the only good chickpeas (besides hummus)

This softens the chickpeas in just the right way.

Ingredients

2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped, or a tablespoon of jarred garlic
1 tablespoon grated or finely chopped fresh ginger, or 2 tabs of frozen ginger
1½ teaspoons curry powder
1 large bunch (about 8 ounces) greens, such as Swiss chard, kale, or collard greens, stems removed and leaves torn into medium-size pieces, washed, and shaken dry (there should be a little water still clinging to the leaves) or half a bag of frozen spinach
1 (15-ounce) can chickpeas, rinsed and drained
1 (13.5-ounce) can coconut milk
1 cup of water
2 teaspoons kosher salt
4 Roasted Sweet Potato halves, cut into ½-inch pieces
1 tablespoon fresh lime juice, plus additional wedges for serving
1 teaspoon of fish sauce, for serving
½ cup chopped fresh cilantro leaves and tender stems, plus more for serving (optional)

Directions

Roast sweet potatoes. Pre heat oven to 400 degrees. Cut sweet potatoes in half, cover in olive oil and roast cut side down for 35 minutes.

Warm a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat and add the oil. Add the onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened a little, about 5 minutes.

Add the garlic, ginger, and curry powder and cook, stirring frequently, until it all gets really fragrant, 2 to 3 minutes more.

If using, add fresh greens to the pot and stir them into the onion mixture with a wooden spoon, scraping up any browned bits at the bottom of the pot while you do so. (If there are a lot of brown bits and they’re sticking, add a teaspoon or two of water.) Add the chickpeas, coconut milk, 1 cup water, and the kosher salt. If using frozen greens, add now. Let the whole thing simmer, partially covered, for about 20 minutes.

Add the sweet potatoes to the pot and cook for a minute or two—just enough to warm them through. Stir in the lime juice and cilantro if using and taste for seasoning; add more salt or lime juice if necessary.

Serve the braised chickpeas in shallow bowls over rice, topped with a splash of fish sauce and a squeeze of lime.

Adapted from Epicurious.com

coconut curry base

amaranth and/or mustard leaves or spinach leaves
1 can of coconut milk
1 large onion, diced

3 garlic cloves

1 tablespoon minced garlic

1 1/2 tablespoons curry powder
15-20 cherry tomatoes, halved
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 teaspoon salt

fish sauce 

Bring water and salt to the boil in a large pot. Add washed leaves and boil for 10 minutes or until tender.

In a separate pan, heat the oil and cook the chopped onion until softened. Add the garlic and ginger and heat until fragrant. Add the curry powder and cook until fragrant.

Add the well drained leaves and tomatoes and stir to combine.

Add the coconut milk and continue cooking for about 10 minutes.

Add fish sauce and salt to taste.

greeny curry soup

This soup is delicious and uses a bunch of farm share veggies. We threw garlic scapes in the first batch and they added additional depth to the flavor.

1/3 cup store-bought green curry paste
1 (13.5-ounce) can coconut milk
3 cups water
Sea salt and cracked black pepper
1 pound broccoli florets, chopped
2 cups spinach leaves
1 cup cilantro leaves
15 or so garlic scapes (optional)
3 scallions, chopped

Place the curry paste in a medium saucepan over medium heat and cook, stirring, for 1 minute or until fragrant. Add the coconut milk, water, salt and pepper and bring to a boil. Add the broccoli, cover and cook for 10 minutes or until the broccoli is tender.

Remove from the heat and add the spinach leaves and half the cilantro.

Using an immersion blender, blend the soup until as smooth as possible (will still be a bit chunky). Divide among serving bowls and top with the remaining cilantro and scallions, as well as some finishing salt.

Adapted from Epicurious.com

smoky spinach cheese steak roll ups

A super quick, super delicious meal.

steak tips
smoked cheddar cheese
frozen whole leaf spinach

Heat a cast iron pan in a 500 degree oven.

Split the steak tips so they are laying flat. Slice the cheese. Defrost spinach in microwave for 2 minutes. Squeeze the water out of the spinach. Lay the slices of
cheese along the steak, spread with spinach, and roll. Sprinkle with salt and pepper, and rub with olive oil.

Place the cast iron pan on the stove top on a high heat. Lower heat in oven to 400 degrees. Heat each roll up in the pan for 2 minutes on each side and then place in the oven for 4 minutes. Let rest for 5 minutes before serving.

spinach cheese pie - hold the crust

We've doubled this recipe, and added even more cheese! You can never have enough cheese!

