Bun Ga Nuong

A perfect dinner for a hot day.  Easily converted to a vegan-friendly dish (just ditch the “ga”).

Ingredients:

• 1 pack of rice noodles (try thinner ones than the ones we have here, they’re easier to eat)
• Chicken breast
• Basil, carrots, radish, bean sprouts, any other sprouts, cilantro, bell pepper, cucumber, pretty much any veggie you have around that you can eat raw
• Nuoc Cham

I use this nuoc cham recipe:

http://www.whats4eats.com/sauces/nuoc-cham-recipe

but I substitute flax oil for the fish oil (vegetarians, rejoice!), and this time I  doubled the recipe and added 1 tablespoon fresh ginger juice.  I REALLY recommend the ginger!

What to do:

• Bring a big pot of water to boil.  Turn it off.  Add the noodles, cover, and stir every 2 minutes.  Test them after 6 minutes to see if they’re done yet.  When they are done, drain and rinse them VERY WELL.
• Chop up a bunch of vegetables.
• Chop up some chicken (BBQed is the best) or marinated mushrooms or marinated tofu.

Marinade (idea from Brother Juniper’s Ginger Curry Marinade):

• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 1/2 cup canola oil
• 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
• grated rind of 1 lemon
• 2 tablespoons grated ginger root
• 2 pressed garlic cloves
• 1/2 teaspoon chili sauce
• 1/2 tablespoon whole coriander seeds
• 1 tablespoon salt

Thai Chicken Wraps

I bought a Thai chicken wrap at Whole Foods for SIX FRIGGIN DOLLARS yesterday.

Today, I fixed them myself.

Ingredients:

Sauce:

• 1/4 cup canola oil
• 1 teaspoon rice vinegar
• juice from 1/2 lime
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon pepper
• 2 teaspoons honey (or unrefined sugar or stevia for the vegans!)
• 1/2 teaspoon tamari or soy sauce
• 1 teaspoon grated ginger root
• 1 pressed clove of garlic

Filling:

• grated 1/2 large cucumber
• 3 grated carrots
• sliced jicama (I forgot to buy this!)
• mixed greens (whatever you want, really.  I used the salad mix from my CSA box and some extra spinach leaves)
• chopped mint & cilantro
• cubed cooked chicken breast (or chicken substitute or firm tofu for the vegans!)

What to do:

• Whisk the sauce together
• Lay out a tortilla or flatbread or whatever is flat enough to make into a burrito-type-thing
• FILL IT WITH STUFF UNTIL YOU CAN BARELY ROLL IT CLOSED
• We put about three tablespoons of sauce in each wrap

DELICIOUS.  The perfect meal for a hot day.  The sauce would make an AMAZING salad dressing, just quadruple the recipe.

Chard and Green Garlic

If you’ve never had green garlic before, I highly recommend it.  I was slicing it up tonight and had M smell it.  I said, “It’s like garlic, only cool and refreshing instead of sharp!” and he completely agreed.

Ingredients:

• 1 bunch chard
• 1 large stalk green garlic
• 1/4 cup quinoa
• 1 cup water
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 teaspoon seasonings of your choice
• juice of 1/2 lemon (optional)

What To Do:

• Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat
• Add chopped green garlic and chopped chard stems, saute for five minutes
• Add water, then quinoa and seasonings, stir well
• Rip up chard leaves and sprinkle over the top
• Cover and cook on med/low for 20-25 minutes, or until quinoa and chard leaves are acceptably tender
• Squeeze lemon juice over everything and serve

This was very flavorful!

Saag

Modified from the CSA email:

Ingredients:

• 1 bunch spinach
• 1/2 bunch chard
• 1 sweet potato, cut into bite-sized pieces
• 2 minced garlic cloves
• 1/4 teaspoon cumin
• 1/4 teaspoon ginger powder
• 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1/2 teaspoon garam masala

What I did:

• Wash the greens THOROUGHLY.  My spinach was still gritty when we ate it… whoops.
• Stem & chop the greens.
• Heat olive oil in a large pan.
• Saute sweet potato & garlic for about two minutes, then start adding the greens.
• Add 3/4 cup boiling water and seasonings, stir.
• Cover and cook on low for about 20 minutes, then uncover and allow the liquid to cook down.
• Add the garam masala, stir.

Quite tasty!  I’m not a huge fan of spinach as it tends to leave my teeth feeling weird.  This recipe definitely made it a lot more appealing… and my kitchen smelled incredible.

Random Dinner

I do these random dinners quite often.  They’re simple, quick, and satisfying.

