The parsnip is underrated. I don’t give it much attention, and then we’re in mid-winter and I’m tired of squash and there’s not a lot else going on, and then, there it is, the parsnip. It’s a stand-in for potatoes. It’s perfect roasted. It’s fragrant and slightly peppery but still mild and almost creamy.

I really wanted to make parsnip pakoras. That was the plan. I had these parsnips, and I just thought they wanted to be fried up with some coriander and chili powder and cumin and all.

I thought I had it all together. I didn’t have chickpea flour, which really is key, but I had chickpeas, and that was a start. I got my mini-chopper out and loaded it with dry chickpeas. And it laughed at me. And coughed a bit.

Plan b. Ok, not pakoras, per se, but fritters. Like a zucchini fritter but with winter veg. And I could still bust out the coriander. This is very similar to the Indian Spiced Vegetable Fritters over on Smitten Kitchen. It’s not quite a pakora, but it’s delightful next to your curry dish.

I started with two huge parsnips and a tiny one. I gave them a serious scrubbing with a green kitchen scrubber (one that I use only for veg) and passed them to my husband to grate.

We didn’t end up using all three, but about two cups of grated parsnip.

And carrots, because they’re plentiful right now.

We cut these into matchsticks for some variation in texture. We also minced a serrano chile and sliced up a small red onion.

And then the batter. So, yes, if these were real pakoras, they’d be battered in a blend of chickpea flour and rice flour with water and spices, but without chickpea flour on hand I followed the path of the zucchini fritter and broke out the eggs.

And reminded myself that just because an egg looks different, that doesn’t mean it’s creepy. I whisked up the eggs in a big bowl.

And added three tablespoons of flour. I used two tbsp rice flour and one all purpose. The rice flour gives pakoras a bit more crispness, which I thought wouldn’t hurt here.

The eggs and flour were whisked together and then the spices went in. All the things that make you think this isn’t a typical vegetable fritter. I made it easy with a half teaspoon each of cumin, cayenne, coriander, garlic powder and ginger. While I had fresh garlic and ginger on hand, I didn’t want to increase the moisture in the dish, so I opted for dried. Also, fresh cilantro, about three tablespoons worth.

Then the veg got heaped on.

And then I dove in with my hands and mixed it all together. From this point on, I was worthless and sticky, but I had a kitchen partner. If you’re going it alone, I’d recommend a spoon.

We coated the bottom of a skillet with oil (use safflower, vegetable, something without much flavor that can handle high heat), and brought that up to frying temperature (where a bead of water pops when it hits).

Then with my incredibly sticky hand, I grabbed bundles of the mixture and dropped them in. About a third of a cup to a half cup at a time.

After three minutes or so, we tested them with spatula, and since they were solid and unified, flipped them.

Another three minutes or so and onto a cloth to drain, sprinkled with kosher salt.

We had them with chana masala.

And they were fantastic.

 This recipe is cross-posted at Saturday’s Mouse, where I’m working on making food out of food.

Ingredients

• 2 cups Grated parsnips
• 3/4 cup Carrots cut into matchsticks
• 1 Serrano chile, diced
• 1 Small red onion, sliced
• 3 Eggs
• 2 tablespoons Rice flour
• 1 tablespoon All purpose flour
• 3 tablespoons Cilantro, chopped
• 1/2 teaspoon Cayenne pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon Cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon Coriander
• 1/2 teaspoon Dried ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon Garlic powder
• Oil (high heat) as needed
• Salt to taste

Instructions

• Whisk together eggs, flour, spices and cilantro.
• Mix in vegetables.
• Coat bottom of pan with oil, heat to shimmering.
• Add handfuls (spoonfuls if you want to be neat) of vegetable and batter mixture to frying pan. About a third cup or a bit more per fritter. Don’t crowd. Three at a time in my pan.
• Fry for three minutes or so, until solid and crisp on the bottom. Flip and do the other side.
• Remove to cloth to drain and sprinkle with salt. Serve hot.

