Image via Wikipedia

March (Northern Hemisphere)/September (Southern Hemisphere)

As I did in previous months, I’m updating with the list of fruits and veggies that appear as seasonable on the organic farm website that I’ve been ordering from. What’s actually available here appears in bold below. This may, of course, vary from area to area.

Fruit: apples, grapefruit, lemons, mandarin oranges, mangoes, oranges, pears, pineapple

Veggies: arugula, broccoli, carrots, celery tops, chard, chives, daikon, escarole, garlic, herbs, kale, lettuce, onion, radicheta, radishes, squash

I have to note that in this week’s delivery, the apples were not so great, so I think they’re heading out of “season.” They store well, but they should still be out by now.

February (Northern Hemisphere)/August (Southern Hemisphere):

Fruit: apples, grapefruit, kiwi, lemons, Mandarin oranges, oranges, papayas, pears, tangelos

Veggies: akusay, bok choy, broccoli, carrot, cauliflower, celery, chard, daikon, kale, onion, radish, squash

And then, as in previous months, there is a variety of herbs and lettuces that must be coming from a greenhouse: arugula, cilantro, escarole, various lettuces, mint, mizuna, oregano, and radicheta.

Ingredients:

1 Yellow onion, diced
1 Squash, cut into large chunks
2 cups Chicken stock, homemade
Olive oil
Sea salt & Pepper

Preparation:

It’s this easy: steam the squash until tender, then remove flesh from skin. Set aside the skin for composting.

Saute the onion in olive oil, seasoning as desired. Add chicken stock and squash flesh. Mix well, then remove from heat and blend in a blender until smooth.

I served this the first night along with chicken breast and a simple salad. The next day, I drank the leftovers in a mug as a snack.

Unlike chard, I love the name of squash. Love it. It’s just fun to say.

Enjoy!

This was such a yummy dish. We had it for dinner, then I had the leftovers for lunch the following day. Loved it!

Ingredients:

1 small bunch Mizuna, chopped
1 small bunch Celery greens, chopped
1 small bunch Radish tops, chopped
1 small bunch fresh spinach, chopped
1/2 head Akusay/Napa cabbage, chopped
4 small Carrots (or two large), shredded
1 Green onion, chopped
1 small Yellow onion, diced
2 Chicken breasts, diced or shredded by hand (I used leftover chicken)
1 Chile pepper, diced
Olive oil
Soy sauce (note that soy sauce is NOT gluten free, tamari sauce generally is)
1/4 cup Sesame seeds
1/4 cup Crushed seeds and seaweed mix
1 T. fresh Ginger, grated
2 T. Tahini

Preparation:

Heat a drizzle of olive oil in a wok or deep saucepan. Saute the yellow and green onions. Add the chile pepper. If you need to cook the chicken breast, add it now. If not, wait until the end.

Turn up the heat and add carrot and all greens to the wok/pan. Drizzle with soy/tamari sauce. Add the grated ginger, crushed seeds/seaweed mix, and sesame seeds. Mix well. Add the chicken breast, mixing well so it heats up.

Drizzle the tahini on top, mix well, and serve. Did you notice I enjoyed the use of the word “drizzle” in this post?

Obviously, you could make this same dish vegetarian with tofu instead of chicken, but if you’re vegetarian, you were probably already thinking that, weren’t you?

Enjoy!

I grabbed bits and pieces of veggies in the fridge, including:

• Peas
• Yellow onion
• Green onion
• Leek
• Chard Acelga
• Shredded carrot (I still really don’t like carrots all that much, and tolerate them better when shredded)
• Diced fresh chile pepper
• Sesame seeds
• Poppy seeds
• Crushed walnuts (these are a yummy and crunchy addition)
• Crushed red pepper

And there were still leftovers, so the next day I bought some tofu, dusted it with rice/corn flour (which gave it a light, egg-free “breading”), and added it, along with some fresh onion:

So in the end, I ate lunch, then we both ate the second version of it as a side dish for dinner, then I ate some of the third version of it as a snack, then was left with one more portion for another meal. One meal turned into five!

You could do this at home with brown or wild rice and all the veggies you can find. The original dish included seaweed, eggplant, carrots, red and green bell peppers, onions, and tofu.

Enjoy!

Remember my last failed gluten free gnocchi attempt? Well, they’ve been on my cooking to do list ever since, and they came out great this time. For some reason, people have the idea that gnocchi are hard to do. Not true. It’s just a long process. Don’t do this recipe on an evening when you’re pressed for time or already starving.

