Kohlrabi and Zucchini in Cabbage Leaves

One of my favorite parts of belonging to a CSA is the unknown – what will be in the box? How will I use it? My goal, of course is to ensure everything gets eaten during the course of the week – which forces a certain creativity on the last meal or two.

I served this vegetable dish as a main course for two, though you can easily scale, or even modify the ingredients. Remember to peel the kohlrabi well – you want to eliminate both the skin and the stringy layer underneath.

Ingredients

2 medium zucchinis, diced into 1″ cubes
a handful of snap peas, remove strings and blossoms
4 medium kohlrabi, peeled and diced  into 1″ cubes
stem of a summer onion, diced
large cabbage leaves
a handful of croutons per person *
2tbsp. butter
2tbsp. heavy cream
several drops of lemon juice
kosher salt to taste (I find the shape and size of the flakes important)
crushed red pepper flakes, to taste
leaves from two sprigs thyme (fresh herbs are critical to the overall flavor, I suspect marjoram or savory would be excellent substitutions)
bowl of ice water

Directions

Prepare your ingredients.

(This can be done anytime during the cooking.) Bring a pot of water boil that will fit the cabbage leaves.  Cook each leaf for several minutes in the boiling water until soft, but still capable of holding its shape. Remove from water and stop the cooking by submerging in cold water. Place a cabbage leaf in the bottom of each bowl or on each plate.

Meanwhile heat a large saute pan (or cast-iron skillet) over medium** heat for several minutes.  Melt the butter in the pan, waiting until the foaming starts to subside. Add red pepper flakes and onions. Cook until the onions start to soften – a couple of minutes.

Add the kohlrabi pieces. Stir to coat with butter. Salt the kohlrabi. Cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Stir in the zucchini.  Salt again. Cook for another 10 minutes or so, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables have softened.

Add the pea pods and thyme, cooking for a couple more minutes until the snap peas are bright green and the aroma thyme fills the air.

Add the croutons to the pan, stir to mix and then spoon the mixture into the cabbage leaves on the plate.

Put cream in a small bowl, add several drops of lemon juice and whisk immediately. Dollop generously onto food and enjoy!

* Croutons can be made easily by tossing cubes of breads with butter and then cooking in the oven on low (200°F or lower) until done.  I normally use left over heels or slightly stale ends.

** Medium heat is not always the middle of your dial.  I roughly define this temperature as the correct temperature for frying an egg, such that it does not run excessively and only crisps the edges. If the vegetables are browning early in the cooking you are using too high of heat. If you can’t hear a constant sizzle, your heat is probably too low.

“Save the Vines” Event This Weekend

Do you have a few hours this weekend to help out?  Bainbridge Island Vineyards are looking for volunteers to help with annual vine maintenance. What better way to spend time this weekend than getting some hands on experience with local grape vines?  Betsey will provide the knowledge, so no experience necessary – for complete details see Save the Vines.

(Sorry for the late notice on this one!  If you know others who might be able to make it, forward them the flier.)

Theo Chef Sessions Chocolate

Although chocolate itself can hardly by considered local, who can resist a bit now and then?  Seattle is lucky to be home to Theo Chocolate, specializing in fair trade, organic chocolate. A dark chocolate fan myself, I became a customer after visiting their factory in Fremont and tasting their excellent 84% Dark Chocolate Bar.

Before the Thanksgiving holiday, I was given a box of Theo’s “Chef Sessions” chocolates by a friend who works at Theo.  The box is a small collection of confections created through a collaboration between Theo and seven well-known West Coast chefs. So in the spirit of exploration, my Thanksgiving guests and I concocted a simple taste testing.  Not everyone was a fan of the savory flavors introduced into some of the chocolates and some of the confections were clearly more successful than others – but overall it was a wonderful way to explore new marriages of flavor.  Although we originally had some trouble determining which confections were which (they didn’t seem to line up with the cover of the box), we managed to sort it out.  The favorites, were the tamarind lime chili caramel (“thumbs up for the bitter lime flavor”, “pleasant”) and the candied beet pate de fruit & almond praline (“that’s really good”, “nutty, not as earthy as I had hoped”).  The agro dolce brittle was the least liked, and one taster was particularly unhappy with the flavor.  Although the pine resin evoked the most interest,  tasters found the taste “forgettable”.  The huckleberry & cinnamon basil ganache was controversial – with several tasters wondering why the basil was present and even gaining one “awful” vote. I personally found it an interesting attempt, but ultimately agreed that the combo didn’t really work – reminding me more of pizza than chocolate.

If you are interested in pushing the culinary envelope or just like new flavor combinations, I can recommend picking up a box.  (Additionally, Theo is donating $15 from every box to Food Lifeline, a local food bank.)

Savory Fried Apples

Now that it’s fall, apples are in abundance. This savory side pairs well with pork. (Consider stuffed pork chops.)

2 large apples (honeycrisp)
1 small cippolini onion
1 tsp. brown sugar
1 tbls. brandy
1 tbls. butter
3 blades of mace*
5 sage leaves, torn
1 bay leaf

1. Heat a 12-inch pan over medium heat. (You want enough space to spread your apples out.)
2. Peel and core the apples. Cut into 1/4 inch thick slices.
3. Add half of the butter to the pan. Allow to melt. Add apples.
4. Mince onion and add.
5. Add mace and bay leaf. Sprinkle the top of the apples with brown sugar. Allow to cook for about 5-10 minutes until apples begin to soften, only stirring once or twice.
6. Add brandy and remaining butter. Toss to coat. Cook until apples begin to look brown, about another 5-10 minutes. (Undisturbed apples begin to have a mild crust.) Add sage and cook 5 minutes more.

Hold the apples by turning the temperature to low. Be sure to remove bay leaf and mace before serving.

