Ogres Have Layers

When I saw all of the beautiful spring onions in our box last week, with more on the way this week, for some reason this scene flashed in my head.  Ah, the wisdom of Shrek.  I love my cartoons.

The thing about onions is that they form the base of so, so many things we cook.  I don't know about your kitchen, but my family of three easily goes through half a dozen in a week.  The question is, when we get beautiful onions like these, the early spring ones, how can we actually feature them in the dish?  What can we do beyond just using them in mirepoix?

Photo via Epicurious

Here are some ideas for you.

• An obvious thing that comes to mind is French onion soup.  That recipe is the right spices, but instead of chicken broth, use a good-quality homemade stock.  If you can make or buy some demi-glace, even better!  While the Irish aren't known for their onion soup, this one still deserves a try.
• The frittata that we made with last year's spring onions is still a great choice.
• While these are usually fall dishes for me, a pork stew with onions is great on chilly spring evenings.  (Here's another.)
• Caramelized onions are an outstanding pizza topping!
• Dressed up German-style mac and cheese

More onions, please!

Guest Post: Crustless Corn Quiche

This is a guest post from KRvW.  Thank you!  We welcome crop share members to pen guest posts.  If you have something to share, please email me at burt@nallsproduce.com.  Without further adieu:

                    Crustless Corn Quiche

Here's a fun one for pulling together several summer favorites into one savory dish that is sure to please.

A long time ago, my mom shared with me an old recipe for a "crustless corn quiche". It was pretty good, but it lacked something for me. So, I decided to bump it up a notch.

For starters, it needed a bit of salty goodness from the addition of a bit of meat. Next, I felt it could use a bit of spicing to make it a bit more interesting.

After quite some experimenting, I arrived at one of my favorite summer dishes. It marries fresh summer corn with poblano peppers, onions, and one of my favorite Tex-Mex flavorings - chipotle peppers in adobo sauce. I really think the chipotles are one of the unsung heroes of the kitchen. A can of them goes for about a buck at most supermarkets, and they can last in the fridge nearly forever. Chipotles are smoked jalapeño peppers, and the adobo sauce is a great spicy sauce that packages them perfectly.

Recently, it occurred to me that most of the ingredients of this recipe are available right up the road from us at Nalls Produce. I love the addition of the cream and cheese from Trickling Springs along with the fresh organic eggs from Pennsylvania -- all available at Nalls.

Talk about a dish with all local, fresh, and natural ingredients!

Now, combine that with the fact that this entire meal can be cooked in a single pan. I like to use my trusty 12" cast iron skillet for making the dish, but you can also make it in just about any similarly sized dish. The only other dish used is a mixing bowl. 

It is easy to make and tastes fabulous. If you want to notch up your game a level or two, grill the ears of corn on your grill and use heavy cream in lieu of the half-and-half I generally use. The smokiness of the corn will be a fabulous complement to the dish, and the heavy cream is a wonderful treat for those special occasion dishes.

Enjoy! Oh, and if you make improvements to my recipe, I'd love to hear from you. I'm always open to cool new ideas.

Cheers,

Ken

Crustless Corn Quiche

Ingredients

4 ears fresh corn, cooked, husked and kernels cut off (about 3 cups) N
1 medium onion, finely chopped N
1/2 to 1 lb. bacon, chopped
1 poblano pepper, finely chopped N
2 chipotle chile pepper in adobo sauce, finely chopped
1 tablespoon Madam Pele's Heat or Emeril's Essence
1 tablespoon butter N
3 eggs N
2 cups light cream (half and half is great, or even heavy cream if you want to step it up a bit) N
1 cup flour
1 tablespoon chile powder
1 teaspoon pepper
2 tablespoons parsley, dried, or 1/4 cup fresh N
1/4 cup parmesan cheese
2 cups sharp Cheddar cheese N

Directions
1. Cook the corn. Steamed, boiled, or grilled is great. This can be done in advance. It's also a great use for leftover ears of corn after a big meal.

2. Preheat oven 375F degrees.

3. Sauté the bacon (Virginia country ham also works great here), browning it well, and then mix in the onions, poblano, and chopped chipotle. Continue to sauté on medium to medium-high, until the onions are well caramelized, about 15-20 minutes.  If the meat is lean, you may want to add a bit of butter or olive oil when adding the onions.  Otherwise, use the pan drippings from the meat. When the mix is well caramelized, set the cast iron skillet aside to cool. Add in the Madam Pele's Heat or Emeril's Essence to the mixture, if desired.

