Spicy Double Mustard Potato Salad

Here's another delicious potato salad, one that's full of spicy mustard flavor due to a lemony mustard dressing as well as the addition of finely chopped mustard greens.  I sometimes call this recipe green potato salad; and it's a perfect side for the St. Patrick's Day corned beef you might be cooking up this weekend.

Even without the corned beef, this potato salad is refreshingly tangy.  You can control the spiciness by choosing a mustard that's got just the right amount of zing for your taste.

I find it's easier to peel potatoes after boiling them.  Wait until they're cool enough to handle and you'll find the thin skin will peel off very easily.  Or you can leave the skins on if you prefer.

For 4 side servings:

2 large russet potatoes
3-4 purple scallions, finely chopped
2 T finely chopped fresh parsley
2/3 C loosely packed, finely chopped curly mustard greens
salt and pepper to taste
1/4 C Lemony Mustard Dressing (see recipe below)

1.  Scrub the potatoes.  Place them in a pot with cold water to cover.  Bring to a boil and boil over medium-low heat until they can be easily pierced through with a fork.  Drain and allow potatoes to cool.

2.  When the potatoes are cool enough to handle, peel off their thin skins and dice.  Place the diced potatoes in a bowl.

3.  Add the finely chopped scallions, parsley, and mustard greens as well as a little salt and pepper.  Pour the Lemony Mustard Dressing over and stir until well-mixed.  If you prefer, smash a few of the potato pieces to make a slightly smoother texture.

4.  Taste and adjust the seasoning and/or add more Lemony Mustard Dressing if you wish.

5.  Serve immediately or refrigerate until ready to serve.

Lemony Mustard Dressing (double this recipe if you wish)

1/4 C extra virgin olive oil
1/4 C fresh squeezed lemon juice
1 T Dijon mustard
1/4 t fine grated lemon peel
1/2 t agave syrup or sugar
pinch salt

Vigorously mix all of the ingredients together with a fork or small whisk until combined.  Use immediately or store in the fridge.

Today's bounty included:

From County Line Harvest South: Mixed baby lettuces, mixed mustard greens, French breakfast radishes, baby rainbow carrots, purple scallions, scarlet turnips, and red beets;

From Jimenez Family Farm:  Broccoli, Tuscan kale, potatoes, yellow onions, Chanteney carrots, cabbage, and purple curly kale.

Enjoy!

Shelley

Kati's Frittata

Missing Shelley's Friday recipes?

Shelley is traveling around South East Asia (lucky lady) so the wonderful Kati Stazer sent us this recipe.

Kati, an LAUSD schoolteacher, was one of my first customers at the Silverlake farmers' market. She loves sweet pea flowers. Thank you so much Kati for all your support and encouragement over the years. You are an amazing lady.

Here is Kati's recipe:

Hi Tara,

Here's a recipe for a thick Italian omelet using chard or kale, full of vegetables, herbs and cheese. Unlike many other egg dishes, frittatas can be made ahead and reheated or served cold or at room temperature. This dish reheats in the microwave and can keep in the refrigerator, in a tightly sealed container, for up to one week. By cutting back on the amount of cheese used, you have a lower-fat version.

2 Tbs. olive oil
1 Tbs. butter or butter substitute
1 medium-sized onion, peeled
1 tsp. salt
2 or more large stalks of ruby chard or kale
2 medium-sized potatoes, scrubbed, unpeeled and thinly sliced
1-2 tsp. dried rosemary crumbled
1/2 tsp. dried sage
2 tsp. fresh minced garlic
8 large eggs
freshly ground black pepper to taste
1 cup finely diced Gruyere cheese

1. Remove and mince chard or kale leaves and cut stems in 1/2 inch long pieces. Place leaves and stems in separate containers and set aside.

2. Heat 1 tsp. olive oil in a 10 inch skillet over medium heat. Add butter, and when melted, toss in onions. Cook, stirring frequently over medium heat until they just begin to brown, at least 5 minutes. Then reduce the heat to low, add 1/2 tsp. salt and cover skillet. Cook about 15 minutes more, or until onions are soft.

3. Stir in potatoes and herbs. Cover and cook about 10 minutes, stirring intermittently, or until potato slices are tender.

