Yummy Yards CSA Box 17 and why Hallowe’en Scares Me

Cooking or sewing.  No time to do both.  The crab apples from box 14 sat forlornly in a bowl on my counter, threatening to go bad, for almost two weeks while I sat at the dining room table, happily sewing  and eating left-overs.  In the nick of time I poached them (the crab-apples, not the left-overs), along with the quince from last week’s box, following Emi’s recipe for poached quince, more or less.

Quince is a surly sort of fruit, and it puts up a fight!  I removed a whole hunk of my thumb trying to peel it.  By the time I got all the skin off the whole fruit had turned brown.  Then I had to try two different knives before I could quarter and core it.  I was cursing it all  along.  But it was worth it!  I used plenty of ginger jam in this recipe and the result was spicy-sweet deliciousness.  Kind of mealy like a pear, sweetly soft like a poached apple.  Delicious warm, with ice cream, and a little of the poaching liquid drizzled over top.  Thanks for the recipe, Emi!

The poached crab-apples, by contrast, are more beautiful than they are tasty.  Or I should say, they start out very tasty and juicy-sweet, but the last bite nearest the core is quite unpleasant.  Stop eating while you’re ahead.  But they are a beautiful garnish, and they’re practically inedible uncooked, so if you happen to acquire a bunch of them you might as well poach them.

Poached Crab-Apples and Quince with Cardamom and Ginger

• 1 cup water
• 1 TSP lemon juice
• 1/4 cup ginger jam
• 10 green cardamoms, bruised

Mix together the poaching ingredients in a large pot.  Bring to a gentle simmer.

Leave the crab-apples whole, stems on.  Poach in the simmering liquid, lid on, for about 20 minutes, until soft.  Remove to a plate.

Peel, quarter and core the quince (good luck).  Simmer gently about 45 minutes until the fruit is soft and barely starting to fall apart.  Cool in the syrup.  Discard cardamom pods.

Serve warm with vanilla ice cream.

Roasted Broccoli with Parmesan Cheese

This broccoli was so good it didn’t even make it onto a plate.  My husband and I devoured it straight from the pan, with our fingers.  The leaves and flower bits become crisp and crunchy, the stems tender.  There’s no point in ever preparing it any other way.

• 1 bunch broccoli, washed and separated into florets
• 1TBSP olive oil
• 1/2 TSP sea salt
• 1/4 cup parmesan cheese

Toss all ingredients together then spread out evenly in baking pan.  Roast at 400 degrees, uncovered, about 30 minutes until crisp.

---

Hallowe’en Anxiety in the Mother of a Child with Prader-Willi Syndrome

(I’m the mother)

It’s not an easy thing to ask a child to control the type and amount of food they eat. If it is due to a food allergy the child will learn from experience to avoid that food.  A person with gluten sensitivity learns that they feel better when they don’t eat gluten.  It’s simple cause and effect.

But a person with Prader-Willi Syndrome experiences no immediate unpleasantness from indulging, and continues to feel famished even when the stomach is physically full.  Try telling a person who thinks they are starving that they have had enough to eat!  Now put out a table spread with baking and other treats and tell them they can’t have any.  It is a form of torture.

Prader- Willi is a cruel and strange syndrome.  Not only does the brain never register fullness, but due to a very slow metabolism and low muscle-tone, the body requires only half the calories of a typical diet.  This leaves no room for treats and empty calories.

It’s not even that junk food is unhealthy, as is any parent’s concern.  For someone with PWS it is actually deadly. The weight quickly mounts, increasing the risk of diabetes, worsening the sleep apnoea typical of the syndrome. The presence of food or food aromas is extremely distracting to the person with Prader-Willi. There is an overpowering fixation on food that can not be shaken. Foraging, stealing and eating of in-edibles is common.  Given the opportunity, the person with Prader-Willi will continue eating until the food is backed up in the throat, spewing out of the mouth, and the stomach tears.  With a very high pain threshold and absence of vomiting common to the syndrome, this can go unnoticed and cause death.

There is no remedy for Prader-Willi, and it stays for life.  The best I can do is to minimize the difficulty for my child.  I can ask those around her to not feed her or offer her food, to not put her in the position of having to turn down food. I keep treats out of sight and only indulge myself when she is asleep or away.

When we celebrate I can ask those around her to help by providing only low calorie, nutritious food in very small portions.  She has a lifetime ahead of her of occasions that centre around food: special dinners, birthday cakes, Valentine treats, Easter eggs, birthday cupcakes at school, Hallowe’en parties, Christmas parties, birthday parties, not to mention free samples at Costco, jars of candy canes in banks and businesses, after-dinner mints, check-outs in grocery stores lined with junk food at her height, vending machines with candies and gum, the smell of bakeries and coffee shops. It’s everywhere!  It’s everywhere!  And she can’t have any of it.

What this rant is leading up to is some

Suggestions for Reducing Calorie Content in Baked Goods

Sensible baking for all!  These tips work well for muffins, loaves and bars.

• When baking do not add oil. Instead use the same amount of unsweetened apple sauce or mashed banana in its place.
• All sugars and syrups are roughly equivalent in calories, despite their source, so reduce rather than substitute sweeteners.  Eliminate sugar, honey, etc. in recipes, or at the very least reduce by 1/2. The apple sauce will add a little sweetness.
• Chocolate chips, though they contain sugar, can be added sparingly, giving a burst of  sweetness in an otherwise sugar-free baked good.
• Same for raisins.
• Intensify the sweet flavour by doubling or tripling vanilla and spices.
• Adding carrot or zucchini helps produce a moist loaf or muffin.
• Do not use frosting.  Decorate with a fine dusting of cocoa powder.  A stencil can be used for this and looks really fancy.
• Substituting half the plain flour for whole wheat flour in baking will increase the nutritional content, while not making much difference to the texture.
• Substitute fat-free yoghurt in dips for at least half of the amount of mayonnaise or sour cream.
• Cut squares into very small pieces. 
• Bake muffins in mini tins.

