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Category: Recipes

  • Grilled Vegetable Lasagna

    One of the challenges of being in a CSA is using the combination of vegetables you are given in a certain week. You need to think outside of the ‘recipe box’ to use what you are given and not shop for certain ingredients. This dish is an example of what you can make out of any combination of vegetables from your share.

    This was very simple. It took me less than 5 minutes to put together. You could use any combination of the vegetables, add different cheeses, use more or less sauce or add tomatoes, anything you want.

    Here where I started.
    I had some grilled kale and walking onions. I chopped them up a little.
    kale and onions

    I gathered what I had on hand to make lasagna.

    eggs and ricotta

    Mixed the eggs with the ricotta.

    add vegetables

    And started layering the ingredients.

    smooshing

    You have to smoosh the layers down before adding more or the lasagna falls apart when you cut it.

    lasagna

    I only had one jar of tomato sauce and I thought the lasagna would be a little dry. So if your lasagna looks like this you might want to add a little liquid like more tomato sauce or broth, or even water. Those oven ready lasagna noodle suck up a lot of liquid.

    lasagna

    I added (a little too much) wine.

    with wine

    yikes.

    I baked that for about an hour in a 350F preheated oven. and this is what I got.

    lasagna

    Easy tasty, and good leftovers.

    Have a great week and enjoy your vegetables.

    Mo

  • Grilled Kale

    If you like kale chips you will like grilled kale. When you sauté’ or steam kale it becomes very tender. When you grill or bake (like kale chips) the kale it is more firm and chewy and has a toasty flavor. I think kale is very satisfying grilled.

    First you need to soak a bunch of kale in water for 15 or 20 minutes. This fully hydrates the kale so it can stand up to the hot grill.

    Next, take your bunch of kale out of the water, don’t shake the water off. A little water on the leaves will steam and help transfer heat from the grill.
    rub some olive oil on your hands and rub the kale leaves so the oil is evenly distributed. Salt and pepper the kale.

    Kale Onions

    Now whack the oiled kale on the hot grill in one big heap. (I grilled some walking onions too.)

    Kale Onions Start turning the kale over by grabbing big bunches and keep moving it. It will only take a few minutes to cook.

    Kale Onions

    See it starting to char and breakdown? It is about done. (the onions took a few minutes longer).

    That’s it.

    Grilled Kale and Onions

    Ready for the table….or, you could use it for making a frittata or pizza topping, or?
    I’m going to make a vegetable lasagna.
    I hope you try this. Leave a comment if you do.

  • Storing greens

    We work really hard to get our greens (kale, chard, broccoli raabe, collards) to you fresh and full of life. Here’s how you can keep them that way.

    If you store your greens properly they will stay fresh in your refrigerator for a week. Modern frost free refrigerators have moving air that will dehydrate food uncovered, so you need to keep your greens sealed in a plastic bag, or some sort of sealed container.

    When you pick up your CSA share it would be best to put your greens in a plastic bag or container immediately at the pick up. We have bags available if you forget to bring your own. If you don’t want to use plastic you can use a cloth cotton bag. You need to rewet the cloth bag every day or the greens will wilt as soon as the cloth bag dries. You don’t want to pack the greens too tightly in the any bag or squish them either. they need to be stored loosely so some air can move around the leaves.

    This is a bunch of kale that was harvested Friday and kept in a plastic bag in my refrigerator for three days. It looks just like it did when it was harvested.

    kale

    This is a bunch of kale that was kept in my refrigerator unwrapped for 12 hours.

    Red Russian Kale

    I’m sorry kale. I did it for the good of the blog.

    The second bunch of kale is still edible. It is just dehydrated. You could cook it and it would be fine. If I left this bunch of kale much longer uncovered it would start to get slimy. Slime happens when the cell structure breaks down and the kale starts to decompose. When that happens you don’t want to eat it.

    So, sealed and wrapped greens store nicely for one week in the refrigerator and unwrapped greens store for less than one day.

