Come Sample This Sunday

Kohlrabi “alien puppets”. Why not?

 I’ll be demoing this Sun, July 1st at the Kingfield Farmers Market, 4310 Nicollet Ave (South Mpls). This terrific & beloved neighborhood market is open every Sunday 8:30 a.m.-1 p.m. It’s a wonderful cozy and very friendly alternative to the larger, more overwhelming markets. I always bump into tons of acquaintances there. Note: park around the block somewhere as parking on Nicollet is a competitive sport.

My demo is part of a series called “The Veggie Butcher”, sponsored by Erik Brown Homes. Each guest chef will show you what to do with whatever veggies are at the market that day. Mysteries of that funny-looking Kohlrabi, revealed, and that sort of thing. Free samples, of course!

I’m going to do various chopped salads and make fun vinaigrettes to mix and match. For instance:

• Beet Napa Cabbage Slaw
• Orange-Cilantro Vinaigrette (the recipe on blog is for Orange Mint so just substitute Cilantro or Dill…)
• Chipotle Vinaigrette
• Marinated Minty Kohlrabi SaladI may add some quinoa or other grain to one of these, for a 3rd, heartier salad that’s gluten-free, too. Various recipes are on this blog already (see Recipe page).

  Why chopped salads vs lettuce salads? Because you get more vegetables per serving, that’s why, which means more nutrients and more fiber. And b/c once marinated in vinaigrette, chopped salads last a week in your frig, as opposed to lettuces, which won’t. Notice that farm & garden-fresh leaf lettuces are more delicate  than store-bought and wilt faster.

I’ll return to Kingfield to do an interactive kid’s demo on July 15th, 10.30am- 1pm at the Kids’ Tent. This will be a version of my “Lil Locavores” show. Kids from the audience will help make salads and do fun educational skits!

More Farmers Market demos are coming on following weekends  — see Farmers Market Appearances page for dates & places.

Jan – Feb Menus

Jan 15 – 21
1) Green Tamale Casserole. Vegan, gluten-free. You asked and you shall receive! The most popular dish of Fall 2011 is back. Presented in a foil loaf pan, this layers beans & chopped kale stewed in a tomatillo sauce with steamed corn tamale dough made from Bob’s Red Mill organic masa flour. Kid-friendly. Add a little cheese on top when reheating if you wish. Keeps and freezes well.

2) Colorful Cabbage Slaw in Cilantro Lime Vinaigrette. Vegan, gluten-free. A crunchy, satisfying raw salad that is perfect with tamales, soup, meats, beans and especially in tacos & burritos. Eat a cup or more a day to keep the doctor away. You can also mix it with plain rice or quinoa for a piquant pilaf, or, throw it in ramen/pho or tom yung gang soup.

Jan 22 – 28
1) Mafe Stew with Sweet Potatoes, Kale and Red Beans. Vegan, gluten-free; contains peanuts. Mafe is a delicious West African dish made with tomato sauce & peanut butter (called ground nuts). Sounds funny but the nut butter adds richness and balances the acidity of tomatoes, as do the sweet potatoes. It just tastes like a creamy tomato sauce. Kids love it. Addictive and extremely comforting.

2) Mafe w/ Chicken, Sweet Potatoes and Kale. Gluten-free. This dish fits the Paleo diet profile, substituting chicken for beans.

3) Millet with Caramelized Onions & Carrots. Vegan, gluten-free. Millet is dry and bland all by itself, so I like to make it with soft moist veggies. It will continue to dry out in the refrigerator, so sprinkle a little water each time you reheat. A very mild dish that kids might like.

Jan 29 – Feb 4
1) Curried Barley Salad with Cranberries & Coconut. Vegan; contains gluten. A very popular catering dish that gets better as it sits. Chewy satisfying barley is wonderful in grain salads, especially with chopped crunchy veggies. Not spicy.

2) Mulligatawny Lentil Soup. Vegan, gluten-free. A slight twist on the classic Anglo-Indian curried soup that has apples, lots of veg and fresh parsley. Both of this week’s dishes have ‘curry’ spices — guess what I’m craving — but I will make them different enough. Add sliced almonds or almond butter for a fancy touch.

Feb 5 – 11
1) Garbanzo Thai Coconut Curry. Vegan; Masaman curry paste contains gluten so pls notify far in advance if you want a gluten-free green curry instead. With greens and some squash, this is a very comforting one-pot meal w/ rice. Mildly spicy.