In your own home I wish you health and happiness, and all the delicious, comforting foods your heart desires.  Happy baking.

Yummy Yards CSA Boxes 14, 15

Leek and Potato Soup

Figured I’d better have a go at leek and potato soup at least once in my life, having never eaten it before.  I see now why it is so beloved.  I was very sorry when the left-overs ran out.

• Several leeks, sliced white and light green bits only
• 1 onion, diced
• 2 bay leaves
• 4 Yukon Gold or Russet potatoes, cubed
• About 1 cup left-over roasted carrots
• Vegetable broth
• All the dark green part of the leeks, scrubbed, but left whole
• Small dash Matouk’s hot sauce (the secret ingredient)

1. Tie the leek greens into a bundle with kitchen twine.  Failing that, put kitchen twine on your Christmas list, and find some other way to keep the leeks together, such as using an old jar wrench, which works better for this than it does for opening jars.
2. Melt butter in soup pot.  Sauté onions and sliced leeks.  Add bay leaf, vegetable broth, potatoes and leek bundle to pot.  With lid on, gently simmer the bejiggers out of it until the leek bundle is very, very limp.  Remove leek bundle and bay leaf. 
3. Purée with hand blender.  Add just one smallish dash of Matouk’s.  Adjust for salt and pepper.  Grab your Phentex slippers, a large slice of hot, buttered, toasted sourdough bread and enjoy.

Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Maple Syrup

Until this evening I would not have called myself a fan of the Brussels sprout.  Boiling really does them no favours.  But roasting!  Crunchy, tender, sweet, salty, only bitter enough to be intriguing.  A whole different little vegetable!

• 1 stem-full of Brussels sprouts, removed from stem, de-bugged and cut in half length-wise
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 tablespoon maple syrup
• sea salt and fresh pepper

Toss halved Brussels sprouts with oil and maple syrup.  Spread out, cut side down, on baking sheet.  Sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Roast in convection oven at 400 degrees for 15 to 20 minutes.  The outside leaves will get deliciously crispy and almost uncomfortably brown.  That’s when they are perfectly done.

Roasted Cabbage with Fennel

This is a Martha Stewart recipe:  http://www.marthastewart.com/315062/roasted-cabbage-wedges .

I actually followed the recipe, though I cut my cabbage in wedges, rather than rounds, and used fennel in order to free up a precious Tupperware container for the kids’ lunches.  I found the fennel growing in a back alley and just happened to have a pair of kitchen scissors in the glove box.  Unrolled the window, looked furtively left and right,  and snip!  A lovely sprig of fennel.  It hung on a cupboard handle for about 10 days until very dry.  I had been intending to use it for chai, but man!  I needed that container!  And it made for a very good cabbage dish.

Later I used some of this roasted cabbage, along with left-over roasted rutabaga, turnips, mushrooms and hot Italian sausage to make Bubble and Squeak. 

Bubble and Squeak

Chuck whatever left-over cooked veggies you have into a cast iron pan with butter and whatever left-over cooked meat you have.  Brown on the bottom, add salt and pepper, then enjoy on a crisp Fall afternoon wearing Phentex slippers.  Especially delicious with your Auntie Jane’s garden fresh tomatoes, sliced, with salt and pepper.

Fresh Ugly Tomato, Roasted Aubergine and Chocolate Pasta Sauce

Didn’t feel up to the task of removing all the scabby bits from those late season, ugly, cracked tomatoes, so I washed them well and threw them whole into a pot with an onion and some herbs.  When it was all nice and mushy I passed it through my food mill to get rid of the scabs, skins and seeds and made an interesting little pasta sauce:

• 1 onion, diced
• Olive oil
• Tomatoes, as many as you have.  10-ish?
• 2 or 3 bay leaves
• 1 tsp. oregano
• 1 tsp. basil
• 1/2 square unsweetened baker’s chocolate
• 5 or 6 roasted baby eggplants
• Salt and pepper
• Capers

Sauté the onion in olive oil until soft.  Add tomatoes, bay leaves, oregano, basil.  Simmer gently until the tomato is very soft.  Cool slightly then pass through the food mill.  Add chocolate.  Pass eggplant through food mill, then add to pot.  Simmer gently and taste for salt and pepper.  Serve on pasta with lots of capers on top.  The capers really make the dish.  Don’t forget the capers.

Roasted Green Tomato Salsa with Tequila

Lastly, here is a recipe to use up all those un-ripened tomatoes that are about to get spoiled by the first frost.  This is an earthy, tangy, almost murky-flavoured salsa for chips, on top of eggs, inside quesadillas, mixed into fajita innards.  Very interesting and (dare I say it?) mature.  I plan to freeze it in cubes to add to Mexican dishes throughout the winter.  A little goes a long way.

• Green tomatoes
• 1 tsp. olive oil
• Cumin seed
• Chile flakes
• 1 or 2 jalapeno peppers
• Large shot tequila
• Large shot lemon juice
• 3 green onions, chopped
• Salt

Wash the green tomatoes and place in a baking dish with jalapeno peppers, olive oil, cumin and red pepper.  Shake to coat evenly with oil.  Roast at 400 degrees until tomatoes are soft, about 40 minutes.  When cool pulse in food processor with tequila and  lemon.   Add the onions at the end and taste for salt.

Yummy Yards CSA BOX 13

I still had apples falling this week, so I searched the web and found an interesting-looking  apple cake.  Or was it a pie?  Kind of both.  It used loads of apples, so call it what you like, it did the trick.  It was easy and tasty and HUGE.  It was so big that after 3 days there was still half of it left, and the apple had seeped into the crust, making it too mushy for my liking.  I would recommend this cake for a large gathering.  Gobble it all up the day it is made and the crust will still be nicely caramelized, like the best bits on the top of an apple crisp.

