Mom's Split Pea Soup

Don't have a picture...I'm posting this for my friend over at The Greening of Westford.  It's a really delicious split pea soup, perfect for those long lazy weekend days.  Total cooking time is 4 hours, but total working time is about 15 minutes, so it's really an easy soup to make when you're going to be around to stir every once in a while.

Very few ingredients and most available locally this time of year--dried split peas, onions, carrots, and maybe even ham are all relatively easy to find locally in the fall.  So eat up!

Ingredients:

• 1 ham hock (or any ham is fine, though the bone in the ham hock really adds flavor)
• 16 oz package of split peas
• 8 cups chicken stock (low sodium if you're not using homemade)
• 1 large onion, finely chopped
• 1/4 cup carrots, finely chopped
• garlic powder, salt, and pepper to taste

Directions:

Pick over split peas then add to a large pot.  Add 8 cups of chicken stock and 2 cups of water, finely chopped onions, garlic powder, pepper, and ham hock.  Simmer for one and a half hours over low to medium low heat.

Remove ham hock and take meat off the bone, returning the meat to the pot.  Discard the bone and continue simmering the soup for another hour and a half.

Add carrots and simmer for an additional hour, stirring often.  Add extra water if the soup starts to look too thick, in 1/2 cup increments.  It will be a really thick soup, but shouldn't be porridge-y.

Slow Cooker Lentils, Rice, and Eggplant

Besides the lentils (Baer's Best--yum!), not much of this is local. Yet. But I'm posting this recipe now because later in the summer, most of the veggies will be available locally. And because it's so good :)

This recipe is based on a recipe I found at www.justslowcooking.com. The first time I made this, I followed the recipe exactly and wasn't pleased with the results. But it had promise, so I made it again with significant adjustments to the quantities, and it was perfect!

Slow Cooker Lentils, Rice, and Eggplant
(pictured with Coriander and Cilantro Flatbread)



Ingredients:

3 Tbs sherry (or just veggie stock is fine)
1 large or 2 medium onions, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
8 oz chopped mushrooms
3 medium carrots, diced
1 eggplant, peeled and cubed into bite-sized pieces
1/2 cup lentils (any kind. The second time I made it, I used French Green lentils, and I liked how they held up in the slow cooker.)
1/2 cup brown rice
1/2 cup tomato sauce
1 cup veggie stock
1 cup water
1 tsp dried basil
1 tsp dried oregano
1 Tbs chopped fresh parsley (or more)
Olive oil for sauteeing

Directions:

Saute the vegetables until lightly browned and slightly softened. Add everything except the parsley to the slow cooker. Cook on low for 6 to 8 hours, or high for 3 to 4 hours. Serve with parsley on top for garnish.

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It's a little more work in the morning than I'm used to with slow cooker recipes since there's a lot of peeling, dicing, and sauteeing. But it really is delightful, even if you have to save it for a weekend to make. Leftovers are also yummy!

This is fabulous with the Coriander and Cilantro Flatbread recipe I'm also posting. Delightful combination!

Sage-Roasted Fall Vegetable Salad

This past Saturday was our last CSA vegetable pick-up of the season. Breaking up's been hard to do (and I'm still not over it). I've loved every minute of our relationship with Holiday Brook Farm. Our family was blessed with many of our seasonal favorites and I've tried things I haven't had since my mother MADE me eat them as a child and have been pleasantly surprised to find I like them, I really like them! Many of the root vegetables in the recipe I'm about to share fall into the latter category.

This recipe, adapted from Serving up the Harvest, was included in our CSA newsletter this week and since we received turnips, rutabagas, onions and celeriac in our pick-up this week and I had some local butternut squash posing as a centerpiece on our table, some beets from the farm in the crisper and some sage hanging in there in our herb garden, I immediately began dicing.

Ingredients:

1 cup wild rice, cooked according to directions (I used chicken bouillon instead of water)

12 cups of peeled (optional) and diced fall veggies such as winter squash, carrots, beets, rutabagas, turnips, parsnips and/or celeriac
1 onion, diced
1 Tab fresh sage, chopped
3 Tab EVOO
Fresh ground pepper

Cranberry Vinaigrette
2 shallots, chopped
1 cup cranberry sauce/jam
2 Tab fruited vinegar or red wine vinegar
2 Tab fresh orange juice
3/4 cup walnut or olive oil
Salt and fresh ground pepper to taste.

Directions:
Cook wild rice according to instructions. Let cool.
Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 450. Lightly grease a shallow roasting pan with oil (I just tossed the veggies in it and called it a day). Combine the diced fall veggies, onion and sage in a large bowl. Add the oil and toss gently to coat. Transfer to the roasting pan and arrange in a single layer.

