Anyway, to tide you over, here’s a picture of some roasted garlic. If you ever stop in here at Chez 10K, you’d best have a bite on your way in the door — otherwise, you’re going to think everyone here has some awful breath, because we can’t seem to get enough garlic. It’s good and good for you!!!

Here’s the basic idea:
• garlic (either a whole head or some minced garlic from a jar)
• olive oil (just a bit for sautéing your leeks)
• 3 or 4 leeks, sliced
• 1 or 2 butternut squashes
• 2 cups water
• 2 cups vegetable broth
• black pepper

Since I took these photos, I followed my cousin’s suggestion to roast the squash before peeling and chopping it (toss the seeds), and it’s much easier on the hands that way!

UPDATE 1 (March 16th): I inspired myself to make this soup this evening, and took a photo of the squash (and garlic head) about to go into the oven to roast:

So, here’s how to start: Cut your squash lengthwise and put it on a sheet and bake it in a 350° oven for an hour or so. Throw a head of garlic in there while you’re at it (wrap it in foil and if you want, give it a splash of olive oil), and let it roast along with the squash — but cut the top off the garlic head first, to make it easier to pop the cloves out when it’s done.

UPDATE 2 (March 16th): And here’s a closeup of the garlic head, cropped, with a bit of olive oil, about to wrapped up in some foil:

Or, alternatively, just peel and cube your squash and use some jarred minced garlic. Either way, it’s going to be yummy!

Once you’ve got your (either cooked or uncooked) squash cubed, slice up some leeks. You’ll want to discard the darker ends of the stalks (they’re tough), and then split them lengthwise before running them under some water to make sure they’re clean — dirt loves to hide between their layers (UPDATE 3: here’s a demo)! Once they’re washed, slice them up. Heat some oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat, toss in the leeks and sauté for 5 minutes or so until they’re tender. Stir in the garlic, squash cubes, water, and the veggie broth and bring to a boil. Then reduce the heat, and let it simmer until the squash is tender (if your squash is already cooked, this won’t take long) and you feel like it’s all melded.

While it’s simmering, shake a bit of black pepper in there. The recipe also calls for salt, but I like to skip that — if it really needs some, it can always be added at the table. You could add your own flourish here as well if you’re feeling creative (a bit of nutmeg? some cayenne pepper? cumin?). Once everything is tender, smooth it all out with an immersion blender (or pour in batches into a regular blender) and voila! It’s soup! I sometimes like to add a bit of hot sauce to this soup at the table.

So, pretty easy, huh? And it’s very nutritious, without a lot of fat or calories. I used to make a butternut soup with heavy cream in it, but I like this version with the leeks so much better — it’s sweeter and much more versatile.

Which is such a good thing because I was cleaning out some bookmarks this afternoon and ran across a small cache of food porn. It not only made me realize that I’ve got to improve the lighting in my own food porn photos, but also put me in the mood for some kind of tasty treat! Take a look and see if you can resist the powers of this amazing photography…

• foodgawker | feast your eyes

• TasteSpotting | a community driven visual potluck

• Dropfood | Store and share visual recipes

• Photograzing

I’ve made this twice now (we’re still working our way through the second batch), but both times, I forgot to take pictures during the second half of the process. Sorry about that. But after the past few days of ranting about food, I figured I should post some good food, so I’m not going to wait for the third batch to post the recipe. Here’s what you need…

sea salt
two small cabbages (of any variety) or one large napa cabbage, coarsely chopped
two daikon radishes, julienned
1 large carrot*, julienned
1 tbsp ginger
5 chili peppers, seeded (or not!) and chopped
3 tbsp fish sauce
2 tbsp sesame seeds
handful of garlic chives, cut into 1″ pieces
4 heaping tsp minced garlic
10 scallions, thinly sliced
10 springs watercress, chopped
1 asian pear, cored and julienned
generous dose of chili powder and/or sambal oelek and/or hot pepper paste
*and any other veggies — like snow peas, seaweed, sunchokes or whatever — if you want.

This is a very flexible recipe (the varieties of kimchi are almost endless!), so feel free to improvise and adjust! My recipe started from this article in Saveur, and also drew from the incredible wisdom of Sandor Katz in Wild Fermentation (see the Baechu Kimchi recipe on page 47 — I’ve tried Sandy’s kimchi and it is absolutely delicious!!).

In a large bowl, mix 4 cups water with 4 tbsp salt. Stir well to dissolve the salt. Add the cabbage, radish and carrots and use a plate or something to keep them submerged (add more saltwater if needed). Let them soak until soft — for a few hours or overnight. I did the overnight soak — I like cooking while I sleep! ;-D

Mix all the other stuff into a paste. Drain brine off veggies, reserving the liquid. Taste for saltiness — you want them salty, but not too salty. Rinse off if they’re too salty, sprinkle with a bit of salt if they’re not salty enough. Mix the veggies with the paste.

Once they are mixed thoroughly, stuff it all into a jar (or four). Pack it tightly, pressing down until the brine rises. If necessary, add a bit of the reserved brine to keep the veggies submerged. Weight the veggies down, if they need it. If anything floats to the surface, it might get icky.

Cover and leave it to ferment at room temperature for four days (you can check it along the way, if you want). Then uncover to release some carbon dioxide (this part is really cool — there will be sound effects!), recover and refrigerate for at least another four days, to let the flavors meld. Kimchi will keep for up to 6 months in the refrigerator.

These last two photos are from my first batches. In the first, I followed the Saveur recipe fairly faithfully and used the cabbages you see in this post’s top photo. In the second, as you can probably tell, I added a LOT more chili powder/hot pepper paste, and I used a single (huge!) napa cabbage that I got at my local asian grocer [even better if you can get one at your local farmers market -- they're in season in Tennessee from May through November!]. Plus, I wasn’t able to get any watercress for the second batch, so I improvised with something or other… and I think I used a greater variety of peppers…

Have fun! There is nothing quite so wonderful as kimchi that you’ve made yourself!!!

Since we’re on the topic of food, here’s last night’s dinner! Clockwise from right, Chana Masala, Indian Spiced Cauliflower and Potatoes, and kale with shallots, lemon and hot sauce. It was awesome.

Ingredients
Some black eyed peas (8 – 12oz)
Olive oil
One onion, chopped
Some pepper (one red, yellow or green or a couple of the long red ones), seeded and chopped
Minced garlic (a tablespoon-ish)
Wild rice (4-6oz)
Brown rice (2/3-1 cup)
1 or two peeled and chopped tomatoes
Parsley
Cumin
Kale
Shallots
Lemon juice
Hot sauce

Quick soak the beans (sort and rinse, add water that goes up an inch or two over the beans, boil for 2 minutes, remove from heat, and let it sit, covered, for an hour) or do the overnight soak thing. Drain and rinse.

Heat some oil in an iron dutch oven over medium heat (just enough to lightly grease the bottom of the pot — you could probably even use spray oil). Add the onion, pepper and garlic and cook until soft (5 minutes or so?). Add the beans and cover with water. Bring to a boil and then let it simmer on low for a half an hour or so.

Stir in the rice and tomato and let it cook for an hour or so. Along the way, add some parsley, cumin and whatever other spices you’d like. Add more water too, if necessary — you’re going for a thick final mix.

A half an hour before this is done, throw a bit of oil into an iron skillet over medium heat. Add some chopped shallots and the kale (de-stemmed and chopped).

Drizzle in a bit of lemon juice and cook until it rocks your world (20 minutes or so?).

Serve the bean mixture and kale side-by-side or mixed together, depending on your mood. Either way, shake some hot sauce on it all at the table.