Category Archives: Recipes

Sautéed Brussels Sprouts

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  • 3 strips lean bacon, chopped
  • 1 stalk Brussels sprouts
  • 1 leek or onion
  • 1-2 c. chicken stock
  • 1 tsp. lemon juice

Thinly slice the leek or onion.  Slice the sprouts thin, about 1/8-inch thick.  Cook bacon in a sauté pan, add the olive oil and sauté the leek slices.  When they have wilted, add the Brussels sprouts and sauté for a few minutes.  Add the chicken stock, to a depth of about a ¼ inch and continue cooking until tender.  Season with salt and pepper and the lemon juice.  Mix to end up with an emusified liquid that just coats the sprouts.

Sautéed Broccoli With Garlic

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  • 1Tbs. olive oil
  • 1 large clove garlic, minced
  • 1 lb. thin broccoli spears
  • ½ cup chicken broth
  • ¼ tsp. salt
  • ¼ tsp. pepper
  • 1/8 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes
  • 4 tsp. lemon juice or 2 lemon wedges

Heat oil in nonstick skillet, add garlic and sauté briefly (don’t let garlic brown).  Add trimmed broccoli spears and sauté 2 minutes to coat with oil.  Add chicken broth, salt, pepper and red pepper flakes; simmer over low heat until tender, about 20 minutes.  Stir in lemon juice or serve with lemon wedges.

From Foodday.

Sautéed Bok Choy with Cashew Sauce

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  • 1/2 cup cashews, roasted
  • 1/4 cup white vinegar
  • 1/4 cup water
  • 1/4 cup sugar
  • 1/4 cup soy sauce
  • 1 Tbsp. ginger, minced
  • 7 dashes Tabasco sauce
  • 2 Tbsp. basil, finely chopped
  • 2 Tbsp. mint, finely chopped
  • 1 1/2 lb. bok choy, washed and dried
  • 1/3 cup peanut oil

Puree the cashews, vinegar, water, sugar, soy sauce, ginger, Tabasco, basil and mint in a blender. Separate bok choy leaves from stalks, and cut stalks into 1-inch long pieces. Sauté bok choy in a large pan over high heat (oil should not be smoking). Stir briskly for 1 – 2 minutes until it is bright green and well seared. Remove from heat and drape with cashew sauce. Serve immediately.

Serves 4.

Sauerkraut

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  • 5 Lbs cabbage
  • 3 Tbs. pickling salt

Shred the cabbage very thin (about the thickness of a quarter.  Add salt to the cabbage and thoroughly mix the ingredients with your hands.  Pack the cabbage into a one gallon jar and pack down tightly.  To keep the cabbage covered in its own brine and thus protected from the air while fermenting, we simply seal the jar with 2 1-gal ziplocks filled with brine.  To make the brine simply mix 3Tbs. pickling salt with half a gallon of water.  This should give you plenty of brine for filling the bags  and to have some left over for use as needed.  After you have the shredded cabbage and salt in the jar, put both empty ziplocks on top of the cabbage.  Use a funnel to fill both bags up to the neck of the jar and firmly seat the bags to seal out all air.

If the cabbage is fresh, it should release enough liquid to cover itself.  If within 24 hours it does not, add some of the left over brine.   You need to store the jar out of direct sunlight on a cool counter (60- 75 degrees).  After a day or two, you’ll notice small bubbles rising from the cabbage.  (This is the part that kids like best).  If yeast starts growing on the outside of the ziplocks, not to worry.  Simply rinse it off as needed.  You can start tasting the sauerkraut after 2 weeks, but it will not be fully ready until the bubbles stop.  At this point, you can store it in your fridge for several weeks.

Salsa de Chiles Chipotles

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Roasting the garlic and tomatillos in this salsa give it a wonderful and unique taste.

  • 6-8 fresh tomatillos, husked and washed
  • 2 large cloves garlic, unpeeled
  • 1-3 canned chiles chipotles, seeded
  • salt to taste

To roast the tomatillos and garlic, lay a sheet of aluminum foil to cover ½ of the bottom of a heavy skillet set over medium heat.  Lay the tomotillos on the foil for approximately 10 minutes, turning as needed until they are blackened in places and soft.  While doing this, place the garlic in the skillet, but off the foil, and turn as needed until the garlic is soft.  Allow the garlic to cool, slip off the skin and mince the cloves.  Place the tomatillos, garlic, and chipotles in a blender or food processor and puree.  Scrape into a sauce dish and, if needed, add 2 Tbs. of water to adjust the consistency.  If a smokier, and hotter, flavor is desired, stir in 1-2 tsp. of the sauce from the canned chiles chipotles.

Adapted from Authentic Mexican by Rick Bayless.

