Recipes & Tips

RECIPES FROM CATERING, TEACHING, DELIVERY SERVICE AND MORE 

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[Nov 12th 2011, First Universalist Church Annual Auction Party, Mpls]

EASY JAMAICAN JERK CHICKEN W/ SWEET POTATO
I use Frontier brand all-natural Jerk seasoning blend, available at Co-ops, to save time. Watch out, it’s spicy! For a vegetarian version, skip the chicken and substitute either beans, tempeh, firm tofu or seitan (mock duck). Below serves 2-4.

INGREDIENTS
4 chicken thighs, w/ or w/o bone
2 sweet potatoes, unpeeled and cubed
med-large yellow onion
3 green onions
2 cloves garlic
2 -3 tsp Jamaican Jerk seasoning blend, approximately
1 tsp dried thyme
Optional: 1 cup cooked chopped kale/collards/cabbage/broccoli/spinach etc (frozen is fine too)

Vegetarian version: add veggie broth.

DIRECTIONS

1. Mince fresh green onions and garlic in a food processor. [if you have extra, make a vinaigrette or dip with it, or save for another marinade, pasta sauce etc.]
2. Put chicken (or tempeh) in a baking pan. Liberally sprinkle Jamaican Jerk seasoning blend, dried thyme and salt onto chicken.
3. Add the onion-garlic mixture, some olive oil, and toss well with your clean hands to evenly coat chicken. Set chicken aside to marinate for 15-30 min.
4. Cover with foil and bake chicken for 30 min at 400 F.
5. While it’s baking, dice sweet potatoes and boil til soft. Scoop out of pot and set aside.  Use the rest of hot water for blanching a green vegetable for side dish.
6. Take 2 spoonfuls of soft sweet potato and smash against side of a bowl for thickening the sauce.
7. Check chicken. It will be moist b/c of the foil covering. Pour the juice into a large pot, add mashed sweet potato and some more Jerk seasoning. Bring this to a boil, then simmer to reduce liquid and concentrate flavors. (At this point you could add any fresh or frozen green vegetable.)
8. When sauce is sufficiently concentrated, add back the chicken and sweet potatoes. Taste again, add a little salt (since you diluted it with potatoes). How much sauce you get is up to you.

If you’re making vegetarian version, boil the sweet potatoes in veggie broth, Jerk spice & thyme. Mash some potato against the side of pot. Add to pot the beans, greens et al and simmer for 15 min. Add more broth if you want more sauce. If tofu, add it last and don’t stir.

Like most dishes, the longer this sits the better it gets. Serve over rice or other whole grain like spelt, kamut, wheatberry, kasha, millet or quinoa. Or, you could make it into a pot pie! (yum).  This keeps in the frig and freezes very well.

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[Aug 21st, Demo at Kingfield Farmers Market, Mpls]

FIRECRACKER SLAW IN CHIPOTLE DRESSING [Adapted by Tracy Yue from Vegetarian Times magazine]

A crunchy, substantial and gorgeous slaw that is vegan & allergen-free (no dairy, gluten, soy, nuts); red wine or cider vinegar doesn’t contain gluten. This raw salad contains 3 “superfoods” high in antioxidants and lots of fiber.

Serves 6-8. Keeps well in frig for 8-10 days and can sit at room-temp for several hours, therefore is great for potlucks. A food processor or mandoline is handy for making larger quantities of this recipe.

Firecracker Slaw: the prettiest slaw you've EVER seen!

DRESSING

(Makes enough dressing for slaw and other salads.)

half cp extra virgin olive oil

half cp either red wine vinegar or cider vinegar, or combination

1-2 cloves minced garlic

pinch of ground chipotle pepper (spicy)

2 pinches ground smoked paprika* or regular paprika

Salt to taste (a little more salt than usual to balance heartiness of veggies)

Optional:  1 tsp or TB apple or orange juice to sweeten, 1 tsp lime juice

SLAW

1 raw med-lg beet, unpeeled

Beet leaves from beet, sliced in thin strips, or kale

2 med-lg carrots, unpeeled

1 lg kohlrabi, peeled

1 tart crunchy apple, unpeeled (Pink Lady, Haralson, Macintosh, Granny Smith)

1 sm red onion

Optional: some green or purple cabbage or broccoli stem, shredded/julienned.

