shiny asian veggies over crispy tofu

I think the delicious flavors in this come from the combo of the shiitake mushrooms, ginger, soy sauce and sesame seed oil.

5 turnips
1 eggplant
1 container of shiitake mushrooms
5 scallions
1 extra firm tofu
1 inch of ginger
1/4 cup soy sauce
1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar
1 teaspoon garlic chili paste
1 glug sesame seed oil
olive oil
cornstarch

Chop turnips into small pieces, and toss in sesame seed oil. Heat pan on high with olive oil and begin sauteing until brown. Roughly chop ginger into smallish pieces. Chop eggplant and mushrooms and coat in sesame seed oil. Chop scallions into small pieces.

Add ginger to the pan, then the mushrooms and eggplant. And cook until the eggplant is cooked.

Combine soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, chili paste, and a tablespoon of cornstarch, and stir into the vegetables.

Drain and squeeze out extra water from tofu. Slice along the short side for 6 half inch thick slices. Pat cornstarch onto both sides of each slice. Heat a non-stick pan with olive oil and sesame seed oil and fry the tofu slices until lightly browned and crispy on each side.

Serve the vegetables over the tofu slices.

it's nota frittata – no egg veggie casserole – take 2

I made this based on an earlier version with the types of veggies we had on hand, and it's just as delicious.

Olive oil cooking spray

medium bunch of kale
8-10 small spring turnips, sliced
8-10 radishes, sliced
5-6 small to medium tomatoes, sliced
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
3/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
handful of thyme
handful of parsley
2-3 tablespoons butter, melted or olive oil1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 400°.

Tear kale into pieces and spread along the bottom of a 10-inch dish coated with cooking spray. Toss together radish and turnip, salt and pepper, thyme and parsley. Salt and pepper tomato slices separately so they don't break up. Layer radishes, turnips, and tomatoes over kale, 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 15 minutes or until golden brown. Let stand 10 minutes before serving.

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.

lettuce mix

We eat salad at least once a week, and now that our spring farm share has started off with delicious lettuce mix it just makes us want to eat even more salads.

A few options for when we're forgetful:

Steak and Blueberry Salad

steak seasoned with salt and pepper only
blueberries
goat cheese
lettuce mix

For the dressing we used black cherry balsamic, olive oil and salt and pepper. We used Denver cut steak and it was amazing.

Pulled Pork Salad

leftover bbq pulled pork
tomatoes
orange
lettuce
goat cheese

For the dressing we used cara cara vanilla balsamic, olive oil and salt and pepper.

Pork Chop Salad

Pork Belly and Roasted Root Veggie Salad
For this you can throw in any root veggies you have. We did it with:
baby carrots
small turnips
kohlrabi
radishes

We roasted all of the veggies in a marinade of honey, olive oil, cara cara vanilla balsamic and pineapple white balsamic, salt and pepper for 45 minutes at 400 and 15 minutes at 415 degrees.

We made a vinaigrette using the pineapple balsamic, coated the lettuce, added the fried pork belly and roasted veggies and a little bit of goat cheese.

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.

carrot joy

The first time we made this recipe we tried it with beets, zucchini and carrots. The beets were good, but messy and there are a thousand better ways to prepare zucchini. I expected that the carrots would be okay, but nothing special. I was wrong. Though carrots are, by far, not my favorite vegetable, this recipe made them delightful. I didn't even miss the potatoes I usually make these with. They still need sour cream though, no matter what veggie you use.

Or, as we discovered, you can stuff them with goat cheese. Lay down a thin amount of veggies, add a pat of goat cheese, cover with more veggies and cook as directed.

Vegetable Latkes

3 cups grated carrot, turnip, beets or zucchini
2 eggs, beaten
Pinch of salt and pepper
Oil for frying

Wrap a light weight dishtowel around 1 cup of grated vegetable at a time and squeeze as much water out as possible.

In a bowl, mix grated vegetable with egg, salt and pepper. Start with the two eggs per 3 cups of grated vegetables to bind the latkes. After frying a few, add more egg as binder only if necessary.

Heat 1/2 cup oil over medium to medium-high heat. Toss a pinch of grated vegetable in the pan – you’ll know the oil is hot enough if it starts sizzling immediately. Scoop 1/4 cup or less of grated vegetable into your hand and form into a very loose patty. Set the patty in the hot pan and press it down gently with a fork.

Cook at least 2-3 minutes on each side, until nicely browned.

You can keep the oven at 250 degrees and keep latkes warm inside the oven while you cook the whole batch.

If the oil becomes dark or begins to smoke, it is necessary to dump out the oil, wipe out the pan and start fresh before frying more latkes.

Recipe from Mark Sisson's Daily Apple

primal meal deal

This came together perfectly and it just happened to use up a bunch of leftover odds and ends that were sitting in the fridge. Skirt steak pairs well with just about anything and these sides were no exception. I make roasted brussel sprouts regularly, but these turned out so perfectly I had to make sure I captured the recipe.

Roasted Brussel Sprouts

Heat oven to 400 degrees. Quarter brussel sprouts. Coat in olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Spread evenly on cookie sheet. Check after 15 minutes, and cook no more than 20 minutes.


Turnip Risotto

3 turnips
2 cups chicken stock
2 tbsp butter
1/4 cup oil
1 shallot, thinly sliced
fresh herbs

In one pot, bring the chicken stock to a boil. Peel and grate the turnips (either by hand or in a food processor). In a second pot, melt the butter. Add the grated turnips to the butter and stir. Add the boiling chicken stock. Leave the turnips on a high boil for 10-12 minutes or until the liquid is absorbed. For added creaminess, add butter or cream to turnips before serving (though this isn't necessary).

Heat oil on medium-high in a separate pan (you can use the same pot you used for the chicken stock). Add the sliced shallots and heat until browned but not burned. Remove from the oil.

Plate the turnips and top with fresh herbs and crispy shallots.


Broiled Skirt Steak

Pre-heat the broiler. Season the skirt steak on both sides. Place the skirt steak on the cookie sheet the brussel sprouts were roasted on, and broil for 3 minutes on each side. Let rest for a couple of minutes before slicing.

Altogether a filling, healthy meal that can use up all the bits and pieces in your fridge.