Saturday, September 27, 2014

Broccoli, Chickpea, and Lamb Chorizo Orecchiette


This Sunday at at the Fairmount Neighborhood Farmers Market, you can look forward to a selection of pastured chicken, lamb, and pork cuts from Fair Valley Farm and beautiful fresh cut flower bouquets from Tiger Lily Art CompanyGood Food Easy at Sweetwater Farm will have the following offerings:  

Fresh
winter squash: turkish turban, acorn, delicata, and pumpkins (time for fall soup)
Gravenstein apples, Asian pears and bartlett pears from SLO farm (make apple sauce)
watermelon and cantaloupes
corn and tomatillos (make salsa) 
tomatoes, including cherries and romas (make tomato soup)
eggplants and sweet and hot peppers of all kinds (roast some for romesco sauce)
green and yellow beans (make a green bean salad with almonds and apricots)
potatoes and baby beets (grill in bundles)
broccoli (make this pasta)
fennel, cucumbers, kohlrabi, carrots, and radish (make sushi rolls)
crookneck squash, summer squash, and zucchini (try Erica's recipe published in the RG)
cabbage (green, red, savoy) (stir fry with seeds)
radicchio, chard, kale, lettuce, including bagged mix (make a chard and bacon tart)
turnips and delicata squash (saute in a salad, below)
garlic and fresh herbs (basil, oregano, sage, thyme) and home-grown lemon grass

Preserves, Beans, and Grains
From Sweet Creek Foods:
Dill Pickles, Chili Dill Pickles, Bread 'N Butter Pickles, Pickle Relish
Blueberry, Strawberry, Blackberry, and Raspberry Fruit Spreads
Enchilada Sauce and Salsa
From SLO Farm: Applesauce
Assorted beans and grains from Camas Country Mill


The chillier fall weather that arrived last week demanded heartier fare for dinner. The Fairmount Neighborhood Farmers Market provides one stop shopping for this one pot meal of Fair Valley Farm's lamb chorizo, Camas Country Mill's chickpeas, and Sweetwater Farm's sprouted broccoli.


If you plan ahead, cooking the chickpeas provides a flavorful broth for the sauce, and the chorizo provides all the seasoning you need for a satisfying meal for fall.




Broccoli Rabe, Chickpea, and Lamb Chorizo Orecchiette
serves four
1 cup cooked chickpeas
1/2 lb lamb chorizo
4 cloves garlic
1 lb sprouted or regular broccoli
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 lb orecchiette
1 cup reserved cooking water from the chickpeas or the pasta
parmesan cheese for serving

1. It's best to used dried chickpeas for this recipe and reserve some of the cooking liquid for the sauce, but you could also use a can of chickpeas (rinsed) and reserve some of the pasta water for the sauce. To cook the chickpeas, rinse and soak overnight if you have time. In a heavy pan, cover add the drained chickpeas and enough fresh water to cover them by an inch, and a bay leaf. Bring to a boil and simmer over very low heat, partially covered, until the beans are cooked through, about 90 minutes. Stir occasionally and add more water if needed to keep them completely submerged. When the chickpeas are cooked, salt the water generously and allow them to sit for at least 10 minutes. Strain the chickpeas and reserve the cooking liquid to be used in the pasta sauce and for future soup stock or risottos. 1 cup of dried chickpeas will yield about 2 cups of cooked chickpeas. You might as well treat yourself to a bag of Camas Country Mill chickpeas and cook up the whole lot. They freeze well, and you will thank yourself later.

2. Set a pot of salted water to boil for the pasta. 

3. Heat a large skillet over medium heat. Add the lamb chorizo and cook as you break into pieces (you can cook the whole pound portion and save half for another meal), until the meat is cooked through. 

4. While the meat is cooking, cut the broccoli into bite sized pieces and mince the garlic. 

5. Put in the pasta once the water comes to a boil.

6. Once the sausage is cooked, remove it with a slotted spoon to a bowl and pour off all but 1 Tbsp of the fat. Add the olive oil to the pan along with the garlic and cook for a minute until it is fragrant. Then add the broccoli and cook for about five minutes. Add the drained chickpeas and roll in the oil to coat. Now add some cooking liquid from the chickpeas (or use some pasta water) and simmer it for a few more minutes until the broccoli is cooked through but still firm. Stir in the cooked sausage. Taste and add salt if needed.

7. Drain the pasta when it is done. In a large serving bowl, toss the pasta with the sausage, broccoli, and chickpeas, and add a little more cooking liquid if it seems dry. Serve with plenty of freshly grated parmesan cheese.