DIRECTIONS

1) Put all dressing ingredients in a jar and shake to mix well. Taste, adjust salt and spiciness and let sit.

2) Shred or julienne all veggies into strips, or chop into pieces about size of peanuts. Put in a large mixing bowl as you go.

3) Slice red onion thinly or dice small, add to bowl.

4) Pour 1/3 to 1/2 cp dressing on top of veggies and toss well until thoroughly coated. If you like, squeeze lime juice over top before serving.

* Smoked paprika is available at Super Target but not in most other grocery stores.

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[May 10th, Delivered Dish of the Week]

SUPER GREEN SPLIT PEA SOUP

In terms of quantities of dried split peas, pls follow amounts specified in standard recipes for split pea soup. I make mine in a 30-quart stockpot! Below is my guesstimate for a normal-sized 4 qt pot of soup. You need a food processor, a saute pan and a stockpot.

• 1 lb bag dried split peas
• 2 boxes of liquid veggie broth or 1/2 cup veg broth powder
• water
• 5 carrots (can also add any leftover celery you might have around)
• 1 lg onion
• 2 TB minced garlic
• 2 lb washed spinach with stems or washed kale with no stems (frozen chopped greens OK too)*
• 1 bunch parsley with stems
• dried oregano, ground coriander, nutmeg
• Optional garnish: lemon juice, yogurt

*Can substitute with or add Kale but this will add to cooking time, and definitely use more lemon juice.

1) Add stock & water in amounts directed to peas, bring to a boil, then simmer for 40 min. In the meantime:

2) chop onion, mince garlic, set aside.

3) shred carrots in food processor.

4) Heat saute pan w/ olive oil/canola, saute onions, garlic & carrots for 20 min, stir occasionally.  In the meantime:

5) Puree spinach and parsley with a little water. Add to carrot mixture.

6) check peas, should be soft.

7) Add a handful of oregano, 2 TB coriander, 1 tsp nutmeg, some salt & pepper. Stir well (a whisk breaks up clumps quickly).

8) Add the veg mixture, stir.

9) Simmer until desired consistency. Taste & season w/ salt & pepper; serve with lemon, yogurt or little parmesan if you wish.

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[April 25th, Earth Day Expo, First Universalist Church]

CRUNCHY CABBAGE SLAW IN DILL VINAIGRETTE;
and QUINOA SALAD

Any combination of fresh crunchy veggies, with some sort of cabbage as the base, plus a vinaigrette with fresh herbs = a terrific slaw, without mayonnaise.  Grapefruit is sweet, so no need to add sugar. Kids like this because it’s crunchy.  [Adults pls also note it's low-cal and contains no gluten, dairy, sugar or soy.]  As with most of my dishes, this can be kept for up to 2 wks in the frig.

PS: This will not resemble commercial coleslaw. Unless you have a food processor w/ slicer disk, it’s frankly a lot easier to just dice everything. You can use an electric or manual hand-chopper, too.

Diced Slaw with Kamut (quinoa not pictured). Photo by Brad Dahlgaard.

SLAW

• 1/4 purple cabbage, diced
• 5 stalks & leaves of Napa aka Chinese cabbage, diced
• 3 carrots, diced
• 3 celery stalks, sliced or diced
• 1 cp whole sugar snap peas, diced
• 1/2 red onion, diced small
• big handful of fresh dill, snipped or minced
• big handful fresh chives, snipped or minced
• juice of half a fresh grapefruit
• favorite olive oil vinaigrette (see below)

Wash all raw ingredients. Get a big mixing bowl. Dice, chop, snip and mince as instructed, adding each ingredient to the bowl. Squeeze the grapefruit on top. Pour 1/2 cp of vinaigrette on top. Now sprinkle a pinch of salt, and toss it all together.

QUINOA + SLAW =  SALAD
C00k 1-2 cps quinoa like you boil rice, using slightly less than 2 cp water : 1 cp quinoa ratio. Cooks in 15 min or less so check it. If you like al dente, pull it off stove a little early.  Let it sit w/ cover off. It will finish absorbing water and cool down.  You can store it in frig for various uses.