Roast for 30-40 minutes stirring occasionally, until the veggies are tender and lightly browned.

To make the vinaigrette, finely chop the shallots in a blender. Add the cranberry sauce, vinegar, orange juice and oil and process until smooth. Season with salt and pepper.

Combine the roasted veggies and vinaigrette in a large bowl. Add rice and toss gently to mix. Taste and add salt and pepper if desired. Serve warm or at room temperature.

This dish was really out of this world - from the sweet roasted vegetables to the savory rice perfectly married with just a touch of fruity goodness. This one's a keeper and I'll definitely be adding this vinaigrette to some baby spinach with toasted walnuts and dried cranberries to make a scrumptious salad this holiday season!
As you can see, I served it alongside our roasted free range chicken from EarthFire Farm.
Bon Appetit!

Carrot Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

Mmm, sneaky, sneaky carrots! We've been getting tons of carrots at the CSA, so I had to make something sweet with some. This recipe is originally from Taste of Home, with a few minor changes of my own. Plus, I've halved the recipe here so it doesn't make ridiculously huge quantities, as the first time I made it we had approximately 1 zillion cookies. If you have to feed a roving band of teenagers or something, feel free to double it back up.



Ingredients:
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup shortening
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup shredded carrots
2 cups quick cooking oats (I used old-fashioned oats with no problem)
3/4 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup chocolate chips

Directions:

In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter, shortening, sugar, and brown sugar. Beat the eggs and vanilla. Add the carrots; mix well.

Combine the oats, whole wheat flour, all-purpose flour, baking soda, and salt. Add to creamed mixture and mix well. Stir in the chocolate chips. Cover and refrigerate for at least 4 hours.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Drop by rounded tablespoonfuls 3 inches apart onto baking sheets coated with cooking spray. Bake for 10-13 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool for 2 minutes before removing to wire racks.

Sugar (Snap Peas) and Spice and Everything Nice

To me, the arrival of peas represents a sort of rite of passage from spring to summer. They're one of the first veggies to arrive on the scene as one begins to wonder, "just how many greens can/should one person eat?" Yeah, I know peas are green, but they're sweet, crispy goodness is a totally different experience from the spring greens, which are the first veggies to arrive on the scene at farmers' markets and in CSA shares.


I know we were thrilled to see sugar snap peas on the "pick your own" board at our CSA last week. Since then, we've enjoyed them prepared a variety of different ways. Raw off the plant in the garden (does it get any better than that?). Then in a risotto, a very close second (and the perfect comfort food on these rainy New England evenings). My standard risotto recipe can be found here. I use this as my "base" and tweak it according to what I have on hand (or to achieve the flavor I'm aiming for).



This time I omitted the saffron, but added 1/4 pound of prosciutto sliced into 1/2" pieces when I added the onions. This allows the flavor of the prosciutto to permeate the other ingredients (can you say, YUM)! The other change I made was to add about 1 cup of sugar snapped peas (cut into thirds) with the last ladle of stock. This really was one of my best meals ever IMHO. Restaurant quality. The poor lighting doesn't even begin to show how good and gorgeous this dish really is.
















The other new pea recipe I tried this past week was
Sauteed Sugar Snap Peas with Carrots and Ginger/Honey Glaze. This recipe was courtesy of Holiday Brook Farms' CSA Newsletter as taken from Farmer John’s Cookbook, The Real Dirt on Vegetables: Seasonal Recipes and Stories from a Community Farm.

Ingredients:
½-1lb sugar snap peas
2 medium carrots, peeled [I used half a package of baby carrots]
2 Tbsp butter
1 Tbsp honey
A couple pieces crystallized ginger, chopped fine (about 1-2 Tbsp, to taste) [I used grated fresh ginger]
Fresh ground pepper

Instructions:
Remove strings from both edges of the pea pods. Cut each carrot into thirds and slice lengthwise so that they are about the same size as the pea pods. Place carrots in a steamer basket and steam until just crisp-tender, 3-5 minutes. Melt the butter in a large skillet over medium heat and add the peas; cook, stirring frequently for 5 minutes. Add the carrots. Continue to cook until peas are bright green, about 3 minutes. Add the honey & ginger and cook for 1 more minute, stirring constantly, until the peas and carrots are glazed. Season with pepper to taste.







I'll be adding both these recipes to my recipe box. Hope you enjoy them too!


Bon Appetit!

A whole bunch of recipes!

