Roasted Carrots with Polenta and Anasazi Beans

A road trip from Durango to Moab, down in the Four-Corners area of southern Utah and Colorado, takes you through the “don’t blink” town of Dove Creek. If you don’t blink, on the north side of the road you will pass the Adobe Milling store that sells local pinto beans and the more gourmet Anasazi beans, named for the ancient Pueblo culture that lived in this area. Dove Creek Colorado calls itself the “Pinto Bean Capital of the World”, but I came away with a bag of Anasazi beans from the store. Paired with polenta and Roasted Carrots—well, tonight will be our third meal of the same.

I make a 1 cup recipe of polenta beforehand and let it cool in a 9 x 13” dish. Robbie cuts the cold polenta into squares and into the oven it goes—along with the carrots roasting to perfect golden tenderness.

ancho and guajillo chiles

I followed my basic recipe for pot beans, adding a couple of chiles, because they were sitting in a bowl on the kitchen counter asking to be used. The same with my go-to polenta recipe—easily cooked in the microwave. The roasted carrots are “simplicity itself”, to quote Anna Thomas, whose recipe I followed. In her cookbook, The New Vegetarian Epicure, Ms. Thomas suggests a meal of roasted vegetables and polenta. She includes roasted whole garlic and sautéed greens along with the roasted carrots and other surprises. I highly recommend the cookbook.

The vegetable broth and lemon juice add bling to the carrots. Since I keep a jar of Rapunzel powdered vegetable broth in the pantry, I mixed one teaspoon of powder with 2 tablespoons of hot water.

Roasted Carrots

1 pound small carrots

About1 tablespoon olive oil

Real Salt

2 tablespoons vegetable broth

1 ½ teaspoons fresh-squeezed lemon juice.

Preheat the oven to 400° F. Trim the carrots and scrub them well. If the carrots are not small, cut them into stick no more than ½ inch at their thickest point.

Put the carrots in a shallow baking pan and drizzle the olive oil over them Sprinkle lightly with salt. Toss them around so the oil and salt are evenly distributed. Mix the broth and lemon juice together and sprinkle over the carrots.

Roast the carrots about 45 minutes, moving them around every 20 minutes or so. The broth will evaporate and the carrots will become golden. If they are turning too dark before they are tender, add a wee bit more broth, but not so much that there will be liquid in the pan when the carrots are done.

Makes 4 to 5 servings.

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Sprouted Bean Trio Salad with Grilled Zucchini and Leeks

Sprouted Bean Trio Salad

I made this salad for a neighborhood potluck dinner—using some more of the 3 pound bag of truRoots Sprouted Bean Trio that I bought months ago at Costco. It says on the bag to boil in water for 5 minutes. Don’t believe everything you read—it takes 15 minutes and then needs to stand, covered for another 10. After that you can drain the beans and finish this protein-rich salad.

1 cup sprouted beans

3 to 4 small zucchini

1 leek, white part only

1 carrot, grated

¼ cup chopped summer savory leaves

¼ cup extra virgin olive oil

2 tablespoons red wine vinegar

¼ teaspoon ground cumin

½ teaspoon Real Salt

1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Bring 3 cups water and the sprouted beans to a boil. Reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer for 15 minutes. Remove from the heat and let stand, covered for 10 minutes. Drain and place in a bowl. Refrigerate.

While the sprouted beans are cooking and standing, heat up the grill and slice the zucchini. Toss the zucchini with some extra virgin olive oil, a sprinkling of red wine vinegar and salt and pepper. Cook on the grill until much of the zucchini has golden brown marks. Dump onto a cutting board and chop into 1-inch pieces. Add to the sprouted beans.

Cut the leek in half and spray the cut sides with cooking spray. Lay the leek halves face down on the grill and cook until a light char appears. Chop the charred leeks and sauté them in a bit of olive oil until soft. Add to the beans along with the grated carrot and the summer savory.

Make a dressing with the ¼ cup of olive oil,  red wine vinegar, cumin, salt and cayenne. Pour over the sprouted beans and vegetables and stir very well. Cover and refrigerate at least one hour or overnight.

Makes 4 to 6 servings.

