Fresh Veggie Stir Fry with Soba Noodles

Week 8 (7/27 pick up): potatoes, broccoli, zucchini, yellow squash, cucumber, green onions, watermelon radishes, corn, cherry tomatoes, basil



Fresh Veggie Stir Fry with Soba Noodles
I've been making lots of veggie stir fry dinners lately. It's a great way to get through your CSA. I keep the sauce simple and the same and let the veggies shine. Since we are getting different veggies in our farm share each week, the veggie variety keeps the stir fry dinners from getting boring. Here's what I made for dinner tonight. I loved the addition of the soba noodles. I'll definitely we doing that again. Enjoy!

INGREDIENTS:
2 cloves of garlic, minced
3 slices of ginger
4 green onions, sliced
1 zucchini, quartered lengthwise and sliced
1 head of broccoli, cut into bite sized florets
1 cup green beans, cut into 1 inch pieces
1/4 head of napa cabbage, thinly sliced

1 tablespoon vegetable oil
3 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoon sugar
drizzle of sesame oil

soba noodles
1 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon sesame oil
a shake of garlic powder
a shake of ginger powder

DIRECTIONS:
Cut up all veggies, so they are ready to go.

Boil soba noodles for 3 minutes. Pour out most of the water - leave enough so that you can add soy, sugar, sesame oil, garlic powder, ginger powder and put it back on the stove to cook for another 1 minute. Then drain and set aside.

Heat a large pan (or wok if you have one) on medium high heat with vegetable oil. Add garlic and ginger until the garlic just starts to brown, but be careful not to burn the garlic (it's a fine line). Add all of the veggies and soy sauce. Mix to get sauce on all the veggies. Add the sugar and mix well. When the veggies have almost reached your desired tenderness, add the noodles and mix well to get the stir fry flavors into the noodles. Cook for 1 more minute and then remove them from the heat. If there is any liquid left, it can be drained. Then drizzle with sesame oil, toss lightly and serve.

Garlic Scape Pesto

Week 5 (7/6 pick up): swiss chard, radishes, snap peas, baby lettuce mix, head of lettuce, broccoli, zucchini, yellow squash, pickling cucumber, garlic scapes, green onions

What's for dinner tonight?
We got a ton of garlic scapes this week and had some leftover from last week, so I tried my hand at making garlic scape pesto. Most of the recipes I found were pretty similar to basil pesto. I cut the scapes (6.75 oz) into 1-2 inch pieces and put them in the blender with a bunch of basil I had leftover from last week. I added a 1/4 teaspoon of sea salt and olive oil. With the olive oil, I add it gradually and in total included just enough, so that there is enough liquid to enable the pesto to blend in the blender. I would have added pine nuts, but my husband is allergic.

Garlic Scape Pesto Pasta with Broccoli and Yellow Squash
Now what to do with the pesto? Once I tasted it, I thought it would be great spread on bread and baked like garlic bread mmmm... But I didn't have any bread and didn't want to go to the store. It would also have made a great sauce for a veggie pizza, but I didn't have any pizza dough handy either. So I settled on elbow pasta with broccoli and yellow squash. I sauteed the broccoli and summer squash in olive oil until tender and lightly browned. Then mixed it with the pasta and pesto, and tossed with parmesan cheese. Yum.

INGREDIENTS:
garlic scapes - 6.75 oz
1 bunch of basil (add more if you like, that's all I had)
pine nuts, if desired
1/4 teaspoon of sea salt
olive oil - not sure how much I used
1 head of broccoli, chopped
2 small yellow squash, cut in half lengthwise and then sliced
1/2 pound dried pasta

Maple Roasted Turnips and Carrots

Week 2 (6/15/10 pick up): radishes, carrots, turnips, spinach, baby lettuce mix, head of lettuce, beets with greens

I added radishes to this batch. That's what the pink and purple ones are.

Quick and Easy Roasted Root Veggies (VT style)

1) turnips and carrots - peel and cut into bit sized pieces
2) drizzle with maple syrup and olive oil
3) add salt to taste and toss veggies until evenly coated
4) roast at 400 degrees until tender - about 30-45 minutes
5) I turn the veggies every 10-15 minutes to keep them evenly coated, cooked and carmelized while roasting

That's it! Let me know if you try it and what you think.

Pint of Pickled Radishes

A New Season Begins!

Week 1 (6/8/10 pick up): radishes, carrots, turnips, spinach, baby lettuce mix

First Attempt at Pickling

I love the pot of pickles side dish at Bluebird Tavern, and it inspired me to try to make my own. I started with a recipe I found online and make some adjustments based on my personal preferences and what I had on hand. The first thing I did was cut the recipe down. I only had one bunch of radishes, which actually ended up being the perfect amount to try this out without making too much. I also used locally made apple cider vinegar that I had purchased in the Fall from a nearby apple orchard instead of the champagne vinegar called for in the original recipe.

