Recipes: Buttery Spaghetti Squash, Farro with Fennel and Carrots and Arugula Salad

 

The force is strong with this one.

 

We got a great haul on Friday so dinner last night used a ton of  different veggies, including a spaghetti squash which has been sitting on our counter for weeks (months?) which I had been avoiding cooking because I just don’t like spaghetti squash that much.

Buttered Spaghetti Squash

• 1 spaghetti squash, split lengthwise and seeds scraped out and generously rubbed with oil
• 1 stick of butter
• 1/2 cup of parmesan
• a few sage leaves, chopped
• a pinch of nutmeg (freshly grated)

Roughly following this recipe from a Serious Eats thread, I roasted the spaghetti squash at 400 for 45 minutes, cut side down.  Turn the squash over and cook for 15 more minutes, or until tender.  While the squash is cooling a bit, melt a stick of butter in a small saucepan.  Add the sage leaves and cook the butter until it starts to brown and smelly nutty.  Combine everything in a large bowl.

Farro with Carrot and Fennel

Based on this recipe, I scaled it down for 2 people, and made some substitutions with ingredients I had on hand.

• 3/4 cup of farro, soaked for 30 minutes
• 3-4 small carrots, cut into matchsticks (or grated)
• half of a fennel bulb, cut into 1/4 inch die
• 2 tsp red wine vinegar
• 1 small clove of garlic, pulverized into a paste
• some capers
• some garlic chives (or any other green herb, like parsley)
• olive oil

Drain the farro and discard the soaking water.  Combine with 3 cups of water and a pinch of salt in a small saucepan.  Bring to boil then cook for 15 minutes with the lid off.  Meanwhile, combine fennel, garlic, capers, vinegar and a good pinch of salt and pepper in a serving bowl and let marinate.  When the farro is done, drain and add to the fennel along with the carrots and herbs and a good dose of olive oil.  Taste for S&P, or add more vinegar if you’d like.

Arugula Salad with Avocado and an Orange Vinaigrette

• Enough arugula for 2 people, washed
• 1 avocado, cut into large pieces
• Some orange juice
• 1/2 shallot, diced
• Some rice wine vinegar
• Olive oil

Combine the orange juice, rice wine vinegar, olive oil and shallot to taste.  Add some S&P.  Toss with arugula and avocado.

Recipe: Honey Roasted Carrots with Thyme…plus roasted beets and couscous

Carrots and Beets and Couscous, Oh My!

We’ve been getting lots of beautiful young carrots in our CSA lately, so I roasted up a bunch.  There’s no real recipe here.  Just trim and clean the carrots (no peeling necessary), toss with some olive oil, S&P and leaves from a few thyme branches and roast at 425 for about 45 minutes, stirring often.  When they’re done, toss with about a T of honey (we have this great stuff that is produced on a rooftop in downtown LA – doesn’t get more local than that!).  Meanwhile I tossed in the young beets, wrapped in foil and cooked them at the same time.  We made some couscous to accompany the veg – tossed with some Meyer lemon juice and topped with some parmesan.

Recipe: New Year’s Resolution Stew

In an effort to eat healthy in 2011, we made this delicious recipe from Epicurious.  There are a lot of pieces to put together, but in the end, it’s a simple, delicious, healthful soup.

Udon  with Mushroom Broth, Cabbage and Yams

Broth:

• 10 cups vegetable broth ( I combined veggie stock I made a few months ago and some organic boxed veggie broth)
• 3 cups water
• 1 1/2 cups coarsely chopped fresh cilantro
• 1 1/2 ounces dried shiitake mushrooms, rinsed
• 3/4 cup thinly sliced peeled fresh ginger
• 2 lemongrass stalks, outer dark layers removed, all but bottom 4 inches cut off and discarded (we have some growing in our yard that we used)
• 2 6-inch strips dried kombu (we didn’t use this and didn’t miss it)
• 2 teaspoons tamari soy sauce
• 1 teaspoon unseasoned rice vinegar

Garnishes:

