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Category: Recipes

  • Collard Greens Roll-ups

    Until I worked at Red Wagon I never ate collard greens before October. I grew collards at home for years and only harvested and ate them after a frost. Collards, all leafy greens, defend themselves against freezing weather by turning starch in their cells, into sugars.
    Kale, chard, cabbage, Brussels sprouts, all are sweeter after a frost but still delicious before, and I eat them all summer long, so why not collards? Why not indeed.

    Collards

    Collards are not as bitter as kale and not as tender as chard or spinach. Collards lend themselves to longer cooking times than other greens but are surprisingly good raw, especially in roll-ups.

    Prep #1 Pretty much anything you can roll-up in a tortilla or wrap will be delicious in a collard roll-up.
    Collards have a tough stem that needs to be dealt with. You can shave it thin.

    De-stem

    Or cut it out.

    De-stem collards

    Then just put what ever filling you like in the washed collard leaf and roll it up like you would a burrito. Egg salad and tuna salad type fillings are good. But use what you like. I had some quinoa, beets and avocados.

    Add ingredients

    Roll up

    Talk about healthy and filling. You can make several roll-ups at one time, and keep them in the refrigerator for several days as a make ahead meal.

  • CSA Vegetable Stock

    People often ask me if they can use the tops or peels of vegetables. The answer is almost always YES!
    When you are in a CSA once a week you are inundated with vegetables, making stock is a great way to use up all the parts of your CSA share and open the door to some healthy quick meals.

    This is most of my CSA share this week and some leftovers from last week, the corn is from the Farm Stand and was lonely in the vegetable drawer alone. I like to do an inventory once a week to keep things fresh and it helps me plan meals better.

    Mixed Vegetables
    *gack! look at that fly on the leek!

    I am going to trim the parts of the vegetables we won’t eat, like leek tops and chard stems, and green bean tips, and make some stock. There is no right or wrong here. Use what you have. I have read not to use cabbage or broccoli in vegetable stock. I disagree. I like the taste of broccoli and cabbage stock. Just make sure you balance it with some onions or leeks and maybe some herbs if you have them.
    Here are the trimmings of this weeks vegetables in my stock pot this week. I like to eat beet greens but I had chard this week so I sacrificed my beet greens for the sake of the stock.
    The red beet greens will make the stock dark. Keep that in mind if you want a lighter stock, for say a leek risotto you might want to leave the red beet greens out, or use golden beets.

    Chopped Vegetables

    Now I have a more manageable harvest of vegetables that will use up much less space in my refrigerator.

    Leftover Veggies

    Most everything is wrapped up to be returned to the vegetable drawer for meals later this week.

    Next, add enough water to your the pot to leave some of the vegetables above the waterline. I like to add bay leaf or two, oh. I forgot I had some celery leftover from last week so I added a few stocks of that last minute.
    The vegetables have lots of water and will break down quickly, unlike stocks made with bones. Less water is better than more when making vegetable stock.

    Simmer in water

    Put the burner on high and as soon as the water warms up start tasting the stock. You will cook this for about an hour. Vegetable stock can taste muddy of you cook it too long so taste, taste, taste.

    Salt to taste

    My stock has been cooking while I have been typing this and the house is smelling wonderful. It’s been a little longer than an hour since it started to boil and I can tell by the smell we are getting close to being done. See how the the color is deepening, it’s a little darker than it looks in this picture. See how the vegetables are breaking down and turning darker. They are giving up all their flavor and nutrients to the liquid. Remember when you are tasting you will add salt later, salt will brighten up the flavor. At some point it will start to taste round and balanced, that is when it is done. You won’t taste just one vegetable, you will taste a balanced stock.

    Stock check

    All that is left is to strain the spent vegetables from the liquid and pat yourself on the back for making something beautiful out of next to nothing.

  • Beet Hummus

    I got this recipe off of Whole Foods website.
    I have made it twice. Once as written, then a second time I replaced the cooked beets with pickled beets like the ones I made here last week.
    Both versions are delicious but the hummus made with pickled beets had a more interesting and more ‘beet’ flavor.

    Beet Hummus

    That’s it. Short post but worth a mention as it was easy, fast, tasty, and keeps for a long time.
    Have a great week.

  • Celery Storage and Ideas

    Either you love it or you hate it. Honestly, I don’t get what isn’t to like. I understand why someone might not like arugula. I sort of get why raw kale salad might take some getting used to. But when I hear “I hate celery’. I don’t get it.
    Celery adds a delicious crunch and mildly mineral, grassy, bitter taste and water content to salads and stir fries. It is a great vehicle for dips and for stuffing with things like cheese and peanut butter.
    It balances flavors in soups and stew when you use it with carrots and onions.
    It’s great for juicing.
    It’s texture and flavor are unique and unexpected in so many dishes.

