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!

Caldo Verde & Broa

Photo via Garden Guy Hawaii

The greens that were in this week's box that you likely didn't recognize are Brassica oleracea var. costata, commonly known as Portuguese cabbage or kale.  You can use them like any other Brassica, such as collard greens or kale.  (Here are some ideas from a while ago.)

This is, however, a component of the national dish of Portugal.  You can also find it quite a bit around the Cape Cod area, which has a large Portuguese community.  It's a soup made from these leafy greens, onion, potato, and chicken stock.  (I'm sure we all still have some potatoes left over, right?)  Traditionally it's eaten with Broa, which is a yeast-based cornbread with wheat or rye flour added as well.  Here's my recipe for Caldo Verde:

Photo via Williams Sonoma

Caldo Verde
Ingredients:

• 8 ounces mild chorizo or Linguiça sausage
• 3/4 lb. Portuguese cabbage
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 2 medium onions, chopped
• 1 lb. potatoes, peeled and sliced thin
• 1 tbsp. minced garlic
• 4 cups chicken stock, preferably unsalted
• 1 cup water
• salt & pepper
• ham hock (optional)

Directions

1. In a soup pot, warm the oil over medium heat and then sauté the onions until translucent, 10 minutes or so.  Add the potatoes and garlic, sauté 5 minutes more.  Add the water and stock, 2 tsp. salt, ham hock if using and the potatoes.  Simmer, covered, 30 minutes.
2. Slice the sausages into bite-sized pieces, and boil them in water for 5 minutes.  Discard the water.
3. Remove about half the potatoes and mash them.  Return to the pot, add the sausage, and continue to simmer until the sausages are cooked, 5 minutes more.
4. Rinse the cabbage and slice the sides away from the tough center stems.  Stack the leaves together and roll lengthwise into a tight bundle, and slice (chiffonade) into very thin strips.  The longer pieces can be cut in half.
5. Add the greens to the soup and simmer just until they are green and still a little crisp, 5 minutes.  Do not overcook the greens.
6. Adjust seasoning with salt and pepper to taste.  Serve, drizzling a little extra-virgin olive oil over the bowls of soup.

Adapted from this recipe from Williams Sonoma.

Bayou-ish Jambalaya with Blackened Cauliflower

The awesome folks at Dizzy Pig are getting ready to release a new seasoning called Bayou-ish, so they sent out some samples to vendors to test out.  Well, one of the Nalls' samples trickled its way down to me so last night I gave it a whirl.  Now when I see "bayou" anything I want andouille sausage and shrimp.  Basically, I want jambalaya.  But we didn't exactly get the traditional jambalaya veggies in the Crop Share this week, so I cheated a bit.  So yes, before Emeril or any other Cajuns out there come after me with pitchforks, I do realize that "the trinity" is completely absent from my jambalaya and I may be committing a mortal sin by even calling this dish "jambalaya."  But, I try to work pretty close with in the parameters of what we get each week so that I or any of you don't have to go out and buy 50 other items of produce.  So please forgive me and I trust if one of you glorious Cajun's ever devise gluten free beignets you will not withhold the majesty from me.

Now a little bit about this Bayou-ish seasoning.  It's intended to withstand high heat, so if you're a fan of blackening fish or chicken, this is the way to go.  If I knew I wouldn't kill the Mister and myself with the smell I would have mixed this up with some gluten & dairy free breadcrumbs, breaded up some catfish and seared the heck out of it.  So instead, I went with my cheaters jambalaya and to roll in the Crop Share I did blacken up something, the one item I can only stand if it's cooked into submission...cauliflower.  I roasted that stuff in some Bayou-ish and olive oil at 430 degrees until it started to char, and that is the point in which I can consume cauliflower and not want to spit it out.  The roasted cauliflower really gives a nice hint of nutty sweetness to the jambalaya, and I had enough in my sample to use half of it on the cauliflower and the other half in the base sauce for the jambalaya.  So once they release this flavor, you'll be able to make this entire dish from one sample pack.  Problem is, then you're out, and I'm already dreaming up some Bayou-ish spiced shrimp po'boys with a vegan remoulade mixed with some more of the Bayou-ish.  Also, their seasonings are lower in sodium than most other seasoning mixes, but you don't feel like you're missing anything.  All I did was throw in a dash of salt at the very end and that was the only other additional seasoning I needed to add!

So what do you do in the meantime if you want to make this dish?  Grab yourself any all-purpose Creole seasoning from the store and give it a go.

Bayou-ish Jambalaya with Blackened Cauliflower

For the blackened cauliflower:
1 head of cauliflower, chopped
1 Tbsp olive oil
2 tsp Dizzy Pig Bayou-ish seasoning

For the jambalaya base:
1 Tbsp olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 sweet onion, chopped
12 oz andouille sausage, sliced on the bias
1 lb shrimp
6 oz tomato paste
2 tsp Dizzy Pig Bayou-ish seasoning
2 cups water
2 cups rice, just undercooked
2 Tbsp lemon juice
2 Tbsp parsley, chopped
Pinch of Kosher salt

Preheat oven to 430 degrees.  Toss cauliflower in olive oil and Bayou-ish, and spread evenly in a baking dish.  Bake for 30-45 minutes until it has started to char a bit.

