Here's what Farmer John had for us this week at the Beachwood Canyon pick-up:
Italian Parsley
carrots
celery
broccoli
red romaine lettuce
green romaine lettuce
fresh green garlic
mizuna (yummy mustard for a salad) - see photo
Italian dandelion (lovely cooked in olive oil and garlic, sprinkle with warm blue cheese and drizzle honey on top)
curly kale
baby bok choy
Thank you Spencer, John and Laura for distributing veggies this week.
Spencer! Go ace those mid-terms!!
RECIPE -
ReplyDeleteChunky Celery Soup Recipe
Really, you can use just about any cooked medium-sized grain in this recipe. I chose wild rice because I love it alongside celery. You could try a plump brown rice, barley, or even wheatberry here with good results. AS I mentioned up above, I was lucky enough to come across celery with the leaves intact on top. I made a drizzle out of one cup (lightly packed) celery leaves, 1 large clove of garlic, about 1/4 teaspoon of salt, and 1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil. Puree all of these ingredients in a food processor for about 30 seconds.
1 large onion
1 large russet potato
3-4 small -medium carrots
10 medium-length stalks of celery, washed well
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 cloves garlic, chopped
5 cups of lightly-flavored, great tasting, vegetable broth (or water)
2 cups cooked wild rice, brown rice, barley, or wheat berries
1/3 cup celery leaf pesto (optional, but see head notes)
Parmesan cheese, freshly grated (optional)
Chop the onion, potato, carrots, and celery into pieces that are about 1/2-inch or smaller. Do your best to cut everything roughly the same size, this will keep cooking time across the ingredients somewhat uniform. You should end up with about 2 1/2 cups of chopped celery.
In a large thick-bottomed soup pot over medium high heat combine the olive oil, onion, potato, carrots, celery and a few big pinches of salt. Saute for about ten minutes or until the onions and celery soften a touch and expel some water. Stir in the garlic and add the stock. Bring to a simmer and let cook for another 10 minutes or until the celery, carrot and potatoes are just cooked through - resist the urge to over cook them into mush. Stir in the rice a few minutes before the potatoes and carrot are cooked though. Remove the soup from the heat and ladle into soup bowls. Top each with a generous drizzle of the celery leaf pesto (opt) and/or some Parmesan cheese.
CURLY KALE RISOTTO (serves 2 as a main or 4 as a starter)
ReplyDeleteIngredients:
2 shallots, finely chopped
20g butter, plus 20g cubed for later
2 Tbsp olive oil
300g short-grain risotto rice (I used arborio)
100ml dry white wine
750ml vegetable stock
about a cup of finely chopped sauteed curly kale
100g grated Parmiggiano
salt and pepper to taste
Method
Melt the butter together with the olive oil in a large, heavy-bottomed saucepan. Add the shallots and saute until translucent and soft but do not let them brown [as you see from the photo, I failed to follow my own instructions - aaarrrgh!].
Add the rice and cook for a minute or two, stirring constantly stir so that each grain is well-coated with oil/butter. Add the white wine and keep stirring until the liquid has been absorbed almost completely.
Add the stock (I used Kallo organic) a ladleful at a time (probably about 150-200 ml per ladle). Keep stirring until each ladleful has been completely absorbed, but do not let the rice dry out and stick to the pot. Once each ladleful is absorbed, add the next until the stock has all been added. The rice should be soft but each grain should retain some bite in the centre, perfectly al dente.
Stir in the cooked kale, Parmiggiano and remaining butter in cubes and add salt and pepper to taste. Serve either in wide, shallow bowls as a starter or (as I did) in individual ceramic ramekins as an amuse bouche.
SAUTEED CURLY KALE WITH PARMESAN & GARLIC
ReplyDeleteIngredients:
about 250g curly kale, washed and chopped
1 large clove of garlc, crushed
olive oil
salt and pepper
1/2 a cup of finely grated Parmesan
Method:
In a large fryng pan or wok, heat about 2 Tbsp olive oil. Add the garlic and sautee until it starts to sizzle.
Add the chopped kale, making sure it it as dry as possible, otherwise it sizzles and splatters. Over medium heat, sautee the kale until it has softened but retains some crunch and its brillliant green colour.
Add salt and pepper to taste and stir in about half the Parmesan. Serve with the remaining Parmesan sprinkled on top.