Good Eats Newsletter - November 3, 2010
This Week's Vegetable Share Contains:
Orange Carrots; Mixed Beets; Head of Lettuce; Purple Top Turnips; Shallots; Head of Garlic; Winter Squash; 1 Bunch of Kale; Pac Choi; 1 Bunch of Parsley
Localvore Offerings Include:
On the Rise Pizza Dough
Maplebrook Mozzarella
Pa Pa Doodles Eggs
Butterworks Yogurt
Storage and Use Tips
Shallots - A member of the allium family, shallots are sweeter and milder than onions. You can slice them thin and saute them in recipes that benefit from their sweet, mild onion flavor. When minced, they are fantastic in homemade vinaigrettes and pan sauces. Store them in a cool, dark place.
Parsley - Much more than a garnish, parsley has lots to offer. Chopped parsley can be sprinkled on a host of different recipes, including salads, vegetable sautés and grilled fish. Combine chopped parsley, garlic and lemon zest, and use it as a rub for chicken, lamb and beef. Add it to soups and tomato sauces. Parsley is one of those vegetables with huge nutritional benefits, even when using just a couple tablespoons of the minced green. The vitamin content is very high (particularly vitas A, C, K, and folic acid). And what's more, the activity of parsley's volatile oils qualifies it as a "chemoprotective" food, a food that can help neutralize particular types of carcinogens.
Green Kale - We grow many varieties of kale at Pete's, including Green, Lacinato, Red Russian, Redbor and Winterbor. This is green kale, one of the more common varieties. Keep kale loosely wrapped in a plastic bag in your crisper drawer. Strip the leaves from the stems and wash them well before chopping and cooking.
Pac Choi - A member of the brassicas family along with cabbage and kale, pac choi originated in China, where it has been grown for over 1500 years. It was introduced into the US during the late 19th century by Chinese immigrants. Pac Choi has a mild flavor. The leaves taste similar to Swiss chard and the stems (called ribs) are deliciously crispy and can be substituted for celery in recipes. We grow both purple and green varieties. Your bag may have one or the other, or both. Pac Choi is mild enough to be chopped up for a salad, particularly if you give it a quick wilt in a hot pan. It's also great in stir-fries. Store pac choi loosely wrapped in a plastic bag in your crisper drawer.
Winter Squash - A mix of winter squash varieties will be going to sites this week.
Thanksgiving Week Delivery will be TUESDAY November 23rd
For those of you who missed this message last week, our delivery Thanksgiving week will be on Tuesday November 23rd, not Wednesday that week. I'll also be giving you all a sneak peak at what is in the share in the newsletter a week before in order to help you plan your shopping.
Delivery Changes & Vacations
Vacationing? Stop your share delivery and receive share credit
If you know you will be traveling, I can stop your share for the week(s) you are gone and you can receive credit for missed weeks. If you let me know on or before Wednesday, one week before the delivery day you will be away, I can easily accommodate this request. Credit can be used toward purchase of your next share.
Donate Your Share
If you would prefer to give your share to a family in need, we have a system in place for that as well. As long as I know by any Friday, I can move your share from your site to our Hardwick pick up site, and from there it will go directly to the Hardwick Food Shelf.
Need to Switch Sites?
If as the share goes along you have need to switch from one site to another, I can accommodate that change. Just send an email by Friday for changes the following week.
All requests must come via email!
Problems with your share?
If ever you receive veggies that aren't up to par, or if for some reason you don't find all the items that are supposed to be in your share when you pick up, do email me. I want to know so I can fix it. We want you to be happy and well fed!
Recycling Good Eats Packaging
Presently the only packaging we are reusing are veggie bags. We can no longer reuse egg cartons or plastic containers or glass jars. We welcome the veggie bags and you can bring those with you to your pick up site and leave them for our delivery person, but please recycle all other items at home. Thanks!
Thanksgiving Turkeys and Meats for Your Freezer
We have raised some pretty fantastic turkeys on the farm this year. We have had just a small flock on the farm and they have lived a deluxe life, grazing our fields all summer. The birds on the farm are pastured and are moved to fresh pasture regularly, their moveable shade/rain house moving along with them. They eat vast amounts of greens which translates to a much higher vitamin content in the meat and makes it much more flavorful as well.