4. Add chard or kale stems and saute about 2 minutes more. Stir in chard or kale leaves and garlic and cook another minute, or until leaves are wilted but still bright green. Remove pan from heat.

5. Break eggs into large bowl, add remaining 1/2 tsp. salt, and beat well with a whisk. Add vegetables, black pepper to taste and cheese. Stir until evenly distributed. Clean and dry skillet and return to burner over medium heat. Preheat broiler.

6. When skillet is hot again, add remaining olive oil, wait about 30 seconds, and swirl to cover pan. Pour in vegetable-egg mixture and cook undisturbed over medium heat, 3 to 4 minutes, or until bottom of eggs have firmed.

7. Transfer skillet to broiler, and broil about 3 minutes, or until frittata is firm in center. Remove from broiler, and run knife around edges to loosen frittata. Slide or invert onto large, round plate, and serve hot, warm or at room temperature cut into wedges.

Here is the bounty list from 2/10:

From Sage Mountain Farm: loose leaf greens such as Red Russian Kale, spinach, mustard greens.

From Rancho Santa Cecilia: Bacon avocados, Satsuma Mandarins

Japanese Turnips, Golden Beets, Napa Cabbage, Navel oranges, Round Carrots, Purple Kale, Red Leaf Lettuce, Escarole, Butternut squash, Brussels Sprouts, Arugula and Mizuna from Underwood Family Farms.

And from Weiser Family Farms: Watermelon radishes, parsnips, Red Thumb potatoes, Purple Sprouting Broccoli, DeCicco Broccoli.

Enjoy!

Parslied Potato Salad

Potatoes love parsley. One of the simplest ways to prepare potatoes is to boil them until tender, slice, dot with butter, and spinkle on a little salt and chopped fresh parsley. Parsley's bright green color and flavor are perfect complements to the slightly sweet starchiness of potatoes.

Parslied potato salad involves just slightly more preparation than boiled potatoes with parsley and butter. You can serve this potato salad warm immediately after you mix it up; or you can let it sit in the fridge for a few hours or overnight and the flavors will meld together nicely. It'll keep for several days in the fridge, so make extra to serve with another meal later in the week.

For 4 side dish servings:

4 medium potatoes (approx 1 #)
2-3 green onions, finely chopped
2-3 T finely chopped red onion
3-4 T finely chopped celery
3-4 T finely chopped fresh parsley
juice of 1 lemon, or more to taste
A pinch of fresh lemon zest, or to taste
3 T olive oil, or more to taste
Salt and pepper to taste

1. Place the unpeeled potatoes in a pot and cover with cold water. Add 1/2 t salt to the water, if desired. Bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer, and cook potatoes until just tender, about 10 minutes for medium potatoes, but cooking times will vary depending on the size of the potatoes.

2. When the potatoes are cool enough to handle, you can remove the peels if you like (I prefer to keep them in their jackets). Dice the potatoes in approximately 1/3 to 1/2 inch dice. Place in a large bowl.

3. Add the chopped onions, celery, and parsley. Stir well. Add the lemon juice, zest, and olive oil. Stir to coat. Season with salt and pepper. Taste and add a little olive oil, lemon juice, zest, salt, and/or pepper to your taste.

4. Serve warm or refrigerate until ready to serve.

Today's bounty included produce from four farms:

From Underwood Family Farms: Napa cabbage, lettuce, broccoli, Japanese turnips, fennel, celery, orange carrots, tatsoi, Hass avocados, and parsley;

From Weiser Family Farms: French fingerling potatoes, butternut squash, parsnips, and Rustic Nantes cooking carrots;

From Sage Mountain Farms: radishes, spicy salad greens mix, and green Russian kale;

From Rancho Santa Cecilia: Bacon avocados, pomelos, and Satsuma mandarins.

Enjoy!

Shelley

Oven Roasted Winter Vegetable Hash

Making hash is a great way to used up little odds and ends in your fridge, but it can be even better when you design a combination of complementary ingredients and flavors as in this delicious roasted winter vegetable hash.

This recipe, which combines winter squash, onions, potatoes, carrots, and parsnips, has a perfect balance of sweet and savory elements. Best of all, it's a cinch to make - just a little peeling, chopping, and roasting.

