Tangy Curried Cauliflower

You can make these delicious and vibrantly yellow florets with a favorite store-bought curry powder, or create your own fresh mixture of curry spices. I have tried both techniques, and both resulting ferments are delicious. However, the depth lent by freshly toasted and ground spices is perceptible, and worth the time, IMO.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 head of organic cauliflower (this will fit into 1 quart mason jar)

• 1 generous tablespoon of your favorite curry powder, or make your own blend! Here’s what I use:

• spices: 1 t teaspoon each of toasted cumin, coriander, fenugreek, 1 teaspoon of black peppercorns, 2 teaspoons of turmeric (plus anything else you might want). Put everything into a mortar and pestle and grind to a medium coarseness.

• 1 inch of fresh ginger root sliced into coins, 2 garlic cloves, sliced

• 2% brine (2 teaspoons in 2 C water)

• 1/4 cup of juice from any previous ferment (vegetables, sauerkraut, fermented pickles) - this is charmingly called “backslop”. This step is optional, but kicks the ferment into gear a little faster by adding a dose of microbes and acid.

Equipment:

glass mason jar and lid

mortar and pestle

cutting board and knife

skillet to toast spices

Technique:

• pull the cauliflower into small-medium-sized florets

• toast and grind your spices, or open your favorite jar of curry powder or paste

• slice ginger and garlic

• Put everything in the jar. You can be methodical, putting the spices in the bottom, then layering cauliflower followed by ginger and garlic, repeating up the jar, finishing with the cauliflower. Or just tumble everything in together. The ferment doesnt really care about order.

• Leave about 2 inches of clearance at the top, and then pour in the brine to almost cover the veggies.

• add your backslop to submerge your veggies. If you are not using a backslop, simply add more brine.

• put the lid on and turn it upside down a few times to shake it all up and distribute the spices.

• store the ferment in a safe spot, loosening the lid so it can expel CO2, one of the end-products of fermentation.

• taste in about 5-7 days, and when it is as tangy as you’d like it, tighten the lid and put it in the fridge.

These tangy morsels are great snacks, or served alongside a dal and rice. It’s a beautifully vibrant addition to a thali or regular dinner platter. Don’t discard the curry liquid! It’s great in soups than need some zing, or added to some olive oil to create a curry vinaigrette pre-loaded with acid, salt and probiotics!

Fermented Crisp and Sour Slaw

This salad is a tangy shredded vegetable ferment, tossed with a delicious vinaigrette - no goopy mayonnaise here. It’s a great side for grilled meats or fish, but can stand alone as a lovely lunch salad with a hunk of sourdough and a slice of crumbly blue cheese. The first part describes how to shred and ferment the vegetables. Part 2 describes how to drain and dress the vegetables for a final delicious Fermented Slaw.

Part 1 - Make the fermented vegetables

Ingredients: (can vary according to what you have in the fridge)

1 pound of green cabbage, sliced thinly (purple? broccoli? cauliflower? turnip?)

1 large onion, red or yellow, sliced thinly (I prefer red for the color, and don’t use a sweet onion - too sugary)

1 large green bell pepper, sliced thinly, (or use a mandolin)

1 large carrot (shredded on a cheese grater, large holes)

1/2 green apple, shredded on the same cheese grater (optional)

1/4 pound celeriac (celery root, shredded on a cheese grater, large holes) or 1 teaspoon celery seed

4 tsp salt (2% by weight, so you could also weigh all your veggies for a result in grams, then divide by 100 to get the grams of salt needed)

Equipment:

Chopping board, knife, (mandolin?), large mixing bowl, 2 quart mason jars with lids

Technique:

Mix the shredded vegetables with the salt in the mixing bowl. Massage well with your hands until the vegetables wilt a little and give off some liquid. Pack into the jars, pressing the vegetables underwater. Don’t add extra brine yet. The veggies will settle down over night and express more liquid, but if some still rise above the surface of the liquid the next morning, add more brine (1 Tbs/cup water) or some extra liquid from a previous ferment. Ferment 4-7 days, until the veggies are tangy. Inspect the veggies every morning, submerging then firmly. Taste them at day 4, and continue fermenting until they taste nicely sour. Then continue with part 2.