4. Meanwhile, in large mixing bowl beat eggs until fluffy, then add cream, chile powder, and flour and mix together.

5. Add the corn, salt, pepper, parsley, and 1-1/2 cups of cheddar cheese.  Mix (or even blend) well.

6. Pour the mix into the cast iron skillet with the meat/onion mix. Sprinkle the top with the rest of the cheddar cheese. Optionally put a bit of paprika in the cheese on top as well.

7. Bake at 375F degrees for about 35 - 40 minutes. Remove from oven and let rest for about 10 minutes. Cut and serve.

Yet Another Ethnic Tongue-Twister Dish

I guess I have a penchant for cooking things that are difficult to pronounce.  Green beans are becoming quite abundant, and tomatoes are starting to come in.  What’s that mean?

Fasolakia!!

Go ahead, spend a minute trying to figure out how to pronounce it.  I’ll wait.  Meanwhile, I'm going to dig deep into the nightmares of pledge semester and see if I can write that with the Greek alphabet.  Hmm... Φασολακια  Is that right?

It’s Greek stewed green beans.  No crispy onion straws involved.  Yay.  Unfortunately no bacon either.  Boo.  This is the sort of dish that it’s easy to get going, then leave on the stove for forever to cook.  Without further delay…

Ingredients

1 1/2 to 2 lbs. green beans, ends snapped off, washed

1 medium onion, quartered and thinly sliced

1/2 cup olive oil

2 cups diced fresh tomatoes

1 cup water

1/2 cup finely chopped fresh parsley, oregano, or a combination thereof

2 tbsp fresh lemon juice, more to taste

Salt & pepper

Directions

Gently heat olive oil over medium flame (not to smoking).  Add onion and cook 3 to 4 minutes until translucent.

Add green beans, tomatoes, water, and herbs.  Let simmer over low heat at least 30 minutes, but it’s okay to leave it a lot longer than that.  (I’ve had no problem with it cooking for 2 hours.)  Stir occasionally.

Remove the lid and bring flame to medium, let reduce 10 minutes.  You still want the beans in liquid, but it shouldn’t look like soup.  Season with lemon juice, salt and pepper to taste.

That’s a pretty easy one, but the flavors are amazing.  I like making this when I’ve got a number of other things to cook, and I can just let it go while I’m busy elsewhere.

Any other ethnic dishes out there you can share with me?

Southwest Stuffed Peppers

I actually whipped up these stuffed peppers last week as my even lighter and more veggie-tacular version of the Cream Cheese Chicken Enchilada Stuffed Peppers, but failed miserably at actually getting this to the blog.  But we got onions and there's onions in this recipe, so hey it's still relevant!  Especially as we head into summer with all the squash and corn, this will be a great way to use it all up.

Southwest Stuffed Peppers

Ingredients:
2 tsp olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 onion, sliced
5 green peppers, 1 sliced, 4 hollowed and lids removed to prepare for stuffing
2 cups corn (or 1 can)
1 yellow squash or zucchini, sliced (if you have a zoodler or a julienne peeler, use that!)
1 1/2 Tbsp cumin
1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 chicken breast, cooked and shredded (great for leftover chicken or rotisserie chicken)
1 cup chicken or vegetable broth
8 Tbsp salsa (be fancy and make your own Homemade Salsa)
1 Tbsp lime juice
1/2 cup, plus extra, shredded cheese of your choice (we use Daiya cheddar for dairy-free)
1/4 cup cilantro, chopped
Salt & pepper, to taste
Hot sauce, to taste -- optional


Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

You'll want to prep all of your veggies first, that way this recipe goes at light-speed.  It makes a TON of filling, so you can easily freeze any extra that won't fit in your peppers and use later for enchilada stuffing or bring it up to a boil with some stock and diced canned tomatoes for a filling soup.

Prep them veggies!

In a large skillet, and I mean large, heat olive oil over medium high heat.  Add in garlic and saute for about 1 minute or until fragrant.  Add in onion and pepper and saute for about 3 minutes.  Add corn, yellow squash and cumin and saute for an additional 3 minutes.  Next, pour in beans, shredded chicken, broth, salsa and lime juice.  Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer until no liquid remains.

Stir in cheese, cilantro, and any hot sauce if you'd like a kick.  Then season with salt & pepper, to taste.  Remove from heat.

Take your 4 hollow peppers and stuff each with generous portions of the filling and top each with a sprinkle of cheese.  Place upright into a baking dish and bake at 350 for about 20-30 minutes, until skin on peppers starts to shrivel at top and look wrinkly and the cheese on top is nice & bubbly.

Wearin' O' The Green!