  • Sauteed Broccoli Raab

    This recipe is from Jonathan, who worked at Red Wagon last summer.

    • Cut broccoli raab into large chunks, including stems.
    • In a cold pan, start with a lot of olive oil and some sliced garlic.
    • Turn on medium-high heat until garlic starts to brown.
    • Add broccoli raab until it starts to spit and pop.
    • Add salt and chile flakes and stir around to wilt the greens.
    • Finish with lemon juice.
    • Serve as a side dish of wilted greens or add pasta and Parmesan.

  • Bok Choy “Chop Chop” Salad

    Bok Choy is a great base for salads and a great way to use up leftover vegetables you have hanging around in your refrigerator. This isn’t really a recipe, it’s just ‘here’s how I did it, now you make it with what you have’ method.

    I needed a big salad for a pot-luck BBQ so I took my “week 2 CSA share” of salad worthy ingredients and chopped them up. I used my bok choy, pea shoots, haukari turnips, and some walking onions leftover from week 1 CSA share.

    Here they are all chop-chopped up.

    Chopped Vegetables

    I had some avocado, macadamia nuts, red onions, and cucumbers in my refrigerator so I added those with an Asian salad dressing, just whisk this all together and pour over your salad.

    • 1/3 cup rice vinegar
    • 2 tablespoons soy sauce
    • 2 tablespoons honey
    • 1 tablespoon grated peeled ginger
    • 3 tablespoons olive oil
    • 3 tablespoons toasted sesame oil

    Salad with Dressing

    This is one of those salads that travels well and is good the next day.

    Have a great week, now go play with your food!

  • Fresh Fava Bean Dip or Spread

    Submitted by Marilyn

    • 2 lbs fresh unshelled fava beans, prepared as above and ¼ cup of the cooking liquid
    • 2 Tbs fresh lemon juice
    • ¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil
    • salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
    • 1/2 tsp. cumin seeds, toasted then ground, optional
    • 1 Tbs minced fresh flat-leaf parsley
    • crumbled, grated or thinly sliced cheese such as feta, Manchego or Parmesan
    • optional pita wedges, sliced raw carrots, or crackers for dipping, or toasted bread for spreading

    In a blender or food processor, combine the beans, half of the reserved cooking liquid and the lemon juice. Add more liquid as needed while processing until the mixture is fairly smooth. Add the oil while continuing to process until smooth.Transfer to a serving bowl and season with salt, pepper and cumin. Sprinkle with the parsley. Serve with pita bread, vegetables, or crackers for dipping. Or spread on toasted bread (rubbed with garlic if you like), and topped with some cheese.

  • Walking Onions and Green Garlic

    Walking onions and green garlic are two early spring crops here at Red Wagon. They look similar don’t they? The green garlic is on the right and the walking onions are on the left.

    Green Garlic

    The green garlic is garlic we plant very close together and only let it grow for a short while. If we left it longer in the field it would develop cloves and head. The green garlic has a really lovely mild flavor and isn’t hot at all, unlike a fully developed clove of garlic. You can use a lot of the green garlic in your cooking and great garlic flavor that isn’t overwhelming. Use it like you would a clove of garlic. Just use more!

    Walking onions can be used like you would use any onion. You can eat them raw in a salad or use them in your cooking. They are called walking onions because when they develop seed heads, the heads become heavy and fall over to the ground. They sort of plant themselves by ‘walking’ across your garden when the heads fall over. Look at your bunches and see if you see any developing seed heads.

    Walking Onions

    Here is a bunch of walking onions and a bunch of green garlic trimmed and cleaned and ready to use.

    Trimmed Garlic and Onions

    I think I’ll grill the onions sometime this week. I’ll keep them whole just like in the picture and rub a little olive oil and salt and pepper and grill them to a nice char. I’ll try to remember to take a picture and post it.

    I like to chop up the green garlic and use what I need during the week. If it is already cleaned and chopped up I find it super easy to just grab and use for when I am scrambling eggs or sautéing some spinach. If I leave it in the bag it tends to get lost in the veggie drawer and forgotten about.