Part 2 - Construct the Slaw:

Make about 3/4 - 1 cup of vinaigrette. It can be your favorite recipe, or try the mixture suggested below by my friend Alex Lewin (Author of Real Food Fermentation, the book which has inspired many of my recipes).

Put the fermented vegetables in a colander in a large bowl and press out the juice. Reserve.

In another bowl, mix the pressed fermented veggies with half of the vinaigrette. Add more if needed to nicely moisten the veggies - don’t drown them. Put the mixture back in your jars and refrigerate.

Voilá! Fermented Slaw! Enjoy!

****

Alex’s Carolina-Style vinaigrette: 1/2 cup of juice pressed from the ferment, 1/4 C of honey, 6 Tablespoons of oil (sesame? olive? coconut? Your choice, or mix it up!) 2 teaspoons of dry mustard, 1 tsp grated fresh ginger, freshly ground black pepper.

What to do with leftover fermentation juice? Mix with oil and spices and make salad dressing. Use as a salty-sour liquid condiment or addition to soup. Use it as a marinade. For your next vegetable ferment, use it to cover the vegetables instead of plain brine. It’s a source of probiotics, so you could also drink it as a tonic - watch out, it’s very salty!!

Fermented Potatoes

For some reason I didn’t think one could ferment potatoes because one doesn’t eat them raw. Then I challenged myself, did some research and lo and behold, lots of people are fermenting potatoes. So I thought I’d give it a try; total success! I tossed the fermented spuds in olive oil, salt and rosemary and roasted them. They were delicious, had an interesting tang and were chewy! Give it a try with any potato, including sweet potatoes.

Ingredients and Materials

3-4 potatoes of any kind or color

Brine; 2 tablespoons of salt dissolved in 2 cups of water

Sharp knife, cutting board and a glass jar with a lid. I used a regular quart-sized mason jar.

Technique

Cut the potatoes into any shape you desire - chunks or rounds, and fill your jar about 3/4 - 4/5 full. Pour the brine on top to cover by about an inch so the potatoes are submerged. They may float a little, push them down. If they stubbornly persist in floating, you can weight them down with a clean weight, some people pass a lovely stone through the dishwasher to have on hand for such eventualities.

Mold will eventually form on any vegetable that protrudes from the fermentation surface, so do pay attention to this detail. If mold does form, or a whitish scum forms on the surface of the liquid, not to worry. Rescue any floating weirdly-affected vegetable piece, wash it off if it’s still firm, and put it back in. Skim the surface, blot it with a paper towel and wipe around the top interior edge and surface of the jar to decrease the less-desirable microbe load. Give up on getting it all - you are vastly outnumbered, your job is to keep the majority underwater happy. The brine and increasing acidity will do the remaining work.

Put the jar of brined potatoes (lid on loosely to avoid large contaminants) in a cupboard out of direct sunlight. Examine it every morning, and push the vegetables underwater if things start to float. Remember that CO2 is being released during the fermentation and will create bouyancy.

Wait 3-4 days, then drain and rinse the potatoes, and use them as you would in any potato recipe. I roast them, put them in soup, etc.

Sweet, red and yellow potatoes in brine. And now we wait…

Lacto-fermented Vegetables

This is an easy and basic technique you can apply to almost any vegetable. Lacto-fermenting the vegetables turns them into a live probiotic food, preserves them so they don’t require refrigeration, and boosts their safety and nutritional value. The microbes add vitamin B12 and K, and pre-digests some of the fiber. The ‘lacto-’ part means that a lot of the fermentation is performed by the microbe species Lactobacillus, among many thousands of other species. The microbes in the ferment metabolize the plant sugars to release lactic acid and other delicious byproducts, resulting in a tangy funky umami-rich flavor profile.

Ingredients:

Choose one or some of the following to equal a pound of vegetables (more is fine, you’ll just be chopping for longer).

Radishes (any color - the black ones are very metal), Daikon radishes (the purple ones are are trippy), carrots (any color, so rich!), red peppers, turnips, rutabaga, onions (red, yellow, green), garlic cloves, ginger coins, Brussels sprouts, fennel, Kohlrabi, broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage (red or green), celery root, baby bok choi, green beans, cauliflower chunks, even leaves like kale, collards, spicy mustard can go in. Herbs and spices are delicious and fun to add, so collect any or all of the following: cumin, coriander, black peppercorns, red pepper flakes, fennel, rosemary, lemon or other citrus zest. You’ll make your own signature flavor ferment.

