Red Wagon Farm

Eggplant Rollatini

Posted on August 3, 2021 by mo

I make these eggplant rollups all the time. I did a post on eggplant rollups several years ago but I make them so often I thought it was worth repeating.

Everyone loves these. They travel well so you can take them to potlucks. They make great leftovers too.

Once you make them a time or two they come together in a snap. I had always made them with the large Italian eggplants. Last week Amy asked if making eggplant rollups with Japanese eggplants would be too fussy and I automatically said ‘yes’. But then I started wondering if they really would be?

So, I took some Italian eggplant and Japanese eggplant home and tried it out using both.

You don’t need a recipe. All you need is.

Eggplant
Cheese, I had ricotta, parmesan, mozzarella and goat cheese (not pictured).
Some tomato sauce, any kind or just a large can of tomatoes would do
Basil-bread crumbs are optional. I didn’t use bread crumbs this time.

You will want to cut the eggplant lengthwise into thin slices (I cut these eggplants into three pieces each) and brush them with olive oil and salt and pepper.

You can either broil or grill them. Sometimes I grill them, this time I broiled them for about 5 minutes on each side. When they are nice and brown put some cheese (any kind) on one end of the eggplant and herbs you like and roll them up.

Here are the Italian eggplant broiled and ready to roll. Each of these medium eggplants were cut into 4 pieces.

Pour your sauce in an ovenproof container and set your rolled up cheesy eggplant in the container. The rolls on the left are Italian and the ones on the right are Japanese.

Now bake them in a 400F oven for about 35-45 minutes.

The verdict? Four of us ate these rollatini with lots of leftovers and all of us liked the Japanese eggplant best. The Japanese eggplant rolled up tighter and had more eggplant per bite with less cheese, which seems counterintuitive but we all liked the ‘more eggplant-less cheese’ bites. Don’t get me wrong, the Italian were still great! I think Italian eggplant are better for layering in lasagna and eggplant parmesan, but rolled up I think I am switching to Japanese if I have a choice.

This was dinner. Eggplant rollatini, kale pesto pasta and tomato and cucumber salad. All the vegetables from this weeks CSA.

I hope you try this. Have a great week. See you at pickup.

Posted in 2021, Eggplant, Recipes | Comments Off

Vegan Kale Pesto

Posted on August 3, 2021 by mo

I have lots of recipes and ideas here on making pesto. Last week our Harvest Manager Kevin was telling me about a vegan kale pesto he makes all the time. I wondered if this space needs another post on pesto? Kevin sent me the recipe and I made his vegan kale pesto. I really like it and decided to share it with you. It isn’t as assertive as traditional basil pesto where a little goes a long way. Kale pesto is more subtle and I think more versatile, more a backup singer than a lead. Because it has no cheese it is lighter and the flavor of the nuts and herbs and kale are more discernable than traditional pesto.

Kevin got his kale pesto recipe from a vegan restaurant in Denver, Somebody People. The original recipe uses a whole bunch of kale and no basil but asks for leaves from a bunch of radishes. I didn’t have that so I used mint and a few basil leaves. I loved the mint in this pesto. You can use a handful of what ever herbs or extra greens you have.

I followed Kevin’s Somebody People pretty closely but used what I had.

One bunch of Kale, ribs removed
One cup of olive oil. I would use 3/4 cup next time
Juice and peel of 1/2 lemon I totally forgot to take a picture of that, DON’T leave it out!
1/4 cup of any nuts you like. I had macadamia nuts. If you can’t do nuts try sunflower seeds or hemp seeds
3 or 4 cloves of garlic
a handful of herbs. I used mint and basil. You could use radish or carrot tops instead of herbs.
salt and pepper

Method for making Kale Pesto

Blanch the kale in boiling water for 2 minutes and shock it in cold water and squeeze out the excess water. I completely forgot to take a picture of that.
Put the garlic cloves in a food possessor and give them a spin then add the blanched and squeezed kale and everything else except the olive oil-give that a spin.

Slowly add the oil while the processor is spinning.

That’s it. You made kale pesto.

I mashed some of this pesto with some avocados and had it on toast for breakfast.

I mixed some kale pesto with some beans and chopped vegetables for lunch.

And yeah, I had some tossed with pasta…that is another post.

I hope you try this fun twist on pesto.

Have a great week.

Posted in 2021, Greens, Recipes | Comments Off

Cucumber and Herb Cocktail

Posted on July 27, 2021 by mo

I love a well crafted cocktail. I especially love cocktails using fresh ingredients like herbs and flowers and vegetables. Before the pandemic I almost never made cocktails at home, maybe a gin and tonic or a margarita. I do love to order them when we go out. During the pandemic when we weren’t going anywhere I started making cocktails at home.

This is a fun drink. It’s pretty much a gussied up gin and tonic. You can personalize this with what you have and what you like. I used Thai basil leaves here. You could use mint or thyme or lemon verbena, Italian basil, maybe tarragon, or mix of any of herbs you like. I also used agave as a sweetener instead of sugar. I have been using agave more and more in my cooking. It taste like sugar and mixes easily into dishes without having to dissolve like sugar does. You can leave the sweetener out too. The tonic has a little bit of sweetness to it.

This amount makes one drink, multiply as needed.