It's the most wonderful time of the year!  No, I didn't just flashback a few months to Christmas.  St. Patrick's Day is upon us and it gives myself and every other Irish American the chance to be completely obnoxious about how Irish we are.  And it's the one day of the year everyone wants to be us!  Take that kids who made fun of my red hair and held me down while you played connect the dots with my freckles!  So if you're lucky enough to be Irish, you're lucky enough.  But if you're not, then allow me to lovingly carry you through the mists and the fog of traditional, yet delicious Irish cuisine.  Yes, it's a lot of cabbage and potatoes, but the Irish have always done seasonal and local, the rest of us are just catching up to how delicious it can be.

So to whet your appetite, pour yourself a nice cuppa tea (or a whiskey) and enjoy these traditional oldies but goodies from the library of Nalls' Kitchen...

Colcannon

Leek & Potato Soup

Corned Beef & Cabbage

Lemon Chicken Orzo Soup via Two Peas & Their Pod

If you've even remotely peeked outside you know this is some serious soup weather we have going on!  And since it looks like possibly a bit more snow tomorrow night at Saturday, we're all going to want to whip up something comforting with our Crop Shares.  So prepare to use up your celery and lemon this week, and check out this bright and delicious looking Lemon Chicken Orzo Soup from Two Peas & Their Pod.

Lemon Chicken Orzo Soup via Two Peas & Their Pod

Cooking With Collards: Stewed Collards with Sausage & Quinoa

If you're at a loss with what to do with the collard greens coming your way this week, take heart because if you love kale, you'll love collards.  They're really interchangeable and I've used them to make delicious Collard Chips and Sweet Potato & Collard Soup.  But my all time favorite preparation is Sukuma Wiki, a Kenyan recipe for stewed collards.  You get all the goodness of traditional stewed collards, minus the pork fat of most US recipes.  Penny will thank you and so will your waistline.  So a few weeks ago I took home some collards in order to make another batch of Sukuma Wiki, but I also had some quinoa in my pantry that was looking so lonely and unloved.  Thus a go-to side dish of ours transformed itself into an entree with the addition of quinoa and turkey sausage.  The results were delicious, and while not traditionally Kenyan, it definitely had my tastebuds shouting, "Jambo!" (hello in Swahili).

Stewed Collards with Sausage & Quinoa

Ingredients:

1 cup quinoa, cooked to package directions
3 Tbsp olive oil
1 sweet onion, chopped
1 Tbsp garlic, minced
1.25 lbs hot Italian turkey sausage, casings removed and crumbled
2 cups diced tomatoes
1 bundle of collards, removed from stems and rough chopped
6 cups reduced sodium chicken stock
Salt to taste


Prepare quinoa according to package directions.

In a large skillet, heat olive oil over medium high heat.  Add in onion and garlic and sweat until translucent for about 2-3 minutes.  Add in crumbled sausage and cook until it begins to brown.  Stir in tomatoes and cook for an additional 4 minutes.  Now begin to add your collards, and you'll have to add them in stages to allow them to cook down and make more room for the rest.  Once all collards are in the pan and have started to wilt, begin adding chicken stock.  Bring to a simmer and reduce heat.

Now at this point you could simmer everything for about 10 minutes, season to taste with salt and serve this as a soup (though if you've made the quinoa, now you have lonely quinoa or you could stir some in to function like a pasta or rice), which I'm sure would be delicious.  But to really get all the loveliness and to stew the collards into submission you want to simmer this for a good 50 minutes.

After 50 minutes, stir in your quinoa and allow to cook on low for an additional 10 minutes or until all the liquid is absorbed.  Remove from heat and serve.

Bacheofe - Alsatian Meat & Vegetable Stew via Saveur

You hear a lot about my Irishness and love for all things potato, but that's only half of my DNA.  Another quarter is French...French Huguenot, to be exact.  So, since my Huguenot ancestors spent a good portion of their lives in the Rhine region of Germany as a means to escape persecution in France, it must be coded somewhere in my genetic tastebuds to love dishes from the Alsace region of France, because their cuisine is an incredible blend of French & German flavors.  So no dainty, delicate sauces over something poached.  No, this is good stick to your ribs food, and like all good traditional cuisines, it's comprised of what's local, seasonal and on the cheap.