I added 1 tsp. ground cardamom to the original recipe. I don’t seem able to make a recipe as written…

http://www.marthastewart.com/341316/apple-pie-cake   

---

Next we have a very delicate, creamy soup, with lingering flavours of roasted garlic and squash. Mine turned out a little greenish because I tossed in the zucchini water left over from making zucchini bread.  It would look nicer without the green tinge, and perhaps be  a little more elegant without the corn, but a delicious, warming soup; just right for a fall evening.  While wearing a sweater.  And a pair of Phentex slippers.

Roasted Squash and Garlic Soup with Fresh Corn

• 4 or 5 small crookneck squash, unpeeled, cut into chunks
• 4 or 5 whole garlic cloves, unpeeled
• 1 tsp.  plus 1 tbsp. olive oil
• 1 onion, diced
• 1 bay leaf
• Vegetable broth
• 1 ear corn, kernels cut off
• Cream
• Salt and pepper

Toss in 1 tsp. olive oil, then roast garlic and squash at 400 degrees in oven until tender.  Peel and chop garlic when cool.

Sauté onion in 1 tbsp. olive oil.  Add garlic, squash, bay leaf and broth.  Simmer until all veg is soft.  Remove bay leaf.  Purée soup with hand blender.  Add corn and simmer until tender, about 4 minutes.  Adjust salt and pepper.  Add a splash of cream just before serving.

---

Still on the topic of food to enjoy with slippers when the weather starts to change, I used to be crazy about Abuelita Mexican hot chocolate.  One day I ran out, and after a little experimentation hit upon a recipe that is much, much better.  The original recipe is at http://allrecipes.com/recipe/creamy-hot-cocoa/.  I’ve adapted it to be less sweet and lower in calories, since it uses way less sugar and evaporated milk instead of cream.  And if I need a Mexican chocolate fix I can always just add a pinch of cinnamon and maybe a little chile pepper.

Perfect Hot Cocoa

• 1/3 cup cocoa
• 1/3 cup white sugar
• Pinch of salt
• 1 cup boiling water
• 1 can evaporated milk
• 2 or 3 cups milk – I use 1%
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• Mini marshmallows, of course

Whisk the cocoa, sugar and salt together in a medium pot.  Whisk in the boiling water .  Heat the sludge to a gentle boil, then add the milks.  Heat just to the point of boiling.  The more you whisk, the frothier it will become.  Turn off heat.  Add vanilla.  Pour into cups and top with marshmallows. 

Ahhh, good chocolate.

Hmm.  Time for some new slippers…

Yummy Yards CSA Box #12

The first two recipes I made this week didn’t have any ingredients at all in them from this week’s box, but they did become ingredients for cooking up the box contents later.  And how!

Those darn apples just kept falling off the tree so I made and canned several more batches of apple sauce, with and without fresh ginger.

Though both kids claim to like it,  (“It tastes just like real apple sauce, Mum!”), it always comes back from school untouched.  There’s something about eating it out of Tupperware that puts them off.   I’ve resolved to use it up in place of oil in baking. 

Here is my super-easy recipe for apple sauce: no peeling, no coring, and you’re left with a lovely rosy-coloured, delicious sauce.  Better than real apple sauce!

Apple Sauce

1. Wash, then cut bad spots and bruises off as many apples as you have on hand.  I used at least two heaping sinks full for my last sauce-making extravaganza. 
2. If they are windfall apples, cut through the core to make sure you are not making Apple Worm Sauce by mistake.
3. Throw the works into a very large stock pot.  Add about 1 cup water, just enough to cover the bottom and prevent scorching. Bring to a gentle simmer.  Cover and cook until the apples start to fall apart, stirring occasionally. 
4. Cool to room temperature.
5. Pass the apples through a food mill to remove the cores and seeds.  If you don’t have a food mill, you can press the apples through a sieve over a large bowl, using the back of a large spoon.  This is way more time-consuming, but strangely satisfying.
6. Depending on the type of apples used, you may need to adjust for sweetness or tartness with sugar or lemon juice.  
7. Can in boiling water for 10 minutes.

Ginger Apple Sauce

For a delicious, warming variation, add a large hunk of peeled, chopped ginger with the apples and continue with rest of recipe.

---

Speaking of ginger, next we have Ginger Jam.  I was getting dangerously low, so I bought about 6 large hands of ginger at the veggie store for less than $3, and went to work.  I’ve made this recipe twice before and been very happy with the results, but this time I think it is absolutely perfected.  I now have seven jars of the spiciest, most tasty ginger jam ever.  There is no going back. 

It takes a bit of muscle for this recipe, and a fair time to peel the ginger.  I recommend watching a documentary on Ray  Kurzweil while you peel and it won’t seem like such a chore. The effort is absolutely worth it if you love the flavour of ginger.

Ginger Jam

• 5 or 6 hands of fresh ginger
• 4 cups water
• 5 cups sugar
• 1 package liquid pectin

1. Peel and slice with the grain several hands of ginger.  You are aiming for about three or four cups full when it is all sliced.
2. Place ginger in a large pot with about 4 cups water.  Cover and simmer gently for about 1 1/2 hours, until it is tender.  Don’t let it boil dry;  add more water if necessary.
3. Drain ginger in a sieve, reserving liquid for other recipes.
4. When the ginger is cool chop it very, very well in a food processor.
5. Pass the chopped ginger through a food mill.  This is tough work.  At first it will seem like you are only getting juice out of the ginger, but persevere!  Eventually you will extract all the meat, leaving behind a dry mass of unappetizing, coarse fibres.
6. Return the ginger pulp to the pan.  Add sugar.  Bring to boil.  Boil hard for 1 minute.
7. Add the package of liquid pectin.  Simmer 7 minutes, skimming off the (delicious) scum.
8. Can as usual: 10 minutes in a boiling water bath.