Materials and equipment:

Regular salt*, water, jars with lids (any size - I use mason or ball jars with plastic lids), a measuring cup and measuring spoons, maybe a kitchen scale, chopping board, big and small knife.

Technique:

1) Chop the vegetables. Get creative and make shapes (hearts, flowers, triangles, squares…) and pack the veggies into the jars. Either tumble them in or arrange them artfully. You can layer them with slices of onion, or throw in handfuls of whole spices. Leave at least 2 inches of headroom at the top of the jar.

2) Make 2% brine (1 T salt/cup water = approximately 2%*) and pour it in to cover the vegetables, or you can get fancy and use an online brine calculator. Optional; you can pour in a dollop of liquid from a previous fermentation - sauerkraut, fermented pickles, yogurt whey - if you wish to give your ferment a boost. Not necessary though, You’ll create an environment for the correct microbe populations to thrive, boom and bust setting the stage for the next wave of microbes.

3) Put a lid loosely on the veggies and put them in a cupboard at room temperature. Wait 4-5 days, resubmerging the veggies every morning - keep them underwater, the microbes need an anaerobic environment. Taste them - when they are tangy enough to your palate, tighten the lid and put them in the fridge. They will continue to ferment, but at a much slower rate than at room temperature.

Some of my favorite combinations:

• white daikon spears with black peppercorns and red pepper flakes - put a spicy fermented spear into a martini (gin, of course) as a savory addition replacing an olive!

• coins of variously colored winter radishes pack beautifully into a jar

• purple-topped turnip rounds with red onion slices, black peppercorns, coriander and green onion lengths - amazing on a salad or with a grilled entrée

• green cabbage sauerkraut with outrageous pink watermelon radish hearts or triangles along the sides make a lovely gift

• halved dark green Brussels sprouts with whole cumin, coriander and black peppercorn

There are so many possibilities! Let me know what you discover!

_____________________________

* Salt caveat: Salt (NaCl) is part of the environment you create to nurture the desired microbes and discourage the wrong ones (for example Clostridium Botulinum or E. Coli). If you are creating a ferment for a low-salt-person, you can decrease the brine concentration to 1% and add some sour/acidic cloudy liquid from a previous ferment - called “backslopping”. This immediately decreases the PH (increases acidity) and gives the desired microbe populations an advantage to out-compete undesirable competitors. Be assiduous about keeping the vegetables underwater, and monitor the ferment vigilantly. Your nose will tell you if anything is wrong.

In terms of food safety, fermented food is very safe. C. Botulinum and E. coli cannot survive in the low PH (acidic) environment rapidly created during the first phases of fermentation, such that the beneficials rapidly out-compete any competition.

turnips, celeriac and rutabagas from an overexuberant CSA share

Kimchi

I’ve adapted this recipe from my friend Alex Lewin’s book Real Food Fermentation, Preserving Whole Fresh Food with Live Cultures in your Home Kitchen. I love how he writes, There are lots of pictures, and he gives lots of tips and troubleshooting for many ferments.. Here’s a link to check his book out on Amazon. Props also to my friend Hans Breaux, who has also shaped this recipe which is a work in progress.

Ingredients:

• 2’ish pounds of cleaned vegetables: chopped Napa cabbage, any other cruciferous vegetables in pieces (radish coins, daikon spears, bok choy, kale shreds etc. (I like to chop my radishes into fanciful shapes like hearts and flowers.) carrots, peppers… I make sure the bulk of it is crucifers. They are the best source of microbes.

• big bowlful, (or very clean 1/4-sinkful) of water, 1/3 C salt dissolved in it to make brine - it needs to taste quite salty!

• 1/2 head of garlic (3-4 cloves or more!), skinned

• 1 large or 2 small onions, chopped

• 1/2inch knob of ginger root, grated

• up to 1/2 C of Korean red pepper powder, red pepper or pepper flakes (** careful, to your taste) Or none if you are capsicum-averse.

