celeriac fall soup

1 tablespoon neutral oil
1 shallot
1 medium celeriac/celery root
1/2 teaspoon fennel seeds
1 tablespoon dried tarragon
2 large sweet apples - peeled (I used Rosa Lee)
3 medium red potatoes - peeled
1 teaspoon jarred chicken bouillon
4 cups of water
3 tablespoons of butter
Salt to taste 

Chop celeriac, potatoes and apples into bite sized pieces. Dice shallot. 

Heat oil in a heavy bottom pan or Dutch oven. Add shallots and heat until translucent but not browned. Add fennel seeds and tarragon and warm through until fragrant. Add celeriac, potatoes and apples and stir. Add bouillon and water and stir. Bring to a boil and simmer on medium high, partially covered, for 20 minutes or until the celeriac is mostly softened. 

Use an immersion blender to process the soup until smooth. Stir in the butter until combined. Add salt to taste.

now for umami fish

Another killer fridge clean out dish.

1 pound of white fish
4 yellow potatoes
1 package of chard
7-10 campari tomatoes, quartered
1/2 cup pickled banana peppers, chopped
2 garlic cloves, sliced
3 tbsp pickled banana pepper liquid
splash of Cynar
ground mustard
salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Quarter potatoes, coat in oil, sprinkle with salt and bake in the oven for 45 minutes.

Coat fish in ground mustard, salt, pepper and olive oil. Add a pat of butter and a tbsp of olive oil to a stainless steel pan over high heat. When butter is bubbling, add fish and cook on each side for 90 seconds to 2 minutes. Remove from the pan to a plate.

Add sliced garlic to the hot pan. Cook for a couple minutes until browned but not burned, add a splash of Cynar and then add the tomatoes and banana peppers and scrape up the browned bits on the bottom of the pan. Add the chard (chopped if large pieces) and combine. Cover and let chard wilt for a couple minutes and then stir again. Add the fish to the top of the vegetables, cover, and put back in the oven for 8-9 minutes.

Plate the fish with the vegetables on top and spoon sauce over the top.

russian vinagret salad

A friend made this and I loved it!

1 beet
2 carrots
1-2 potatoes
1 medium red onion
10oz of pickles
1 can (about 15 oz) boiled beans of your choice
Salt to taste

Prepare ingredients: dice vegetables to the same size. Boil carrots, potato and separately beets, then let them cool down to room temperature and peel.

Dice beet, add to a deep bowl, add diced pickles, diced potatoes and and carrots.

Add boiled beans (if you use canned ones – rinse them and then drain liquid out before adding beans to the bowl).

Salt to taste, mix well.

lamb shoulder braise two-ways

Lamb shoulder is a tough cut – and it keeps showing up in my farm share. Fortunately a low and slow cook does wonders.

Red Wine Braised Lamb

1 tablespoon olive oil
2 pounds lamb shoulder chops, or more to taste
salt and ground black pepper to taste
1 small yellow onion, sliced
4 cloves garlic, minced
half a bag of baby carrots
2 medium potatoes
2 sprigs of oregano
1.5 cups beef broth
1.5 cups red wine
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1/2 cup water
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

Preheat oven to 300 degrees.

Heat olive oil in a dutch over over medium-high heat. Salt and pepper lamb chops. Sear lamb in hot oil until browned, 1 to 2 minutes per side. Remove chops to a plate to drain, reserving drippings in the skillet.

Saute onion and garlic in reserved drippings until tender, about 4 minutes. Add carrots and potatoes and saute another few minutes.

Add lamb chops and drippings to the dutch oven. Add oregano sprigs on top of lamb. Pour beef broth and red wine over the lamb. Cover dish.

Bake for 3 hours.

Remove lamb to a serving platter.

Did not have enough liquid the first time to do this part: Carefully drain liquid from baking dish into a saucepan and place over medium heat. Beat cornstarch and water together in a bowl using a whisk to assure no lumps remain; stir into the liquid in the saucepan. Add Worcestershire sauce and cook until the liquid thickens into a gravy, about 5 minutes.