Some uses for left-over ginger liquid:

1. Add a splash to lemonade
2. Lovely in a gin and tonic
3. Include when making chai concentrate
4. Add it to poaching liquid for fish

Next I used some of the uncooked, chopped ginger and some of the left-over ginger liquid to poach a trout.  Sometimes I have even used a glob of the jam, itself, for the job.  I also used the green parts of the leeks and it made a very good poaching liquid.

Leek and Ginger Poached Trout or Salmon

• Leek greens, chopped
• Ginger liquid – 1/2 to 1 cup
• Water to cover bottom of poacher
• Ginger, chopped
• Soy sauce – 2 splashes

1. Place chopped leeks on bottom of poaching pan.  Add ginger liquid and water.  Simmer 10 minutes.  Turn off heat.  Be sure there is enough liquid left to cover bottom of pot.
2. Place fish on poaching tray and fit into poacher.  Sprinkle with ginger and soy sauce.
3. Place lid on poacher and simmer very, very gently for about 1o minutes.  If the heat is too high white gunk will come out of the fish and make it look yucky.  It will taste just fine, but you won’t want to serve it to the Queen.  Turn off heat and let sit, covered, for another 10 minutes.
4. Remove skin.  Reserve poaching liquid to use as soup stock.

I make a poached fish two or three times a month and keep it in the fridge.  There are many ways to enjoy it:

• warm, with rice
• cold, in chunks, on salad greens with chopped mushrooms, Craisins or strawberries and Ginger Jam Jar Dressing.*
• in a toasted hamburger bun with Zucchini Relish and lettuce
• or in the next recipe: Salmon Soup with Ginger and Broccoli Tops

*Ginger Jam Jar Dressing:  into a nearly empty jar of ginger jam, add rice vinegar, olive oil, salt, pepper.  Shake to free all the good bits stuck to the side of the jar.  Makes a very yummy salad dressing.

Salmon Soup with Ginger and Broccoli Tops

• 1 leek, chopped
• Butter – 1 glob
• 2 carrots, chopped
• Poaching liquid from salmon, or veggie or fish stock
• Ginger liquid, optional
• Poached salmon or trout
• Broccoli tops, separated and cut into manageable pieces

1. Sauté leek in butter until beginning to soften. 
2. Add carrot, stock and optional ginger liquid.  Simmer until carrots are tender.
3. Add broccoli tops and cook gently 3 minutes.
4. Place cold salmon in bowls.  Pour soup over top.

   ---

OK, now, what about all that apple sauce?  In a dual effort to introduce more veg into the kids’ diet, and to have something on hand to pack in their school lunches, I decided to do a head-to-head chocolate zucchini cake battle:  Martha Stewart’s Chocolate Zucchini Cakes with Walnuts vs Bon Appétit Chocolate Zucchini Cake.  Kind of.  I made changes to each recipe: apple sauce instead of oil, whole wheat flour for part of the white flour, reduced sugar content, and soured evaporated milk in place of buttermilk or sour cream. 

To make soured evaporated milk add contents of one can to two large squirts lemon juice in a large measuring cup.  Let sit a few minutes until curdled. 

Here are the recipes as I made them:

(No Longer) Bon Appétit Chocolate Zucchini Cake

• 1 1/4 cups sifted all-purpose flour
• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 1/2 cup cocoa powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 1/2 cup butter, room temperature
• 1/2 cup apple sauce
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup soured evaporated milk
• 2 cups grated unpeeled zucchini
• 1  cup chocolate chips
• 3/4 cup chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 325°F. Butter and flour 13 x 9 x 2-inch baking pan. Sift flours, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt into medium bowl. Beat sugar, butter and apple sauce until well blended. Add eggs 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in vanilla extract. Mix in dry ingredients alternately with soured milk in 3 additions each. Mix in grated zucchini. Pour batter into prepared pan. Sprinkle chocolate chips and nuts over.

Bake cake until tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 50 minutes. Cool cake completely in pan.

Martha Stewart’s Chocolate Zucchini Cakes with (or without) Walnuts – Bastardized Version

• 1/2 cup butter, room temperature
• 1/2 cup apple sauce
• 1 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• Walnuts
• 1  cup all-purpose flour
• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 2 cups grated zucchini
• 1/2 cup cocoa powder
• 1 cup chocolate chips
• 6 tablespoons soured evaporated milk
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• Non-stick cooking spray

1. Preheat oven to 350°F.  Beat butter, apple sauce, sugar, salt, and egg. Add vanilla, zucchini and milk and stir until incorporated.  Add sifted flours and cocoa powder and stir until combined.  Stir in chocolate chips.

2. Spray three mini muffin pans and a loaf pan with cooking spray. Fill each cup with batter and top with a walnut.  Or not. Bake until a toothpick inserted in center of a muffin comes out clean, 15 to 20 minutes. Let muffins cool slightly in pans on wire racks before turning out.  Bake the loaf about 50 minutes.

The house smelled so good!  Both recipes produced delicious cake, but the winner is…the Bon Appétit cake by a small margin.  It is more cake-y, while the Martha Stewart one is more dense and brownie-like.  Sorry, Martha.  Also, I’m not a big fan of chunks of chocolate in stuff;  I prefer the chocolate chips melted on top of the cake.  It seems more like icing that way, though it is a bugger to slice. 

Anyway, samples were eagerly gobbled up by everyone in the house, and no one seemed to notice the zucchini or the apple sauce, or that there were two different recipes in play.  I wrapped the slices in plastic wrap, to be frozen and slipped into school lunches as needed.

Which brings me to the next recipe.  There was still more grated zucchini, so I pressed on, making a batch of rather yummy, crispy zucchini pancakes, based on a recipe I cut out of a magazine years ago.  Sorry, I don’t know which one.