• 1 tablespoon of sugar, or 1/2 an apple or pear

• 1 teaspoon of fish sauce (optional - this is why kimchi might need it’s own fridge) and/or fermented shrimp paste. To make it vegetarian, use soy sauce.

• a few scallions, chives or spring onions

Instructions:

• Put the chopped veggies into the brine and allow to sit 6 - 8 hours, or overnight. (admittance: I have also done it for 30 minutes and made successful kimchi.) Then drain the veggies. I just pull the plug out of the sink to remove the water, then re-plug to contain the veggies. The sink makes a great mixing bowl.

• In a food processor, blend garlic, ginger, onion, red pepper, sugar and fish sauce. add minimal water to blend easily in to a paste.

• Cut scallions attractively into diagonal 1 inch lengths, and add to veggie mixture.

• Add the paste to the veggies and mix thoroughly. You might want to use gloves depending on how spicy you’ve made your mixture.

• Pack into jars leaving 2 inches of space at the top, and press down to remove bubbles - liquid will rise to cover the veggies and might spill out as the ferment progesses, so I put my jars on a plate. This is an anaerobic (oxygen-free) ferment, so keeping the veggies submerged is important. You can put in some extra brine if necessary (1T salt to 1 C water) Close the jar lid (not too tightly, so CO2 may escape) and put into a cool dark place. I use a cupboard.

• Check the jars every day - I suggest doing this in the sink. Keep submerging the vegetables to avoid mold. Taste in a day or two, it will start to taste (and smell) like kimchi very quickly! Put it in the fridge to slow the fermentation to a crawl once it has reached the desired kimchiness (5-7 days for my taste).

Kimchi is yummy on salads, in soups, as an interesting sandwich addition - anywhere you’d use sauerkraut and more!

Shaved Zucchini Salad

There’s only so many things one can do with zucchini, and then you have to start stashing it in people’s cars, or secretly putting it on folk’s porches. This is a good one with zucchini that are not too big and still flavorful and tender. In fact I think that’s how you get ahead of the zucchini game. Pick them while they are still small- medium-sized. Otherwise, they get ridiculous.

1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil

2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

1 teaspoon coarse kosher salt

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1/4 teaspoon dried crushed red pepper

2 pounds medium zucchini, trimmed

1/2 cup coarsely chopped fresh basil

1/4 cup pine nuts, toasted (optional)

Small wedge of Parmesan cheese

PREPARATION

Whisk oil, lemon juice, 1 teaspoon coarse salt, 1/2 teaspoon black pepper, and crushed red pepper in small bowl to blend. Set dressing aside.

Using vegetable peeler or V-slicer and working from top to bottom of each zucchini, slice zucchini into ribbons (about 1/16 inch thick). Place ribbons in large bowl. Add basil and nuts, then dressing; toss to coat. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Using vegetable peeler, shave strips from Parmesan wedge over salad.

https://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/shaved-zucchini-salad-with-parmesan-pine-nuts-360251

Summer Lettuce Cups

I made this up for the summer potluck. I wanted easy finger food with protein, not too heavy, and that featured juicy summer garden vegetables. Since the garden is currently spewing cucumbers and tomatoes, they got the job. I used lettuce cups as a wrap for the ingredients for added crunch, moisture-resistance, fiber and finger-food-ability. Bread or crackers would have become soggy and added an unnecessary caloric burden/blood sugar spike.

Best of all worlds - it’s delicious, not messy, tastes great, and feels good in the body later on too. A true Happiness recipe.

Ingredients: package of tempeh (a package of tempeh will give you about 12-13 batons), or 24 smaller half batons, 12 or 24 leaves of butter lettuce, or another firm’ish lettuce that has medium-sized bowl-shaped leaves - endive would work well too. 12 or 24 Cherry tomatoes, cucumber cut into 12 or 24 batons, tzatziki sauce (see next recipe).

• cut tempeh into 1/4 inch thick batons, marinate in your favorite salad dressing. (I use a home-made balsamic)

• sauté in olive oil medium heat until golden brown on all sides, set aside to cool

• make tzatziki sauce while tempeh is marinating (see next recipe, or create your own creamy sauce)

Bring all the ingredients separately to your event along with a nice platter, and find an accomplice to help you. A great way to easily meet new people is to ask them for help with food prep!

