Did yesterday’s traffic and icy roads send you into a fender bender? @JavaTrain wants to make you feel better with a free beverage, @LocalDlish reschedules their new gluten-free bread delivery,@MSPmagEats recommends Lindey’s Prime for steak and hashbrowns, @CameoApples does the math on their apple yield per acre, and butter gains a new feline audience — the NY Post suggests feeding cats a pat of @Organic_Valley butter to prevent hairballs.
by Soleil Ho on February 4, 2010
Katie Cannon / Heavy Table
The best football party food fits the following criteria: It must be easy to eat mindlessly, it must be dippable, and it must go with cheap beer.
For millions of American households, that means that their parties stand upon the two salty pillars of animal grease and cheese, their coffee tables piled high with buffalo wings, barbecue, pizza, burgers, and pork pork pork. For many vegans, vegetarians, and people with lactose intolerance or other allergies, that means having to get real comfortable with the chips and salsa for three hours.
Accommodating a vegan diet may be intimidating or even befuddling to many people. It not only excludes the obvious meat, dairy, and egg products, but also trickier ingredients like honey and gelatin. Vegans and those with allergies typically have to be on high alert when they encounter food that they haven’t made themselves. Mo Peterson, an employee at the Linden Hills Co-op and a former vegan, says she had to develop coping mechanisms for family gatherings and parties. “Usually, I’d just eat beforehand and bring a snack. I would never assume that there’d be food that I could eat there.”
Can football maniacs and vegans ever reconcile? Emily Iwuc, a veteran vegan Super Bowl party host, thinks that they can, despite the fact that football is basically a bunch of burly men throwing around a dead cow for sport. She says, “To me, the Super Bowl is about eating a lot of food that is pretty bad but delicious. And you can make a lot of pretty bad vegan analogues!” To wit, many vegans want to eat junk food just as much as omnivores do, so why not let everyone join in the fun? Cutting down on the grease might even save you the cost of the morning-after antacids, which seem to be as much a part of the ritual as the food itself.
Katie Cannon / Heavy Table
According to Iwuc, the greatest challenge in holding an exclusively vegan party is figuring out what foods translate well enough to satisfy the meat eaters. “When I’m figuring out what to make, I’m thinking, ‘How do I prevent people from getting fed up and just ordering KFC or pizza?’ The key is filling that junk food niche and not leaving people disappointed, hoping for the real thing.” Consequently, many vegans’ suggestions for snacks are simply riffs on the classics, such as chili dogs and pizza.
Meagan Holtgrewe, of the blog Rhymes with Vegan, says her repertoire of football party food includes: smoked “sausage”-style jambalaya, a tostada bar, spicy mock duck lettuce wraps, and barbecue pulled “pork” sandwiches with creamy potato salad. Iwuc plans to offer pierogi, buffalo seitan nuggets, and sweet potato fries at her party this weekend.
All you need to pull off a really great vegan-friendly party is a little nutritional yeast and an eye on ingredient lists. You might even discover some weird surprises, such as the fact that Oreos don’t contain milk or eggs. (Maybe that’s not totally surprising.) Certain substitutions are easier than others: Dallas Rising of the Twin Cities-based Animal Rights Coalition endorses Tings, an unexpectedly delicious vegan take on Cheetos.
If you’re concerned with the dangers of genetically modified food or soy protein isolate, stay away from soy meat and cheese. If you must go there, be aware that many vegans can only recommend vegan cheeses with reservations. Peterson calls vegan cheese “an illusion of cheese,” while Iwuc says, “Unless you’re used to [it], it’s just gross.” Nutritional yeast, however, makes for a great cheese-like condiment and could go on pretty much anything.
Instead of the traditional potato skin toppings of bacon and cheddar cheese, use slivers of sun-dried tomatoes, caramelized onions, and nutritional yeast. Serve them with a side of dill and horseradish Tofutti sour cream (which, by God, actually tastes like its dairy-based counterpart). If you want to get all fancy and Miami-themed, make black bean and plantain fritters with a side of mango-habanero salsa for dipping. Though, yes, Oreos are technically vegan, do your friends one better and get some ginger or chocolate Newman-Os. And of course, you shouldn’t neglect to crack out the chips and salsa.