My suggestion: don’t do it like I did and try to get everything done in my tiny kitchen with two small burners (unless, of course, you have a normal sized kitchen with lots of space to move around). Do the sauce first, then the gnocchi.

Bolognese Sauce Ingredients:

1/2 kilo Ground beef (that’s about a pound)
1 large Yellow onion, diced
2 Tomatoes, diced
1 small carton Tomato sauce (if it were summer here, I’d have used all fresh tomatoes, but alas, we’re in late fall down here)
1 cup Red wine
1 t. Oregano
Olive oil
Sea salt and Pepper, to taste

Bolognese Sauce Preparation:

Dice onion and tomato. Saute onion in olive oil in a large sauce pan. Once translucent, add ground beef and cook until lightly browned. Add tomato sauce, tomatoes, and red wine. Season with oregano, sea salt, and pepper. Simmer, covered until the sauce has reached the desired consistency. Set aside and get ready for the gnocchi.

Gnocchi Ingredients:

1/2 kilo Potatoes (Russets are recommended; I just used what I had on hand)
1 cup Gluten free flour (I used a blend of corn and rice flour)
1/3 cup Potato starch
1/2 teaspoon Guar or Xanthan gum
2 Eggs, beaten
Sea salt

Gnocchi Preparation:

Cut potatoes in half or into quarters if large. Steam or boil the potatoes in salted water. Cook until potatoes are tender throughout.

As soon as they’re done, remove potatoes from the water and quickly peel them. The idea is to mash them while they’re still hot, so you’ve got to move as fast as possible without burning yourself.

Once peeled, mash lightly (don’t overdo it) in a bowl, then set aside to cool, about 10-15 minutes.

When they’ve cooled, add beaten eggs and sprinkle about half the flour on top. Add 1 teaspoon of sea salt. I started by mixing with a wooden spoon, then moved to kneading lightly with my hands. As you knead, you’ll notice that it’s really not sticking together and forming much of a dough, so now’s the time to sprinkle the potato starch and guar/xanthan gum on top and knead along with the mixture. Add the rest of the flour if needed to form a nice dough, sprinkling on top and then kneading in.

Once the dough is ready, take a handful of dough at a time and shape it into a long snake. Cut snakes into small pieces, about half an inch long. Roll them down the tines of a fork to create little grooves (these help the gnocchi grab onto the sauce), and place on a large plate. Keep at it until all of your dough has become gnocchified (did you like that word? I did).

When you’re ready to eat, place a large handful of gnocchi in salted boiling water. As the gnocchi rise to the top of the pot (it doesn’t take them long), remove them with a slotted spoon and place in bowls or on plates to serve. Repeat until all are cooked.

Top with bolognese sauce, and add grated cheese if you like.

Enjoy!

In an attempt to do something other than the obvious (savory tart) with my organic chard, I came up with this: it’s a creamy sauteed chard with goat cheese and tomato.

Ingredients:

1 Small bunch of Chard, chopped
1 Yellow onion, diced
1 Tomato, diced
1 cup Goat cheese (I used the soft, creamy kind but you could use a harder cheese and shred it if that’s what you’ve got on hand)
Olive oil
Sea salt and Pepper, to taste

Preparation:

Chop chard. Dice tomato and onion.

Saute the onion in olive oil in a large sauce pan. Once it’s almost translucent, add the chard stalks and cook for about 5 minutes. Add chard leaves and tomato, and cover, cooking for about 10 minutes. Crumble goat cheese into the pan, and cover to soften. Mix well before serving.

Enjoy!

This is another one of those leftover recipes, except that I used the last bits of raw ingredients, rather than repurposing cooked food items. I had some small random veggies from the grab bag I had ordered a while ago with my organic vegetables, and some chives and red wine that needed to be used up. Since I’m the only one who drinks wine in our home, it’s sometimes hard to get all the way through the bottle without it going bad, so I often use the last bit for cooking.

The “greens” were in the organic grab bag, and I assume they were spinach, but really wasn’t sure. The carrot was this strange broken off bit of carrot, and the yellow bell pepper  and zucchini were super-tiny, end of the season fruits (yes, fruits).

I had a chicken carcass I needed to make into stock, so I started off by boiling that up first, then removed the chicken pieces and added the rice and vegetables. You can use the ingredients list below for inspiration, and add your own veggies.