    This is the first year Wyatt has grown celery and he did a great job. Look at how beautiful it is.

    Celery

    The leaves were so big I couldn’t get the whole bunch in the picture. You won’t ever see that many leaves on a bunch of celery in the grocery store. You won’t ever see celery this fresh in a store.

    Celery will keep in your produce drawer for a long, long time if you store it correctly.
    First cut off most of the leaves, use those in a salad or to make a vegetable stock.
    You want to keep the root of the plant moist for best keeping. I like to wrap the root of the plant in a moist paper towel and then put the whole thing in a plastic bag. Don’t seal the bag, let some air flow.

    Trimmed bottom

    Pop this into a plastic bag, then into the produce drawer. When I use some of the celery, if the paper towel has dried out I just re-wet it. This will keep for at least a couple weeks.

    Wrapped in Towel

    Some people like to cut off the root and put the stalks of the celery in a glass of water, like you would a bouquet of flowers and then put that in the refrigerator. I find that when I have tried that my celery didn’t last as long as the paper towel in the plastic bag method. Plus, who has room for a vase of celery in their refrigerator?

    Make sure you tell Wyatt how much you like celery, or he might not grow it again next year!!
    Have a great week.

  • Garlic as a Vegetable

    garlicThere is quite a bit of folklore surrounding garlic, touting it’s health benefits and even it’s ability to ward off vampires. Regardless of whatever magical powers it may possess- real or imagined, let’s talk about garlic it is most simple quotidian form- As a vegetable.

    On the farm, our garlic crop is one of the most anticipated and revered. It takes up a lengthy stay in the field, going into the ground in the late fall and stays in there until mid-summer. In early spring the pointy green garlic plants send up their spirally scapes that offer a succulent taste of what’s to come later in the year. We carefully weed and tend to the rows, so there is little competition for the bulbs to grow large and fat and count down the days until we pluck them from the soil to dry. This year, the crop is looking beautiful.

    Many of us use garlic as a supporting character for our dishes. Crush, dice, slice, it’s more often used as a spice than as a main ingredient. However, garlic can offer some great meals when given center stage as the main vegetable. One staple in my house: Spicy Garlic Pasta. Using a whole head, I chop the garlic into thin slices. Sometimes, I add a finely diced shallot or some white onion. Sauté with salt, pepper, butter and olive oil until translucent. Pour in some white wine and cook down. If you like things spicy, throw in some chili flakes. Throw in your pasta of choice and some coarsely chopped fresh parsley (a favorite, but another underused item in my opinion). Toss and serve. Avoid any close contact and words that start with “H” for a couple hours.

  • Grilled Green Beans and Peaches

    I worked at the Farmers Market this Saturday and someone gave me a peach to try.
    I forgot about it until I got home and was making dinner.
    It was hot and I wanted an easy meal. So I turned on the grill to cook some chops and some beans. Then I saw the peach on the counter, so I cut that up and grilled it too.

    Grilling Beans and Peaches

    I added some goat cheese and salt and pepper.
    I could have eaten just this for dinner and nothing else.

    Tossed with Feta

    I’m going to be grilling more peaches this summer for savory dishes. This is a great example of food that is in season tastes great with any other food that is season.
    So easy and so good.

  • Pickled Beets and Eggs

    When I pickle beets I have always done large batches and processed them in a water bath to preserve them. When I have eaten all the beets in a jar I like to put a few hard boiled eggs in the leftover pickling brine to ‘pickle’ the eggs.
    I saw this recipe in Food and Wine that made just one jar of refrigerator pickles and eggs. I thought some of you who don’t have room or desire to preserve larger batches of beets might like to try this. These will keep for about a week with the eggs in them. If you make these without the eggs they will keep in the refrigerator for at least a month.

    I followed the recipe except I pressure cooked my beets instead of roasting them. I like to roast them in cold weather and pressure cook them when it is hot out. Cook your beets how ever you like then follow the recipe.
    You will probably notice my eggs are small. I have bantam chickens and I like to use their eggs to hard cooked eggs. Their yolk to white ratio is higher than standard hens eggs are. Plus, they are a perfect bite size.

    Here are a few photos of the process.
    First, cook your beets

    Boiled Beets

    Peel the skins off, can you tell how easily the skins fall off when you pressure cook them?

    Peeled Beets

    I love beets.
    Next make your brine and fill your jar with the beets, onion, dill sprigs, garlic, and eggs.

