Recipes

6 large beets
1 bunch scallions, chopped
1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
12 tablespoons water
1/2 cup oil
pinch of sweetener
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper

1. Grate beets on the finest grater you have. If you are using the food processor, use the blade with the smallest holes.

2. Place the grated beets in a bowl. Mix the remaining ingredients until blended and pour over the beets. Toss and marinate for several hours before serving. NOTE: For an interesting variation, substitute grated daikon radishes for 1/3 of the beets.

Makes 6 half-pint jars

10 summer squash
1 tablespoon sea salt
2 onions, chopped
1 sweet pepper, finely diced
2 stalks celery, sliced
2 1/2 cups apple cider vinegar
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 1/2 cups sweetener
1 tablespoon mustard seed
1/2 teaspoon allspice
1 teaspoon turmeric
2 teaspoons celery seed
1/2 teaspoon black pepper

1. Wash squash and remove and discard ends; coarsely chop and mix with salt. Let stand for 5 hours or overnight. Drain and rinse in cold water, then drain once more.

2. Place the other vegetables in a saucepan with drained squash, vinegar, garlic, sweetener, spices. Mix through, then bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Spoon at once into hot sterilized jars and store in the refrigerator. Can be used with hamburgers, veggie burgers, or anything that you like eating with relish!

Serves 6

Simmer in a covered sauce pan for 10 minutes:
8 oz. tempeh, cut in half
1 cup vegetable stock
1 tablespoon tamari
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

Drain, reserving the liquid for sauce. Dice the tempeh small.

Add to the tempeh liquid:
1/2 cup vegetable stock
2 Tablespoons tamari
1 tablespoon arrowroot
Mix well.

Roast in a dry skillet or in an oven at 350 degrees:
2 tablespoons sesame seeds

Have ready:
6 cups greens of choice (I have been using cabbage, but any of the greens are great in this)
1 tablespoon ginger, finely chopped
1 cup chopped onion

Heat wok or skillet and add:
2 tablespoons sesame oil
2 teaspoons dark sesame oil
When wok is hot, quickly brown the diced tempeh and remove.

Add to the pan:
1 tablespoon light sesame oil. Stir fry the onion and ginger 3 minutes, then add the greens (or cabbage) and cook about 5 minutes. Pour in the liquid, bring to a simmer, stir in the tempeh and sesame seeds. Serve art once with brown rice.

Serves 6-8

a few leaves of kale, julienned and chopped
a few leaves of chard, julienned and chopped
1 bunch of lettuce, washed and dried, then torn into bite-sized pieces
1/2 cup grated carrot
1/2 cup grated beets
1/4 cup grated daikon (optional)
1 medium avocado, cut into thin slices
2 teaspoons sesame seeds
1 tablespoon lemon juice
2 teaspoons whole grain mustard
3 tablespoons olive oil

1. Place greens, lettuce, carrots, beets and daikon into a large bowl and toss lightly. Scatter the avocado slices on top.

2. Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a small pan. Add the sesame seeds and cook over low heat until they start to jump and turn golden. Remove from heat immediately and allow to cool slightly.

3. Add lemon juice, remaining oil and mustard to pan and continue heating for about 2 minutes, until just warm. While still warm, pour over the salad and gently toss to coat the leaves. Sprinkle with sesame seeds.
Salad is best served immediately.

Serves 4-6

2 tablespoons sesame oil
2 sweet peppers, seeded and sliced thinly about 2 cups
1 cup cauliflower cut into small florets
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 cup tofu, sliced (optional)
2 teaspoons light soy sauce
1/2 teaspoon chili sauce
1 teaspoon honey
1/2 teaspoon grated fresh ginger
1 teaspoon sesame seeds

1. Heat half the oil in a frying pan and stir-fry the bell peppers and cauliflower for 5 minutes, until the peppers are tinged golden and slightly soft.