*Mace is the dried outside of the nutmeg. We have it in our cupboard for sausage making and get it from Penzeys (coming soon to Seattle!) You could probably substitute a dash of nutmeg.

Summer Salad

You wouldn’t know it from the weather, but it’s summer in the Pacific Northwest. One of the great joys of summer is a perfectly ripe tomato – something that has been particularly challenging this summer. But if you can find them locally, tossing them with cucumbers in a light vinaigrette is close to mid-day perfection.

Tomato and Cucumber Salad

(just enough for 1)

5 small tomatoes, quartered (Butler Green Farm)
1/4 cup purslane leaves (Persephone Farm)
4 leaves basil, chopped (Terra Bella)
1/2 cucumber, quartered and chopped (Persephone Farm)
1/4 green pepper chopped (Laughing Crow Farm)
some cheese (a sheep’s milk feta is incredible, but this time I used a goat cheese from Port Madison Goat Farm and Dairy)
salt and pepper to taste
1 tbsp olive oil
1tsp white wine vinegar

Whisk vinegar into oil in a large bowl. Combine rest of ingredients and toss gently until coated.

Not Just Another Tuesday Night

Some evenings are more surprising than others. You sit down, check your email, glance at that the blog stats and… wait where did that massive spike in traffic come from? After a glance at the incoming referrers you discover you’ve been nominated for a “Best Food Blog” award by Saveur magazine. Really? That Saveur? Really?

Then the pressure sets in. Something needs to be posted. Something good.

Late winter is the most challenging time of year for eating locally. Fresh vegetables are much harder to find, the root cellar is looking depleted and worse for the wear, the freezer is emptying and meals begin to feel monotonous. Combined with work and the short days, it’s easy to feel like every night is just one more meal of kale and potatoes. Or maybe some beef and parsnip stew. Or squash soup. Or white beans and grain.  Or pork chops and cabbage.  The diversity kind of sneaks up on you – the winter menu is not boring, in fact the options seem pleasantly surprising.

But something has to be posted. Right?

Fortunately, our blog is about just these types of meals: eating quality local ingredients everyday.  From farm and freezer to table, tonight’s meal is a mainstay: fresh egg pasta with a sauce. Pasta serves as a wonderful vehicle for the midweek meal – it can easily be frozen, cooks quickly and lends itself to improvisation. The fact that it is made from our neighbor’s eggs and flour from Eastern Washington keeps it local. (I’ve been working on sources of flour even closer to home, hopefully I’ll solve that problem later this year.)

The sauce comes together from whatever happens to be in the freezer or refrigerator. After a bit of digging, I decided to use some rainbow chard that Anne picked up from Butler Green Farms and combine it with bacon (home smoked; the pork came from Rolling Bay Farm) in a light cream sauce. For myself, I tossed in a few Hood Canal Spot Prawns that I had been hoarding from the Brinnon Shrimp Festival*. For additional flavor, I leveraged a small onion and four cloves of garlic out of the root cellar, courtesy of Laughing Crow Farm. Altogether, we were eating in less than 30 minutes – photo session for the food included.

The result was a slightly sweet, but completely delicious sauce which lightly clung to the wide noodles. The hint of smokiness and salt from the bacon melded well with the spot prawns (which are very sweet themselves).

Weeknight Pasta

1/2 lb. Fresh Egg Pasta
1 small onion, fine dice
4 cloves of garlic, thick slices
7 rainbow chard leaves, rolled and cut into thin strips
3 chard stems, fine dice
about 2 tbsp diced bacon
6 Hood Canal Spot Prawns*
1/4 cup heavy cream
1 tsp olive oil
8-12 oz pasta water
salt, to taste
1/8 tsp red pepper flakes (or to taste)

1. Start heating the water for the pasta.
2. Heat a large deep skillet over medium heat for several minutes.
3. Add the oil and red pepper flakes to the skillet and allow the oil to heat.
4. Add the diced bacon and cook until browned.
5. Add garlic, chard stems, and onions and cook until translucent and starting to brown
6. (Optional) Deglaze the pan with some white wine.
7. Salt the pasta water.
8. Add a ladle (4oz) of pasta water to the pan and allow to boil until almost gone.
9. Add heavy cream, chard leaves and another ladle of pasta water.  Cook until the chard has lost its crunch.
10. Add the pasta to the water and cook until done.
11. Put the pasta and another ladle of pasta water into the sauce – cook for a few more minutes and serve.

If adding shrimp, saute with a small bit of red pepper flakes in a separate pan and add just before serving.

Enjoy!  And, if you did, vote for our blog.

* I don’t recommend keeping frozen shrimp as long as I did. The FDA suggests 3 months – but sometimes you have to break the rules.

Small Batch Ketchup: Batch #2

Over the Labor Day weekend, we were invited to a party involving a grill and hamburgers.  A perfect opportunity for a second batch of homemade ketchup!  This time, I wanted to play down the spice, ramp up the sweetness, and stick more to ingredients like garlic and onion.  The result was considerably more similar to a traditional ketchup.

More Traditional Ketchup

⅛ tsp ground cloves
⅛ tsp ground cinnamon
1 lb ripe tomatoes, chopped
1 tbsp fresh basil, chiffonade
1 tbsp fresh parsley, chiffonade
¼ cup white wine vinegar
5 peppercorns
pinch of dried fennel seed
¼ red onion, chopped
⅓ red pepper, chopped
1 tbsp honey
¼ tsp salt

Place ingredients in a small sauce pan and simmer for about 30 minutes over medium low heat.  After 30 minutes, run through a food mill with a medium disk and return to a simmer until the desired consistency is reached (1-2 hours).  Remove from heat and allow to cool completely, refrigerate and enjoy!

See my previous article on ketchup inspiration and for a spicier recipe.