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Category: 2012

  • Moussaka

    This week I thought I would share some of my favorite go-to recipes with you. First is moussaka, or my take on a moussaka-like dish using what I have on hand.

    Moussaka

    • 2 globe/Italian eggplants, unpeeled and cut into 1/2-inch-thick rounds
    • Olive oil
    • 3 cups total of any vegetables you have available to you (onion, carrots, celery, fennel, rutabaga, kohlrabi, mushrooms…any combo of these works here)
    • 4 garlic cloves, minced
    • 1 teaspoon dried oregano
    • 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
    • About 2 cups of tomatoes, cut up (fresh or canned, whatever you have)
    • 1/4 cup chopped fresh Italian parsley
    • 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
    • 6 tablespoons butter
    • 7 tablespoons all-purpose flour
    • 3 1/2 cups milk
    • 4 egg yolks

    Sprinkle both sides of eggplant rounds with salt and brush with oil. Either bake or grill the eggplant until it is tender.

    Meanwhile, heat 1/4 cup oil in a heavy large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the 3 cups of vegetables and saute until the vegetables are very tender. Mix in garlic. Saute until juices evaporate, about 10 minutes. Mix in oregano and cinnamon. Add tomatoes and parsley. Cook until mixture is thick, about 10 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.

    Lightly oil 13x9x2-inch glass baking dish. Arrange half of eggplant rounds in single layer in dish. Spoon half of tomato mixture evenly over eggplant. Sprinkle with 2 tablespoons cheese. Repeat layering with remaining eggplant, tomato mixture and 2 tablespoons cheese.

    Melt butter in heavy medium saucepan over medium heat. Whisk in flour. Stir 2 minutes. Gradually whisk in milk. Simmer until sauce thickens, stirring constantly, about 5 minutes. Whisk in 1/2 cup cheese. Season with salt and pepper. Whisk yolks in large bowl to blend. Gradually whisk in hot sauce. Pour sauce over vegetables in dish. Sprinkle 1/4 cup cheese over sauce. (Can be made 1 day ahead. If you’re making this ahead, cover and refrigerate here.)

    Bake moussaka at 350°F until heated through and sauce is golden brown on top, about 45 minutes (or about 55 minutes for refrigerated moussaka). Cool 15 minutes.

  • Spaghetti Squash

    I hear some people say that they are intimidated by cutting winter squash in half in order to bake them. I have read that you can microwave winter squash for 5 to 10 minutes, making them easier to cut, then proceed with baking. I had never tried that, so I did.

    I poked some holes in the spaghetti squash so it wouldn’t blow up in the microwave.
    Spaghetti Squash

    I microwaved it for a total of 10 minutes. After 5 minutes I turned it over and cooked it another 5 minutes. This is what it looked like after 10 minutes of microwaving. You can see how it is partially cooked, but very raw in the middle. While I was microwaving it I preheated the oven to 400°F. After doing this I am positive it will work with any winter squash.
    Scooping Seeds

    I scooped out the seeds and added some onions, herbs, salt and pepper. I rubbed all that with olive oil and put it in the 400°F oven for about 35 minutes.

    Spaghetti squash are the ultimate in stringy squash. To optimize the stringy ‘spaghettiness’ of the squash you want to dry it out a bit so bake it uncovered, cut side up the whole cooking time.

    See the meat of the squash pulling away from the squash shell? That is how you know it’s done.
    Baked Till Done

    Discard the herbs if you used them and use a fork to fluff up the squash to make it look like spaghetti. Don’t stir it or smash it. Try to keep it fluffed up.
    Making the Spaghetti

    My very favorite thing to do with spaghetti squash is to cut up one of my last very ripe tomatoes and add a little olive oil, parsley and Parmesan cheese. This dish tells me that summer is well and truly over. What a great goodbye.
    Dressed with Tomatoes

  • Hasselback Potatoes

    This is one of my favorite ways to make potatoes. By cutting them you get more roasted crunchiness to contrast the creamy inside of the potato.

