Red Wagon Farm

Roasted Chilies Salad Dressing

Posted on October 10, 2017 by mo

I wasn’t going to post this recipe for the sole reason I couldn’t get a decent picture of the dressing or of even one of the salads I made with the dressing. Turns out roasted chilies aren’t photogenic in the least, or I am a bad photographer. Probably a bit of both.

Blogs are all about photos and I feel strongly that we eat with our eyes before we eat with our mouths. But this time, this one time I am going to ask for your trust, to believe me that this tastes a million times better than it looks.

Let me back up a bit and tell you what inspired me to try to recreate this salad. I was in Santa Fe earlier this summer. One of my favorite restaurants I have ever been to is Pasqual’s in Santa Fe. We had a great dinner (our 20th anniversary!) and guess what? One if the dishes I had was a salad of field greens with ‘fire-roasted Poblano chilies’. As far as I could tell it was just a vinegar based dressing with some Poblanos added. It was simple, delicious and unusual and unlike any salad I have had.

This is my attempt at recreating it. I have to say I am really happy with the salads I have made with this copy-cat dressing, and so is everyone who ate them.

I started with some of our roasted peppers. I have used Poblano and Anaheim, fresh chilies just roasted and chilies that were frozen and thawed. All are good.

Look farmilar?

For the dressing I used;

1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1/4 olive oil
about 1/2 a bag of roasted chilies peeled, seeded and chopped
about 1/4 teaspoon each of ground cumin, coriander, salt and pepper

I threw that all in a jar and mixed it up really well.

See what I mean about the photos? ugg.

With this ugly dressing I made some really nice salads. I didn’t serve it on field greens like they did at the restaurant. I used what I had from our CSA share.

One time I had some nice tomatoes and I sliced them really thick and topped the tomato with ricotta cheese and roasted chilies dressing made with Poblanos. That is a shaved Brussels Sprout salad next to it. The chilies look like olives:(

This next salad is a sort of chopped salad made the dressing with the roasted Anaheim chilies. I chopped up what I had; cucumbers, my last tomato (goodbye summer), a Carmen pepper, celery and a little bit of onion.

With the leftovers I added some white beans and some parsley and had that for lunch.

Hopefully you have a bag or two of roasted chilies in your freezer and might want to try this. I think you will really like how unique the chilies are in a salad.

Until next time.

Posted in 2017, Peppers Roasted, Recipes, Salads-Fall-Winter | 1 Comment

Shredded Brussels Sprouts Salad

Posted on October 10, 2017 by mo

We have a bumper crop of Brussels Sprouts this year and I couldn’t be happier about it.

I love Brussels Sprouts roasted, pan fried, blanched, braised and raw. I think B sprouts might be my favorite green vegetable.

If you like kale salad you will like Brussels sprout salads. I make B sprouts salad exactly the same way I make kale salad, like the ones here and here and here and here; shred the greens, make a dressing, massage the dressing into the greens, add nuts and dried or fresh fruit if you like, and some sort of firm cheese and enjoy.

I’ll post a few pictures of the process, you don’t really need a new recipe, use any of the above links for kale salad (or make up your own recipe!) and sub Brussels Sprouts for the kale. They are all really tasty.

First you need to pop the sprouts of the stock of the plant. I have been finding that I get about a quart of sprouts, more or less, per stock and that is plenty for at least 4-6 generous portions.

Make a vinaigrette and shred the sprouts. You can shred them with a knife, get them as thin and you can, or use a food processor with the cutting blade, not the shredding blade. The shredding blade is to fine and makes mush out of the sprouts.

Mix the sprouts and vinaigrette in a bowl big enough to really toss everything in well.

I use my hands to mix everything up and really get the dressing on every part of the leaves. Mix it how you do when you massage kale salads. The sprouts get really bright green when you get it all massaged in really well.

Now add your nuts and cheese and whatever other extras you like.

And massage all that again.

Looking at that picture I wish I added some grapes or apples chunks, anyway. Now taste the salad very carefully. You really want to balance the acid and the oils in the vinaigrette and the salt and pepper too. It should taste bright, not tart, but savory too.

Here are a few more photos of a warm salad I made with Brussels sprouts I followed this recipe.

Same thing; chop and dress the sprouts (taste and make sure it is balanced!).

Add the extras, I used lots of seeds and nuts and some dried fruit and I didn’t mix it I left the extras on top.

And added cheese.