Details

• Prep time: 20 mins
• Cook time: 20 mins
• Total time: 40 mins
• Yield: 9 fritters

my little rittenhouse fig

I can’t even tell you how many houseplants I’ve killed.  Seriously, I’ve lost count.  And we’re not just talking delicate plants here:  people, I’ve killed cacti.  CACTI.  You know, those things that grow in the desert?  With hardly any water?  Well, turns out if you forget to water anything for long enough, it will die.  Luckily most cacti don’t look too different whether they’re dead or alive so I may be guilty of gluing a small fabric flower to a dead cactus to alleviate the pain.  I don’t recommend it, though, because the relief is short-lived.

In this past year I’ve learned that I can indeed grow things.  But growing a garden (even a garden of containers) outside is entirely different from growing things inside.  Because outdoor plants are super easy.  Outdoor plants always get what they need – sun and water.  It may be cloudy one day but they still get sun, and it may not rain for a while but it will again.  You know where it doesn’t rain?  Inside.  And somehow I just forget to water plants that are inside.  It’s like I see them as some sort of furniture and just completely overlook the fact that they need watering.  And then a week’s gone by and oh!  why is that plant turning brown?

I’m trying to get better about not forgetting about my houseplants and I think it’s working a bit but I’ve already killed one palm this year and another is getting preeeeetty close.  One trick I’ve found is to put the plants in places that you look at often.  This lovely little aloe is in the kitchen window, for instance:

prickly little thing

The window this guy is in is conveniently next to the sink and dish drying rack (and right above where the cats are fed) so I’m sure to look at it at least once a day.  Being near the sink also means it’s super easy to water – just turn the faucet on to just over a drip and dribble the water in until it comes out the holes in the bottom.  Fantastic!  The only thing with plants in windows is that you need to remember to turn them once in a while unless you want them to grow towards the window, where the most sun is.  You can see that this guy has lots of little new growth on the front left-hand side there; clearly that was the part closest to the window.

After some trial and error with houseplants (don’t worry guys, it only takes, like, 10 years) you’ll start to find which plants work best for you.  I seem to do well with succulents like aloe because they can get very dry without dying, and they’re also used to large amounts of water at once, like in a desert.  Other things, like palms (cough cough) are tough because the soil needs to be kept sufficiently damp and that means watering less each time but more frequently.  Let me tell you:  that is not how I roll.  I find it very hard to water just a little – when I water I assume I won’t be watering the next day so I tend to soak the plants a little more than I should, probably.  This works out great in the garden in the summer because those plants need all the water they can get.  But inside, plants don’t need as much water and I’ve always found it hard to know when I was under- or overwatering until the plant starts to actually show signs of either, when it’s usually too late.

my other fig, with cats (for scale)

These figs that I’ve shown you pictures of are strange things, indeed.  Allow me to tell you a story:  Last winter, I had a fig.  It was a special black fig and I may have referenced it above.  It came with pages of directions, and to overwinter you were supposed to put it in a cool, dark place, let all the leaves fall off, and water only occasionally.  This lets it do the plant equivalent of hibernating and then will begin to bud again in the spring, when you resume watering it and putting it in the sun like a regular plant.  Like I said, watering is a problem of mine.  And since the fig needed to be watered less than any other plant, I kind of forgot about it.  But then spring came and there was a little green bud and I got excited!  That is, until the bud dried up and fell off a few days later.  That was the end of that fig.  Then I got two new figs.  The tall, skinny one is from that same fig-growing man in Massachusetts.  The shorter, bushier one is from the farmer’s market in Rittenhouse Square.  I actually forgot about the whole hibernating for the winter thing, but the leaves started falling off both of them.  I kept watering and kept them in the sun and soon new leaves started appearing!  Now both figs have leaves and buds so I’m hoping I did this right.  It’s certainly more encouraging than the stick I was watering last year.