Adapted from AllRecipes.com

Saba Braised Lamb

4 lamb shanks
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon dried rosemary
1 large onion, sliced
6 cloves garlic, crushed
1 cup chicken broth
1/3 cup saba
1/2 teaspoon chopped fresh rosemary

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

Place lamb shanks into a large bowl; drizzle with olive oil. Sprinkle with salt, black pepper, smoked paprika, cinnamon, and rosemary. Toss the lamb shanks to spread oil and seasonings over the meat.

Spread onion slices and garlic cloves into the bottom of a heavy 9x12-inch baking dish. Lay lamb shanks over onions and garlic.

Bake lamb in preheated oven for 30 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 200 degrees.

Combine chicken broth and saba in a bowl. Pour mixture over the lamb shanks. Cover baking dish tightly with foil and place baking dish on a baking sheet.

Bake lamb in the oven until a knife pierces the meat easily, 2 1/2 to 3 hours. The meat will be tender but not falling off the bone. Use tongs to turn the shanks over in the pan sauce. Increase temperature to 350 degrees.

Return shanks to oven and bake, uncovered, until meat is fork-tender and the sauce has thickened slightly, 10 to 15 minutes. Turn shanks over in the sauce after 10 minutes and check for tenderness; if still not tender enough, return to oven for 10 to 15 more minutes and test again.

Transfer lamb shanks to a bowl and keep warm. Strain pan juices into a saucepan and place over medium heat. Bring to a boil and cook, stirring often, until thickened, about 5 minutes. Skim any excess grease from top of sauce. Taste and season with salt; stir in fresh rosemary. Serve sauce drizzled over lamb shanks.

From AllRecipes.com

crustless pasty

2 turnips
3 red potatoes
1 red onion
3 carrots
1 bottom round or eye round steak, chopped into small pieces
springs of thyme
butter
oil
salt
pepper

Preheat oven to 400°F. Roughly chop turnips, potatoes, carrots and thyme.

Melt butter and oil in large cast iron pan, add finely chopped onion and cook until soft, about 5 minutes. Add turnip, potato, carrot, and thyme to the cast iron pan, and toss to combine. Season with salt and pepper. Cover and cook on medium high for 20 minutes, stirring every 5 minutes.

Remove vegetables to a separate plate. Add another tablespoon of butter to the cast iron pan. Add the chopped steak and salt and pepper to taste. Cook until barely browned. Add vegetables to steak and stir to combine.

Place uncovered cast iron pan in 400°F oven. Cook for 10 minutes and then broil for 3 minutes to lightly brown top.

it's nota frittata – no egg veggie casserole

With all the farm share veggies we get frittatas are a good way of stuffing a lot of different vegetables into a single, easy-to-make dish. But wow do I get sick of eggs fast. This dish helps clear out the veggies without the need for eggs and the flavors come together in a surprisingly delicious way.

I have updated the amounts of each of the ingredients used from the original recipe to reflect the sizes and amount of veggies we get in our CSA.

2 tablespoons butter
2 small to medium onions, chopped
Olive oil cooking spray
4-5 small farm potatoes (color/type doesn't matter), sliced
2 cups of zucchini, sliced
3-4 medium to large tomatoes, sliced and halved
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
3/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2-3 tablespoons butter, melted
1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 400°. Melt 2 Tbsp. butter in a medium skillet over medium heat; add onions, and sauté 10 to 12 minutes or until tender and onions begin to caramelize.

Spoon onions into a 10-inch dish coated with cooking spray. Toss together potatoes, zucchini, salt and pepper. Salt and pepper tomato slices separately so they don't break up. Layer potatoes, zucchini, and tomatoes over onions, alternating and overlapping slightly. Drizzle with 2-4 Tbsp. melted butter. Cover with aluminum foil.