Hands down one of my favorite Alsatian dishes is Bacheofe/Baeckoffe, and all you need to know is it's a giant casserole of warmth.  While I was musing over what fun thing to suggest for the Crop Share carrots this week, Saveur did the work for me and posted their recipe for Bacheofe.  Which reminded me I also had tucked away Alsatian chef, Hubert Keller's recipe for his family's version.  So I leave you with links to both versions, but do read the notes at the bottom of Keller's as there's really nothing quite like the phrase, "pig trotters add a gelatinous consistency."  Not sure if that's a good or bad thing, but I'm pretty sure Penny would have something to say about that.  Thankfully, pig trotters are entirely optional for this dish!  So use up those carrots from this week, and if you still have any leeks and potatoes leftover from last week, this will use those right up too.  The recipes are hyperlinked in each title, so click through to view them on their original pages.  But if a massive hearty stew of heavy meat & veg isn't the way you want to use your carrots this week, then enjoy another taste of my DNA (well not literally, as we do frown on cannibalism here at Nalls) with my Grammy Freer's Chicken In A Wine Sauce.  Remember two cups of white wine for the dish, and 3 cups for the chef.  ;)

Bacheofe - Alsatian Meat & Vegetable Stew via Saveur

Beef Lamb & Pork Baeckeoffe via Hubert Keller

There's no image of his version of Baeckeoffe, so I give you this photo of the silver fox himself, shaving with a kitchen knife.  I only have a slight food crush on this man.

Sausage & Pumpkin Pasta

Don't get too excited, there won't be any pie pumpkins in this week's Crop Share, but I suspect some of you still have your pie pumpkin sitting around just begging to be turned into something yummy.  Either that any of the hard squash you've received, like the butternut, acorn or this week's carnival squash can be used in place of pumpkin.  Just follow the same basic steps for making your own pumpkin puree whether you're using any type of pumpkin or hard squash (just not spaghetti squash, too sinewy).  But this dish is our absolute Fall go-to meal!  Not only is it quick and easy, but holy mother of pearl it is goooooooooood!  Kind of makes me want to hoard pumpkin puree so that I can make this dish in August, because every time I make it I wonder why I haven't been making this every single week.  So if you enjoy all things pumpkin, prepare to fall in love with this pasta!

Sausage & Pumpkin Pasta

Ingredients:

1 box pasta (farfalle or rotini work best, and I use Bio Naturae gluten free rotini)

6 links hot Italian-style turkey sausage (casing removed and crumbled)

1 Tbsp olive oil

1 medium sweet onion, chopped

1 Tbsp garlic, minced

1 cup low-sodium chicken broth

1 cup dry white wine

1 cup pumpkin puree, or puree of other like hard squash (make your own!)

1 1/4 tsp dried, rubbed sage

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1/2 tsp Kosher salt

1/2 tsp fresh ground black pepper

1 Tbsp fresh parsley, chopped

Cook pasta to package directions.

In a skillet, heat olive oil over medium high heat.  Add in crumbled sausage and onion.  Once sausage begins to brown add in garlic.  Once sausage is cooked through and browned on the outsides, deglaze pan with chicken broth and wine.  Bring liquid to a light simmer and stir in pumpkin, sage, garlic powder, salt and pepper.  Cook for an additional minute or two, just enough to thoroughly heat the pumpkin.  Remove from  heat and stir in parsley.  Toss with pasta to serve.

Sausage, Potato & Kale Soup

When the Mister and I first started dating I asked him if there was one food I could make for him, what would it be.  He replied simply with, "soup."  I'd never really made soup before, other than a slapdash attempt at a curried pumpkin soup the year prior, but I'm always up for any culinary challenge and...I was blissfully in love (still am for the record!).  So I unearthed a recipe for Sausage, Potato & Kale Soup that I'd been hankering to try and with a few minor tweaks it quickly became my signature soup and one of the Mister's favourite dishes of mine.  If there's one recipe folks ask me for, it's always this one, and just so you know how good it is, there was an incident where a dear friend -- who shall remain nameless to protect his pride -- was caught standing in my kitchen, with the ladle, and eating more of the soup right out of the giant stock part.  That's love right there!

So while this post is a week late coming as we had potatoes and kale last week, file this one away in your memory banks as this comforting and hearty soup will take you through the whole winter.

And just because people need to know this...all of tonight's blogging is being done whilst watching Sharknado.  So if things start to get a little campy with tonight's posts, now you know why.  And now...the SOUPNADO!