2) Laab TVP Salad. Vegan, gluten-free; contains soy. Same as the Laab Noodle Salad served this summer but without noodles. Just lots of crunchy raw veg like cabbage & radishes layered with marinated TVP in a bright, Thai, lime-juice dressing. Will have a bit of Thai-pepper kick.

Church Basement Ladies Beware

Sorry,  no beige food on Dec’s menu — or ever — and the flavors are amped up, so beware, church basement ladies (CBLs), beware!  Get thee hence! Image of me holding a wreath of garlic, warding off plaid-aproned zombies clutching cans of cream of mushroom soup…. (Pls note I myself am a “church lady” so I am not castigating CBLs universally.)

And, if they would try them, I think even Lutherans would like the modesty of the mild, nutty black-eyed pea (legume) that was featured last week. But naturally I added  sauteed fresh turnip greens and a heckuva lot of garlic. You can use frozen turnip (or any) greens too, but it won’t have the slightly crisp texture as sauteed.

"Cuban" Pork Pot Roast (green olives, sweet peppers, carrots). Incredible sauce.

I’m having fun coming up with super-flavorful “Paleo” meat dishes, like the Cuban Pork Pot Roast pictured below, the Oxtail Soup and the Coq au Vin from previous weeks. Slow-cooked meats are such a comfort, and the broths / sauces produced are life-giving. You must use meat with bones for the stock to be flavorful and nutritious; and the meat will be more tender as well.

I am likely going to serve this Pork Roast for an upcoming family celebration that I am catering after Xmas. The client likes Mexican flavors. Ideas include: Roast Sweet Potatoes w/ lime, Cilantro Rice, Cuke Jicama & Fennel Salad, Mini-Tamales, Corn Quinoa Casserole w/ Queso Blanco.

Notice this menu is gluten-free! 

More news and menus will be posted soon!

Success and Gratitude

Cabbage Pineapple & Cilantro Slaw in Lime Vinaigrette, Pureed Carrot Ginger Spread, Roast Plantains. (Photo by Sharon Ramirez)

The big Auction Dinner on Sat went well and I am so thankful to the 20 volunteer cooks and servers who helped me pull it off!  They chopped, stirred, sauteed, baked and blended with aplomb, good humor and minimal direction. Susan made the collard dish from start to finish, and she’d never even tried collards before! And now she knows a terrific recipe.

(top to bottom) Rice Pilaf with Lentils & Caramelized Onions, Jerk Chicken Stew with Sweet Potatoes, Sauteed Collards with Red Bell Peppers & Raisins. Photo by Sharon Ramirez.

I am quite proud of the fact the menu was again gluten- and dairy-free (vegan). (See previous post for full menu.)

It means a lot to me when guests with food issues can enjoy a meal with their family or community. Plus, I like the challenge of designing these menus.

On the nutritional side, this meal got an A. Lots of Vitamin A, too. Super Food count was 3 : collards, cabbage, sweet potatoes. Nearly all the starches were complex carbs — plantains, sweet potatoes, brown rice & lentils.  The only processed sugar was the brown sugar in the pineapple upside-down cake. Fats were minimal, esp if you didn’t take a lot of chicken sauce.

Roast Plantains w/ spicy Sriracha sauce (photo by Sharon Ramirez).

Turning to ethnic cuisines is the key to designing tasty gluten-free and dairy-free meals. Although actually (as noted here last year), a traditional British/American Sunday roast dinner of meat & potatoes is gluten-free, too. Thanksgiving or Christmas type meals can be too if you revise the bread-based stuffing and make a crust-less pie. So get over it, people.

While dinner guests definitely liked the whole meal, the Jerk Chicken & Sweet Potato entree received the most comments and requests for the recipe. It is super easy. I just used Frontier’s Jamaican Jerk seasoning blend from the co-op. I have made jerk sauce from scratch but for a 150-person dinner, I needed to save time.

Jerk Chicken w/ Sweet Potatoes feeds a crowd on a chilly night. (photo by Sharon Ramirez)

Here are general instructions:

~ Mince lots of 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.]
~ Cut chicken thighs into chunks (or leave them whole if you are having a sit-down dinner). Put in a large baking pan.
~ Liberally sprinkle Jamaican Jerk seasoning blend, dried thyme and salt onto chicken. Add the onion-garlic mixture and some olive oil, and toss well with your clean hands to evenly coat chicken. Set chicken aside to marinate for 30 min if you have time.
~ Cover with foil and bake chicken for 30 min at 425 F. (Chunks cook faster than whole thighs.)
~ While it’s baking, dice sweet potatoes and boil til soft. Scoop out of pot and set aside. Use the hot water for blanching a green vegetable such as collard greens.
~ Pull chicken out. It will be moist b/c of the foil covering. Pour the juice into a large pot, bring to a boil, and add some more seasoning blend & salt to taste. Simmer to reduce and concentrate flavors. (At this point you could add any fresh or frozen green vegetable.)
~ Add back the chicken and the sweet potatoes. Taste again, add salt if you like (since you diluted it with potatoes).

