Veggie Chili

I am not usually a fan of veggie chili. I just feel there should be some type of meat in it. After all, authentic Texas chili doesn't even have beans. But I think the secret to enjoying a veggie chili is getting enough CHILE-WITH-AN-E flavor in it. In my verson, I use one fresh jalapeno, two chipotle chiles and a teaspoon of adobo sauce, and one dried Chile Pasilla Negro. This adds a nice smoky flavor, and combined with a can of Muir Glen Fire Roasted Tomatoes, the chili creates a warm feeling for your cold winter night.

Balancing heat and flavor is a tightrope act when you are cooking for others,. My wife does not like as much heat as I do. This version is just right, where she said it was hot, but ate her portion, and took the leftovers to work for lunch.


Veggie Chili

2 Tbs Olive Oil
2 chopped cloves of garlic
1 chopped shallot
1 chopped onion
~1" squares of butternut squash
4 skinny carrots chopped
1 chopped red pepper
1 chopped de-seeded jalpeno
1 chopped de-seeded chipotle pepper
1 tsp adobo sauce
28 oz fire roasted tomatoes
12 oz Ale
15 oz red kidney beans
8 oz frozen corn
Mexican Oregano
Cayenne Pepper
Chile Powder
Cumin


Heat the olive oil in a dutch oven. Saute the garlic, shallots, and onion until translucent. Layer with salt and pepper. Add the carrots, squash, red pepper, and chopped chiles and cook for 10 minutes. When the carrots and squash start to soften, add the fire roasted tomatoes, beer, beans, adobo sauce, corn and spices. I used about a tablespoon of mexican oregano and cumin, and about a 1/2 of a teaspoon of cayenne pepper and chile powder. Bring to a boil, then lower to a simmer. Simmer for roughly 30 minutes. Adjust salt and pepper to taste along the way.

Top with grated cheese, sour cream, green onions, tortilla chips. Or serve over rice.

It came out really well. If you're a meat chili lover, you may not even miss the meat.

Minestrone Soup

I've been fascinated with Minestrone soup since watching a television show about the Centenarians of Sardinia. Read this great article here. In the oversimplified way that only people that know me understand, I can declare that the best way to live to be 100 years old is to drink wine, work hard outside, and eat minestrone soup.



Minestrone Soup (in a crock pot)

Ingredients

* 3 cups vegetable stock
* 1 (28-ounce) can diced tomatoes
* 1 (15-ounce) can white (cannellini or navy) beans, drained
* 2 carrots, peeled and chopped
* 1 celery stalk, chopped
* 1 cup onion, chopped
* 1 teaspoon dried thyme
* 1/2 teaspoon dried sage
* 2 bay leaves
* Salt and ground black pepper
* 2 cups cooked ditalini pasta
* 1 medium zucchini, chopped
* 2 cups coarsely chopped fresh or frozen spinach, defrosted
* 4 tablespoons grated Parmesan or Romano cheese

Directions

In a slow cooker, combine broth, tomatoes, beans, carrots, celery, onion, thyme, sage, bay leaves, and 1/2 teaspoon each salt and black pepper. Cover and cook on LOW for 6 to 8 hours or on HIGH for 3 to 4 hours.

Thirty minutes before the soup is done cooking, add ditalini, zucchini and spinach. Cover and cook 30 more minutes. Remove bay leaves and season, to taste, with salt and black pepper. Ladle soup into bowls and sprinkle parmesan cheese over top.

Make sure two add two cups of cooked pasta. I cooked two cups of pasta first and added way too much. All of the broth subsequently disappeared. So if you want it to stay a soup, don't add any more than two cups of pasta.

Thanksgiving Leftovers

We have a special Thanksgiving in my family. My mom puts together a three course meal that celebrates our Italian heritage in addition to the traditional fare. We have antipasti and other meats and cheeses for the first course, followed by homemade ravioli, meatballs, sausage, and sauce, capped off with the turkey and all the fixin's. The turkey this year came from Tendercrop Farm in Newbury, Massachusetts.

We always have lots of leftovers. This year I got a little creative and made a turkey pie with homemade crust. If you still have leftover turkey - give this a shot.

Aaron's Turkey Pie from Scratch

~2 cups of turkey (white and dark meat)
~2 cups of gravy (recipe below)
1 cup frozen peas
3 peeled and chopped carrots
1 Pie crust (recipe below)

Make the pie crust...

