AUTHOR: Julia TITLE: Road-Tripping (Recipe: Sesame-Ginger Fusion Cabbage) DATE: 4/05/2010 01:23:00 AM ----- BODY:

Along the main roads of rural Massachusetts, it’s not unusual to drive past a farm-stand with fresh produce grown just a few meters away. In the summer time, I become quite discerning about where I stop. In the winter and early spring, I’m down-right grateful that someone is growing *anything* local and I’ll snatch up whatever I can just to support the farmer's efforts.

The selection is often limited, and on a recent stop, this particular farmer only had potatoes (which had been in storage) and cabbage. I didn’t mind… The potatoes made their way into latkes and tater tots. The green cabbage required a bit more thought as I rarely cook with it.

My friend Brett has a recipe for “Ginger Sesame Greens” which I included in The Sauchuk Farm cookbook. It’s an easy recipe that would be great as a side for teriyaki chicken or salmon. Even more simple, you could throw in leftover roast chicken and serve the cabbage over brown rice.

Ginger Sesame Fusion Cabbage
This recipe also works well with Swiss Chard

(serves 4-6)
1 small head green cabbage
3 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped
1 teaspoon fresh ginger, minced
2 tablespoon dark roasted sesame oil (such as Kadoya brand)
2 tablespoons mild soy sauce or 1 tablespoon double dark soy sauce
¼ teaspoon (or more depending on taste) black pepper
2 tablespoons butter
¼ cup sake or white wine

Cut cabbage in half. Cut out core, and coarsely chop. Rinse thoroughly.

In a large skillet, heat sesame oil over medium heat. Add garlic and ginger, sauté for 2 minutes, or until garlic just begins to soften. Add cabbage and pepper.

Cover the cabbage and steam for 1 minute. Add sake or white wine and soy sauce.

When cabbage just soft (about 3 minutes), add butter. Shake pan to incorporate.

Adjust seasoning with salt and lemon juice if necessary.

Labels: cabbage, CSA

----- COMMENT: AUTHOR:

T.W. Barritt at Culinary Types DATE:4/05/2010 05:28:00 AM I get quite a lot of green cabbage from the CSA and I'm always looking for new ways to prepare. This recipe has moved to the top of my list, since anything with ginger is amazing. ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR:

Katie DATE:4/05/2010 08:05:00 AM This sounds fabulous! I love cabbage and could eat it every day, but I'm always looking for new ideas. ----- -------- AUTHOR: Julia TITLE: Celery (Recipe: Spicy Shrimp and Cashew Stir-Fry) DATE: 4/02/2010 08:53:00 AM ----- BODY:

Along the lines of garlic and onions, I think of celery more as an aromatic than a vegetable. I rarely cook it on its own, but its distinctive flavor enhances French, Chinese and southern cooking. Its crunchy texture makes it a staple in egg, chicken or tuna salad.

Because of how I use celery – one stalk at a time – it becomes a regular crop in my vegetable garden. I can harvest the single stalk, leaving the remainder of the plant in the ground to continue growing. Unlike purchasing a whole head at the market – where the remainder will go limp in my crisper drawer before I have a chance to use it up.

I was working on a cookbook for Sauchuk Farm in Plympton MA for their summer CSA. His subscribers will get an incredibly diverse assortment of vegetables, including celery. The celery will keep for up to 3 weeks when stored properly (Coldest part of fridge. Leaves like to be dry in a bag. Stems like to be loose in a bag). You’d still need to use almost a stalk a day to consume it all before it goes flaccid. That creates a menu planning challenge. For that reason, I wanted to make sure I included a few recipes in his cookbook that called for copious amounts of celery.

Last summer, I made a celery Caesar salad which was quite lovely, but decided to go a different route for his book. I opted, instead, for a Chinese stir-fry – a variation of kung pao chicken that I learned at a cooking class in Beijing China. I used cashews instead of peanuts, and shrimp instead of chicken.

Spicy Shrimp, Celery and Cashew Stir-Fry
1 lb. shrimp, peeled and cleaned
¼ tsp. salt
1 tsp. soy sauce
1 egg white
3 scallions cut into rounds
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 tbs. ginger, peeled and finely minced
3 celery stalks, sliced
¾ cup roasted, salted cashews
2 tbs. plain or peanut oil

Sauce
½ tsp. salt
1 tbs. sugar
2 tbs. black vinegar or balsamic
2 tsp. shaio xing wine or sherry
2 tbs. water or chicken broth
1 tsp. corn starch
1 – 2 tsp or more chile paste (like sriracha)

In a small bowl, marinade the shrimp with ¼ tsp. salt, soy sauce and egg whites. In a separate bowl, combine all sauce ingredients.