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).  I like to serve spicy food with a tart citrusy salad — in Sat’s case, a pineapple & cilantro cabbage slaw in lime vinaigrette — to cool one’s tongue.

Red Bell Peppers & raisins sweeten sauteed fresh collards, and make a beautiful dish. (Photo by Sharon Ramirez)

Lean & Green

Lots of lean & green dishes on offer this coming month!  The Green Tamale casserole this week was very green due to tomatillos, collards & spinach mixed into the black beans. You see how you can put collards into everything? It is a super food, remember, so half a cup is more nutrient-dense than other veggies. More of these greens coming this week and throughout winter.

Oh and btw, I put diced choy sum, a type of Chinese green related to Chinese broccoli (gai lan) in the Lentil Stew (2 weeks ago). Choy sum has thinner stalks and yellow flowers. Like many green leafy veg, it’s a cool weather plant and is plentiful at the market right now. Steam or stir-fry it and drizzle with sesame oil & soy sauce.

NEXT WEEK’S MENU

Succulent roast beets and sweet potatoes. Try them w/ a simple squeeze of lime juice or orange juice.

OCT 22 – 28

1) Roast Beets & Parsnips in Orange-Balsamic Vinaigrette. Vegan and gluten-free. Rutabagas too if they’re at market. Did you know that beets have 6 times more iron than carrots?

2) Super Green Split Pea Soup. Vegan and gluten-free. Chopped kale & collards add mega vitamins to this comfort soup, while smoked paprika adds a meaty flavor. This thickens as it sits. Add a little water when you heat it up.

OCT 30 – Nov 6

1) Sauteed Cabbage & Edamame w/ Fennel Seed & Cranberries. Vegan and gluten-free. Yummy side dish that is both pretty to look at and easy to make. Kids should like this mild, sweet & sour dish.

2) Barley Pilaf w/ Leeks, Mushrooms and Thyme. Vegan; contains gluten.  When it’s autumn I think “Barley”. Another comfort food.

Nov  7 – 13

1) Pumpkin & White Bean Soup. Vegan and gluten-free. You knew pumpkin was coming. Cumin & coriander will dominate seasoning of this pureed soup. Sprinkle with roast pepitas. I don’t usually puree soups, but I got a new immersion blender!  :^) Btw, this is a very low-fat high fiber dish.

2) Spicy Cactus & Rice Salad w/ Lime & Cilantro Dressing. Vegan and gluten-free. Spicy pickled nopalitos come in jars or cans in the Hispanic aisle. Think pickled peppers. Celery & purple cabbage will add crunch.

Considering for the holidays:  Sauteed Collards w/ Cranberries & Red Peppers is a gorgeous dish that will convert those who’ve had negative experiences with collards, and Israeli Sweet Potato “Rainbow” Salad.

If you’re curious about past menus, click on the Dish of the Week Menu Archive page! It lists all DDoW menus from the entire year.

Cornucopia of Comforting Corn Dishes

Ahh, the first snowfall of the season and a doozy at that! We awoke to a world seemingly dipped in whipped cream. Heavy, nearly clotted cream, in fact. And thus the season of serious tea drinking commences. How appropriate, then, is my choice of the Delivered Dish of the Week, Posole, which I have been promising for a few weeks. What is better on a wet wintry day than a spicy tomatoey soup?

Posole is a Mexican stew of posole corn (dried field corn), pureed peppers, onion, etc (traditionally with pork or chicken) served with shredded raw cabbage, sliced radishes & fresh cilantro on top. Posole corn is hard to find, so whole kernel hominy is usually used. Hominy is whole corn whose hull and germ have been removed by soaking in a weak lye solution, then beating it and drying. This process preserves corn for later use. (A modern factory method is to boil in dilute sodium hydroxide then put through rotating cylinders with running water.)

Hominy comes in cans or frozen and looks like giant, swollen, white kernels of corn, and has a nice chewy texture.   FYI, “grits”, also known as “hominy grits”, is dried hominy kernels stone-ground & sifted.

Without the hull, hominy has less fiber but, in some ways is more nutritious than plain old corn, including having more easily absorbable niacin and more calcium.  And it’s still good carbs.

