Why did you join the food co-op?
I love the idea of a co-ops in general, and the thought of having access to fresh, locally sourced food seemed like a no brainer.

How long have you lived in South Philly?
I bought my house in May of 2007.

Which neighborhood of South Philly do you live in?
I live in Passyunk Square, or as I have tried to get it called for years, P-Square.

What do you like best about your neighborhood?
It is walkable, relatively safe, still fairly affordable and has a great mix of people. There is also a nice restaurant and bar scene, which I enjoy.

What is your favorite meal to cook and why?
I like to make a good old red gravy. I love the process, the smell of it when cooking and also all of the things you can do with it when done. I also would say a close second is tandori chicken.

Honey Crisp or Pink Lady?
I am a Gala guy.

Kale or Collards?
Collards for sure. Especially if they are cooked with some sort of bad for you meat.

Bacon or Sausage?
Bacon. Has anyone ever answered sausage?

Milk Chocolate or Dark Chocolate?
This is a very tough question. I suppose I will say dark chocolate because it isn't supposed to be bad for you. So I don't feel guilty when I eat it.

We’d love to hear from you! Please consider sharing with us why you became a member-owner. Email [email protected] to help with this feature.

I love this soup. Who can beat cheese and onion in rich broth?

But like so many restaurant foods, when we started cooking at home a lot, the restaurant versions all seemed too salty. I don't order it anymore because there is just too much risk of it tasting like a salt lick. Soup's tricky that way. But if I make it, I'm in control.

There are a lot of onion soup recipes out there, with some variation. Some folks insist you need to use yellow onions, or white, or Vidalia or red. There's the white wine camp and the red wine camp and the cognac camp. There's apple cider in some, and balsamic vinegar in others. Some recipes include three hours of baking onions. Some use chicken stock, some use beef stock and some use a mix.

This is a fairly quick*, delicious soup. It's hearty and cheesy and warm and rich and a bit sweet. You could even make a vegetarian version with mushroom stock.

Let's do this, shall we?

Since I'm not doing a vegetarian version, I needed to start with beef stock. Several weeks ago, I ordered something called "soup bones" from the buying club. This was new territory for me. I'm not going to show pictures, because that is somewhat horrifying, but I made a bed of rough chopped carrots and onions and celery and garlic, and spritzed everything with olive oil, and put the bones (ok, it was one huge bone) on top. The bone had a good amount of meat on it, so that all roasted together with a tablespoon of tomato paste (I read that somewhere) and hung around for about an hour in the oven until it was roasty. Then I just simmered it on low all day, and strained it FOUR TIMES. The last strain was after a night in the fridge, and the fat had all congealed on the top so it was pretty easy to remove.

I told my mother I was making this and she said it was funny, she was going to make onion soup soon too. And I said, "Are you making the stock, or buying it?" And she said she planned to make the stock, and asked what that entailed, and I told her and she decided to buy stock. So, you know, make your own decision. I'm saving salt this way.

But really, what you need to start with are onions. I used red. Other folks have other opinions. I used three pounds of red onions, which was four huge onions.

I sliced them, but not paper thin. I considered busting out the mandoline for this, but I figured with the caramelization, they were just going to turn to mush anyhow.

With four tablespoons of butter and a tablespoon of olive oil,

I set them to caramelize.

Then I chopped up some shallots to add depth.

They went in.

After about 10 minutes on medium-high, when they were soft and turning sweet,

I sprinkled on a half teaspoon of kosher salt.

Then I let them keep caramelizing for the rest of an hour, stirring just occasionally.

This is an hour. Look at that fond.

They're pretty much a liquid.

I sprinkled a third cup of flour on top and stirred to coat.

They cooked for about five minutes. Then it was time to deglaze.

I put almost a cup of malbec - more than 3/4 - in a measuring cup, and filled the rest with balsamic vinegar.

Folks use all sorts of wine for this, so feel free.

Then the stock.

10 cups.

 

 

And herbs and such. A bay leaf.

 

A little more than a tablespoon of fresh (frozen) thyme.

A good bit of black pepper.

Now let it simmer. 40 minutes? Until it's all come together and you're ready to eat.

Meanwhile, find some bread. I keep the ends of bread in my freezer, but a normal person might need to get a baguette. I've got a lot of soup here, but I only need enough bread ready for four servings - two tonight, two for lunch tomorrow and the rest will freeze. So I dug up a piece of french bread and some miscellany.

I cut it into cubes and toasted it in the oven.

When the soup was done, or rather, we were ready to eat, because it had been simmering an hour at that point, remove the bay leaf

and pour it into individual oven-safe bowls** - on a rimmed baking sheet. I happen to have made a good decision at Goodwill years ago. Sometimes I buy stuff and it just sits, other times I get soup crocks.

Top with bread

and gruyere.

And into a 400 degree oven for 10 minutes to melt.

Have it with a salad, not only because it's beef stock covered in cheese and you just should, but also because it's piping hot right now. Have a conversation.

It won't be long.

Remember how I only added a sprinkle of salt to the onions when they were caramelizing? The only salt here is that, plus the cheese, plus whatever's in your bread, so maybe sprinkle your bowl lightly. Taste first.

This made eight to ten decent sized servings.

*soup quick, not like, grilled cheese quick.

**don't have an oven safe bowl? No worries. Melt cheese on bread in the oven, and toss that on top of the soup.

This recipe is cross-posted at Saturday’s Mouse, where I’m working on making food out of food. 

Ingredients

• 3 pounds red onions, sliced

 

• 10 cups beef broth

 

• 4 tablespoons butter

 

• 1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil

 

• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

 

• 1 cup shallots, chopped

 

• 1 bay leaf

 

• 1 tablespoon fresh thyme

 

• 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar

 

• 3/4 cup red wine

 

• 1 teaspoon black pepper

 

• 1/3 cup -per serving- stale bread, cubed

 

• 1 oz -per serving- gruyere or swiss, sliced

Instructions

• Slice onions and chop shallots

 

• Heat butter and olive oil on medium.

 

• Add onions and shallots and caramelize on medium, stirring occasionally.

 

• After 10 minutes, sprinkle with kosher salt and stir. Visit and stir occasionally, but allow onions to stick a bit and create a fond on the bottom of the pot. Leave to caramelize about an hour or until very soft.

 

• Add wine and vinegar. Scrape fond from pot. Add stock. Heat to simmer.

 

• Add bay leaf (remember you'll have to remove it later), thyme and black pepper. Simmer 40 minutes or so.

 

• Meanwhile, toast croutons and slice cheese.

 

• When soup is done, pour into individual oven-safe bowls, top with croutons and cheese and bake until melted.

Details

• Prep time: 10 mins

 

• Cook time: 1 hour 50 mins

 

• Total time: 2 hours

 

• Yield: 8-10 servings

 

A haiku:

Eggplant, your flowers

Delicate and lavender

But no eggplant.  Why?

Alternately:

I only wanted

To eat one eggplant, just one

Alas, there was none.