Peanuty Noodles with Peppers, Sweet Potato, and Soft Egg

THE OPPOSITE OF ADDICTION IS CONNECTION

Last week I lost Adam, an old friend who I loved.

I’ve spent this past week, awake at night, reflecting on my history with him. I was friends with Adam in high school. We were both members of the same crew- a close knit group of friends tightly bound through a shared love of music, social justice, and freedom. At the center of our world was Adam- the pumping heart at the core. He was caring, kind, and had an effortless charm that was enchanting and unforgettable. He had the ability to draw you in and make you feel so close to him, like you were his own personal sidekick. I have such fond memories of playing guitar with him, and listening to music together. My favorite memory together was when one night I walked over to his house and we stayed up until the sun came up, listening to one of my favorite albums by Wilco. I remember how he would obsessively pause at specific breaks and riffs and replay them over and over, analyzing every detail and melody. And through sharing his own enthusiasm, he inspired me cultivate a deep passion for music and art- a quality has stuck with me even now. He's such a crucial part of who I am today.

this is adam

Despite unwavering love & support from family and friends and efforts at rehab, Adam succumbed to addiction, a misunderstood disease that crippled his mind and isolated him from the world. Beyond Adam, I have friends and family who suffered from the nightmare of addiction. The question I wonder more broadly, now that I’ve experienced another devastating loss at the hands of addiction, is how to move forward. How can we strive for a better health care system and treat addiction the way we do cancer or diabetes- as a long term, daily struggle that requires resources, relentless professional intervention, and a band of strong support systems. The general reality is that addiction is decidedly not viewed as a public health crisis, but a moral failure that relegates its victims to live in a state of secrecy and shame.

And so we need to change this reality, but how? How do we prevent these senseless deaths? Sadly, there’s no linear solution for effecting widespread societal change. What I do know is that perhaps it would be more effective if we stopped treating addicts like criminals and instead treated them with compassion. After all, studies show that people who lack connection or feel isolated from the world are more susceptible to develop an addiction. Why then do we treat addicts as outcasts when that is the very reason they sought escape in the first place? I do hope for a world where people in recovery are not shamed, but rather brought out of the dark and celebrated so they may foster meaningful connections with the suffering and inspire others to beat the battle. I long for the day where there is no stigma attached to addiction, and is no longer viewed as a weakness in will. As the Rabbi mentioned in his eulogy, Adam's struggle and death are a shame, but not shameful. Millions of people struggle with addiction yet only a small sliver of those people receive the help they need to attain long term recovery. I don’t know how to solve this complicated issue, but one place to start is by supporting organizations that are at the front lines of the fight. If you’d like to support the effort of fighting the addiction epidemic, please consider giving to an organization that helped Adam, The Helping Up Mission, and is actively helping many other men in Baltimore to overcome addiction. Every dollar counts!

The recipe that I’m sharing comes from the refrigerator of Allison Hartman, Adam’s amazingly strong, compassionate, and generous mother, who I had the honor of reconnecting with this weekend. I have a glorious memory of this dish when one afternoon we were scrounging around Adam’s kitchen and discovered an enormous bowl of peanut noodles. I fell in love with them, and have been making them in my own kitchen ever since, with my own special spin of course. It’s a dish that I’ve thought about a lot this week- every time I make them I’m flooded with memories of Adam. Making these noodles has brought me so much comfort during this week of mourning and deep reflection, and I hope it brings you comfort too. 

INGREDIENTS

• spaghetti or soba noodles, boiled
• 1 large sweet potato, diced and roasted
• 1 red pepper, sliced thin
• 1 green pepper, sliced thin
• 1 cup of parsley, chopped
• 4 scallions, chopped
• 1 clove of garlic
• 1 inch knob of ginger 
• 1/2 cup of peanut butter
• 1/3 cup of olive oil
• 1 tbs maple syrup
• 3 tbs. sesame oil 
• 1/4 cup of rice wine vinegar
• 1/3 cup of soy sauce
• 3 tbs. black sesames
• 1 soft boiled, 5 min. egg 

DIRECTIONS

Boil noodles. Roast sweet potatoes. Meanwhile place garlic, ginger, peanut butter, maple syrup, olive oil, rice wine vinegar, sesame oil, soy sauce in a food processor and blend until smooth. When noodles are ready place in a bowl with sauce, sweet potatoes, peppers, parsley, black sesame and soft egg. 