    Chopped Onions
    Have a great week, leave a comment if you have any questions about any of your CSA share.
    Mo

  • Sauteed Greens

    Submitted by Marilyn

    Serves 4

    • 1 lb. mixed greens, with tender stems
    • 1-2 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
    • 1-2 Tbsp. minced garlic
    • Salt and freshly ground black pepper
    • Vinegar or lemon juice, optional for seasoning, see Note

    Shake the rinsed greens in a colander to remove the excess liquid, but the leaves don’t have to be completely dry. Heat a large pot over high or medium high heat until hot.

    Add the olive oil followed by the garlic and cook for a few seconds until it is light brown. Be careful not to let your oil smoke or burn the garlic. Add a couple of handfuls of greens and toss with tongs, incorporating the garlic so it doesn’t burn on the bottom of the pan. Add the remaining greens all at once, or in batches if your pot isn’t large enough to hold it all at once. Toss constantly so the greens wilt evenly.

    When wilted, taste first, then season with salt and pepper. Sometimes greens have a natural saltiness so you don’t want to over salt. Continue cooking over high heat, tossing often, until the excess liquid evaporates.

    Turn greens out into a bowl and season with vinegar or lemon juice. Can be served hot, at room temperature, or refrigerated for up to 2 days and eaten as a cold “salad”.

    Note: The acidity of the vinegar or lemon juice will cause the greens to lose their beautiful green color, so you can omit it if you prefer.

  • Dilly Beans

    Dilly Bean Jars

    Here is the recipe I used, which is adapted from Sandor Katz’ book Wild Fermentation: The Flavor, Nutrition, and Craft of Live-Culture Foods.

    You will need:

    • Sealable canning jars (I used pint jars)
    • A pot big enough to cover your jars with water
    • String beans
    • Garlic
    • Salt (I used coarse Kosher salt)
    • Whole dried chili peppers
    • Celery seed
    • Fresh dill (flowering tops if available)
    • White distilled vinegar
    • Water

    Start by boiling your jars and lids for 5 minutes or so to sterilize them. While your jars are boiling, prep your green beans by chopping off just the very tips. Peel as many cloves of garlic as the number of jars you’re making.

    For each jar, combine 1 cup of vinegar and 1 cup of water in a saucepan and bring to a boil. While your vinegar and water mixture is heating up, place the following in the bottom of each jar: 1 garlic glove, 1 teaspoon of salt, one whole dried chili pepper, 1/4 teaspoon celery seed, and one flowering dill top (or a small bunch of dill leaves). Pack your jars full with green beans. (Note: I made one jar with the chili pepper and one without. Since I’ve never made these before I wanted to test the spice level this time.)

    When your vinegar/water mixture has boiled, fill each jar, leaving 1/2 inch of space at the top. Seal up your jars and process them in a boiling water bath for 10-15 minutes. When they are done, your jars could take anywhere from 1 second to 30 minutes to seal. (You’ll know they are sealed when you press down on the middle and it doesn’t spring back at all.)

    Give these about 6 weeks before opening for the flavors to meld…if you can stand to wait that long.

  • Tomato Soup

    Submitted by Kate Martin

    • 1 large onion, chopped
    • 2 cloves garlic, chopped
    • 1 1/2 Tbs butter
    • 1 Tbs olive oil
    • 2 tsp. each dried thyme and dried basil
    • 3 Tbs tomato paste
    • 3 lbs. fresh ripe tomatoes, peeled, seeded and chopped
    • salt and pepper to taste
    • 4 cups chicken broth

    Saute onion and garlic in butter and olive oil. Add spices, tomato paste, salt, pepper and tomatoes. Cook for 10 minutes. Add broth. Cover slightly and simmer 30 minutes more. Puree in a blender, food processor, or using an immersion blender. This recipe freezes great and is a perfect dish to pull out on a cool fall evening.