Yogurt Basted Roast Chicken with Turnips and Onions

This Sunday come to the Fairmount Neighborhood Farmers Market between 10 am - 2 pm at the corner of Agate and 19th Ave for all your summer produce from Camas Swale Farm and pastured meat and poultry from Fair Valley Farm and Fog Hollow Farm.

Last weekend I made an Indian-inspired feast with our farmers market bounty. I marinated four Fog Hollow Farm chicken legs in a spiced yogurt baste and then roasted them above a layer of magenta and white baby turnips and green onions.  

The turnips and onions were extra rich and flavorful from their long dousing in chicken juices and yogurt sauce. We devoured them along with saffron rice, this Instant Pot lentil dal, cucumber raita, and homemade naan. 

Yogurt Basted Roast Chicken with Turnips and Onions

4 chicken legs (thighs and drumsticks) on 1 whole chicken cut into pieces
1 bunch green onions, root ends trimmed
~18 baby turnips, stem and root ends trimmed

marinade
6 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 inch nob ginger root, peeled and minced
zest of one lemon
juice of one lemon
1/2 cup plain yogurt
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 tsp kosher salt
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp ground coriander
1/2 tsp garam masala

1. Mix together all of the ingredients of the marinade. In a large bowl, coat the chicken pieces in the marinade and allow to sit for at least two hours or overnight, refrigerated.

2. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Line the bottom of a large baking pan with the green onions and baby turnips. Place a baking rack over the vegetables and place the chicken pieces on top. Bake for about 35 minutes until the chicken is cooked through (with an internal temperature of 165 degrees). Baste the chicken pieces with some of the remaining marinade in the bowl halfway through the cooking.

3. Remove the roasting pan from the oven and turn on the broiler. Set the chicken and the roasting rack off to the side and remove the roasted vegetables to a serving bowl. Return the roasting rack and chicken to the pan and baste the chicken with the remaining yogurt marinade. Transfer under the broiler and cook for a few minutes until the skin becomes nicely charred. Transfer the chicken to a serving platter and serve with the roasted vegetables.

Turkey and Zucchini Burgers

This Sunday, visit the Fairmount Neighborhood Farmers Market from 10 am - 2 pm at the corner of Agate and 19th Ave for a wide selection of fresh produce from Camas Swale Farm and pastured meat and poultry from Fair Valley Farm and Fog Hollow Farm. 

With our haul of Camas Swale zucchini and green onions I finally tried a recipe from Yotam Ottolenghi and Sami Tamimi's Jerusalem that I'd heard has a cult following. I'd avoided it until now because of my kids' lukewarm feelings about zucchinis. Miraculously this summer they have suddenly become zucchini enthusiasts, for example eating zucchini flatbreads with gusto. These burgers were a similar hit, especially with the spiced yogurt sauce that doubled as a creamy dressing for a salad with lentils and roasted baby turnips.

Turkey and Zucchini Burgers with Green Onions and Cumin

from Yotam Ottolenghi and Sami Tamimi's Jerusalem

makes about 18 small burgers  

for the burgers
1 lb ground turkey
1 large or 2 medium zucchini, grated (2 cups grated)
3 green onions, sliced
1 large egg, beaten
2 Tbsp chopped fresh mint
2 Tbsp chopped fresh cilantro
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp fresh ground pepper
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
oil for browning

for the sour cream and sumac sauce
2/3 cup yogurt
1/2 cup sour cream
zest of 1 lemon
juice of 1/2 lemon
1 small clove garlic, minced
1 1/2 tsp olive oil
1 Tbsp sumac
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp fresh ground pepper

1. Preheat the oven to 425F.
2. Make the sumac sauce by combining all the ingredients in a bowl and mixing well. Refrigerate until needed. 
3. Put all the burger ingredients, except the oil, in a large bowl. Mix well, using your hands, making sure to get all the ingredients are well incorporated, and shape into about 18 burgers.
4. Coat the bottom of a skillet lightly with oil and heat until it is nice and hot. You should hear a good sizzle when the patties hit the pan, If not, let the oil heat more. Working in batches, brown the patties on both sides, for about 2 minutes per side, and add more oil as needed.
5. Carefully transfer the burgers to a parchment or silicone mat lined baking sheet and bake for about 7 to 10 minutes, just until done inside.
6. Serve the burgers warm or room temperature with the sauce.

Instant Pot Miso Glazed Turnips and Macaroni and Cheese

On this beautiful spring weekend, plan a visit to the Fairmount Neighborhood Farmers Market, Sunday 10 am - 2 pm at the corner of Agate and 19th Ave. You'll find fresh produce from Camas Swale Farm and pastured meat and poultry from Fair Valley Farm and Fog Hollow Farm. 