To assemble, put a green leaf down on the platter, add a piece of tempeh, a cherry tomato and a cucumber baton. Drizzle lightly with tzatziki sauce. Serve as individual bites, sushi-style for people to nab, wrap and eat in a bite or two.

Farmer's Market Frittata

All ingredients can be sourced locally at the Portland Farmer’s market!

• 6 eggs

• 1 bunch of chard, leaves stripped from stems, stems chopped and diced, leaves julienned

• 3 oz feta cheese, crumbled

• 1/2 large onion, diced

• 2 cloves garlic, squished

- sautée the diced onions and chard stems until soft, add garlic and stir around another minute, add the julienned chard leaves and cook until limp and fragrant. not too long - the chard should still be vibrantly green

- break 6 eggs into a bowl and stir up with a fork, add the feta crumbles, a few grinds of pepper and 1/2 teaspoon of salt'

- add the cooked onions and chard to the eggs and stir it all up together

- tip the mess into a 9” olive-oiled cast iron frying pan on medium heat - it should sizzle.

- Cook on medium heat until the eggs pull away a bit for the sides. The top middle may still be a bit liquid.

- transfer under a broiler and watch carefully until done. You could grate some parmesan on the top before so it browns up a bit.

***Other sprinkles to go on top: za’atar, sumac, and/or my signature blend of toasted cumin, hot red pepper flakes and home-oven-dried tomatoes pulverized in a vitamix.

Broccoli Cheese Balls with Yogurt lemon sauce

2 C of broccoli

1 C of panic bread crumbs (or rice)

2 eggs

3/4 C shredded strong whole-milk cheese (cheddar, asiago, parmesan)

2 shallots, finely sliced

2 cloves of garlic, minced

salt and pepper

Mix all of the above, form into 1-2”balls and put them on a sided cookie sheet. put in a 390F oven for 10 minutes, then roll them around and bake for another 10 minutes, or to your satisfaction. serve warm with the lemon yogurt sauce.

Lemon Yogurt Sauce

2/3 C whole-fat plain yogurt (local and organic for extra bonus points)

zest of half a lemon, then the juice of the entire lemon

0.5 - 1 clove of garlic, minced

drizzle of olive oil to taste

Thai-style Coleslaw with Mint and Cilantro

3T lime juice, 4 tsp sugar (or less) 1 T fish sauce 1 med serrano chili (or less) 5 T coconut milk, 1 # napan cabbage, 6 radishes, 4 oz sugar snap peas, 1/2 C cilantro, 1/2 C roasted salted cashews

shred the cabbage, finely chop the other veggies, mix all the wet ingredients and toss everything together. Add cashews just before serving.

Thanks Beth Gorski!

Savory Bok Choi

Christine Sullivan “I made up this recipe a couple of years ago and people seem to like it – enjoy!”

1-2 large heads of Bok Choi or 6 baby Bok Choi

2-4 Tbs olive oil 

1 pkg diced pancetta (4 oz.)

2-3 large cloves garlic, chopped

½ tsp crushed red pepper (optional)

¼ cup water or white wine or stock

Low sodium tamari or soy sauce

• Wash thoroughly and trim the bok choi. 

• Keeping separate, chop the stems into ½’ chunks and chop the leaves into 1-2” pieces. 

• Add olive oil to saute pan on medium heat. 

• Add pancetta and cook until the fat begins to render, 

• Add the stems and garlic and saute until tender—do not brown the garlic

• Raise the heat, add the liquid and several dashes of soy sauce and red pepper if desired and add the leaves

• Cover, lower heat, and cook for 5-8 minutes until the leaves are tender but not soggy. 

Serve over quinoa or wild rice

Not Exactly Raw Kale Salad

Elizabeth O’Neil with changes by Carie Bernard, L.Ac.

1 bunch organic kale

1 tsp. sea salt (I use pink Himalayan salt and it’s divine!)