Sausage, Potato & Kale Soup

Ingredients:

2 Tbsp olive oil

2 Tbsp garlic, minced

1 medium-sized yellow onion, chopped

6 links turkey sausage (hot or sweet depending on your heat preference), casings removed and meat crumbled

1/2 cup dry white wine

2 - 32 oz containers of reduced sodium chicken stock

1 lb red or yellow potatoes, diced

1 bundle kale, leaves stripped from stalks and roughly chopped

Salt & pepper to taste

In a large stock pot, heat olive oil over medium high heat.  Saute garlic and onions for 3-4 minutes or until translucent.  Add in turkey sausage and stir to continue to crumble.  Increase heat and cook until sausage is cooked through and browned.  Deglaze pan with white wine and stir to get any browned bits off of the bottom of the pan.  Add in your stock and bring to a boil.  Reduce heat but still keep liquid at a vigorous simmer and add in your potatoes.  Cook for an additional 3-4 minutes or until potatoes are fork tender.  Reduce heat to a simmer and add in chopped kale.  Season with salt & pepper to taste.  Simmer for an additional 2-3 minutes and then remove pot from heat to allow soup to finish setting up and cool slightly.  Taste broth and season with additional salt & pepper, if needed.

Grilled Vegetable Skewers via Proud Italian Cook

Pardon my lack of original content this week, I'm out of town for a wedding and my lonely share is waiting for me back at Nalls.  :(  So for all you Crop Share newbies, don't worry, cooking does actually happen in Nalls' Kitchen!

In the meantime we can all drool together with some gems I discovered thanks to Pinterest, like this Grilled Vegetable Skewers from Proud Italian Cook.  A great way to use up the corn, bell peppers, broccoli and even slice up the tomatoes into wedges to skewer.  I hear grilled cantaloupe is fantastic!  Though probably hold off on grilling the spinach, something tells me that's a bad idea.

So follow the link below to view this recipe that has me ready to fire up the grill at 9am!

Grilled Vegetable Skewers

Pattypan Palooza!

We all had a great time experimenting with pattypan squash this week, especially for those of us (like me!) who were completely new to this funky, cool squash.  One of our Nalls crew, Dawn, got extra creative this week and whipped up some baked pattypan, stuffed with cheesy bacony goodness.  *gasp*  I, on the other hand, got lazy after a long day and decided to just dice it up, season it, and bake it into submission.  Then I tossed it with a grilled shrimp and romaine salad, so if you've yet to use up the pattypan from last week, this is a great way to use up that along with this week's romaine lettuce.  So here's two pattypan preparations from our Nalls' Kitchen to yours...

Bacon & Cheese Stuffed Pattypan Squash

Ingredients:
6 pattypan squash
1 pack applewood cured, thick sliced bacon
1 cup diced onion
1 fresh jalapeno, finely diced
2 cups Panko breadcrumbs
1 cup fresh grated Parmesan cheese
salt & pepper to taste
ranch dressing

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Bring one inch of water to boil in a saucepan, over medium high heat.  Add squash, cover and cook for 10 minutes.  Drain and slice off the top of the squash.  Let cool and then carefully scoop out the center of the squash, reserving all of the meat.

Place bacon in a large, deep skillet.  Cook over medium-high heat until evenly brown.  Drain on a paper towel and set aside.  Saute onions in bacon drippings, chop squash meat and add to onions, sauteing for 1 minute.  Remove from heat and add jalapeno, breadcrumbs, and 1/2 cup of Parmesan.  Crumble in bacon.  Season with salt & pepper to taste.  Stuff each squash and top each with remaining cheese.

Bake for 15 minutes.

Remove from oven, cut in half and drizzle with ranch dressing.  Enjoy!

Spiced Pattypan Squash

Ingredients:
3-4 pattypan squash, cubed
2 Tbsp olive oil
2 tsp Dizzy Pig Dizzy Dust (coming soon to our store!)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Place cubed pattypan on a baking sheet and toss with olive oil and spice mix to evenly coat.  Bake for 20-30 minutes, turning halfway through, until sides begin to turn golden brown.

We tossed ours into a simple salad of romaine, arugula, grilled & spiced shrimp (used Dizzy Pig Tsunami Spin on these).  And then made a vinaigrette of equal parts olive oil and white balsamic vinegar.

Moroccan Harira

Thanks to having a food-allergy friendly menu, Busboys & Poets is a favorite DC area haunt of the Mister and I.  Which as an aside, if you have to avoid gluten, you need to run not walk to the closest Busboys and get their GF hazelnut chocolate cake, it's like Nutella in cake form.  Just sayin'.  Any way, back to the topic at hand.  Busboys serves an amazing vegan version of a traditional Moroccan stew called harira.  It's essentially a spiced chickpea and lentil stew, and unlike many stews, this one is actually quite healthy.  So after the Mister went bonkers for the harira at Busboys, I made it my personal mission to recreate it.  This is another all-purpose Crop Share veggie recipe, but it will make a great vehicle for the bundle of parsley you'll all be receiving.  And while this stew has it's fair share of heat to it, you can easily cut back on the cayenne and then serving each bowl with a dollop of sour cream or plain Greek yogurt will help cut any additional heat.  They say you need to fight fire with fire, so perhaps this is just what this weekend's hot forecast calls for.

