Chilled Marinated Cauliflower
(Adapted from The Enchanted Broccoli Forest)
1 medium cauliflower, broken into florets
¾ cup olive oil
¼ cup lemon juice
2 medium garlic cloves, crushed
½ tsp salt
¼ tsp pepper
½ cup minced onion
½ cup chopped fresh parsley
2-3 fresh leaves basil, minced
1 packed cup of coarsely grated carrotsCombine ½ cup water, cauliflower, olive oil, lemon juice, salt, and pepper in large saucepan. Bring to boil, reduce heat, cover, and simmer until cauliflower is tender, 10-15 minutes. Transfer to serving bowl and chill. Just before serving, mix in remaining ingredients. Makes 6 servings.
FIVE SPICE SCALLION SOBA NOODLES, adapted from Spices of Life by Nina Simonds 6-8 servings
1 recipe 5 spice hoisin tofu (recipe is below)
4 cups good quality vegetable broth (or chicken broth!)
2 cups water
1/2 cup sake or wine
1 Tablespoon minced fresh ginger
1 1/2 cups scallions (about 10 scallions), mainly greens, cut finely into diagonal slices
1/2 pound young spinach, rinsed and spun dry
1/2 pound soba noodles
First: Prepare the Five Spice Tofu (recipe below) Let cool and cut into 1/4 inch thick slices that are about 2 inches long and 1/2 inch wide, making sure that the slices are still coated with the hoisin marinade.
Second: While the tofu is baking, mix the broth, water, rice wine, minced ginger, and soy sauce together in a large pot and heat until very hot. Cook for about 10 minutes to blend flavors. Add the tofu slices and scallions and cook until the liquid comes back to a boil. Add the spinach and stir carefully. Cook briefly until the spinach leaves are slightly wilted and then turn off the heat. Taste for seasoning, adjusting if necessary.
Third: Meanwhile bring 3 quarts of water to a boil, add the soba noodles, and stir to separate. When the water returns to a boil, reduce the heat to medium and cook for 3 1/2 to 4 minutes, until al dente. Drain the noodles in a colander, rinse under warm water, and portion into serving bowls Spoon some of the broth, tofu, and spinach over the noodles and serve.
FIVE SPICE HOISIN TOFU, adapted from Spices of Life by Nina Simonds
Mix together the marinade:
3/4 cup hoisin sauce
1/3 cup rice wine or sake
3 Tablespoons soy sauce
1 1/2 Tablespoons minced garlic
1 teaspoon five spice powder*
1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
pour marinade over: 1 1/2 pounds firm tofu, drained and cut in half through the thickness
Let tofu sit for an hour at room temperature Preheat the oven to 375 degrees
Then arrange tofu on a rimmed cookie sheet that has been lined with aluminum foil. Pour the marinade on top and bake for 35 minutes, then remove from the oven and cool slightly. Cut into pieces that are 1/2 inch thick, 2 inches long and 1 inch wide. Spoon some of the cooked marinade on top and serve, or use as directed in recipes.
CARROT CUMIN SOUP WITH TOASTED PECANS
For soup:
| 1 medium 2 tbsp. 2 to 3 lg. 1/2 tsp. 1/2 tsp. 2 cups |
onion, chopped (about 3/4 cup) unsalted butter carrots, sliced thin (about 1 3/4 cups) ground cumin salt or to taste water |
For pecans
| 2 tbsp. 1 tsp. |
pecans, chopped coarse unsalted butter |
Preheat oven to 350¡F.
Make soup:
In a saucepan cook onion in butter over moderate heat, stirring, until softened. Add carrots, cumin, and salt and cook, stirring, 1 minute. Add water and simmer mixture, covered, 25 minutes, or until carrots are very tender.
Prepare pecans while carrot soup is simmering. On a baking sheet toast pecans in middle of oven 8 minutes, or until fragrant and 1 shade darker. Toss pecans with butter a and salt to taste.
In a blender puree soup until smooth. Divide soup between 2 soup bowls and top with pecans.
Gourmet, January 1997
Thought I’d post this video of the nice cozy greenhouse environment considering it’s been so cold and snowy? of late.
I’m really looking forward to it warming up. The plants would like it too. We have about 2 acres of veggies planted and they’re just sitting there, waiting. I’m sure it will warm up and then we’ll be swimming in food. So be ready…..
This week at market:
They’re calling for rain tomorrow but we’ll be there rain or shine. Thanks for being so supportive of us and the rest of the local farmers. It’s good to know if we show up, you’ll be there too. See you tomorrow!
I just wanted to mention that my sister had a baby boy today. He’s a big dude at 10 pounds 1 ounce.
Congrats to Noelle and Jeff! We love you.
Today was a long harvest day of sorts. It was rainy and cold- slows your hands down when washing produce. But none-the-less our fearless crew has produce for market tomorrow:
And what are turnip tops you might ask? Well, like so many other things this spring, we left turnips from last fall out in the field for the winter just to see what they would do. Would they make it as turnips? Not really. But they did send up awesome shoots that look very similar to Broccoli Raab, but taste oh so sweet. Try’em I think you’ll like’em. They’re just a quick treat for the spring.