We have 4 size ranges available:
13-15 lbs; 15-18 lbs; 18-21 lbs; 21-24 lbs
Turkeys are priced at $3.75/lb and turkeys will be delivered to pick up sites (frozen) on Nov 10, Nov 17, and Nov 22. If you are considering ordering for Nov 22nd, keep in mind that it's only two days before Thanksgiving and your bird may not thaw in time!
We also have pork, beef and chicken available.
Visit the Meat Page to order your turkey and meats or email me for an order form.
Tuesday Nov. 9th is the deadline for ordering a turkey for delivery Nov.17th
Tuesday Nov. 16th is the deadline for ordering for delivery Nov 23rd, but this is only 2 days before Thanksgiving and will be cutting it pretty close!
Sally's Blog
Last week Sally Pollak compared what she received in her Good Eats bag with the prices at local supermarkets. The same conventionally grown, well traveled, high carbon footprint vegetables in the store cost only $.02 less than the Good Eats share which was grown organically, locally, the proceeds of which will be reinvested in our own community. I am thrilled that Sally is doing this legwork for all of us. This should be an enlightening year. Visit Sally's blog.
Localvore Lore
We have pizza dough from Ben and Rachel, owners of On the Rise Bakery this week. They make this version of their dough especially for Good Eats with VT sunflower oil, Milanaise unbleached white flour, Ben Gleason's whole wheat flour, local honey and sea salt. The pizza dough will come to you frozen. Put it right back into your freezer if you don't plan to use it Wednesday night. When you do use it, thaw it, and don't wait for it to rise. When it is thawed it is ready to stretch and top and bake. As pizza dough sits, thawed, either on the counter or in the fridge, the live yeast in the dough continues to work away and the dough will lose elasticity steadily. If you haven't used it 48 hrs later, the risk is not that the dough will go bad, it's that it will lose elasticity, and become more difficult to work with, it will tear more easily. In this case, you may be better off using your rolling pin to roll out the dough rather than trying to get away with stretching spinning pizza doughs above your head. Ben posted the instructions on line along with some instructional videos that you can watch for technique and inspiration. If you make a great looking or great tasting pizza that you are pleased with, email a photo along to Ben or post it to the On the Rise Facebook page.
To go along with the dough , we have some Maplebrook Farm's Fresh Mozzarella for you. In Bennington, Maplebrook makes their cheese with fresh Vermont milk. This cheese freezes very well, so if pizza isn't in the plan for this evening, you can save it for another day (or another week!).
At Butterworks Farm, Jack and Annie Lazor milk a small herd of Jerseys, all of whom are born on the farm and are fed entirely organic feeds grown on the farm. Milk from Jersey cows is rich, with a high protein count and fat content and yogurt made from this milk is richer than others. The non fat yogurt produced by Butterworks is the only non fat yogurt on the market that does not contain milk thickeners like whey protein or dry milk. Their whole milk yogurt is made from just that, whole jersey milk straight from the cows, so the yogurt comes with cream on top and a butterfat content of 5%, the highest on the market. There will be a mix of yogurts at the sites this week - non fat plain and vanilla, whole milk plain and maple. The non fat vanilla is flavored with pure vanilla extract, and sweetened with pure maple syrup. The maple whole milk yogurt is simply whole milk plain that they sweeten with maple syrup. It's so darn good it can substitute for a bowl of ice cream. We have eggs again this week too from the girls at Pa Pa Doodles Farm.
Meat Share
For the second time ever, the entire meat share is comprised of our meats! This may not happen again this share as we still raise only a small number of animals and it's hard to gather enough for all meat share members.
For this share you will receive a whole Pete's Pastured chicken, a package of Pete's pastured Ground Beef, our own bacon, and a package of our pork chops. The chicken and pigs are grown right on the farm. The pigs have been rooting around all year on 20 acres of glorious piggie pasture complete with mud bog and moveable shelter. They eat lots and lots of veggie culls from the washhouse. The chickens have become a critical fertility link on the farm. After each greens field has passed its prime, we move chickens onto the field to eat up the greens and fertilize before we plow under. It's a great cycle of food production. The cows are raised in partnership with friend and neighbor Bruce Urie and the beef is beautiful and tasty. This mostly grass fed ground beef is low in fat and very tasty.