While the cauliflower is roasting, prepare 2 cups of rice according to package directions and remove from heat just a few minutes early to leave it slightly undercooked as you're going to finish it in with the rest of the ingredients.

In a large saute pan, heat 1 Tbsp olive oil over medium high heat.  Add in garlic and onion and saute until the onion is translucent, about 2-3 minutes.  Toss in sausage and cook until slightly browned.  Add shrimp and cook for an additional minute.  Stir in tomato paste and Bayou-ish seasoning until well blended and cook for 2 minutes until you start to get a bit of a char on the bottom of the pan.  Deglaze with 1 cup of water, scraping all the bits off the bottom and then add the second cup of water.  Bring to a simmer and add the rice, folding in to fully incorporate.  Reduce heat to medium low and simmer for 10 minutes.

When cauliflower is done, add that along with any of the pan drippings to the jambalaya.  Stir to fully mix, and add lemon juice, parsley and a pinch of Kosher salt.  Now I like to get a bit of a crust on the bottom, so for this you'll want to kick the heat back up to medium high for about 3-5 minutes and just take care to not completely burn the bottom of the jambalaya, you want a nice golden brown crust.  Or just leave on medium low heat and let the flavors set up for that remaining 3-5 minutes.  Remove from heat and let stand for at least 3 minutes before serving.

A Fusion Twist On Shrimp & Grits: Cilantro Lime Shrimp with Collards over Cheesy Arepas

I'm still musing over what to do for My Crop Share Challenge this week, and since the brussels sprouts did not want to come out into the blizzard, I'm going to have to re-think my two items.  I got A LOT of collards, so I'm thinking those will certainly be 1 of the 2 items and...wait a tick, hold the phone, some stewed collards with apples.  Yes, yes that's what it's going to be.  I've got a ton of Fuji apples and a ton of collards, why not see if they can play nice together!

But, before we get to those, let me show you what was served up for dinner last night.  I'd seen this recipe for Cilantro Lime Shrimp from Never Enough Thyme and figured I'd wait till we got some of the items needed in an upcoming Crop Share.  But there was that beast amount of collards to contend with, so I figured aww heck just make it and toss in a bundle of collards.  Hmm, shrimp and collards, feels very Low Country.  Hmm, shrimp & grits with collards.  Grits are a cornmeal porridge.  So is polenta, but no, doesn't feel right.  Ugali (see recipe at bottom of this page)?  No.  Oooo, cheesy arepas, it's like cheesy grits pancakes!  And thus Low Country met South-of-the-Border in my kitchen and the results were deeeeeee-licious!

Cilantro Lime Shrimp with Collards over Cheesy Arepas

Ingredients:

1 Tbsp olive oil

1 Tbsp butter

1 sweet onion, minced

1 jalapeno, seeded and diced

1 tsp garlic, minced

1 small bundle collard greens, removed from stem and rough chopped

1/4 tsp red pepper flakes (omit if jalapeno is enough heat for you, or just do 1/8 tsp)

1/2 tsp oregano

1 tomato, diced

2 limes, zest and juice

1/4 tsp Kosher salt

1/2 tsp ground black pepper

1 lb frozen pre-cooked shrimp, thawed in water and detailed

1/2 cup fresh cilantro,  chopped

For arepas -- see recipe for them in Vietnamese Style Tacos and just add a handful or two of your favorite shredded cheese (for dairy free I used Daiya cheddar shreds)

Make arepas first so they have time to set up and cool a bit while you're whipping up the shrimp portion.

Then in a large skillet, heat oil and butter over medium high heat.  Add in onion, jalapeno and garlic and cook for about 3-4 minutes or until onion is translucent.  Add in collards and cook until wilted.  Season with red pepper flakes and oregano and cook for an additional minute.  Add in tomato, lime zest, lime juice, salt and pepper and cook until tomatoes are nice and soft and soupy.  Toss in thawed shrimp and cook for only a few minutes until they are heated thru and have curled up.  Remove from heat and stir in cilantro.

Place 1 arepa on each plate and top with a scoop or two of the shrimp & veggies.

Strawberry, Spinach & Almond Salad with a Poppy Seed Dressing

And you thought you were getting rid of me that easy?  Muahahahaha, surprise!  I'll (Tara) still be manning things over here in Nalls' Kitchen, because really, how can I pull myself away?  So gird your loins for continued random musings of Crop Share cooking adventures.  And guest posts are still welcome, encouraged and greatly enjoyed!  You'll still be able to send recipes and guest posts to tara@nallsproduce.com or send them to cropshare@nallsproduce.com and Valerie will forward them my way.

Now...let's get cookin'!

So yesterday, the Mister and I discovered something glorious...Winesday.  We'd heard about Whole Foods wine tastings, but never seriously looked into it until this week.  When I learned that $5 per person got you 5 wines to taste (they say it works out to about a glass and a half by the end - but there were some generous pour-ers last night!), food pairings at each station, and a glass to keep.  Plus, if you bring your glass back, you get a $1 off future Winesdays.  Drinking in the grocery on the cheap, and at a place like Whole Paycheck nonetheless?  To that I say...Namaste!  Side note: If you've yet to read, Surviving Whole Foods, it's a must, especially if you've also taken your life into your own hands in the parking garage at the one in Old Town.  