Bake at 400° for 30 minutes. Remove foil, and sprinkle with cheese. Bake 30 minutes or until golden brown. Let stand 10 minutes before serving.

mi csa su csa: week 11

tomato

lettuce

eggplant

cucumbers

carrots

peppers

onion

potato

garlic

We went straight for the lettuce with a steak salad - a great way to start the week with fresh flavors while getting to use some of the items that might go bad faster. We did our usual skirt steak salad with balsamic brown sugar dressing cooked down with a small red onion. We also used a cucumber and the previous week's last 3 multi-colored tomatoes. Topped with pepper-coated goat cheese and a few dried cranberries the salad was bursting with fresh flavors.

After spending the week fighting a cold we wanted to get some fresh veggies back in our meals and a frittata sounded like a pretty good way to get there.

Cast Iron Frittata

1 tablespoon of oil

1 tablespoon of butter

6 eggs

2 tablespoons cream/milk

1 onion

1 garlic clove

2 japanese eggplants

1 -2 red peppers

1 small log of goat cheese

1 tomato

parmesan cheese

salt and pepper

Chop onion, red pepper, eggplants and red pepper and garlic. Heat butter and oil in a cast iron skillet until bubbling. Cook onion, red pepper, eggplant until softened. Add garlic and salt and pepper. While the vegetables are cooking, whisk the eggs and cream with a little more salt and pepper. Slice the goat cheese log into 1/4 inch pieces. Once the vegetables have softened, pour the eggs into the pan. Place the goat cheese slices evenly around the pan. Cook over medium high heat for 5 minutes. Very thinly slice the tomato and place on top of the goat cheese. Sprinkle generously with parmesan cheese and a little more salt and pepper. Place under the broiler for 3-4 minutes until golden brown and cooked through.

mi csa su csa: week 7

Rainbow Chard
Onion
Potatoes
Cucumbers
Eggplant
Peppers
Tomatoes
Lettuce

I wanted to get to the chard first, as it had the best chance to go bad before we got to it. It was beautiful - different colors, shapes and sizes. I found a creamed chard and noodles recipe that looked great, but I didn't have any noodles except for boxes of mac and cheese. I decided I could fake the creamed chard recipe, so I made the mac and cheese according to the recipe, chopped up the chard with 2 of the onions and pan fried them, seasoning with salt, pepper, Jamaican curry powder and ground ginger. Once everything was finished cooking I mixed it all together for a tasty twist on mac and cheese.

For an appetizer we chopped up a yellow and orange tomatoes to serve over a very fresh burrata with some cracked salt and pepper and a drizzle of balsamic.

Eggplant was next on the list - gorgeous dark purple, long, thin eggplants. We also got one more pepper this week so we decided to pick up some ground pork and make asian-style stuffed peppers. We made them similarly to our cabbage shumai, along with the dipping sauce, with the addition of the eggplant and onions to the stuffing. The key was roasting the oiled peppers a bit before stuffing them and then cooking them in a 350 degree oven for 20 minutes. Served over some sushi rice, the flavors came together nicely.

We've had a beef roast from the other farm in the freezer for a couple of months and finally pulled it out to roast with some carrots and tiny potatoes from the farm, along with some parsnips and vidalia onions. The juices and scrapings from the pan made an excellent gravy.

Got through just about everything, just the lettuce and some of last week's zucchini. But we just got a spiral slicer and I can't wait to make some zucchini noodles with it.

mi csa su csa: week 5

From the farm share in week 5:

Dragon Tongue Beans
Carrots
Zucchini
Cucumber
Potatoes
Lettuce
Onion
Garlic
Mixed Tomatoes
Basil

We still had quite a few vegetables left over from the week before after not being home for most of the week, so when the new batch came in I roasted most of the vegetables from the week before, including carrots, turnips, lots of zucchini and onions from this week. The onions are so good they always go into meals quickly. I also peeled the rest of the previous few weeks' carrots just to have as a snack with some salad dressing. The only week 4 items I ended up starting week 5 with were the new potatoes, a ton of cucumbers and some beans.

By the end of week 5 I still had week 4's leftovers and nearly all of week 5's batch. Unfortunately the cucumbers and the beans didn't make it to the end of week 5 before going bad. I also only got through about half the basil before it turned, but I also grow my own, so it wasn't a huge loss.