In a mixing bowl, combine some cooked quinoa with some slaw. Pour in 1/4 cp vinaigrette and toss well. The quinoa will break up and separate.  The proportion of veg to grain is an individual preference.  Add more of one or the other until it looks & tastes nice to you.

For complete protein in one dish, you could add 1/2 cp-1 cp lentils or other small legume, like mung beans.

BASIC VINAIGRETTE
I make oil & white /red wine vinaigrette by the quart and use as a base for many other salad dressings.  Keeps for months un-refrigerated. White wine or red wine vinegar are less harsh than apple cider vinegar and requires less sweetening; and are also gluten-free.

• 1 cp extra virgin olive oil
• 1 cp white wine vinegar or red wine vinegar
• 2 tsp minced garlic
• 1 tsp dijon or other mustard
• optional 1 TB lemon juice
• bit of lemon peel (will flavor it over time)
• 4 shakes of celery salt
• pinch of salt
• 1 TB minced fresh herb such as dill, tarragon, cilantro, parsley, or combination thereof.

Get an old jar w/ good screw top lid.  Put all ingredients in. Shake vigorously like you’re playing maracas (or making martinis). Taste and adjust seasonings if needed. I prefer it on the sour side, since a vinaigrette’s intensity becomes diluted in chopped salads.

Scroll through the recipes below for variations using different herbs and citrus like grapefruit, orange and lime.

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[Feb 25th 2010, Men with Knives Cooking Lesson]

GARLICKY BLACK-EYED PEAS SAUTEED WITH GREENS
and BLACK-EYED PEAS & BEETS CHOPPED SALAD

I taught a group of eight men some basics about vegetarian dishes and knife skills. To demonstrate efficient bulk cooking, we made two dishes with black-eyed peas, one hot and one cold. Both keep for more than a week; the sauteed one can also be frozen. Dried black-eyed peas cook fairly quickly, and canned are fine too.

These instructions are for making both dishes simultaneously.

• 1 lb dried black-eyed peas or 6 cans
• 2 bunches swiss chard, kale, or turnip greens (or combo), washed, chopped, including stems
• fine sea salt or regular salt
• olive oil
• 1 large yellow onion, chopped
• 2-3 cloves garlic, minced
• optional minced fresh rosemary /dried, 1 tsp
• 1 lemon or 2 TB lemon juice

SALAD

• 3 med beets with greens attached, washed & dried
• 1/2 red onion, diced small
• 3 carrots, 3 celery stalks (any crunchy veg), diced
• 1/4 small purple cabbage, diced
• bunch of italian parsley +/or cilantro, minced
• favorite olive oil vinaigrette

First, if using dried peas, boil the peas: rinse them & place in a large stockpot w/ lots of cold water. Bring to a high boil, then low boil with lid on for 30-40 min.

While peas are cooking, in a smaller pot, bring cold water to a roiling boil. As water heats, separate beet roots from stems & leaves, and trim the fibery bits but do not peel. Dice beets for parboiling.  Chop stems & leaves, set aside.

Drop the diced beets in the boiling water for 2-3 minutes til just tender (al dente). Pour into colander & cool immediately under running cold water. Set aside.

Now, since Peas are still cooking, chop all the rest of the ingredients — but don’t forget about the peas.  Dry all chopped green leaves and stems in a salad spinner or towel. Combine the beet leaves, celery, carrots, cabbage, red onion & parsley in a large mixing/salad bowl. Put the other chopped greens and all chopped stems into another bowl.

When tender/ soft (but not smushy like soup), drain the peas.  Run under cold water to stop cooking and drain well. Divide in half. [If using canned peas, drain & rinse, then divide.]

Now heat 3 TB olive oil in a large high-sided saute pan or stew pot over med high. Add chopped yellow onion, saute for couple min. Add all the chopped chard/kale/turnip greens & stems and turn over occasionally. This will cook down a lot. When it’s half the size, add 2-3 cloves minced garlic, the black-eyed peas and optional rosemary. Stir & saute until the greens are all wilted. Add 1-2 more TB olive oil, the lemon juice and sprinkle liberally with salt & pepper. Mix well and serve hot.