So what was the very first food pairing we encountered?  A spinach salad with strawberries!  And what are we getting this week in the Crop Share?  STRAWBERRIES!!!!!!!! AHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!  So skip the Whole Paycheck prices and whip up this delectable salad, complete with your own homemade poppy seed dressing.  Toss in some chicken, shrimp or tofu to make it a meal.  And of course, if anyone wants to come drink with me in the grocery, you will henceforth be able to find me celebrating Winesdays at the Whole Foods in Old Town between 5-7 PM.  Completely for recipe research of course!

Strawberry, Spinach & Almond Salad

For salad:

1/2 lb fresh spinach

1/2 pint strawberries, halved

2 Tbsp slivered almonds, toasted and unsalted (to toast your own, brown in a skillet over medium heat, the natural oils in the almonds will be sufficient)

For Poppy Seed Dressing:

1/3 cup sugar

1/4 cup apple cider vinegar

1 1/2 tsp sweet onion, minced

1/4 tsp paprika

1/4 tsp Worcestershire sauce (for gluten-free stick with original Lea & Perinns as it's safe, huzzah!)

1/2 cup vegetable or olive oil

1 Tbsp poppy seeds

In a blender, add your first 5 dressing ingredients and blend for about 30 seconds until smooth.  Then with the blender running, slowly pour in oil in a steady stream to make an emulsion.  Once fully blended, stir in poppy seeds and set aside.  You can either serve it at room temp or if you're wanting a warm dressing, put it in a microwave safe container and nuke it for 30 seconds to maybe at most a minute.  You want it warm, not hot.

For salad, use our handy dandy tips for no gritty spinach, and then trim stems.  Toss with strawberries and toasted almonds, and then right before serving gently toss with the Poppy Seed Dressing.

Yields 2 servings.

Cilantro or Cilant-NO?

Cilantro and I are tight.  I love that fragrant herb and it loves me back.  But I recognize that for some of you, you might hear that we're getting cilantro this week and your first thought is, "Cilant-NO! That stuff tastes like soap!"  A few years ago, I learned that for some folks, cilantro only reads like soap or cleaning products on their taste buds.  This is not a case of having an unrefined palate (Julia Child herself despised cilantro), it's simply our taste buds being our personal food safety testers to keep us from harm.  Since cilantro contains the same or similar type of aldehydes found in soaps, certain chemicals and even in bugs, some people's taste buds pick up on the flavor and alert, "DANGER!  DANGER!  DO NOT EAT!"  Hence, why it reads like soap or cleaning products to many folks, it's their taste bud's way of stopping them from eating the perceived hazard.

So can those of us who love cilantro boast about having more evolved and intelligent palates?  Probably not, as I can shamefully admit to once eating an entire slice of moldy pizza and then reached for another before I bothered to flip on the light and see that my pizza was growing a sweater.  Like I said, shameful.  But the good news for cilantro-phobes is that some people have found if the herb is crushed or really finely chopped, that by breaking it down, it decreases the soapy flavor and only imparts that wonderfully fragrant note that those of us who love cilantro rave about.

Whether you love it or have always reviled it, we've got two great cilantro containing recipes.  For those of you doubters, in both of these you can just mince the heck out of the cilantro, let it rest for a few minutes and then toss it in.  Think almost a pesto consistency in how finely you mince it.  Click the link to view the first recipe, but the second is provided in this post...

Thai Chicken Quinoa Bowls

If you have an aversion to quinoa, you can easily toss this with white or brown rice, and since it has a Thai flavor profile, you might even try tossing it with rice noodles for a bit of a riff on Pad Thai.  Pass the Sriracha!

Healthier Three Layer Taco Dip

Layer 1:

8 oz Neufchatel 1/3 less fat cream cheese (I use Tofutti Better Than Cream Cheese for dairy-free)*

8 oz reduced fat sour cream (I use Tofutti Sour Supreme for dairy-free)*

1 package low-sodium taco seasoning**

1 tsp chipotle pepper (or less to control the heat)**

Beat all ingredients together until well-blended and creamy.  Spread in the bottom or a deep dish or pie plate.  Refrigerate for at least one hour to allow this layer to set up and firm up.

*When using the reduced fat cream cheese and sour cream, beware of the increased water content.  So drain any excess liquid off of the sour cream before using, and then make sure your subsequent layers are well-drained before adding them.

**Since determining the gluten-safe properties of most taco seasonings, I just created my own.  This is a great way to save on sodium, because even the low-sodium seasonings are still too high for my taste.  Alas, I made mine recently at about 2 am and thus didn't measure, but I did a blend of garlic powder, paprika, ground black pepper, chipotle pepper, and a dash of salt.  So add a few dashes and season till you get the taste you want.  You definitely want the smoky heat of the chipotle in this layer, so to keep from going overboard on the heat you can up the smoke factor with more paprika.

Layer 2:

1 head of romaine lettuce, chopped fine and patted dry with a paper towel

Evenly spread over cream cheese mixture.

Layer 3:

4 tomatoes, seeded and diced

1/2 chopped sweet onion

1 chopped and seeded jalapeno pepper

3 Tbsp minced, fresh cilantro

Juice of 1 lime or lemon

Mix all ingredients together in a separate bowl and then, using a slotted spoon to allow for drainage of excess liquid, evenly spread over top of romaine.  You'll likely have left over pico de gallo, so save to use as a plain salsa or for topping homemade tacos, grilled fish or chicken.