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Twenty Minute Tamari Tempeh and Spinach

Spinach at the Portland Farmer’s Market

I keep a package of tempeh in the freezer so I always have it when I want it. Tempeh is fermented soybeans, and packs plenty of protein.  It could be described as nutty and mushroom-like in texture, as well as meat-like, so try this dish on people who say they don’t like tofu. I use Westsoy brand Five Grain Tempeh, and it seems to be easily available, but there are more tempeh choices out there.

Tamari is another fermented soy derivative. Regular soy sauce and tamari can be used just about interchangeably, just know that Japanese tamari is thicker, darker, and richer than its counterpart. Think of it as the kinder, gentler soy sauce. It has a more complex, smooth flavor compared to the overwhelming bite of a salty soy sauce. That is why I call for tamari in my recipes.

I think you will agree that salty tamari–spiked tempeh, barely bitter spinach and toasted sesame oil perform a lovely flavor dance. You can serve this quick dinner with steamed brown rice, particularly when you’ve planned ahead to get the rice going.

Twenty Minute Tamari Tempeh and Spinach

8 ounces tempeh

1 bunch fresh spinach, stems removed, washed

2 tablespoons coconut or peanut or canola oil

2 tablespoons plus 2 tablespoons tamari soy sauce

2 teaspoons toasted sesame oil

2 cups steamed brown rice, optional

Pull the tempeh from the freezer and unwrap the package. Place the tempeh in a saucepan with enough water to just cover the block of tempeh by ¼-inch of so. Season the water with about 2 tablespoons of tamari soy sauce. Bring to a boil and cook about 10 minutes, turning the tempeh after 5 minutes to thaw and flavor both sides.

While the tempeh is in the water, tear the spinach into pieces about the size of a credit card.

Remove the tempeh from the water and cut it into cubes, about 3/4-inch square. In a non-stick skillet, on medium high, heat the oil and add the tempeh. Stir and cook 5 to 10 minutes until the tofu is golden brown on a couple sides of the cubes. Add the spinach to the pan, right on top of the tempeh. Sprinkle with soy sauce, cover, and steam just to wilt the spinach, 4 to 5 minutes. Drizzle the sesame oil on top of the spinach and tempeh. Serve over rice, if desired.

Makes 3 to 4 servings.

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Green Garlic, Basil and Edamame Salad

Bright green, freshly frozen and shucked, edamame is soybeans, right out of the bean pod. Perhaps you have enjoyed edamame in the shell as finger food, sprinkled with high quality finishing salt, at a sushi restaurant or at Deer Valley’s Royal Street Café. Edamame adds color (and protein) to any salad, and works well in any dish where you might normally use cold beans or green peas. Since we have sweet basil in our Ranui Gardens CSA box this week, it’s in this salad. Chiffonade/slice the basil leaves and add them at the last minute. Or feel free to skip the basil and substitute a different herb, such as chopped flat leaf parsley. This week’s green garlic is looking more mature than two weeks ago and more like the garlic we will see in a couple of weeks with its papery skin skin separating each clove. Now it is still very moist and maybe at the most flavorful of its cycle.

1 ½ cups frozen shelled edamame

¼ cup extra virgin olive oil

2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar

2 stalks green garlic, trimmed and minced

2 tablespoons fresh basil, cut in chiffonade

¼ cup grated aged cheese, like Parmesan

Bring a pot of water to a boil. Add some salt and the edamame. Cook 3 to 4 minutes, and then drain the edamame. Place in a bowl and stir in the olive oil, vinegar, garlic, basil and cheese. When everything is mixed, season to taste with salt and freshly ground pepper. Toss again and serve over Ranui lettuce mix.

Makes 4 to 6 servings.

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Red Lentils and Garlic Scapes

You can go two ways with red lentils—cook them until they are barely tender, 8 to 10 minutes, or cook them longer, 25 to 35 minutes and (whoops?) you’ve made a thick soup, popularly known as dal in India. This recipe features Indian spices–let’s shoot for the first and if we end up with dal, no problem.

cooked and drained red lentils

Red lentils are not truly red, but more orange in hue, and when cooked, they turn yellow, even more so when seasoned with turmeric!

expensive scapes

Today I saw Garlic Scapes in the local very expensive health food store. They were on sale: 2 for $6.00. Someone is laughing all the way to the bank and I bet it s not the farmer.  But today we have scapes in our Ranui Gardens CSA box. Garlic scapes are mellow in garlic flavor, like green garlic, and another early bonus, besides green garlic, of a garlic crop. To prepare the scapes, trim and remove the seedpods from the top. Break away the tougher bottom part just as you might for asparagus.

trimmed and ready for chopping

The cumin and mustard seeds add a fabulous dimension to the curry and can be bought in small amounts from the bulk spice section at our local health food store. If you don’t have the seeds, substitute with ground spices.