Next, to finish assembling the salad: add half the peas and the diced beets to the salad bowl. Sprinkle liberally with salt & pepper. Add 1.5 cp of vinaigrette and toss all together, mixing well. Add more vinaigrette if necessary, season to taste. Let sit 5 min before serving.

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[Winter 2009 Catering]

ROAST SWEET POTATO W/ LIME & CILANTRO

Serves 6-8. Vegan, gluten-free, sugar-free. This is a room temperature side dish and very easy to prepare ahead, which is one reason I recommend it to catering clients.

• 6 sweet potatoes, scrubbed & unpeeled
• sea salt & olive oil
• 1 small -med red onion, coarsely chopped
• half a bunch of cilantro, washed, stemmed*
• 2 large limes

Preheat oven to 400 F. Chop the potatoes into pieces the size of a large man’s thumb. [Cut into thirds vertically, then halve those vertically, then chop horizontally. Using a large, heavy chef knife or cleaver makes this much easier. ]  Place in large roasting/baking pan. Drizzle liberally with olive oil, sprinkle sea salt and toss well. Roast for 30 min; re-toss once midway.

Meanwhile, prep & coarsely chop the onions and cilantro. (*Save and mince the cilantro stems for salad or soup.) Prep the limes by first rolling them on counter with flat palm, pressing hard to soften it up. Then cut in half and squeeze out juice.

Check potatoes for done-ness. Should be tender but not falling apart. Let cool a little.

Mix the lime juice w/ 2 TB olive oil and drizzle over potatoes. Sprinkle cilantro, more sea salt, and toss well. Done!

NOTE: Jewel is the most common type of sweet potato and is fluffier, best for baking/mashing.  Some people prefer the denser kind, which has the advantage of not falling apart. Some markets have purple ones that are yellow on the inside; these are less sweet and very dense, almost chewy.

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[Sep 6th Little Locavore show at Market]

WASABI KOHLRABI HERB POTATO SALAD

Note: this recipe lists bulk quantities since I make usually 2-3  quarts at a time, which feeds approx 20-25 pple at a meal, or 40 at a reception.

• 15-20 new potatoes, scrubbed, chunked and boiled (skins on)
• 3 medium red onions, coarsely chopped
• 3 large kohlrabi, peeled, chopped
• 8 stems celery, chopped or sliced
• 8-12 red radishes, chopped
• 2 cps beet greens, chard or young kale leaves, finely chopped
• 2 tsp salt

Wash & chop all veggies. Cut potatoes into thumb-size chunks and boil til tender but not too mushy. Drain potatoes and run cold water over them until cool.  Toss all together with salt. Add 2 cps of dressing and toss thoroughly. Add enough dressing to give salad an all-over creamy green coating.

Creamy Vegan Herb Dressing with Wasabi

• 2/3 cp seasoned or low-sodium rice vinegar*
• 1/3 cp extra virgin olive oil
• 1 and half package of silken tofu (not merely “soft”)
• 2 cp fresh, washed green leafy herbs, preferably dill & cilantro
• 1 small red onion or 5 green onions (scallions)
• 1/2 tsp green wasabi paste, more to taste
• 1 TB fresh lemon juice
• 1 tsp salt, more to taste
• 1/2 tsp sugar or honey

* can substitute white wine vinegar; add more sugar if so.

Place tofu blocks  in colander to drain. Press down on tofu to get more water out; scrape tofu into small bowl. Chop onion & herbs in a mini-food processor or by hand.  Add olive oil and vinegar, mix well. Add wasabi, lemon, salt & sugar and blend in processor, or whisk briskly til a creamy green color. Taste, season with salt, sugar, lemon as you like. Add little bit more wasabi paste if you like. Blend well.

Dressing should be runny & creamy. If you want it thicker, add more tofu. This works as a dip, too. The thicker dressings seem to keep better; store in frig for < 2 weeks.

Pls note, dressed potato salad may get “watery” on bottom, which is water from the tofu. Drain off this liquid before you store any leftovers.