    Egg and Beet Pickles

    Pickled Beets and Eggs
    4 small red beets (about 3/4 pound), scrubbed
    1 cup raw, unfiltered apple cider vinegar
    1 cup water
    3 garlic cloves, crushed
    3 tablespoons sugar
    2 teaspoons whole black peppercorns
    1 teaspoon kosher salt
    1 small red onion, cut into thin wedges
    4 hard-cooked large eggs, peeled
    6 dill sprigs
    Preheat the oven to 450°. Wrap the beets in foil and roast for about 1 hour, until tender. When cool enough to handle, slip off the skins and quarter the beets.
    Meanwhile, in a medium saucepan, combine the vinegar, water, garlic, sugar, peppercorns and salt. Bring to a boil and simmer over moderately high heat, stirring, until the sugar is dissolved, about 5 minutes. Let the pickling liquid cool to warm, about 15 minutes.
    Layer the beets, onion, eggs and dill in a heatproof 1-quart glass jar and cover with the pickling liquid. Let stand at room temperature for 2 hours. Cover and refrigerate overnight.
    MAKE AHEAD The pickled beets and eggs can be refrigerated for up to 1 week.

    The next day they look like this. Pretty and delicious. Pretty delicious.

    Pickles on Salad

    I have a lot of beets leftover from this batch I cooked, so this week will be beet-o-licious at my house. Stay tuned.

  • Kohlrabi (What the heck do I do with it?)

    Kohlrabi looks like an alien vegetable doesn’t it? Kohlrabi comes in purple or green verities. The inside of both are the same, white. Both colors taste the same.

    Kohlrabi is a brassica, the bulb portion tastes sort of like the peeled stem of broccoli to me. Or like a very mild sweet radish. It is crisp and tender. The leaves are delicious raw if they are small and young. You can sauté or juice the greens. Just treat them like any leafy green.

    You need to peel the tough outer skin of the kohlrabi bulb for any prep because it is really tough. Don’t worry though, it’s really easy to peel.

    Kohlrabi

    Now you can slice this up and stir fry it, or roast it like you would broccoli. I like kohlrabi raw too. Shred it like cabbage and use it to replace cabbage in any salads or slaw recipe. You can also just sliced and eat it raw like you would carrots or turnips and use it to dip in ranch dressing :) (my favorite).

  • Kohlrabi and Fennel Salad

    I like dishes using foods that look the same but have very different textures and tastes. This is one of those dishes.
    Kohlrabi and fennel and onions don’t look anything alike before they are cut up.

    Kohlrabi and Fennel

    Cut up they look very similar. If I had used a white or yellow onion it would be hard to tell what is what.

    Slice Onions and Parsley

    Kohlrabi and Fennel Salad

    1 peeled Kohlrabi bulb
    2 fennel bulbs
    1 small onion
    a handful of parsley
    juice of a lemon or lime
    a good glug of olive oil
    salt and pepper and red pepper if you like

    Slice and chop all the vegetables and parsley very thin, dress the vegetables with oil and citus juice and season well and toss.
    Very simple and delicious. All the textures and sharp flavors make this a very sophisticated side.

    Julieened

    I am loving these warm weather crops! Hope you are too.

  • Boiling Potatoes

    I was at the Red Wagon booth at the Farmer’s Market Saturday getting some new potatoes. The same type of potatoes you will be getting this week, and someone asked me how to cook new potatoes.

    I said, I would probably just boil them and put some herb butter on them. New potatoes are so yummy you don’t want to mess too much with them.
    They said, how long do you boil them?
    I said, until they fall off a knife when I stab them.
    They said, can I over cook them, will they fall apart?
    I said, check the Red Wagon Blog on Monday and I’ll explain with pictures.

    So, where you go inquisitive person at the Farmers Market.
    Boiled potatoes 101

    Start with some beautiful potatoes from Red Wagon Farm, scrub the dirt off. No need to peel. Different sizes are OK if you have fingerling or new potatoes they will be different sizes, that is just how they are.
    If you have larger potatoes cut them into similar sizes for even cooking. If they are small and different sizes just pull the little ones out as they are done.

    Put your potatoes in enough COLD salted water to cover the potatoes by an inch or so, and bring to a boil. Don’t start with warm or hot water, it makes for a weird texture of potato and the outside will cook faster than the inside and you will have a mess.

    Potatoes in pot

    After 10 minutes or so check one of the smaller potatoes to see if it is done. It will probably take longer, more like 15 minutes but check, you don’t want over cooked potatoes.
    Get a SHARP knife, like a paring knife. Not a table knife, it’s too thick.
    Stab one of the potatoes and if it slides off the knife it is done. If it stays on the knife put it back and check again in a few minutes.
    Check out my video of a perfectly done potato in slow motion.

    Riveting huh? The shadow of the potato falling is funny.

    I just put some salt and pepper and butter and some herbs from the garden on these potatoes and they were perfectly delicious.
    Dressed Potatoes

    This picture is why I did the video. I kept trying to show the potato falling and couldn’t get it in still photography. No potato, just splash, splash,splash.
    It made me lol. Hope you all are having fun with your food!

    Knife