And broiled it for 4 or 5 minutes.

It is melty and warm, but crunchy and fresh tasting.

I hope you are enjoying the Brussels sprouts bounty as much as I am.

Only 2 weeks left! Have a great week.

Posted in 2017, Kale, Recipes | Comments Off

Zucchini Butter

Posted on September 17, 2017 by mo

Zucchini butter is spreadable rich, deeply flavored paste that you can put on toast or make into one of the best grilled cheese sandwiches you have ever had. You can top a pizza, or dip crackers or vegetables into this. You can mix it in, or top any pasta dish with this too. The colors stays this vibrant green after cooking and storing.

It only takes about 35 or 40 minutes to make and it will last 2 weeks in the refrigerator or you can freeze it for up to 6 months.

You just need a few ingredients.

3 tablespoons olive oil (I have seen some recipes call for only butter. I used butter and olive oil)
1 tablespoon butter
2 or 3 garlic cloves grated (I grated mine with the zucchini)
2 large zucchini=about 2 pounds, grated with a box grater or a food processor
any fresh herbs you like or have at hand. You can use dried herbs if you don’t have any fresh. I used fresh thyme and oregono
salt and pepper to taste

Method

Place a large skillet over medium heat. Add the olive oil and butter and melt. Grate the zucchini and garlic and add those to the melted butter and oil

Cook for 15-20 minutes, the zucchini will start to lose it’s water and sort of look melted. Add any herbs you are using now. See all the water cooking out?

Reduce the heat and continue to cook, stirring often. Go slow so you don’t burn it. Be patient. You want the zucchini to be a spreadable consistency and not have any water visible in the pan. This is about 1/2 way there. There is still more moisture that needs to be cooked out…be patient….

It took about 30-35 minutes for this batch to get to the right consistency. Like I said, be patient. When I move it around the pan there is no water and no steam coming off the pan when it is done.

Store any uneaten zucchini butter in a jar in the refrigerator or freeze it to enjoy when there isn’t any zucchini this winter.

Have a great week.

Posted in 2017, Recipes, Zucchini | Comments Off

CSA Farm Tour Photos 9-9-2017

Posted on September 10, 2017 by mo

We had a great time yesterday seeing so many of our CSA members at the Farm. Here are a few photos of the day.

Have a great week.

Posted in 2017, Farm | 1 Comment

Roasted Green Chili and Vegetable Casserole.

Posted on September 6, 2017 by mo

I posted a recipe for a chili relleno casserole last year. This is very similar but I added some more vegetables, a little more milk and an other egg and much less cheese.

I also added some crushed tortilla chips to the bottom of the casserole this time. I did that because somewhere in the back of my head I remember my mom putting crushed saltine crackers on the bottom of some casseroles, so I thought; why not tortilla chips? You know what? It was a really tasty addition. I think I will put crushed chips on the top next time too.

I started layering the prepared ingredients; first crushed tortilla chips, then the roasted chilies, a little cheese, then cooked eggplant.

I kept layering all the ingredients I had; more chilies, cheese, corn, and the egg-milk herb mixture.

I baked it and it came out looking like this.

We ate it with some tomato sauce and really enjoyed all the fresh vegetables. It was a nice filling, not heavy meal.

I want to make it with some zucchini next time. Really anything we get in the CSA share would work. Here is the recipe.

Roasted Green Chili and Vegetable Casserole

crushed tortilla chips
1 pound Roasted, Peeled, And Seeded Green Chiles and other cooked seasonal vegetables.
1-1/2 cup Cheese, any kind you like, grated
5 Eggs
2 cups Milk
Salt And Black Pepper To Taste
1/2 teaspoon Paprika
1/4 teaspoon Cayenne Pepper
a handful of chopped herbs if you have them.

INSTRUCTIONS

Preheat oven to 375degrees.
Mix together eggs, milk, salt, pepper, paprika and cayenne and herbs.
Cut chilies in half and add a single layer of chilies on the bottom of a 9 x 13-inch baking dish.
Layer chilies with all the other ingredients.
Pour egg mixture all over the top.
Place into a larger baking dish or rimmed baking sheet. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes, or until no longer jiggly.

Besides using more crushed chips on top I think I will chop up all the ingredients and mix them together and not layer them. I’ll let you know how it turns out if I do that.

Have a great week.

Posted in 2017, Farm, Newsletter, Peppers Roasted, Recipes | Comments Off

INSTRUCTIONS

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