All-Butter Pie Dough from food and wine magazine

Ingredients

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
Pinch of salt
1 stick cold unsalted butter, cubed
1/4 cup ice water

Directions

In a food processor, pulse the flour with the salt. Add the butter and pulse until the size of peas. Drizzle in the water and pulse until the crumbs are moistened; turn out onto a work surface. Gather into a ball, flatten, wrap in plastic and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

While the pie crust is chilling make the gravy.

Gravy

3 tbs flour
3 tbs butter
2 cups chicken stock

Melt the butter over medium heat and then add the flour. Whisk together until the roux is golden brown. Make sure your chicken stock is hot, and gradually whisk the stock into the pan until your gravy reaches your desired thickness. Add some salt or thyme if you like.

Mix the gravy, turkey, peas, and carrots in a bowl and drop into a 9 inch pie plate. Roll out the pie crust and put on top. Bake for 30 minutes at 425 or until the crust is golden brown.

Potato and Leek Soup

I promised - so here it is. Simple yet delicious potato and leek soup. I left the skin on the potatoes. But do what you want.

Potato and Leek Soup

1/4 cup (4 tablespoons) butter
1 medium onion, chopped
3 leeks, thinly sliced and rinsed well
3 cloves garlic, smashed
5 medium russet (baking) potatoes, peeled and cut into 1-inch pieces
4-5 cups chicken or vegetable stock
Salt and pepper, to taste
3/4 cup heavy cream
2 tablespoons finely chopped parsley

1. In a large heavy-based stock pot, melt the butter over medium heat. Add the onions, leeks, and garlic. Cook, stirring often, for 10 minutes or until softened.

2. Add the potatoes, 4 cups of the stock, salt, and pepper. Bring to a boil. Lower the heat and simmer about 15 minutes or until the potatoes are tender.

3. In a blender, puree soup in batches until smooth. Return it to pot. Bring to a simmer. Add the cream and parsley, and taste for seasoning. Add more salt and pepper, if you like. If the soup is too thick, add remaining stock in 1/4-cup increments until it is the consistency you prefer.

Fall Soups

My favorite fall soup is a butternut squash soup with honey and ginger. I don't feel like finding the recipe right now. I'll post the recipe for the soup I made last night instead.

Squash and Apple Cream Soup

1 medium onion
3 lb butternut squash
2 apples
4 cups chicken stock
1 cup Apple juice
1/2 cup heavy cream
3 tbs olive oil
salt
pepper
cinnamon
nutmeg

Add olive oil to your stock pot. Coarsely chop the onion and saute it while you deal with the squash and apples (don't forget to layer your salt and pepper here). Peel, remove seeds from, and chop the butter nut squash. Peel, core, and chop the apples. Add to the pot and add all of the liquids as well. Make sure the squash and apples are covered. If not you can add more juice, water, or stock.

Boil for 40 minutes. When the squash is soft, use an immersion blender and blend until smooth. Add cream, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Stir to mix. and serve.

Here's what it looks like when done. Credit onapples.com for the photo. It's not mine.

Aaron's adapated chicken salad

Summer offers numerous activities out here on the north shore of Massachusetts. Starting in June, the Crane Estate at Castle Hill offers a summer picnic concert series. For twenty-five dollars, you can bring a car load of people and set up a picnic. The views are spectacular, the music is good, and the bugs really aren't that bad. We attend most Thursday nights.


Having the farm share helps us contribute lots of healthy dishes to the picnic. We bring green salads, pasta salads, and potato salads. We have also made different wraps, pizzas, and sandwiches. There is so much potential for cold and finger foods we always have more than enough to eat. And the spread is always very unique.

Last week I made a potato and chicken salad that I really liked. I'm usually not a fan of potato salads, but the combination of ingredients seemed to click for me on this recipe. It's a mix of a few recipes I found on the web. Basically I tried to include things that I had on hand when I made it. I used purple Peruvian potatoes from our farm share. They added a nice color to an otherwise monochromatic dish, and hold up pretty well due to the starch content.

Chicken and Peruvian Potato Salad

3 chicken breasts
5 purple Peruvian potatoes
2 eggs
Handful of chopped dill pickles
2 tbs. of sweet relish
1/3 - 1/2 jar of drained capers
1/2 cup mayonnaise
juice of 1/2 lemon
chopped dill
salt to taste

Boil and chop the chicken breast and potatoes, and hard boil the eggs. Slice the eggs when they're cool. In a large bowl, combine the chicken, potatoes, eggs, pickles, relish, capers, mayo, lemon juice, salt, and chopped fresh dill. Stir everything together and chill. Serve cold.