The next thing about houseplants that I’ve learned is to have a good, big watering can.  I used to water my plants with whatever was handy and clean – various pitchers work well for this.  But they’re all too small for the amount of plants I have now so I end up making multiple trips to the faucet, which in turn makes the act of watering that much longer.  I will make any excuse I can not to water (the usual being that it takes too long even though it doesn’t take that long) so having a big watering can that I can fill up once and water everything with is key.

captain walker inspects

Another important thing about houseplants is that some are poisonous to humans and animals.  And something that is safe for humans might be poisonous to animals and vice versa.  So if you have small kids or pets that tend to eat things they shouldn’t, you should make sure that all your houseplants are safe in case some do get eaten.  We have two cats, one of whom, Mr. Hooper, will eat literally anything you put in front of her.  When other cats sniff things to inspect them, she just eats them and then throws up later, if needed.  The cat in the picture above, Walker, is very picky and will usually not eat random things.  But the other night, Walker was in my room and I heard the sound of crunching on what sounded like a dry leaf…I look down and Walker is happily chewing a dead leaf from my rex begonia that is in my room for the winter.  Of course I immediately freaked out and googled “are rex begonias poisonous to cats” (gotta love Google) and found, to my relief, that rex begonias are non-toxic to cats.  Something that is toxic to cats is aloe, so my picture above should be used as a caution!  But knowing Walker I knew that she just wanted to sniff, which is what she did.  Also this particular aloe is very prickly so I don’t think even Hooper, The Cat Who Eats Everything, would risk it.  But just in case, it’s on the kitchen windowsill where they can’t get to.  This is the only plant that I would risk doing that with because of the spikes and because Hooper can’t jump that high; cats (and little kids) are really tricky and if they see a plant they want to eat they’re going to get it one way or another.

I guess the moral of this story (post) is that if you’re always killing houseplants, don’t immediately assume you can’t grow anything cause houseplants are really hard.  And if you can grow houseplants then good for you!  Could you please share some tips?

I just wanted to quickly pop in and say that we had a great time on Sunday, devouring tons of sweets.

The talented Chef Chad Durkin showed us how to make whoopie pies and an adult chocolate milk.  All throughout the demo, he shared great tips such as ways to “repurpose” ingredients -using beet juice to dye red velvet cake, infusing vodka with coffee beans to make fun cocktails, and creating your own vanilla extract by submerging vanilla bean pods in bourbon or rum.

Martin Brown, from Little Baby’s Ice Cream, was also there serving up some delicious chipotle chocolate ice cream and vegan ice cream made from coconut milk, chocolate and peanut chews (who knew peanut chews were vegan?).

Thanks to Albert Yee who was there to capture it all for us!

So our unofficial count as of yesterday, according to board member Cassie Plummer’s posting on Facebook, was 175 (plus 1 from last night, we’ll call it 176).

And we’re not slowing down.

Tonight we take a little break to kick back and celebrate the International Year of the Cooperative with the Philadelphia Area Cooperative Alliance, a newly formed group linking together many of the established and start-up co-ops in the area. The event will take place at Fergie’s Pub, upstairs, at 12th and Sansom starting at 6pm. Free appetizers. Cash bar. Great opportunity to see people you’ve met through the process of becoming a member or attending one of our previous events. I said we’ll be kicking back to celebrate but if you really want to make it a great night, bring that member-owner application and check for your equity that you’ve been holding onto for the last several weeks.

And, of course, on Sunday we invite you all (member-owners and not-yet-member-owners) to “Love Your Co-op” with Food Network challenge veteran and pastry chef Chad Durkin. Join us for chocolate, cheese and wine tasting as well as a demonstration by Chef Durkin.  He’ll be demonstrating an easy to make at home dessert that you can replicate for your loved one on February 14th. In addition to the demonstration, you can enjoy complimentary chocolate, cheese, wine, Little Baby’s Ice Cream, and a chocolate fountain with fruit, pretzels, and pound cake! This is a ticketed event and there is an afternoon and an evening session. Space is limited and at just $12 per ticket ($7 for member-owners, free kids younger than 12) available tickets are going fast. Click here for more details including links to buying tickets online. Join the Co-op today and you can still get that discounted ticket price.

And we haven’t forgotten about your youngest member-owners. On Wednesday, February 29 from 5pm to 8pm, we’re hosting Kids Night at the Grindcore Coffee House (SE corner of 4th and Greenwich – between Dickinson and Tasker). Parents with young children are encouraged to attend to meet and greet with other co-op parents and kids. We’ll have fun crafts for the kids to create with and will be showing cartoons on a projector. Delicious coffee, teas, and treats are available in the coffee house (a member of our Shop South Philly Program) which specializes in vegan and sustainable practices.