Moroccan Harira

Ingredients:

3 Tbsp olive oil

1 onion, diced

3 celery stalks, diced

4 carrots, diced

4 garlic cloves, minced

1 tsp cinnamon

2 Tbsp ground ginger

2 Tbsp turmeric

2 Tbsp cumin

1/4 tsp cayenne

3 Tbsp tomato paste

2 cups stewed tomatoes (not Italian style), drained

5 cups vegetable or chicken stock

1 bay leaf

2 Tbsp Kosher salt

Ground black pepper

2 cups chickpeas, drained

1 cup brown lentils

1/2 lemon, juiced

Bundle of parsley, chopped

Sour cream (dairy-free or regular) or plain Greek yogurt to garnish

In a large stock pot or dutch oven, heat olive oil over medium high heat.  Add onion, carrot, celery and garlic and saute until tender, about 4-5 minutes.  Reduce heat slightly and add all of your spices, being careful not to allow any of them to burn on the bottom of the pot.  Add tomato paste and stir until well blended.  Add stewed tomatoes and stock, taking care to get any bits off the bottom that have started to stick.  Stir until blended and creamy.  Add bay leaf, salt and pepper.

Stir in chickpeas, cover pot, reduce heat and simmer for 20-30 minutes.  Stir in lentils, cover and simmer for an additional 30 minutes.  Check part way through lentil cook time, and add more stock if needed.

Add lemon juice and chopped parsley, and adjust seasoning to taste.

Serve each bowl with a dollop of sour cream or plain Greek yogurt, and garnish with an additional pinch of fresh, chopped parsley.

Adapted from v:gourmet (http://vgourmet.ca/tag/vegan-harira/)

Veggie & Chicken Sausage Stuffed Potatoes

During my time in Ireland I became obsessed with stuffed potatoes.  No, not just the broccoli & cheese or "loaded" baked potatoes we have here, these were stuffed potatoes on a whole other level.  The Irish call them jacket potatoes, and think huge puffy winter jacket kind of jacket, because they are stuffed to the gills and then some with all sorts of yumminess.  Basically what we'd normally reserve for an elaborate salad bar, they will shove into a fresh baked potato.  So when I stumbled upon this recipe in the fall, it was love at first sight.  A stuffed potato that would make the biggest jacket potato blush!  Being chock full of veggies, this will be a great recipe to come back to through all seasons, and the perfect way to use the zucchini we're giving you this week.  I've even made it with baked sweet potatoes, so if you still have some leftover from last week, stuff them up!

Veggie & Chicken Sausage Stuffed Potatoes

Ingredients:

4 baking potatoes or sweet potatoes
2 Tbsp olive oil, plus 1 tsp, divided use
4 links of apple chicken sausage, sliced into 1/4 rounds
1/2 sweet onion, sliced thin
1 cup crimini or baby bella mushrooms, sliced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 red bell pepper, sliced thin
1 zucchini, sliced thin
1 yellow squash, sliced thin
1 14oz can diced tomatoes, some juice drained off but not all
1/2 tsp dried dill or 1 Tbsp fresh chopped dill
1/2 tsp Kosher salt
1/4 tsp black pepper

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Rub potatoes with olive oil, stab a few times with a fork to allow for ventilation when baking, and place in middle rack of oven to bake for 50-60 minutes.  While potatoes bake, prepare all the sausage and veggies.

In a large skillet, heat 2 Tbsp olive oil over medium-high heat.  Add chicken sausage and onions, gently tossing and cook until the sausage begins to brown.  Then add the mushrooms and garlic, and allow for mushrooms to begin to brown.  Add in red pepper, zucchini and yellow squash, and cook for about 2 minutes.  Then add in the tomatoes with a little bit of the juice from the can, the dill and your seasoning.  Cook for an additional 2 minutes and then remove from heat while you wait for the potatoes to finish baking.

Once potatoes are done, carefully remove them from the oven (wooo hot potato!!) and allow them to cool slightly.  Then slice lengthwise down the potato and fluff the the inside with a fork to loosen everything from the skin.  Drizzle with a bit of olive oil and season with a dash of salt & pepper.  Then generously top with the sausage and veggies.  Serve with a dollop of sour cream if you so desire.