Ingredients:

• 1 carrot, thinly sliced
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1/2 fennel bulb, coarsely chopped
• 1/2 red onion, thinly sliced
• 1 head of kale, leaves stripped from stems and torn into smallish pieces
• 8oz pre-cooked chicken sausage (or 8oz marinated firm tofu)
• 1 cup chicken or vegetable broth
• 1 teaspoon arrowroot powder (or 1 tablespoon cornstarch)

What I did:

• Heat the olive oil in a large pan on medium heat, add onion, carrot, fennel, and sausage (if using tofu, add at the end to keep it from disintegrating) and saute for about 3 minutes.
• Add broth, kale, seasonings of choice (about 2 teaspoons, depending).
• Cover and allow to cook for about 15 minutes, add arrowroot/cornstarch and allow to thicken for about 5 minutes.
• Serve over rice or pasta.

Like I said, this is really a standard meal for me.  About 3/4 of what I get in the CSA box can be used in this recipe.

Italian Potatoes & Kale

This recipe was in my CSA email this week and is originally from “Lidia’s Italian American Table”.  I tweaked it a little bit to cook the kale longer, as I prefer it very tender.

Ingredients:

• One large potato (mine was about 12 oz), peeled & cubed
• One bunch of kale, washed, stripped from stems & shredded
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 4 cloves garlic, peeled & sliced
• Salt, pepper, Italian seasoning to taste

What I did:

• Put the prepared potatoes & kale in a large saucepan with about 5 inches of water in it, cover and boil on medium for about 25 minutes.
• Drain well.
• In a large skillet, warm olive oil and saute garlic until lightly browned.
• Toss potatoes & kale into the skillet, season to taste, cook on low while stirring and mashing the potatoes.  Takes about five minutes.

Superb!  This is now my favorite way to prepare kale!  The potato really “calmed” the kale, and the two textures blended together very well.  I recommend any other dark leafy green to be used in this recipe in place of kale.

Kale & Potato Soup

Yes, I have already cooked a meal with the box contents.  Today is a make-up day for posting!

The original recipe was in my CSA email today, but I modified it to suit my own needs… and yes, it is delicious.

Kale & Potato Soup

Ingredients:

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 diced onion
• 2 chopped carrots
• 2 cubed potatoes (I don’t peel mine)
• 2 sliced chicken sausages
• 2 minced garlic cloves
• 1/2 teaspoon dried basil
• 1 bay leaf
• 4 cups broth (chicken or vegetable would be best)
• 4 cups packed chopped kale

What I did:

• Heat the olive oil in a heavy-bottomed pot, add onion & saute for about four minutes.
• Add garlic, carrots, sausage, potatoes, saute for a minute.
• Add broth, basil, and bay leaf, bring to a boil, then turn down to medium heat, cover, and allow to simmer for about 15 minutes (or until the potatoes are soft).
• Add the chopped kale and simmer for another 10 minutes.
• Roughly mash the potatoes.
• Enjoy with a grilled mozzarella cheese sandwich!

Variations:

• Like all soups, this has nearly endless variations.  The important part being the volume of liquid to vegetables.
• Any dark leafy green can take the place of the kale.
• Any root (turnip, rutabaga, celery root) can take the place of the potatoes.
• Different spices can be used.
• Chicken sausage is optional.

Broccoli Raab & Pasta

Broccoli Raab AKA Rapini, is actually a relative of the turnip (yes, I looked it up).    People categorize it as “an acquired taste”, but I think this dish bypasses that.  It’s actually the very first dish I cooked from my very first CSA box!  It was a real treat to make it again.

Broccoli Raab & Pasta

Ingredients:

• 1 bunch broccoli raab
• olive oil
• 1 onion, thinly sliced
• 6 cloves diced/pressed garlic
• 1 teaspoon jalapeno sauce
• salt
• 1/2 teaspoon wed win vinegar
• 8oz rice pasta

What I did:

• bring a big pot of water to boil for the pasta, meanwhile…
• saute onion with some olive oil in a big pan over medium heat until onion is translucent.
• add garlic, salt, jalapeno sauce, toss briefly.
• wash, rip up, and add raab with about a tablespoon of water.
• turn the heat down to low and cover, but stir occasionally.
• Mine cooked for about 12 minutes like that, just long enough for me to deal with the pasta.
• boil your pasta according to the package directions, drain, place in a large bowl.
• top with raab mixture, more olive oil, and red wine vinegar.

Variations:

• Since raab is related to turnips, I guess you could substitute it with turnip greens!
• Top with romano or parmesan cheese… yum!
• I ate mine with a chopped up chicken sausage.
• The original recipe calls for red pepper flakes instead of jalapeno sauce.

I inhaled this.

CSA Box #1

Hooray! Last Wednesday marked the beginning of First Light Farm’s CSA season.

The box contained:

2 delicata squash
1 huge head of cabbage
4 yellow onions
7 red potatoes
a big bunch of dino kale
a bunch of mizuna
a big bag of arugula
a small bunch of red leaf lettuce
1 small bunch of thyme

Eager to start one of my favorite dishes, I ignored the first rule of CSA: use the delicate stuff first!

Ah well.

My first dish was the ever-useful winter veggie bake. This one is so versatile and so flavorful no matter how you make it, I highly recommend everyone try out their own variation!