Salmon Cakes with Green Salsa

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  • 1 lb. fresh salmon, poached
  • 4 oz. smoked salmon, minced
  • 1 cup mashed potatoes, cooled
  • ¼ cup finely chopped scallions
  • 1/3 cup minced cilantro
  • 2 eggs
  • salt and pepper
  • ½ cup unseasoned bread crumbs
  • 2 pint tomatillos
  • 1 onion, coarsely chopped
  • 1 jalapeno chile, seeded and chopped
  • 2 Tbsp. freshly squeezed lime juice
  • ¼ cup extra virgin olive oil

Flake poached salmon into a bowl and mix with the smoked salmon, potatoes, scallions, 2 Tbsp. of the cilantro, and the eggs.  Season with salt and pepper.  Shape into 16 cakes each 3 inches in diameter and ½ inch thick.  Coat evenly with bread crumbs.  Cover and chill for an hour.  Meanwhile prepare the salsa: combine the remaining cilantro with the tomatillos, onion, chile, and lime juice in a food processor and pulse until finely chopped, not pureed.  Transfer to serving dish and set aside.  Cook salmon cakes by heating oil in a skillet over medium heat.  Fry cakes, turning once, for about 8 minutes a side, until golden brown.  You can also broil the salmon cakes until browning and heated through.  Serve immediately with salsa.

From The Great Potato Book by Florence Fabricant.

Rutabaga and Potato Gratin

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Rutabagas can be thinly sliced and layered with potatoes and sliced onions in a perked-up version of potatoes au gratin.  Butter a deep 3 quart casserole.  Layer thinly sliced potatoes, rutabagas and/or turnips in the bottom, season with salt and pepper.  Cover with a layer of onions, sprinkle with 1 Tbsp. flour, dot with 1-2 Tbsp. butter, and cover with a layer of cheese.  Repeat this layering 3 more times.  Heat about 1 qt milk to just below boiling and pour over layered vegetables to cover.  Cover and bake in a 350o oven for 45-60 minutes or until milk comes to a boil and bubbles.  Remove cover and bake for another 30-45 minutes, until root vegetables are tender and the top is browned.

Adapted from The Victory Garden Cookbook by Marian Morash.

Rutabaga and Carrot Soup

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  • 1 medium onion, chopped
  • 1 Tbs vegetable oil
  • 3 small carrots, peeled and chopped
  • 2 cups rutabaga, peeled and chopped
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1 cup stock or water
  • 1/2 tsp ground ginger
  • 1/4 tsp nutmeg
  • 2 cups orange juice
  • black pepper to taste

Sauté onion in oil for 5 minutes until translucent.  Add chopped vegetables and salt.  Sauté 10 minutes stirring occasionally.  Add stock and cook covered on low heat for 20 to 30 minutes.  Add spices.  In a blender, puree the soup with orange juice until smooth and thick.  Season with black pepper.

Makes 4 cups.

From Sundays at Moosewood Restaurant.

Russian Soured Cabbage

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  • 2 Tbs. pickling salt
  • 5 Lbs. fresh cabbage
  • 2 medium carrots
  • 1 apple cored and sliced into 16ths
  • ¾ cups cranberries
  • 2 Tbs. chopped dill

Reserve 2 outer leaves of cabbage and shred remaining head.  Grate carrots coarsely.  In a large bowl, mix the salt with the shredded cabbage, rubbing the salt into the cabbage with your hands.  Gently mix in the carrots, apple, cranberries and dill.  Pack the mixture into a 1-gallon jar pressing the cabbage down firmly.  Add any liquid that may have accumulated in the bowl.  Lay the reserved cabbage leaves on top.  Dissolve 1 ½ Tbs. salt in 1 qt. water.  Push a freezer into the mouth of the 1-gallon jar and fill it with the salt water.  Seal the bag.  Set the jar in a spot out of direct sunlight (ie western Oregon)  at a temperature of 65-72 degrees F.  Two or three times a day during the next two or three days push the handle of a wooden spoon to the bottom of the jar to allow gasses to escape.  Let the mixture ferment 4-5 days until the cabbage is as sour as you like.  Store in the refrigerator.

Makes approx. 3 quarts.

Adapted from The Joy of Pickling, by Linda Ziedrich.

Russian Cabbage Borscht

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  • 2 Tbsp. butter
  • 1 1/2 c. chopped onion or leek
  • 4 c. stock or water
  • 1 1/2 c. thinly sliced potato
  • 2 tsp. salt
  • 1 c. thinly sliced beets
  • black pepper
  • 1 large sliced carrot
  • 1/4 tsp. dill weed
  • 1 stalk chopped celery (optional)
  • 1 1/2 Tbsp. vinegar
  • 3 c. chopped cabbage
  • 1 c. tomato puree
  • 1 scant tsp. caraway seeds
  • sour cream for topping

Begin cooking onions or leek in butter in a large kettle. Add caraway seeds and salt and cook until translucent. Add celery, carrots, potatoes, beets and cabbage. Add water and simmer slowly for 45 minutes. About 15 minutes before serving add pepper, dill weed, vinegar, and tomato puree. Taste to correct seasoning. Serve topped with sour cream.

From the Moosewood Cookbook.