I like to cut the vegetables into relatively small dice - about 1/4 inch or smaller - but you can use larger dice if you prefer. You may have to roast the vegetables a little longer if you cut them into bigger pieces. I use a hot oven, about 425 degrees F, so the edges of the veggies get nice and browned and carmelized.

Oven Roasted Winter Vegetables

1/4 to 1/2 butternut or acorn squash
2-3 medium to large carrots
1-2 medium to large parsnips
1-2 small to medium potatoes
1/2 medium onion
1 pinch nutmeg
2 pinches ground sage
salt and pepper to taste

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.

2. Peel all the vegetables and cut into 1/4 inch dice. Put the diced veggies in a large bowl. You should have about 4-5 C of diced veggies. Compost the peels.

3. Add the olive oil to the veggies and stir to coat. Stir in the nutmeg, sage, salt and pepper.

4. Pour out the veggies onto a baking sheet and bake for 10-15 minutes. Remove the sheet from the oven. Gently stir the veggies and return to the oven for another 10-15 minutes or until the vegetables are cooked through and lightly carmelized.

Serve this hash with poached eggs for brunch or supper, or as a side dish without eggs if you prefer. Try it on toast with melted cheese on top; or dress it up with hollandaise sauce for a special treat.

This week's box included bounty from six farms!

From Underwood Family Farms: butter lettuce, Japanese turnips, purple kale, rainbow chard, white cauliflower, candy beets, Pinkerton avocados, spinach, black kale, broccoli, and navel oranges;

From Weiser Family Farms: parsnips, celery root, Romanesco, and Russian Banana potatoes;

From Sage Mountain Farm: spicy salad greens, arugula, and baby carrots;

From Rancho Santa Cecilia: Satsuma mandarins;

From Drake Family Farms: Chevre;

And from urban farmer, Russell Wightman: avocados and sapote.

Plus bonus citrus from Sallie Hernandez in Eagle Rock: Meyer lemons and super juicy little oranges.

Enjoy!

Shelley

Carmelized Onion, Potato and Goat Cheese Tarts

Savory tarts are wonderful. You can make them in a wide range of sizes from bite-sized mini-tarts that make nice appetizers to large tarts that you cut in slices to serve. You can make them in any shape you like, and the topping combinations are endless.

The toppings I used for today's recipe include carmelized onions and potatoes. These ingredients require a little advance preparation, but once you have them (and your crust), it takes only a few minutes to assemble and bake the tarts.

Carmelized onions are super delicious and very versatile. In addition to these tarts, carmelized onions add great depth of flavor to many dishes. It takes an hour or so to properly carmelized onions, but you can do this step ahead. Cook up a big batch of carmelized onions and store them in your fridge. They'll keep for about a week. Mix them into mashed potatoes; add them to grilled cheese sandwiches; toss them into an omelet. You'll find myriad uses for them.

To carmelize onions: Peel and slice 2-5 onions thinly lengthwise. Melt 1-2 t butter per onion in a large, heavy skillet over low heat. Add the sliced onions and cook over low heat, stirring regularly, until the onions turn a deep brown color. Season with salt and pepper, if desired.

The potatoes I used in this tart were boiled ahead of time, chilled and sliced. It's easier to thinly slice a cold potato. You can cook up the potatoes when you're making this recipe, just allow them to cool before slicing them.

These tarts start with the same pie crust recipe I used last week. But you can use your favorite short pastry crust. I rolled out my crust to approximately 1/4" thickness and cut it with a round, fluted-edge form that's five inches in diameter. This size makes a great individual tart.

I like making flat tarts that I bake on cookie sheets, but you can make this recipe in a tart pan if you prefer. The flat tarts are a little easier, but be sure to let them cool before lifting them off the cookie sheet, as the pastry dough is delicate when it just comes out of the oven.

To make crust for six, five-inch diameter, round individual tarts: Take 7 T cold butter, cut into pieces, plus 1/2 T salt, and 1-1/3 C flour. Put all the ingredients in a large bowl. Using a pastry blender or a fork, cut the butter into the flour under it resembles coarse crumbs. Mix in a little ice water and continue to mix until the dough just comes together. Form into a flat disk and refrigerate for 10-30 minutes. You can refrigerate this dough longer, but it might be harder to roll if it's colder.

