APPETIZERS & SMALL PLATES
Parsnip ‘Fries’
Cut off ends of parsnips and julienne. Toss with olive oil, salt and pepper. Bake in a 375 degree oven until some fries begin to brown.
Serve with mayonnaise or ketchup.
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Roasted Brussels Sprouts
1 1/2 pounds Brussels sprouts, ends trimmed and yellow leaves removed
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (205 degrees C).
Toss Brussels sprouts in olive oil, salt, and pepper. Pour onto a baking sheet, and place on center oven rack.
Roast in the preheated oven for 30 to 45 minutes, shaking pan every 5 to 7 minutes for even browning. Reduce heat when necessary to prevent burning.
Brussels sprouts should be darkest brown, almost black, when done. Adjust seasoning with kosher salt, if necessary. Serve immediately.
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Coconut Rutabaga Carrot Mash
2 rutabaga, roughly chopped
4-5 carrots, roughly chopped
2 T brown sugar or maple syrup
¼ cup thick coconut milk (sub. light cream)
½ t nutmeg
Cook rutabagas and carrots in boiling salted water until tender, about 30 minutes. Drain vegetables, transfer to a food processor and purée with brown sugar, and coconut milk until very smooth. If necessary, transfer purée back to pot and reheat. Add a little salt if desired. Serve with a sprinkle of toasted coconut shavings.
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Kale
Running out of ideas for kale? Now that it's storage veggie season, kale goes very well with mashed potatoes. If you find your taste buds shying away from the texture of sauteed kale, try the same ingredients, only roasted in an oven at 375 degrees for 6 minutes, stir, and bake 8 minutes more. Makes the leaves crunchy!
For those who think they don't like their greens!
Kale and Apples
1 bunch kale, rib removed and chopped
2 tart apples, diced
1/2 onion, diced
2 T olive oil
2 T balsamic vinegar
¼ cup apple cider
2 T lemon juice
¼ cup diced fennel (optional)
In a pot, saute onions and fennel in oil (about 5 minutes). Add kale, apples, lemon juice, and apple cider. Stir and cover until kale begins to wilt (about 3 minutes). Turn off the burner and toss with balsamic vinegar.
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Roasted Corn and Peach Salsa
4 ears corn
6 peaches
1 onion
1 pepper
5 tomatillos or 2 tomatoes (optional)
4 cloves garlic
¼ cup vinegar
1 hot pepper
salt to taste
Roast the corn under the broil in the oven or on a grill. Cut from cobs. Dice or food process peaches, mix with corn, minced onion, tomatillos or tomatoes if you’re using them, pepper, minced garlic and hot pepper. Add vinegar and salt to taste. Let it sit for an hour if time to let the flavors blend.
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Caramelized Leeks and Apples
A sweet and savory side dish.
2-3 medium sized leeks
1 T brown sugar or maple syrup
1 T olive oil
salt and pepper
1½ T butter or margarine
Roughly ½ cup honey mustard (optional)
1 hot pepper (optional)
2-3 apples
Trim off the root and top edges of the leeks, leaving the middle part intact. Half the middle and chop into 1 inch rounds. Heat the olive oil and butter; when melted add the leeks and toss well. Cook slowly for about 10 minutes or until the leeks start to soften. Add sugar continue to cook for about 15 minutes, adding a small amount of hot water if the mixture starts to stick.
Slice apples into circles and arrange on a plate. Mix mustard with minced hot pepper and spread atop apple. Top with a spoonful of caramelized leeks.
From Red Fire Chef Kristen Schafenacker, 2007.
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EASY EDAMAME
1 plant worth of edamame pods or more,
salt
Boil enough water to cover all the bean pods. You can salt the water before or the beans after (or both) and they will take 5-10 minutes after the water comes to a boil to cook. You eat them by popping the beans out of the shell with your teeth.
