Posts tagged greens

Growing Wild Meal Plan: 6/10-6/16

June 13, 2010 · Filed under Meal Planning, Spring · Tagged , , , , , , , , , , ,

Posted by Sheila

Our veggie harvests this week include lettuce, turnips, radishes, green garlic, garlic scapes, green onions, kale, parsley, chard, and kohlrabi.  We also started harvesting some of our lovely dark cornish meat chickens, so that along with our goat meat means we have to purchase less meat.  We buy a little lamb from our friend’s at Bide-a-Wee and until our pigs get processed next week, some pork from Sky Ranch of Yamhill, Oregon.  Here is this week’s meal plan.  The last few weeks–the first few weeks of our market season–were mostly chaotic as our schedules shifted and we all adjusted.  All the progress I had made at planning meals went out the door, but I made one this week, because I have really come to enjoy the ease of once a week shopping and no last minute dinner debacles when I have no idea what to cook.

  • Thursday: Breakfast–Poached eggs with pinto beans & green garlic   Lunch–Chicken stock with polenta, green garlic, and kale         Dinner–Tacos w/ ground lamb, green garlic, and kale w/ radish salsa and chopped lettuce
  • Friday:  Breakfast–Buckwheat pancakes w/ scrambled eggs                  Lunch–Curried lentils with turnip greens and green garlic            Dinner–Slow cooked goat stew w/ sun-dried tomatoes and green garlic, creamy polenta, braised swiss chard and a reduction sauce
  • Saturday:  Breakfast–Egg scramble w/ kale and green onions               Lunch–Chicken liver pate & hummus w/ rye crackers, roasted turnip salad (made like potato salad w/ bacon, green onions, & mayonnaise), lettuce Dinner–Roast chicken with braised turnip greens and green garlic
  • Sunday: Breakfast–Fried eggs and bacon w/ whole green onions        Lunch– Gluten-free pasta w/ leftover goat stew, parsley, and green onion Dinner–Baked beans, Lettuce Salad w/ radishes
  • Monday:Breakfast–Buckwheat pancakes w/ eggs                             Lunch–Pate & white bean dip w/ sunflower seed crackers, kohlrabi slices, lettuce salad w/ radishes                                                                        Dinner–White bean & kale soup w/ garlic scape pesto
  • Tuesday:Breakfast–Scrambled eggs with garlic scape pesto                   Lunch–Leftover soup                                                                               Dinner–Lamb meatballs, white bean dip, roasted turnips, salad
  • Wednesday:  Breakfast–Egg drop soup w/green onions and turnip greens Lunch–Polenta pizza w/ sun-dried tomato & parsley pesto (made with walnuts instead of pine nuts), salad                                                               Dinner–Sprouted lentil and kale patties w/ turnip fries

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Potato, Leek and Dandelion Greens Soup

January 24, 2010 · Filed under Main Dish, Seasons, Spring, Winter · Tagged , , ,

Posted by Lisa

Potato, Leek and Dandelion Soup

This soup is basically a variation of my old stand-by, Potato Leek Soup.  This soup warrants its own post because of the addition of dandelion greens and extra alliums, in the form of garlic and onions.  This soup is so earthy and humble, with just a small touch of decadence, courtesy of the cream.

Dandelion greens are familiar to most people as invasive weeds, but their culinary popularity is increasing.  You can now find them at many farmers markets, or you could harvest them from your own yard in the early spring, before they flower or in the late fall after a frost, when they aren’t so bitter (provided you haven’t used chemicals in your yard).  Dandelion greens are wonderfully nutritious, with high levels of Vitamin K and A and respectable levels of Vitamin C, calcium and iron.

They are more nutritious when eaten raw, however many Americans would probably find their bitter taste slightly disagreeable the first couple of tries.  Cooking them mellows their bitterness significantly.