The first day I made a salad of the lettuce, basil, tomatoes and some mozzarella with balsamic vinegar - good but maybe one too many items. I also used some of the tomatoes with my own basil, wrapped up in sliced Italian meat - a great little appetizer.

At the end of the week it was time to see if we could use up as much as we could before the next share comes in, and we made a perfect meal to do that. We started with a quick pickle to use up some cucumbers, though we found the previous week's batch had rotted already, but we still had plenty, and got to use the farm fresh garlic in it too. We refrigerated them until dinner and they turned out perfectly. We roasted both the new potatoes from last week and this week's red potatoes, which gave us the chance to really see the different flavor profiles of both. The new potatoes far outshined the red, though they are both very delicious. We also sliced up the rest of the tomatoes and salted them for a simple side dish. We rounded out all our great veggies with a perfectly cooked porterhouse from our meat farm share.

We got through just about everything this week, with just zucchini and carrots to go, and I should be able to find a good use for both at the beginning of next week.

mi csa su csa: week 4

From the farm share in week 4:

butter lettuce
new potatoes
zucchini
green beans
peas
carrots
turnips
green onions
cucumbers

I started the week with the peas, shelling them into mac and cheese and tossed with some of last week's scallions.

Next up was our favorite pork chop and peaches dish, this time with fresh peaches, which improved the dish greatly. We roasted the new potatoes with olive oil and salt—and they were some of the best potatoes we've ever made, even though we've made them the way dozens of times.

potato smoothness

The first time we made this the potatoes we used were on the smaller side, so the soup turned out a little thin, but it was absolutely delicious. I can't wait to make this with even more potatoes for a thick and creamy version. And it's great as a side with corned beef and cabbage in place of boiled potatoes.

Irish Potato Soup

1 tablespoon unsalted butter
2 medium yellow onions, peeled and chopped
6 medium russet potatoes, peeled and chopped
4 cup stock (chicken, vegetable, or ham), homemade if available
2 cups whole milk
salt and pepper to taste
Garnish: chopped parsley

In a large stock pot, melt the butter. Add the onions and potatoes; heat over medium heat, covered, stirring often until they begin to soften (15-20 minutes). Do not allow them to brown.

Add the stock and milk and allow to come to low simmer. Stirring often, cook until the potatoes and onions are fully soft about 25 minutes.

Use an immersion blender to achieve a smooth consistency. If, after processing, the soup is thicker than desired, pour it back into the cooking pot and thin with additional warm stock.

Adapted from Boulder Locavore

restaurant quality short ribs

This is so good I can't do it justice writing about it. Make sure you spend the time to brown the ribs: it's totally worth it.

Ingredients:

2.5 pounds boneless beef short ribs
1 large pinch of sea salt
5-10 “twists” of fresh ground pepper
1 tablespoon butter
1 sweet onion
1 portobello mushroom
1 pkg of crimini mushrooms
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup beef broth
1/2 can of tomato paste
2 tablespoons on Tamari
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
2 large spoonfuls of fresh/local unfiltered honey
5 sprigs fresh thyme

For gravy:
2 tbsp cornstarch/potato starch

Directions:

Sprinkle salt and pepper over ribs. In large pan over medium-high heat, melt butter and brown ribs on all sides. (About 3 minutes per side.) Remove from pan and set aside.

Sauté crimini mushrooms in the same pan until they begin to release their liquid. Pour mushrooms and liquid into the bottom of the crockpot. Sauté onion in same pan until translucent. Add garlic and cook for 1 minute more.

Place ribs on top of mushrooms in crockpot, cover with onion/garlic mixture.

In bowl, whisk broth, tomato paste, Tamari, Worcestershire sauce, and honey. Pour on top of meat in crockpot.

Add fresh thyme sprigs on top of meat.

Cook on low for 7-8 hours.

For the gravy: once cooked, remove the meat to a plate, and strain the liquid in the crockpot into a sauce pan. Set aside the mushroom and onion mixture. Add a small amount of the liquid to the cornstarch/potato starch to remove lumps and then add the cornstarch/potato starch mixture to the remaining liquid and whisk to make a gravy.