For six individual tarts:

Crust recipe above (or your favorite crust)
1-2 medium Russian Banana or Fingerling potatoes, boiled and cooled
1 C Carmelized onions, or more to taste
1/2 C crumbled goat cheese
1/2 C washed, dried, and finely sliced fresh arugula

1. Pre-heat oven to 400 degree F.

2. Roll out pastry dough 1/4" thick and cut six circles, each five inches in diameter.

3. Divide and spread the carmelized onions over each piece of dough.

4. Slice the potatoes thinly and arrange 2-3 slices over the onions on each tart.

5. Sprinkle a little crumbled goat cheese over each tart.

6. Bake in pre-heated, 400 degree oven for 10 minutes, or until the edges of the crust are golden.

7. Cool on cookie sheet for 5-10 minutes before lifting off with a metal spatula. Garnish with finely sliced arugula before serving.

Variations: Grated gruyere cheese is a nice alternative to goat cheese. Omnivores may like to add a little cooked and crumbled chorizo to these tarts.

Today's bounty included:

From Underwod Family Farms: Butter lettuce, rainbow chard, sugar snap peas, carrots, candy beets, mizuna, celery, and navel oranges.

From Weiser family Farms: Parsnips, mixed beets, and Russian Banana potatoes.

From Sage Mountain Farm: Salad mix, white and orange carrots, arugula, spaghetti squash, turnips, and Russian kale.

Urban farmer, Russell Wightman, provided the Fuerte avocados from Highland Park.

Happy New Year everyone!

Shelley

Braised Lamb with Carrots and Potatoes

Carrots, celery, and potatoes are mainstays of savory cooking, and this week's recipe uses them in a delicious braised lamb dish.

The lamb I used is local, from Tehachapi, and sustainably farmed. It was raised by Nancee Siebert, who I met through the Master Food Preserver training program. Nancee has been raising lambs since she was a little girl. The lambs are born early in the year, and Nancee starts selling them in late summer until they're gone.

I bought a whole lamb from Nancee and served the leg at Thanksgiving. It was some of the most delicious lamb I've eaten. Nancee raises her lambs with love and you can taste it. As of this blog post, Nancee still has a few lambs left, so if you're interested in one, you can contact me through Silver Lake Farms for more information.

If you don't want to use lamb in this dish, you can use beef or chicken instead. The cooking times may vary, but braise until fork tender.

Braised Lamb with Carrots and Potatoes

1 T olive oil
2-3 cloves garlic, sliced
4 lamb shoulder chops
salt and pepper
2 C water or stock
1 medium onion, peeled and chopped in 6-8 pieces
3 large carrots, peeled and chopped into chunks
1 rib celery, peeled and chopped into chunks
1 bay leaf
4-6 small potatoes, peeled
1 small celery root, peeled and chopped into 4-6 chunks
paprika

1. Heat the olive oil in a medium saute pan with a lid. Add the garlic and saute until aromatic and slightly golden.

2. Season the lamb chops with salt and pepper on both sides. Brown them on both sides in the pan with the garlic over medium heat.

3. Add the water or stock. Scatter the chopped onion, carrots, and celery in the pan. Add the bay leaf. Bring to a simmer over medium heat. Then turn the heat down and slowly simmer, covered, until the meat is just tender, about 1 to 1-1/2 hours.

4. Add the potatoes and celery root. Sprinkle them with a little paprika and continue braising until the celery root is tender, about another 30-45 minutes.

5. Do not allow all the liquid to cook off. Add a little more water or stock, if necessary. If you end up with too much liquid, uncover and reduce on a low simmer.

Don't Throw Away Those Veggie Scraps!

Waste not, want not is one of my mottos. Between the hens, the worms, and the compost, we don't have much food waste. Still, when I have the time, I like to make a vegetable broth from the peels and scraps of vegetables that I'm using for another purpose, and this braise provides just that tasty opportunty.

Be sure to scrub the vegetables well before peeling. Put all the peels and scraps in a medium saucepan. Add a bay leaf, some salt and a couple of peppercorns. Add 4 C of water and bring to a very low simmer. The secrets to a clear broth are do not stir and never let it boil. Simmer, barely bubbling, until reduced by half, about 45minutes. Cool and strain through a fine mesh strainer. Do not press the solids. Feed the remaining solids to the hens or the worms.