Potato Leek and Dandelion Greens Soup

printable recipe

  • several tablespoons of cooking fat
  • 1 medium onion, thinly sliced
  • 3 cloves garlic, minced
  • 2 large leeks, thinly sliced
  • 2-3 pounds potatoes, 1/2″ dice (I leave the peel on mine, but you can peel yours if you prefer; you can also use any variety of potatoes you have on hand)
  • 2 teaspoons sea salt
  • freshly ground pepper
  • 1/2 tablespoon stone-ground mustard
  • 1 quart of stock (vegetable or chicken)
  • 1 bunch of dandelion greens (approximately 8 cups chopped); chop stems roughly and keep them separate from the greens which should also be chopped roughly
  • 1/4 cup of heavy cream

Heat cooking fat in a heavy-bottomed pot or Dutch oven on medium heat.  Add onions and garlic.  Cook, stirring frequently, for five minutes.  Add leeks and cook until all vegetables are tender, about five more minutes; the leeks should still be bright green at this point.  Add potatoes, sea salt, pepper and mustard.  Stir to combine and then add stock.  You may need a little more than 1 quart.  It should cover the potatoes mixture by 1/2″ inch.  Bring the soup to a simmer and add the chopped dandelion stems.  Simmer until potatoes are tender.  When potatoes are tender, add the dandelion greens and cook just until they have wilted.  Remove pot from heat and stir in cream.  Check seasonings and adjust if necessary.

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Eat your greens!

May 10, 2009 · Filed under Main Dish, Side/Salad, Spring, This and That · Tagged

Posted by Sheila

kale

The harvests from early spring can seem the farthest removed from the most commonly consumed vegetables in the United States.  It is the season of greens, especially if you are shy on overwintered root crops.   Still, greens have been making a comeback because of their nutrient dense profile, and they are a staple in many other culture’s diets.A simple tip on using all your spring greens up–add them to most dishes you cook and they will be good!

Greens cook down quite a bit, and although all of the different greens have different characteristics (especially in regards to cooking time, the thicker the cell wall the more cooking they can take and still be good), most are interchangeable in recipes.  A little quality olive oil or organic butter, some leek, onion, or garlic, and a light cooking for chard and kale and young turnip greens, a bit longer for those collards. and they really are great just like that…by themselves or added to most anything you are cooking!  There are delicious recipes for greens all over the internet if you aren’t finding any in the cookbooks around your house, and if a recipe doesn’t include greens in it, don’t be afraid to just add them in.

chard

Simple Sauteed Greens/ Italian OR Asian Style

This saute can be eaten as a side, or prepared as such and then served over pasta, bread, or rice.

1 bunch greens, chopped, tough stems removed
1 leek, chopped
2 cloves garlic, crushed
pinch crushed red pepper
sea salt or tamari (or regular soy) sauce to taste
1⁄4 cup or so red wine for Italian style, dry white wine for Asian style (for deglazing pan)
grated Parmesan for Italian style, sesame oil for Asian style
olive oil OR coconut (or peanut) oil
Gently heat either your olive oil for Italian style greens or coconut or peanut oil for Asian style. Add your leeks, garlic (and ginger for Asian greens) and saute until the alliums are translucent and soft. Add your greens and either sea salt (Italian) or tamari or soy sauce (Asian) plus crushed red pepper to taste. Add more oil if necessary, and saute until greens have almost reached the desired tenderness. Add wine of choice and deglaze pan  using the wine to remove what has cooked onto pan, intensifying flavors). The greens should be just right at this point. Now you can either top with grated Parmesan or sesame oil and serve quickly or add to the dish you are cooking. The Italian style is great on top of pasta or inside cannelloni or manicotti or lasagna, on crusty bread and pizza or under chicken Parmesan. The Asian style is great on oriental rice or tossed with Asian noodles, or stuffed into spring rolls, fresh or fried and dipped in your favorite Asian style sauce.

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Leek, Bacon & Rapini Frittata

May 8, 2009 · Filed under Main Dish, Spring · Tagged , , , , , ,

Posted by Lisa
Leek, Bacon & Rapini Frittata

Leek, Bacon & Rapini Frittata

I regularly order a four pound tub of feta through Azure Standard, so I always have feta on hand.  It’s great for throwing into omelets, pasta, salads, quiches and frittatas.  There are so many uses for feta.  Eggs are abundant this time of year as are greens, so quiches and frittatas just seem perfect.