Winter squash, Carmelized Onion, Kale and Bacon Pizza
This is my suggestion for pizza this week. I think it will be delicious.
1 winter squash, peeled and seeded, and cut into 1/2 " cubes
1.5 lb onions or maybe more, chopped
6 strips of bacon
1 Bunch of Kale, torn from stems and chopped into thin ribbons
Maplebrook mozz
Butter or oil
salt & pepper
herbs as desired
Preheat oven to 450.
Bring a pot of water to boil on the stove top, and add squash cubes and either boil or steam cubes until they become tender but not mushy. Drain the squash and set aside.
Meanwhile, heat a heavy bottom skillet on the stove top, saute the bacon until it begins to crisp. Remove and drain on paper towels. Then add the chopped onions, turn on low and allow too cook very, very slowly, around 15 minutes until they soften and carmelize. Do not burn. Remove from pan with a slotted spoon.
Now then add the squash to the skillet to pan sear/brown them a bit. You could add a bit of maple syrup and salt to heighten the flavor. Then remove from the skillet.
Next add the kale to skillet with a little water to steam it, and cook for several minutes until soft, then remove.
Now stretch out or roll out your pizza dough, flouring your work surface, your hands and rolling pin well to assist you. Add toppings: carmelized onion, pan seared squash, steamed kale, crispy bacon, and then tear off pieces of the fresh mozz and spread around as desired. Season with salt & pepper and perhaps some herbs (some fresh chopped parsley, or some sage or rosemary would be nice).
Then bake on a cookie sheet or pizza stone for approx 10 minutes till done.
My new pizza system
I have a baking stone but I used to run into problems with underbaked or overbaked crusts or just issues with transferring the pie to the stone (no pizza peel). My new system is to prepare the pizza on a piece of parchment paper dusted with cornmeal. I slide pizza into oven onto hot stone on top of the parchment. Bake for exactly 5 mins. And then remove parchment my sliding it out from under half baked pizza. It works every time.
Kashmiri-Style Kidney Beans with Turnips
This recipe from Allrecipes.com is a winter staple in Kashmir. It's delicious as is, but for a more hearty meal you could add ground beef. Serve with white or brown basmati rice. Also delicious as a side for roast chicken.
2 turnips, peeled and cubed
1 cup
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 (14.5 ounce) can kidney beans, drained
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
1/2 teaspoon whole cumin seeds
1/2 teaspoon whole fennel seeds
1 cup finely chopped red onion
1/2 teaspoon minced fresh ginger root
1/2 teaspoon minced garlic
1 cup chopped tomatoes
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
2 tablespoons water
1/2 teaspoon Kashmiri garam masala
Optional but excellent - 1/2 lb ground beef
Place turnips into a saucepan with the water and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer until the turnip is soft, about 5 minutes. Once tender, stir in the kidney beans, and cook 5 minutes more.
Meanwhile, heat the vegetable oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Stir in the cumin and fennel, and cook until the spices toast and become fragrant, about 1 minute. Stir in the onion, and cook until it turns golden brown, about 5 minutes. Stir in the minced ginger and garlic, cook and stir for 30 seconds, then add the tomatoes and salt, and continue cooking until the mixture turns pasty.
Finally, stir in the paprika, turmeric, ground ginger, and 2 tablespoons water; cook 2 minutes more. Add the tomato mixture to the turnips, and simmer 10 minutes. Season with garam masala before serving.
Roasted Root Vegetables
This is a roasted veggie recipe from Bon Appetite 2001 that received four stars for its simple perfection. I thought it would be the perfect accompanement to a roast chicken for meat share members this week, yet this one could be combined with a simple salad or some sauteed greens as well.
1 2 1/2-pound butternut squash, peeled, seeded, cut into 1/2-inch pieces (about 5 cups)
1 1/2 pounds Yukon Gold potatoes, unpeeled, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
1 bunch beets (about 1 1/2 pounds), trimmed but not peeled, scrubbed, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
1 medium-size red onion, cut into 1/2-inch pieces (about 2 cups)
1 large turnip, peeled, cut into 1/2-inch pieces (about 1 cup)
1 head of garlic, cloves separated, peeled
2 tablespoons olive oil
Preheat oven to 425°F.