1/4 cup olive oil, or a little less

1/4 cup currants, or a little more (I use ½ cup of golden raisins)

1/2 cup organic sunflower seeds, toasted pumpkin seeds or cashew pieces, pine nuts or any crunchy nut or seed you like)

2 organic ripe avocados

1 red or yellow pepper

splash of lemon (I love lemon so I use a whole lemon)

Umeboshi Plum Vinegar to taste (or your favorite vinegar)

De-stem kale by pulling leaves away from the stems. Wash leaves. Spin or pat dry very well. Stack leaves, roll up and cut into thin ribbons. Put kale into a large Ziploc bag. Add salt, zip bag and massage it into the kale with your hands for 2 minutes. Make sure that you rub the salt to help break down the kale, but not that it becomes liquid-y.
Add rest of ingredients. Zip bag, allowing air in it. Shake the bag to toss. Serve and enjoy! Stays good in fridge for about 1 day.

ROASTED CAULIFLOWER AND CHICKPEAS WITH MUSTARD AND PARSLEY

from Carie Bernard

From It’s All Good; Delicious, Easy Recipes That Will Make You Look Good and Feel Great,

by Gwyneth Paltrow and Julia Turshen, pg. 173, Grand Central Life & Style, New York, Boston, c. 2013

14 oz can chickpeas, rinsed, drained and dried
1 head of cauliflower, outer leaves removed and discarded, cut into bite-sized florets
Extra virgin Olive Oil
Coarse Sea Salt (I use Himalayan Pink Sea Salt)
1 Tbsp. Dijon mustard
1-2 Tbsp. seeded mustard
1 Tbsp. white wine vinegar (or apple cider vinegar)
Freshly ground black pepper (optional)
¼ cup chopped Italian parsley

Preheat oven to 400F and set rack in middle.
Toss chickpeas and cauliflower together in a large roasting pan with 3 Tbsp. olive oil and a big pinch of salt. Roast, stirring now and then, until everything is dark brown and the cauliflower is quite soft, about 45 minutes. Meanwhile, whisk together the mustards, vinegar and ¼ cup olive oil (I use less, maybe 1/8 cup) with a big pinch of salt (I use more) and a few healthy grinds of black pepper. While the chickpeas and cauliflower are still warm, toss them with the mustard dressing and the parsley. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Spinach Balls

from Candy Longyear:

Ingredients

• 6 cup fresh spinach leaves trimmed, washed (230 g) see note for frozen/cooked spinach

• 3 cup boiling water

• 3 eggs

• 1/2 cup grated cheese (60g) – I used Cheddar, use grated parmesan or grated emmental for more cheese flavor

• 1/4 cup fresh herbs of your choice, finely chopped I used cilantro

• 1 cup Gluten Free Panko Crumbs (75 g)

• 1/2 teaspoon garlic salt

  Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to  350 F (180 C).

  2. Trim and wash the fresh spinach leaves.

  3. Place the leaves in a large mixing bowl and over with boiling water. Cover and set aside for 3 minutes.

  4. Rinse the spinach with cold tap water. Drain using your hands to squeeze all the remaining water. You should obtain about 2/3 cup (160 g) of packed cooked spinach leaves. If you are using frozen spinach, defrost and measure this quantity.

  5. Place on a chop board and finely chop the cooked spinach. Transfer into a mixing bowl.

  6. Add eggs, cheese, herbs and panko gluten free crumbs. You can also add salt and pepper if your cheese is not very salty. I did not add salt.

  7. Combine with a spoon or your hands, until it forms a batter from which you are able to form balls with your hands or use a small cookie scoop maker to avoid the mess

  8. If too moist add slightly more crumb until easy to roll as ball with your hands palms.

  9. Place the balls on a non-stick cookie tray covered with baking paper.

  10. Bake at 350F (180C) for 15-20 minutes or until golden on the top.

  11. Serve immediately or cold in luchboxes.

  12. Serve with dips of your choice like pesto, hummus or homemade ketchup.

  Recipe Notes

  Spinach measurement :  you need about 6 cups of fresh spinach. It makes about 2/3 cup (160 g) of cooked, squeezed and packed spinach. It is ok to use frozen spinach as soon as you have 2/3 cup cooked, squeezed, packed spinach.

  Cheese options: you can replace grated cheddar but mozzarella, parmesan, colby, emmental or any hard grated cheese you love.

  Herbs options: those spinach balls are very tasty with fresh parsley, dill or basil. Use your favorite herb or mix it!