Continuing the ‘cornucopia’ of corny comfort foods is Corn & Quinoa Pudding for Thanksgiving and Corn & Sweet Potato Casserole in December.

DELIVERED DISHES FOR NOV 15 – 21

1)  Posole Stew with Hominy, Peppers, Collard Greens, Cilantro, Cabbage. Vegan, gluten-free. Mildly spicy. Top with squeeze of lime & hot sauce and serve with rice, quesadilla, corn bread, a tamale, or, #2 Dish below.

2) Black Bean & Wheat Berry Salad with Carrots & Radish. Vegan. Hearty entree or side. Do notice how these two high-fiber, cholesterol-lowering dishes are prepping you for the excesses of the following week. ;^)

NOV 22 – 25 (THANKSGIVING)

1) Roasted Beet & Lentil Salad in Balsamic Vinaigrette. Vegan, gluten-free. I’m offering this again (last time was July 4th) b/c it is the perfect holiday dish, both gorgeous and tasty — plus it caters to vegans. Its sweet-sour-earthy flavors & textures especially complement traditional American Thanksgiving menus.

2) Sweet Corn & Quinoa Pudding. No gluten, but, has dairy. Another great side dish for holiday tables. [Whatever. You had me at ‘pudding’.]

NOV 29 – DEC 5

No deliveries. I will be on a short out-of-town family vacation.

DEC 6 – 12
TBA. I’m wanting spicy exotic flavors to contrast with upcoming traditional American holiday fare.  So, possibly Jamaican stew and ‘green’ barley made with minced kale.

Crunchy, Chewy, Smooth, Tart, Tangy, Spicy…

That’s what your mouth has to look forward to in the next few week’s of Delivered Dishes of the Week! As usual, nearly all offerings are vegan, low-fat and gluten-free. Menus are based on what’s available at the Farmers’ Market; grains and beans are organic and from the co-op.

Sep 6 – 12

1) Deconstructed “California Roll” Salad. Vegan, no gluten. Refreshing marinated cukes, carrots, daikon, pickled ginger and avocado layered with sushi rice. Crunchy, chewy and low-fat.

2) Grilled Japanese Eggplant with Sesame Dressing. Vegan, no gluten. Simple and lovely, with a more delicate texture than the larger eggplants.

Roasted beets, onions & sweet potato (photo Brad Dahlgaard)

Sep 13 – 19

1) Roasted Beets with Mild Wasabi Dressing (on the side). Vegan, no gluten. An interesting twist on beet salad.

2) Black Bean & Peppers Salad in Chipotle Cilantro Lime Vinaigrette. Vegan, no gluten. The Southwest thing. Add a cheese quesadilla and you’re set.

Sep 20 -26

1) Roasted Cauliflower with Roquefort Dressing. No gluten. A popular dish from this winter reprised with locally grown cauliflower.

2) Curried Barley & Veggie Salad with Cranberries & Coconut. Vegan. Another hit from May’s DDoWC that received raves from summer catering clients. Barley contains the same cholesterol-lowering, water-soluble fiber as oatmeal, but is more versatile. It’s terrific in salads, pilafs, risotto and hot cereal. not just in soup. Please note, barley contains gluten.

DDoW Club — Bring on the Potlucks!

Summer Potluck Season is upon us! With that in mind, here are the next 3-4 weeks of the Delivered Dish of the Week Club. 1 qt is enough for a 10-12 person potluck (1/3 cp each). If a bigger event, order more!

Also, you’ll start to see more locally grown veg in salads, as they become plentiful at farmers’ markets. Hopefully, radishes will appear soon.  MARKET ALERT: Local Strawberries are here!

NEXT WEEK: JUNE 6 -12

1) Sesame Soba & Whole Wheat Noodle Salad. Vegan. Noodles, some shredded veg and a creamy tahini “Annie’s Goddess” type dressing. Pls notify early if you would like all-soba noodles, ie no gluten.

Thai Green Beans (photo by Brad Dahlgaard)

2) Thai Green Beans. Vegan. Eat hot or cold. I’ll put crushed peanuts in a separate baggie.

JUNE 13-19

1) Rum-flavored Baked Beans. Vegan. Dark and rich-tasting thanks to the rum & molasses sauce. A big hit at a catered BBQ. Serve hot in a crockpot; although I think it would be fine at room temperature, too.

2)  Herb Pesto Potato Salad. Vegan. Will include some crunchy veggies. No mayo —  it can sit out on the picnic table all day!

JUNE 20-26

1) Black-eyed Peas Salad in Cilantro Tamarind dressing. Vegan.