You can freeze this broth for use later. It's a good idea to cool it in the fridge before freezing.




This week's bounty came from four farms:

From Underwood Family Farms: White cauliflower, tatsoi, mizuna, broccoli, Celebrity tomatoes, romaine, carrots, French Breakfast radishes, celery root, and artichokes;

From Weiser family Farms: Potatoes, carrots, Watermelon radishes, rutabagas, and beets;

From Sage Mountain Farm: Spaghetti squash, green heirloom tomatoes, arugula, and collard greens; and

From Rancho Santa Cecilia: Satsuma mandarins and limes.

Enjoy!

Shelley




pictured here are scraps ready for making broth, and below, the broth itself. Delicious!

Kale and Onion Quesadillas

Pictured left is a perfectly perfect Romanesco cauliflower from our pickup today, courtesy Weiser Family Farms.

Quesadillas are one of the easiest things you can make for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. I just love filling a flour tortilla with freshly scrambled eggs and grated cheese and frying it in a hot cast iron skillet (my substitute for a comal) until the tortilla is golden and slightly crisp and the cheese is oozing out the sides. Sometimes I add crisp, crumbled bacon or sauteed red onion, or mushrooms and peppers - whatever is fresh and in season.

For lunch and dinner, I usually skip the eggs and turn to savory vegetables. The combination of kale and onions is wonderful in a quesadilla. Slice the onion thinly lengthwise and saute it in a little oil until the onion is translucent. Chop the kale in thin slices and add it to the onions. Cook until soft. In the meantime, grate some jack cheese. You can use pepper jack if you'd like some spice, or try asadero cheese, which is a Mexican cheese available in most markets.

You can use flour or corn tortillas, but for this quesadilla, I prefer corn tortillas. If you have access to thicker, hand-made style tortillas, even better.

To cook the quesadillas: Heat a cast iron or heavy-duty skillet (or a comal, which is essentially a cast iron flat griddle pan) over medium-high heat. Brush the pan with a small amount of oil. Place a tortilla on the pan. Let it warm up for a moment. Then put some kale-onion mixture on the tortilla and sprinkle a generous amount (or to taste) of grated cheese on top. When the tortilla is soft, fold it over, being careful not to spill out the ingredients. Brown it on one side, then flip it over and brown it on the other. The cheese should be fully melted when the quesadilla is browned on both sides. If the tortilla is browning too quickly, then turn down the heat a bit.

You can make as many quesadillas at a time as your pan will hold. They're best served hot, but be careful to let the cheese cool down a bit before biting into it so you don't get burned.

Another wonderful addition to this basic recipe is potatoes and our Weiser Farms spuds are perfect for this dish. It's best for the potatoes to be slightly par-boiled before adding them to the skillet with the onions. And they should be diced no larger than 1/4 inch or thinly sliced. I really like seasoning them with a little smoked paprika, too. Make sure you cook the potatoes until they're nearly done before adding the kale to the pan.

Omnivores might enjoy adding some browned and crumbled sausage, too. Quesadillas offer endless possibilities for creativity so have some fun and enjoy this recipe. By the way, you can substitute chard for kale if you prefer.

A few words about cherimoyas: Don't cut into that cherimoya until it softens a bit. It should yield to slight pressure like an avocado when ripe. If you've never tasted a cherimoya, you're in for a treat. When ripe, this exotic fruit has a sweet and slightly tropical flavor. It best enjoyed sliced in half and scooped out (sans pits) or peeled, pitted and chopped in chunks. There are quite a few pits.

I like cherimoya best as is, but you can do a few things with it other than adding it to a fruit salad. Try it with yogurt and a little honey. Puree the peeled and pitted fruit and make a sorbet or use it in ice cream, add it to your favorite custard recipe, mix it into a smoothie or a cocktail, or use it as a base for a salad dressing. Slices or chunks of cherimoya can adorn a fruit tart along with other seasonal fruits.