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Fresh Mozzarella, Fennel and Celery Salad
(adapted from a recipe by Martha Holmberg, FOODday)
Makes 2 appetizer servings
8 ounces fresh mozzarella, cut into 1/4-inch slices
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
Half a fennel bulb
½ celery head, sliced as thinly as possible
1 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 teaspoon ground toasted fennel seed (see note)
2 tablespoons finely sliced fresh mint leaves
Arrange the mozzarella slices on 2 plates and season lightly with salt and pepper.
Core fennel, trim the top and peel the fibrous outer layer with a vegetable peeler; slice crosswise as thinly as possible. Add to a large bowl with the celery, lemon zest, lemon juice, olive oil, ground fennel seed and salt and pepper to taste. Distribute the salad over the cheese, sprinkle on the mint and serve within 15 minutes.
Note: To toast seeds, spread on baking sheet and bake in a 350-degree oven for 3 to 5 minutes or until brown. Grind using a spice grinder or mortar and pestle.
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Baba Ganouj
2, 1-pound eggplants, halved lengthwise
3 Tbs fresh lemon juice
3 Tbs olive oil
1 garlic clove, chopped
1/4 cup tahini
Preheat oven to 375°F. Generously oil rimmed baking sheet. Place eggplant halves, cut side down, on sheet. Roast until eggplant is very soft, about 45 minutes. Cool slightly.
Using spoon, scoop out pulp from eggplant into food processor. Add oil, tahini, lemon juice, and garlic; process until almost smooth. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Transfer to small bowl.
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Oven Roasted Tomatoes
6 medium tomatoes, sliced crosswise 1/2 - to 3/4 inch thick
Olive oil
Salt, pepper and sugar
Heat oven to 300º F. Line two baking sheets with aluminum foil; generously rub with oil. Arrange tomato slices in a single layer on prepared baking sheets. Sprinkle with salt, pepper and sugar. Roast until the tomatoes shrivel, the edges start to turn brown and most of the liquid around the tomatoes has caramelized, about 1 hour. Roasted tomatoes will keep 4 or 5 days in the refrigerator.
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Roasted Tomatillo Salsa Verde
This salsa is awesome! Sweet and tangy.
1 lb tomatillos (remove husks and cut in half)
3-6 cloves of garlic
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp lime juice, fresh is sweeter
1/4 cup diced sweet onion
1-3 diced jalapeno
chopped fresh cilantro, up to one bunch
1 tbsp maple syrup, or to taste
salt to taste
water, to desired consistency
for an extra twist add halved husk/ground cherries at the end
Roast tomatillos cut side down in a thick skillet until they soften most of the way through, and brown/blacken on the bottom. Then flip to cook the rounded side. You can snuggle the garlic cloves in there, cut in half, to roast at the same time. It's okay if things blacken a little. You can also roast your jalapeno if you like.
Blend roasted tomatillos, garlic, olive oil, and lime juice. Add a little water if you want a wetter salsa or your blender needs help. Add onion, cilantro, jalapeno and a little salt. Blend for a second to mix. Taste, add maple syrup if desired, more salt if needed, same with lime juice, and then husk cherries at the end if you want them. Serve with corn chips or burritos or on enchiladas etc.
Tip: if you want to make a big batch, you can roast everything in the oven instead.
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Fresh Tomato Corn Salsa
3 Tomatoes, chopped
3 ears Corn
1 Onion, chopped
1 pepper, chopped
3 cloves Garlic, minced
1 hot pepper, minced, or 1 tsp cayenne pepper
1⁄4 cup Lemon juice or vinegar
2 Tbs. Olive oil
Salt to taste
1 Tbs. Maple syrup
3 Tbs. Cilantro
Chop tomatoes, salt and let sit in a colander for 30
min. to drain off extra juice. In the meantime, cut
kernels from corn (yep, it's delicious raw) and mix in the rest of the ingredients, adding the drained tomatoes last and salting to taste.
