Bok Choy and Tempeh (or Chicken or Pork) Stir Fry with Mushrooms, Sweet Peppers and Onions

Photo by Susanna Liang at Divine Healthy Food.  Her recipe uses a red chili pepper so it's spicier.


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Sally wrote me after I had developed recipes for tomatillo salsa, to say that the bag for Glade Road Growing this week would instead include bok choy, salad turnips, red pepper, red onion, arugula, lettuce mix and tomatoes.  Here's my recipe for a stir fry using the bok choy, red pepper, red onion and tomatoes with tempeh.  If you prefer, you can use cooked chicken or pork, sliced thin and added in with the tomatoes.

Plus check out the recipe Sally found for the newsletter for  grilled bok choy and turnip rice bowls with soy sesame sauce by Oregon "farmer turned foodie Andrea Bemis" at her blog Dishing Up The Dirt.  (And while you're there, check out the other recipes!)



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Serves 4

Ingredients:

2 cups of brown rice

2 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil or peanut oil
2 tablespoons of sesame seeds
8  cremini mushrooms, sliced (sometimes called baby portobellos)
1 red onion, thinly sliced with one tablespoon finely chopped and reserved for garnish
1 package of tempeh, cut into thin strips (or 1 cup cooked chicken or pork)
1 sweet red pepper, stemmed, seeded, membrane removed and cut into thin slices
4 cloves garlic, smashed, peeled and chopped
fresh ginger, chopped to make 1 tablespoon
4 medium bok choy, chopped into thin slices
2 tablespoon cornstarch
2 tablespoons water
2 tablespoons of balsamic or rice wine vinegar
2 teaspoons smoked paprika
1/2 teaspoon of red pepper flakes
4 tablespoons of miso
2 tablespoons toasted sesame oil
2 small tomatoes, chopped
1/4 cup cilantro chopped


Instructions

1.  45 minutes before you start the stir fry, bring 2 cups of brown rice and 4 cups of water to a boil in a heavy-bottomed lidded pot.  Simmer for 5 minutes.  Rinse rice until water is clear, add water up to the original level and bring again to boil for another five minutes.  Cover pot, turn off the heat and let steam for 40 minutes until the water is absorbed.

2.  Heat a dry cast iron skillet over a medium heat until a drop of water boils off.  Toast sesame seeds until they pop.  Immediately transfer to plate and reserve for garnish.

3.  Add olive or peanut oil to the skillet and heat until a bead of water sizzles.  Add mushrooms and cook until tender.  Add the onions and cook until translucent.  Add the garlic, ginger, paprika, red pepper flakes, red pepper and bok choy and cook the vegetables are tender. 

4.   While the veggies are cooking, in a small bowl, make a paste of the cornstarch, water, miso, sesame oil and vinegar.  Turn down the heat to low and add mixture to the skillet, stirring until it thickens.  Stir in tomatoes (and meat, if you are substituting for the tempeh) and turn off heat and let warm through.

5.  Stir the rice with a fork to fluff and divide among four bowls.  Top with stir fry, garnished with toasted sesame seeds, chopped cilantro and  reserved, chopped red onions.

Photo by Andrea Bemis of her grilled bok choy and turnip rice bowls with soy sesame sauce.

far


mer turned foodie, Andrea Bemis  

Greek Potato Salad with Tomatoes, Quick Pickled Onions and Soft-Set Eggs

Photo by Stacie Billis


Serves 4

Ingredients:

Pickled onions

1/2 cup of balsamic vinegar
1/2 cup water
2 whole cloves
1 bay leaf
1 tablespoon sea salt
1 teaspoon honey

1 medium red onion, peeled, halved and thinly sliced

Potato salad:

4 large potatoes scrubbed and cut into one-inch cubes
2 cups of tomatoes cut into wedges
4 soft set duck or chicken eggs

Vinaigrette:

2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons of lemon juice
1 tablespoon of Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon of honey
1 teaspoon of sea salt
Fresh ground pepper

Garnish:

3 tablespoons of chopped herbs (cilantro, parsley, mint, dill, basil or a combination)

Directions:

1.  Mix together vinegar, water spices for pickled onions.  Bring to a boil and take off heat.  Pour over onions and let cool.  Cover and refrigerate for at least two hours.

2.  Steam potatoes in covered pot boiling water until tender, about ten minutes.  Transfer to a bowl to cool.

3.  Meanwhile cook eggs in a large saucepan of boiling water until whites are set and yolks are still slightly soft, about 7 minutes. (You can cook the eggs a minute or two longer if you like them more set.) Drain and rinse in cold water until cold.  Drain and peel.  Set eggs aside.

4.  To make vinaigrette, whisk lemon juice, mustard, and honey in a large bowl. Whisking constantly, gradually add oil; whisk until emulsified. Season with salt and pepper.