Link

I just wanted to share a link. It is a recipe for oven roasted sweet potatoes with dill. It's not a combo I have tried, but something I'll give a shot. I happen to have some sweet potatoes and dill on hand right now.

Farm Fresh Salsa

The wet early summer weather ruined the harvest for many vegetables we're used to seeing this time of year. Usually in August we get many more cucumbers, squashes, peppers, zucchinis, and tomatoes. That hasn't stopped me from making something that I love; salsa. Fresh salsa is a great summer taste and allows for lots of creativity. You can add extra jalapeno peppers for more heat or local peaches for sweetness. Make homemade tortilla chips with nice flour tortillas and impress your friends.

The recipe below reflects how I made this yesterday. Feel free to add garlic, fresh chopped peaches or pineapple, lime juice, apple cider vinegar, onions, jalapenos, or whatever else you can think of.

Farm Fresh Salsa

2 garlic scapes
4 shallots
3 dried chiletpin peppers
1 dried jalapeno pepper
2 grilled poblano peppers
1 pint of grape tomatoes
1/2 bunch washed cilantro
1-2 tbs lemon juice
sea salt

I prefer small bits of garlic scapes, shallots, and dried hot peppers in salsa, so I add these four ingredients first into the food processor, and chop them to small bits. Next I add the tomatoes, peppers, cilantro, lemon juice, and sea salt and pulse until it reaches my desired consistency. Good luck!

What I am about...

I love simple food, really. I like dishes that start with just a few ingredients and maybe use one pan, dish, or pot. In the winter, I cook at look of stews and casseroles; one pot dishes that are very hearty and require minimal clean up. I found this recipe for cabbage and cooked it up. I thought it was delicious. It might not be for everybody. But if you like bacon and cheese as much as I do, it is a perfect way to use up some cabbage.

Cabbage with Pancetta and Cheddar Cheese

1/2 head of cabbage
1/4 lb of sliced and pancetta
couple handfuls of shredded cheddar cheese

Heat up you chef's pan and cook the pancetta. If you're unfamiliar with pancetta, it is very similar to bacon, slightly less fatty, and way more salty. I see no need to layer any extra salt in this dish. When the pancetta is crispy take it out and toss in your roughly chopped cabbage. When the cabbage is cooked, put the pancetta back into the pan, cover in cheddar cheese, and put a lid on the pan for a few minutes. The residual heat should melt the cheese. I don't know if this is a side dish, entree or what...but I ate the whole thing for dinner after yoga.

Not all local, but hey, it tastes good

I've got some Italian-American heritage, so I naturally have a repertoire of great sauces. M puttanesca is Elizabeth's favorite. I wanted an authentic recipe, so I set up an advanced google search looking for websites in Italy, in Italian, for the recipe. Once I found it, I translated the recipe into english. It is really really good. SERIOUSLY. I made it tonight substituting garlic scapes for garlic and it worked out just fine. I also omit anchovie paste. Add it if you like it.

Spaghetti alla puttanesca

3 tbs Olive Oil
Garlic (1-3 cloves smashed and chopped)
Handful of chopped parsley
Red Pepper flakes
Majoram
Little jar of capers
Pitted Kalamata Olives
Big can of crushed tomatoes
1/2 lb of Spaghetti

Bring big pot of salted water to a boil and time cooking the spaghetti so it is done with the sauce.

Pour the EVOO (love me some Rachel Ray) into the pan and sautee the garlic (scapes) for a few minutes. I layer salt and pepper here with the red pepper flakes as well. After 3-5 minutes, add the majoram and chopped parsley. When you smell the herbs release their flavor (1-2 minutes), and the tomatoes, capers, and olives. Through whole olives in if you have a lot, chop 'em in half if you don't have that many. Bring to a boil, then simmer for 30 minutes.

Toss with the spaghetti and serve topped with Parmigina Regiano or Romano cheese.

CSA Week 2

This week I wore my hiking boots so trudging out to the PYO fields was no issue. I picked one quart of strawberries, finding the best areas actually near the farm road in the plants splashed with mud from the passing equipment. I also came back with two quarts of snap peas, some of which have already been consumed in another stir-fry.