Heat a large over high heat until very hot, about 2 minutes. Add 1 tablespoon of the vegetable oil, ginger, garlic and ½ the scallions. Let cook for 1 minute and then add the celery and cashews. Season with 1/4 teaspoon salt, and stir-fry until the celery turns jade green, about 3 minutes. Transfer the mixture to a plate.

Return the skillet to high heat. Add the remaining 1 tablespoon oil and shrimp and stir-fry until shrimp turn pink and curl up, about 2 minutes. Return the celery and cashews to the pan and the sauce, and stir over the heat for about 1 minute to mix together evenly and blend flavors. Transfer the stir-fry to a platter and garnish with the remaining scallions.

Serve with steamed white or brown rice.

Labels: celery, CSA, shrimp

----- COMMENT: AUTHOR:

ANNEMİNELİ DATE:4/02/2010 11:56:00 AM OoooSüperrr.Sevgilerrrr... ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR:

Kim at Rustic Garden Bistro DATE:4/02/2010 03:54:00 PM Hi Julia,

Just dropping by to say hello. :-) We didn't mean to be, but these days, we're garden food bloggers, too. The last few posts of mine have been about foraging in the backyard and coming up with decent food. Have a great weekend! Kim ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR:

Reeni DATE:4/02/2010 09:22:00 PM Such a great piece of info I learned from you about celery! I didn't know you could just pick a stalk. Our fridge hates us - and is always freezing up our celery. Celery will be in my garden this year. Your stir-fry sounds delicious with shrimp and cashews! ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR:

Lydia (The Perfect Pantry) DATE:4/03/2010 05:12:00 AM The first time I had a dish like this, with celery as the main vegetable, it was a revelation! I love how it stays crisp but also gets more sweet when you cook it this way. I'm definitely going to try this; I have all of the condiments, shrimp in the freezer, and a bit of celery that's wanting to be used soon, even though it's not from my garden. ----- -------- AUTHOR: Julia TITLE: Bumper Crops (Recipe: Goma Spinach) DATE: 7/10/2009 08:54:00 AM ----- BODY:

Last week, I visited Waltham Fields Community Farm for a reading by Lisa M. Hamilton, author of Deeply Rooted: Unconventional Farmers in the Age of Agribusiness. They asked me to prepare a few salads with their produce to serve the attendees.

With all this rain and cool weather, they had a glut of spinach. So much that they could not keep up with the harvest and the leaves were rather large by the time they did. They gave me 11 pounds for the event.

Such spinach is ideal for cooking, less so for a salad, because cooking reduces its mass considerably. My crate cooked down to about ¾ gallon in volume. I snagged a little off the top to eat with my own dinner the night before the event, and reheated it in garlic and olive oil. If I had more, I would have frozen it. The remainder I served with a Japanese style sesame dressing.

Chilled Spinach Salad with Sesame Dressing
(Goma Spinach)

1 pound fresh spinach, washed
8 tablespoons roasted sesame seeds
2 tbs. sake
2 tsp sugar
2 tbs. soy sauce
1 tbs. rice vinegar
¼ cup water or dashi

Heat a large skillet over high flame. Add spinach (no oil, just the residual water from washing). Cook the spinach just until it wilts, turning occasionally.

Chill spinach in refrigerator.

Meanwhile, in a food processor, combine the remaining ingredients together. Blend until smooth.

Squeeze out excess water from spinach. Drizzle dressing on top just before serving.

Labels: CSA, Japanese, spinach

----- COMMENT: AUTHOR:

Steve DATE:7/10/2009 04:11:00 PM Julia - I like your clever use of the 12# of spinach here....I would have been stymied when trying to come up with a "salad" for huge and tough spinach leaves, your molded salads look yummy. I'll have to try the recipe soon. - Steve ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR:

Lydia (The Perfect Pantry) DATE:7/10/2009 08:21:00 PM I love the combination of spinach and sesame! ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR:

Lori Lynn DATE:7/11/2009 08:57:00 PM The dressing sounds delicious.
Looks like a great event.
LL ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR:

T.W. Barritt at Culinary Types DATE:7/12/2009 06:20:00 AM Can't imagine how I would tackle 11 pounds of spinach - the final result looks great! ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR:

noble pig DATE:7/12/2009 10:45:00 AM Wow, that's a lot of spinach! You made something lovely though...good work! ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR:

Julia DATE:7/12/2009 08:35:00 PM Steve -- Could it be a way to entice the kids to eat their spinach?

Lydia - I've only seen the spinach/sesame combo in Japanese cuisine. Have you seen it other ways?

LL -- It was really a fun day!