5.  Add vinaigrette to potatoes, tomatoes and pickled onions and toss.  Transfer to four individuals bowls.  Quarter eggs and tuck one in each bowl between veggies.  Garnish with chopped herbs.

Beet, Chickpea and Cauliflower Salad

Photo from Nine.com.au Kitchen


JP tells me that the farm share from Glade Road Growing for July 11 will include cauliflower, beets and red onions, so I thought this salad might be good.


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Serves 4




Ingredients

1 cup of dried chickpeas
1 fresh bay leaf
2 large beets or 5 small ones.
1/2 cauliflower, broken into florets
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/2 red onion, thinly sliced
2 cup greens (beet greens, chard, kale, arugula, tatsoi or combination thereof, coarsely chopped)

Dressing:

4 garlic cloves, smashed, peeled and chopped coarsely
2 teaspoons wholegrain prepared mustard
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon miso
1/8 teaspoon red pepper flakes


1.  Cover chickpeas in water and bring to boil and simmer for 5 minutes.  Drain and rinse and add three cups of water.  Bring again to a boil, simmer for 5 minutes, turn off heat and soak for at least two hours.  Rinse a second time, add three cups of water and a bay leaf. Bring to a boil and simmer for an hour or until soft.

2.  Dice beets into 1 inch cubes, if large or quarter small beets.  Steam for 10 minutes or until tender.  Let cool and peel, unless skins are tender.

3.  Steam cauliflower florets for about 7 minutes or until tender.  Let cool.

4.  Coat the bottom of a skillet with olive oil and heat until a bead of water evaporates.  Add onions and cook until translucent.  Add greens and saute for 5 minutes.  Add a bit of water and steam for another 5 minutes.  Take off heat.

5.  Combine dressing ingredients in a small jar and stir to combine.  Toss with cooked ingredients and chill in refrigerator in a wide mouth mason jar.  Screw on lid and invert.

6.  Divide among four bowls and serve.

If you like you can top this salad with crumbled feta cheese.  You can also add walnuts, pecans or almonds, hazelnuts, pumpkin seeds or sunflower seeds.

Watermelon, Juliet Tomato and Carmen Pepper Salad with Feta and Lime-Ginger-Kalamata Dressing

Photo by Pornchai Mittongtare for Simply Zov, Rustic Classics with a Mediterranean Twist by Zov Karamardian as featured in Jaden Hair's SteamyKitchen.com



The September farm share for Glade Road Growing is expected to include:  eggplant, Juliet tomatoes, lettuce mix and red carmen peppers.

While it's still summer I wanted to include a recipe for a salad that included watermelon.    The Juliet tomatoes are slightly larger than a grape tomato and shaped like a Roma.  They are sweet and perfect for this salad, although the photograph shows larger mixed heirloom tomatoes. Do not refrigerate them (or any fresh tomatoes) as they will get pulpy.

The vinaigrette is my own and I use basil, rather than mint and dice my onions fine and keep the cuke's skins and seeds (unless the seeds are large, then I scoop them out with a spoon.)

Lime Ginger Dressing:

1. Mince one tablespoon of fresh ginger.  Grate the zest off of one fresh lime. Finely chop two tablespoons of Kalamata olives, pits removed.

 2.  In a small bowl, whisk together the ginger, zest and 2 tablespoons of lime juice and 2 teaspoons of demerera sugar.  Gradually whisk in 1/3 cup of extra virgin olive oil.  Stir in olives and add fresh ground pepper to taste.  If you want, you can store this in  tightly-sealed jar in the refigerator.  Let the dressing stand at room temperature until the olive oil liquefies, about 20 minutes, before shaking to blend.

Salad:

1.  Peel alternating strips of a small cucumber.  Slice thinly.  Peel and cut off stem of one small onion and finely dice.  Cut the Juliet tomatoes in half.  Cut peppers in half and remove stem, seeds and white membrane.  Cut into bite-size chunks.  Thinly slice 1/2 cup of fresh basil leaves.  Place in a large bowl.

2.  Remove rind and seeds from watermelon and cut into bite size chunks to make an equal volume with the veggies in step one and add to bowl.

3.  Drain and rinse 7 oz. of feta and cut into 1/2 inch cubes and add to bowl.

4.  Just before serving, add enough dressing to coat and toss lightly.  If you'd like serve on a bed of  lettuce mix or thinly sliced kale or spinach.

Garlic and Ginger Roasted String Beans and Red Peppers with Red Onion, Coconut and Lime Dressing

Photo by Kalyn Denny inspired my own recipe.  The vinaigrette  is a variation on one by the wonderful Molly Kazen, who uses hers in a recipe for roasted eggplant.