Zucchini Pancakes

• 3 or so cups grated zucchini
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 leek, sliced
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 2 eggs, slightly beaten
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• Salt and pepper
• Oil for shallow frying

1. Place the zucchini in a colander and sprinkle with salt.  Mix.  Let sit 10 minutes.  Press out liquid.  Mix with rest of ingredients, except oil.  Obviously. 
2. Heat oil in pan.  Drop spoonful of batter into oil and cook until starting to crisp up at edges.  Turn and continue until browned on both sides.  Drain.

   Lastly, before and after pictures of the mother of all turnips from my box this week.  It had to live on the counter until I could cook it, since it would not even begin to fit in the fridge.  It became a lovely mash with butter, cream, salt and pepper.

Yummy Yards CSA Box #11

Imagine having a big bag of tomatillos in the fridge, and NOT making salsa verde.  It seems wrong, I know.  Very wrong.  But I went outside of my comfort zone and did just that this week.  And I’d do it again, too,  providing there were at least two batches of salsa verde already  in the freezer.

Recipe #1 is  a very delicious chutney made of tomatillos and a whack of green tomatoes, which came from 2 neighbours’ gardens.  I pretty much followed the recipe, Tom-Tom Chutney, but made a few little changes.  It made 11 cups.

Green Tomato and Tomatillo Chutney

• 5-6 cups roughly chopped green tomatoes
• 4-5 cups tomatillos, husked and rinsed
• 1 1/2 cups California raisins
• 1 1/2 cups chopped onion
• 2 cups packed brown sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 3/4 cups Japanese and regular vinegar,  mixed
• 2 tablespoons pickling spice, ground
• 1 1/2 teaspoons chilli powder
• 1 1/2 inches fresh ginger, peeled and chopped
• 1 heaping tablespoon brown mustard seed

1. Mix all the ingredients in a large pot over medium heat. Bring to a boil, and stir until the brown sugar has dissolved. Reduce heat, and simmer until thickened and the tomatillos are broken down, 1 to 2 hours, stirring occasionally.
2. Pack into sterilized jars and process for 15 minutes.

I ate the chutney, still warm, with Indian greens from last week and basmati rice.  It was so good I decided to use all the braising greens from this week, along with the carrot tops and turnip greens, to make more Indian Greens

The second tomatillo recipe is Vegetable Soup, using lots of tomatillos for the base.  It went Tuscan with a spoonful of pesto stirred into the bowl, and Asian with a splash of Maggi, instead.  Very good both ways, and since it makes a huge batch, it’s almost not like eating left-overs again and again.

Garden Vegetable Soup, Two Ways

• olive oil
• onion, chopped
• garlic
• bay leaf
• carrots, diced
• tomatillos
• water or vegetable broth
• zucchini, yellow and green, cubed
• kale or other greens, chopped
• corn kernels
• basil or other herbs
• salt and pepper

Sauté the onion and garlic in the olive oil in a large pot.  Add the bay leaf and carrots and cook 2 or 3 minutes.  Add tomatillos and simmer gently until they begin to break down and the carrots are tender.  Add water or vegetable broth.  Bring to simmer.  Add zucchini and greens.  Cook until barely done.  Add corn kernels, herbs and cook until warmed through.  Taste for seasoning.  Ladle into bowls and top with pesto or a dash of Maggi sauce.

Roasted Turnips, Potatoes and Carrots

Cubed the veg, then tossed with olive oil and sea salt and roasted in convection oven at 325 degrees.  We forgot to eat them for supper, but I remembered to turn off the oven, so by the time they were removed they were a little shrivelled up. 

The next day I reheated them in a cast iron pan and they got crispy and hash-brownish.  I ate them with sliced tomato, zucchini relish, buttered multi-grain sourdough bread, toasted, and a big glass of apple-carrot juice from last week. Really, I felt like a queen. Or a homesteader. Homestead Queen…?

Yummy Yards CSA Box #10

I spent the week juicing apples, making a birthday cake, and baking cookies for goody bags.  I was so busy we had pizza  5 times!  The party was Saturday, so Sunday night I finally got a chance to cook some of the lovely veggies in the box.  Figured I’d better cook a lot of them, since with (unbearably) gradual entry to school next week I don’t imagine I’ll get much time in the kitchen.  Made a variation on the Indian Greens from a previous post.  Here’s what I did this time:

Mixed Greens, Indian Style, Version 2

• 1 tsp. cumin seed

• 1/2 tsp. black mustard seed

• large chunk of fresh ginger, chopped

• 1/2 tsp. turmeric

• 1/2 tsp. salt

• 1 tsp. ground coriander

• 2  onions, chopped

• kale and beet greens, chopped

• squash stems and leaves, peeled (see below)

• 3 bird’s eye peppers, seeds removed, minced

• 6 tomatoes, peeled and quartered

• 1 batch carrot top pesto from last week

• 2 tbsp. dry, unsweetened coconut

• lemon juice

• 1 goodly pinch of sugar

• salt to taste

To prepare the squash greens, peel from the cut ends of the stems, like taking the strings out of celery.  This gets rid of most of the nasty prickles.

Heat oil in pan. Add cumin seed and black mustard seed. When it starts to pop add ginger, turmeric, salt and coriander. Stir in onion and hot peppers. Sauté until translucent, adding a splash of water if it begins to stick. Add chopped greens’ stems.  Sauté 2 or 3 minutes.  Add leaves, tomatoes and carrot top pesto. Cover and steam about 15 minutes. Stir in  coconut, lemon juice to taste and sugar.  Process well with immersion blender.

It turned out very tasty, especially good with a dollop of mango chutney, and we’ll be eating it for the rest of the week.  A welcome change from pizza.  At least for the grown-ups.