Katie Cannon / Heavy Table
Black Bean and Plantain Fritters
Serves 6 as an hors d’oeuvre
4 ripe plantains, unpeeled with ends chopped off
1½ c all-purpose flour (more as needed)
salt to taste
1 15-oz can of black beans, rinsed
2 tbsp lime juice
1 tsp chili powder
1 dash cayenne pepper
¼ of a medium red onion, minced finely
½ c panko bread crumbs, or enough to coat fritters
canola oil
- Boil the plantains until the flesh becomes soft enough to mash. Let cool.
- Peel plantains and combine with flour and salt to make a soft dough. Dough should still be a little sticky.
- Combine beans, lime juice, spices, and onion in a bowl and season to taste.
- Grab a golf ball-sized chunk of dough and flatten in the palm of one hand. Spoon a little of the bean mixture onto the center of the dough (not too much) and mold into an oval-shaped fritter. Continue with the rest of the dough until you run out.
- Coat the fritters with bread crumbs and set aside.
- Fill a frying pan with enough oil to cover the bottom, and bring it to a nice frying temperature. Fry fritters until golden brown and serve immediately.
Mango-Habanero Salsa
Serves 6, can be doubled, tripled, etc. very easily
3 ripe mangoes, skinned and pitted
lime juice to taste
salt to taste
1 tbsp cilantro, chopped
1 habanero pepper, minced
- Combine all ingredients in a food processor. Process and add water until salsa reaches desired consistency.
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Katie Cannon / Heavy Table
This fall we purchased a 5-pound bag of fresh cranberries at the farmers market. What were we thinking? It had been nearly a year since Thanksgiving last. We were thinking there couldn’t possibly be enough cranberry sauce in the universe to meet our appetite.
Two months and a half-dozen festive meals later, we are more than satiated with the stuff. What to do, then, with all those lovely cranberries?
All kinds of things, it turns out. Here are five recipes we like, from puckery to piquant and breakfast to dessert.
1. Cranberry Curd
This creamy, sweet spread is fantastic on a scone or a crumpet — or simply by the spoonful. It is adapted from a lemon curd recipe in the September 2009 issue of Everyday Food.
1 c sugar
⅔ c lemon juice
8 large egg yolks
¼ tsp salt
10 tbsp butter (1¼ sticks)
1 c fresh or frozen cranberries
1. Pulse cranberries in food processor until they are in very small pieces. Place a fine mesh sieve over a glass bowl and set aside for straining later.
2. In a medium saucepan (off heat), mix together sugar, egg yolks, lemon juice, salt, and cranberries.
3. Add butter and place pan over medium high heat and cook (do not allow mixture to boil!), whisking constantly, until the butter has melted, the mixture is thick, and small bubbles appear around edge of the pan.
4. Remove pan from heat and continue to whisk. Pour the curd through the sieve into the glass bowl and continue to whisk until all that remain are the chunks of cranberry.
5. Cover closely (with a lid or plastic wrap) and put in refrigerator to cool for at least 2-4 hours. Cranberry curd will keep for up to 2 weeks.
2. Cranberry Chutney
Adapted from an old Gourmet Magazine recipe, this chutney has a good, solid kick. It pairs nicely with stinky cheese, sausages and flavorful meat, such as venison.
5 shallots
1½ tbsp canola oil
12 oz cranberries
⅔ c sugar
¼ c cider vinegar
1 tsp minced garlic
1 tsp (heaping) minced ginger
½ tsp salt
¼ tsp red pepper flakes
1. Heat the oil in a heavy saucepan and cook the shallots until they are soft.
2. Stir in the remaining ingredients and simmer, stirring occasionally until the cranberries pop, about 10 to 12 minutes.
3. Serve at room temperature
3. Cranberry Vodka
Becca Dilley / Heavy Table
There’s still time to add this cranberry-infused vodka, published on Heavy Table earlier in the season, to your winter entertaining menu. A bright red balance of sweet and tart, it’s just the thing to brighten the depths of January.
4. Wild Rice with Cranberries
This recipe is adapted Cooking with Wild Berries & Fruits by Teresa Marrone. It does not include any sugar and, therefore, features the cranberry at its most tart.
3 tbsp of butter
Half an onion, diced
½ c slivered almonds
¼ c dried apricot
1 c cranberries
1½ c hand-harvested, hand-finished wild rice
1 qt low-sodium chicken broth
Salt and pepper to taste
1. In a small skillet, melt one tablespoon of the butter over medium heat. Add onion and cook for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
2. Add nuts and cook for 5 minutes more.
3. Stir in apricots and cranberries and set aside.
4. Rinse wild rice and combine with chicken broth. Bring the broth to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for 10 minutes.