We’re also excited to see our overwintered cauliflower pull through. I’d been watching the plants for the past several weeks, knowing that the cauli’s were on their way. The past two days were in the 80’s (which is weird considering it’s going to freeze tonight and it rained most of the day) which boosted them to maturity. Yum!
We’re really hoping for a nice day in Ashland tomorrow. Think warm thoughts.
SAUTEED BOK CHOY W/ CASHEW SAUCE
Serving Size : 4
1/2 c Cashews — roasted
1/4 c White vinegar
1/4 c Water
1/4 c Sugar
1/4 c Soy sauce
1 tb Ginger — minced
7 dashes Tabasco sauce
2 tb Basil — finely chopped
2 tb Mint — finely chopped
1 1/2 lb Bok choy — washed & dried 1/3 c Peanut oil 1. In a food processor or blender, combine the cashews, vinegar, water, sugar, soy sauce, ginger, Tabasco, basil and mint, and puree. 2. Separate bok choy leaves from stalks, and cut stalks into 1-inch-long- pieces. In a large saute pan, heat oil over high heat until hot but not smoking. Add bok choy and cook, stirring briskly, for 1 1/2 to 2 minutes, until it is bright green and well seared. Remove from heat, drape with cashew sauce and serve at once. Yield: 4 servings. Approximate nutritional analysis per serving: 340 calories, 25 grams fat, 0 milligrams cholesterol, 1,065: milligrams sodium, 7 grams protein, 25 grams carbohydrate. ** New York Times — Living Arts section — 29 November 1995 **
Carrot Yogurt Soup adapted from Sunset’s Make-Ahead Cookbook
2 T cooking oil
1 large leek or onion, chopped (leek should be cut in half, cleaned and then white and light green parts chopped. The dark green parts can be tossed or used to make stock.)
1 garlic clove or 1 stalk green garlic, chopped
1 teaspoon each curry powder and flour
3 cups stock: chicken or vegetable
3 large or 6 medium carrots, scrubbed and sliced, (peeled if you like)
1 cup plain yogurt
cayenne pepper, ground
1/3 cup chopped, toasted salted peanuts
Heat oil in 3-4 quart pan over med. heat. When oil is hot, add onion, then garlic, stirring, until onion is soft. (About 10 minutes). Add curry powder and flour; continue to cook, stirring, for about 30 seconds. Add broth and carrots. Cover and simmer until carrots are tender when pierced (15 to 20 minutes)
Blend with immersion blender, food processor or regular blender with 3/4 cup of the yogurt until pureed. Season to taste with S and P and cayenne (use sparingly!). Let cool; cover and refrigerate for up to 1 day or freeze for up for 4 months.) Thaw overnight or defrost in microwave.
To serve: Serve at room temperature or hot. Garnish with peanuts, yogurt, and if you like carrot curls you can make by using a vegetable peeler and ‘peeling’ long carrot curls from a carrot. Put these curls in a small bowl of ice water to help them stay curly and crunchy before you serve them in the soup.
Arugula and Potato Soup
A very unusual and delicious use for this peppery green.
3 tsp butter
2 onions
2 leeks
1 1/2 lbs. of potatoes
2 1/2 cups of broth or water
1/3 cup milk, 2 bunches of arugula
1/8 tsp ginger
1/8 tsp nutmeg
Saute onions, leeks for about 20 minutes. Add chopped potatoes, broth, ginger and nutmeg. Bring to a boil and allow to simmer partially covered for 30 minutes. Puree half the solids and return to soup. Add milk and bring to a boil. Add steamed arugula and cook an additional few minutes!
Today we had another major plant out. Lettuce, Broccoli, Cauliflower, Cabbage, Bok Choy, and our first sweet Onions of the season. (We do have some overwintered as well). We’re trying a sweet onion variety this year being developed here in the valley. It’s called Siskiyou Sweet. We’re growing it along side the classic Walla Walla sweet to see how it compares. If it works out we’ll probably continue with the Siskiyou Sweet considering it was grown about 10 miles from our farm. We planted out seven 400 foot beds today. Hats off to our crew. They’re transplanting maniacs. I was on the tractor most of the day making more beds. I also spent the day thinking about biofuel production now that diesel has hit $4.25 (on road price) in our area. Not that I hadn’t thought about it before, let’s just say I was reintroduced.
My biggest dilemma with biodiesel is that it takes methanol to produce it so I wouldn’t say it’s petroleum free. The only other option I see currently is using Straight Veggie Oil but I’m not sure Landini (my tractor maker) would understand if i tried to convert it. Nor would Melanie if it didn’t work.
So I’ll just ponder more, and keep searching for answers. Any one have any thoughts or solutions on this one?
My petrol arsenal:
There was a nice writeup about CSAs in the area today in the Ashland Daily Tidings, they start the piece writing about our new hybrid CSA program.
This week at market:
Not much has changed in what we’re bringing to market this week except for some very lovely and tasty spinach. We cooked some up tonight and were amazed at how thick and flavorful the leaves are. Oregon has some great spinach growing conditions in the spring- the spring truly is the time for spinach.
We still have shares available for the 2008 season. Check out our link here on the website for info.
Tuesday was the first Ashland Farmers Market for us. Just a quick video of what we had. Not too bad for April 1st. Most everything was over wintered in the fields uncovered. Pretty tough veggies. The bok choy, tat soi, and salad mix were all started this spring in the unheated hoophouses.
