When-Things-Fall-Apart Menu

Think of chopping as an act of resistance

Many of us in the US feel anxious as we witness the live-stream erosion of our democracy. And many outside our borders feel similarly as they watch from afar. Some of us may lose our appetites, some may overeat. In these stressful times, we need to take care of ourselves—and each other. And be sure to eat!

This week’s menu

Some weeks, my daughter MK stays with her dad and me, some weeks she stays at her place. This week I’ve been cooking for two. Dinner is served at 6pm (sticking to a schedule makes getting dinner on the table less stressful). Comfort food is on menu.

Broccoli and cheese quiche

Before MK left on the weekend, she reminded me to eat the broccoli she bought while we were out of town. MK also made two discs of pastry on Sunday afternoon. So I quickly made quiche on Monday. (I froze the other disk of pastry.)

Quiche uses up this and that and can be eaten chilled (i.e., no need to reheat leftovers) for breakfast, lunch or dinner. I hadn’t made quiche in, well, at least a year and after making—and tasting—this one, wondered why.

Adjust the following recipe, based (within reason) on what you have on hand.

• One pie crust for a 9-inch pie

• 2 cups cheddar cheese

• 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour

• 1 1/2 cups bite-size broccoli florets

• 4 large eggs

• 1 cup half and half or heavy cream

• salt and pepper to taste

Roll out the crust to 12 inches and line a 9-inch pie plate, crimping the edges. Heat the oven to 375°F.

In a bowl, toss the cheese, flour and broccoli. Distribute evenly in the pie crust.

In the now-empty bowl, whisk the eggs. Stir in the half and half or cream. Add the salt and pepper. Pour over the cheese and broccoli mixture in the pie shell.

Bake for 50 minutes to an hour until the top has browned.

Channa masala

Now well into June, I need to clear the freezer of 2024’s remaining frozen roasted tomatoes, tomato purée and tomato paste to make way for this year’s tomatoes. (I process a few 20-pound cases every year.)

We eat lots of tomato-based dishes (hence the annual tomato processing), such as channa masala, which I made on Tuesday night. Jalapeños have yet to appear this summer but fortunately, I have lots of fermented hot sauce in the refrigerator, so I added a bunch of that.

To go with the channa masala, I made sourdough naan. I haven’t shared that recipe anywhere—yet (more on that later).

The last jar of frozen tomato purée

By the way, use your freezer! Yes, it consumes energy—empty or not. So you may as well fill it to preserve food like leftover ingredients or future recipe components or excess cookies. Yesterday, I thawed out a loaf of banana bread I had stashed in there.

Mini pizzas

I froze eight of the naan I made for the channa masala after they had cooled down and will use them to make mini pizzas later in the week. With a jar of thawed roasted tomatoes, I’ve made pizza sauce. I followed this recipe as a guideline, tweaking it a bit since I used roasted instead of fresh tomatoes. To thicken the sauce up, I added a couple of tablespoons of the tomato paste from the freezer.

We’ll spread sauce on naan, top it with cheese and vegetables and bake it in the oven at 350°F for 10 minutes. I’ll make a salad to go with the mini pizzas.

Naan and naan pizzas before baking

Granola

Yesterday afternoon, I also made a batch of granola. This makes a great breakfast or snack. I found a bit of pulp in the freezer, rendered from homemade coconut milk. That went into the granola, adding texture and nuttiness while further emptying the freezer.

Fermented vegetables

My gut prefers that I eat at least one fermented food every day. You’ll find several ferments in our refrigerator to eat on the side of savory dishes: sauerkraut, fermented carrot sticks, kimchi, preserved lemons, hot sauce and probably a couple of others I’ve failed to mention. By the way, fermented foods also can help alleviate anxiety.

Kombucha

So much kombucha brewing! I’ll be doing a kombucha workshop at the Belvedere Tiburon Library’s Green Fest in Tiburon, California, on June 21^st and have been growing a bunch of SCOBYs for it. Attendees will each take home a small jar of kombucha that they prep in the workshop.

Tune in—or out—while you cook

While I chop and heat and stir, I listen to NPR until I need a break from the news. Then I’ll either switch to a music or—this may sound radical—I’ll tune out entirely and savor silence interrupted only by the regular rhythm of my knife hitting the wooden cutting board. (Speaking of NPR and wooden cutting boards, listen to my two cents on plastic kitchen tools for a piece that aired on NPR last month, “Should you toss your plastic kitchen tools for health reasons? Here's the scoop.”)

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Bonus content

I’m going to try out this paid subscription thing on Substack but only for bonus content—new recipes that I’ll post here.

If you subscribe, you’ll receive a delicious recipe every other week that prevents food from going to waste or upcycles ingredients or conserves resources (like time or energy) or in some cases, all of the above! There will be sourdough and soups and the occasional dessert or beverage.

If you don’t opt for the paid subscription, you’ll still get my regular free content, twice a month. Either way, thank you for subscribing and reading!

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March events in Northern California

• June 14th, 10am–when the bags run out: Reusable cloth produce bag giveaway, Sunnyvale Farmers’ Market, Murphy & Washington

• June 21st, 1pm–2pm: Tiburon Library, fermentation demo. Go here for more information.