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[Aug 30 Little Locavore]

RAW TRI-COLOR BEET & BEET GREEN SALAD

• 2 red beets with greens
• 2 golden beets with greens
• 1 white beet or 6 red radishes
• additional greens from the bundle (usually you get 4 beets in a bundle)
• 1`medium red onion

Wash all veggies. Remove stalks from beets,  trim leaves off stalks, and discard stalks. To shred the beet leaves, roll them  like a cigar and slice . Leave skins on beets and radishes and slice thinly into discs, then julienne or dice (up to you). Cut onion in the same way. Toss all together with an olive oil & lemon juice vinaigrette sweetened with honey, or, try the orange-mint vinaigrette below.

ORANGE MINT VINAIGRETTE

Finely chop ½ small red onion and 1 cp fresh mint leaves. Mix 1/4 cp white wine or white balsamic vinegar and 1/4 cp orange juice concentrate. Add 1/2 cp olive oil, herb & onions, 2 pinch of salt. Shake in jar, or whisk by hand or in blender. Optional: 1 tsp honey.

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BROWN CHOCOLATE BEET CAKE (courtesy of Leslie Zenks)

9x 13 pan (oiled/buttered), preheat to 350 F

• 1.5 cp pureed boiled/steamed beets with skins (3 medium size)
• 1 cp canola oil
• 1 & 2/3 cp flour
• 1.5 tsp soda
• ¼ tsp salt
• 1 tsp allspice or pumpkin pie spice
• 1/2 cp to 2/3 cp dark or semi-sweet choc chips
• 3 eggs
• 1.5 c sugar (1 c brown, ½ cp white)
• 1 tsp vanilla

Steam or boil beets and puree with oil. Set aside. Blend dry ingredients together and set aside. Melt chocolate chips gently.  Beat eggs til fluffy, then add sugar and blend well until creamy. Add vanilla and the melted chocolate, blend again. Mix in the beets. Then add dry ingredients and mix. The batter will be ruby red. Pour into oiled pan and bake 35 min at 350 F. Cake will look a medium-brown. Test with knife/toothpick; cool and cut.

This sheet cake ‘hides’ the beets. It tastes like regular chocolate cake, though less sugary sweet (a great improvement IMO). You really wouldn’t know. Perfect for persnickety people.  Like spice or zucchini cake, it doesn’t require a frosting, IMO.

Ruby Chocolate Beet Bundt Cake

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RUBY CHOCOLATE BEET BUNDT CAKE
This recipe is from Epicurious.com; search for “chocolate beet”.  It’s medium brown on outside but a striking ruby on the inside. Tastes less sweet with more pronounced beet flavor and denser texture than the Brown Choco Beet Cake above. However, you STILL might not guess ‘beets’ unless I told you.

Since it is not particularly sweet and since it is so pretty, this bundt would be great with drizzled royal icing or a cream cheese frosting. To make bright pink frosting, blend 1/4 to 1/3 cp pureed steamed beets with icing/ frosting.

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[Aug 23rd  Little Locavore]

RAW ZUCCHINI LINGUINE W/ FRESH MARINARA SAUCE

Raw Zucchini "Linguine" w/ fresh marinara sauce

Slightly crunchy yet tender, zucchini ‘noodles’ really reminds you of al dente pasta !All the fun, none of the carbs!  Summer squash is only 60 cal per cup.

SAUCE

Pulse for 20 sec in food-processor/ blender, or, mince and mix together the following:

1 cp cherry tomatoes
4 small roma or equivalent*
2 smashed cloves garlic
med chunk of sweet onion
handful of fresh basil leaves
1 tsp olive oil
2 pinches salt

* any kind of tomatoes as long as they’re flavorful

ZUCCHINI “LINGUINE”

1 medium green and 1 medium yellow zucchini

Make long julienne strips of zucchini that resemble pasta. You can julienne cut by hand, slicing lengthwise. Or, better yet, use a mandolin and the largest “teeth” blade it comes with to shred the whole zucchini lengthwise. [Most food processors will shred TOO finely, reducing it to mush.]

Toss the sauce with the “pasta”, season w/ more salt & pepper to taste, and serve immediately.  [Note, after keeping this in refrigerator, you may have to drain out some water that will naturally seep out of the squash & tomatoes.]

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[July 19th  Little Locavore]

MINT VINAIGRETTE FOR CUKES & KOHLRABI

• 3/4 cp rice vinegar
• 1/2 cp fresh mint leaves
• 1/2 tsp sugar

Blend all in mini-processor or blender. Add pinch more sugar if you wish. For a spicy ’adult’ version, add one thinly sliced garlic clove and few slices of small red pepper (or few shakes of dried chili flakes).