Sweet potato Skin Tacos with Chipotle Yogurt and Farro

LIKE TACOS, EVERY NOW AND THEN I FALL APART

.... a meditation on failure

Failure is the key to success. To risk sounding like a Silicon Valley tech-y, I'm going to start by getting ahead of what I'm about to say. Disclaimer: I fully acknowledge and recognize that this may come across as super cheesy, and may even be dismissed as meaningless jargon to be used only at the outset of a company wide meeting at a sexy start up. The truth is though, this idea is substantial, and such an important intention to continuously remind yourself of. This has been my north star, my mantra that has motivated me to trudge through, even in the face of challenges and defeat.

Now, back to this idea of failure. To achieve your goals, you have to fail and fail and fail, yet keep forging forward with your head held high. It's so easy to let the feeling of defeat and rejection knock your confidence down and entirely change your perception of yourself. When  failure punches you in the gut it's only natural to feel raw and vulnerable. The challenge here is to keep going. Keep learning. Keep creating. And don't quit. Because in a way, this action alone would be the ultimate failure. 

So far in my journey with The Fennel Frond and other creative pursuits, I've been pretty successful. By that, I mean that I've been able to work on projects that make my heart sing, and I've been making a living doing it. Yet at the same time, I've also failed. A lot. For the most part I've been able to keep my clients pretty happy, but I've also had to re-shoot, re-record, re-edit, re-write, to create something that I'm proud of. At this point, my goal is to shake off the dust, keep learning and doing, and get better and better as I build up a volume of work. 

I've thought about this a lot after listening to Ira Glass talking about the creative process. For those of you who are interested in the subject of self doubt, creativity, failure and success, you have got to check this out. Here's the gist of it: 

“Nobody tells this to people who are beginners, I wish someone told me. All of us who do creative work, we get into it because we have good taste. But there is this gap. For the first couple years you make stuff, it’s just not that good. It’s trying to be good, it has potential, but it’s not. But your taste, the thing that got you into the game, is still killer. And your taste is why your work disappoints you. A lot of people never get past this phase, they quit. Most people I know who do interesting, creative work went through years of this. We know our work doesn’t have this special thing that we want it to have. We all go through this. And if you are just starting out or you are still in this phase, you gotta know its normal and the most important thing you can do is do a lot of work. Put yourself on a deadline so that every week you will finish one story. It is only by going through a volume of work that you will close that gap, and your work will be as good as your ambitions. And I took longer to figure out how to do this than anyone I’ve ever met. It’s gonna take awhile. It’s normal to take awhile. You’ve just gotta fight your way through.”

This recipe represents two things to me. One is that it's comforting. After a series of setbacks yesterday, all I wanted to eat was tacos. So... that's how this recipe came about. The second is that this is a recipe that is wholly influenced by the mission of The Fennel Frond- to create healthful, accessible recipes using every edible bit of the ingredient and recipes that celebrate the seasons offerings. When it comes down to it, I owe a lot to this blog. Creating The Fennel Frond is what inspired to pursue my passion in food and design, and I believe that this recipe epitomizes the feeling, values and spirit of TFF. Enjoy!

Sweet Potato Skin Tacos with Chipotle Yogurt and Farro

INGREDIENTS

• soft corn taco shells
• black beans
• 4 tbs. olive oil
• 2 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. chipotle powder
• 1 cup of farro
• 2 cups of water
• 4 sweet potatoes 

CHIPOTLE YOGURT

• 2 cups of yogurt 
• 1 tbs. chipotle powder
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. pepper
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 1/2 lime, squeezed

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 425. Peel the potatoes. Keep the skins. Place skins in a cast iron skillet with olive oil, salt, and pepper and roast for 20 mins. Dice the potatoes, place on sheet pan with smoked paprika, chipotle powder, salt, pepper and olive oil and roast for 30 mins. 

Place a sauce pan on high heat and let water come to a boil. Place farro in the pot, covered, and let it simmer for 25 mins. 

In a pan, place olive oil, black beans over high heat and cook with salt, pepper, smoked chipotle and cumin for 10 mins. 

Assemble tacos with farro, black beans, sweet potatoes, chipotle yogurt with crispy potato skins on top. 

Quinoa with Herby Avocado and Tahini Cream and summer vegetables

BOWL SO HARD

Sometime I just want to put things in a bowl and call it a meal. And sometimes that's good enough. Here's an easy, affordable and seriously delicious lunch that you can whip up in a flash. PS - I'm falling in love with video production! Get ready for many more videos on here in the future. Enjoy! 

INGREDIENTS

• 1 pint of cherry tomatoes, halved
• 1 large cucumber, large chunks
• 1/4 cup of dill
• 1/4 cup of mint
• 1 avocado
• 1 lemon
• 1/4 cup of tahini
• salt
• pepper
• 1/2 cup olive oil 
• 1 cup of quinoa
• 2 cups of water
• 1/4 cup of feta

DIRECTIONS

Place quinoa and water on stove top, bring to a boil and simmer for 20 mins. Meanwhile, place avocado, lemon, dill, mint, tahini, salt and pepper in a food processor. Pulse on high and slowly add olive oil until the mixture is emulsified. 