Friday, September 19, 2014

Turnip and Millet Salad with Smoked Trout


This Sunday at at the Fairmount Neighborhood Farmers Market, you can look forward to a selection of pastured chicken, lamb, and pork cuts from Fair Valley Farm and beautiful fresh cut flower bouquets from Tiger Lily Art CompanyGood Food Easy at Sweetwater Farm will have the following offerings:  

Fresh
Gravenstein apples, Asian pears and bartlett pears from SLO farm (make apple sauce)
watermelon and cantaloupes
corn and tomatillos (make salsa) 
lots of tomatoes, including cherries and flats of roams (make tomato soup)
sweet and hot peppers of all kinds (roast some for romesco sauce)
green and yellow beans (make a green bean salad with almonds and apricots)
potatoes and baby beets (grill in bundles)
broccoli and eggplants (grill and top with tomato and feta)
fennel, cucumbers, kohlrabi, carrots, and radish (make sushi rolls)
crookneck squash, summer squash, and zucchini (try Erica's recipe published in the RG)
cabbage (green, red, savoy) (stir fry with seeds)
radicchio, chard, kale, lettuce, including bagged mix (make a chard and bacon tart)
turnips and delicata squash (saute in a salad, below)
garlic and fresh herbs (basil, oregano, sage, thyme) and home-grown lemon grass

Preserves, Beans, and Grains
From Sweet Creek Foods:
Dill Pickles, Chili Dill Pickles, Bread 'N Butter Pickles, Pickle Relish
Blueberry, Strawberry, Blackberry, and Raspberry Fruit Spreads
Enchilada Sauce and Salsa
From SLO Farm: Applesauce
Assorted beans and grains from Camas Country Mill



Turnips are an old fashioned vegetable, but I think they are due for a revival, just as the names Matilda, Mabel, and Maxine are inching their way up the baby name rankings


One problem for root vegetables' image is their typical old fashioned preparation: boiled beyond recognition. More frequently today, one would find them roasted, but this involves the commitment of turning on your oven, which may discourage whipping them up for a quick lunch. I want to remind you that turnips (and other root vegetables like radishes) are delicious sautéed on the stovetop, taking no longer than their more familiar cousin, the carrot. Here I combined both tubers in a sauté with some leftover millet, that I layered on a bed of lettuce and topped with tinned smoked trout for a delicious and quick weekend lunch. 




Turnip and Millet Salad with Smoked Trout
for two

1 cup cooked millet
2 regular or up to 8 baby turnips
2 regular or 4 small carrots
2 Tbsp olive oil
salt to taste
1 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
2 large handfuls of lettuce
1 tin smoked trout in olive oil (110 g)

1. To prepared the millet, you could cook 1/3 cup millet grains with 2/3 cups water, simmered for about 15 minutes, yielding about 1 cup cooked millet. But you might as well cook up a larger volume (1 part millet to 2 parts water) and use in other dishes.

2. Scrub the turnips and carrots and trim their tops and tails. Cut the turnips into sixths or eighths to make bite-sized pieces. Halve the carrot lengthwise and cut into bite-sized chunks.

3. Heat a skillet over medium high heat. Coat the pan with the olive oil and the add the turnips and carrots and a pinch of salt. Cook, tossing every so often, until they are cooked through and browned nicely on some sides, about ten minutes. Add the millet to the pan and stir to coat in the olive oil for one minute. Taste and add more salt if necessary. Turn of the heat and stir in the vinegar. You could serve this warm or at room temperature.

4. Arrange the lettuce on two plates. Top each with half of the turnip, carrot, and millet sauté. Layer on the smoked trout, and drizzle some of the olive oil from the tin over each salad. Enjoy.

Friday, September 12, 2014

Roasted Tomatillo Salsa


This Sunday at at the Fairmount Neighborhood Farmers Market, you can look forward to a selection of pastured chicken, lamb, and pork cuts from Fair Valley Farm and beautiful fresh cut flower bouquets from Tiger Lily Art CompanyGood Food Easy at Sweetwater Farm will have the following offerings:  

Fresh
corn (add to fish tacosand tomatillos (make the salsa below) 
watermelon, cantaloupes, peaches, and Italian prune plums
Gravenstein apples, Asian pears and bartlett pears from SLO farm (make a barley salad)
lots of tomatoes, including cherries and flats of romas (restock your sauce supply)
sweet and hot peppers of all kinds (for salsas)
green and yellow beans, potatoes, and baby beets 
eggplants and broccoli (make a roasted salad)
fennel, cucumbers, kohlrabi, carrots, and radish (toppings for peanut sauce noodles)
crookneck squash, summer squash, and zucchini (try Erica's recipe published in the RG)
cabbage (green, red, savoy) (make some mung bean and kimchi pancakes)
radicchio, chard, kale, lettuce, including bagged mix (make kale pesto)
turnips and delicata squash (try roasted with spices)
garlic and fresh herbs (basil, oregano, sage, thyme) and home-grown lemon grass

Preserves, Beans, and Grains
From Sweet Creek Foods:
Dill Pickles, Chili Dill Pickles, Bread 'N Butter Pickles, Pickle Relish
Blueberry, Strawberry, Blackberry, and Raspberry Fruit Spreads
Enchilada Sauce and Salsa
From SLO Farm: Applesauce
Assorted beans and grains from Camas Country Mill



Pan roasted tomatillos make delicious salsa. Their natural bright tartness, combined with the charred flavors from the roasting, are all that you need for a perfect topping for tacos. 