Pour vinaigrette over sliced cukes, kohlrabi, daikon, radish, etc, and let marinate for an hour. Refreshing, zingy and crunchy! These ‘refrigerator pickles’ keep well.

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[July 12th Little Locavore]

CRUNCHY CABBAGE SLAW WITH ORANGE GINGER VINAIGRETTE

Kids like this slaw because it’s crunchy and the dressing is naturally sweet. You can use any combination of fresh crunchy veggies, with some sort of cabbage as the base. As with many dishes I make, this can be kept for up to 2 wks in the frig.  Bring this to your next potluck! [note it's low-cal and gluten- and dairy-free]

Combine this slaw with any noodle for delicious, no-mayo pasta salad (photo by Brad Dahlgaard)

SLAW

Core and/or remove stems from veggies. Rinse thoroughly. Shred, julienne or chop in thin sticks or long pieces. I don’t have a fancy food processor so I use a mandolin to shred carrots and kohlrabi and chop everything else by hand.

• 1/2 a small green or red cabbage
• 4 leaves of curly kale
• 1/2 a small napa cabbage incl white stalk
• 1-2 kohlrabi with peel cut off
• a big handful of red spinach
• one medium red onion or a bunch of green scallions, chopped
• 3-4 medium carrots

VINAIGRETTE
A mini-food processor or blender is a godsend for quick salad dressings, but I make plenty the old-fashioned way — shaken up in a jar. If you do have a blender, you don’t have to mince anything. Put the following in a large jar:

• pinky-finger-sized piece of fresh ginger root, peeled and minced
• 3 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
• 1/4 cp red or green onion or shallot, minced
• 1 cp olive oil
• 1 cp orange juice or 1/3 cp OJ concentrate and 1/3 cp cider vinegar
• 1 tsp salt
• Optional: fresh cilantro, tarragon or parsley ; 1 TB of sesame oil; twice as much ginger if you like ginger!

Pulse for 1 min, or shake jar vigorously, preferably to your favorite dance tune. Season with salt or sugar to taste.

SALAD: Put all veggies in a large wide bowl. Pour  1 cp of vinaigrette over and toss all together until the colors are nicely mixed and everything is well-coated in dressing. Add more dressing if necessary. Add more colorful veggies if mixture looks mostly white.

Please note, red radishes and daikon (big Asian radish that looks like a white carrot) are excellent in slaws, too.

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[July 5th Little Locavore]

CREAMY HERB TOFU DRESSING

Creamy Herb Tofu Dressing (photo by Brad Dahlgaard)

Use as dip or salad dressing with fresh raw vegetables. Substitute for mayonnaise in sandwiches, pasta or potato salads. (You will be amazed.)

Keeps in refrigerator for 2 or more wks.

• 1/2 cp apple cider vinegar
• 1/3 cp extra virgin olive oil
• 1 cp soft or silken tofu  (yup, that’s right)
• 2 Tb tahini (sesame seed paste)
• 1 Tb lemon juice
• 1 tsp soy / tamari sauce, reg or lite
• 1/2 tsp sugar or honey
• 1 + cloves garlic, depending on # vampires around
• small handful (1/4 cp) of red onion, shallot or green onion
• 2 kid-size handfuls of fresh, washed green leafy herbs, preferably 2 different ones (some stems ok too). Such as flat leaf parsley, chives, dill, tarragon, basil, chervil, cilantro, etc.

Kids can make this entirely. Everything but herbs goes in blender/processor. VRroomm 1 min to get the bits minced. Drop in 2 kid-fistfuls of herbs, and blend until it’s creamy and all one lovely green color. Finger test — what does it taste like?  Describe the flavors to each other, and, if you wish, decide to add a bit more salt, sugar or lemon juice.

Kid assignment: experiment to see which 2 herbs you like best, and which 3 raw veggies you like to dunk in it.

Note: Dairy-free. If you use wheat-free tamari, it’s gluten-free as well. Healthful fats from olive oil and tahini (sesame seeds). More nutritional info coming soon.