Italian Greens & Beans

Spending a week back in Youngstown and being in the off-season at Nalls means I've gotten to spend a lot of time back in the kitchen, and what is cooking in my kitchen has been LOTS of Italian food.  As I've said before, neither of us have a lick of Italian in us, but growing up where we did, you essentially become Mediterranean by association.  So one of my hometown favorites I got to eat over the holidays was Italian Greens & Beans.  And while I was eating it, an epiphany, a delicious epiphany...there's no reason I can't make this on my own, AND this would make a perfect Crop Share recipe for all the greens we get.  BINGO!  So over this dreary weekend, I whipped up a batch of this loveliness, and this will definitely be going into heavy rotation any time we get greens in the Crop Share.  Traditionally this is made with escarole, but any greens will do.  So if you're burnt out on Kale Chips or flummoxed by collards, this is an easy, quick, versatile, and nutrient packed dish that's sure to please!

Italian Greens & Beans

Ingredients:
3 Tbsp olive oil
1 Tbsp garlic, minced
1 sweet onion, diced
7 cups greens (I used a mix of spinach, baby chard and baby bok choy, but you can also use escarole, kale, collards, or Swiss chard, just remove larger leaves from the stems)
1/2 cup red wine (I used a pinot noir.  Avoid any sweet reds)
19 oz cannellini beans, rinsed well and drained
3/4 cup marinara sauce
Kosher salt & ground black pepper to taste
Dash or two of red pepper flakes, optional

In a large skillet, heat oil over high medium high heat.  Add in garlic and onion and saute until translucent.  Add in greens, and you may have to add them in batches to allow them to wilt down to make room for the rest.  Cook until greens are fully wilted.  Add in wine, and simmer for an additional minute or two.  Stir in beans and marinara, and then add your salt, pepper and red pepper flakes.  Stir to fully combine, reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer for 3-4 minutes.  Taste sauce and adjust seasoning if necessary.

This is great as a side dish, or toss it with some pasta for a vegetarian main dish.  Or throw in some chicken or shrimp for added protein.  We ate ours as a side, and then the leftovers got re-heated in a skillet with some leftover shrimp from shrimp cocktail, and then we tossed it with some gluten-free pasta.

Acorn & Butternut Squash Soup by Crop Share Member Brandi Collins

Several weeks ago, Crop Share member Brandi Collins posted on our Facebook page about this Acorn & Butternut Squash soup she had made.  I knew right away, we had to have that recipe and I had to share it with you all.  So here it is, from Brandi's kitchen to yours, a Fall squashtacular soup that is just what the Daylight Savings Time sleepies need.  Plus, if you've been perplexed by the Buttercup squash from this past week, you can easily substitute that in for either the acorn or butternut in this recipe, and use up some of your Amish candy onions in place of a regular sweet onion!

Acorn & Butternut Squash Soup

INGREDIENTS:

1 butternut squash, halved and seeded 1 acorn squash, halved and seeded 3 tablespoons butter 1/2 chopped sweet onion 1 quart chicken broth 1 tablespoon minced garlic 1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper Salt to taste fresh parsley, for garnish

DIRECTIONS:

1.	Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Place the squash halves cut side down in a baking dish. Bake 45 minutes, or until tender. Remove from heat, and cool slightly. Scoop the pulp from the skins. Discard skins.
2.	Melt the butter in a skillet over medium heat, and saute the onion and garlic until tender.
3.	In a blender or food processor, blend the squash pulp, onion, broth, cream cheese, pepper, and salt until smooth. This may be done in several batches.  This may also be done in the pan with an immersion blender.
4.	Transfer the soup to a pot over medium heat, and cook, stirring occasionally, until heated through. Garnish with parsley, and serve warm.

Cropshare Member Guestpost: Louise B's Squash-Cauliflower Soup

I ate cauliflower, but it was delicious because it wasn’t cauliflower

So, I’m taking a crack at this – once upon a time in a land far, far away (Richmond) my husband (CRB) and I had a blog of places we went to eat there were amazing, but that stopped when we moved to Herndon exactly four years ago (now we’re in Alexandria) and our lives haven’t been right-side-up since!  But, through four years of insanity, we have maintained one thing – our undeniable adulation for eating delicious things. My boss loves to say, “I eat to live, but you clearly live to eat.” And that we do!

So when I joined the crop share I was excited, but I was dismayed to find out that cauliflower was in our first crate. I looked at CRB and said “Really? I think I made a mistake.” He laughed and told me it would be fine. Then he went to play with the dog (our 1-year old Yorkie, Pickles), so I figured I had to make a plan for this cruciferous crime against yum. We’ve been experimenting (gently, because I have nut allergies) with paleo-type meals, and I found this recipe below, which hides the fact that cauliflower is even there. It masks it and uses it as a thickener, which I must say, is what it’s AMAZING for! My husband did nearly remove one of his digits chopping the squash (while I languished in bed until about 11 am on a Saturday…aaah, the joys of marrying an early bird), so I recommend checking out Tara’s blog on dissecting the butternut squash to remove the “honey, do you think this is bad enough for a doctor or can we just staple it back together?” discussion from your life. And no, I’m not kidding about the staple comment. He’s done that. Sigh.