T.W -- It took me three hours just to triple wash it. Yikes.

noble pig - thanks! ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR:

Callie Durbrow DATE:7/16/2009 09:08:00 AM Sounds like a great salad and I agree, spinach and sesame is an excellent combo. ----- -------- AUTHOR: Julia TITLE: CSA Cookbooks (Recipe: Pesto Pasta with Seared Scallops) DATE: 6/09/2009 09:48:00 AM ----- BODY:

Many CSAs are starting up this week with their first deliveries. CSA stands for Community Supported Agriculture. It’s a concept that has increased in popularity over the past few years as more consumers become concerned about their food sources.

So what is a CSA? Farmers sell subscriptions or shares of their farms crop to the public. In exchange, the consumer gets a weekly box (bag, basket) of farm-fresh produce throughout the growing season. By purchasing a share, the farmer gets paid in front of the growing season when cash-flow is tight. He also knows that he has a committed marketplace to bring his produce. The consumer gets the freshest produce possible and supports the local economy and farmers. The added benefit for the consumer is getting in touch with where their food comes from. Typical CSA subscriptions run for 15 weeks throughout the summer and cost around $400 for a share. The produce in the box varies from week to week, depending on what the farm is harvesting. In New England, early weeks’ boxes include leafy greens, peas, strawberries and radishes. Later in the summer come zucchini, tomatoes, cucumbers and corn. Subscribers can expect 6-8 different vegetables each week. Some farms offer winter subscriptions, too. Here in New England, we have meat CSAs and fish CSAs too.

For all the great benefits of CSAs, there’s one inherent drawback that most advocates gloss over…the consumer often gets vegetables they have no idea how to cook (kohlrabi, anyone?) or too much of something they know how to cook only one or two ways (Swiss Chard). The farmer is too busy harvesting (and truthfully, doesn’t particularly like the regular communications with the subscribers) to share new recipes or cooking tips. To alleviate this challenge, my dear friend Brett and I started a venture to create custom cookbooks for small farms. The farmer sends us a list of the crops he’s growing for the season and in return gets a cookbook full of recipes written especially for his crops, as well as storage and cooking tips. We recommend that the farmer build the cost of the cookbook into the price of the CSA and give to the subscribers as part of the package.

Throughout the season, I will be featuring recipes from the book we wrote for Even’ Star Organic Farm. If you have challenges coming up with recipes for your CSA subscription, email me at julia [at] CSAcookbooks [dot] com, and I will post recipes just for you.

And if you belong to a CSA, tell your farmer about CSA Cookbooks. For more information about CSAs or to find a CSA in your area, visit LocalHarvest.

Basil Pesto
First of the season basil is lighter and softer in flavor than the later cuttings. Pesto is a great way to use up vast quantities of basil, and freezes superbly. Tossed with pasta and served with seared scallops, it’s a great summer dinner.

¼ c olive oil
8 cloves garlic, coarsely chopped
½ t salt
¼ t black pepper
¼ c white wine
¼ c almonds or pine nuts, toasted and then cooled
about 4 c basil leaves (Genoa type)
at least ½ c more olive oil or vegetable oil
¼ c grated Romano cheese
more salt and pepper to taste

Sauté the garlic in the ¼ c olive oil until soft but not very brown. Immediately add the next three ingredients and simmer until the wine volume has reduced by one half. Let cool.

Process all this in a Cuisinart until the garlic is fully pureed. Add the nuts and process until nearly smooth. Add the basil and PLENTY OF OLIVE OR VEG. OIL. Process further, until the basil is just barely smooth (no leaf pieces bigger than 1/8”), always adding more oil if the surface of the basil appears exposed to air. Add the cheese and process 15 seconds more. Taste for salt and pepper.

Place in a Tupperware or a glass jar and immediately be sure that there is at least ¼” oil floating over the basil.

Keeps 6 weeks in the ‘fridge or 2 years in a freezer.

Labels: CSA, herbs, pasta

----- COMMENT: AUTHOR:

Katie DATE:6/09/2009 11:18:00 AM My CSA starts next week, and I can't wait!! I love having to find ways to cook new veggies and having new food experiences (but I may be asking you for a few ideas as the summer goes along).

I'm very excited to make pesto with my basil, and it sounds great with seared scallops! ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR:

noble pig DATE:6/09/2009 09:14:00 PM Seriously that is a brilliant idea. I haven't done a CSA yet but want to and worried about recipes. Good work my friend. ----- -------- AUTHOR: Julia TITLE: Farm Share Thursday DATE: 8/16/2008 08:50:00 AM ----- BODY:

My neighbors were on vacation this week, and they offered me their weekly CSA subscription box. The vegetables come from Parker Farm. I knew Steve Parker back when he used to deliver to restaurants. He also used to be a fixture at the Central Square Farmer’s Market, but this year he’s only at the Saturday’s Market in Union Square, Somerville. I especially like to support the farmers I know. In the spirit of Farm Share Tuesday, I invited a few friends over to enjoy a dinner in the garden eating farm fresh food.In my box this week: yellow carrots, cucumbers, corn, sweet onions, radishes and arugula. To add to the bounty, I still had a few things left from my visit to the farm: Cherokee purple and turtle gold tomatoes, eggs and new potatoes. And to round out the offerings: fresh herbs and celery in the garden.

