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Category: Recipes

  • Rhubarb Crisp

    Rhubarb crisp might be the easiest most delicious dessert there is. I say dessert, but I love having it for breakfast with yogurt.

    There are almost 3 million rhubarb crisp recipes on the internet, the ones I looked at are almost all identical. Most include strawberries or apple. I like all rhubarb. You can add different fruit if you like and adjust the weight of the fruit the recipe calls for.

    Let’s make a crisp! Gather all your ingredients

    For the filling you’ll need;

    • 1 to 1 1/2 pounds of rhubarb (optional addition of strawberries or apples to total 1 to 1 1/2 pounds of fruit)
    • 1/2 cup sugar
    • 1 tablespoon cornstarch
    • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

    For the topping you’ll need;

    • 3/4 cup flour, any kind. I used whole wheat. You can use gluten free or all purpose or anything you have on hand.
    • 1/2 cup brown sugar
    • 2 tablespoons white sugar
    • pinch of salt
    • 6 tablespoons of butter cut very small
    • 3/4 cup rolled oats
    • 1/2 cup any nuts you like (optional)

    Preheat the oven to 350F

    Put all the filling ingredients in a bowl and mix and put all the topping ingredients in a separate bowl and mix with a pastry cutter or just use your hands. This picture is before I mixed the topping ingredients.

    I had an 8X8 square pan and this fit just fine. You might want to put your baking pan on a cookie sheet if you think it might bubble over.

    Put your filling in a baking dish then top with the oat mixture that is really well mixed. It should look like this.

    Bake for 45 to 50 minutes until it’s brown and bubbly.

    Yum. Enjoy.

    Mo

     

     

     

  • Bok Choy Stir Fry-Make Ahead Sauce

    I really got into Asian-ish cooking during the pandemic. I love how vegetable heavy it is and how adaptable the cuisine is to almost anything you have on hand.

    I made a super easy Bok Choy and tofu dish with a super easy sauce.

    This is what I had, Bok choy, garlic, ginger, tofu and some sauce I premade. The recipe is below.

    I chopped it up.

    I cooked the tofu in some oil. After it was brown I moved it to a plate.

    Then I sautéed some garlic and ginger root and cooked the Bok Choy until it was just wilted.

    Now add 1/2 to 2/3 cup of sauce and let that thicken.

    Plate and serve can you see that yummy sauce? We ate this with rice.

    I like to make this batch of stir fry sauce and have it on hand for quick meals or to clean out the vegetable drawer. This sauce recipe makes about 3 or 4 meals and uses just a few ingredients you can find at most supermarkets. You just put everything into a jar and shake it.

    Stir Fry Sauce

    • 1 1/2 cups chicken stock (or vegetable or mushroom stock)
    • 1 tablespoon Shaoxing wine or dry cooking sherry
    • 1 tablespoon brown sugar (or granulated sugar, maple syrup, agave)
    • 2 teaspoons sesame oil
    • 1/4 cup soy sauce (can sub gluten-free soy sauce or tamari)
    • 1 1/2 tablespoons dark soy sauce (BBQ sauce works too)
    • 2 tablespoons oyster sauce (or vegetarian or gluten-free oyster sauce)
    • 1/4 teaspoon white pepper
    • 1/4 teaspoon salt
    • 4 tablespoons cornstarch

    Combine everything in a jar and shake it up. Store leftovers in the refrigerator to use later. This makes enough for at least 3 meals for 4 people.

    Store the extra in the refrigerator, it will keep for at least 2 weeks.

    Phew, this was a long post. If you stuck with me to the end, thank you!

    See you at pick up!

    Mo

  • Fried Beans with Sorrel and Green Garlic

    I love sorrel. I love sorrel with eggs. I love sorrel mixed in with any sautéed greens or added to a salad. It brings a bright flavor, more mild and more interesting than lemon.

    I followed this David Lebovitz recipe pretty much to the letter except I used green garlic instead of green onions. I’ll copy the recipe at the end of this post.