• 2 cups 1/2-inch cubes peeled yams (red-skinned sweet potatoes)
• 5 ounces snow peas, trimmed
• 4 cups 1/2-inch-wide crosswise slices cored Napa cabbage
• 5 ounces slender carrots (preferably assorted colors), peeled, thinly sliced on diagonal
• 10 ounces Japanese-style udon noodles or soba noodles (I used green tea soba noodles)
• 1 cup sliced green onions
• 1/4 cup matchstick-size strips peeled fresh ginger
• 4 to 6 ounces semi-firm tofu, cut into 1/2-inch cubes (optional)
• Sambal oelek (we used sriracha)
• Tamari soy sauce

For broth:
Bring broth and 3 cups water to simmer in large pot over medium heat. Add cilantro, mushrooms, sliced ginger, and lemongrass. Cover; simmer until mushrooms are tender, about 30 minutes. Rinse kombu; add to broth. Simmer 1 minute. Using tongs, remove kombu and mushrooms; discard kombu. Transfer mushrooms to work surface; cut off stems and discard. Cut each mushroom into 3 to 4 strips. Strain broth through fine-mesh strainer into another large pot; discard solids in strainer. Add tamari and rice vinegar to broth. DO AHEAD: Can be made 1 day ahead. Cover and chill mushrooms. Cool, cover, and chill broth.

For garnishes:
Bring large pot of salted water to boil. Cook yams until just tender, 4 to 5 minutes. Using skimmer, transfer to medium bowl. Cook snow peas, cabbage, and carrots separately until crisp-tender (snow peas, 30 seconds; cabbage, 1 1/2 minutes; carrots, 2 minutes). Using skimmer, transfer vegetables to separate bowls. Reserve cooking liquid. DO AHEAD: Vegetables can be cooked 2 hours ahead. Let vegetables and liquid stand at room temperature.

Bring cooking liquid to boil. Sprinkle with salt. Add noodles; cook until tender but still firm to bite, stirring often. Drain; rinse.

Meanwhile, bring vegetable broth to simmer. Add green onions and ginger strips. Season with salt and pepper.

Using tongs, divide noodles among bowls. Divide mushrooms, yams, snow peas, cabbage, and carrots among bowls, each in separate mound. Divide tofu, if using, among bowls. Ladle broth over and serve, passing sambal oelek and tamari separately.

Recipe: Shredded Root Vegetable Ragout

Deborah Madison does it again.  Somehow she combined two of my favorite ingredients (tarragon, sour cream) into a wonderful wintery dish that’s perfect for the end of a long holiday weekend (plus, it used many of our CSA veggies).  This would be good for a potluck, since you can make much of this in advance.  If you do not have a food processor with a grater attachment, run out and get one now!  This recipe can easily be made with an old box grater, but a food processor really cuts down prep time and the amount of bloody knuckles you may suffer.  Adapted from Vegetarian Suppers.

“wild rice pancake”

• 2 cups cooked wild rice or long-grain brown rice (I used a wild rice mix)
• 3 eggs, separated
• 1 cup milk
• 3 T oil or melted butter
• 3/4 c whole wheat pastry flour (or AP flour)
• 2 t baking powder
• 2 scallions, sliced
• 1 T tarragon, chopped
• 1 T parsley, chopped

“the ragout”

• 2 T olive oil
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 red onion, diced
• 2 T tarragon, chopped
• 1 large beet, peeled & grated (we got some candy cane beets)
• 1 large carrot (or 3 small ones), peeled & grated
• 1 large parsnip, peeled & grated
• 4 c thinly sliced red cabbage
• 1 tart apple, peeled & grated
• 1 T tomato paste
• 1/2 cup vinegar (I did half balsamic, and half red wine b/c that’s all I had)
• 1/2 c toasted walnuts chopped (from a Christmas gift!)
• 5 oz goat cheese
• Sour cream for serving

Oil a 9×12 inch gratin dish, or a couple smaller ones.

Chop have of the rice finely and leave the rest whole.  Mix the egg yolks with the milk and oil, then whisk in the flour, baking powder, 1/2 t salt and rice.  Stir in the scallions and herbs and some pepper.

Heat oil in wile skillet with the bay leaves over med-high.  Add onion and tarragon, then beet, carrot, parsnip and cabbage.  Season with 1 t salt and cook until cabbage is tender (stirring frequently).  Halfway through the cooking, add the apple and 1/2 cup water.