Ingredients:

1 cup Wild rice
1 cup Red wine
5 cups Chicken stock, homemade
1 Yellow onion
1 Yellow bell pepper, diced
1/2 Chile pepper, fresh and diced
1/2 Carrot, diced
1 Zucchini
Handful of greens (I think they were spinach)
Small bunch of chives
Sea salt, Pepper, Olive oil

Preparation:

Saute the diced onion and chile pepper in a bit of olive oil, until onion becomes translucent. Add the chicken stock. Once boiling, add the wild rice. Cook covered for about 45 minutes, then add vegetables. Keep cooking covered for at least 15 more minutes or according to the directions on your wild rice. Add red wine once the liquid cooks down.

I like my wild rice to “bloom,” rather than be hard and chewy, so it usually gets cooked a bit over an hour. Again, this varies according to type of wild rice.

Enjoy!

Wild Rice

Remember when I was wondering what to do with my beet greens? Last night I decided to saute them up for a savory tart. It was gorgeous, with bright green leaves and ruby red stalks. I wish I could tell you what it tasted like, but I’ve got a cold and have lost my sense of taste, so all I can say is that it has great textures! Though Agus liked the way it tasted.

Ingredients:

1 Gluten free pie crust
2 small Yellow onions, diced
1 bunch Beet greens, chopped (keep stalks and leaves separately)
2 cups Goat cheese, shredded (I used feta)
4 Eggs, beaten
Sea salt, Pepper, Olive oil

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 350°F/18o°C.

Prepare dough for pie crust and chill while you dice, shred, and beat all ingredients for the pie filling.

Saute onion in olive oil until just translucent. Season with salt and pepper. Add the stalks of the beet tops and cover to steam for about 10 minutes. During this time, remove pie crust from fridge and roll out or press into pie pan. (I usually do a combination of both: I roll a little and then press it out when it gets difficult).

Add the beet leaves, and cover to steam an additional 5 minutes.

Remove from heat, and add shredded cheese, mixing well. Pour immediately into the pie crust, then pour the beaten eggs on top.

I actually had a bit of leftover dough from the crust, so  I made a couple of leaves for the top of the tart. This was a bit more challenging than I had anticipated, and had to re-roll the dough a couple of times to re-cut the leaves, as gluten free dough is a bit fragile.

Here’s the tart before it went into the oven:

And here it is coming out, ready to serve:

Isn’t it pretty? And did you know that the beet tops/greens are actually even healthier than the beets themselves? According to Medicinal Food News, they are high in Vitamin A, calcium, and potassium. I’m thinking they should be high in folic acid also because, well, they’re green and leafy. But that’s not mentioned, though they say that the roots are high in folic acid.

So now you know what to do with beet greens! Enjoy!

Well, a couple of weeks ago I mentioned receiving bok choy in our organic veggie box, and having no clue what to do with it. After some internet research, I found out it could be used raw, in a salad, instead of lettuce. I tried that. Hated it. Bok choy has a strong flavor, and while Agus didn’t mind it, I couldn’t even finish my salad and had to give it to him.

So I decided to try it cooked, and really liked it (Agus, on the other hand, wasn’t so happy with the cooked version of it). Since I was concerned about not liking the flavor, I added my favorite spice, curry. Here goes:

Ingredients:

3 stalks Bok choy, chopped (keep the stalk separate from the leaves)
1 Yellow onion, chopped
1 fresh Chile pepper, thinly sliced
Fresh ginger, grated
Soy sauce
Olive oil
Curry
Sesame seeds

Preparation:

First, I sauteed the onion in olive oil in a large saucepan with the chile pepper. Then I added the bok choy stalks, curry, grated ginger, and soy sauce. I covered the pan, steaming the stalks for a couple of minutes. Next, I added the bok choy leaves and sesame seeds, covering for another couple of minutes. When it was done, I served it alongside chicken breast Agus had grilled.

You can also add some more sesame seed on top if you like.

Remember that regular soy sauce is not gluten- and wheat-free. If you have gluten or wheat intolerance (we’re allergic to wheat, but seem to tolerate regular soy sauce), look for gluten- or wheat-free soy or tamari sauce at the grocery store (or online).

Give bok choy a try, if you aren’t familiar with it. It’s actually a member of the cabbage family, and is is high in vitamin A, vitamin C, beta-carotene, and calcium. It’s apparently really high in beta-carotene, which I would never have guessed. Anyway, I’m not fond of nutrient-based diets but, like all fresh veggies, this is good stuff.

Enjoy!

Bok Choy