Louise B's Squash-Cauliflower Soup

1 head of cauliflower, roughly chopped

1 butternut squash, cubed

2 acorn squashes, cubed

1 sweet onion, chopped

1 apple, cored and chopped

1 garlic clove, minced

½ can coconut milk

2 cups chicken broth (or veggie broth)

2 tablespoons curry powder

1 tablespoon raw honey

1-2 teaspoons salt

⅛ teaspoon cinnamon

dash of black pepper

1-2 tablespoons olive oil

Place all ingredients into a slow-cooker and roast on low for at least 8 hours (we did it for 24 because we kept forgetting to eat it. Or maybe I kept forgetting to remind him to eat it…maybe). Stir every so often to rotate the ingredients. When done, use an immersion blender or food processor to puree everything. Enjoy!

This had me looking at him saying “did we forget to put cauliflower in here? I don’t taste sadness, I taste only happiness!” He rolled his eyes and batted our pup from his lap saying “NO Pickles, this is daddy’s dinner!” So even the dog liked it…still not sure if that’s a compliment, given that he eats leaves and pine needles when we’re not looking. But the hubs loves it, and has loved having it as a leftover in his lunch, so that was good enough for me! I hope you’ll try this and find it to be delicious too.

Spicy Chickpea Quinoa Wraps

The Boston lettuce for the boxes this week is beautiful, and if there's one thing that this variety of lettuce is great for it's lettuce wraps!  Maybe it's the novelty of feeling like you're playing with your food, but I'm a big fan of things wrapped in lettuce.  There's really nothing like Korean BBQ scooped up into a giant leaf of lettuce.  Though perhaps the piece of lettuce makes me feel better about the horrifying quantities of pork belly I can consume.  So I'm not even going to try to recreate that sort of deliciousness, as I will leave that firmly in the hands of the masters.  Instead, here's a healthy, super-quick dish that's chock full of flavor and will make about enough for you to use up the entire head of lettuce.

Spicy Chickpea Quinoa Wraps

Ingredients:
1 head Boston lettuce, rinsed and leaves removed for wraps
1 Tbsp olive oik
1 sweet onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 Tbsp fresh ginger, minced
15 oz can chickpeas, rinsed and drained
2 tsp of curry powder (or more if you live in my house and there can never be too much curry)
1/8 tsp cayenne (omit to avoid the heat, or if your curry powder is already on the spicy side)
15 oz can fire roasted tomatoes (you can also toss in some quartered cherry tomatoes too)
1 cup cooked quinoa
Plain Greek yogurt or reduced fat sour cream for serving


Cook quinoa to package directions while you prepare the filling.

In a skillet, heat olive oil over medium high heat.  Add in onion and saute for 2-3 minutes or until onion is translucent.  Add in garlic & ginger and cook for an additional 1-2 minutes.

Stir in chickpeas, curry and cayenne (optional) and stir to fully coat.  Pour in can of tomatoes, including any liquid and stir to fully blend.  Bring mixture to a low simmer, remove from heat and stir in quinoa.  Allow to rest for a minute or two.

Serve a scoop of the curried quinoa mixture in each lettuce wrap, and top with a dollop of plain Greek yogurt or reduced fat sour cream, if desired.


Inspired by the Ridiculously Easy Curried Chickpeas & Quinoa from Fat Free Vegan.

Adventures in Cauliflower: Curried Cauliflower & Chickpea Bake

I've said it before and I'll say it again, I loathe cauliflower.  LOATHE IT!!!!  I'm stunned by the number of people who are just utterly bewildered by my hatred of this vegetable that looks like a nuclear bomb explosion, to me that was nature's way of saying, "Do not eat this, it will literally melt your very soul."  Most people I know actually like it, in fact they love it.  Since I'm willing to admit that the rest of the world may not be completely out of it's collective mind (though I'm still skeptical), I decided to make this the week I give cauliflower a second and possibly even a third chance.  I asked Crop Share members to send their cauliflower recipes my way, and wouldn't you know I only heard from two members, and both of them said they too disliked cauliflower!  There ARE more like me, I knew it!  And funny how all these cauliflower lovers didn't flood my e-mail with their recipes, hmmm.  I call shenanigans!  But I had made a pledge, so I chose a few of their recipes to test out and tonight began my first step in this week's Adventures in Cauliflower.

The minute I pulled that cauliflower out of the fridge, I turned into Grumpy Cat.

Caulifl....no.

The sight, the smell, the texture, the whole thing just creeped me out, and I'm pretty sure I chopped that head of cauliflower with a Grumpy Cat expression plastered to my face.  Bleh.

But I pushed on and tonight's Adventures in Cauliflower was to make a Curried Cauliflower & Chickpea Bake that was shared with me by Crop Share member Liz Candelario.  I love curry and am pretty sure I could eat anything if it had curry on it, so this HAS to work, no?!  Here's the recipe and then scroll all the way to the bottom for my reaction...

Curried Cauliflower & Chickpea Bake

Ingredients:

1 Tbsp olive oil
1 Tbsp garlic, minced
1/2 sweet onion, chopped
1 can (14.5 oz) fire roasted tomatoes (I use Muir Glen)
1 1/2 Tbsp curry powder
1 can (15.5 oz) chickpeas, rinsed and drained
1 head cauliflower, chopped

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

In a skillet heat olive oil over medium high heat.  Saute garlic and onion until onion begins to just slightly brown on the edges, taking care not to burn your garlic.  Stir in fire roasted tomatoes and curry powder and simmer for an additional minute.