Serve over mashed potatoes.

Adapted from The Sparkle Queen's recipe

roasted chicken with root veggies

Sometimes the perfect meal happens by accident. I've never found the "right" roasted chicken recipe for my taste - most are too fancy for what I think this dish should be. Roasting chickens were on sale, and I had carrots, onions and fingerling potatoes in the fridge - all I needed were some herbs and parsnips and I was ready to go. Now I just needed to figure out the time and temp for cooking.

1 4 pound whole chicken
3-4 carrots
1-2 parsnips
1 onion
1 pound fingerling potatoes
herbs: sprigs of rosemary, thyme and sage(?)
salt and pepper
evoo

Cut the carrots, parsnips and onions into equal sized strips. Wash and dry the chicken, and place in a roasting pan. Surround the chicken with just the onion strips. Rub the chicken skin with the extra virgin olive oil, and sprinkle the onions with oil. Salt and pepper the chicken and onions. Roast at 375 degrees for 20 minutes. Add the potatoes, parsnips and carrots to the pan with some additional olive oil and salt and pepper. Toss with the onions and try to coat all of the veggies with oil. Roast for an additional hour at 415 degrees, stirring veggies once. Remove from the oven and let rest for 10-15 minutes.

Enjoy the roasted goodness!


 

st. patty's day corned beef and cabbage - crockpot style

I've been looking for crockpot recipes ever since I got one in November. I haven't made too many things as of yet owing to the fact that I can only eat so much of one thing before I get sick of it. Also, most of the recipes were some combo of beef and wine and after a couple of times that gets old pretty fast. Then St. Patrick's Day showed up with no warning. I walked into the local grocery store and found piles of potatoes, cabbage and carrots and realized it was time for corned beef and cabbage! I've been making corned beef and cabbage the exact same way for over tens years now. Throw all the ingredients in a pot and boil for three or four hours. It turns out just like you think boiled corned beef and cabbage would and should. But I remembered that I'd seen a corned beef recipe for the crockpot. I have no idea if the one I used is the original one I'd found, but this was seriously the best corned beef and cabbage I've ever had.

If there's no beer, replace the first 4 ingredients with this:
4 cups water
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
2 tablespoons sugar
1⁄2 teaspoon fresh ground pepper

Crockpot Corned Beef and Cabbage

Prep Time: 25 minutes
Cook Time: 10 hours

Ingredients:
• 12 oz. can beer (non alcoholic is fine)
• 2 Tbsp. dijon horseradish mustard (or your favorite)
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1 cup water
• 4 carrots, cut into chunks
• 3 parsnips, cut into chunks
• 1 onions, chopped
• 2-3 lb. corned beef brisket with seasoning packet
• 8 wedges cabbage (half a head)
• 4 red potatoes, cut into chunks

Preparation:
In 4-6 quart crockpot, combine carrots, parsnips, potatoes, and onions. Dump contents of corned beef package (including accumulated juices) into the crockpot. Sprinkle the meat with contents of seasoning mix. Pour beer over brisket and spread mustard on brisket. In small bowl mix brown sugar with water and pour over brisket. Cover crockpot and cook on low for 8 1/2 hours.

Add cabbage wedges to crockpot. Cover crockpot and cook on high for additional 90 minutes or until cabbage is crisp tender.

To serve, cut corned beef across grain into thin slices. Remove vegetables from slow cooker with slotted spoon and serve with corned beef. Serve cooking juices over the food, if desired. Offer additional mustard on the side. 8 servings

Adapted from the original on Busy Cooks: About.com

One warning, it's certainly greasier than the boiled version, but don't let that scare you away.

Try not to eat all of it by yourself!

portuguese green soup

Wow. Wowee. Wow. I had an idea in my head to make a soup with spicy sausage, white beans, and some sort of greens and rice. What I found was Portuguese Green Soup. Some of the ingredients aren't what I originally planned on, but it turned out even better than I expected. Of course I was starving, so that might have made it better, but I think it was objectively amazing.