    What makes this dish special is frying the cooked beans. Frying them makes them crispy on the outside and creamy inside and just a little chewy and very satisfying. The sorrel brightens the dish and the green garlic rounds it out.

    This is all you need to make this; some beans (I cooked my beans, I’m sure you could use canned) a bunch of sorrel and I added pea shoots too, and some green garlic or onions and lemon.

    The recipe as written sounds a little complicated, but all you are really doing is frying the beans in oil and butter, the butter browns the beans so if you use only oil they won’t brown as much.

    Then sauté some greens and garlic or onions and mix them together and add a squeeze of lemon.  You really don’t need a recipe.

    We ate ours with an egg and some crushed almonds and feta and fresh mint.

    Have a great week. See you at pickup.

    Mo

    Fried Beans with Feta, Sorrel, and Sumac
    Four to six servings
    Adapted from Plenty (Ebury) by Yotam Ottolenghi

    Yotam’s original recipe says to soak the beans in a generous amount of water with 2 tablespoons of baking soda. Some bean purists scoff at using baking soda in the water, but for those who live in areas where the water is full of minerals (such as Paris), I add a large pinch to the cooking water, as the locals do. The beans should be cooked just until tender, but not cooked to mush. The cooking time for them will vary but don’t let the water
    foam up when you do! For the spring onions, I used cébette (which often goes by
    various names in France), which you can see pictured in the Herbed Ricotta Tart
    recipe. Scallions, green garlic, or a similar spring onion can be used. In the post, I
    mention some possible substitutions for the sumac and sorrel.

    1 pound (450g) large dried white beans
    optional: pinch of baking soda
    8 spring onions or scallions sliced lengthwise into 3-inch (7 cm) batons
    1 clove garlic, peeled and minced
    7 ounces (200g) sorrel, cut into 1-inch (2 cm) ribbons, plus a little extra for garnish,
    cut in very thin strips
    1/2 teaspoon sea salt, plus more for seasoning
    1 1/2 tablespoons freshly-squeezed lemon juice
    5 ounces (150g) feta cheese
    2 teaspoons sumac
    handful of fresh herbs such as chervil, dill, mint, or flat-leaf parsley
    For frying the beans:
    1/4 cup (60ml) olive oil
    4 tablespoons (60g) butter (see Note)

    1. Rinse the beans and sort to remove any foreign objects.
    2. Put in a large pot, cover with plenty of water, and let stand overnight.
    3. The next day, add a pinch of baking soda to the water (if you live in a hard water
    area), and simmer the beans until just tender. The cooking time may be as little as
    30 minutes, or over an hour, depending on the beans. Add additional water if
    necessary.
    4. Once cooked, drain well and toss them in a bit of olive oil, which will prevent the
    skin of the beans from flaking, and bit of salt.

  • Mache and Claytonia

    This week you will have a choice of getting a mix of claytonia and mache in your CSA share. You probably have never heard of these greens unless you have grown them yourself. I have never seen them for sale anywhere. They are a winter green that grow, very slowly in cool and cold weather. These are really young, you can see how tender and delicate they are.

    They taste a little sweet and have a texture like a mix between very young lettuce and spinach, you can use them like you would baby lettuce or spinach. They don’t have a strong taste but the delicate freshness and texture is certainly a welcome addition to heavier winter meals. I have been adding them to top just about everything I eat, to add a bit of  green vegetable freshness to my meals. We made pizza the other night and usually top it with arugula but I used claytonia and mache, yum.

    I have also made some really simple salads. I  dressed the greens with a little olive oil and wine vinegar and let the mache and claytonia stand out on their own. I wouldn’t use a heavy dressing on these greens.

    Claytonia and mache are a delightful winter treat to get in our last CSA. I have had this bag of claytonia and mache for 5 days and it is fine. I think it will be fine for a few more days. So, I would say it lasts about as long as arugula.

