Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is our favorite holiday. I love to showcase all the great vegetables available this time of year. There are all kinds of wonderful squash, potatoes, turnips and greens available everywhere.  I love to cook a big meal no matter how many people are coming.   A few years ago I cooked for 12 or 13 people.  So much food.  Of course I got a little overwhelmed and miscounted the number of chairs I had and left the squash in the oven. Oh well, stuff happens.  This year will be much smaller-- only 3 or 4 people-- but I am still cooking large, and I am sure there will still be something forgotten.   It's almost a tradition now.  Truthfully I would rather have a house full of people.  I love to cook for a lot of people.

As you know our thing is "local", and we do buy our vegetables (those we don't get from the CSA) from local farms. However, if I could, my dream meal would be to cook a Thanksgiving dinner that I totally grew myself. Maybe the exception would be the turkey, but who knows, we have talked about having chickens for the eggs. A turkey couldn't be that much harder. Maybe not. It would be great to harvest my own potatoes, sweet potatoes, squash, swiss chard, broccoli, and some unusual things like sunchokes, brussel sprouts, celeriac, fennel, rutabagas and parsnips.  There would be fruits and vegetables that I had preserved from earlier in the year. I would have applesauce, all kinds of pickles and of course home brew and home-made mead.

pickled beets, applesauce and pickled green tomatoes

One thing that I have always noticed about Thanksgiving is that even though I feel it is important to have something green on the table, like broccoli, nobody else, except maybe my husband, feels it is important to eat it.  It usually ends up back in the fridge waiting to be put into an omelet later in the week.  Sweet potatoes and stuffing always end up being the stars of the side dishes. In order to complete this dream dinner I want to make something green that people will want to eat.  I thought I would try something a little different this year.  I had a spaghetti squash from earlier in the season from the CSA, and this week's haul included some broccoli rabe.  Broccoli rabe tastes different from regular broccoli, it has a slight bitter flavor and it plays great with garlic.


Cooking broccoli rabe involves blanching it first.  That means just dunking it in some boiling water for 2 minutes and then removing it to ice water to chill, then drain on paper towels until you are ready for it. This will help to remove some of the bitterness.  There are some who just put it in the sauté pan, but this is how the little Italian woman I worked with did it,  and I don't argue with Italian cooks.

 I usually serve it with pasta but here is where the squash comes in.  If you've never worked with spaghetti squash here's what you do.

• Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. 
• Cut the squash in half and remove the seeds. 
• Drizzle with olive oil
• Roast until a knife pierces it easily (about 50-60 minutes)

spaghetti squash

           When it comes out of the oven take a fork and run the tines down the length of the squash.

noodles!

Keep scraping until all of the flesh is made into "noodles".  At this point you are ready to combine.

• Heat some oil over medium heat in a large sauté pan.
• Add your broccoli rabe and cook for a few minutes until tender but not mushy
• Add squash with some garlic and cook for a few more minutes
• Add some parmesan cheese and mix

broccoli rabe and spaghetti squash

Maybe this will be the green that everyone invited to my homegrown meal will eat.  Who knows? If not, I will be eating it for breakfast on Black Friday. As long as my husband doesn't get it first. He loves green.

Roasted Cauliflower and Potato Soup

II was never a big cauliflower fan.  I have always found the texture a bit weird.  Having said that, I had a roasted cauliflower soup last summer and it was delicious.  I had cauliflower in my last CSA basket so I figured I would try to come up with my own version.  I roasted it up and added some potatoes. The smoky cumin and paprika is nice with the roasted veggies and the hot pepper adds just enough heat. Delicious!

Roasted Potato and Cauliflower soup

Ingredients

·      1 small head cauliflower (about 3 cups florets)

·      1 pound potatoes peeled and quartered

·      3 Tablespoons olive oil, divided

·      ½ Teaspoon pepper

·      2 Teaspoons salt, divided

·      1 small onion (about 1 cup chopped)

·      1 Tablespoon cumin

·      1 Teaspoon paprika

·      ¼ Teaspoon red pepper flakes (or to taste)