Red Lentils and Garlic Scapes

1 cup red lentils

4 cups water

1 teaspoon cumin seeds

½ teaspoon black (or brown or yellow) mustard seeds

1 teaspoon curry powder

½ teaspoon ground coriander

½ teaspoon ground cumin

½ teaspoon turmeric

½ teaspoon finely grated fresh ginger

1 clove garlic, minced

½ teaspoon Real Salt

Pinch cayenne pepper

2 tablespoons grapeseed oil

1 cup chopped garlic scapes (1/4-inch pieces)

Rinse and pick over the lentils, discarding anything foreign. In a saucepan, bring to a boil in the water. Cook about 8 minutes. The peas should still be firm, barely tender. Drain and rinse them with cold water. Set aside.

Measure the cumin and mustard seeds, the curry powder, coriander, cumin, turmeric, ginger, garlic, salt and cayenne into a small bowl. In a skillet, heat the oil over medium flame. Add the scapes and sauté until the scapes are tender but crunchy, about 10 minutes. Stir in the spices and cook, stirring constantly, until you hear the mustard seeds pop, about 30 seconds. Stir in the cooked lentils and cook until they are heated through. Season to taste with salt, if needed.

Makes 4 to 6 servings.

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The Markets of Mexico—Poblano Chiles Stuffed with Potatoes and Cheese

Que le doy—what can I get you?—they call out to you as you pass by their stalls, brimming with fruits or vegetables or flowers, any variety of meat and much much more. You can hear the pirate CD stall a mile away or maybe it is the birthday of the girl selling leather belts and someone has hired a guitarist to sing her Las Mananitas.

So rich in color and abundance, so full of optimism, with smells easily and not so easily identified, give me a Mexican Mercado any day over a supermarket with higher prices and sterile packaging, and lacking the bright vibrancy of life.

Carmen browsing the fruit stall

Usually I can’t buy much—a banana or orange here or there, and I can never get out of Mexico without a new bolsa—the inexpensive shopping bags print-screened with images of Frida or the Virgin Guadalupe.

But I have a kitchen this week—here in San Miguel de Allende with Felipe and Diana.

On Tuesday we wandered the 8 acre portable market; they began unloading and set-up at 4 am and by the time our taxi dropped us off around 10:30 it was in full crescendo, tiny brown, wrinkled senoras wrapped in their traditional shawls selling avocados and limes from their garden, old cowboys with older tools arranged on a blanket, and more than I could count tables, in front of stands with each vendor hand forming tortillas, or other shapes to hold a selection of frijoles, thinly sliced meat, red and green salsa, grated cheese—it all depends on the menu, and it is all cooked right there in front of you.

Candied Limes and Coconut

Felipe says he loves to watch women shop for food and that we did. We had a mission of sorts and our purchases have defined our meals for the week. I bought a fresh coconut that I have yet you grate, to fill the hollowed-out limes that today I will simmer in sugar syrup until they are soft and sweet. Laura treated us to a snack of corn on the cob right off the grill. The girl cut it in 2-inch pieces and put it in a plastic bag before she added the chile powder and fresh-squeezed lime juice. We moved on slowly around each corner and passageway, taking it all in through our skin. We found beans call Peruana, a white bean that makes the creamiest of refried beans; dried guajillo chiles and garlic and onion we bought to flavor the beans. The freshest of green poblano chiles and small white potatoes eventually became dinner that night. Oh and we needed fresh tomatoes for sauce and jalapeno chiles and avocados for guacamole. Fragile purple orchids went in Diana’s shopping bolsa at the very end and now they grace the kitchen counter.

Poblano Chiles Stuffed with Potatoes and Cheese

4 poblano chiles

About 1 ½ pounds of Yukon gold potatoes, (peeled or not,) steamed until a fork pierces easily

1 tablespoon olive oil

½ of an onion

½ cup (1/4-inch) diced zucchini squash

½ cup grated mozzarella cheese

Crema (from the Mexican grocery)

Real Salt and freshly ground pepper

1 (28-ounce) can diced tomatoes

1/2 cup chopped onion

1 clove garlic

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 cube instant vegetable bullion

Roast the chiles over an open flame or broiler–on your grill is best: Heat the broiler (or flame grill) to high. Place the peppers directly under the hot broiler (or on the hot grill) and cook, turning occasionally, until blistered and blackened on all surfaces, about 3 to 5 minutes for each exposed surface; set aside to cool. Once cooled, run the peppers under a stream of cool water and pull off the blackened skin and seeds. Set aside.