Finally, block off Saturday, April 28th for our 2nd Anniversary Celebration at the Passyunk Gardens. We’ll have live music, raffles and an after-party at Devil’s Den. More details to follow. Just don’t plan anything else for 4-28, mmmkay? Because hopefully we’ll be celebrating our 250 Founding Members that day as well!

Couscous is not some mysterious grain, like quinoa, though we tend to use the two interchangably around here. Couscous is just pasta. Tiny pasta. I like to imagine someone taking a handful of spaghetti and chopping it into tiny bits, but that probably has nothing to do with how couscous is made.

There is just one trick to couscous, and it’s super important. Don’t cook it in water. That’s boring. Sure, it’s pasta, and you cook your fettuccine in water, but you also put sauce on your fettuccine.

Other than that, do what you want, it’s couscous. Use the veg you have, and the herbs you have, and go to town. Get your liquid boiling, add your couscous, turn off the heat, move the laundry from the washer to the drying rack and eat dinner. Easy.

We had just made vegetable stock, so I had that handy. Veg stock is awesome for couscous.

To make six servings of couscous and veg, for dinner tonight and lunches throughout the week, start with two cups of stock.

Gather your veg.

I started with frozen artichoke hearts, chopped up.

And mystery greens. This is frozen arugula, but I had intended to find spinach or chard. The freezer is getting a little sad, and the summer’s goodness is pretty much gone.

And I had soaked some dried tomatoes in hot water to plump them. They actually weren’t “sundried” tomatoes, they were just “dried tomatoes” from Margerum’s. They weren’t quite raisin-dry, they were more moist to start with and it seemed like they had more flavor in the end. I soaked them in about a half cup of near-boiling water while I got the rest of the food together, so maybe 5 minutes. I chopped those up and added them to the stock and veg, with their soaking water, which was full of tomatoey goodness.

I added some oil and garlic and basil.

And brought it all to a boil.

Added the couscous, covered the pot and turned it off.

After about 5 minutes, I stirred it a bit and added black pepper

and Parmesan.

There's no light above my stove, so staring into a pot is just going to be dark.

10 minutes later it’s tangy with the tomatoes and the parm, and creamy, especially with the artichokes. But you can use whatever veg are crowding your fridge and freezer.

This recipe is cross-posted at Saturday’s Mouse, where I’m working on making food out of food.

Ingredients

• 1.5 cups Couscous
• 2 cups Vegetable stock
• 1/2 cup Very hot water
• 1/4 cup Sundried Tomatoes
• 1.5 cups Frozen (or other non-marinated) artichoke hearts
• 1 cup Blanched or frozen greens (spinach, chard, arugula)
• 1 tablespoon Olive oil
• 1 tablespoon Minced garlic
• 4 teaspoons Minced basil
• 1/4 cup Grated parmesan
• 1 teaspoon Black pepper

Instructions

Soak dried tomatoes in very hot water. Set aside.

Defrost and chop vegetables.

Add stock (mine is unsalted), oil, artichokes and greens to a large pot. Add dried tomatoes and soaking liquid. Heat to a boil.

Add couscous, garlic and basil. Stir. Turn off heat. Cover. Let sit 5 minutes.

Add cheese and black pepper. Stir.

Serve warm or cold.

Details

Prep time: 3 mins

Cook time: 10 mins

Total time: 10 mins

Yield: 6 servings

hello, ivy

Apparently some groundhog saw his shadow today.  I don’t have too much faith in this Punxsutawney Phil creature but if winter continues like this it really wouldn’t be that bad, would it?  My little ivy is certainly enjoying itself.  Look at the little baby leaves!

hello, blurry ivy

I realize that ivy grows pretty much anywhere but it’s encouraging on the second day of February to see a little new growth.  Yes!  That’s what happens soon!  Even if the groundhog said otherwise.  While we’re on this subject, does anyone else get nervous that they’ll wake up on the day after Groundhog Day and everything will be eerily the same and it’ll be just like Groundhog Day the movie?  Except this time it’s real life and there’s no Bill Murray or Andie MacDowell and you actually do have to live one day over and over?  It’s a legitimate fear, I think.