Last weekend Camas Swale had a stunning selection of turnips, both creamy white and bright magenta. Lately I've been using my Instant Pot to cook root vegetables. I'll start them in some butter, add a tiny splash of water and baking soda (to create an alkaline pH that encourages caramelization as described here). After the pressure cooking is done I'll simmer the vegetables for a little to reduce the liquid into a glaze and stir in some miso for extra flavor. For this dinner I also used the Instant Pot to make my new favorite macaroni and cheese using whey from strained yogurt, also made in the Instant Pot. Some roasted Camas Swale broccoli rounded out the meal.

Instant Pot Miso Glazed Turnips

1 lb baby turnips
2 Tbsp butter
pinch of salt
2 Tbsp water
1/4 tsp baking soda
1 tsp white miso

1. Rinse and trim the turnips and cut them into halves if they are very small or quarters or eighths for bigger ones. Turn on the Instant Pot saute function and melt the butter. Add the turnip pieces and a pinch of salt and cook, tossing, for a couple of minutes, until all of the turnip pieces are coated. Press cancel.

2. Mix the baking soda with the water. Pour over the turnip pieces, seal the lid, and pressure cook for 2 minutes on high. Press cancel and release the pressure by carefully opening the vent. Turn back on the saute function on high and cook for a couple of minutes to reduce the liquid in the pot to a glaze. Press cancel. Stir in 1 tsp of miso to coat the turnips. Taste and add more salt or miso as you desire. Serve warm.


Note: if you don't have an Instant Pot, cook the turnips on the stove top in butter and then simmer in a little water until soft, and finish with miso.

Whey Good Instant Pot Macaroni and Cheese

2 Tbsp butter (divided use)
1 lb elbow noodles
4 cups whey from strained yogurt (or use broth or water)
pinch of salt
1/2 tsp mustard powder or more to taste
6 ounces gruyere or other pungent Swiss cheese, grated
4 ounces aged sharp cheddar, grated
1 cup bread crumbs or panko
1/4 cup grated Pecorino Romano or Parmesan cheese

1. Use 1 tsp butter to grease a 9 x 9 inch baking dish. Turn on the saute function of the Instant Pot and melt the remaining butter in the pot. Press cancel. Add the elbow noodles to the pot. Stir the mustard powder and a pinch of salt into the 4 cups of whey or other liquid and pour that into the pot. 

2. Seal the lid and cook on high pressure for 4 minutes. While the noodles are cooking, preheat your broiler. When the cooking finishes, press cancel and release the pressure by carefully opening the vent. Stir in the grated Swiss and cheddar cheese. Taste a noodle and add more salt if needed.

3. Transfer the noodles to the greased baking dish. Sprinkle over the bread crumbs and Pecorino Romano cheese. Bake under the broiler for one or two minutes until the top is browned, keeping a close watch so that the bread crumbs don't burn. Serve warm.

Note: if you don't have an Instant Pot, cook the noodles in a pot on the stovetop with whey and some additional water as needed, then mix in the cheese and follow the rest of the recipe.

Bibim Guksu with Summer Squash and Sesame Turnips

This Sunday at the Fairmount Neighborhood Farmers Market, you will find fresh cut flower arrangements from Tiger Lily Art Company and lots of fresh produce from Camas Swale Farm including:

beets (cook in a hash with spinach or pack into foil bundles for the grill)

turnips (delicious cooked in brown butter or in the bibim gusko below)

radishes (try smashed in chili oil) 

carrots

potatoes

summer squash and zucchini (make a gratin or stir fry for bibim gusko below)

cucumbers

sugar snap peas

kale (try kale Florentine for brunch)

lettuce

cabbage (make some homemade kimchi for bibim guksu below)

Since recovering from a bout of food poisoning while traveling in Asia, I've had a strong craving for kimchi. Perhaps it's nostalgia for all the delicious Asian food we'd sampled, or a subliminal need for probiotic bacteria, but when I read this description of a cold Korean noodle dish bibim gusku (literally "mixed noodles") I immediately wanted to try it. One of my favorite dishes to cook for the family is bibim bap ("mixed rice"), and here was a summery version with similar flavors and formulation.

A little internet searching revealed that a more traditional version of bibim gusku would use thin white wheat noodles (Somyeon) and incorporate chopped kimchi into the sauce. I love the flavor of buckwheat soba noodles, so I used these, and I kept the kimchi separate to maintain one of the virtues of bibim family meals: everyone is happy when they can customize the spicing and toppings to their preference.

This dish lends itself to improvising with your Farmers Market finds. In a pan Asian mash up, I made a quick side of Fuchsia Dunlop's Chinese sweet and sour summer squash and gave julienned hot pink turnips a Japanese-inspired treatment after the kinpira gobo (stir fried burdock) from Elin England's Eating Close to Home. Served along with some crunchy sliced cucumbers and Gryffindor carrots, a boiled egg, and some briny kimchi, this was a perfect summer meal that will be a regular on our dinner rotation. 

