What's in the box?





As I've mentioned a few times since June, we've been getting our produce from our CSA, Early Morning Farm.  We get this box filled with all sorts of fantastic veg, but once in a while we get something that totally throws us for a loop.  I'm going to be honest, I don't think dandelion greens will ever make my shopping list. But collard greens, on the other hand, are not so bad.  Nelsy and I had never had them before and found ourselves with a big o'll stack of the over sized greens.

If you are unfamiliar with collards you'd likely be impressed by their size.  I should have placed a pocket knife in the corner of this photo for reference.  Anyway, I did what any other clueless person with a a stack of giant leaves would do, got my iPod out.  That's right, if you have never used the All Recipes app I recommend it. (The "Dinner Spinner is a particularly nice feature.)  It was there I found Kickin' Collard Greens by Ken Adams.

It was pretty simple, just cook up a couple slices of bacon and some onions, add some garlic and the greens.  Pour in some chicken broth and season with salt pepper and red pepper flakes and simmer for about 45 min.  These suckers are pretty tough so they do take a while to get tender.

When all is said and done, they are quite tasty and a little spicy (of course you can make them as spicy or mild as you like).  According to the app they're just 119 calories per serving (makes 6 servings) and about 9 grams of fiber.  With a goal of 28 grams per day, this is pretty good!

Kickin' Collard Greens (Ken Adams)

1 TBS olive oil
3 slices bacon
1 large onion chopped
2 cloves garlic minced
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
3 cups chicken broth
1 pinch red pepper flakes
1 lb fresh collard greens cut into 2 inch pieces

Heat oil in a large pot over medium high heat.  Add bacon and cook until crisp.  Remove bacon from the pan, crumble and return to pan.  Add onion and cook until soft, about 5 min.  Add garlic and cook 1 min more.  Add collard greens and fry until they start to wilt.  Pour in chicken broth and season with salt, pepper and red pepper flakes.  Reduce heat to low, cover and simmer for 45 min or until greens are tender.

Ya'll enjoy now, ya hear?

BeeGee Tacos

Summer has been so busy thus far that I've got a small overflow of recipes to share but haven't had a chance to do it.  Since I've been looking for ways to use my CSA and garden greens, I've been searching out some new recipes.  Beans-and Greens Tacos with cotija cheese filled both my need to use greens and the ever present need for a taco (or taco related food). 

You will need 1-2 red onions, depending on how much you like.  I had a really big one so I used a small part of it to make pica de gallo (we'll get to that in a minute) and the rest I sliced up for the tacos.

You saute the onions for about 6 min, or until soft and then add 5 cloves of garlic sliced thin.  Cook for one more minute (burnt garlic is no fun at all so you always throw that in a little later).

The recipe calls for 1lb of Swiss chard, stems and ribs removed.  We used 1/2 lb chard and 1/2 lb spinach.

This may look like a ton of greens but once you get them all in the pan they wilt down. A LOT.

Along with the greens you add a cup of rinsed cannellini beans and a 1/2 cup of chicken or vegetable stock. Season with salt and pepper and cook until greens are wilted and beans are cooked through, about 4 min.

I made a nice bowl of fresh pica de gallo to go with the tacos.  Personally I think the beans and greens alone would be a little boring but this was a great addition.  Just chop equal parts tomato, cilantro and red onion.  Season with salt and pepper and a squeeze of lime. Yum.

So you take a stack of corn tortillas out to the grill and brush them lightly with oil and hold over the flame until warmed through (or you can wrap them in foil and warm in a 350 oven).  We had some leftover chicken and pork in the fridge so we got that out too.  I ate mine meatless and was totally satisfied.

Pile on the beans and greens, top with pica and a touch of cotija cheese (recipe called for goat cheese but I'm not a fan).

I though this salty, crumbly cheese was a lovely detail to this fab vegetarian taco.

How good does that look?  I could totally go for a couple of those right about now!

Beans-and-Greens Tacos (a variation of a Martha Stewart recipe)

3 Tbs extra-virgin olive oil

1-2 red onions, sliced into 1/4/inch thick rounds

5 garlic cloves, thinly sliced

1 lb Swiss chard (or 1 lb spinach or combo) washed and coarsely chopped. 

1 cup canned cannellini beans, drained and rinsed

1/2 cup vegetable or chicken stock

Salt and fresh ground pepper

8 white corn tortillas

1/3 cup crumbled cotija cheese (or goat cheese)

Pica de Gallo or fresh cilantro for topping

Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat.  Cook onions until soft, about 6 min.  Add garlic, cook one min.  Stir in greens, beans, and stock.  Cook until greens are wilted and beans are warmed through.  Season with salt and pepper.

Pile on to warmed corn tortillas with pica and cheese and enjoy!

 Warning: If your tortillas are too crisp you may have to eat them "open faced"!

Gnarls Barley

Tis the season for boat loads of leafy greens.  We have planted our garden for the third consecutive year and it seems to be pretty fantastic thus far in the early stages of the growing season.  Since the last two years didn't pan out so well, we also joined a CSA, just to be on the safe side (which is a whole other topic for another day).  Needless to say there is no shortage of green in these parts.

Here's a little sample of what's taking place in the garden.  We have a vibrant row of rainbow chard.

A couple of rows of spinach (which looks so good but we've received a pound and a half each week from the CSA so I think we'll let this go a bit longer).