Ivy’s pretty great, though.  It’s always green and grows in the shade, it can grow up things or on the ground, and if it grows someplace you don’t want it, you can just gently lift its little (strong!) feet and put it where you want it to go.  The only thing I do to mine is to coax it up the fence and away from the tree.  So easy!  For a lovely article about ivy, I suggest this.

But ivy isn’t the only thing growing – this little one is getting bigger and bigger:

hi there

Feverfew!  It looks like a weed because it pretty much is, but I did get some pretty white flowers out of it last fall.  There used to be sunflowers in this pot and this makes me miss them.  I’m definitely growing sunflowers this year because they’re so HUGE.  I love being dwarfed by my plants.

And soon it will be time to start planting seeds!  Groundhog, even if you are right about six more weeks of winter it doesn’t matter to me since I can start growing things inside my nice warm house.

Besides following us to get the latest updates from the co-op as well as occasional bits of pithy and hilarious food and community knowledge, please check out our curated lists. First and foremost are those that make up the lifeblood of our community, our Member-Owners. We’re also following the great businesses who have joined us in the Shop South Philly program. Finally, if you’re interested in what other co-ops around the city of Philadelphia are doing please check out our growing list of other cooperatives organizations in the area.

So drop us a line and let us know you’re out there or if you should be added to one of our lists.

First off, an herbal is a book explaining the uses and descriptions of plants.  Many of these focused on plants that were used for medicinal purposes but later they moved more towards classification.  The Greeks wrote the first herbals (that we know of) but starting in the 15th century, as all that knowledge was being re-discovered during this time called the Renaissance, Europeans picked up on it too, with expanded herbals and even early plant classification.  The later drawings (“later” being the 17th century) are meticulous and sometimes include animals that often live near the plants.  They also usually draw not only the plant but also the roots and sometimes the nearby habitat.

The earlier drawings often include details from a well-known story or myth about a certain plant.  Take the narcissus, for example:

so these are all photos of book pages as you can obviously tell. not very professional but the best I can do at the moment. this is page 32.

Now this doesn’t necessarily look like the narcissus flower, but the point here is clearly to illustrate the myth of Narcissus — you know, the guy who can’t stop staring at his reflection and eventually dies (of…starvation?  I was never too clear on that one.)  But I just love the fact that someone thought narcissus should have little Narcissuses (?) growing out of each flower.  In 1491.  Because…obviously.

It’s also interesting to see how the pictures evolved over time.  Here’s a water lily from 1499:

page 169

And here’s a water lily from 1585:

page 174 - I'm so sorry that I cut off "Venemous, Sleepy and Hurtfull Plants," you'll just have to use your imagination on that one

I think it’s pretty amazing how much more detailed the one from 1585 is in comparison with the one that’s less than a hundred years older.  But the earlier one definitely gets the shape of the flowers and the leaves right; I’m thinking especially the shape of the leaves, which to me are obviously water lilies.  The later illustration retains that familiar leaf shape but adds more detail.

But the really interesting ones are the ones that are super accurate.  Here’s a strawberry plant:

page 60

It totally looks like a strawberry!  Right down to the fuzzy stems and serrated leaves.  And here’s a potato:

page 158

I like this one because whoever drew it knew to include both the plant and the roots with the potatoes.  And if you’ve ever dug potatoes out of the ground you probably know that that’s basically what the roots look like.  And of course the flowers and leaves are highly and accurately detailed.

Check out this giant iris!

page 191

It’s towering over that bird!  Just kidding.  I assume realism (in size, not details) was not this artist’s main concern (as Ms. Arber so delicately puts it, “the want of realism”) but the addition of the water bird shows that irises grow in moist areas like riverbeds and ponds.  Pretty smart.

The classifications are also interesting, and I couldn’t resist including this one:

page 253

These are all grouped together because they are scorpion-like in appearance.  And they really do look like scorpion tails to me.  Not my first thought but maybe this person really liked drawing scorpions and finally had an excuse to draw one.