Results

Overall I was very pleased with the results. It came out a bit strong, so I cut down the vinegar and added water to the recipe for next time - might also try apple cider/juice to dilute the vinegar instead of water. From what I have read, champagne vinegar is a much lighter vinegar, so I might pick some up and try that as well. I think pearl onions would also make a fine addition if desired. Try it out and let me know what you think and if you make any changes of your own. I'm always looking for new ideas and inspiration. Happy pickling!

Pint of Pickled Radishes

INGREDIENTS:
1 bunch radishes
2 carrots

PICKLING MIX:
3/4 cup apple cider vinegar

1/4 cup water
1/3 cup sugar
1 Tablespoon pickling spices
1/2 clove smashed garlic
1/2 stem of fresh wild fennel (optional if you don't have it, or use 1 1/2 teaspoons dried fennel seed)

DIRECTIONS:
Wash the radishes and carrots and cut them into bit sized pieces. Place them in a heatproof bowl (I used a glass pint jar). In a small pot, combine the pickling ingredients and bring to a boil. Remove from heat and pour the boiling mix over the radishes and carrots. Cover tightly with plastic wrap immediately and set aside. Once cooled to room temperature, strain and serve.

Adapted from a recipe by Tyler Florence found on foodnetwork.com

Celeriac Leek Soup

I had been meaning to do something with the celeriac I was stock piling in the fridge from our farmshare. Tonight, I decided to make potato leek soup with celeriac in place of some of the potatoes (and minus the pancetta to try making it a bit healthier). I can't believe how great it turned out. I was quite pleasantly surprised. Here's the recipe.

INGREDIENTS:
2 tablespoons canola oil
3 tablespoons butter
1 onion, chopped
2 large leeks, chopped
1/4 cup white wine
1 quart chicken broth
3 cups celeriac, peeled and chopped
1 cup potatoes, peeled and chopped
1 teaspoon salt

DIRECTIONS:
Using a 6 quart stock pot, cook the onion and leeks in the canola oil on low heat until soft. Add wine and cook until evaporated. Add chicken broth, celeriac, potatoes and salt. Bring to a boil, then turn heat down and simmer for about 15 minutes, until the celeriac and potatoes are soft. Transfer to a blender to make it smooth.

Makes 6 servings

Potato Leek Soup

We are into the second pick up of winter share, and I am just now catching up on my blog. I fell off from posting for a while because I got married on September 12th. But I am back now and have been cooking up a storm. Just haven't made the time to blog about it until now. Here's a yummy soup recipe to use up all those leeks and potatoes.

INGREDIENTS:
1 tablespoon olive oil
3 medium onions, chopped
4 oz pancetta, minced
4 leeks, sliced
3 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons flour
1 quart chicken stock
1 quart beef stock
1 cup white wine
4 cups new potatoes, diced (separate into 3 cups and 1 cup)
4 ears of corn, cut off the cob
chives (optional for garnish)

DIRECTIONS:
Saute onions on medium until tender. Set aside.

In 6 quart stock pot, cook pancetta on medium heat to render fat. Add leeks and cook until leeks are soft, about 8-10 minutes.

Add butter. Mix in flour to create a roux. Stir in chicken stock and beef stock and turn up heat to bring to a boil. Add wine and 3 cups of potatoes. Simmer until potatoes are tender.

Transfer to a blender or use an immersion blender to make the soup smooth. Transfer back to stock pot and bring back up to a simmer (increase the heat slowly and stir frequently).

Add remaining 1 cup of potatoes, onions and corn. Simmer for 10 minutes on medium low heat (stirring frequently).

yummy veggie stir fry

Used a load of veggies from farm share in a veggie stir fry last night and tonight. Healthy and yummy. Unfortunately, I didn't measure the liquids, but I'm providing approximates. Also, any kind of meat would be good to add, as well as tofu. We just didn't have any on hand, otherwise we would have included it.



Serves: 2-3 people

Ingredients:
1/2 head of green cabbage, thinly sliced
3 cloves of garlic, minced
3 slices of ginger
2 green onions, sliced
2 carrots, diced
1/2 zucchini, diced
2 cups snap peas, ends trimmed off

1 tablespoon vegetable oil
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1/4 cup chicken stock or water (for vegan)
1 tablespoon sugar
drizzle of sesame oil

Directions:
The first time we made this last night, the cabbage came out a pretty bitter. Tonight I boiled the cabbage before adding it to the stir fry, and it quelled the bitterness.

Boil the cabbage until tender. Drain and set aside. Heat a large pan (or wok if you have one) on medium high heat with vegetable oil. Add garlic and ginger until the garlic just starts to brown, but be careful not to burn the garlic (it's a fine line). Add the rest of the veggies including the cabbage, soy sauce and chicken stock. Mix to get sauce on all the veggies. Cover and steam for 1 minute. Then uncover to cook off liquid for another few minutes and keep stirring. When the veggies have reached your desired tenderness, remove them from the heat. Add the sugar and mix well. If there is any liquid left, it can be drained. Then drizzle with sesame oil, toss lightly and serve.