We also have a nice lettuce mix and a variety of herbs (dill, basil, parsley, cilantro, etc.).

We like fresh greens and steamed greens and green smoothies too.  But clearly we are going to need to get creative.  This Barley Risotto recipe was posted on Facebook by Food Inc. and I immediately looked it up and saved it.  Of course I had grocery store greens to use up since I had no idea what was coming in the box last week!

I am a big barley fan.  I'm not even sure why because I haven't really had it all that much.  I was craving it before I ever had it in anything but beef barley soup.  This one cup of pearl barley goes a long way in this recipe.

There is minimal chopping involved here.  Just a couple of medium carrots and some garlic.  Have it ready because risotto is an attention hog and does not want you to do much of anything else while its on the stove besides stirring (and stirring and stirring).

First you toast the barley in a hot pot for a bout 5 min until it turns a few shades darker.  Then you add the oil, garlic and carrot and some salt and pepper.  You cook it for about 2 min and then add some white wine.  Cook that until it's mostly absorbed.

Then you stir in hot vegetable broth one cup at a time stirring constantly until barley is tender.  This takes about 5 or so cups of liquid and about 30 min.  While this is not difficult to do, you are pretty much a slave to the stove for that 25-30 min.  I do believe it is worth it though!

Once it's cooked through you add a little butter and a little shredded Parmesan cheese and stir in your greens until wilted.  This calls for spring mix but I think you can use what ever your garden groweth.

The finished product is so rich and creamy and delicious.  If you don't want this to be the whole meal, I'd serve it along side some grilled pork loin and a nice leafy green salad.  Click the Barley Risotto link for the recipe and article by the chef that created it, enjoy!

Wicked Good Lasagna

This is no joke.  I freakin love this lasagna.  It's simple, tasty, lighter than your average lasagna and pretty easy to make.  You really must try it.  Many of you will be looking for some meatless meals in the up coming weeks.  Try it.  Some of you do meatless Mondays.  Try it.  We find it to be so darn yummy, we don't give meat a second thought.  No need.  This Skillet Lasagna is from Food Network Magazine's cookbook.  The only changes I have made is using part-skim ricotta (why wouldn't you?) and when it isn't the heart of tomato season (which in CNY is almost never is), I use canned crushed or diced tomatoes.  Check it out:

I highly recommend prepping before you get going because once it's time to assemble it goes pretty fast.  So gather up the goods.  Mince some garlic and if using fresh tomatoes, chop them up.  Heat about 2 TBS olive oil (actually the recipe calls for 1/2 cup but that is unnecessary) and saute the garlic.  Give it about a minute to turn golden and throw the tomatoes in.  while this is cooking get your other ingredients ready.

Mix your ricotta, parm, egg and herbs together with some salt and pepper.

Use your peeler to make ribbons of a carrot and zucchini, they will be nice and thin and cook perfectly. 

Slice up some fresh mozzarella.  I do NOT recommend substituting regular mozzarella.  I think the fresh stuff has a lot to do with just how fabulous this dish is.  Trust me on this.  By the time you're done with the prep your sauce is probably done.  Pour it in a bowl and hit it with (my favorite kitchen tool) the immersion blender.  This can be done using a food processor or blender as well (use caution when blending hot liquids in a blender!).  Once the sauce is blended you are ready to assemble.  It's a cinch when you're all prepared.

No joke.

Skillet Lasagna

2 TBS extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for drizzling

4 cloves garlic, sliced or minced

1 1/2 lbs ripe tomatoes diced or 1 28oz can crushed or diced toms

4 TBS fresh basil (and parsley if you got it) chopped

kosher salt and fresh ground pepper

1 Cup part-skim ricotta cheese

1 large egg

2 TBS grated Parmesan

6-8 sheets no boil lasagna noodles

1 carrot, peeled into ribbons

1 zucchini, peeled into ribbons

3 1/2 cups baby spinach (the grown up stuff works too)

1/3 lb fresh mozzarella sliced thin

Heat olive oil in a large skillet over med-high heat.  Add garlic and cook until golden.  Add 1 TBS herbs, 1/2 tsp salt and pepper to taste.  Cook until saucy (or until prep is done) about 5 min.  Transfer to a blender and puree (or to a bowl and use immersion blender).

Reduce heat to low and return one cup of sauce to the skillet (enough to cover the bottom).  Mix ricotta, egg, parm, 3 TBS fresh herbs, 1/2 tsp salt and fresh pepper to taste in a bowl.  (you can do this while the sauce is cooking)

Place 2 noodles over the sauce in the skillet (I usually break up another to fill in the spaces).  Layer half of the carrot, half of the zucchini on top; drizzle with a touch of oil and season with salt and pepper.  Cover with half of the spinach, half of the ricotta mixture (plop spoonfuls randomly around) a few slices of mozzarella and top it with a ladle of sauce.  Repeat layers ending with noodles.  Top with remaining sauce and mozzarella.  Cover and simmer until cooked through and cheese is melted. About 25 min (you may want to cook a few min uncovered if it there is a lot of liquid).  Let rest before slicing and top with fresh herbs.

With my minor adjustments and the fact that the book calls this 4 servings (It's more like 6), This recipe is about 400 calories per serving.  If you had lasagna at The Olive Garden you would easily double the calories and almost triple the sodium.  Make this for your loved ones.  You will be a star.