The veggies in the August 24 share from Glade Road Growing is slated to include:  eggplant, green beans, sweet red Italian peppers, red onions and lettuce mix.  If you wanted you could also use the eggplant in this recipe.  I have a green bean and cucumber salad here and a Salad Niçoise that includes green beans here.  I love green beans so much, I've even got a poem about them (published some decades back in Artemis.

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Serves 4


1.  To make coconut milk,  heat 2 cups of water on the stove until it’s hot, but not boiling.  Put 1 cup dried coconut chips in a blender and add hot water.  Blend on high  for 2 minutes or until you get a creamy, thick homemade coconut milk.  Line a strainer or colander with cheesecloth. Pour the coconut milk through the lined strainer into a bowl. This will remove any larger remaining coconut meat. When you’re done pouring the coconut milk through the strainer, ball up the cheesecloth and give it a good squeeze to press the remaining liquid through. You can use your residual coconut caught in the cheesecloth in a recipe that calls for coconut.  You will need 3 tablespoons to make 3/4 of a cup dressing.  Transfer coconut milk from the bowl into a lidded glass container and keep in the refrigerator for up to four days.  Or you can preserve the unused portion longer by freezing it in an ice cube tray. Once firm, transfer the cubes to a wide mouth canning jar for longer storage to pull out what you need, when you need it.

2.  To make the dressing, finely chop  4  tablespoon of  red onion.  In a small bowl, combine with 3 tablespoons fresh lime juice, 3 tablespoons of the coconut milk,½ teaspoon sea salt, 1 teaspoon demerara sugar or honey and whisk to thoroughly blend. Drizzle in 6 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil, whisking as you go, until it is fully incorporated.  Store in a tightly covered container (a small jar with a lid is ideal) in the refrigerator. Shake and/or stir from the bottom before use. Makes about ¾ cup.

3.   Preheat oven to 450F (or I used my countertop convection oven at the same temperature.

4.  Mince enough fresh garlic (4-5 large cloves) to make a heaping tablespoon. Peel fresh ginger root and finely mince enough a heaping tablespoon.  Add to 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil in a small container and let it marinate.

5.  Cut red peppers in fourths lengthwise, removing the stems and seeds and trimming any white pithy parts.   Cut into thin strps.  Trim ends of green beans and cut them in half.  Put in a medium-sized bowl and toss with the seasoned olive oil from Step 4. Season to taste with sea salt and fresh ground black pepper. Spread the vegetables out on a large baking sheet, arranging it so vegetables aren't crowded (as much as you can.) Roast 15 minutes, or until a few beans are starting to look browned and the veggies are tender-crisp.

6.  Place 4 tablespoons of the dressing in a shallow dish or large pie pan.  Transfer the still-hot veggies directly to dressing in the dish.  Let them  it sit to absorb the dressing as they cool to room temperature.  Stir in another 2 tablespoons or so of the dressing.  Cover and refrigerate for at least and hour or up to two days.  Serve cold or at cool room temperature. Top, if you'd like with red pepper flakes and toasted chopped peanuts. 

Pickled Summer Veggies!

I found this gorgeous photo at the website for  Virginia Willis (bio).  My friend Jessica Schultz, aka the Bagel Lady, had been asking about about okra recipes. This is for her, right now.  Maybe I'll get to use it for Glade Road Growing, if the share ever includes Sally and JP's okra.



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Serves 8


1. Fill a large bowl with ice and water to make a bath. Remove alternating stripes of peel from a cuke and set aside. Halve and thinly slice one red onion. Sut 1 large garlic clove (or more!) into slivers.


2. Cut 8 cups assorted veggies such as carrots, cauliflower florets, green beans, wax beans, and small okra. Over high heat, bring a large pot of salted water to a rolling boil. Cook these veggeies vegetables in the boiling water until vibrant in color but still firm, 1-2 minutes. Drain well in a colander, and then set the colander with the veggies in the ice-water bath to set the color and stop the cooking, making sure the vegetables are submerged. Drain well. Set aside.


3. Place ½ the red onion, garlic, 1 tsp. each of mustard seeds, coriander seeds, and white peppercorns in the bottom of a large sealable bowl or jar. Transfer the blanched vegetables to the jar, layering to alternate the color and texture. Layer in remaining ½ onion, cucumber, and 4 small red peppers.


3. In a large saucepan over medium high heat, combine 6 cups white vinegar, 2 cups demerara sugar, and 3/4 cup kosher salt and cook until just under a boil. Pour mixture directly over vegetables and spices. Depending on the size container and the size of the vegetables you may not use all of the vinegar. Allow the mixture to cool to room temperature. Cover or seal and store refrigerated, stirring occasionally, for at least 48 hours. Serve well-chilled.

Chickpea Ratatouille with Quinoa

Photo from Sonia Lacasse at The Healthy Foodie

Glade Road Growing's  vegetable share for the week of August 11 is expected to include tomatoes, red onions, sweet peppers, eggplant and summer squash.  As Sally suggested, this is perfect for ratatouille.  Two years ago, I posted a recipe here and have another one for you today.