---

It was the first time I’d juiced apples.  We have a very old tree with good-tasting, but super scabby apples in our back yard.  I don’t even know what kind they are.  They crash to the ground day and night through August and into September.  I still have applesauce from two summers ago, and there’s only so much apple crumble and apple muffins a  person can make, so borrowed a friend’s friend’s juicer and went to town.  I thought I was making the biggest treat for my son, who complains bitterly about the lack of juice in our house.  He almost didn’t try it.  It looked… different.  And had froth on top.  He had one small glass, and that was it.  So, I froze several mason jars full of it, and I’ll enjoy it myself.  As a friend of my son’s exclaimed, “It tastes just like apples!”

Later, I did skim off most of the scum, and even strained the last batch, and ended up with about 3 cups of thick, revolting-looking apple scum (there’s just no other way to describe it)  that I plan to try in a batch of muffins, along with raisins and chai tea spice mix from the Indian spice section of Superstore.

Just ate two Apple Scum Muffins and I declare them a success.  Spicy and fragrant.  Use the Basic Muffin Recipe but for the “2 Cups Whatever Fruit” substitute all the apple scum, one grated apple, a handful of raisins, a handful of chopped walnuts and about 1 Tbsp. dry chai spice.

Next I threw a bunch of carrots into the juicer.  The juice was fine;  mixed it with apple juice and didn’t share any.  Couldn’t bear to throw out the carrot pulp, so will try it in muffins, too.  Will school please start already!!?

Today’s lunch:

Roasted Root Veg with Parmesan Cheese

Peel and cut into bite-sized chunks: kohlrabi, crookneck squash, carrots, green onions.  Toss with a splash of olive oil, a little sea salt.  Shake the pan to distribute evenly, then sprinkle on some Parmesan cheese.  Bake in convection oven at 350 degrees until barely tender.  The cheese will begin to brown, and there will be some yummy crispy bits at the bottom of the pan to fight over.  Kohlrabi is really delicious this way.

As for the cake, I made my same-old-same-old chocolate pound cake recipe from the cookbook that came with my mixer.  It never fails, even when I bake it in a pan that is too small and it takes a full 30 minutes longer than it should.  Dense and rich, iced with vanilla butter cream and decorated with bullets shooting the cake.  Yes, bullets.  The party theme was “Shooting”.  How far I’ve strayed from my pre-children parenting ideals.  And how unbearable I must have been…

Note: I highly recommend Laser Dome Plus in North Vancouver for birthday parties for very active children.  It was clean and friendly and not at all smelly or dark where it counted.  They supplied everything but the cake, fruit and goody bags.  I didn’t need to pack or worry about: Pizza, drinks, bowls for the chips and fruit, cutlery, a good cake-cutting knife, a cheerful, bright party room, plates, cups, matches, etc.  Nathan, our party guide, was friendly and efficient: he set up the party room before we arrived, got the kids ready to play, corralled the gifts, took photos, served the pizza and drinks, cut the cake, cleaned up the mess. He even wanted to carry the cake to the birthday boy and lead the singing!  But that is one of the perks of being a mother that I’ll never give up!

A110-2455 Dollarton Highway, North Vancouver

604 – 985 – 6033

Yummy Yards CSA Box #9

I love cucumber in salad.  Happened to have a bunch of Thai basil in the fridge, so whipped up a refreshing salad with the cucumber in the box.  If I’d had some mango on hand (fresh or dried) I would have thrown that in, too.  And if I wasn’t trying to get certain children to eat it, I would have put in one little hot red pepper, too.

Thai Basil Cucumber Salad

• 1 tbsp. fish sauce
• 1 tbsp. brown sugar
• 2 tbsp. lemon juice
• small sprinkling of salt
• cucumber, seeded and sliced thickly
• red and orange pepper, diced
• 1 bunch Thai basil, roughly chopped

Mix 1st 4 ingredients together.  Add veggies and let soak in marinade a half hour before serving.

 

This week’s squash, along with two big zucchinis from my garden and two bigger ones from my neighbour’s garden (4 varieties in all) became a very yummy zucchini relish.  I was expecting to use it in lieu of store-bought for our hot-dog eating pleasure, but Mr. Picky Eater is very sorry, Mom, but he won’t eat it.  So, at the last minute I threw in some finely chopped hot pepper.  Ha!  Take that! 

The original  recipe is at Zucchini Relish Recipe

And here is how I actually did it:

Zucchini Relish

• 6 good-sized zucchinis, cut into pieces that will fit into your food-processor
• 3 onions , halved
• 1/4 cup sea salt (or pickling salt)
• 2 cups white sugar
• 1-1/2 cups vinegar (I used a mix of apple cider and regular)
• 1 tbsp. dry mustard
• 1 heaping tsp. celery seeds
• 1/2 tsp. ground ginger
• 1/2 tsp. turmeric
• 1tsp. yellow mustard seed
• 1 or 2 hot peppers, finely chopped
• 1 tbsp. cornstarch
• 1 tbsp. water

Grate zucchini and onion in food processor.  Mix with salt in a large bowl. Let stand overnight   to remove a whole lot of water.  Drain well; rinse and drain again, pressing out moisture.  I used a bowl that just fits inside the strainer to push the water out.

In a large pot, combine sugar, vinegar, spices and hot pepper; bring to boil.  Add zucchini and onion; reduce heat and simmer, stirring often, until vegetables are tender and no longer bright green, about 15 minutes.

Mix cornstarch with water and stir into relish; simmer, stirring, 5 minutes.

Transfer to sterilized canning jars, cover with warm seals and bands.  Process in boiling water for 15 minutes.

Makes about 9 cups relish.

Source : Canadian Living Magazine: September 2006

Tomato, Basil and Chives Marinated in Olive Oil and White Balsamic Vinegar

A neighbour gave me some fresh cherry tomatoes, basil and chives from his garden.  Marinated all in olive oil and white balsamic vinegar with pepper and salt: so tasty.  Next time wouldn’t bother adding the yellow pepper.  It tasted fine, but looked a little confused.