When quinoa is ready, assemble with chunky tomatoes and cucumbers, avocado cream, feta and extra herbs on top. 

zucchini noodles with harissa romesco and black pepper chickpeas

USE YOUR NOODLE AND MAKE THIS RECIPE

A delicious recipe that gives you no excuse but to exclude animal products from your meal, entirely. It's just that hearty! I love how this dish celebrates plant based ingredients and leaves you wishing "boy, bye" to your meat craving. 

Happy Meatless Monday!

ROMESCO INGREDIENTS

• 1 jar of roasted red peppers
• 1/4 cup of tomato paste
• 1/4 cup of sundried tomato
• 1/4 cup of apple cider vinegar
• 1/2 cup of walnuts 
• 1 tbs harissa
• 1 tbs smoked paprika
• 1 tsp chili flakes
• cracked black pepper
• 1/4 cup of parsley
• 1/2 cup of olive oil

ZUCCHINI NOODLES

• 5 zucchinis, spiralized (this is a great option if you need to buy one) 

CHICPEAS

• 1 can of chickpeas, drained, rinsed and dried
• olive oil
• salt and pepper

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 425. Spiralize 5 zucchinis, and boil for 4 mins. Drain and let cool. Meanwhile, place all romesco ingredients except for the oil in a food processor. While the mixture pulses, slowly add the olive oil until the sauce is creamy. 

Drain and rinse the chickpeas. Dry them. Place on a skillet with olive oil, salt and pepper. Roast at 425 for 25 mins or until golden brown. 

Plate your noodles with romesco and chickpeas on top and a sprinkle of flat leaf parsley. 

Lavash Bread with yogurt and herbs

LAVISH LAVASH

Inspiration can be elicited in the most unexpected places. I took a recent trip to Pittsburgh with my husband, and was completely enchanted by the ivy that consumed red brick buildings, the rolling green hills in the distance, and the vestiges of an industrial bustling city.

We ate lunch near University of Pittsburgh at a little take out shop called Conflict Kitchen, a concept restaurant that serves cuisine from countries with which the United States is in conflict. To my delight, they were serving Iranian food. Our meal was full of flavor, spice and brightness. Aside from the food though, I was impressed by their ability to initiate conversation and engage the public around the issues at stake for the Iranian people. With our dishes we were served an informative pamphlet discussing challenges that Iranians both here in the US and abroad are facing, and interviews with Iranians on subjects ranging from culture to politics. As is to be expected, the thoughts and opinions that come through the interviews are informed by personal perspective and history. But the diversity of the perspectives also reflected a nuanced range of thought within each country which brilliantly instigates questioning, conversation, and debate among their customer base. 

I love the idea that food can be a common ground to bring people together and engage them around a critical issue. This dish is inspired by the meal that we had at Conflict Kitchen. It's called Noon-o Paneer-o Sabzi, and it is incredibly delicious. PS- my little brother kept on calling this dish "lavish", and I completely agree. It's wildly luxurious ;)

LAVASH BREAD INGREDIENTS

• 3 1/2 cups of flour
• 1 cup of water
• 3 tbs olive oil
• 2 tsp of salt
• 2 tsp yeast

LAVASH TOPPINGS

• 1 cup of yogurt
• 1/2 cup of feta
• 1 clove of garlic 
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/4 cup of parsley
• 1/4 cup of mint
• 1/4 cup of dill
• 1/2 cup of walnuts, chopped

PICKLED ONIONS

• 1/2 red onion
• 1 cup of water
• 2 tsp of salt
• 3 tbs apple cider vinegar

DIRECTIONS

Mix the flour, salt and yeast together in a large bowl. Whisk the water and oil together, then add to the flour mixture. Mix with a standing or hand mixer for 5 mins until the mixture is wet and shaggy. Form into a ball. Add to an oiled bowl and cover with a towel. Let the dough rise for 2 hours. 

Meanwhile, cut onion into slices. Boil water, apple cider vinegar and salt and take off the heat. Put onions and brine into a mason jar and place in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour. Mix the yogurt, feta and chopped garlic together, set aside. 

Preheat oven to 500 degrees. Place a pizza stone in the oven. When the dough has doubled in size, take a piece of the dough, the size of your hand and place on well floured countertop. Roll the dough out until it's thin enough to see your hand through. Place the rolled out dough on parchment paper, and place on pizza stone. Cook for no longer than 2.5 mins.

Once all of the lavash has been cooked, spread yogurt on top, followed by walnuts, herbs and pickled onions.