Here's the original recipe:

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 bunch collard greens, center stems cut away, leaves thinly sliced
1 pound fully cooked spicy sausage (such as linguiça, andouille, or hot links), cut into 1/2-inch-thick rounds
5 3/4 cups low-salt chicken broth
1 3/4 pounds russet potatoes, peeled, diced
1/2 teaspoon dried crushed red pepper

Heat olive oil in large pot over medium-high heat. Add onion and garlic. Sauté until onion is soft and golden , about 5 minutes. Add collard greens and sauté until wilted, about 4 minutes. Add sausage and sauté 5 minutes. Add broth and potatoes. Simmer soup uncovered until potatoes are tender, about 20 minutes. Transfer 2 cups soup (without sausage) to processor. Blend until smooth; return to pot of soup and bring to simmer. Mix in crushed red pepper. Season with salt and black pepper.
 

Courtesy of Epicurious.com

 

I made a few adjustments, mostly because I wasn't feeling either garlic-y or chicken-ish. In case I want to try to replicate this in the future, here are the exact-ish measurements I used.

 

1 half onion, diced

3/4 bunch of collard greens, chiffonade

2 links hot italian sausage, Niman Ranch, sliced

2 potatoes, diced

1 box Kitchen Essentials vegetable broth

 

I then followed the recipe as directed. The final boil took almost 35 minutes, but it was well worth the wait.

 

For just five ingredients this was incredibly tasty. Can't wait to try it tomorrow once all the flavors have had a chance to meld.

fast food awesomeness at home

No, not that kind of fast food. I'm talking about the kind of home cooking that can be on the table in 20 minutes. Now I don't mind "slow food," but there are nights when I just need to Eat. Right. Now. This isn't so much a recipe as the right combo of delicious fastness. Lots of flavor and everything is ready at essentially the same time.

Ham steak
Frozen corn
Potatoes

Throw the ham on the stovetop in a little butter. Microwave the potatoes. Microwave the corn. Plate!

Lookythere, a post as quick as the meal!

duck, duck, goose

Well, really just duck. I did something I've never done before...roasted a whole duck. And since I can never seem to find the recipe I used to make some previously perfect dish I thought this would be a good place to put all those things. So below is the Amazing 5 Hour Duck:

1 Pekin (Long Island) duck, wing tips cut off
(not necessary, but more elegant)
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons chopped garlic
1 small handful of thyme sprigs

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees and set a rack in the middle level.

Remove the giblets from the duck; save the giblets and wing tips for stock, if you like. Dry the duck well with paper towels. Remove any loose globs of yellow fat from the two cavities. Rub the large cavity with salt and pepper and the garlic and put the thyme in it. With a small sharp paring knife, make dozens of slits all over the duck, piercing the skin and fat but being careful not to pierce the flesh. The easiest way to do this is to insert the knife on the diagonal, not straight in.

Put the duck breast side up on a rack (a cake cooling rack is fine) set on a jelly-roll pan and put it in the oven. Every hour for 4 hours, take the pan out of the oven, pierce the duck all over with the knife, and turn it over. Each time, pour off the fat in the pan.

After 4 hours, increase the oven temperature to 350 degrees (see note). Sprinkle the duck with salt and pepper and cook for about 1 hour longer, or until the skin is crisp and browned. Let rest for 20 minutes before serving.

Instead of carving the duck in the usual way, try sectioning it with heavy kitchen shears: cut it in half along the backbone and then cut each half into 2 pieces. Or use a cleaver and hack it into small pieces, bones and all, to serve Chinese style.

Courtesy of GlobalGourmet.com

But the best parts aren't even the duck meat so far.

I also made duck fat fries, which were pretty good, but I would make smaller ones next time. After I was done with the fries I also fried up some onion strings and they were out of this world. Just slice and fry until crispy.

And for lunch the next day, duck liver sandwiches. Out of this world. Rinse, then pan fry the duck liver in butter. Boil an egg and make a rough chopped egg salad. Pan fry the slices of bread, slice the liver, add a few reheated duck fat fried onions and a layer of egg salad. Eat! Supremely rich and decadent.

Working on the duck broth now. Will report back on how that turns out.