    Set your oven to 400F.  Make even cuts in your potatoes (don’t cut all the way through) and place them on an oven proof pan. Brush the potatoes with olive oil. Carefully brush oil inside the cuts you made and salt and pepper them. The potatoes will fan out and all the surface areas will crisp up so you want to get oil on all the surfaces.
    Hasselback Potatoes

    Roast them about 35 to 45 minutes, depending how big your potatoes are. Just keep an eye on them. When they are done to your liking you can eat them as is or add some cheese or herbs. I added a little cheese and some rosemary and let that melt down and inside the cuts.
    Hasselback Slices

    Oh my goodness are these easy to make and so good.

  • Shishito Peppers

    One of the restaurants we sell to asked Wyatt to grow these peppers and boy am I glad he did. This is probably my favorite new crop this year. These are mild and so flavorful. The seeds of most peppers are bitter and you almost always discard them. But the seeds of the Shishito pepper are almost a caviar texture, creamy and succulent and very juicy. They are a thin-walled pepper, sort of like a Jimmy Nardelo if you are familiar with those. I prefer the Shishito pepper to the Jimmy.

    You can grill the Shishito or just pan sear them. I have done both and both are equally delicious.

    Just heat a pan with some olive oil in it and put your washed peppers in the hot pan.

    Shishitos

    Sear the peppers on all sides. The peppers will puff up and some even pop open, that’s ok.

    Seared in Cast Iron

    Now you can just eat them as a side dish or snack. Eat the whole pepper, but not the stem!

    Salted and Ready

    Or you can cut them up and add them to a dish like you would any roasted pepper. I made some eggs and added these to the eggs.

    Top the Chiles

  • Curried Apple and Potato Kugel

    Submitted by Jessica Hersh

    • 3 lbs potatoes (either red or yellow)
    • 2 lbs apples (something with nice flavor and crisp texture (like honeycrisp or granny smith)
    • 2 medium onions
    • 2 Tbs curry powder
    • 2 tsp salt
    • 1 cup flour
    • 6 eggs
    • 1/4 cup neutral oil (safflower or sunflower)

    Preheat oven to 375°F. Wash the potatoes and apples well and peel the onions. Grate them all, starting with onions and rotating (this will keep the potatoes from oxidizing and turning brown.) Mix the shredded vegetables and fruit together with the flour, eggs, curry powder, and salt. Put the oil in a baking dish (Pyrex works great for this) and put in the hot oven for 5 minutes. Remove the pan from the oven and put the kugel mix in the hot oil in the pan. Spread evenly then bake for 45 minutes to an hour until the edges and top are nicely browned. Cut into pieces and serve hot. This is great plain or topped with plain yogurt.

  • Arugula Pesto

    You can use spicy salad mix or spinach, or beet greens or anything leafy. My favorite pesto is made from arugula. I like it better than basil. Anyway, let’s start here. Bag-o-arugula.
    Bag of Arugula

    If I have been asked once I have been asked 100 times.
    “Do I have to wash it?”
    “Yes.”
    “It looks wet, didn’t you wash it at the farm?”
    “No, we put our greens in a tub of water to wash some dirt off and the odd bug, and to hydrate it so it keeps for you well. We don’t wash it. You need to wash it. Trust me, wash it.”
    This is the water left in my salad spinner after I washed my arugula.
    Salad Spinner

    Not a great picture, but you can see dirt and weird stuff. Not too bad this time, but I still don’t want any dirt or the odd bug in my food. I’m glad every time I see what is washed off my greens that I took the time to wash it.

    Ok, on to the pesto. Grab any kind of nuts you like. Pine nuts are most common in pesto, but they are crazy expensive now so feel free to use any kind of nut you like. Cashew pieces were what I had. Any nut is better roasted in my opinion, so I roasted my cashew pieces before making my pesto. You can skip that step if you like. Get your washed and dried greens, about 1/3 of a cup of any kind of nuts you like and some olive oil and a few cloves of garlic.
    Pesto Ingredients

    Chuck the garlic and nuts in the food processor and give them a spin. Stick your face in and smell that, roasted cashews and garlic. Yum.
    Puree nuts