Spread cauliflower and chickpeas evenly in the bottom of a baking dish and toss with just a bit of olive oil to prevent anything sticking to the bottom of the dish.  Pour curried tomato mixture over top and toss to full combine.

Bake for 40 minutes at 375, stirring about twice during the baking time.




My reaction...

Like Ron Swanson's feelings about all vegetables, I am still wildly unconvinced of the merits of cauliflower.  I was able to eat a small portion, and everything BUT the cauliflower was absolutely delicious.  Still not a fan of cauliflower, so maybe the next test recipe will do the trick.

Bleh, where's the mouthwash?

Mushroom Stroganoff for World Vegetarian Day!

Happy World Vegetarian Day!  Whether you eat meat or not, I think we can all agree that more fruits and veggies are a good thing...a yummy good thing.  I was a vegetarian for most of my life, but let's be honest, I'm too much of a foodie to restrict myself (I'm looking at you delicious, delicious bacon jam!), especially when so many items are already off the table due to the Mister's and my food allergies.  But for the most part we practice Meatless Mondays in our home, and we would really be up a creek if it weren't for all those crafty vegan cooks, like Doron Petersan of Sticky Fingers Sweets & Eats,  who come up with new and interesting ways to make desserts we can safely eat.  So on this World Vegetarian Day, I give you a way to use up the mushrooms and most of that lone onion from this week's Crop Share...my version of Skinnytaste's Mushroom Stroganoff!

Mushroom Stroganoff

Ingredients:

1 Tbsp butter (I used Earth Balance Margarine for dairy-free)

1/2 sweet onion, chopped

2 Tbsp corn starch

2 cups reduced sodium vegetable broth

1 Tbsp plus 2 tsp soy sauce (I use Kikkoman's gluten-free soy, but you can also use 1 Tbsp only of Worcestershire sauce.  My Mama always used soy sauce in her stroganoff, so that's why I went that route)

1 tsp tomato paste

1 tsp Dijon mustard

1 pint mushrooms, gently washed, stems trimmed and sliced

1/4 tsp thyme

Ground black pepper to taste

2 Tbsp dry white wine

1/4 cup sour cream or plain Greek yogurt (I used Tofutti's Sour Supreme for dairy-free)

8 oz uncooked noodles (I use Schar's tagliatelle as it's gluten and egg-free, and you won't even know!)

Begin to bring your pasta water to a boil so that you can cook your noodles while you prepare the sauce.  If you want to mix your noodles into the stroganoff, then undercook them to allow them to finish in the sauce.  I prefer a larger noodle to sauce ratio, so I fully cooked the noodles and then spooned the amount of sauce I wanted on my portion.

In a skillet, melt your butter over medium high heat until it's bubbly.  Add in you onion and saute for about 3-4 minutes, until onions are translucent.  Stir in your corn starch and fully coat all the onions, allowing to cook for an addition 30 seconds.  Slowly add your vegetable broth, scraping up any browned bits from the bottom of the pan.  Add in soy sauce and tomato paste, making sure to fully mix in the tomato paste.  Bring up to a simmer and add your mushrooms, thyme and ground black pepper.  Simmer for about 4 minutes or until sauce has thickened up.  Stir in your white wine (and here would be where I had an oops, I thought 2 CUPS of wine -- wishful thinking -- so thankfully I only had a 1/2 cup at my disposal and caught myself before I added more, so if you'd like a more "winey" sauce, then add a half cup of white wine and then an addition 2 tsp of soy sauce) and bring sauce to a low simmer.

Once noodles are cooked either drain and mix in to the sauce, or set aside and toss with a splash of olive oil to keep them from sticking.

Before serving, stir sour cream into the sauce and leave on heat for an additional minute to bring it all up to the same temperature.

**You'll be easily able to convert this into a beef stroganoff by starting with 1 lb of beef round or chuck cut into 2 " cubes (my Mama always asked the butcher to run them through the meat tenderizer to make the pieces melt in your mouth even more) and brown that up in butter or olive oil before removing and adding in the onions and mushrooms to brown up.  Then add the beef back in, stir in your corn starch and add your liquid to loosen all the lovely browned bits from the bottom of the pan.  Proceed from there and simmer everything for about 30 minutes before stirring in the sour cream.**

Can't Wait To Try!

With tomorrow's opening of our Pumpkin Tunnel we had a late, after-hours staff meeting, which means I fell asleep while writing the previous post.  So if things cease to make sense, that's why.  To keep things short and sweet and get sleepy self to bed, here are two recipes I'm dying to give a try this coming week!  Yum and zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz...

Kale Salad with Meyer Lemon Vinaigrette via Damn Delicious

Kale, avocado, goat cheese, quinoa and pecans?!  It's like all my loves in one bowl!

Mushroom Stroganoff via Skinnytaste

Love stroganoff.  Love mushrooms.  This recipe cannot disappoint!  Prepare to be made dairy & gluten free you crazy Skinny Mushroom Stroganoff you!

