Larch Hanson

This is the dark cold and wet season when we celebrate affection and mercy. This past summer, my daughter Sarah signed the consent papers for my surgery when I was unable to make that decision. I had accidentally bonked my head, and I had a subdural hematoma. The doctor advised that two quarter inch burr holes drilled in my skull would relieve the pressure. “I decided that you could put up with two holes in your head so that you could still talk,” Sarah told me after the surgery. Well, I’m still very much talking, (and working, fully recovered) and I’ve decided to show you all some affection and mercy by NOT mentioning the “S” word in any of the recipes I’m about to share with you. You see, I operate like a CSA (community supported agriculture), and customers are welcome to come for a visit (there’s no charge for an overnight or a weekend stay) so that they can discover for themselves the source and spirit of these wonderful “herbs of the sea”. (See? I didn’t mention the “S” word!…..After 40 years of harvesting them, I’m entitled to a day off!) Well, let’s get to it. This is the kind of cooking that keeps me warm while I’m working in water temperatures that are 40-45 degrees F., and this is the kind of food that can keep YOU warm during the holiday season! If you want more recipes that incorporate vegetables from the sea, you can always go here.

Roasted Roots

Large chunks:
Potatoes
Beets
Parsnips
Carrots
Rutabaga
Turnips and
Garlic cloves

Drizzle olive oil.
Toss with
Rosemary
Thyme
Salt
Bake at 400º until tender (poke with fork).

So simple! So good!

Here is a Marinade that works for salmon, white meat fish, shrimp, or scallops:

In the juicer:
Generous ginger
Four carrots
Dash of tamari
Then squeeze one lemon
and Voila!

Rinse seafood and soak in marinade for half an hour.

Then poach seafood in the marinade in covered pan (sprinkle black pepper) until cooked tender.

So simple!
So good!

Pesto!

In a food processor,
chop one bunch of parsley
with juice of a lemon
2 Tbsp of olive oil,
and one clove of garlic.

When thoroughly blended,
add ½ c of walnuts
and ¼ tsp salt,
blend again.
Presto! Pesto!

Carrot Salad

I found this suction-cupped un-electric beauty at a yard sale. It slices, it dices….
The finer you can shred a carrot, the sweeter. When you’ve shredded enough, the dressing is ginger juice to taste, juice of a lemon, juice of an orange, topped with dried cherries & raisins (rehydrated in the citrus juice), toasted pecans and toasted coconut.
Yum!

Delicata Squash

…baked at 400º until tender with pears, filberts, butter, and sprinkled with cinnamon, until tender. Need I say more?

 

 

 

 

 

And while you’re at it, core some apples, stuff them with raisins and pecans, top with butter and cinnamon, and bake them along side the squash at 400º until fork-tender.

While a meal is baking, I often go out to the greenhouse. The greens inside may be frozen, but kale and many other frost-hardy greens survive all winter in that condition, ….freezing, thawing out, freezing again, until it’s spring, and they shoot for the sky, going to flower and seed. Today I find kale, smooth and frilly, various mustards, parsley, chard, radicchio, an onion, and chickweed.

The greens are so beautiful today that I just had to make an arrangement and show you, before cutting them up and steaming them.

When I came back from the greenhouse, Nina had decided to make cornbread!

Cornbread

1 c cornmeal
¾ c flour (wheat or gluten-free baking mix)
1 tsp salt
3 tsp baking powder

1 c buttermilk or milk
2 beaten eggs
2 Tbsp honey, maple syrup or barley malt
¼ c melted butter

9″ iron frying pan

Preheat oven to 400º

Melt butter in the pan in the oven as oven preheats. Watch carefully to prevent burning!

Combine dry ingredients in a large bowl, set aside.

Beat eggs, milk and sweetener of choice in a separate bowl.

When butter is melted, remove pan from oven. Pour wet ingredients into the dry and mix with a wire whip. Carefully add and stir in the melted butter from the pan. Pour batter into hot pan and return to the preheated oven.

Bake for 20-25 minutes or until the center of the cornbread feels firm to the touch and the edges are pulling away from the sides of the pan.

Nina is making Cranberry Sauce!

