A Look at Menu Planning

This week's box contains:

• Desiree Potatoes
• Red Cabbage
• Lettuce (traded for more potatoes)
• Strawberries
• Chantenay Carrots
• Sweet Corn
• Walla Walla Onions
• Heirloom Tomatoes

Great box, especially with the lettuce traded for more potatoes.  Like last week, this proved to be a busy weekend.  I have a lot going on at work, so don't expect to have time to get creative during the week.  Next weekend I'm out of town.  Same sad story ~ great food, desire to eat well, not enough time...

One way I manage situations like this is through planning.  There is no one "right" way to plan a menu for the week and I use several.  This week I'm going for my fast and easy method:

1. Pick some generic preparation methods and map them to the days of the week.
2. Take a look at the ingredients I have on hand and align them with the selected methods.
3. Scan recipes as needed to determine what other ingredients will be needed, then build a grocery list.

Do you plan your meals for the week?  If so, what's your method?   Here's how it went for us this week:


Step One: Preparation Methods

This is as simple as listing the days of the week on which you plan to cook and picking a method or meal type that will fit in the amount of time you expect to have available.  Grilling (with charcoal anyway) takes more time and is a leisurely meal for us, so I chose that for Sunday.  All the rest are quick and easy assuming ready made ingredients or pre-preparation of those that take time (more on this later).

• Sunday: grilling
• Monday: risotto
• Tuesday: wraps
• Wednesday: stir-fry
• Thursday: pasta

Step Two: Ingredients on Hand

A quick scan of the pantry, refrigerator, and the freezer gave me a solid list of ingredients to work with.  Here's what I found that looked promising or time sensitive:

• onions
• potatoes
• tomatoes
• ginger
• garlic
• bread
• vegan sausage
• Thai curry cubes
• pesto
• chipotle tofu
• black beans
• whole wheat tortillas
• salsa
• frozen spinach
• carrots
• cabbage
• fennel
• parsley root
• turnips
• green onions
• veggie stock
• asparagus stems

After that, I just matched the list of ingredients to the list of meal types.

• Sunday: grilling (vegan sausages, green onions, fennel, corn, potatoes, bread, tomatoes
  
• Monday: risotto (sweet corn, tomatoes, onions, vegetable stock, salsa)
  
• Tuesday: wraps (whole wheat tortillas, chipotle tofu, salsa, black beans, onions)
  
• Wednesday: stir-fry (red Thai curry, potatoes, carrots, turnips, frozen spinach)
  
• Thursday: pasta (pesto, vegan sausages, carrots, fennel)

Step Three: Choose the Recipes, Build Grocery List

As I sorted out the ingredients, likely dishes came to mind:

• Sunday: Grilled Sausages with Vegetable Kabobs and Grilled Farmer's Market Bruschetta
  
• Monday: Sweet Corn Risotto with Salsa
  
• Tuesday: Black Bean Burritos
  
• Wednesday: Thai Vegetable Curry with Jasmine Rice
  
• Thursday: Whole Wheat Pasta with Pesto and Sausage and Roasted Vegetables

By dish, I referenced cookbooks and websites to find recipes that I could follow or adapt.  By looking at the recipes, I was able to build a grocery list to fill the gaps.  After a quick trip to the store, we had everything we needed on hand.

One final note.  As the saying goes, the best laid plans ... often go awry.  I know that in order to be able to prepare these dishes, I'll need to do some prep work today.  I'll clean and chop the vegetables we'll use this week, cook the rice and store it in the refrigerator, etc.

Status of the Experiments: Meyer Limoncello, Fermented Tofu, and Sauerkraut

I took the time today to check in on the three experiments: Meyer limoncello, fermented tofu, and sauerkraut.  None of them are ready for prime time, but all are making progress.

The limoncello mash is the most straightforward, least "risky" of the bunch.  At this point the lemon peel is still very flexible and has quite a bit of color left to release, though the  Everclear is now a vibrant yellow.  Most of the recipes we found recommended adding the simple syrup after a week or two of infusion.  It smelled great today (after four weeks), but I'm glad we're waiting ~ my sense is that it will continue to improve.

The fermented tofu is a bit harder to read.  It is comfortably submerged in dry sherry.  Some of the mold from the dry fermentation has settled to the bottom of the jar, some still clings to the tofu.  It simply smells like sherry and nothing visibly frightening is happening.  We've got another month to go before we have to decide if we're actually going to taste it...

The sauerkraut is *amazing*.  I never thought I would think, type, or say those words in combination.  It's been brewing for just over a week and now tastes like "fresh" sauerkraut.  The texture is still crisp, the flavor is salty, but not overly so, and the aroma is mild.  There was no mold, "bloom", or "scum" on top ~ just a few foamy bubbles around the edge.  I cleaned the plate and weight that keep the cabbage submerged, stirred in a bit more brine, and set it back to rest.  I am looking forward to an outstanding Reuben sandwich in a few weeks time...

Fermented Tofu: Day 6

Today's the big day!

The dry fermented tofu is making its way to its secondary fermentation stage in brine.  Using easily accessible ingredients, we've made the brine from 750ml Paul Masson Pale Dry Sherry, ~1 cup water (enough to get to 5 cups liquid total) and ~1 cup kosher salt.

From here, it sits for 2-6 months, at which time it should be ready to use.  We'll taste along the way and post updates here.

While it is looking like blue cheese, I must admit the tofu in brine set me Googling again, stopping here first:  Molds on Food: Are they Dangerous?

Fermented Tofu: Day 5

Progress continues.  The tofu cubes are each changing, none appear to be in sync with another.  Several different forms of mold are on the scene, such as the furry white one above.  There's also a gray furry one, something that looks like "bread mold" and the predicted orange, slimy mold; all pictured below.

My 4 year old goddaughter stays with us this weekend, so will hold off on transferring these to the brine till she gets here tomorrow.  Can't wait to hear what she thinks about this little experiment...

Fermented Tofu: Day 4

We've got mold! In this context, that's progress!

I finally found additional information about fermented tofu on what seems to be a sensible site. The recipe posted there calls for dry fermentation "until each cube is covered with a cottony-white mycelium".  See the History of Fermented Tofu for further detail.

Fermented Tofu: Day 3

Progress!

As you can see in this picture, the tofu is starting to "sweat" and there is some subtle discoloration.  It is also starting to smell a bit "sour", but nothing frightening at this point...

Fermented Tofu: Day 2

No discernible change so far...

Fermented Tofu

As of January 1, 2010, I've moved from vegetarian to vegan.  Given my deep appreciation for cheese, this was a big decision.  It's actually been extremely easy, but I do miss cheese and things made with cheese, like tartines, pizza, quesadillas ... the list goes on.

In my Meyer lemon research today, I found a recipe for a tartine including lemons and ~ you guessed it ~ cheese.  Goat cheese in particular.  Thankfully, I also found a recipe for vegan goat cheese that seems to be well received; click here.

This recipe calls for fermented tofu.  As I can't imagine making the time to track down the commercial product, I decided to take the DIY approach.  Seemed simple enough, except:

• Only one recipe found; all roads lead to Asian markets like Ranch 99. 

• The recipe I found mentions mold and strong aromas ~ neither of which leave me feeling confident this should be tried at home.

I reached out to some friends for encouragement and advice.  With that in hand, I am pressing onward.   The test batch is prepared and has started its 2-4 day dry fermentation journey.  I'll post daily updates, pictures of the progress, and results of the taste test here.