Oil 2 large rimmed baking sheets. Combine all ingredients in very large bowl; toss to coat. Divide vegetables between prepared baking sheets; spread evenly. Sprinkle generously with salt and pepper. Roast vegetables until tender and golden brown, stirring occasionally, about 1 hour 15 minutes. (Can be prepared 2 hours ahead. Let stand at room temperature. Rewarm in 350°F oven 15 minutes.)
Marinated Beets
By Martha Rose Schulman for the NYT. A little sugar softens the edge of the vinegar here and complements the natural sweetness of the beets. Nice to have in fridge for healthy snack or to add to salads.
1 bunch beets
1/3 cup red wine vinegar or sherry vinegar
Salt to taste
2 garlic cloves, cut in half
2 teaspoons sugar
Place the beets in a saucepan, cover with water, add 1/4 cup of the vinegar and salt to taste. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer until tender, 30 to 45 minutes, depending on the size of the beets. Remove from the heat, add the garlic to the pot and set aside to cool.
Remove the beets from the pot (do not drain), slip off the skins and cut in wedges. Combine the remaining vinegar and the sugar. When the sugar has dissolved in the vinegar, stir in 1/4 cup of the cooking liquid from the beets. Toss with the beets and the garlic. Refrigerate for 30 minutes, then remove the garlic from the marinade. Remove the beets from the marinade with a slotted spoon to serve.
Beet and Carrot Quick Slaw
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
4 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1 teaspoon celery seed
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
Cracked black pepper
1 pound beets, peeled and shredded, about 3 medium beets
1/2 pound carrots, peeled and shredded, about 3 carrots
3 tablespoons fresh chopped parsley leaves
In a small non-reactive bowl whisk together Dijon mustard, red wine vinegar, celery seed, sugar, salt and olive oil. Season with pepper. Place beets, carrots and parsley in large serving bowl, pour dressing over salad, toss to combine. Taste and adjust seasonings.
Orange Carrots; Mixed Beets; Head of Lettuce; Purple Top Turnips; Shallots; Head of Garlic; Winter Squash; 1 Bunch of Kale; Pac Choi; 1 Bunch of Parsley
Localvore Offerings Include:
On the Rise Pizza Dough
Maplebrook Mozzarella
Pa Pa Doodles Eggs
Butterworks Yogurt
MEAT SHARE MEMBERS - THIS IS A MEAT SHARE WEEK!
Storage and Use Tips
Shallots - A member of the allium family, shallots are sweeter and milder than onions. You can slice them thin and saute them in recipes that benefit from their sweet, mild onion flavor. When minced, they are fantastic in homemade vinaigrettes and pan sauces. Store them in a cool, dark place.
Parsley - Much more than a garnish, parsley has lots to offer. Chopped parsley can be sprinkled on a host of different recipes, including salads, vegetable sautés and grilled fish. Combine chopped parsley, garlic and lemon zest, and use it as a rub for chicken, lamb and beef. Add it to soups and tomato sauces. Parsley is one of those vegetables with huge nutritional benefits, even when using just a couple tablespoons of the minced green. The vitamin content is very high (particularly vitas A, C, K, and folic acid). And what's more, the activity of parsley's volatile oils qualifies it as a "chemoprotective" food, a food that can help neutralize particular types of carcinogens.
Green Kale - We grow many varieties of kale at Pete's, including Green, Lacinato, Red Russian, Redbor and Winterbor. This is green kale, one of the more common varieties. Keep kale loosely wrapped in a plastic bag in your crisper drawer. Strip the leaves from the stems and wash them well before chopping and cooking.
Pac Choi - A member of the brassicas family along with cabbage and kale, pac choi originated in China, where it has been grown for over 1500 years. It was introduced into the US during the late 19th century by Chinese immigrants. Pac Choi has a mild flavor. The leaves taste similar to Swiss chard and the stems (called ribs) are deliciously crispy and can be substituted for celery in recipes. We grow both purple and green varieties. Your bag may have one or the other, or both. Pac Choi is mild enough to be chopped up for a salad, particularly if you give it a quick wilt in a hot pan. It's also great in stir-fries. Store pac choi loosely wrapped in a plastic bag in your crisper drawer.