I found a wonderful book at our local library called Family Meals by Maria Helm Sinskey.  It’s a great compilation of recipes and tips for including your children in a tradition of local and seasonal eating.  I adapted this frittata recipe from the book’s A Colorful Frittata recipe.

Leek, Bacon & Rapini Frittata

adapted from Family Meals by Maria Helm Sinskey

  • 4 oz bacon, chopped
  • 1 large or two smaller leeks, washed well and sliced thinly
  • 1 bunch rapini, roughly chopped
  • 5 mushrooms, finely chopped
  • 8 large eggs
  • sea salt
  • freshly ground pepper
  • 1 teaspoon dried oregano or marjoram
  • 1/2 cup crumbled feta

Preheat oven to 400°.

Heat a cast iron over medium high heat.  Add bacon and leeks.  Sauté until bacon begins to brown and leeks are beginning to soften.  Add rapini, mushrooms, 1/2 teaspoon salt, freshly ground pepper and oregano and cook another five minutes until rapini is wilted.

In a large bowl, whisk eggs and 1/2 teaspoon salt until blended.

When rapini is wilted, add egg mixture to the cast iron skillet.  Distribute evenly in pan.  Sprinkle feta over the top.  Place cast iron skillet in oven and bake until the frittata is puffed and golden on top.

Remove from oven and serve warm.  Running a thin metal spatula or knife around the edge of the skillet will help loosen the frittata and make serving easier.

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Chard, Mushroom & Onion Enchiladas in Tomatillo Sauce

May 7, 2009 · Filed under Main Dish, Spring · Tagged , , , ,

Posted by Lisa
Chard, Mushroom & Onion Enchiladas in Tomatillo Sauce

Chard, Mushroom & Onion Enchiladas in Tomatillo Sauce

We are omnivores in this house and really enjoy meat, though we don’t eat it in every meal.  Whever I try a new dish in which I use vegetables in the same capacity that I would normally use meat, it has been received poorly at times.  I was expecting the worst when I served these pretty green enchiladas with my usual Mexican rice and was suprised that they were heartily consumed by all except my youngest who felt tricked that they weren’t filled with chicken.  These enchiladas really were delicious and the leftovers were promptly eaten the next day which is always a sign that a dish has been well received.

When contemplating the jars of tomatillo salsa I have in my pantry still left from last fall’s canning, I googled a recipe for tomatillo enchiladas and one of the first recipes that came up was a recipe for Swiss Chard, Onion and Monterey Jack Enchiladas in a Tomatillo Salsa.  Since we received chard in our CSA share, this seemed the perfect recipe to try.  The chard worked beautifully in the enchiladas because it has such a mild flavor that it doesn’t compete with the tart flavor of the tomatillos and its tender texture doesn’t get stringy like some greens might have.  I made adaptations to the original recipe by adding some mushrooms, using a raw cheddar instead of Monterey jack and using my home canned salsa.

Chard, Mushroom & Onion Enchiladas in Tomatillo Sauce

  • 1 cup of prepared or home canned tomatillo salsa
  • 1 1/2 cups of water or stock
  • 3 tablespoons sour cream
  • 3 tablespoons cooking oil
  • 1 bunch chard
  • 1 medium onion, diced
  • 5 large mushrooms, chopped rather finely
  • 10 oz. grated cheddar cheese, divided
  • 12 corn tortillas
  • 1/4 cup grated Parmesan
  • sea salt

Preheat oven to 375°.

In a medium sauce pan bring salsa and water (or stock) to a boil.  Turn down to simmer and simmer until it is the about as thick as tomato sauce.  When it has reached the desired consistency, remove from heat and whisk the sour cream in.  Set aside.

To prepare the chard, strip the leaves from the stems and cut into thin strips.  Remove the bottom inch or so of the stems and chop the remaining stems finely.

In a large pan, heat your oil and sauté onions for about one minute.  Add the chopped chard stems and the mushrooms.  Sauté for another minute.  Add chard leaves and stir well.  Add about one teaspoon of sea salt and cook until chard wilts is tender, about 10 minutes.