2 bags frozen spinach, thawed, moisture squeezed out
4 eggs
1 1/2 cup feta cheese, crumbled
1 cup low-fat cottage cheese
1/2 cup of white cheddar
salt & pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 500 degrees. Place cast iron skillet in oven and heat for 10 minutes. In a bowl, combine spinach with eggs, feta, cottage cheese, cheddar, salt and pepper. Mix well. Remove skillet from oven, and reduce oven temperature to 400 degrees. Spread spinach filling evenly over crust, and bake for 20 minutes longer. Cool for 10 minutes before slicing.

creamy, melty spinach

This is a cooling counterpoint to the grill-ades recipe - and easy to throw together after all the work on the other dish.

1 large container of fresh baby spinach
1 cup of half and half
salt
pepper
garlic
olive oil
1 tbsp butter

Heat olive oil in a large pan over medium heat. Add spinach, salt, pepper and garlic and stir until all of the leaves have wilted.

In a separate saucepan, melt the butter. Season with more salt, pepper and garlic. Add the half and half, stir and heat through.

Once the spinach is wilted, pour the cream sauce over the spinach. Stir to combine. Leave over low heat stirring occasionally for 20-25 minutes. Serve.

mi csa su csa: week 2

The farm freshness continues in week 2 with:

carrots
spinach
scallions
beets
cucumbers
broccoli
zucchini
arugula

Since I didn't get to the arugula last week I thought I'd start there first with a steak salad. Here's the original recipe, though it's just as good when you just pan fry the steak, reduce some balsamic and brown sugar in the pan and sprinkle in whatever cheese you've got. And this was definitely the best arugula I've ever had.

I roasted the broccoli the first night we got it, just to make sure it didn't go bad. Mid-week we defrosted some bone-in pork chops from the farm and used our steak method to cook them: a hot cast-iron pan, oiled with bacon fat and salt and peppered chops, 3 minutes a side and 6 minutes in a 400 degree oven. We then used the cast iron pan to cook down the spinach using the drippings and half a lemon to flavor the spinach. We also reheated the broccoli in the pan as the spinach finished cooking. It was all delicious!

With so much ground beef and ground pork from the farm a meatloaf seemed in order. We used our usual meatloaf recipe, though we exchanged the usual dried italian herbs with fresh parsley, oregano, thyme and basil (the rest is chopped onion, parmesan cheese, ketchup, mustard, tabasco steak sauce, eggs, salt, pepper and garlic powder). We also roasted slices of this week's zucchini and last week's peas with a little olive oil, salt and pepper for half the duration while the meatloaf cooked for 60 minutes at 400 degrees. It was the best meatloaf we've ever made.

For lunch we grilled up some kielbasa and hot dogs along with the scallions, which is my favorite scallion preparation.

We had a ton of leftover meatloaf, so we ate the leftovers with roasted carrots, golden beets and some mushrooms. We topped the mushrooms with salt and pepper, the carrots with thyme and the beets with dill - all very tasty, and a good way to use up nearly all of the rest of the vegetables.

veal alicante

A creation based on two veal recipes from our favorite Portuguese restaurant.

Ingredients:

8 (2 ounce) pieces veal scallopini (the higher quality, the better - Provimi is best.)
A box/bag (or two) of baby spinach (5 oz (10 oz for two))
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
1/4 cup white wine
1 tablespoon potato starch
1 cup chicken broth
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon grey sea salt
1/4 teaspoon lemon pepper
1/2 teaspoon sage
1 cup half and half
1 cup of shredded mozzarella cheese
4 tbsp Parmesan cheese
4-6 slices of soppresata (or prosciutto)
fresh basil
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Tenderize the veal well with a meat mallet.  Rinse then chop the stems off the spinach.

2. Cook the baby spinach in a small amount of olive oil until fully wilted (add garlic / garlic powder to taste).  Sprinkle some lemon juice over the spinach then set aside.  Lightly cook soppresata in the spinach pan.

3. Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Season the scallopini with salt, pepper, and garlic powder.  Add scallopini to the hot, oiled skillet, and cook until golden brown on both sides, and no longer pink on the inside, about 4 minutes per side. Remove to a paper towel lined plate, and keep warm.

4. Pour in lemon juice and white wine into the pan in which the veal was cooked (or a saucepan). Increase heat to high, and bring to a boil. Boil for 1 minute. Dissolve the potato starch in about 2 tablespoons of chicken broth, and set aside. Pour the remaining chicken broth into the skillet, season with sage, garlic, pepper, salt and lemon pepper, and bring to a boil. Once the sauce is boiling, stir in the dissolved potato starch, and cook until thickened and clear, about 1 minute. Remove the sauce from the heat, then whisk in half and half.