Winter Squash - A mix of winter squash varieties will be going to sites this week.
Thanksgiving Week Delivery will be TUESDAY November 23rd
For those of you who missed this message last week, our delivery Thanksgiving week will be on Tuesday November 23rd, not Wednesday that week. I'll also be giving you all a sneak peak at what is in the share in the newsletter a week before in order to help you plan your shopping.
Delivery Changes & Vacations
Vacationing? Stop your share delivery and receive share credit
If you know you will be traveling, I can stop your share for the week(s) you are gone and you can receive credit for missed weeks. If you let me know on or before Wednesday, one week before the delivery day you will be away, I can easily accommodate this request. Credit can be used toward purchase of your next share.
Donate Your Share
If you would prefer to give your share to a family in need, we have a system in place for that as well. As long as I know by any Friday, I can move your share from your site to our Hardwick pick up site, and from there it will go directly to the Hardwick Food Shelf.
Need to Switch Sites?
If as the share goes along you have need to switch from one site to another, I can accommodate that change. Just send an email by Friday for changes the following week.
All requests must come via email!
Problems with your share?
If ever you receive veggies that aren't up to par, or if for some reason you don't find all the items that are supposed to be in your share when you pick up, do email me. I want to know so I can fix it. We want you to be happy and well fed!
Recycling Good Eats Packaging
Presently the only packaging we are reusing are veggie bags. We can no longer reuse egg cartons or plastic containers or glass jars. We welcome the veggie bags and you can bring those with you to your pick up site and leave them for our delivery person, but please recycle all other items at home. Thanks!
Thanksgiving Turkeys and Meats for Your Freezer
We have raised some pretty fantastic turkeys on the farm this year. We have had just a small flock on the farm and they have lived a deluxe life, grazing our fields all summer. The birds on the farm are pastured and are moved to fresh pasture regularly, their moveable shade/rain house moving along with them. They eat vast amounts of greens which translates to a much higher vitamin content in the meat and makes it much more flavorful as well.
We have 4 size ranges available:13-15 lbs; 15-18 lbs; 18-21 lbs; 21-24 lbs
Turkeys are priced at $3.75/lb and turkeys will be delivered to pick up sites (frozen) on Nov 10, Nov 17, and Nov 22. If you are considering ordering for Nov 22nd, keep in mind that it's only two days before Thanksgiving and your bird may not thaw in time!
We also have pork, beef and chicken available.
Visit the Meat Page to order your turkey and meats or email me for an order form.
Tuesday Nov. 9th is the deadline for ordering a turkey for delivery Nov.17th
Tuesday Nov. 16th is the deadline for ordering for delivery Nov 23rd, but this is only 2 days before Thanksgiving and will be cutting it pretty close!
Sally's Blog
Last week Sally Pollak compared what she received in her Good Eats bag with the prices at local supermarkets. The same conventionally grown, well traveled, high carbon footprint vegetables in the store cost only $.02 less than the Good Eats share which was grown organically, locally, the proceeds of which will be reinvested in our own community. I am thrilled that Sally is doing this legwork for all of us. This should be an enlightening year. Visit Sally's blog.
Localvore Lore
We have pizza dough from Ben and Rachel, owners of On the Rise Bakery this week. They make this version of their dough especially for Good Eats with VT sunflower oil, Milanaise unbleached white flour, Ben Gleason's whole wheat flour, local honey and sea salt. The pizza dough will come to you frozen. Put it right back into your freezer if you don't plan to use it Wednesday night. When you do use it, thaw it, and don't wait for it to rise. When it is thawed it is ready to stretch and top and bake. As pizza dough sits, thawed, either on the counter or in the fridge, the live yeast in the dough continues to work away and the dough will lose elasticity steadily. If you haven't used it 48 hrs later, the risk is not that the dough will go bad, it's that it will lose elasticity, and become more difficult to work with, it will tear more easily. In this case, you may be better off using your rolling pin to roll out the dough rather than trying to get away with stretching spinning pizza doughs above your head. Ben posted the instructions on line along with some instructional videos that you can watch for technique and inspiration. If you make a great looking or great tasting pizza that you are pleased with, email a photo along to Ben or post it to the On the Rise Facebook page.