Inside at the farm stand I collected week two's goodies:

• kale
• tatsoi
• bok choi
• arugula
• spinach
• lettuce
• turnip hakurei
• radishes
• kohlrabi
• scallions
• garlic scapes

I purchased a few farm grown tomatoes, some soy sauce, a couple of cookies and an iced coffee for the ride home. The tomatoes are a must-have for salads and the soy sauce comes in handy for cooking the Asian greens.

I'd like to share a recipe for kohlrabi couscous that was emailed to us. It is from MACSAC’s Asparagus to Zucchini Cookbook.

Couscous with Kohlrabi and Chermoula Dressing

1-2 t minced garlic
2 T minced cilantro
2 T minced fresh parsley
1 t paprika
1/2 t ground cumin
salt
3 T fresh lemon juice
3 T olive oil
2-3 C cooked couscous, cooled to room temperature
2 C peeled, diced kohlrabi
1/2 C diced radishes
16 kalamata or oil cured imported black olives, chopped
1/2 C crumbled feta cheese (optional)

Mix garlic, cilantro, parsley, paprika, cumin, and salt to taste. Stir in lemon juice and olive oil. Toss this mixture with couscous. Bring to room temperature. Gently toss with kohlrabi, radishes, and olives (if desired). Serve as is, or sprinkle with feta cheese.

Distribution and recipe

If I had a camera I would have taken a photo of today's bounty. But I don't - so I'll use words to describe it instead. So far - the CSA at Green Meadows Farm has been amazing. We get fresh looking and great tasting fruit, vegetables, and herbs week after week. The staff is extraordinarily helpful and friendly; and they care so much about each customer and want to make sure we are all satisfied by the produce they provide. It is a stark comparison to what we may experience at some of the standard supermarkets.

I first went out to the PYO fields in corduroys and flip-flops. Not the best idea. You see it was raining, and we kinda haven't seen the sun for a couple weeks, and I was walking around crops in mud. I was able to pick two quarts of strawberries - which was harder than you think. There were so many moldy strawberries. I feel bad that the weather can affect yields like this.

I then trudged over to the snap pea section for two quarts of snap peas (easy to pick). Then over to the snow peas section (still young and much harder to find) to pick one quart. I was soaked and filthy by the time I was done. Had I gone after work, dressed all business casual like, I would have not been very happy. But seeing as how I really don't have anything else to do, getting dirty is really no big deal.

So here's a quick synopsis of the CSA distibution from the farm stand:

• a bunch of radishes
• hakurei turnips
• garlic scapes
• 2 huge heads of lettuce (see photo in the last post)
• arugula
• kale
• spinach
• Pac Choi
• Tatsoi

We definitely have our work cut out for us this week. But I have already made a small dent. I cooked A Pac Choi sir-fry for lunch with a recipe that I half made up from a few things on the above list. I did find something on the web that I used for inspiration, but the final list of ingredients and the process I just winged (wung) it.

Here is the recipe...



Pac Choi, Snow Pea, and Chicken Stir Fry

1 garlic scape
1/2 chicken breast
5 Pac Choi leaves
2 handfuls of snow peas
sesame oil
sesame seeds
soy sauce

Because this is a stir fry it cooks pretty quickly so you'll want to prep all your ingredients before starting to cook.

Chop the garlic scape. Slice the chicken into bite size pieces. Separate the stems from the leaves on the pac choi and slice at a diagonal angle.

Pour some sesame oil around the pan and turn the burner to medium high. When the oil is hot, toss in the chicken and garlic scapes with some kosher salt and cracked pepper. Cook for about 5-10 minutes until you are comfortable that the chicken is cooked. It'll really depend on the size chicken slices you made.

When the chicken is just about ready, toss in the pac choi stems, they take longer to become tender than it will take for the leaves to wilt. After a few minutes, add a couple splashes of soy sauce, a few shakes of sesame seeds, the pac choi leaves, and the snow peas. Cook until the leaves wilt, which is about a minute or two.

That's it - pretty simple - and really tasty. Maybe add a squeeze or two of fresh lime juice when you serve it.

Easy Recipe for Cilantro Rice

You have some cilantro but it doesn't seem to go well with your other greens and salad fixin's? Just make some cilantro rice.

Cilantro Rice

1 cup white rice
2 cups + a little more of stock
pat of butter
pinch of salt
a couple handfuls of chopped cilantro

Throw everything in your favorite pot you use to cook rice. Turn the burner on high and wait for it to boil. Give it a stir and cover. Turn to med/med low and cook for 15 minutes. Turn off burner, move off of the heat, and stir a couple times. Then let rest for five minutes.