Rick Bayless Mexican Everyday has a couple of recipes for pan roasted tomatillo salsas. I've often made his version with chipotle peppers, but this time decided to use some fresh jalapeños from Sweetwater Farm.



We slathered this salsa on fish tacos with pan roasted corn kernels for an easy weeknight Farmers Market feast.



Roasted Tomatillo Salsa
8-10 tomatillos
1-2 cloves garlic
1-2 spicy peppers such as jalapeños
salt

To roast the tomatillos, you will want to use a cast iron or nonstick skillet, or to avoid a messy cleanup, you can line a regular skillet with foil. Heat the skillet over medium high heat, and place in the unpeeled garlic cloves and whole jalapeños. Meanwhile, remove the husks from the tomatillos, rinse them, and cut them in half. Turn the jalapeños and garlic and cook until they are charred on both sides. Remove from the pan to cool. Place the tomatillo halves into the hot pan, cut side down, and allow to cook until they start to soften and collapse, turn more yellow, and char on the bottom. Flip them over and cook them for a few minutes on the other side. Remove the skillet from the heat and allow to cool for a few minutes. While the tomatillos are cooking, peel the garlic and place in a blender jar. Remove the stems from the jalapeño and all or some of the seeds, according to your preference for spiciness, and add these to the blender jar. Once the tomatillos have cooled a bit, add them to the blender jar, including all the charred bits from the bottom of the pan. Add a generous pinch of salt and blend until smooth. Taste and add more salt if needed. Pour into a bowl. You could mix in chopped cilantro and diced white onions if you like. Enjoy over tacos, with chips, on frittatas, or thin with stock for an enchilada sauce.

Friday, September 5, 2014

Fermented Green Bean Pickles


This Sunday at at the Fairmount Neighborhood Farmers Market, you can look forward to a selection of pastured chicken, lamb, and pork cuts from Fair Valley Farm and beautiful fresh cut flower bouquets from Tiger Lily Art CompanyGood Food Easy at Sweetwater Farm will have the following offerings:  

Fresh
lots of corn (make savory corn pudding)
watermelon, cantaloupes, peaches, and Italian prune plums (nice waffle toppings)
Gravenstein apples, Asian pears and bartlett pears from SLO farm (put on pizza)
lots of tomatoes, including cherries and flats of romas (restock your sauce supply)
sweet and hot peppers of all kinds (use in bean pickles)
green and yellow beans (make bean pickles)
eggplants and broccoli (try these grilled eggplant dips)
fennel, cucumbers, and tomatillos (make pan roasted tomatillo salsa
potatoes, baby beets, kohlrabi, carrots, and daikon radish (make banh mi)
crookneck squash, summer squash, and zucchini (bake a gratin)
cabbage (green, red, savoy) (great in slow cooker soup)
radicchio, chard, kale, lettuce, including bagged mix (make kale Salade Lyonnaise)
garlic and fresh herbs (basil, oregano, sage, thyme) and home-grown lemon grass

Preserves, Beans, and Grains
From Sweet Creek Foods:
Dill Pickles, Chili Dill Pickles, Bread 'N Butter Pickles, Pickle Relish
Blueberry, Strawberry, Blackberry, and Raspberry Fruit Spreads
Enchilada Sauce and Salsa
From SLO Farm: Applesauce
Assorted beans and grains from Camas Country Mill



Having experimented with fermenting cabbage, wheat, and cream, I thought I'd try my hand at some fermented green bean pickles. I followed the general guidelines for fermented yard-long beans from Liana Krissoff's Canning for a New Generation, but added some of Sweetwater Farm's cherry bomb peppers, garlic, and chives for flavoring.  




Just as with these other ferments, I was amazed at how easily I could harness the Lactobacillus workhorses of the microbial world. Within a week of resting on my counter, quietly bubbling away, my beans had transformed into tart and sour pickles, infused with spiciness and the sharp flavors of garlic and chives, the perfect accompaniment for a corn, summer squash and millet succotash, a green salad, and my latest loaf of sourdough bread.



Fermented Green Bean Pickles
adapted from Canning for a New Generation, makes one quart
8 ounces green beans
6 cloves garlic
2 or 3 spicy peppers, such as cherry bombs
12 chives
1/4 cup pure kosher salt
8 cups water

Wipe off the beans, trim the stem ends, and cut into 1 inch lengths. Peel and coarsely chop the garlic. Stem, seed, and chop the peppers. Chop the chives into 1 inch lengths. Place all the ingredients into a clean quart-sized mason jar, preferably wide mouthed. Combine the salt and water in a large pitcher and stir until the salt is dissolved. Pour the brine over the beans in the mason jar, and place the jar in a bowl. Pour the remaining brine into a gallon-sized resealable bag, seal, and place the bag on top of the beans in the jar such that the bag covers the jar mouth and submerges the beans into their brine. Cover the container with a clean towel and let the beans ferment at room temperature. After a couple of days, you should see the fermentation process happening as small bubbles form along the beans. Skim off any scum that forms on the surface. Taste the beans and continue fermenting until they are the desired sourness, about one week. Seal and refrigerate in the brine for several weeks, or drain and freeze in freezer bags for up to 6 months.