Once the veggies are tender, stir in the tomato paste and vinegar.  toss well, season with pepper and turn off the heat.  Add more water if it looks too dry.  Stir in the nuts and then transfer to the baking dish(es).  Place aside.  Preheat oven to 375.

When ready to bake, crumble goat cheese into the veggies and toss.  Whip the egg whites with a pinch of salt until stiff and fold into the rice batter.  Bake for 25 minutes.  Enjoy with sour cream and a nice white wine.

This recipe would also be good just as shredded root veggies, sauteed, and served with rice, etc.  Had not really thought of grating root veggies before like this, but it’s so easy and delicious!

Recipe: Carrots A-Go-Go

We had a bounty of carrots this fall – all types – and had been talking with friends about finding an easy recipe that used up a lot of carrots. My friend said she had made this Sunburst Carrot Salad recipe from 101 Cookbooks so I gave it a try on Halloween.  It was good, and used a lot of carrots.

Sunburst Carrot Salad

Ingredients:

• 2 bunches carrots, preferably spring carrots
• extra virgin olive oil
• fine grain sea salt
• 1 green chile (serrano), deveined and minced
• 1 lemon, zest and juice
• 1 cup cilantro, chopped
• 1 cup green pumpkin seeds (pepitas), toasted

Start by washing the carrots. Use a vegetable peeler to shave each carrot into wide ribbons. (NOTE: This is harder than it sounds.  You may waste some carrots, but they make for good snacks while you’re making the rest of the recipe.  Also, we had a faulty peeler that I bought out of desperation at the grocery store.  Now we have 2 fancy peelers and one faulty one.)  If your carrots have beat up, dirty skins, peel them first before making ribbons.

Heat a big splash of olive oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Add a big pinch of salt and stir in the carrot ribbons. Saute for just 20 seconds or so – barely long enough to take the raw edge and a bit of crunch off the carrots. Quickly stir in the chiles and lemon zest. Remove from heat and stir in the cilantro, about one tablespoon of lemon juice, and then most of the pepitas. Taste. Add more salt and/or lemon juice if needed. Garnish with remaining pepitas.

Serves 4 to 6.

 

Recipe: Roasted Turnips & Carrots with Salad and “Chicken” Strips

Not much of a recipe here.  Turnips and carrots tossed in olive oil and then baked until cooked through and golden.  Served with a butter lettuce salad with radishes and fake chicken strips which were kind of weird.

Recipe: Not Award-Winning Spicy Chipotle Lentil Chili

Back in college I made a lentil chili from a house mate’s cookbook that was out of this world.   Seriously delicious, and I’ve been trying to track down the recipe ever since (the book disappeared from our house and I’m not sure what cookbook it was – I thought Mollie Katzen, but her lentil chili recipe is not what I remember).  Anyway, a friend hosted a chili cook-off last weekend so it was the perfect opportunity to experiment with lentil chili.  I decided to go with this recipe from a food blogger b/c it seemed similar to the one I remembered.  It was good, not mind blowing, and we didn’t win a prize at the cookoff (not surprising though since we were the only vegetarian entry – my friend’s grandma ended up taking home the whiffle ball/bat set prize).  Despite the name, and the chipotles, this chili isn’t terribly spicy and was enhanced by a shot of hot sauce on top.

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 2 medium onions, peeled and finely chopped
• 6 cloves garlic, peeled and finely chopped
• 1 Tbsp. cumin
• 1/4 cup chili powder
• 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
• 1 tsp. red pepper flakes
• 2 carrots, peeled and diced into 1/4 inch cubes
• 4 stalks celery, diced into 1/4 inch cubes
• 2 pasilla peppers, skins blackened and peeled, diced into 1/4 inch cubes
• 5 cups vegetable stock
• 2 Tbsp. cornstarch

• 1 (28 oz.) can diced tomatoes, or peeled tomatoes, squished into pieces
• 2 1/4 cup dried brown lentils
• 2 chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, finely chopped
• 1 cup beer (Fat Tire!)
• Salt and Pepper to taste

Toppings: sour cream, shredded Cheddar, hot sauce

Heat oil in large pot or Dutch oven large enough to be your final chili pot. Add onions, carrots and celery and cook until softened, about 5-10 minutes. Add garlic, cumin, chili powder, cumin, red pepper flakes and green pepper and cook, stirring, another 5 minutes.