I love vegetables, but I've found that I'm pretty tame in what I buy: if I'm at the store, I get what I know. Zucchini, green beans, asparagus, Brussels sprouts, tomatoes, mushrooms, onions. I love that the CSA is forcing me to branch out a bit. One of the vegetables we got that I had no idea how to prepare was kohlrabi. Honestly, I don't think I've ever even SEEN kohlrabi in the grocery store. I searched around online and found a recipe that appealed to me: kohlrabi and carrots in honey butter sauce. I figured, carrots: good. Honey: good. Butter: good.



The recipe was simple and I followed it pretty closely (although for some unknown reason, I halved the kohlrabi and carrots amounts but forgot to half everything else so it ended up a bit soupy. Operator error on that one but easily corrected as I just used a slotted spoon to remove the carrots and kohlrabi).

It was tasty, but somehow wasn't quite outstanding. The carrots were better than the kohlrabi. I'm not sure if I don't love kohlrabi, or if this just wasn't the best dish to showcase it, but I'd probably try a different recipe if we get kohlrabi again.

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Next it was time for the beets. I must admit, I'm not a beet fan. I've mainly had them at salad bars and have come to conclude they're just there to fill out the salad bar without the restaurant having to worry that anyone would actually want to eat them. But, as always, I'm game to give something a try.

I got my inspiration from this recipe to match roasted beets with goat cheese. However, I thought this was a bit fussy with cutting everything into perfect rounds and having different oils and vinaigrettes and glazes. And I didn't have two different kinds of beets...just the golden ones. And I'm probably admitting to my pedestrian tastes, but I'm just not a big fan of towers of food. That's just weird in my admittedly non-gourmet opinion to have stacked food, unless it's a club sandwich.

So I just tossed the beets in a few tablespoons of olive oil, put them in a baking dish covered with aluminum foil, and baked them at 350 degrees for about an hour (for my small beets) until a toothpick easily pierced the center. You can peel them after they've been roasted (and cooled a bit). The skin just peels off with your fingers.

I sliced the beets thinly and alternated them with slices of herb and garlic goat cheese. (As an aside, the goat cheese was local as well, from Westfield Farm. It was outstanding cheese!)


My final vote: it was pretty good. I'm not a huge beet fan, but the goat cheese/beet combination was perfect. TK thought this was incredible, but he likes beets far more than I do. Three year old twins: liked the goat cheese, wouldn't try the beets.

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As we were picking up the beets, the guy working the distribution mentioned that beet greens were delicious. Darn it, now I have no excuse for not cooking them!

I found a recipe for preparing beet greens (or kale, or collard greens) that used vinegar and bacon. Hey, that sounds good to me! As an aside, have I mentioned my theory of preparing these odd, new (to me) vegetables, or vegetables I haven't liked in the past? I try to pick a recipe that includes an ingredient I like. Goat cheese, bacon, honey...something familiar that I know I'll like.

Here's a link to the recipe I used. I made some changes, though, fairly significantly altering quantities:

Ingredients:

Green from 5 beets
1/2 large onion, finely diced
2 strips of bacon
1 garlic clove, minced
1/2 cup water
1 teaspoon sugar
Sprinkle red pepper flakes
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar

Directions:

Wash beet greens, remove thick stems, and tear leaves into bite sized pieces. Set aside.

Fry bacon until crispy and set aside on paper towels to drain.

Add onions to the bacon grease and cook over medium heat until slightly translucent. Add the garlic, stir, then add the water, sugar, and red pepper flakes. Bring to a boil. Stir in the greens and reduce the heat to low. Cover and simmer for about 15 minutes (the original recipe calls for 30 minutes if you're using kale or collard greens). Add the vinegar, cook for about 1 minute, then you're done! (The original recipe is a little unclear; if you're using kale or collard greens you may have to cook for an additional 20 or so minutes....basically, if you're using kale or collard greens, you should probably just head on over to the original recipe linked above).

Place the greens on a plate and garnish with crumbled bacon.


These were interesting. It was definitely my first time eating beet greens. They were sweet and sour; a touch spicy and a hint salty. That sounds like a lot of competing flavors, and it kind of was. But somehow it worked. TK and I cleaned this up...there wasn't a bite left. At the end of dinner, we even ate the little bits we'd put on the boys plates that they had totally ignored. Well, except for picking the bacon off to eat.

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If you look closely at the picture of the beet greens, you can see in the background that we had quinoa with it. In the last 3 minutes of cooking the quinoa, I tossed in some spinach. It was a great addition and a good way to use up some of that spinach. I'm not even going to include a recipe...just cook the quinoa however you normally do (or follow the directions on the bag/box if you don't normally prepare quinoa), then toss in some chopped spinach. Yum!