It has sliced apples and pears, frozen blueberries and little sprinkle of cinnamon, and, oh yes, cranberries.
Add half a cup of water, simmer in a covered pan until the cranberries burst.
Sweeten to taste with maple syrup.

And while Nina is making cranberry sauce, Larch is making stuffing to go with a couple of Cornish Game Hens roasted with carrots, onions, and potatoes at 350º for an hour plus. Sprinkle with thyme and sage and salt. Take the lid off for the final 15 minutes to brown the hens.

Larch’s Stuffing

Peel 20-30 cloves of garlic and simmer them in half a pound of butter. (Do you know anything that can’t be improved by adding butter?) Slice up mushrooms, celery, parsnips, and onions and saute them in a small amount of sesame oil with thyme. Set aside. Cube half a dozen slices of whole grain bread and saute with the butter and garlic cloves until brown. Add the sauteed vegetables and some pecans and dried cranberries. Sprinkle with sage and salt, add a cup of water, cover and steam.

Nina decided that we could have three varieties of Sauerkraut and Kimchee on the table today. They are essential to good digestion because they supply friendly flora. We’ll show you how to make them when you come for a visit.

Nina Juiced
six carrots
a medium beet,
a big cuke,
2 stalks celery,
and a tomato.

Long life!

Oh My! Nina is making Pie!

Apple-Pear Pie Filling

6-7 c thinly sliced organic apples and pears
½ c brown sugar
3 Tbsp Minute Tapioca
¼ tsp salt
½ tsp grated organic lemon peel
2 tsp lemon juice
½ tsp freshly ground nutmeg
½ tsp cinnamon

In a small bowl combine with a fork:
1 egg yolk
splash of cold water

Preheat oven to 450º.

Combine all ingredients except the egg yolk in a large bowl and stir well. Allow to stand while you are preparing the crust.

Pie Crust

2½ c flour, whole wheat or combination of other flours if desired
1 tsp salt
¾ c unsalted butter (1½ sticks), softened
⅓ c ice water
1 tsp maple syrup

In a large bowl, combine flour and salt.. Cut in soft butter with a pastry blender until the mixture has the texture of coarse meal.

Sprinkle water 1 tbsp at a time over different parts of the mixture, tossing with a fork, until evenly dampened. Form into two balls and roll out on well-floured board.

Makes one 9″ two-crust pie (or if you’re clever with rolling out crust..a 10″ pie)
Assemble pie and brush top crust with the egg yolk mixture. Bake on the BOTTOM shelf of the 450º oven for 15 minutes.

Remove pie and turn the oven down to 350º. Place pie on the middle shelf of the oven and bake for 45 minutes more or until the juices are bubbling in the slits of the crust.

Remember that carrot salad? If you still have some left over, you can use it to make soft Cookies! At any rate, 3 cups of carrot shreds ties it all together, and then there’s the mortar:

1 c rice flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
2 Tbsp. melted coconut oil

3+ Tbsp powdered ginger
2 Tbsp molasses

1 egg, beaten

Add water to mix the mortar.
(adjust ingredients to taste),
add the carrot shreds,
and then fold in:
1 c toasted coconut shreds
1 c roasted nuts
1 c soaked raisins

Form and bake at 350º for half an hour or more.

Enjoy! And remember:
Never binge alone! Show yourself some mercy!

Some seaweed companies sell seaweed incorporated into candy or chips. Some mix it with spices and sell it in shakers. Some sell it in small retail packages, and the price per pound is more than $100. If the packages are exposed to direct light, the pigments will degrade. Call me a purist if you like, and thank me when you do, because my intent is to deliver the essences of various seaweeds to you, bone dry when appropriate and protected from humidity and direct light, and offer you recipes for using them. Most of the recipes at theseaweedman.com and larchhanson.com are wet recipes because iodine is a volatile, and roasting kelp or alaria will drive off the iodine. The soak water and the cooking water should be used. This water transfers the iodine to people, and since we all need iodine to protect our thyroids in a world of failing nuclear reactors that emit radioactive iodine, this is the most important point. Seaweed candy, spice shakers, and chips won’t deliver the iodine necessary to health.

So here’s a recipe using Soup Mix that is designed to deliver all the nutrients:

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