Heat the olive oil in a skillet and cook and stir the onion until it is transparent. Add the diced squash and cook and stir a few more minutes. Season with salt to taste.

Mash the potatoes with some salt and a bit of crema if needed. Mix in the cooked onion and zucchini and the diced cheese. Season to taste with salt and freshly ground pepper.

Stuff the peeled peppers with the potato mixture.

Make the sauce: Puree the tomatoes, onion and garlic in a blender. Heat the oil in a skillet and add the tomato mixture. Cook, stirring occasionally. Mash the bullion cube and stir into the sauce. Cook until any traces of bullion have become part of the sauce.

Spread the sauce in the bottom of a shallow casserole dish. Lay the rellenos in the sauce. Cover and cook until the sauce is bubbling and the cheese has melted.  Drizzle with the crema.

Makes 4 servings.

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Greens and Potato Soup

This warming soup has a Southwestern tilt, with the pintos, fresh chile and hominy. Hominy is dried corn kernels from which the hull and germ have been removed; its distinctive texture is essential to posole or pozole, the thick, hearty soup from Mexico. I buy large cans of hominy at the Mexican grocery and freeze what I don’t use for later.

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 pound potatoes, well-scrubbed and cut into 1/2-inch cubes

1/2 teaspoon sea salt

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper

7 cups vegetable stock

1 (15-ounce) can pinto beans, rinsed and drained

1 cup hominy, rinsed and drained

2 cloves garlic, finely chopped

1 serrano or jalapeno chile, seeds and veins removed, finely chopped

1 teaspoon ground cumin

7 ounces (6 cups) fresh greens, such as mess o’ greens

2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice or rice wine vinegar

Crumbled cotija or feta cheese for garnish (optional)

In a non-stick skillet, heat oil over medium-high. Add potatoes and salt and pepper and cook, stirring often, about 8 to 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, heat the vegetable broth in a large soup pot. Add the pinto beans, garlic, chile pepper and cumin. Wash the greens and remove the stems. Coarsely chop them and stir into the broth. When the potatoes are golden brown, add them. Simmer the soup until the potatoes are just tender. Add the lemon juice, taste and season with more salt and pepper, if needed.

Makes about 6 servings.

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Warm Chickpeas and Mizuna

I bought a new cookbook this summer that sounded right up my kitchen—Super Natural Every Day. Author Heidi Swanson blogs at 101 Cookbooks. 101 Cookbooks has a fun premise for someone like me who has a hard time resisting another cookbook—Heidi decided to cook her way through her own collection of more than 100 cookbooks and chronicle the recipes. Her site has since evolved and continues to be an exploration of recipes in her life, focusing on natural, whole foods; I imagine her writing is now famous enough that she makes a living as a blogger. And a cookbook author, because the two help support each other. At any rate, I bought her new cookbook. Heidi is a fabulous writer and when I have time I indulge myself by catching up with her blog.

In Super Natural Every Day, there is a recipe for Chickpeas and Dandelion Greens. Here is my twist, with mizuna, another green (with a bitter edge of flavor) that we find in our Ranui Gardens CSA box this week.

2 cups cooked chickpeas (otherwise known as garbanzo beans), or 1 (15-ounce can) garbanzo beans, rinsed and drained

3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

4 cloves garlic, minced

¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes

Real Salt

½ pound (or so) mizuna leaves

1 teaspoon sherry wine vinegar

¼ cup toasted pinenuts or walnut pieces

Put the oil, garlic, red pepper flakes and some salt in a large skillet. Heat over a low flame, stirring often, until the garlic begins to sizzle, but before it gets any brown color at all. Stir in the chickpeas. Add the mizuna to the skillet and stir as it wilts. Sprinkle on the sherry wine vinegar, stirring. Transfer to a serving dish and garnish with the nuts.

Makes 2 to 4 servings.

