Week Twenty-Four

Hi Everybody!

Expect the following produce in your shares this week:

 

Lettuce

Bok Choy

Broccoli Greens

Parsnips

Sweet Potatoes

Large Radishes

Carrots

Parsley

Broccoli Greens? (My new favorite green.)

Just a quick note about these delectable greens.  Broccoli plants look almost exactly like kale plants, except they form a head of broccoli.  Well, we had hundreds of plants that didn’t produce heads of broccoli this fall, but that doesn’t mean the plants are wasted.  Broccoli greens are actually quite delicious.  They are very similar to kale or collards, and they are extremely sweet.  Like all Brassicas, broccoli greens are high in vitamins A, C, and E, contain cancer beating compounds and lots of potassium.  They are also extra nutritious because Broccoli greens are a great source of protein.  Eat ’em up!

Recipes

Dry Stew

Sam and I pretty much stick to eating what we produce all year round, so we eat a lot of roots and greens during the cold season.  We enjoy eating this way, but I admit, it takes a bit of getting used to.  You have to be creative, but also willing to eat similar dishes from night to night.   Sam will say (on any given night), “I want crispy roasted potatoes, and garlicky kale, what can we make?” or, on another night, “Oh, can we have roasted sweet potatoes and chard, what do you think?”  I frequently reply,  “Dry stew.”  It’s kind of a formula, so I will just outline all the different options for all the different veggies.   Using this formula you can make a Mediterrian style dry stew, a Mexican inspired dry stew, or an Indian spiced dry stew.

Ingredients:

About 4 cups cubed starchy vegetable: potatoes, sweet potatoes or peeled and seeded winter squash

2-3 onions, sliced

5 cloves garlic, peeled

1 quart whole tomatoes

1 quart cooked beans, preferably chickpeas or white beans

1-2 bunches greens: kale, broccoli greens, chard, mustard, raab, or a mixture

herbs and spices: parsley, rosemary, sage, oregano, thyme; cumin, corriander, etc

1.  Preheat oven to 375.  Place potatoes in a 9 x 13 in glass baking dish, coat with oil and season with salt and pepper.  Place in oven and bake while you prepare the other ingredients.  (This gives the potatoes a head start.  If they begin to brown, remove them from the oven.)

2.  Saute onions and garlic in olive oil over medium heat until translucent.  Add chickpeas and tomatoes, let simmer for a few minutes.

3.  Boil water in a medium sized sauce pot.  De-stem greens if necessary and roughly chop.  Blanch the green by placing them in the boiling water for 60 seconds, then transfer to a colander.

4.  Remove potatoes from oven and stir into the tomato/bean mixture.  Add the blanched greens and season with herbs and/or spices of choice.  Season with salt and pepper and transfer back into glass baking dish.

5.  Bake for 20-30 more minutes, until the potatoes are well cooked and the flavors are well-developed.

6.  Remove from oven and let stand 5 minutes before serving.

West African Ground Nut Stew

The following recipe comes from our friend, member and chef/chocolatier extraordinaire Lagusta. (Check out her awesome site here.)  She adapted this recipe from Bloodroot, a vegetarian restaurant in Connecticut.  Sam has made this dish, it is quite tasty, and makes good use of parsnips and sweet potatoes.

MARINADE:

1 ts. red pepper flakes

1 ts. dried ground ginger root

1/4 ts. ground cardamom

1 ts. ground coriander

pinch ground nutmeg

pinch ground cloves

1/4 ts. ground cinnamon

pinch ground allspice

1/4 c lemon juice

1/4 c lime juice

2 Tb. grape seed oil

STEW

1 lb or so tempeh, cut into thin strips

grape seed oil for frying

3 medium parsnips, peeled, cut into 1” pieces

2 large onions, diced

1 c peanuts

8 or so cloves garlic, peeled and finely chopped

3 smallish sweet potatoes, peeled or not according to your taste, cut into 1” pieces

1 c creamy peanut butter, crunchy is fine too

1/3-1/2 c shoyu, to your taste

2 Tb. lemon juice

1 (28 oz.) can whole peeled tomatoes

2 c raw millet

1. Combine marinade ingredients and pour over tempeh. Marinate for 1-3 days. Or just a few hours. Or, bake the tempeh in a 375°F oven for a bit (my trick when you forgot to marinate something).
2. Drain tempeh, reserving marinating liquid. Fry tempeh in grape seed oil until nicely browned.
3. In a large saucepot, heat oil to cover bottom of pan and sauté onion, then parsnips. Add yams, garlic and peanuts when onions and parsnips are browned. Add reserved marinating liquid.
4. In blender, combine peanut butter, shoyu, and lemon juice, adding 1/2 cup water.
5. Add contents of blender plus 1-3 c more water to pot, or enough to make a nice stewy consistency. Blend tomatoes for a few seconds, then add to pot. Add pan-fried tempeh. Bring to a boil, then turn to a simmer and cook 30 minutes, or until parsnips are soft but not mushy. Taste and adjust seasonings as necessary.
6. Cook millet (like rice) and serve it alongside.