5. Add the cranberry mix and continue to cook until the rice is tender, about 10 minutes more. If the rice becomes too dry, add water.
6. When the rice is done, turn off the heat. Add two tablespoons of butter and salt and pepper to taste, and cover the pot for 5 minutes.
7. Fluff the rice and serve hot.
5. Cranberry Upside Down Cake
Katie Cannon / Heavy Table
Five or so years ago, Martha Stewart published a recipe for cranberry upside down cake, which has remained a favorite of ours, reappearing each year. It features cornmeal and almond paste — a texturally pleasing combo — and, unlike much of what she published during her pre-Big House period, it is not the least bit precious.
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Katie Cannon / Heavy Table
In the midst of the holiday season, parties abound. Revelers indulge in hors d’oeuvres, drinks, presents, sing-alongs, and other festive fun. But what happens after those holiday parties isn’t so jolly a scene.
Each year more than 1,000 people across the US die between Thanksgiving and New Year’s in drunk driving crashes. Last year, those killed in alcohol-impaired driving crashes accounted for nearly one-third of all traffic-related deaths in the US.
Like every president since 1981, President Obama proclaimed December National Impaired Driving Prevention Month [PDF]. Part of the prevention effort, which is in effect until January 3, involves police expanding their efforts to stop and arrest impaired drivers. According to the proclamation, President Obama says drunk drivers aren’t the only problem. “Although we have succeeded in decreasing the number of drunk drivers in recent years, we have seen a disturbing increase in Americans driving under the influence of drugs. Operating a vehicle under the influence of drugs poses the same risks as drunk driving, and we must do more to stop this growing epidemic.”
Whatever your pleasure — alcohol or drugs — there are a number of ways to ensure you won’t drive under the influence. You can take a taxi, ride with a sober driver, sleep over at your host’s house, stay home and skip the party altogether, or, another option: Take a designated driver service that brings both you and your car home.
Katie Cannon / Heavy Table
One service, DWI Ride Home of Minnesota, is a Twin Cities-based non-profit organization that began in August 2007. According to Scott Judd, operator of DWI Ride Home, this type of service is a growing trend. “When we first started, there were 69 companies doing this across the United States; now there’s probably closer to 700, in only a few years.”
To schedule a ride, you can either call ahead to set up an appointment or you can call spur-of-the moment when you’re ready to go. If you’re traveling within 15 miles, rides cost $30, and every additional mile costs $2.50.
The Heavy Table scheduled an appointment for a Thursday night, hitching a ride from South Minneapolis to Eden Prairie, which was just under the 15-mile cap. Most of the company’s customers are within that range. “We’ve taken 18,000 people off the road since August of ’07,” Judd says. “We’ve discovered that 95 percent of them are within a 15-mile radius of the bar.” And compared to a cab service, DWI Ride Home offers an additional advantage. “If a cab takes you home and they have a speedy delivery, it averages out to be about $2 a mile. If we go $30 for the first 15 miles, it’s still the same price as a cab, but you get your car home.”
Some rides are brief and routine, while others can be long and involved. “We’ve had people call us that have taken a boat up to Stillwater, wanting us to pick their car up from their boat landing and take it home to their house in St. Louis Park and pick them up later,” says Judd. “They don’t want their car sitting there.” Rides can also be absurd, even reaching reality TV show caliber, according to Judd. “One of our clients ate a whole Pizza Luce pizza while lying in the street on Fourth Street in Minneapolis. His pizza was completely submerged in water from the curb drain. Didn’t slow him down a bit,” says Judd. “We’re somewhere between Taxicab Confessions and Girls Gone Wild. It is insane.” Continue reading DWI Ride Home of Minnesota »
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As scents of turkey and mashed potatoes begin to fade away and waistbands seem to be a bit tighter than they were last week, one thing becomes incredibly clear: Thanksgiving is over and the holiday season is in full swing. As you begin preparing for the hustle and bustle of the season, we at the Heavy Table would like eliminate some holiday stress by helping you select the perfect present for food lovers on your gift list. From cheese to chopsticks to candy kits, the 2009 Heavy Table Gift Guide is here to help.
ERIC FAUST, WRITER
Bodum’s catch phrase “give up bad design for good” might be better said “give up bad coffee for good.” The double wall French press ($90, available online at or at Kitchen Window, 3001 Hennepin Ave., Minneapolis) is deeper than design — it is one of the most advanced coffee brewing devices on the market. The double wall hand-blown glass creates a thermal insulation that keeps the water at a more stable temperature during brewing, resulting in an even extraction during the brew. The $100 investment can brew coffee that rivals stuff brewed in an $11,000 Clover brewer.