    Thanks for hanging with us this crazy 2020 year. Happy Holiday’s.  Be well and hopefully you will join us next year and we will be back to normal and we can see your smiles.

    With love and gratitude.

    Mo

  • Marcella Hazen’s Cabbage and Rice Soup

    If you aren’t familiar with Marcella Hazen’s recipes you should sit down and give her a Google. Her recipes are simple and use everyday ingredients and the dishes you create are almost always more than a sum of their parts.

    This soup is no exception. It cooks for at least 1 1/2 to 2 hours and it becomes almost like risotto-but it’s soup. The cabbage collapses and is sort of silky sweet.

    You will get all the vegetables you need to make this in your share this week. You’ll also need some broth or stock and rice.

    Here is a list of what you need and the amounts. I forgot to take a picture of the olive oil and vinegar. You probably have everything you need in your pantry.

    Marcella Hazan’s Rice & Cabbage Soup

    1 cabbage about 2 lbs, shredded or sliced very thin into bite size shreds (I used about 3/4 of this cabbage)
    1 onion, diced
    2 cloves garlic, minced
    1/2 cup olive oil (yes, 1/2 cup)
    1 tablespoon white wine vinegar (I only had cider vinegar)
    4 – 6 cups vegetable or beef stock (I had 4 cups chicken broth in the freezer so I used that)
    2/3 cup rice
    2 tablespoons butter
    1/3 cup fresh grated parmesan, plus more for serving
    Salt and pepper

    Start with 1/2 cup of olive oil and diced onions in a large pan with a tight fitting lid. It seems like a lot of oil but that is part of the magic of this dish. The oil cooks down differently than water or broth.

    Cook that until the onions are translucent.

    Add the shredded cabbage and toss it until the oil covers everything evenly. I forgot to take a picture of that. It filled up the pot but quickly collapsed down to look like this.

    Now add the vinegar and some salt and pepper and cover it and simmer it on your lowest setting for 1 to 1 1 /2 hours. You should see and hear a little liquid simmering. If you don’t think it is enough add a couple tablespoons of water. I had to move my pan a little off my burner because it was simmering a little more than I liked.

    Check and stir it every 15 minutes or so and see if you need to add a few tablespoons of water. I had to add water a couple of times. I think late season cabbages are a little more dry that early and mid season cabbage so you will probably have to add a little water.

    This is how it looks after an hour.

    Add the stock and rice. Make sure you taste this and add some salt or pepper or more vinegar if you need to, I added a little more vinegar. Remember you add some butter and parmesan cheese at the end so don’t worry if you taste and think it needs something, it does. Simmer this for at least 20 minutes or until the rice is done.

    NOW add the butter and parmesan cheese and taste.

    This is a nice light warming meal. If you try it I hope you like it.

    Have a great week.

    Mo

  • Skillet Apple Crisp

    This tastes like a hug. I prefer apple crisp to apple pie. I love everything going on in a crisp: nuts, crunchy bits, chewy oats, tart apples and sweet syrupy juices. Pie always disappoints me, crisps never do.

    I think it’s been super fun to have apples in our winter CSA shares.

    There are literally millions of apple crisp recipes out there. I really like this one because you dump all the filling ingredients in the skillet and cook it until the apples are done.

    At our altitude, when making apple pie it is really hard to cook the apples until they are done. If you add flour or any thickener it often isn’t cooked all the way. This apple crisp solves those problems. Also, you can taste the filling and adjust it if you want  the filling sweeter or more lemon or spices. I was happy with my filling cooked down to this point.

    I topped it with the crumble and baked it until it was crisp. I don’t know why I always leave a hole in the middle of my crisps, but I do. Maybe my mom did it? You can cover the whole thing if you want.

    I also don’t know where I got this recipe but I’ve used it for decades. It’s got the perfect amount of apples to topping for me. If you make it I hope you like it as much as I do.

    My Apple Crisp Recipe

    Topping

     3/4 cup flour, any kind. I used whole wheat. Gluten free works fine.