Bibim Guksu

serves four

noodles
300 g (3 circular packets) of soba noodles
Cook in salted boiling water until barely cooked through (about 5 minutes), then immediately rinse under cold water until entirely cooled. Toss with a drizzle of sesame oil to help prevent the strands from congealing. 

sauce
2 Tbsp soy sauce
2 tsp rice vinegar
2 tsp sesame oil
1 tsp honey
1 tsp Korean gochujang paste for a mild, kid-friendly sauce, or more as desired 
1 Tbsp sesame seeds
Mix together all the ingredients. Taste and adjust flavorings as desired.

sweet and sour summer squash
2 zucchini
salt
2 Tbsp cooking oil
2 garlic cloves, finely sliced
1/2 tsp sugar
1 tsp Chinkiang vinegar
Quarter the summer squash lengthwise, and slice thinly. Toss with 1/2 tsp salt, mix well and set aside for 30 minutes or so to sweat. When you are ready to cook, squeeze the slices to get rid of excess water. Heat a wok over a high flame. Add the oil, then the garlic, and stir-fry for a few seconds until you smell its fragrance. Add the squash and stir-fry until they are hot and just cooked, but still a little crisp. Add the sugar and vinegar, with salt to taste, stir a couple of times, then tip on to a dish and serve.

julienned sesame turnips with edamame beans
3 large or 4 small turnips, washed, topped, and tailed
1 Tbsp canola oil
1 tsp soy sauce
1 tsp sweet mirin or rice wine plus a pinch of sugar
1/2 cup fresh or frozen edamame beans
1 tsp sesame oil
2 tsp sesame seeds
red pepper flakes to taste

Slice the turnips and cut the slices into matchsticks. Mix together the soy sauce and mirin. Heat a skillet or wok over high heat and add the oil. When it is hot, add the julienned turnips. Stir fry for a couple minutes until a few start to brown. Add the soy sauce mixture and the edamame beans and continue cooking over high heat, stirring occasionally, until the liquid has completely reduced to a glaze. Remove from heat, drizzle with sesame oil and sprinkle with sesame seeds and red pepper flakes.

additional toppings
4 eggs cooked for six minutes in boiling water and immediately cooled for jammy yokes
julienned carrots and cucumbers
kimchi

Before serving, toss the noodles with the sauce (or leave the noodles undressed for very picky eaters), adding sauce a little at a time until the noodles seem lightly coated. Let people serve themselves their preferred toppings and mix the noodles with the toppings on their plates. 

Baby Turnip Pennies

Last week at the Fairmount Neighborhood Farmers Market, my son picked out the cutest bunch of baby turnips from Camas Swale Farm. When trying to think of a pleasing turnip preparation for the eight and under crowd, I turned to Mollie Kaizen's children's cookbook classic Pretend Soup, source of our family's favorite popover recipe.  

I remembered that Katzen had a recipe for carrot pennies, which I thought might work for baby turnips. On closer inspection, I realized this was a version of the Japanese cooking style of kinpira or sauté and simmer, as in this kinpira gobo, which  produces an addictive sweet and salty syrup coating for the vegetables. This preparation proved to be just the thing to make turnips fun to eat for all ages.

Baby Turnip Pennies

adapted from Mollie Katzen’s Pretend Soup

1 bunch baby turnips
2 Tbsp butter
juice from 1/2 lemon
2 tsp sesame seeds
1 Tbsp brown sugar
generous pinch of salt
1/4 cup water

Trim the tops and tails from rinsed baby turnips and slice them into thin rounds. Place a skillet over medium heat and melt the butter. Add the turnips and a pinch of salt and toss to coat. Add the lemon juice, sesame seeds, and brown sugar and saute until the turnips start to soften and brown. Add the water and allow to cook down to a syrup. Serve warm.

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 Company. Good 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.

Brown Butter Baby Turnips

If you are looking for a charming dinner companion, you need look no farther than these baby turnips from Sweetwater Farm that I procured through Eugene Local Foods. Turnips, like their cousin the rutabaga, do not have the biggest fan base. They can be bitter tasting and surly looking and give the impression of requiring a major investment of work. But I’m here to tell you that these babies were a breeze to prepare. I simply trimmed off the tops and tips, quartered or halved them, and then sautéed them with a pad of butter and a pinch of salt. I left them on low heat while I attended to the rest of the meal – finishing off a barley risotto, cooking chicken breasts with a lemon, mustard, and caper sauce, and preparing a green salad. Within about ten minutes the turnips had transformed themselves into tender, caramelized gems of flavor that quietly stole the show at the dinner table.

Brown Butter Baby Turnips

I bunch of baby turnips

1 Tbsp butter

pinch of salt

1. Trim the tops and tails from the baby turnips (if they are in good shape, reserve the greens for a stir fry or gomae). Rinse the turnips, quarter the bigger ones and halve the small ones, so that you have about a cup of equally sized pieces.

2. Heat a small skillet and melt the butter. Add the turnips and a pinch of salt and cook them over medium low heat, stirring occasionally, for about ten minutes until they are very nicely browned all over and the butter has browned to a nutty flavor. Serve warm.