Honey Roasted Carrots

From Shelley Dunn:

Ingredients

• 1 pound small organic carrots (washed and dried)

• 2 tablespoons olive oil

• 2 tablespoons honey

• salt and pepper to taste

• Optional garnish: chopped parsley

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Line a sheet pan with foil

2. Place the carrots in a single layer on the baking pan.

3. In a small bowl, mix together the olive oil, honey, salt and pepper. Pour the honey mixture over the carrots and toss to coat.

4. Place in the oven and bake for 25-35 minutes or until carrots are tender and browned. Roasting time may vary depending on the size of the carrots.

5. Remove from the oven and serve immediately, sprinkled with parsley if desired.

Grilled baby peppers in oregano vinaigrette

From Ellen Profenno

Ingredients:

1 lb baby peppers (sweet mini)

mix together in a small bowl for vinaigrette:

1 Tsp fresh oregano (*? dried?)

1 tsp olive oil, evoo

1/2 tsp white vinegar

1/2 tsp garlic salt (*fresh garlic and salt?)

1/2 tsp ground cumin

toss peppers with vinaigrette, thread onto pre-soaked wooden skewers. 2 skewers makes sure the peppers won’t spin. Using outdoor grill, or greased indoor grill pan, grill the peppers until evenly charred, flipping once or twice. It will take about 4-5 minutes per side, but stay vigilant.  once off the grill, serve warm or at room temperature. Sprinkle with more oregano or vinaigrette. (*feta cheese and tomatoes as garnish? – E)

Spiced Sweet Potato Salad

From Robin Silva

2 peeled, cubed sweet potatoes

½ lb trimmed halved brussels sprouts

2 Tlbs olive oil,  1 tsp chili powder , ½ tsp salt

Toss together, bake at 400 degrees on rimmed baking sheet for ~30 minutes, until browned

Whisk together: 2 Tlbs olive oil, 2 Tlbs lime juice, 2 tsp honey ½ tsp salt, 1/4tsp pepper

6 cups mixed greens in large bowl, top with roasted vegetables, 2 Tlbs toasted pumpkin seeds, crumbled feta cheese, toss with dressing.

Judy L’s Green Bean Dish

1/8 cup olive oil
1 generous tbls. crushed garlic
6 cups green cut beans
2 tbls. chopped fresh rosemary (sometimes basil)
1/3 cup slivered almonds (crushed walnuts or pecans are good for a change) *I like to toast the nuts - Emma’s side note

1/3 cup gorgonzola cheese
1/3 cup dried cranberries
*4-5 slices pre-cooked bacon cut into medium size pieces (optional for a veggie side dish - use the toasted nuts)

Briefly saute garlic in oil
Add beans stir to cover with oil
Add rosemary

Continue to saute, stirring frequently until beans are al dente on medium heat - remember the smoke point of the olive oil)
Stir in bacon*, almonds and cranberries
Turn off heat
Add gorgonzola just before serving.

Mashed Red Curry Sweet Potatoes

Thanks Theresa P!

3 lbs. sweet potatoes, peeled and chunked
1/2 cup plus 3 T light coconut milk
1 T red curry paste
2 T maple syrup
2 T apple cider
2 T unsalted butter
1 tsp coarse salt
1 tsp ground cinnamon

***cook sweet potatoes in boiling water, about 12 minutes…drain and return to pan…dry cook over low heat for 2 minutes
***combine 3 T coconut milk with the red curry paste…heat in a saucepan over medium-high heat…stir well…  add the remaining milk, syrup, and cider…bring to a boil and then reduce heat and cook another 3 minutes…
***combine the potatoes and milk mixture in a large bowl…add butter, salt and cinnamon and mash

Serves: 10

Oven Fried Sweet Potatoes

peel and slice a sweet potato into “french fry” chunks.
sprinkle with enough sesame oil to coat well.  Add salt, pepper, lots of cumin powder (cayenne pepper optional) to taste and mix well.
Bake in 450 oven in shallow pan or cookie sheet for about 20 minutes, shaking and turning every 5 minutes or so until sides are brown and crispy.
If you like sesame seeds, sprinkle some for the last 5 minutes of baking.
- Valerie V

I have done a similar thing with sweet potatoes, I cut them and toss them with rice flour, then bakes as described above. The rice flour crispens them. – Emma H