Set aside 1/4 of the grated cheese to use on top of the assembled enchiladas.

Corn tortillas crack if you try to roll them cold, so they need to be warmed.  I do this by heating two or three tortillas at a time in the preheated oved for about a minute.  Then, dip each tortilla into the tomatillo salsa mixture and then fill with several tablespoons of the chard filling and about a tablespoon of grated cheese.  Place the rolled enchilada in a 9′ x 13′ casserole dish.  Repeat with the remaining tortillas.

When you have assembled all 12 enchiladas and placed them in the dish, pour the remaining tomatillo sauce on top of the enchiladas, sprinkle the reserved grated cheese and the 1/4 cup of Parmesan cheese on top.  Bake about 30 minutes, until the cheese is melted and golden.

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This week from the farm table…

April 29, 2009 · Filed under This and That · Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Posted by  Sheila

spring rapini

Ok, things have been cooking pretty slowly for me and this blog.  As my about info relates, we are not usually meal planners so can’t share a weekly meal plan.   However things are heating up now that we are back to harvesting for the CSA.  Now we begin to just  harvest for ourselves on the same day, and either suggest recipes for that week that we have tried, or often find new ones that we then try that week.  This will make it easier for me to serve up tasty blog posts to complement Lisa’s hard work here!  The second ingredient that has been missing for me here has been taking decent pictures of the food we make.  I have come to have a great appreciation for the well taken pictures on food blogs.  Like Lisa mentioned to me, it is hard when everyone is ready to eat and you are trying to get a picture in, and then add in a dash of poor lighting in the kitchen and it just becomes a fiasco.  So I have decided, photo or not, words can go a long way (pictures do help) with wetting your appetites!  Here’s some of what we ate from our fields last week.

  • Goat and Barley Soup with Leek Tops (cut leek tops into 1 inch pieces and used as their own veggie–these were soft and delicious by the time the soup was finished!)
  • Salad Mix of baby lettuces, crisp baby Russian kale, blood red beet leaves, borage flowers, perpetual spinach, and wild sorrel tossed with nettle pesto, italian-style homemade vinaigrette, and coarsly chopped Oregon hazelnuts
  • Braised Rack of Goat with Sauteed Rapini
  • Pizza Night:  Nettle Pesto w/ sheep’s Feta AND Carmelized Leeks and Rapini, w/ Parmesan and Olive Oil
  • Coconut Red Beans and Rice w/ baby perpetual spinach leaf salad with oil, vinegar, feta
  • Falafel and Chard Cakes (ours somewhere between these and these )
  • Rice Noodles with with sautéed Kale, locally fished Tuna, and Buttery Leeks

lettuce heads

Things we plan to try this week:

And lots of different salads:

  • Baby Perpetual Spinach with warm dressing of some sort (maybe we will splurge for some bacon…our piggies had none) and poached egg.
  • Baby Perpetual Spinach w/ balsamic vinegar/olive oil, walnuts, and Oregonzola (Rogue Creamery blue cheeses-yum!!)
  • Ceasar-inspired Lettuce Salad with our Rogue D’Hiver lettuce (a Romaine type)
  • And maybe this Butter Lettuce and Pumpkin Seed Salad with our Winter Density lettuce (a butter/romaine style)

Otherwise it might be more of our old stand-bys: kale and eggs in the morning, greens smoothies, collards and rice and buttery leeks and white beans, more slow cooked goat (it is the only meat in our freezer right now), and probably another rapini pizza on pizza night!  Who knows, maybe this week a great picture will come out of a great meal and it will grace this table here!

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Easy Pizza

April 28, 2009 · Filed under Main Dish · Tagged , , , , , , ,

Posted by Lisa
Bacon, Carmelized Leek, Rapini, Mushroom Pizza

Bacon, Caramelized Leek, Rapini, Mushroom Pizza

Pizza is such a versatile dish.  You can make it with meat or without or use up small bits of a variety of vegetables that you have sitting around, which is useful for stretching a vegetable or clearing out your refrigerator and will change seasonally.  Pizza can seem intimidating, but really, it’s a dough topped with stuff.  How hard is that?  If you find a good dough recipe, you’re set.  I’ve heard that having a pizza stone is handy, but even if you don’t own one (as I don’t) you can still make wonderful pizza.  I’ve used regular baking sheets and a cast iron griddle and I find that a cast iron griddle makes for a nice golden and well done crust.