To go along with the dough , we have some Maplebrook Farm's Fresh Mozzarella for you. In Bennington, Maplebrook makes their cheese with fresh Vermont milk. This cheese freezes very well, so if pizza isn't in the plan for this evening, you can save it for another day (or another week!).
At Butterworks Farm, Jack and Annie Lazor milk a small herd of Jerseys, all of whom are born on the farm and are fed entirely organic feeds grown on the farm. Milk from Jersey cows is rich, with a high protein count and fat content and yogurt made from this milk is richer than others. The non fat yogurt produced by Butterworks is the only non fat yogurt on the market that does not contain milk thickeners like whey protein or dry milk. Their whole milk yogurt is made from just that, whole jersey milk straight from the cows, so the yogurt comes with cream on top and a butterfat content of 5%, the highest on the market. There will be a mix of yogurts at the sites this week - non fat plain and vanilla, whole milk plain and maple. The non fat vanilla is flavored with pure vanilla extract, and sweetened with pure maple syrup. The maple whole milk yogurt is simply whole milk plain that they sweeten with maple syrup. It's so darn good it can substitute for a bowl of ice cream. We have eggs again this week too from the girls at Pa Pa Doodles Farm.
Meat Share
For the second time ever, the entire meat share is comprised of our meats! This may not happen again this share as we still raise only a small number of animals and it's hard to gather enough for all meat share members.
For this share you will receive a whole Pete's Pastured chicken, a package of Pete's pastured Ground Beef, our own bacon, and a package of our pork chops. The chicken and pigs are grown right on the farm. The pigs have been rooting around all year on 20 acres of glorious piggie pasture complete with mud bog and moveable shelter. They eat lots and lots of veggie culls from the washhouse. The chickens have become a critical fertility link on the farm. After each greens field has passed its prime, we move chickens onto the field to eat up the greens and fertilize before we plow under. It's a great cycle of food production. The cows are raised in partnership with friend and neighbor Bruce Urie and the beef is beautiful and tasty. This mostly grass fed ground beef is low in fat and very tasty.
Winter squash, Carmelized Onion, Kale and Bacon Pizza
This is my suggestion for pizza this week. I think it will be delicious.
1 winter squash, peeled and seeded, and cut into 1/2 " cubes
1.5 lb onions or maybe more, chopped
6 strips of bacon
1 Bunch of Kale, torn from stems and chopped into thin ribbons
Maplebrook mozz
Butter or oil
salt & pepper
herbs as desired
Preheat oven to 450.
Bring a pot of water to boil on the stove top, and add squash cubes and either boil or steam cubes until they become tender but not mushy. Drain the squash and set aside.
Meanwhile, heat a heavy bottom skillet on the stove top, saute the bacon until it begins to crisp. Remove and drain on paper towels. Then add the chopped onions, turn on low and allow too cook very, very slowly, around 15 minutes until they soften and carmelize. Do not burn. Remove from pan with a slotted spoon.
Now then add the squash to the skillet to pan sear/brown them a bit. You could add a bit of maple syrup and salt to heighten the flavor. Then remove from the skillet.
Next add the kale to skillet with a little water to steam it, and cook for several minutes until soft, then remove.
Now stretch out or roll out your pizza dough, flouring your work surface, your hands and rolling pin well to assist you. Add toppings: carmelized onion, pan seared squash, steamed kale, crispy bacon, and then tear off pieces of the fresh mozz and spread around as desired. Season with salt & pepper and perhaps some herbs (some fresh chopped parsley, or some sage or rosemary would be nice).
Then bake on a cookie sheet or pizza stone for approx 10 minutes till done.
My new pizza system
I have a baking stone but I used to run into problems with underbaked or overbaked crusts or just issues with transferring the pie to the stone (no pizza peel). My new system is to prepare the pizza on a piece of parchment paper dusted with cornmeal. I slide pizza into oven onto hot stone on top of the parchment. Bake for exactly 5 mins. And then remove parchment my sliding it out from under half baked pizza. It works every time.