Kale, Sweet Potato & Lamb Polenta Pizza

Polenta-crust pizza is kind of my jam these days.  I just buy pre-made polenta, smush it into submission onto a baking pan or pizza stone so it's thin enough and pizza-shaped, and then par-bake it for about 5 minutes before adding the toppings so I can get it to start crisping up.  Last year when I discovered the joy of polenta crust pizza, I used up some kale to make this kale, sweet potato and lamb pizza.  And yes, that is a Darth Vadar spatula in the photo, and yes it was an item purchased off of our wedding registry.  Along with a Storm Trooper spatula, the non-digitally remastered original trilogy (because Han shot first), and a Death Star cookie jar.  Now that I've flashed my nerd card, enjoy this delicious and wonderfully fragrant pizza!

Kale, Sweet Potato & Lamb Polenta Crust Pizza

Ingredients:
1/2 lb ground lamb
Olive oil
1 tsp garlic powder
1/2 sweet onion, chopped
2 cups kale, chopped
Salt & Pepper
1 sweet potato, thinly sliced into chips
1 package of prepared polenta (or use any pre-made pizza crust, make your own or even try this recipe with Cauliflower Crust Pizza)
1/2 cup marinara sauce (I use Nature's Promise Organic Tomato Basil Sauce)


Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.

If using polenta for your pizza crust, mash it, roll it and generally strong arm it onto a baking sheet in the shape of a pizza.  Partially bake at 400 for about 5 minutes.

Once oven is heated to 400, toss sweet potato chips in a bit of olive oil and evenly arrange on another baking sheet and bake for about 15 minutes until chips start to crisp up.

In a skillet, heat 1 Tbsp olive oil over medium high heat.  Add in lamb and season with garlic powder.  Break apart into ground bits and cook until lamb is browned and fully cooked, about 5-8 minutes.  Remove from skillet and transfer to a plate lined with a paper towel to help absorb any excess grease.

In the same skillet add in onion and kale, and add in additional olive oil if needed.  Season with salt & pepper and cook until kale is wilted and onion has begun to caramelize.

Spread a thin layer of marinara onto your pizza crust, then top with lamb, kale, onions and sweet potato.  Add a bit of mozzarella, Parmesan or even goat cheese, if you desire, and then place back into a 400 degree oven for about 5-10 minutes.

Chorizo & Quinoa Stuffed Acorn Squash

The start of this Fall Crop Share round is my 1 year Crop Shareversary!  My very first visit to Nalls was last years Block Party, and that day I signed up for the Fall Crop Share.  So as of tomorrow, I will have been a Crop Share member for a whole year.  So to say Crop Share has been life-changing for me would be an understatement.  Granted, it won't get all of you your dream job and have you fulfill your childhood wish of working with a pig, but it will transform your eating habits, create new family traditions, and enhance your cooking skills.  So last year's Fall round was my first experience cooking and eating a lot of hard squash varieties, and this recipe for stuffed acorn squash was my first go round with this type of squash, and is perfect for your single-serve size squash like acorn and carnival.  There's just a touch of chorizo to help give this a bit more heartiness, and then the super protein and fiber from the quinoa and the antioxidants from the dried cranberries make this a hearty yet healthy rustic dish.  And the base recipe for baking up the squash is a great trick to use on most squash to soften up the flesh, especially if you're planning on scooping it out to chop or puree.

Chorizo & Quinoa Stuffed Acorn Squash

Ingredients:

1 acorn or carnival squash, halved and seeded

1/2 cup cooked quinoa (I'm going to try this with some wild rice instead, too!)

1 Tbsp olive oil

1 tsp garlic, minced

1/2 sweet onion, chopped

3 oz chorizo, crumbled

1/8 cup dried cranberries

1/4 cup flat leaf parsley, chopped

Coarse ground salt & pepper to taste

Cook quinoa or wild rice according to package directions and set aside.

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.  Place halved squash in a baking dish with about 1/4 inch of water.  To allow the squash to sit better in the pan, slice a small part off the ends to allow them to sit flat.  Cover with foil and bake at 450 for 25-30 minutes or until flesh is soft.

Meanwhile in a saute pan, heat olive oil over medium high heat.  Add garlic and onion and saute until translucent.  Add in crumbled chorizo and cook until slightly browned.  Stir in dried cranberries and parsley and season with salt & pepper to taste.  For an added zing you can also add a shake or to of red pepper flakes.  I've also chopped up kale or Swiss chard and sauteed it with the chorizo (as seen in the photo above), so this is a great way to use up some greens and sneak in some more veggies to this dish.

Stir quinoa or wild rice into the chorizo mixture and then stuff each squash half with the filling until mounded up.  Don't pack it in too tightly though.  Then place it back in the oven, uncovered for 8-10 minutes just to get a bit of browning on the top.

I served this with some baked carrot fries, which are as simple as peeling the carrot, slicing them into sticks, seasoning with garlic powder, cumin, salt and pepper, tossing with olive oil and baking at 400 until they are golden brown.  Carrot fries are my jam in the Fall & Winter.  Forget sweet potato fries, carrot fries are where it's at!

Sweet Day In The Morning, It's Sweet Potato Season!