Recipe adapted from The Cozy Apron (http://thecozyapron.com/reminiscing-a-little-over-vegetable-stuffed-potatoes/)

Sauteed Swiss Chard

My first encounter with Swiss chard was during the Fall Crop Share round, and it has quickly become one of my favorite leafy greens.  Much like kale or spinach, Swiss chard is fantastic sauteed up with some olive oil and garlic, and this recipe below from Epicurious is my all-time favorite for sauteed Swiss chard.  I like to add a dash or two of red pepper flakes, and of course some grated Parmesan!  While this works great as a side dish, you can easily make it a meal by tossing it with some grilled chicken.

Sauteed Swiss Chard

Ingredients:

1 large bundle of Swiss chard

1 Tbsp olive oil

1 Tbsp unsalted butter

1 medium onion, halved and thinly sliced

2 cloves garlic, minced

Click through to view the rest of the recipe on Epicurious...

One-Pot Chicken & Rice With Swiss Chard

My first encounter cooking with swiss chard was last Fall when we received it in our Crop Share, and I decided to use it in the Chicken & Rice with Swiss Chard recipe that was put up on the blog at that time.  We loved it then, so I wanted to share it with you all again.  Not only is it healthy, but as a one-pot dish, kitchen clean up is kept to a minimum.  Then again, isn't the rule that the chef doesn't have to do dishes?

Follow the link below, and enjoy one of our favorites from the Fall round...

One-Pot Chicken & Rice with Swiss Chard

We've got the garlic, onions and carrots needed for this recipe all in store.  So if you have yet to redeem your $3 off coupon from last week, use it to pick up the remaining produce for this great recipe!

Grammy Freer's Chicken In A Wine Sauce

Some of my most beloved childhood memories are of cooking and baking with my Grammy Freer (yes, I am 31, and yes I will call her Grammy no matter how old I get).  Much of what I know about kitchen fundamentals comes from spending good chunks of my formative years, standing on a step stool, at her side while she baked pies and cookies or made homemade french fries.  There was even a somewhat "explosive" incident involving our first attempt at cream puffs.  So it's no surprise that I've been waiting in hopes of just the right mix of items in the Crop Share so that I can feature one of my Grammy's recipes, her Chicken In A Wine Sauce.  If you're anything like me, she had you at "wine sauce."  So enjoy putting this week's carrots and fresh parsley to good use in this recipe from one awesome lady!  Oh and...Hi Grammy!  ;)

Grammy Freer's Chicken In A Wine Sauce

Ingredients:
4 bone in chicken breasts, skinned
4 bone in chicken thighs, skinned
4 bone in chicken legs, skinned
1/2 tsp Kosher salt, divided
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
2 tsp canola or olive oil
1 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup thinly diced carrots
1/2 cup thinly diced celery
1 Tbsp minced garlic
2 cups dry white wine
1 cup chicken stock
2 Tbsp all-purpose flour (sub in gluten-free flour or cornstarch for gluten-free version)
3 Tbsp fresh tarragon, chopped
3 Tbsp fresh parsley, chopped
1 Tbsp Dijon mustard
1 bay leaf
1 Tbsp butter

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Heat oil in a Dutch oven or other heavy-bottom, oven-safe pan over medium high heat.  Season chicken with salt & pepper, and begin to add about half of the chicken to the pan to begin to brown, for about 4 - 5 minutes.  Remove from pan and repeat with remaining chicken till all are browned.  Set aside chicken

Add onion, carrot, celery and garlic to the pan and cook for 6 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Add wine and cook for 2 minutes, stirring to remove any browned bits from the bottom of the pan.  Return chicken to pan.  Combine flour and stock in a bowl, whisking until smooth.  Add to the pan and stir to incorporate.  Stir in tarragon, parsley, mustard and bay leaf.  Bring to a boil, then cover and place in oven to bake at 325 for 1 hour or until chicken is very tender.  Remove chicken and bay leaf and stir butter into sauce.

If sauce is too thin when you remove the chicken, bring back to a boil on the stove top for about 5 additional minutes until the sauce reduces and thickens to more of a gravy consistency.  Serve pieces of chicken topped with the pan sauce.

Who Is This Broccoli Rob?