SOLEIL HO, CALENDAR INTERN
Adam Turman, a Northeast Minneapolis-based illustrator, has a great printed T-shirt featuring an obscenely Minnesotan concept: the hotdish. He’ll be selling shirts at the No Coast Craft-O-Rama at Midtown Global Market (920 E Lake St., Minneapolis, Dec. 4-5) for $10, or you can contact him via www.adamturman.com to get a hold of one.
You can’t buy the Blue Door Pub’s (1811 Selby Ave., St. Paul) Jucy Blucy Challenge T-shirt, which features a crazy burger solar system design by local artist Patrick Jeske, but you can win it by eating every single Blucy on their menu (not necessarily all at once, thankfully). Think of it as a labor of love.
Gastro Non Grata’s T-shirts come in two flavors, both for $10: a gray shirt featuring their kickass logo and a white shirt printed with a horrifying red woman / crab chimera. You missed your chance to buy them at their November event, but you could probably get one by e-mailing them.
Mill City Farmers Market sells their terribly adorable pastoral shirts at Spoonriver’s takeout counter (750 N 2nd St., Minneapolis): $12 for adult sizes and $10 for kids’ versions. Urban Bean’s (3255 Bryant Ave. S, Minneapolis) “I <3 MPLS” shirts are also deadly in their cuteness, though at $25 they’re much pricier than the other shirts here.
ASHLEY LAFLIN, PROJECTS INTERN
For the coffee lover in your life, check out the Clever Coffee Dripper. This small and simple device allows full immersion extraction with incredibly easy clean up. Order one online through local coffee roasters Bull Run Roasting Company to be shipped directly to you or to be held at their warehouse in St Louis Park ($14, available online). Add a pound of Bull Run’s coffee (prices vary, available online or at their new shop at 3220 W Lake St., Minneapolis) to the Clever for a complete package!
While Star Wars and sushi might not seem like the most likely pairing, these quirky lightsaber chop sticks ($22 + $5.50 S&H on Amazon) are a great gift your favorite sci-fi fan. Lightsaber noises are unfortunately not included and must be provided by the chopstick user.
Is there an æbleskiver aficionado in your life? Aunt Else’s 9-Hole Cast Iron Æbleskiver Pan ($40, available online) cooks nine delicious Danish apple pancakes at a time. This pan is made locally in Minneapolis by Aunt Else’s and is more reasonably priced than most other æbleskiver pans but doesn’t sacrifice quality.
Lori Writer / Heavy Table
When selecting a cookbook as a gift, the choices can be overwhelming. Why not show some local pride by giving the new Hell’s Kitchen cookbook, Damn Good Food ($28, available online)? Unlike many cookbooks that offer only recipes and generic photographs, this book is an amalgam of personal memoir, restaurant history, interesting photography and, of course, recipes. Written by Hell’s Kitchen chef Mitch Omer and writer Ann Bauer, this cookbook is sure to please those who look for something a little different.
JAMES NORTON, EDITOR
Fans of Wisconsin cheese — and cheese in general — may enjoy The Master Cheesemakers of Wisconsin (pick it up at Magers & Quinn in Uptown or for $16.47 on Amazon). It’s a book that I co-wrote with my wife, Heavy Table photographer Becca Dilley. We visited 35 different cheese plants, interviewed and photographed 43 different cheesemakers, and drove 7,600 miles to tell the story of Wisconsin cheese — it was a hell of a trip, and the book itself came out quite nicely, I think.
Becca Dilley / Heavy Table
I’d be remiss if I didn’t remind folks of Heavy Table’s own line of gifts, which both sustain our magazine and are totally enjoyable in their own right. A pair of Heavy Table pint glasses ($14 + $4 S&H, available online) is brilliantly functional and sends a message about your connection to the Upper Midwestern food scene. And a beer or cheese photography print by Becca Dilley ($25 or $200 for canvas, available online) is an artful way to show some local gastro-pride.
A gift basket from Local D’lish (208 1st St. N, Minneapolis) is another easy way to go this holiday season – stock up on everything from granola to locally roasted coffee to cheese and chocolates with an Upper Midwestern pedigree.