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Serves 6


1.  Cook 1 and 1/2 cups of dry chickpeas.  In a medium saucepan with a heavy bottom and a tight-fitting lid, cover with 3 cups water, and and bring to a boil.  Rinse.  Return to pot, add ½ teaspoon sea salt and bring again to a boil again.  Cover, reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes. Let stand over night or for at least one hour. Rinse a second time.  Add two cups of water and bring to a boil again and simmer on low heat until soft, about 1 hour.

2.  In a medium saucepan with a heavy bottom and a tight-fitting lid, combine 1 1/2  cup quinoa, 3 cups water, and and bring to a boil.  Rinse.  Return to pot, add ½ teaspoon sea salt and bring again to a boil again.  Cover, reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes.  Turn off heat and leave for 20 minutes until water is absorbed.

3.  While quinoa is cooking, wash, peel and chop onion.  If you are using cherry tomatoes, cut in half.  Otherwise chop coarsely to make 2 cups.  Cut 1 eggplant (about 1 pound) into 1/2-inch pieces.   Cut squash in half lengthwise and cut crosswise into 3/4-inch-thick pieces.  Cut peppers in half and remove seeds and stems and slice into 1 inch pieces.  Smash and peel 6 cloves of garlic and mince.  Rinse basil and remove leaves from stems to make about 1/2 cup. 

4.  Heat 1 TB extra virgin olive oil in a cast iron skillet over medium-high heat. Add the onion  and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened, 4 to 6 minutes.  Add garlic and cook for another minutes.  Remove to plate.  Replenish oil and cook peppers until soft.  Remove to plate and repeat for squash and then egg plant.

5.  In a 3 quart covered saucepan, add tomatoes, cooked vegetables, 1 teaspoon sea salt, and ¼ teaspoon black pepper. Cook, stirring, until fragrant, about 2 minutes. Add 2 cups water and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer, partially covered, until eggplant is tender, 12 to 15 minutes. Stir in the cooked chickpeas and cook just until heated through, about 3 minutes. Remove the vegetables from heat and stir in  fresh basil leaves.

6.  Uncover the quinoa and fluff with a fork. Divide among six bowls and top with vegetables and, if you like, some shaved Parmesan or Asiago cheese.

Mustard Potato Salad with Pickled Red Onions, Tomatoes and Basil

I first published the post on 7/28/14 at 9:41 pm.  I updated it with some corrections on 7/29/14 at 12:30 pm.

Photo from The Food Network.

The July 29 farm share from Glade Road Growing is expected to include tomatoes, basil, red onions, new potatoes, beans, and summer squash.  Here's a recipe for a slightly different potato salad, inspired by one created by chef Bobby Flay

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Serves 6


1. Let six eggs sit until at room temperature.  Place in saucepan and cover with cool water by 1 inch. Slowly bring water to a boil over medium heat; when the water has reached a boil, cover and remove from heat. Let sit 12 minutes.  Transfer eggs to a colander and run under cool running water to stop the cooking. Peel.   Chop coarsely and store in refrigerator until ready to add to recipe.  For the vegan version I like to substitute garbanzo beans.

2.  Half and thinly slice one red onion or two small red onions.  If you want to pickle all the red onions in the farm share and reserve some for a condiment later, that's fine.

3.  Combine in a saucepan:
1 1/2 cups balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoons honey (or 2 TB demerara sugar for vegan version)
1 teaspoon mustard seeds
1 TB kosher salt

Bring  to a boil  cook until the sugar and salt dissolves, about 1 minute. Transfer to a small bowl and let cool for 10 minutes. Add the onions and stir to combine. Cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour and up to 24 hours. Drain the onions through a strainer into a bowl and reserve the pickling liquid.  If you have extra onions you want to use later, save them in the pickling liquid (minus the few TB you will use in this recipe.

4. Slice 2 1/2 pounds of new potatoes into 1/2-inch thick slices.  Steam over boiling water until just soft.  Transfer warm potatoes to a large bowl. Add the eggs, pickled onions.

While potatoes cook, finely chop one tomato and 1/4 cup of basil.

5.  For dressing, whisk together:
1 cup Greek yogurt (or tofu "sour cream" for vegan version)
4 tablespoons whole-grain mustard, Dijon mustard or a combination
Freshly ground black pepper
A few tablespoons of the pickling liquid

Add the dressing, the tomatoes and the basil to the warm potatoes and gently mix to combine. Garnish with a whole basil sprig.  Serve at room temperature or cover tightly and refrigerate for at least 2 hours and serve chilled.

This can be a main course, rather than a side.  If you want an even heartier recipe you can add add two cups of cooked beans or 1 cup of cooked chicken.