2. Add the rest of the ingredients, except the remaining oil and sesame seeds, and stir-fry for a minute.

3. Turn onto serving plates and serve warm with oil drizzled over and sesame seeds sprinkled on top.

Serves 6

1 tablespoon peanut oil (or oil of choice)
1 medium onion, thinly sliced
1 teaspoon freshly ground cumin seeds
1 teaspoon freshly minced ginger
1 small hot chili, minced
black pepper
1 1/2 cups cooked lentils of choice
2 cups mixed greens (such as spinach, kale, chard…) torn
juice of 1 /2 lemon
2 tablespoons plain yogurt

1. Heat oil in a saute pan and saute onion until soft. Add spices, chili, pepper, and seasonings and saute for 1 more minute.

2. Add the lentils and stir for 1 to 2 minutes, then add the greens and stir for another minute until slightly wilted.

3. Add the lemon juice and drizzle over yogurt before serving slightly warm or at room temperature.

2 large tomatoes, halved and chopped
1 medium red onion, chopped
1 small sweet pepper, seeded and chopped
2 padron peppers, chopped
1/2 cup chopped cucumber (optional)
1 1/2 cups drained and rinsed canned mixed beans
2 tablespoons chopped cilantro
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon lime juice
1 teaspoon sea salt
black pepper

1. Mix all ingredients together in a bowl and leave to marinate for 30 minutes or more. Serve cold.

1 1/2 cups strawberries
1 cup raspberries
3 tablespoons sweetener of choice
1 cinnamon stick
dash of lemon juice
thick plain yogurt or ice cream to serve

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Prepare the fruit by halving any over-large strawberries, and removing stems.

2. Place fruit, sweetener and cinnamon in a shallow baking dish with 2-3 tablespoon water. Cover and bake for 30 minutes, stirring gently once, until the fruit is soft and there is a rich juice.

3. Remove the cinnamon stick, and stir in the lemon juice. Serve with yogurt or ice cream.

Serves 6

8 garlic cloves, peeled
8 large tomatoes (about 1 pound), halved and (optionally) seeded
1 medium sweet pepper or 2 small, halved, seeded, then quartered
5 teaspoons olive oil
1 teaspoon sea salt
black pepper to taste
1 3/4 vegetable stock
handful fresh basil leaves

1.Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Arrange garlic, tomatoes, and peppers in a baking dish. Drizzle with olive oil, then sprinkle with sea salt and pepper to taste. Bake for 20-30 minutes, or until vegetables are soft (if the garlic looks like it is overcooking, remove it from baking dish and set it aside).

2. Transfer contents of baking dish to a blender or food processor. Add the stock and puree until smooth. Put into a pan and reheat, adding the basil at the last minute. Adjust the seasoning.

Two weeks ago I talked about how to cook Padrón peppers – and how I never prepare or use them any other way. Well… since we’ve been getting them rather regularly, I must admit I branched out a little. Not much.

It was still really hot last week, and so not having A/C, firing up a blistering hot cast-iron griddle in my kitchen was the last thing I wanted to do. But I had this bag of Padrón peppers… so I figured if Tom can roast Padróns in the farm’s wood-fired oven, I could probably grill them (outdoors – yay! no added heat in the house!). So I simply double-skewered them with bamboo skewers (see picture – makes them easier to ‘flip’ ‘cuz they don’t spin around when they get floppy this way) and popped them on the grill, just a few minutes per side, enough so they blistered and got soft… then I just treated them the same as always: remove to a bowl, drizzle with good olive oil and coarse sea salt and eat while still warm.

Okay, I know that’s not branching out so very much, but this was:

Instead of roasting or grilling I just rough-chopped the raw Padróns, seeds and all (did cut off stems though), chopped up some onions and garlic, and some tomatoes… sauteed the onions and padrons until soft and starting to brown (fairly high heat, stirring), added garlic and cooked another minute or so, then threw in the chopped tomatoes and cooked them all together until the tomatoes just started to get hot and soften. Can’t remember if I threw in any herbs but your certainly could… if you get basil this week, chop up and add a little. Anyway, that’s it! Less than ten minutes! I just put that over pasta and ate it. Yum! I like to drizzle my pasta sauce with additional “good” olive oil at the table and sprinkle on some salt as well, so I got the Padrón ‘olive-oil-coarse-salt’ thing going on after all; all I added was some onion, garlic and tomatoes. Oh, and pasta. 😉 You definitely got that “Padrón” flavor in the sauce though – it was lovely.