     3/4 cup chopped nuts (optional)

     3/4 cup old-fashioned rolled outs

     1/2 cup packed light brown sugar

     1/4 cup granulated sugar

     1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

     1/2 teaspoon table salt

     8 tablespoons (1 stick) butter melted

     

    Filling

     3 pounds apples, peeled, cored, cut into chunks

     1/4 cup granulated sugar

     1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon (optional)

     1 cup apple cider or juice

     2 teaspoons juice from 1 lemon

     2 tablespoons unsalted butter

     

    Preparation

    Make the topping: Adjust the oven rack to the middle position and heat oven to 450 degrees. Combine flour, nuts, oats, brown sugar, granulated sugar, cinnamon, and salt in a medium bowl. Stir in butter until mixture is thoroughly moistened and crumbly. Set aside while preparing the fruit filling.

    Make the filling: Put all the filling ingredients into a skillet (mine was an 8 inch skillet) and carefully mix everything over a medium heat on the stove. It will slowly collapse and cook down. When the apples are cooked to your liking sprinkle the topping evenly over fruit, breaking up any large chunks. Place skillet on baking sheet (incase it spills over) and bake topping is deep golden brown, 20 – 25 minutes. Cool at least 15 minutes before you eat.

    Happy thanksgiving. Stay warm and well.

    Mo

  • Cheesy Roasted Pepper Mashed Potatoes

    This is one of my favorite Thanksgiving dishes. I’ve never shared any holiday food with you on the blog. Now, with the winter CSA I’ll get to! Roasted chilies added to mashed potatoes are so good with turkey and dressing and cheese makes everything better.

    We had a ton of peppers this summer didn’t we? I hope you stashed a few of the roasted chilies away in the freezer to enjoy this winter.  You can use any of the roasted peppers we gave you in mashed potatoes. I used some mild Anaheim. Poblano are great in mashed potatoes if that is what you have.

    Cheesy Roasted Pepper Mashed Potatoes

    Serves 1…just kidding. This serves at least 4 and probably more like 6.

    • 1 1/2 pounds potatoes
    • 4 or 5 roasted chilies cleaned and diced
    • 1 cup milk/cream/1/2 & 1/2
    • 1/2 to 1 cup cheese to taste
    • sour cream to taste
    • salt and pepper

    Put potatoes in a large pot and cover with salted water. Cook the potatoes over medium-heat until fork tender, about 15  to 25 minutes start checking them after 15 minutes. When tender, drain and return the potatoes to the pot. Add the sour cream, milk, butter, cheese, salt, pepper. Mash by hand with a potato masher  and add the roasted peppers at the end of mashing and adjust seasoning, if needed.

    This is after they are fork tender and before mashing, you can’t see the milk in the pan, but it’s there.

    Add the peppers when you are done mashing, just stir them in.

    That’s it. Of course these are great anytime, not just Thanksgiving. If you have leftovers they make delicious potato pancakes or to die for potato croquettes .

    Have a great week. Enjoy this gorgeous weather.

    Mo

  • Cabbage, Beet and Lentil Borscht

    Delicious. Satisfying. Chocked full of vegetables. Filling. Beautiful.

    I followed this recipe exactly, it’s well written and easy to follow so I am not going to rewrite it. I’ll just link to the the post and post some of my pictures making it.

    You probably have all the vegetables you need in your refrigerator. I did. I have made this with sauerkraut instead of cabbage, that was really good too.

    Chop everything up. The mandolin came in handy here, but you can chop by hand if you like.

    Chuck it all in a big pot with the lentils and the other ingredients called for and cook for about 30-40 minute.

    The vegetables release lots of water and make a delicious broth, it’s almost like a vegetables stew. The lentils add a nice satisfying texture. This can be vegan if you use vegetable oil and top it with olive oil. I like it with some crusty bread or croutons and sour cream so darn good. I do think it needs some kind of fat to top it off to balance the flavors.

    It gets better after a day or two and it makes at least 8 servings, so lunch is taken care of for a few days.

