Spinach, Capriko, and Mushroom Pie

Man! Being poor kind of sucks, guys! But somehow I can still manage to scrounge something good up while still keeping an eye on “SALE” tags. Though most of my food comes from the regular cheapo grocery store, there are a few luxuries that I prefer to get at my local food co-op. (In my case, it’s the Eastside Co-op in Northeast Minneapolis.) That would include my rare purchases of meat, all of my cheeses, potatoes, and eggs.

When I was planning on making this pie, the co-op happened to have put Capriko on sale, so I figured it wouldn’t hurt to try that instead of Emmentaler cheese. Capriko, as it turns out, is an awesomely nutty cheese that is produced by Nordic Creamery, based in Wisconsin. It hit just the right savory notes with the spinach, mushrooms, and paprika in the dish and made it swoon-worthy.

I adapted the recipe from the Moosewood Cookbook, and added some things that I happened to have on hand. The crust was made from 6T local unsalted butter + 1.5C flour + 4-5T milk. I didn’t prebake the crust and it was fine. The mixture isn’t super goopy by any means, so it didn’t hurt it at all. Saute the vegetables first. You probably want about a cup-and-a-half to two cups of filling. I used mushrooms, onions, and spinach, but you can do whatever you want. Then I threw some thyme, Dijon mustard, and cayenne pepper into the mix for spice.

I shredded the capriko (you can use any similarly nutty cheese) and layered that on the bottom of the crust. The eggy part was about 3 eggs, 1.5C milk, and 2T flour. Layer the vegetables on top of the cheese and then pour the eggy stuff on top. Bake in a 375 oven for 40 minutes or so until it firms up. Finish with some smoked paprika salt

We fucking demolished the pie in two days. Definitely a record.

 

Top 3 Things I Won’t Eat

Why do publications insist on posting stupid lists of obvious things that you should eat for health reasons? Whole fruits, fish, and grains, derp derp! It’s not rocket science, but people love not having to think about their nutritional choices and instead having “experts” tell them what to do.

Eating for health is simple, and it’s ridiculous that people even need Michael Pollan’s “Food Rules” to tell them what to do. If you’re too fucking lazy to read “In Defense of Food,” or even to glance at the cover of the book, which states his motto, then you’re fucked.

Rather than obsessing over which type or nationality of cabbage you’re eating, how about you put some effort into helping out people who don’t get a choice in that regard? Being all twinkly-eyed and acting like “ooooh local fooooods are so good for me AND my local economy!” and paying out the nose for your CSA while people in your city go to bed hungry every night is a pile of crap, and you know it.

You could, maybe, try to work with local farmers or restaurants to redistribute their excess food — and there is always excess food that is wasted nearly every week — to food shelves and soup kitchens in the city. A big reason why they can’t or won’t do it is transport issues, so why not volunteer to take up that load for them? If you’re not holding your farmer accountable for that sort of thing, what the hell kind of “community” are you purporting to be a part of?

The question of culinary ethicality has been plaguing me since I took a turn toward vegetarianism in high school, and it seems to have rarely gotten a thorough philosophical treatment. (I haven’t read “Eating Animals” yet, but I’m planning on it.) At the moment, I believe that it is most important to consider the kind of labor that went into producing your food.

It’s a consideration that is often eschewed as “too ugly” or “too much trouble” to think about. But you know what? Even the most fuzzy wuzzy-looking CSA could have slave-like working conditions for the people who pick your arugula. As a benefactor of that labor, you have a moral obligation to find out.

I’ve been going on for too long, so I’ll save you the near-obligatory explanatory paragraphs. If you’ve gotten this far, it won’t be much effort to find out what’s up!

1. Bananas

2. Floridian tomatoes

3. Coca Cola/Pepsi products

Further viewing: The Ugly Truth Behind Organic Food, Bananas!, the Coalition of Immokalee Workers

 

Wh-What?

“How many times have you been trying to go to dinner with four or five people and you can’t decide because everyone wants something different?” Ringo asked me. “A lot of little authentic ethnic restaurants in Minnesota are, to be perfectly frank, in places suburbanites aren’t comfortable, or aren’t comfortable parking... [Too many insane quotes to post, just read it.]

No! NO!!!!!! What a fucking asshole! Even though I have some unresolved issues with the local foods movement, it’s a hell of a lot better than Sysco or U.S. Foods. Is this really what suburbanites want? Really? Are you people so daft? Do you really think that “ketchup is a spice”? Good lord.

 

Fabulous non Grata Recap

Friday night was Gastro non Grata’s huge blowout at Fabulous Catering, and I’ve only just begun to catch up on sleep. For non-Minneapolitan readers, Gastro non Grata is an event that takes place a couple times a year at venues throughout Minneapolis and beyond. It pretty much combines everything cool into one not-so-neat package: sweet art, crazy music, and amazing beer and food. I work with them, which means that I work the merch table and help with decorations in exchange for PBRs.

This time, the ladies at Fabulous Catering supplied us with a huge, 6-room space and tons of food, including grass-fed beef chili, a satay bar, chips & salsa, desserts, and hors d’oeuvres. The salsas came in three varieties: tomatillo, “red,” and mango (definitely the best of the three). There was also an amazing chipotle gouda queso fundido made with PBR. Unnngh. On the aesthetic front, Joe really decked out with space with sheets and thangs that were really reminiscent of my mom’s bedroom/highschool prom. Not necessarily a bad thing, really.

The showstopper, though, was the polar patio, which was carved out by the Fab caterers’ relatives. Though the idea seemed kind of counter-intuitive to me (sit on ice… outside??), it wasn’t as crazy and I thought. Once the bonfire got going, it started to make a lot more sense.

There were about 300 or so people there, or at least it seemed like it. I spent about half the time sitting at the merch table; the other half, grabbing what bits of food I could. To be honest, the the bands didn’t figure into the event as significantly as usual, so I can’t remember much of what they were about. I do remember that Dark Dark Dark are all super-skinny and freaked me out.

I had to bounce early because I was actually falling asleep at the table, but I wish I could have stayed longer. The good vibes at the event were contagious, and there was nary a complaint aired. One thing, though, is that I wish the palm reader had stayed longer! I wanted to find out when I’d die

 

Fabulous non Grata

Oh my god I think I threw up at least 2 satays last night.

Photos forthcoming.

 

Writing Up a Storm on Heavy Table!

CHECK CHECK CHECK IT!

Happy New Year, everybody! Check out that blue moon (but don’t drink Blue Moons because Miller is anti-LGBT)!

See you in 2010,

Vy

 

I’m not going I’mnotgoingI’mnotgoinghfahaw