1 1/2 oz gin (1 1/2 oz equals 3 Tbsp)
6 slices cucumber
1/4 medium lime (sliced)
4 oz tonic water
a small fist full of any herb you like-I can tell you mint, basil, thyme are all good.
1 Tbsp sweetener, agave, honey, sugar (optional)

Instructions

Add mint, cucumber, lime, gin, and agave or (equivalent if using) to a pint glass and muddle (smash up) everything I used a fork.

Pour the whole mixture into a glass filled with ice and top with tonic water or strain it and top it with tonic, I strained mine. I don’t strain it when I use thyme, you do what you want. .
Stir, let set for a few minutes for the flavors to enhance and enjoy.

These go down really easy. Have a great week. See you at pickup.

Posted in 2021, Cucumbers, Herbs, Recipes | Comments Off

Shaved Zucchini and Kale with Miso Ginger Dressing

Posted on July 19, 2021 by mo

This is a versatile easy dressing to keep in your meal rotation repertoire. As it is this makes a hearty tasty kale zucchini salad like this or it can dress up some roasted vegetables, sliced cucumber and onions or steamed broccoli or beets. If you add a little tahini or peanut or almond butter to the dressing and add some noodles and some protein you have a meal.

This makes enough for two big salads.

You will need;

6 tablespoons neutral oil -not olive oil
2-3 tablespoons rice vinegar
5-6 teaspoons white miso
1/2 teaspoon sesame oil
1 teaspoon sweetener like agave or honey or maple syrup
1 teaspoon soy sauce
Ginger, peanut butter, almond butter, chili flakes-all optional I used ginger and chili flakes today.

Use the lesser amounts of vinegar and miso and mix everything up in a bowl and taste it. Today I used the lesser amount of vinegar and the larger amount of miso. See if you want more miso or vinegar or maybe more sweetener.

Now make your salad. I used half the dressing for a bunch of kale and one shaved zucchini.

Mix that up and add some seeds and nuts.

Man I love shaved zucchini in salads. I hope you try this and have fun with some variations of the basic recipe I have written.

Have a great week. See you at pickup.

Posted in 2021, Greens, Recipes, Salads-Spring-Summer | Comments Off

Squash Blossom Quesadilla

Posted on July 13, 2021 by mo

We love squash blossoms here at Red Wagon and lots of you do too. But, it seems like at every pickup someone asks me, ‘what do you do with squash blossoms?”. I always say, just tear them up and throw them on anything, salads, eggs, quesadillas, pizza! They are so pretty and add such a delicate floral vegetal flavor to anything, I love them.

Fun, right?

Kai says she stuffs them with cheese and dips them in pancake batter and pan fries them. I did a blog post a long time ago on how I make stuffed squash blossoms.

Today I thought I would show you how I make quesadillas. You can use any kind of tortilla or cheese you have. I like corn tortillas but I have made my share of quesadillas from flour tortillas too. Here is what I had today.

Corn tortillas, squash blossoms, some onions and Manchego cheese, any cheese that melts will do. This made 6 corn quesadillas.

I like to sauté a little onion in oil until they are soft, then I add the squash blossoms to just wilt them. Lots of recipes say to cut off them stem, I love the texture and light zucchini flavor of the stem. I chop up both the blossom and stem up.

When that is just wilted heat up your quesadillas on both sides so the cheese starts to melt a little more evenly. Add the cheese and onion and blossom mixture.

I like to fold them in half, you can leave them whole and top them with another tortilla if you like. I did this.

When you see the cheese melting flip them over and cook them for an other minute or two until the tortilla is soft and the cheese is melty.

I like these with salads and salsa or a bowl of soup, maybe gazpacho or chili.

You can add beans or eggs to make it a more substantial dish too.

I hope you take some squash blossoms home and whatever you do with them, have fun.

See you at pickup.

Posted in 2021, Recipes, Zucchini | Comments Off

Zucchini Pancakes

Posted on July 5, 2021 by mo

I love vegetable pancakes and fritters. Whatever you want to call them I love them. I make them all the time from all sorts of different vegetables. They are good warm or cold and they make great leftovers.

I used zucchini here but you can substitute cabbage or carrots or potatoes, or kohlrabi for any or all of the zucchini in this recipe-oh, beets are good too! Use this recipe as a guide and use what you have and like.

This recipe doubles and triples easily too. Here’s what you need.

Yield: About six 3- or 4-inch fritters

2 medium zucchini or the equivalent or any other vegetable
1 teaspoon Kosher salt
2 scallions or grilling onions chopped
2 eggs, lightly beaten
Freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup any flour you like
I like a pinch of sugar and a little sesame oil and a sprinkle of sesame seeds, these are all optional. Fresh herbs are delicious here too, bacon, shrimp, grilled tofu…pretty much anything is a nice addition to these.
Olive or another oil of your choice, for frying

Trim ends off zucchini and grate them on the large holes of a box grater into a mixing bowl.

Put everything else into the bowl and mix thoroughly. My eggs were really yellow, kind of looks weird, but that is how it looked.

Heat a pan on the stove to medium and lightly film the pan with oil. When it is hot mound the batter on the hot pan and flatten them a bit so they cook through.

Cook them for about 3 or 4 minutes, flip them and cook 3 or 4 more minutes. Continue until all the batter is used.

I like these with a salad like in the first picture, or cut leftovers and dipping them in an Asian dipping sauce for a snack with drinks or a light lunch.

Have a great week. See you at pickup.

Posted in 2021, Recipes, Zucchini | 1 Comment

Instructions

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