Lastly I’ll leave you with one more, and it’s one of my favorites:

page 200

I can’t really describe this better than Ms. Arber herself:  “The picture of a lime-tree, in which birds of unusual aspect are perching…” (page 201).  Unusual aspect indeed!  She goes on to note that if the leaves, trunk and grass were actually to scale with the man-birds we would lose a lot of important detail.  But I like to think that the man-birds are actually that big.  Terrifying!  Although from their expressions (especially the one in the middle) I have to assume they are very mild-mannered creatures.

I hope my little foray into botanical history wasn’t too boring.  Hey, at least you got some man-birds out of it.

To make sure that I’m not doing anything illegally, here’s the full citation for the book, where all these pictures and quotes come from:  Herbals, Their Origin and Evolution:  A Chapter in the History of Botany, 1470-1670 by Agnes Arber, M.A., D.Sc., F.R.S., F.L.S.  Second edition, rewritten and enlarged.  Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1953.

Urban Farming is the topic of the timely documentary film by Tree Media, Urban Roots, which explores the urban farming phenomenon in Detroit, Michigan. The Westphal College at Drexel University will host the Philadelphia theatrical premiere of Urban Roots on Tuesday, February 7th at 7:30 PM in the Bossone Research Center (3140 Market St.). Food grown locally in community gardens and urban farms is starting to make a positive impact for families faced with food challenge issues in Philadelphia. A panel discussion following the film with members of Philadelphia’s urban farming community, local food advocates, and the film’s director, Mark MacInnis, will focus on Philadelphia urban farming and how to get involved.

Prior to Urban Roots, there will be a screening event of Clay Hereth’s documentary short West Philly Grown at 6:30 PM. Clay’s film tells the story of the Mill Creek Farm, an urban farm at 49th & Brown Sts in West Philadelphia that grows a variety of organic vegetables, herbs, and fruits in addition to providing educational programs on urban farming. Please consider arriving early as we’ll be providing information on Philadelphia’s urban farming movement and ways you can get involved. The event is $5 for the general public and free with a Drexel ID, for more information call 215-895-1029 or visit www.drexel.edu/westphal. Event is presented by Drexel Green, The office of University & Community Partnership, Westphal’s Film & Video program and Westphal’s departments of Architecture & Interiors and Media Arts.

Panelists include:

• Dr. Eugenia Victoria Ellis: Drexel professor and co-director of the Drexel Engineering Cities Initiative, moderator
• Chris Bolden-Newsome, Farmer Educator, Bartram’s Gardens
• Phil Forsyth: Orchard Director, Philadelphia Orchard Project
• Ryan Kuck: Co-Founder Preston’s Paradise and farm manager Greensgrow
• Mark MacInnis: director, Urban Roots
• Dan Pohlig: Communications committee, South Philly Food Co-op
• Johanna Rosen: Co-Founder/Co-Director, West Philadelphia’s Mill Creek Farm
• Sarah Wu: Mayor’s Office of Sustainability

Join us for chocolate, cheese and wine tasting as well as a demonstration by Pastry Chef, Chad Durkin.  Chad was the Executive Pastry Chef at Susanna Foo’s restaurant, The Water Works Restaurant and Lounge and has competed on several Food Network Shows.  He’ll be demonstrating an easy to make-at-home dessert that you can replicate for your loved one on February 14th.  (Don’t worry, it’s not the gingerbread house pictured below!)

In addition to the demonstration, you can enjoy complimentary chocolate, cheese, wine, Little Baby’s Ice Cream, and a chocolate fountain with fruit, pretzels, and pound cake!

When: Sunday, February 12, 2012
Where: 842 Wharton St, Philadelphia, PA 19147 (Board Director’s Home)
Session 1: 2:00pm to 5:00pm (Demonstration begins at 3pm)
Session 2: 6:30pm to 9:30pm (Demonstration begins at 7:30pm)
Tickets*: $12 each ($7 for member-owners**) 

Reserve your tickets by going here for the afternoon session and here for the evening session.  (Each session is limited to 30 people so get your tickets now!)

 *Parents: Kids under 12 may attend for free and do not need a ticket!
**Members: To receive your member-owner discount when purchasing your ticket, enter your membership number under the promotional code.  Example: Member62

We hope to see you there!