With Dina in the house, I had to make my now famous Smoked Chicken Salad¸ tossed with celery, carrots, and onion tops, mixed with mayonnaise. I canned peachy mamas at the farm, which made a lovely hors d’œuvre to accompany the chicken, served with crackers. Or if someone has celiac disease, you can use cucumber slices instead of crackers.

The main meal, which coincidentally was gluten-free, manifested itself into:

Arugula, Tomatoes and Cucumber, Simply Dressed with Basil, Lemon and Olive Oil

Creamed Corn – the surprise hit of the night

Tortilla Española with Homemade Smoked Tomato Ketchup

Ginger Marinated Salmon with a Vietnamese Coconut Crepe and Radish Salad

And to top it off, Mint Chocolate Chip and Chocolate Ice Creams from Christina’s.

Vietnamese Crepes
(Makes 16 8” crepes)

1/2 Pound Rice Flour
2 Ounces Corn Starch
2 Eggs
1 ½ Cups Coconut Milk
1 Cup Water
2 Teaspoons Salt
2 Teaspoons Turmeric
4 Tablespoons Canola Oil

1 Pound Carrots, Peel, Julienned Or Shredded
6 Red Radishes, Julienned Or Shredded
½ Cup Mint Leaves, Julienned
2 Teaspoons Salt
1 Cup Vinegar
1 Cup Sugar
Pinch Chili Flakes
1 Garlic Clove, Minced
1 Tablespoon Fish Sauce

Method

1. Combine corn starch, rice flour, salt and turmeric in a bowl. Stir in eggs, coconut milk and water. Add more water if the batter is too thick, more rice flour if too thin.

2. Heat a large, non-stick skillet over medium-high flame. Add 1 tbs. of oil, or enough to coat the bottom of the pan. Add 1/3 cup batter to pan, swirl around to create a thin layer.

3. Cook crepe until crepe is crispy and brown on the bottom. Fold crepe in half. Repeat process with remaining batter.

1. Mix carrots and radish with salt and let rest for ½ hour, or until carrots are soft. Add mint.

2. Combine remaining ingredients for sauce in a stainless steel sauce pot. Cook over medium heat until sugar is dissolved. Remove from heat

3. Combine carrots/radish with sauce.

4. Serve crepes with salad.

Labels: celiac, CSA, farmers market, gluten-free, locavore, recipes

----- -------- AUTHOR: Julia TITLE: Farm Share Tuesday DATE: 8/06/2008 01:05:00 PM ----- BODY:

Friends Dina and Rena share a CSA subscription.

CSA, (or Community Supported Agriculture) is a way for community-at-large to create a relationship with a farm. By buying a subscription, people make a financial commitment to a farm, and become "members" (or "shareholders," or "subscribers") of the CSA. In return the farm gives the shareholders a weekly box of the freshest produce available. The farmer receives payment for the season up-front, which gives him/her financially stability before the crops come in, allowing the farmer to focus on the land.

Part of the fun of a CSA is experimenting with new vegetables. Unlike shopping at a farmers’ market or supermarket, the CSA subscriber has little say in what will be delivered each week, being beholden to the weather and the whim of what the farmer planted. Though to be fair, if the farmer wants to maintain a solid relationship with the subscribers, he will incorporate mostly familiar and desirable items.

Dina and Rena embrace the mystery. Each week they send out an invitation:

Any chance you can come for farm share dinner on Tuesday? We can't tell you what you'll be eating, but you know that it'll be fresh....(this past week we got a free slug with our bok choy!). Usually we tell people to come around 7pmish, although we can't guarantee that we won't put you to work just a bit.

This week’s bounty was unusually diverse and included lots of tomatoes, zucchini, carrots, sweet onions, lettuces and cucumbers. And it manifested itself into:

Grilled Flank Steak with Chimichurri, Slow Roasted Tomatoes and Grilled Onions

Grilled Zucchini wrapped around Fresh Ricotta, and topped with sweet tomatoes and basil

Slow Roasted Beets with Sherry Vinegar
Green Salad with Sliced Almonds, Olive Oil and Sherry Vinegar

French Lentils with Carrots and Onions

Thank you, Dina and Rena for sharing your culinary talent and gracious hospitality!

Labels: CSA, locavore

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