Babanoush is like hummus, only lighter-textured and slightly smoky. It makes a tasty dip as well as a topping for sandwiches. Best of all, it is super-easy to make. Preheat the oven to 350 or the grill to medium low. Bake or grill one pound of eggplant(s) whole. Grilling is preferable, especially if you want the smoky flavor. If you're grilling, turn the eggplant 2-3 times so that the skin gets well-browned but doesn't [MORE ...]
It’s 7 a.m. on Wednesday, half an hour past sunrise. It should be sunny. Instead, it is still pitch black outside, with just a disturbing red-orange glow to east. Massive fires to the north have covered the Sacramento Valley with a giant high cloud of smoke, and a new fire is currently threatening communities around Oroville. In the future, 2020 will certainly be remembered for the worst pandemic in modern memory. But it also [MORE ...]
During the past 90 days, a spotlight has been focused directly on all numbers of structural inequalities that continue to thrive in 21st Century America. The light is deservedly shining right now on Black Americans suffering racism, police violence and economic injustice. Rural issues rarely inspire broad-scale protests like we are seeing this week in cities across the U.S. But we are suffering related impacts from corporate consolidation, systemic racism and economic policies that favor [MORE ...]
Right now we are featuring gourmet culinary lettuce varieties including some familiar names as well as a few new ones. "Little Gem" was the first variety of lettuce developed by plant breeders to have all the leaves of every head be a similar size, requiring little or no chopping or tearing. The heads are fully mature when harvested, but they have "Baby" leaves. This makes the lettuce incredibly easy to quickly wash and prepare [MORE ...]
A hot soup for folks in cool, foggy areas and a cold Gazpacho for everyone sweating out the heatwave. Both recipes start with roasting the corn and peppers. Heat the oven or grill to 400 degrees. Remove the silk and any loose leaves from 3 ears of corn and soak them, in the husk, in a bowl of water for 10 minutes or longer. Brush 3 gypsy pepperswith olive oil. Roast the corn and [MORE ...]