·      4 cups vegetable stock

Method

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F

2. Put cauliflower and potatoes into a baking dish

3. Drizzle vegetables with 1 Tablespoon olive oil

4. Sprinkle with pepper and 1 teaspoon salt

5. Roast until knife tender, about 50 minutes

6. Heat remaining oil in a 5 quart heavy bottom pan

7. Add onions and cook over medium high heat until soft and translucent, about 5 minutes

8. Add cumin, paprika and red paper flakes and cook for another minute

9. Add potatoes and cauliflower and mix well

10. Add vegetable stock and bring to a boil

11. Simmer for 10 minutes

12. Transfer to a blender (or use an immersion blender) and puree until smooth. Taste for seasoning

Gingery Pickled Beets

I promised gingery pickled beets and here they are.  I have made many jars of pickled beets, they are a favorite of my husband's.  The basic recipe is from Marisa Mcclellan's book Food in Jars. When it comes to pickled beets you can change this up with anything you have on hand.  Just make sure you don't alter the vinegar to water ratio, the sugar or the salt.  I have put fennel seeds, hot peppers (these were deemed the best thing ever according to one of Dan's coworkers) allspice, peppercorns or even just leave them plain.  Either way let them sit a few weeks before eating to get all that goodness into the beets.

 Here's what you will need.

• 2 pounds of red beets. (You can use golden, you just won't have the pretty red color)
• 2 cups apple cider vinegar
• 2 tablespoons pickling salt
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cinnamon stick (I didn't have any cinnamon sticks so I just skipped this)
• 1 (2 inch) piece of fresh ginger, peeled and sliced thinly

Here's what you will do

Marisa washed her beets and simmered them in water for 30-45 minutes until tender.  I roasted them in a 350 degree oven for about an hour. I think roasting brings out more sweetness from the beets. When the beets are cool the skins will come off easily. 

Prepare your jars (this makes 3 pint jars) by boiling for 20 minutes. 

In the meantime combine the vinegar with 2 cups of water, sugar, the cinnamon, ginger and pickling salt. and simmer until sugar is dissolved.  Pack your beets in to jars and pour the liquid over them making sure to include ginger in each jar.  Tap the jars to remove bubbles and leave 1/2 inch headspace.

Wipe rims, apply lids and process in a boiling water bath for 10 minutes.

beets with local goat cheese

Another great basket from Pennypack Farm.  Napa cabbage, peppers, kale, swiss chard, fennel, cauliflower, carrots, beets, spinach and cayenne peppers.  Look for gingery pickled beets soon!

Eggplant Parmesan

Anything is good when it is covered in sauce and cheese right?  Especially eggplant.  I don't think you need a recipe for this.  Just bread and fry your eggplant slices, put them in a baking dish, cover them with your favorite sauce and cheese and bake until melted and delicious.  It freezes well if you get a bunch of eggplant you need to do something with.  Enjoy!

 Lentil Soup



First Project: Using the carrots from my basket: Lentil Soup

  I have been making this lentil soup now for years, and have changed it up depending on what I have on hand.  Always carrots, sometimes parsnips if you have them.  I love the smokey taste and smell of cumin, but if you don't have it curry powder works as well.  I remember the original recipe called for spinach, but I have used Swiss Chard, Kale, you name it.  I would have used the beet and turnip greens from this weeks basket, but they were a bit past their prime. (compost I'm afraid)  I have some greens in the freezer from earlier in the season that will do just fine.  (not sure what they are, forgot to label the bag)  The tomatoes are some I canned and pulled from the pantry and here we go.

You will need:

• 2 cups lentils
• 6-7 cups of vegetable or chicken stock
• 5-6 carrots peeled and chopped
• 1 medium onion chopped
• large pinch of salt
• 1-2 tablespoons of cumin (to taste)
• 1 28 ounce can of  crushed tomatoes (if you have whole tomatoes you can put them through the food processor or crush them with your fingers.)
• 2-3 cups of spinach, or any green you have on hand
• 1-2 tablespoons of Olive Oil

You will need to:

1. Coat the bottom of a heavy pan with Olive Oil
2. Saute the onion and carrots until the onions are soft (add a large pinch of salt)
3. Add the cumin and stir
4. When the cumin is incorporated add the lentils and broth
5. Add tomatoes and stir together
6. Bring to a simmer and cook for 1-2 hours until carrots and lentils are soft adding the greens near the end

A pretty basket of vegetables from Pennypack Farm and Education Center. This week's haul includes 2 types of winter squash, 2 types of cabbage, peppers, turnips, radishes, carrots, beets, and the last of summer eggplant.  I see Lentil soup with carrots in my future and some pickled beets.  Stay tuned.