One part mini-broccoli and one part greens, broccoli rabe is a double duty vegetable.  If you're like me, for years you had heard of broccoli rabe and thought to yourself, "Who's this Broccoli Rob?"  So if this is your first encounter with it, don't fret and prepare to fall in love with Broccoli Rob!  As we mentioned in the Crop Share spoiler e-mail, broccoli rabe is fantasmagorical when sauteed and tossed with pasta, especially when some manner of sausage is involved.  In the past, I'd worked off of a Williams-Sonoma recipe that wanted me to use enough salt to choke a camel, but this one from A La Mode requires only salt to taste and is easily modified for any individual tastes or dietary restrictions.  And look at that photo!  Is it wrong to try and poke your computer screen with a fork?

Orecchiette With Sausage And Broccoli Rabe

Ingredients:

1 lb orecchiette pasta

1 lb Italian sausage, casing removed (can sub in turkey sausage for a lighter version)

1/2 yellow onion, diced

1 Tbsp olive oil

Pinch of red pepper flakes

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 large bunch of broccoli rabe, cut into two sections

1 lemon, zested & sliced in half

1/2 cup grated Grana Padano or Parmigiano Reggiano

For breadcrumbs:

1 Tbsp butter

1/2 cup dry breadcrumbs

Zest of lemon

Click through for the rest of the cooking directions from A La Mode!

We've got plenty of lemons and onions on hand, so be sure to pick them up this weekend for this recipe!

Spiced Lentil & Potato Soup

I have a slight problem with lentils.  No, not lentils themselves, I quite love them and perhaps a bit too much. You see, every time I cook up lentils, I wind up with enough to feed a mid-sized nation.  So I devised this Lentil & Potato Soup last fall, as a way to use up the ignorant amount of cooked lentils I always end up with.  And the new gold potatoes in this week's Crop Share will be the perfect potato to use for this hearty and spicy soup.  Guaranteed to take the evening chill off while we wait for next week's 70 degree temps!

Spiced Lentil & Potato Soup

Ingredients:

1 Tbsp olive oil

1 large yellow onion, diced

1 cup carrot, diced

2 tsp garlic, minced

5 medium gold potatoes, diced

1 tsp kosher salt

1/4 tsp black pepper

1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

1/8 tsp crushed red pepper

1 tsp ground ginger

12 oz tomato paste

2 Tbsp Tandoori Roasting Blend (I used Spice & Tea Exchange’s, or use any tandoori spice blend)

3 cups cooked brown lentils

32 oz low sodium vegetable broth (for vegan) or chicken broth

1 can (13.66 oz) lite coconut milk (cream and water portion)

1 Tbsp lemon juice

1 Tbsp parsley, plus more for garnish (dried or fresh, I used dried just fine)

Tofutti sour cream, crème fraîche or  plain Greek yogurt for garnish, optional

Simmer onion, carrot and garlic in a heavy bottom pot or Dutch oven over medium-high heat for 5-10 minutes.  Add in potatoes and sauté for 3-5 minutes.  Add in spices, salt through ginger, and stir to fully coat (for less heat, omit crushed red pepper and reduce cayenne to 1/8 tsp).  Stir in tomato paste, tandoori spice and lentils, and cook for an additional 1-2 minutes.  Add in vegetable or chicken stock and make sure to scrape bottom of pan to loosen anything that has begun to stick.  Stir in coconut milk, lemon juice and parsley.

Bring to a full simmer, cover pot and reduce heat.  Simmer for an additional 20-30 minutes.  Soup should be more of a stew consistency, so check regularly and add or subtract simmering time as needed.

Serve each bowl with a dollop of vegan sour cream, plain Greek yogurt or crème fraîche, and a sprinkle of parsley.

Broc-Cauli: The New Dynamic Duo?!

For those of you who've picked up this week's Crop Share, you already know, SURPRISE, you also got cauliflower!  Alright, I'll admit, cauliflower is not high on my list of beloved vegetables.  Okay fine, it tops my list of most despised.  But I'm trying, I really am and I'm bound and determined to find a preparation for it that makes me realize what everyone else raves about.  Thanks to an idea from Valerie, I think I've found it via a broccoli & cauliflower combo...broc-cauli!  Sherlock has Watson, Batman has Alfred, so perhaps all cauliflower needs is broccoli!

So with the holiday weekend at hand, here's two "broc-cauli" side dishes to complement your dinner table.  First, a warm and rustic Cauliflower-Broccoli Gratin from Eating Well, and then a light and fresh Broccoli Grape Harvest Salad from Eat Yourself Skinny (omit the pasta and toss in your chopped cauliflower to create the broc-cauli effect and a low-carb side dish).

Cauliflower-Broccoli Gratin

Broccoli Grape Harvest Salad

Let us know how you incorporated this week's Crop Share into your holiday meal, we love to know what's cookin'!

Happy Easter and happy cooking!