    I hope you are all well and stay that way.

    Mo

  • 2 Easy Acorn Squash Preparations

    Acorn squash are a perfect side dish to go with almost any meal. They have a very mild ‘squash’ taste and aren’t as sweet as butternut squash or pumpkins.

    The skin is edible, I like it. Some people don’t. I’ll show you two ways to cook it, one you scoop the flesh out the other you eat it skin and all. Try both and see which you prefer.

    Like most winter squash, acorn squash are very hard to cut. Before cutting your squash, then you can microwave winter squash for about 3 minutes to make them easier to cut.

    Cut it in half and scoop out the seeds, use a melon ball utensil or a grapefruit spoon to make the scooping easier.

    I roast all my winter squash in a 425F oven and start checking for doneness after about an hour. If the squash is cut in smaller pieces check for doneness sooner, like 35 or 40 minutes. It’s pretty hard to over cook squash.

    Put your squash on a sheet pan lined with parchment. I like acorn squash sweet since they are pretty bland so I put in a pad of butter and some maple syrup or a little brown sugar and salt and pepper. If you don’t want sweet you can rub it with olive oil and just salt and pepper.

    I scored the squash after about 45 minutes in the oven so the butter and maple syrup would soak in a little. I finished baking it for about an hour total. That’s it. A tasty easy side.

    Here is my favorite way to cook acorn squash. Scoop out the seeds and slice the squash in about 1/2 inch wedges. I like to make a rub of equal parts miso, maple syrup and olive oil and salt and pepper. You can just use olive oil and salt and pepper. Then spread the wedges evenly on a sheet pan and bake.

    Start checking for doneness after about 35 – 40 minutes.

    I had some romesco sauce I served with this. Pesto or chimichurri sauces are great with this, pretty much any sauces you have will work, or just eat it as is.

    Look at the blisters and caramelization. Yum.

    I hope you all are doing ok and are well and stay that way.

    Mo

     

     

     

  • Different kinds of winter squash-which are interchangeable?

    I love late season and storage vegetables and I really love winter squash.

    Here is a primer of some of the different kinds of winter squash we have and which are interchangeable with each other.

    Clockwise these are buttercup, butternut, pie pumpkin (winter luxury), spaghetti, baby butternut and kabocha. We have lots and lots of information on this site about storing and cooking different kinds of squash.

    Let’s look a little deeper into what makes them unique, and similar.

    Kabocha (my favorite winter squash) and buttercup squash both have cork like stems and bright orange, very sweet and dry flesh. The shape stands up to braising in curries or stews and is delicious in soups, ravioli filling and they are dry enough to make squash gnocchi.  These two squash are completely interchangeable with each other and also with a sweet potato!  Kabocha skin is thin so I never peel it. Buttercup is a little thicker so I either peel it or scoop the flesh out and compost it.

    Pie pumpkins and butternut squash are the two ubiquitous winter squash in most people’s repertoire. Almost any thing you can do with any winter squash you can safely substitute one of these. The flesh is orange, slightly firm, slightly stringy, slightly sweet, slightly nutty and not too dry especially if you roast them. I LOVE winter luxury pie pumpkins in this pie.

    I love spaghetti squash but I always say I wish it had a different name. No, it doesn’t taste like spaghetti. It is stringy and very mild in taste, not sweet at all like other squash. It takes on the flavor of whatever you cook or serve it with. It has a chewy almost crisp texture that is sort of like rice vermicelli AND it comes with it’s own bowl! You can cook and eat your whole meal in one go! I can’t really think of anything you can substitute for or with spaghetti squash. In my experience this is the longest storing winter squash. I have kept a spaghetti squash from October to June! That’s 8 months!

    One squash I don’t have on this list or even on this site is an acorn squash. I didn’t have one here today but I’ll find one at the farm this week and fix that!

    Enjoy your winter vegetables and know they will keep for you for a long time.

    Have a great week.

    Mo