I’m intrigued by the fresh fennel seeds in this week’s box.  I love fennel in Italian sausage, chilli , chai, and those little communal dishes of candy-covered seeds by the cash register in Indian restaurants.  Delicious;  just don’t start thinking about all the hands that have dipped into that bowl, and whether they get washed after they wipe.

Anyway, I love fennel seeds.  And since I have run out of chai concentrate and it’s not at the moment on sale at Costco, and since chai is my primary vice, I plan to make up a batch of chai.  Just not sure exactly how to roast the fennel.  Can you leave it on the stem?

Turns out, yes, you can.  I just put the sprigs in my little cast iron pan, seed side down,  until they smelled good, about 7 minutes.  Man!  Those were tasty seeds!  Then crumbled them off the stems to make the chai.

Chai

Fill a medium saucepan with as much water as you would eventually like to have chai.  (i.e.  if you are making enough chai for 4 cups, put in 4 cups water)

Place into a Ziploc bag:

• 4 or 5 heaping tbsp. fennel seed (or in this case, all the fresh, toasted seed)
• 6 cardamom pods
• 1 star anise (optional)
• 12 peppercorns
• 3 inches cinnamon stick

Seal the bag, place it on a cutting board and hit it a few times with a rolling pin to bruise the spices and crack open the cardamom (or use mortar and pestle).  Add the spices to the pot of water, along with a

• big chunk of peeled ginger, crushed. 

Simmer until the volume of water is reduced by half.  Remove from heat, add

• two black tea bags

(pretty much any plain black tea you have in the cupboard) and steep about 10 minutes.  Remove bags.  Strain through a sieve.  Return to pot.  Add

• sugar to taste
• milk to make up to original volume

Bonus: the wonderful smell in the house.  Ahhh, good tea.

Swiss Chard Pizza with Oregano Flowers and Mushrooms

I got to thinking: if you can put spinach on a pizza, why not Swiss chard?  So I did.  After stripping the leaves off the stems,  I layered it on the crust  about 5 deep, topped with cheese, then thinly sliced mushrooms, and a little more cheese.  Crumbled the oregano flowers, which I had toasted in the pan with the fennel seeds, all over the top, then popped it in the oven.  It baked down flat and delicious.  Funny thing, though: I think my husband needs to get his teeth sharpened.  I had no trouble biting through it, but every bite he took pulled off half the toppings.  Next time I will chop the chard first.

The Rest of the Box

Potatoes and beans: boiled and buttered.  So good.

The chard stems, carrot tops, three cloves of garlic and some olive oil and pepper got whizzed up together in the food processor.  Think I’ll freeze it in ice cube trays to sneak in a little green goodness to future pasta sauces and chilli.  I have little Ziploc bags of these hidden in the freezer.  I feel very sneaky and virtuous whenever the kids eat something containing one of these little Cubes of Goodness .

Yummy Yards Box #8

The Mission: to create a delicious dish out of Brussels sprout greens.

Level of Difficulty: nigh on impossible.

Probability of Success: unlikely.

There’s gotta be something I can make out of those darn, huge leaves that won’t seem like drudgery to eat!  I refuse to dislike a vegetable!

Searched around on the internet for inspiration, and stumbled upon a tasty-looking recipe: Indian spiced greens recipe – Recipes – BBC Good Food.

Made a few changes and here is what I came up with:

Brussels Sprout Leaves and Kale, Indian Style

• 1 tsp. cumin seed
• 1/2 tsp. black mustard seed
• large chunk of fresh ginger, chopped
• 1/2 tsp. turmeric
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. ground coriander
• 1 onion, chopped
• Brussels sprout leaves and kale, chopped
• 1 or 2 roasted jalapeno peppers
• 1 bunch cilantro, chopped
• 2 tbsp. dry, unsweetened coconut
• lemon juice
• 1 goodly pinch of sugar

Heat oil in pan.  Add cumin seed and black mustard seed.  When it starts to pop add ginger, turmeric, salt and coriander.  Stir in onion and hot peppers.  Sauté until translucent, adding a splash of water if it begins to stick.  Add chopped Brussels sprout leaves, kale and about 1/4 cup water.  Cover and steam about 15 minutes.  Stir in cilantro, coconut, lemon juice to taste and sugar.  Coarsely process with immersion blender.

Mission Results: 100% delicious.  A complete success.  More Brussels sprout greens, please! 

Actually, I couldn’t stop “tasting” it from the pan.  My son accused me of trying to trick him into eating greens, “You can stop pretending to like it, Mom.  I’m NOT trying it!”  Too bad for him, and all the more for me.

Which just goes to show, I suppose, that vegetables are like dogs: there are no bad ones; only bad owners.

Rest of the box: made some more salsa verde with the onion, garlic, tomatillos and fresh chiles Emi thoughtfully substituted for this week’s turnips.  Will cook the beet greens tomorrow night  in olive oil and toss in some sea salt and a splash of vinegar.  (Why mess with perfection?)  The beets themselves are cooked and waiting to be peeled.  Can’t wait for lunch tomorrow.  I’m not even going to share the beets.  Anyone who says they taste like dirt doesn’t deserve them.  And for dessert, fresh plums and blackberries and maybe a little pear sauce on vanilla ice-cream.

That was easy…

Yummy Yards CSA Box #7

Woo hoo! Tomatillos! I didn’t know they would grow in Vancouver!

With mild trepidation I drove to the pick-up location: what if my box contained cabbage or broccoli instead of tomatillos? We’re all off broccoli, temporarily, and I’ve had enough cole-slaw to last the rest of the summer. What I really wanted was those tomatillos!

OH JOY! The three choices were laid out on a table. MY choice! Woo hoo hoo!