This week's bounty included the following:

Either 1 butternut squash or a delicata and a Tuffy acorn squash
Either a bunch of yellow carrots or a bunch of red carrots
1 # parsnips
4# navel oranges or 1 cherimoya
1 bunch purple kale or 1 bunch chard
1 bunch Easter radishes or 1/2 # Jerusalem arichokes
1 red leaf lettuce or 1 bunch dandelion greens
1 bunch candy beets or a Romanesco cauliflower
lemons or herbs (cilantro and parsley)
1 # Russian banana potatoes
1 # satsuma tangerines or 2 black Hass avocados
1 # medium onions

Enjoy!

Shelley

Cream of Celery Soup

Last week's warm weather was a nice treat, but we're back to winter again. A soothing and warm soup is just the ticket for these cool days. And this soup is super simple to make.

Scrub and peel 1 lb potatoes. Compost the peels. Cut the potatoes in large chunks.

Wash and trim (if necessary) 1 lb celery. Compost any trimmings. Cut the celery in large chunks.

Peel 1/2 medium onion. Compost peel. Cut into large chunks.

Place potatoes, celery, and onion in a medium stockpot. Add 2-3 C vegetable stock, chicken stock or water. Cover tightly. Bring to a boil. Turn down to a simmer and cook until all vegetables are very soft, about 20 minutes.

Cool slightly. Then puree with an immersion blender, in a food processor, or in a regular blender. Stir in additional stock (1-2 C) to achieve desired consistency. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Stir in 1/4 C (or more to taste) heavy cream. Re-heat to hot before serving.

This soup is delicious as is, or you can season it with a little thyme or dill. Lemon thyme is also very nice if you have it.

Enjoy!

Shelley

Soothing Potato and Leek Soup

Here's what was available at the Silver Lake pick-up this afternoon:

From Weiser Family Farms there were parsnips and Russian Banana spuds.

From Underwood Family Farm there were broccoli, celery, orange carrots, leeks, red chard. green leaf lettuce, candy beets, butternut squash, and hachiya persimmons.


Potato and Leek Soup

A simple and soothing soup is the perfect antidote to the indulgences of Thanksgiving and our CSA box today included the perfect fixings for such a soup: leeks and potatoes. There are many versions of this classic combination. I like my recipe because it's not only delicious, but super easy and quick, too.

1 T butter
2 medium leeks
1 to 1-1/2 lb potatoes
3-4 C chicken stock, vegetable stock or water
1/4 C cream (optional)
salt and pepper to taste
chopped Italian parsley for garnish

1. Melt butter in medium stock pot on very low heat.

2. Wash the leeks. Trim off the root ends and put in the compost. Thinly slice the white and very light green parts of the leeks. You'll probably have to re-wash the leeks as you pull off the outer layers, as dirt often lodges in them.

3. Put the sliced leeks in the stock pot and cook on very low heat. Do not brown. Compost the remaining tough leek stalks.

4. Peel the potatoes and chop into chunks. Add to the stock pot. Compost the peels.

5. Add the stock or water. Bring to a boil. Cover and simmer until leeks and potatoes are very tender, about 15-20 minutes.

6. Using an immersion blender, puree the soup. [Alternatively, you can puree the soup in a food processor or blender, but let it cool a little before doing so.]

7. Stir in cream, if desired. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Serve hot, garnished with chopped parsley.

A nice crusty bread and this soup make a lovely meal.

Enjoy!

Shelley

What's in the box? Celery Soup

Pick-up #3

celery
carrots
broccoli
garlic
romaine lettuce
red leaf lettuce
thai basil
purslane
mint
dandelion
tomatoes
cilantro
baby spinach
japanese cucumbers

Celery Soup recipe from Beat (my husband):


1. chop 1 onion
3 cloves garlic

2. saute above for 10 min medium heat, then kill the heat with 2 glasses of white wine

3. add 8 cups of water and bring to a boil

4 while boiling, chop 1 big celery
3 potatoes (dice them)
3 tomatoes, peeled and cut in quarters (drop the tomatoes into boiling water for a matter of seconds before taking them out to make it easier to peel them) you could also add the 3 carrots (sliced) and the broccoli (chopped)

5 add chopped veggies to boiling water, add salt and pepper

6 reduce to a simmer for at least 1.5 to 2 hours, if too thick, add water. if too liquid,. reduce

bon appetit!! and have a wonderful weekend.

tara