2) Kasha Pilaf with Toasted Walnuts and Scallions. Vegan. Kasha is a popular name for buckwheat groats, ie unhulled unprocessed grains. Nicely nutty. Buckwheat is misnamed and contains no gluten.

JUNE 27- JULY 3
Let others bring the white & blue while you bring the RED.

1) Roast Beet & Lentil Salad in Balsamic. Vegan. A very popular and incredibly beautiful dish. People who think they don’t like beets are usually won over.

Fireworks Salad (red rice & veg). Vegan, no gluten!

2) Red Rice & Crunchy Veg Salad with Cranberries. Vegan. By this time there should be fresh green peas, radishes, daikon and corn at the market? Then I’ll call it Fireworks Salad.

Click here to learn more about Delivered Dish of the Week Club, its terms and fees. To sign up for the Club and to place orders, just contact me with your name and address for delivery, and I’ll get back to you right away.

You say ‘potahto’, I say ‘pohtayto’

Wasabi Kohlrabi Herb Potato Salad is Vegan and Low-fat! Its creamy herb dressing based on silken tofu, not dairy.

Here’s the “After” picture promised in previous post of my vegan Wasabi Kohlrabi Herb Potato Salad (see recipe).

Redolent of fresh dill, flat-leaf parsley and cilantro, the salad was a CROWD PLEASER on Sunday, as well as at a Labor Day picnic I catered the following day. People are always surprised there is NO MAYO in this creamy flavorful salad dressing.

This particular batch made at the Market included purple potatoes and chopped fresh beet greens and celery leaves, and was garnished with whole beet leaves and dill.  Chopped dark leafy veggies — in addition to the chopped kohlrabi & celery — improves the dish by adding contrasting flavors and lovely dark green flecks to a typically bland, yellow dish. Adding dark leafy veg adds  significantly more antioxidants (vitamin C & A), minerals, iron and much needed fiber.

You could use any fresh green leaves, such as spinach, young turnip greens,  kale, collards, sweet potato leaves, arugula, etc, as long as they’re chopped small. Beet greens taste like spinach — see last week’s post “Beets Beat Carrots”.)

I love Wasabi and it rhymes with Kohlrabi, so I added 1 TB Wasabi paste per 2 cps of dressing (mixed in blender). Result is a mild horseradish kick that you taste only at the end. (Nevertheless, I may try regular white horseradish, not the mayo-based kind, to compare.)

Ruby Chocolate Beet Bundt Cake

I also served up slices of Ruby Chocolate Beet Bundt Cake for that last show. This photo does not show, unfortunately, the raspberry beet syrup and darling pink icing I drizzled on top.

I will be making another pink-iced beet cake for a 7 yr-old girl’s birthday party and will try to remember to photograph it before it’s devoured!

Aunty Oxidant to the rescue

Today at Little Locavores (Mpls Farmers Market), rascally free radicals (ie, adorable kids) ganged up on a poor adult, who was feeling sick and weak. Why didn’t his body’s defenses fight them off? Because he did not eat enough vegetables or fruits, and therefore had no antioxidants to boost his immune system. 

Enter stage left: Aunty Oxidant, who quickly threw a purple bell pepper to Mr Schlumpy. Upon eating said pepper, he immediately felt strong and vigorous, and the free radicals made a hasty retreat. HA! 

 

Aunty Oxidant at Mpls Farmers' Market (photo by Brad Dahlgaard)

The free radicals, having reformed, helped me make fresh salsa. The kids, aged 5-10, cut up green bell peppers with kids’ scissors and tomatoes and onions with big kitchen shears. They plopped those in the mini-food processor, along with lime, cilantro & garlic and BAM. Super fresh salsa, tasting of summer.

Besides enjoying as a dip, try it as a gazpacho type cold soup. Using fewer tomatoes (less juice), this standard salsa is very similar to the fresh veggie topping on Indian pappadums (Indian tostadas).

Thank you to locavore volunteers Clara, Melissa, Hitanche, Prabun, Ranjit and the others! They were very excited and proud to make this dish nearly all by themselves.

********

In other news, I made some converts to the Kohlrabi club this past week, at a small reception I catered. Mint vinaigrette (see Recipes) is a lovely way to add zing to these crunchy but rather bland vegetables. 

 

Creamy Herb Tofu Dressing (photo by Brad Dahlgaard)

I also served a vegan, lower-calorie version of new potato salad — bound together by a light creamy herb dressing made with tofu instead of mayonnaise. (See Recipes.) It also had minced celery, kohlrabi, onion, giving a little texture contrast to the creamy potatoes.