    Add exactly three glugs of olive oil and start adding your greens a few handfuls at a time.
    Olive oil

    Do that until you have all the greens mixed in and add more olive oil if you feel it is too dry. Mine didn’t need more. When the greens are all incorporated, salt and pepper to your liking.
    Blended Pesto

    I like to have some pesto in the freezer to have on hand in the winter. I have heard some people put the pesto in ice cube trays and put the cubes in a Ziploc bag and just grab a cube when they need it. You can do that.  I like to put the whole batch in a large Ziploc and just break off what I need. This went into the freezer.
    Bag for Freezing

  • Sunchoke Ideas

    We have been offering Jerusalem artichokes in our CSA for years now, so many of you love them and look forward to getting them. This is some information for those of you who may be less familiar with them.

    Jerusalem artichokes (also called sunchokes) are tubers belonging to the daisy family. The plant looks like an enormous sunflower plant. We dig up the roots to eat, much like potatoes. I don’t want to get into a health discussion here, but if you are interested you should look up the health factors of this tuber, especially if you eat it raw. It has some very unique health benefits.

    You can use Jerusalem artichokes in pretty much the same way you would use a potato. Specifically, use it like you would a new potato because you don’t need to peel these. They are washed and ready to use.


    They look a little like ginger root don’t they?

    You can roast these, bake them, incorporate them in a root vegetable mash-up, or make a soup or a salad. Anything that you would make with a potato, you can make with these. I think they are fun to cook with because your brain thinks it is going to taste like a potato but you get a unique flavor and texture.

    I pan roasted some with onions, mushrooms and a little garlic.

    They have a very interesting nutty taste and a pleasant crunch that potatoes lose when cooked. Because they are so flavorful with such a nice texture, they work well to compliment a less flavorful, unique textured counterpart…like spaghetti squash.

  • Watermelon Radishes

    I get asked all the time what I do with watermelon radishes.

    I have fun.
    Watermelon Radishes

  • Butternut Squash Ravioli

    Yield: about 30 triangle ravioli

    I am calling them butternut squash ravioli but you can use any squash you like to make these.

    For the filling:

    • 1 cup cooked squash (I roasted mine)
    • 1 shallot, chopped
    • sage leaves, chopped
    • 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
    • 1 or 2 ounces goat cheese

    For the ravioli:

    • won ton wrappers
    • 1-2 egg whites

    Heat the butter in a skillet. Add the shallot until it is softened, then add the sage, cooked squash and goat cheese. Cook until it is all really well incorporated.

    Lay won ton wrappers out on your work surface and paint egg white around the edges of the wrappers. Spoon about 2 teaspoons of squash filling on the won ton wrapper. You can either put another wrapper on top and seal, or fold in a triangle and seal. The egg white will seal the wrapper to itself.
    Filling Wonton Wrappers

    I made one ravioli with one wrapper on top of another and the rest I folded in a triangle. I think the triangle is easier and a better size to eat.

    You can freeze the ravioli at this point and pull out what you need later. I like to use these on salads with kale or spinach, or in soups like minestrone. You can also use them for a really rich starter. They only need to be boiled for 2 or 3 minutes so be careful not to overcook them.

    Boil as many as you need. While they are boiling, brown some butter and more sage in a pan. When they are cooked, drain and quickly saute the ravioli in the butter and sage. You don’t need to cook them any more, just coat the ravioli with the butter and sage and drain them a little before serving.
    Frying Ravioli

    You can refrigerate the rest of the squash for up to a week or freeze it for two or three months.
    Roasted Butternut Squash

  • Baba Ganoush

    • 3 medium-sized eggplants
    •  1/2 cup (130g) tahini (roasted sesame paste)
    •  1 1/4 teaspoons coarse salt
    •  3 tablespoons freshly-squeezed lemon juice
    •  3 cloves garlic, peeled and smashed
    •  1/8 teaspoon chili powder
    •  1 tablespoon olive oil

    Grill the Italian Eggplant and scoop out the flesh and mix with the rest of the ingredients. I mash it all together in a bowl with the back of a fork.

    Baba Ghanoush

    – Mo