5. On each serving plate place two scallopini pieces.  On each piece layer a wad of cooked spinach, a piece of cooked soppressata, and both mozzarella and parmesan cheese.  Layer another scallopini on each stack of spinach, cheese, and meat to make sort of a small veal sandwich.  Pour the creamy lemon wine sauce over each veal sandwich and top off with fresh basil leaves and cracked pepper.

veggie delights

The water is out, or rather, shouldn't be used, so I've been making meals as easily as possible using as little water as possible. My original plan, before the water crisis, was to make my Monday staple - wilted spinach. A little garlic, a little oil and a dash of salt and in just a couple of minutes you've got the most delicious and simplistic spinach dish. But washing the spinach was going to be more difficult than it's worth, so I needed an alternative.

I took two roasted vegetable recipes and combined them into my own: Roasted Broccoli and Tomatoes.

1 head of broccoli
1 pint of grape tomatoes
1/2 onion
oil
salt
pepper

Heat oven to 425 degrees. Cut up broccoli into small pieces. Slice onions. Combine on sheet pan and coat in oil. Toss with salt and pepper. Cook for 15 minutes. Remove from oven. Halve the tomatoes and toss with the boccoli and onions. Add more oil and put back in the oven for 10-15 more minutes.

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I haven't tried this yet, but it looks like an interesting variation on the brown sugar carrots I ate growing up and are one of the few ways I will actually eat carrots.

Spiced Carrots
2 lb medium carrots (about 12)
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1/2 cup water
2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon cayenne, or to taste

Quarter carrots lengthwise, then cut into 2 1/2-inch pieces.

Heat butter in a 12-inch heavy skillet over moderately high heat until foam subsides, then sauté carrots, uncovered, stirring occasionally, until slightly softened, about 5 minutes. Add brown sugar, stirring until sugar is melted. Stir in water, lemon juice, salt, cinnamon, and cayenne and simmer, covered, until carrots are tender and liquid is reduced to a glaze, 8 to 10 minutes.

Found at: epicurious.com

things to do - ricotta edition

For real neopolitan ice cream - for the day that may one day come when I have an ice cream maker:

Tomato, Basil and Ricotta Gelati - http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Tomato-Basil-and-Ricotta-Gelati-239808

From epicurious.com

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Spinach Ricotta Gnocchi 

From Chowhound: Since gnocchi are generally made with potato anyway, potato starch is a more natural way to go for the dry ingredients.

2 10oz pkgs frozen leaf spinach
1 cup ricotta
1 cup grated parmesan
1/2 cup potato starch
2 egg yolks
1/2 tsp salt
dash nutmeg
Thaw & drain/squeeze spinach, and mix with remaining ingredients to make a dough. Form into gnocchi and boil until they float. (I find I have to let the dough rest, and then boil them a little extra, or else the potato starch doesn't fully cook).

Pour melted butter on top and sprinkle parmesan and bake in gratin dish, or serve with cheese sauce.
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Ricotta Puddings with Glazed Rhubarb Gourmet

Delicate and creamy, these tender individual desserts taste equally good served warm or at room temperature. A spoonful of your favorite jam can be used in place of the glazed rhubarb.

Yield: Makes 6 dessert servings
Active Time: 15 min
Total Time: 1 hr

For puddings:
1 cup whole-milk ricotta (8 3/4 oz)
1 whole large egg plus 1 large yolk
1/4 cup sour cream
2 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons heavy cream
2 tablespoons mild honey
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon finely grated fresh lemon zest

For glazed rhubarb:
3 1/2 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon cornstarch
1/2 lb fresh rhubarb stalks (about 2), cut diagonally into 1/4-inch-thick slices

Special equipment: a muffin pan (preferably nonstick) with 6 (1/2-cup) muffin cups
Make pudding batter:

Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 325°F. Lightly oil muffin cups.

Blend together all pudding ingredients in a blender until smooth, then divide batter among muffin cups.
Prepare rhubarb:
Stir together sugar and cornstarch in a 9- to 10-inch glass or ceramic pie plate. Add rhubarb and toss to coat, then spread in one layer.

Bake puddings and rhubarb:
Bake puddings and rhubarb, side by side, carefully turning rhubarb over once halfway through cooking, until puddings are just set and edges are pale golden, 35 to 45 minutes. Remove puddings and rhubarb from oven at the same time. Set rhubarb aside and cool puddings in muffin pan on a rack 5 minutes (puddings will sink slightly).

Run a thin knife around edge of each pudding, then invert a platter over pan and invert puddings onto platter. Transfer puddings, right side up, to plates and serve topped with rhubarb and its juices.

From epicurious.com