Kashmiri-Style Kidney Beans with Turnips
This recipe from Allrecipes.com is a winter staple in Kashmir. It's delicious as is, but for a more hearty meal you could add ground beef. Serve with white or brown basmati rice. Also delicious as a side for roast chicken.
2 turnips, peeled and cubed
1 cup
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 (14.5 ounce) can kidney beans, drained
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
1/2 teaspoon whole cumin seeds
1/2 teaspoon whole fennel seeds
1 cup finely chopped red onion
1/2 teaspoon minced fresh ginger root
1/2 teaspoon minced garlic
1 cup chopped tomatoes
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
2 tablespoons water
1/2 teaspoon Kashmiri garam masala
Optional but excellent - 1/2 lb ground beef
Place turnips into a saucepan with the water and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer until the turnip is soft, about 5 minutes. Once tender, stir in the kidney beans, and cook 5 minutes more.
Meanwhile, heat the vegetable oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Stir in the cumin and fennel, and cook until the spices toast and become fragrant, about 1 minute. Stir in the onion, and cook until it turns golden brown, about 5 minutes. Stir in the minced ginger and garlic, cook and stir for 30 seconds, then add the tomatoes and salt, and continue cooking until the mixture turns pasty.
Finally, stir in the paprika, turmeric, ground ginger, and 2 tablespoons water; cook 2 minutes more. Add the tomato mixture to the turnips, and simmer 10 minutes. Season with garam masala before serving.
Roasted Root Vegetables
This is a roasted veggie recipe from Bon Appetite 2001 that received four stars for its simple perfection. I thought it would be the perfect accompanement to a roast chicken for meat share members this week, yet this one could be combined with a simple salad or some sauteed greens as well.
1 2 1/2-pound butternut squash, peeled, seeded, cut into 1/2-inch pieces (about 5 cups)
1 1/2 pounds Yukon Gold potatoes, unpeeled, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
1 bunch beets (about 1 1/2 pounds), trimmed but not peeled, scrubbed, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
1 medium-size red onion, cut into 1/2-inch pieces (about 2 cups)
1 large turnip, peeled, cut into 1/2-inch pieces (about 1 cup)
1 head of garlic, cloves separated, peeled
2 tablespoons olive oil
Preheat oven to 425°F.
Oil 2 large rimmed baking sheets. Combine all ingredients in very large bowl; toss to coat. Divide vegetables between prepared baking sheets; spread evenly. Sprinkle generously with salt and pepper. Roast vegetables until tender and golden brown, stirring occasionally, about 1 hour 15 minutes. (Can be prepared 2 hours ahead. Let stand at room temperature. Rewarm in 350°F oven 15 minutes.)
Marinated Beets
By Martha Rose Schulman for the NYT. A little sugar softens the edge of the vinegar here and complements the natural sweetness of the beets. Nice to have in fridge for healthy snack or to add to salads.
1 bunch beets
1/3 cup red wine vinegar or sherry vinegar
Salt to taste
2 garlic cloves, cut in half
2 teaspoons sugar
Place the beets in a saucepan, cover with water, add 1/4 cup of the vinegar and salt to taste. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer until tender, 30 to 45 minutes, depending on the size of the beets. Remove from the heat, add the garlic to the pot and set aside to cool.
Remove the beets from the pot (do not drain), slip off the skins and cut in wedges. Combine the remaining vinegar and the sugar. When the sugar has dissolved in the vinegar, stir in 1/4 cup of the cooking liquid from the beets. Toss with the beets and the garlic. Refrigerate for 30 minutes, then remove the garlic from the marinade. Remove the beets from the marinade with a slotted spoon to serve.
Beet and Carrot Quick Slaw
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
4 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1 teaspoon celery seed
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
Cracked black pepper
1 pound beets, peeled and shredded, about 3 medium beets
1/2 pound carrots, peeled and shredded, about 3 carrots
3 tablespoons fresh chopped parsley leaves
In a small non-reactive bowl whisk together Dijon mustard, red wine vinegar, celery seed, sugar, salt and olive oil. Season with pepper. Place beets, carrots and parsley in large serving bowl, pour dressing over salad, toss to combine. Taste and adjust seasonings.
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