EMILY NYSTROM, COPY EDITOR
For the chef (or wannabe chef) in your life, a gift certificate to a cooking class is a thoughtful present. At some classes, attendees watch (and salivate) as the dishes are made; at other classes, they participate in the preparation. Some places to check out: Kitchen Window in Minneapolis; Cooks of Crocus Hill, locations in St. Paul and Edina; The Chef’s Gallery in Stillwater; Lakewinds Natural Foods, locations in Minnetonka, Chanhassen, and Anoka; Mississippi Market, two locations in St. Paul; and Whole Foods, locations in Minneapolis and St. Paul.
Looking for a fun, hands-on gift for a child on your holiday list? Check out the Make Your Own Candy Kits ($12). You can choose between three fair-trade kits: chocolate, gummies, or chewing gum. They’re appropriate for ages 8 and older. Available online or at Twin Cities Green (2405 Hennepin Ave. S, Minneapolis).
Other fun gifts can also be found at Twin Cities Green. For the whimsical, how about the silverware windchime ($22)? It’s made from reclaimed spoons, forks, and knives… and the tarnish present on some pieces just adds to the charm. For the cook in your life, he or she could always use a trivet, right? They’re always useful and often handsome. But here’s one that’s useful, handsome, and earth friendly: Kwytza chopstick trivet ($16). It’s made from post-restaurant-consumer chopsticks that were cleaned, sanitized at a high temperature, and crafted to make the piece.
Many pantries in Minnesota store boxes of Honey Maid, packages of Hershey’s, and bags of Jet-Puffed, just in case the perfect occasion for s’mores arises. But to really blow your bonfire-lovin’ friend’s socks off, consider a S’more Kit ($23) from St. Peter-based Laura’s Candy. The kit contains homemade whole wheat graham crackers, Valrhona chocolate, and homemade marshmallows that come in flavors from vanilla to chocolate raspberry to amaretto. The combination of the three redefines — and elevates — the s’more. Available online or at some local grocery stores and co-ops.
Popcorn is usually relegated to a lowly movie theater food, but at the tiny Tom’s Popcorn Shop (4708 Cedar Ave. S, Minneapolis), the popcorn in prepackaged bags ($3 without nuts; $5 with nuts) makes a lovely holiday or host gift. Flavors include Hot & Spicy Cheddar Cheese, M&M Krunch, Double Caramel, and many, many more. While you’re buying a few bags as gifts, don’t forget to order a box for yourself of the salty, buttery stuff they make fresh.
by Lori Writer on November 3, 2009
Lori Writer / Heavy Table
You’ve covered your lawn furniture, cut your hostas to the ground, and raked and bagged your weight in leaves, but you haven’t the heart to cut back your wild and tangled herb garden, especially now that the sage is looking its healthiest, velvety and defiantly spring green. You can go a few ways with the last herbs standing: You can take cuttings or bring the rosemary, thyme, and sage plants in for the winter; let the tender annuals die, mulch the perennials, and hunker down until spring; harvest and store them; or harvest and use them.
According to the Minnesota State Horticultural Society’s Month-by-Month Gardening in Minnesota by Melinda Myers, your chives, lavender, mints, sage, tarragon, and thyme plants are all likely to survive winter; keep watering them until the ground freezes. Your sage will thrive outdoors long enough to make an appearance at Thanksgiving as dressing alongside your turkey, but October is the time to move the rosemary indoors for a long winter vacation on a sunny windowsill. You’re probably too late to dig up your parsley and chives (that would be a September project), but if you’ve grown your herbs in unglazed clay pots and buried them to the rim (leaving the top inch or two of the pot exposed) in your garden in spring, just dig them up now and bring them indoors. (Growing mint in pots has the additional advantage of keeping it from invading the rest of your garden.) Take cuttings now of marjoram, mint, oregano, sage, parsley, and winter savory to sprout for your indoor window-sill herb garden.
If you want to harvest and dry the herbs, you can gather them in small bundles, bind at the stems with a rubber-band, and hang them upside down to dry. Or, you can dry them in the oven on the lowest setting with the door cracked: Just spread them on a cookie sheet and leave them until they are brittle. You can even microwave them on a single layer of paper towels: Blast on high for three minutes, then keep going in 20-second bursts until the herbs are crumbly. You can also freeze your herbs in plastic freezer bags or with a bit of water in ice cube trays for later use.
A good way to use up your herbs is to make herb-flavored olive oil (recipe below) that you can use in your cooking over the next several months, mixed into mashed potatoes, drizzled over polenta or roasted vegetables, or baked into a savory monkey bread (recipe below).
Continue reading Winterize Your Herb Garden…or Use Up Those Herbs »
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