For me there really was no other option: salsa verde! I learned to make salsa verde from a Mexican widow all dressed in black at the University of Guadalajara.  So you know it’s gotta be good.

Salsa Verde

• Remove the papery skins from a whack of tomatillos. Wash them, but don’t expect to get the annoying stickiness off.

• Place the tomatillos in a large pot with just enough water to barely cover the bottom of the pot. Add an onion, cut into chunks, a few cloves of garlic, and a shake of oregano.
• Now you’ve got 3 choices: either add some jalapeno peppers right from the start, or add uncooked, chopped jalapenos after cooking, or char the peppers and add them at the end. I recommend the 3rd choice for extra deliciousness.
• Put the lid on the pot and simmer gently until everything is soft and the tomatillos turn the colour of mid-70’s kitchen appliances.
• Blend. Taste for salt.
• Stir in a whole bunch of chopped cilantro and some optional parsley.

To char peppers:

• Open your windows; turn on your kitchen fan!! This recipe is a very good way to test if your smoke detectors are working.
• Place a cooling rack that you don’t care about over your gas burner on the stove. Turn the flame to high. Place washed, whole jalapenos on the rack and let them char, turning every so often with tongs until blistered all over.
• Place in a bowl and top with a plate until cool enough to handle. Remove the skins by scraping with the edge of a paring knife (your fingers will tingle for the next 24 hours, or so, if you don’t wear rubber gloves.  Somewhat unpleasantly.)  Rinse briefly under cool water. Remove the seeds.
• Chop fine and add to salsa. Ahh, smoky goodness.
• Wash the warped, discoloured rack and put it away until next time. Wipe the black, flakey wisps off your stove, walls and fan hood. It’s worth it.

We ate the salsa with quesadillas smeared with cream cheese, sprinkled with mozzarella and stuffed with sautéed mushrooms, green onions and chopped kale.  Some of us had left over chopped chicken in it, too.

---

Today I made chiles rellenos, using Hungarian peppers stuffed with mozzarella. The Hungarian peppers weren’t exactly what I was looking for (i.e. poblano), but they did the trick and were delicious.  Served it with the salsa verde and calabacitas made from baby zucchini, fresh from the garden.

Chiles Rellenos de Queso con Salsa Verde

• Char the peppers over the flame, allow to sweat in a covered bowl, then peel using the side of a paring knife.
• Make a neat slit along the length of each pepper and carefully remove the seeds. Leave the stems intact.
• Stuff loosely with mozzarella cheese. Secure the flap closed with a toothpick.
• Dredge in flour, then coat with beaten egg.
• Shallow fry in oil until crisp and golden brown. Drain on paper towel. Serve with the warm salsa verde.

Calabacitas

• Sauté diced onion and zucchini in oil until barely cooked.
• Add roasted jalapeno, chopped fine, and about a cup of frozen corn kernels. (Of course, fresh corn in season would be the best). Heat through.  Add chopped cilantro.
• Finish with a few splashes of heavy cream, salt and pepper to taste. Crumbled feta cheese is delicious here, too.

Calabacitas make a colourful side dish, and are excellent with corn tortillas.  Here they are, hiding inside these corn quesadillas, with a little salsa verde and quinoa salad on the side.

Quinoa Salad with Lentil Sprouts Recipe

As for the rest of the box:

Beets – boiled in skins until tender.  Skins slipped off under water.  Eaten hot with butter and salt, just like my Mom makes them.  This might be my very favourite dish of all.

Brussels sprouts leaves – tried them in a cabbage roll-esque dish with sage tomato sauce, unsuccessfully.  Ended up eating the filling and the sauce, but leaving the leaves (sorry, Emi).  If there ever is a next time I will chop them up and add them to sautéed kale.  Or blend into pasta sauce.  (Kind of hope there is no next time.)

Chard and green onions – sautéed in olive oil with half a left-over zucchini.  Man, I love those barely wilted greens.

Carrots, cucumber – all of it eaten by my son while using the computer.

Kohlrabi – not yet eaten, but plan to slice thinly and eat with salad.

Salad greens – I’ve got to admit I’ve got an awful lot of salad greens left in the fridge.  Must eat more salad…

Yummy Yards CSA Box #6

I was an hour too early and then a day late in picking up my box, but everything inside was still fresh and perky.  And my little one got to visit the chickens two days in a row, so everyone’s happy.

I was intrigued to see the bergamot.  Stripped the flowers and leaves off the stems and chopped them up with all the sage, all the carrot tops and about 8 cloves of garlic into a variation of carrot top pesto, which I have decided to call Rumpelstiltskin,  since nobody could guess what’s in it.

Then I sautéed about 5 heaping spoonsful of Rumpelstiltskin in butter and olive oil with a whack of mushrooms and all the kale leaves, chopped.  Put a lid on the pan and allowed the kale to steam until it was soft – about 15 minutes.  We ate masses of it on rotini with toasted pine nuts, sea salt, pepper and parmesan cheese.  It really did taste of oregano! Delicious!  I still have about a cup of the chopped greens left.  Ah, that Rumpelstiltskin; so handy to have in the fridge.

On the side we had the yellow zucchini, and  it was just perfect.  First I blanched it, whole, in boiling water for about 1 minute, along with some baby green ones from my own garden.  Next I cut the squash into chunks and tossed with butter in a pan until just barely tender.  Added a heap of chopped parsley and a little salt and pepper.  Oh!  It was so good!  SO good.  Less really is more…

The cucumber and carrot were added to the salad greens.  That pretty much takes care of everything in box #6.  Oh, except for the plums.  The fruit flies are really interested in the plums, so I think I will bake a cake with the fruit on the bottom of the pan.  Just a plain yellow cake with nice soft plums, and maybe a scoop of vanilla ice cream on the side.  The kids will be excited to have actual dessert.  Me, too.