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Caramelized Onion and Chickpea Soup

I don’t think it is officially Indian summer in Park City, though we are certainly enjoying very cool nights with daytime temperatures reaching into the high 70’s. Each morning we notice a few more hints of red oak in the green hills that never turned brown this summer. The only not-still-green are the grasses, and the seeds from those drying grasses are driving anyone around here with allergies to the brink of wishing for early snow. And those lovely yellow flowers of the desert sage—they aren’t so forgiving to the watery eye and runny nose crowd either.

I think I got hit with a double whammy this week. I have all the symptoms of these allergies and a cold besides. Makes me want onion soup for dinner.

onions above the kitchen sink

Our Ranui Garderns CSA box has included onions the last 4 or 5 weeks and I bought a bag of organic onions at the store the day before we received our first CSA onions. The first couple of weeks the onions came with their stalks. I braided them together and hung them in a holding pattern above the kitchen sink. I think onions are good feng shui, the ancient Chinese study of the natural environment, and I am hoping they will keep our kitchen protected. And maybe, even with my attempt to incorporate onions into many recent meals, we’ll still have a few onions left in a month, when our weekly CSA boxes cease for the season. Slicing this many onions can a tearful job. If you have a Cuisinart—use the slicing disc and you will be that much closer to soup for dinner, with time for a shot of tequila. About the tequila: I use 100% agave to deglaze the onions because that’s in our liquor cabinet and brandy is not. You won’t find misoin a classic onion soup either, though the tequila and the miso each add a subtle note.

caramelized onions

 

 

 

Caramelized Onion and Chickpea Soup

¼ cup extra virgin olive oil, or butter or a combination of the 2

4 large onions, thinly sliced

all the onions

4 garlic cloves, sliced

3 tablespoons 100% agave tequila añejo or brandy

5 cups vegetable broth

¾ cup cooked chickpeas

2 bay leaves

1 tablespoon dark miso paste

Sat and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Toasted baguette slices with basil pesto

Heat the oil and/or butter in a heavy bottomed skillet. Stir in the onions and cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until the onions are very soft and turning brown. This will take time—at least 45 minutes. If the onions start to brown too quickly, turn down the heat; don’t hurry their caramelization. Stir in the garlic in the last 10 minutes, after you see some hints of brown onion.

Deglaze the pan with the tequila, stirring it around. Transfer to a saucepan or small soup pot. Add the vegetable stock, the chickpeas and the bay leaves. Bring to a boil, lower the heat, and simmer for 15 minutes or so.

While the soup is cooking, toast some slices of baguette and slather them with basil pesto. Set aside.

In a small bowl smooth the miso paste with water. Just before serving, fish out the bay leaves and stir the miso into the soup. Season with salt, if needed, and plenty of freshly ground black pepper.

Ladle the soup into bowls, slipping a few pesto croutons into each bowl.

Makes 4 to 6 servings.

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Escarole and White Beans

John G, our illustrious farmer, mentioned last night that his mother has a delicious recipe for escarole and beans and that his mom is visiting them this week.  John and Mom got together and sent me this to share with all of you. As the Garofalos say, mangia bene! Thank you so much Diane Garofalo.

Escarole and White Beans

1 large bunch of escarole

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

2 cloves of garlic or more to taste, chopped

1 or 2 (15 oz) cans cannellini beans (white kidney beans), drained and rinsed

1 cup grated Pecorino Romano or Parmesan cheese

4 cups low-salt chicken broth (or vegetable broth with apologies to Diane)

Kosher salt, to taste

Freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Crushed red pepper, to taste

Cut off the bottoms of the escarole, wash the leaves thoroughly, and roughly tear or chop them into pieces.

In a large pot over medium heat, heat the olive oil. Add the garlic and sauté until fragrant and translucent, about 15 seconds.  Do not let the garlic brown.

Toss the wet escarole into the pot with the garlic (enjoy the sizzle), and sauté until wilted, about 2 minutes.

Add a few pinches of salt, grind in some pepper, and give it a pinch or two of crushed red pepper.  Stir in and add the beans, the cheese, and the broth.

Taste the broth and adjust the seasonings.

Let this simmer until escarole is tender and beans are soft, about 20 minutes.  Add more broth for a soupier consistency.

Serve in individual bowls. Drizzle each serving with a splash of olive and pass the grated cheese.

Don’t forget the crusty Italian bread and mangia bene!

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