Winter Root & Veggie Bake

My ingredients:
-1 medium delicata squash, cut, scooped, and cubed (use a sharp knife, serrated if possible)
-1 small yellow onion, cut into arches
-3 small potatoes, not peeled, cubed
-4 cloves of garlic, sliced in half
-leaves from two sprigs of thyme
-sea salt, pepper, and a dash of 21 Seasoning Salute (from Trader Joe’s) to taste
-enough olive oil to keep the veggies coated and not burning to the pan (2-4 T?)

What I did:
-I preheated the oven to 425F while prepping the veggies.
-Onions are evil. I wear sunglasses while cutting them.
-I toss all the veggies together with the olive oil and seasonings in a 9×13 pan, then collect everything that inevitably falls out of the pan during this process.
-I highly recommend that you check your baking veggies every 10 minutes. Take the pan out of the oven, stir them up with a bamboo or silicone utensil (no plastic!), and put it back in. This will help it bake evenly.
-I ended up baking everything for 30 minutes. This can vary! Check for done-ness with a fork. Try not to eat it all immediately as your mouth will require four days to recover.

Suggestions for variations:
-turnips (REALLY good if you add a pat of butter to the mix!)
-beets (may need extra baking time, so put them in 10 minutes before other ingredients)
-bell peppers
-carrots
-celery
-rutabaga
-any other winter squash (acorn, carnival, etc)
Just be cautious of the flavors you’re mixing. Beets & peppers probably won’t get along well.

While that was baking up, I made:

Kale, the good way

Ingredients:
-1 bunch kale, washed, stemmed, and shredded
-1 large clove of garlic
-1 juice of 1/2 a lemon
-a dash or two of hot sauce (I am in love with Trader Joe’s jalapeno sauce)

What I did:
-prepare the kale
-take a nice large pan (mine is a 10×2″ stainless steel pan with a well-fitting lid) and fill it with about an inch of water
-stuff the kale into the pan (this is a struggle!) and put the lid on. The kale will shrink down A LOT, so don’t think you’re making too much.
-cook it on medium heat until you think it’s done. Really. Health foodies will tell you to cook it for 8 minutes so it’s only slightly wilted. I personally cook it for 30 minutes so it doesn’t give me intestinal distress. It’s up to you.
-drain the water from the pan
-add the lemon juice and hot sauce, and press the clove of garlic into the cooked kale
-add a little olive oil if it looks like it’s going to stick to the pan
-cook on low for another 5-10 minutes so the flavors meld

Variations:
-greens can be chard, turnip greens, or any other strong dark leaf
-some grated Parmesan cheese to top this is really nummy
-flavor with salt & pepper
-flavor with lime instead of lemon
-flavor with soy sauce & sesame seeds

Suggestion:
Kids can be really weird about these dishes (especially if parents approach them nervously). Get your kids involved with the cooking! Have them help you stem the kale (I used to love to play kitchen and did a lot of similar prepping with leaves from the trees in my yard). Let them pick out what flavors they want on their greens. Involving kids with the cooking process is a great way to get them more excited about their food (and maybe more respectful of what it takes to cook dinner every night).

Today I cooked up a Sesame Pasta Salad with Mizuna.

The original recipe:
Sesame Pasta Salad with Mizuna
from “Greens Glorious Greens” by Johnna Albi and Catherine Walthers
[Debbie’s comments interspersed in brackets]

2 C mizuna leaves, washed and stemmed
1 carrot
1 red pepper (optional if out of season)
1/4 C scallions, thinly sliced
1 8-oz package udon noodles
2 tbsp. light sesame oil
1 tsp. fresh ginger juice (optional) [easily made by grating fresh
ginger and squeezing it to extract the juice from the fibers.]
2 tbsp. tamari (soy sauce)
2 tbsp. toasted sesame seeds

I ended up with something only vaguely resembling the original.

Sesame Pasta Salad with Mizuna

Ingredients:
-1 bunch mizuna, stemmed
-1 red bell pepper (store bought! GASP!), diced
-1 small yellow onion, diced
-1/2 cup shredded cabbage
-8 oz rice pasta
-1/2 tsp toasted sesame oil
-1 tsp powdered ginger
-2 T tamari
-2 T sesame seeds

What I did:
-Uncooked veggies like the ones listed above are painful for me to digest. I put them all in my handy 10×2″ pan and sauteed them on med-low heat in some canola while the pasta cooked. About halfway through the cooking I added the sesame seeds.
-Drain and rinse the pasta
-Add everything together in a big bowl, toss
-Mizuna is nice and delicate, so the heat of the other ingredients wilts it perfectly

I’m snacking on this as I type. YUM!

I still have a lot left over. After I have a chance to go grocery shopping, I will be using the cabbage, potatoes, thyme, squash, and onion to cook up a minestrone soup. I just need some turkey bacon and kidney beans first!