Heat vegetable broth in separate pot until boiling. Take out about 1/4 cup of stock into a separate bowl and mix with cornstarch until completely blended into a smooth paste. Add a little more hot broth and blend in well to avoid lumps. Add this to the sauteed vegetables in chili pot. Stir and add remaining hot broth, 1 cup at a time, to blend.

Add tomatoes to chili pot and bring to a boil. Add lentiles, chipotles, and beer and bring to another boil. Lower heat and simmer, 40-45 minutes, or until lentils are tender, but not mushy. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Top with desired garnishes.

Serves 8-10

Recipe: Dandelion Greens Two Ways

I prepped the dandelion greens for the pizza, and prepped a fresh carrot salad, but ended up with too many dandelion greens, so I added them into the salad to make dandelion greens two ways.

Ingredients for the pizza

• 1 whole wheat pizza crust
• 1 package shredded mozzarella cheese
• 1 onion, sliced and caramelized
• 1 veggie chorizo sausage, sliced and sauteed
• 1/2 bunch of dandelion greens, chopped
• red pepper flakes to taste

Assemble the pizza by first placing the sauteed onions on the crust, then the cheese, then the raw greens and sausage.  Sprinkle with hot pepper flakes and a drizzle of olive oil.  Bake according to the dough directions.  The greens get nice and crispy this way (if you saute them first, they will be more wilted, if you prefer).

Ingredients for the Carrot Dandelion Salad

• 1 large carrot, julienned
• a few leaves mint, chopped
• a small handful of Italian parsley, chopped
• 1 T pine nuts
• 1/2 T balsamic vinegar
• 1/2 T olive oil
• 1/2 bunch dandelion greens, chopped

Combine all ingredients, season with S&P and set aside to let flavors combine.

Recipe: You-won’t-believe-it’s-not-takeout Thai Curry

Who needs take-out when you can make this delicious, healthful(?) Thai curry at home?

Ingredients

• 1 onion, thinly sliced
• 1T yellow curry paste
• 1 can coconut milk (don’t get the “light” stuff, it just isn’t the same)
• 3T soy sauce
• 1/2 cup veggie broth
• 1T sugar (brown sugar, if you have it)
• lots of cauliflower florets
• 1 large carrot, peeled and thinly sliced
• 1 bunch of tatsoi, leaves only
• 1/2 cup of basil

Saute the onion in oil until translucent, but not browned.  Pour in the coconut milk and curry paste, stir to combine and simmer for 5 minutes to let flavors develop.  Meanwhile, combine sugar, broth and soy sauce.  Add broth mixture to coconut milk along with the carrots, cauliflower and half the basil.  Cover and cook until carrots and cauliflower are softened – about 20 minutes.  Add the tatsoi and the rest of the basil and cook until tatsoi is wilted.  Serve with brown rice.  Yum!

Recipe: Roasted Veggies & Goat Cheese

Roasting vegetables is one of the easiest and yummiest preparations you can do.  I thought I was making enough veggies for leftovers, but they were so good we polished off everything.

Ingredients

• 3 turnips, scrubbed and quartered
• 1 bunch young carrots, scrubbed
• some fingerling potatoes, washed
• some Brussels sprouts, outer leaves removed and halved
• a small handful of herbs – thyme, rosemary, marjoram, etc.
• 1 head of broccoli, cut into florets
• 2 baby shallots, sliced
• 3 cloves of garlic, chopped
• goat cheese
• arugula
• balsamic vinegar

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Combine first 5 ingredients in a large bowl and toss with olive oil and a good pinch of s&p.  Spread in a single layer on a baking sheet and place into the oven.  Stir the veggies around every 10 minutes or so.  Meanwhile, combine the broccoli, shallots, and garlic and toss with more olive oil, s&p.  Once the veggies are pretty much done (about 25-30 minutes) toss in broccoli mixture and cook for another 10 minutes.  While the broccoli is cooking, toss arugula with some balsamic and s&p and arrange on the bottom of a plate.  Place roasted veggies on top of arugula and top the whole mess with some goat cheese.