This week I used bacon (cooked), caramelized leeks from our CSA share, one bunch of kale rapini (chopped and lightly sautéd), sliced local mushrooms and grated mozzarella.

Easy Pizza Dough

from The Food Network

  • 3 1/2 cups, unbleached all purpose flour
  • 2 packages active dry yeast
  • 1 teaspoon sea salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon sugar
  • 1 1/2 cups lukewarm water
  • 1/2 teaspoon olive oil

In a mixing bowl fitted with a dough hook, place flour, yeast, salt and sugar. While mixer is running, gradually add water and knead on low speed until dough is firm and smooth, about 10 minutes.

Turn machine off. Pour oil down inside of bowl. Turn on low once more for 15 seconds to coat inside of bowl and all surfaces of dough with the oil. Cover bowl with plastic wrap. Let dough rise in warm spot until doubled in bulk, about 2 hours.

Preheat oven to 475 degrees F.

If using a pizza stone, place stone in oven on bottom rack while preheating. Punch dough down, cut in half*. Place half of the dough on generously floured work surface. By hand, form dough loosely into a ball and stretch into a circle. Using a floured rolling pin, roll dough into large circle until very thin. Don’t worry if your circle isn’t perfect and if you get a hole just pinch the edges back together.

To prevent dough from sticking to counter, turn over the dough and sprinkle with flour. Also, flour the counter top and rolling pin as needed. Sprinkle pizza peel or cookie sheet generously with cornmeal. Transfer dough to pizza peel or cookie sheet with no lip. Add toppings. Slide dough onto pizza stone or place cookie sheet with pizza on bottom rack.

Bake 10 to12 minutes or until golden. Roll out remaining dough and top with desired toppings or freeze in freezer bags.

*I always divide the dough into four pieces for smaller, individual pizzas.  1/4 of the dough rolls out to fit very nicely on a standard sized cast iron griddle.

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Crispy Kale

April 8, 2009 · Filed under Autumn, Side/Salad, Spring, Winter · Tagged , ,

Posted by Lisa
Crispy Kale

Crispy Kale

I discovered crispy kale by accident.  I think that one time I added chopped broccoli and kale to roast at the same time and ended up with tender broccoli and crispy kale.  These days I prepare it on its own.  It is rather like eating potatoes chips, but they aren’t as thick and crispy kale is much better for you.  They are a little salty, a lot crispy and very fine indeed.

Crispy Kale

  • one or two bunches of kale, coarsely chopped
  • a couple tablespoons of olive oil
  • sea salt
  • freshly ground pepper

Toss all ingredients together and place on a cookie sheet.  Bake in a preheated 425° oven for about 15 minutes, or until they get crispy.  Keep an eye on them towards the end, because they can go from crispy to burned very quickly.

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A weed by any other name…

April 8, 2009 · Filed under Side/Salad, Spring, This and That · Tagged , , , , ,

Posted by Sheila

spring herbs

There are two things that have struck me this spring as we eat and live more seasonally than we ever have.  One Lisa has already touched on–wild foraging–and in the hope of not being redundant, I must too share some of our foraged food fun.  The second thing that I have taken for granted until now is the regrowth of our perennial herbs.  These two things have brought just enough newness to our plates to see us through to those first radishes and peas and strawberries.

The truth of the matter is that most of what we can harvest from our own first season overwintered field is much more of the same, with rapinis being the only true “new” crop of this season.  Being back in chives is a real treat, and even though our thymes and rosemaries and such can be cut all winter, they can not be the stars in any dishes as we gingerly tend them through the winter waiting for their new growth to signal larger and more frequent harvest.  Taking steps to plant some perennial herbs can help round out a year long seasonal and local diet nicely.