So, unfortunately, my brain hates freedom tonight and no amount of Advil or Tylenol is touching it.  I am actually blogging in sunglasses at the moment.  Classy.  Thus, for now at least, this week's posts will be rather short and sweet.  In the Spoiler e-mail we linked you to our favorite, simple preparation for Sauteed Swiss Chard, which doesn't exactly scream Labor Day picnic food, but thankfully with this week's bounty of fruit you'll be able to throw together a wonderful fruit salad, fruit crisp, or even go all-American with some apple pie (or tart it up a bit!).  But I've got two preparations for those sweet potatoes for you.  One (an oldie but a goodie from our Crop Share vault) that will be a healthy, yet filling game day recipe now that football season is upon us (I might as well draw ire where I can...Go Colts!) and then another to take you from the gridiron to the grill and have you set for this weekend's picnic circuit.  Happy Labor Day weekend everyone!  Now where's a nice, dark and quiet room for me to hide?

Veggie & Chicken Sausage Stuffed Sweet Potatoes

Grilled Sweet Potatoes with Scallions via Martha Stewart

All Jalapeno Business!

We're turning up the heat this week with lots of local jalapenos!  Don't fear the heat, as there are plenty of easy ways to prepare them that will mask the burn and highlight their lovely smoky flavor.  But be warned, you will want to wear kitchen gloves or put some baggies on your hands when seeding and chopping the jalapenos, because not only will you undoubtedly rub your eyes sometime later that day and then rue the jalapeno's existence, but you will also find that your fingertips themselves will burn.  Leave feeling the burn to the gym, not the kitchen!

So here's two great recipes for this week's bounty of jalapenos.  First up, the best ever layered taco dip I've had in my life, courtesy of my good friend Alicia.  There was a memorable New Years Eve when we co-hosted a party in which this taco dip was made, along with enough food to feed about 30 people.  There were 5 of us at this party.  We have a slight problem with going over board.  But you will want to make a ton of this layered taco dip and then go hide yourself in a closet with a bag of chips.  Just the spiced cream cheese base of this is to die for!  

Then the next recipe comes from everyone's favorite down-home gal, The Pioneer Woman.  She once made these killer BBQ Jalapeno Poppers, and while you can certainly go the BBQ route (how amazing would they be with some of that Almost Heaven Apple Butter BBQ we have in store?!?), Miss Valerie in our office LOVES to replace the BBQ in this recipe with peach jam.  Say what?!  Sweet with heat, sign us up!  We pretty much have peach jam coming out our ears in the store, including a new Sunshine Peach Jam.  But ooo, how deliciously exotic would it be with some Mango Jam or some of the Mango Mango Preserves?  Go ahead, get a little crazy this week!

Miss Alicia's Taco Dip

Layer 1:

8 oz cream cheese

8 oz sour cream

1 package low-sodium taco seasoning

1 tsp chipotle pepper (or less to control the heat)

Beat all ingredients together until well-blended and creamy.  Spread in the bottom or a deep dish or pie plate.

Layer 2:

1/2 head of iceburg lettuce, chopped fine

Evenly spread over cream cheese mixture.

Layer 3:

Grated cheddar cheese to taste

Evenly sprinkled over lettuce.

Layer 4:

3 tomatoes, seeded and diced

1/2 chopped sweet onion

1 chopped and seeded jalapeno pepper

3 Tbsp minced, fresh cilantro

1 tsp lime juice

Mix all ingredients together in a separate bowl and then evenly spread over top of cheese.  You'll likely have left over pico de gallo, so save to use as a plain salsa or for topping homemade tacos, grilled fish or chicken.

Pioneer Woman's BBQ Jalapeno Poppers

Click through to view this recipe at Good Morning America...

Guest Post: Peachy Kale & Barley from Nicole Wood & 6 Kale Fun Facts via HuffPo

I'm an avowed kale fanatic.  There was a good month-long period last fall where I'm fairly certain I ate my weight in kale chips.  But I understand that kale is not for everyone, and that last week many of you may have been thinking, "Ugh, kale, what am I going to do with ALL of this?!"  Well should you still have kale left over and it's still in good shape, I dare you not to drool over this recipe from Crop Share member, Nicole Wood.  So drool away and then check out 6 fun facts on kale from the HuffPo (I'm clearly too cool to use the publication's full name)...

Peachy Kale & Barley via Nicole Wood

1 bag Trader Joe’s 10 minute barley or other quick barley

2 cans of premade stock/broth or bouillon to make 2 ½ cups of stock

3 cloves garlic finely chopped

1 small or ½ medium onion chopped

1 lb kale bunch roughly chopped

1 T olive oil

1 T toasted sesame seed oil

½ cup diced peaches (room temperature)

Cook barley according to sauté instructions on bag with stock not water. I used half a bag.

While that is cooking (approx. 10 minutes) sauté your onions in the olive and sesame oil until they start to look clear on medium/high heat. Reduce heat to medium and add 1 cup of stock and garlic. Cook for 2 minutes but don’t let garlic brown. Add rinsed kale, toss to coat kale with mixture and cover. Cook on medium heat for 10 minutes or until kale is soft.

Mix kale and barley in large mixing bowl and add fruit to garnish. Salt and pepper to taste.

**If you have kids, pull some of the barley out before mixing with the kale and give to them as a pasta/grain.

While you let that kale saute for 10 minutes, get your education on with this article...

Click here to view a HuffPo article on 6 Things You Don't Know About Kale...