Thanks for the wonderful veggies that are coming in so far. I'm enjoying them very much. I wanted to share two recipes that I recently tried and love. I hope others will try and enjoy eating them as well.
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Curried Carrot Dip
From Anna, a member of the CSA.
Thanks for the wonderful veggies that are coming in so far. I'm enjoying them very much. I wanted to share two recipes that I recently tried and love. I hope others will try and enjoy eating them as well. (Check out the Panama's Pink Potato Salad recipe on the salads page)
Makes about 2 cups
7 medium carrots (about 1 pound), cut into 1-inch chunks
1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric
1 teaspoon curry powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 clove garlic, minced
2 teaspoons ginger powder (or tsps of freshly grated ginger)
3/4 cup yogurt
1/4 cup mayonnaise
1/4 cup chopped cilantro leaves
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. In a large mixing bowl, combine the carrots with the turmeric, curry powder, salt, cayenne and oil. Toss to coat the carrots with the oil and spice mixture. Spread the carrots on a rimmed baking sheet, and roast for 30 minutes, until very tender and brown.
Put the roasted carrots in a food processor with the jalapeno, garlic, and ginger and puree. Add the yogurt and cilantro and process another few seconds until smooth and creamy. If the spread seems too thick add water 1 tablespoon at a time until you achieve the desired consistency. Taste, and add salt if needed. Serve warm or at room temperature with flatbread or crackers.
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Scallion- Cilantro Chutney
1 bunch cilantro
1 bunch scallions
1 Tbs. Lime juice
½ tsp. Salt
¼ tsp ground cumin
1 tsp maple syrup
¼ cup coconut
1 hot pepper or hot pepper flakes to taste.
Put all ingredients in a food processor and blend until smooth. This goes great with Indian food or as a substitute for salsa with chips.
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Green Bean French Fries
Very easy and yummy! Steam however many green beans you want (until they are just tender to easily bite and chew), then put on some butter or olive oil and salt, and eat with your fingers!
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Melty Roasted Summer Squash
Use however much squash you have or want to eat. Leftovers are great on sandwiches.
Slice squash or zucchini lengthwise into slices about 1/4 inch to 1/2 inch thick, and cut them all down the middle to make strips, then chop the lengths in half. Toss with olive oil to coat and salt and pepper and scatter on a baking sheet. Bake at 375 until squash is totally melty and then eat it!
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Easy Kale Chips
1 lb kale, chopped
Preheat oven to 400˚
Toss kale with olive oil, salt and pepper. Spread out on a baking sheet and bake, turning every 5 minutes until brown and crispy. Kale should be dry and able to be eaten by hand like chips!
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Here's a tasty seasonal snack recipe from Elaine in Longmeadow, one of our CSA members:
ZUCCHINI APPETIZER SQUARES
4 c thinly sliced zucchini *
1 c buttermilk baking mix
4 eggs – beaten to blend
½ c chopped onion
½ c freshly grated parmesan cheese + more to sprinkle on top
½ c plain yogurt
2 T chopped fresh parsley
1 clove garlic minced
½ t chopped oregano
½ t salt
Ground pepper to taste
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350
2. Butter 9 x 13 ovenproof glass baking dish
3. Mix together ingredients
4. Spread into prepared dish, sprinkle with additional parmesan cheese
5. Cook until tester comes out clean – 30 – 45 min.
6. Cut into squares and enjoy hot or at room temperature.
* you can use baseball bat sized zucchini for this – just remove the seeds and slice it thin.
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Green Garlic and White Bean Dip
1 (15-ounce) can white beans, drain and set aside liquid
6 stalks green garlic
½ tsp red chili flakes
1 Tbs fresh lemon juice
1 tsp finely minced fresh rosemary
1 tsp salt
¼ cup olive oil
Makes 2 cups.
Place all ingredients in the food processor and blend, adding back bean water until desired consistency is reached. Serve on crackers or toast with fresh rosemary as garnish.
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