Still,  it is the dandelion greens, the nettles, the wild violets, all perfect and good for harvests for such a short time before the dandelions get far too bitter, the wild violets shrivel up, and well, the nettles get too tough and overgrown unless you stay on top of them.  Summer has its own crop of great foraging options, wild sorrel and lamb’s quarters delicious even when summer heat makes other cultivated greens bitter. But in summer, there is so much to be had from the fields, the feeling is not quite the same.

dandelion greens

And really, there is something to the feeling of foraging anyways.  A different kind of satisfaction (different, I say, not better) than comes from harvesting what you yourself have sown (also deeply rewarding).  I hope to always have the means to do the latter, but the former gives one the feeling of being provided for in quite a different way.  It is an activity I highly recommend, and there is no better time than in the spring to take advantage of these “weeds” while you wait for your own garden to get going or for most farmer’s to begin selling their goods.  And in case you needed another push to peruse through an edible weed book, in all cases that I have looked into, wildings far surpass all of our cultivated vegetables on a nutritional level.

wild spring salad

Dandelion greens must be picked from fresh growth before flower stalks have sprouted to be tasty and not bitter.  These are the best for salads.  We also have enjoyed them in soups and quiches when they are slightly bigger, but if you harvest any that have that milky white substance oozing from them when you cut them, they will be bitter, bitter, bitter.  Wild violets are like candy, delightful in a salad, but equally sweet for eating out of hand; like the first fruit of the season, my kids love these!  Nettles are perfectly edible and like dandelion greens and all wildings, incredibely nutritious.  Definately use gloves to harvest these!  The sting goes away after steaming or cooking, and these can be used in any greens recipe, but here is a recipe we always use, the first thing we were shown to do with nettles years ago.  As always, we don’t use a recipe when we make it, so I am posting this recipe so you have specifics.  I almost never use pine nuts since I get large quantities of organic walnuts from an area farm and it is great with walnuts.

Nettle Pesto

2 cups stinging nettles, blanched and chopped (figure 6 cups raw)
1/2 cup Parmesan
1/2 cup pine nuts, roasted
4-5 large garlic cloves
1/2 cup olive oil
1 tbsp lemon juice
salt and pepper, to taste

Don’t forget the blanching part, to get out the sting, but just for a minute or so, then dry them as best you can, throw everything in a blender or food processer and process.  We enjoy this pesto on pizzas and pastas per the usual, but also as a soup garnish and with both lamb and beef.

And if you are one of the many who suffer from seasonal allergies, then forage and eat as many nettles as you can while they are good fresh, then collect the larger, thicker leaves for tea through the rest of the season.  Besides bee pollen from where you live (and cutting dairy out of your diet during allergy season), nettles are the best way to self correct your bodies immune response to seasonal pollens.  Now, go forage!

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Foraged Spring Salad with Warm Honey Mustard Dressing

April 4, 2009 · Filed under Side/Salad, Spring · Tagged , ,

Posted by Lisa
Foraged Spring Salad with Warm Honey Mustard Dressing

Foraged Spring Salad with Warm Honey Mustard Dressing

Inspired by a friend and her daughter, I decided to get my act together and forage a spring salad from our yard.  Armed with some edible weed identification books from the library, my daughters and I identified weeds in our yard and the girls set out in the early evening to forage for a salad to accompany our creamy sunchoke soup.  When the finally came back in they had found five of the plants that they had on their list:  dandelions, chickweed, peppercress (also known as pepper grass unless this is bittercress, we were unsure which it was, but both are edible), wild violets, young yellow dock leaves.  They also cut some fresh chives and a large over-wintered green onion.

To balance out the bitterness of some of the greens, I decided that a warm honey mustard dressing was in order.

The resulting salad was fresh and sharp, somewhat bitter but sweet from the dressing.  It was a great accompaniment to soup.  We are going to do it again soon, while the tender greens are still plentiful.

Warm Honey Mustard Dressing

  • 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • 2 tablespoons minced shallot or green onions
  • 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
  • 1/4 cup honey
  • 1/4 cup red wine vinegar
  • 1/2 cup olive oil

Mix all ingredients in a small sauce pan and whisk until emulsified as the dressing warms.  Remove from heat when it is warm.   Dress salad while the dressing is still warm.

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