Vegetarian – Page 4 – WISCONSIN FUN NEXT EXIT

Endless summer salads

I have a new mantra. It’s “THERE CAN BE NO LEFTOVERS!” I declared this loudly to Dan as we served up our late lunch today- bowls full of protein-packed buckwheat noodles in a citrusy sauce with greens that were taking up valuable real estate in our refrigerator.

I have been making a riff on this salad for some time now- it’s pretty foolproof. My number one suggestion is to cook the soba noodles first thing so that they have time to cool and dry off- I just let them sit in the colander (better yet to put them in a bowl in the fridge.) And don’t skimp on the sauce. The sauce is the boss. I’m sure I’ve also mentioned this before, but I don’t measure anything, so use this recipe more as a guideline and be creative with whatever you might have burning a hole in your fridge.

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Soy-Citrus Soba Noodle Salad

Serves 2-4

Ingredients:
Sauce:
Garlic clove, make into a paste with a pinch of salt
Soy sauce or tamari
Juice of 1 or 2 limes or lemons (or a combination)
Chili sauce
Fresh ginger, minced
1-2 Tbl. sesame oil
Cilantro and basil, chopped
Green onions, minced
Jalapeno, chopped

Salad:
Soba (buckwheat) noodles (about a handful the size of quarter per person is a good bet)
Greens (any combination of collard greens, kale, beet greens, swiss chard, spinach…)
Cucumbers, sliced thinly or celery, chopped
Snow peas, chopped into thirds

Garnish:
Peanuts
Cilantro
Lime wedges

Directions:
Boil water for the soba noodles and cook according to the directions. I like to give the noodles time to cool and dry off so the sauce sticks better to the noodles. Combine the ingredients for the sauce in a large bowl. Start with the garlic paste and stir in the other ingredients. Taste as you go along and adjust as you like (I like A LOT of citrus, fresh herbs and heat.)
Saute the greens for the salad over medium low heat just until they are tender and starting to cook down. I saute them in organic canola oil or coconut oil and a little more chili sauce. Slice the cucumbers and chop the snow peas. To assemble the salad toss the all of the ingredients into the bowl with the sauce. Garnish each serving with peanuts, cilantro and a squeeze of lime, if you like.

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Enjoy!

Block party

Growing up on the near-west side of Madison, the fourth of July always meant a block party in our dear friends’ neighborhood. We dug for prizes in kiddie pools of sawdust and watched our parents compete in the water balloon toss. There were long tables set up in the middle of the street where neighbors placed bowls of potato, bean and pasta salad. After the communal meal we held matches to light the black snakes lining the sidewalk and waved sprinklers in the air, waiting for the adults to pop the corn and take us to watch the fireworks. And there was, of course, the parade. I remember distinctly sitting in my bedroom on the morning of the fourth creating my Rosie the Riveter costume for the 1985 parade. In a stroke of genius, I turned a colander into my helmet and someone handed me a drill to carry. I believe that was the year I won a prize- a $10 gift certificate to Michael’s Frozen Custard.

Today I’m using a colander to wash lettuce. It’s my turn to contribute to the potuck. I’m marinating cucumbers, fennel and garlic scapes in equal parts apple cider vinegar, sugar (or honey, if you open the cupboard and find yourself without sugar) and water.

After consulting with my salad guru, my sister, I’m making a light dressing of olive oil, salt, mustard and parsley and will toss this all together with a head of red lettuce, torn into bite-sized pieces (remove the cucumbers, etc. from the marinade before adding to the salad). I need to hurry, because I don’t want to miss the water balloon toss. Happy Fourth of July, my friends. May there be a block party in your future.

Cheers.

Early summer soup

This morning a steady mist of rain spread out over the farm as I crouched in the mud snapping collard greens off their stalks. In jeans, a sweatshirt and a rain coat I felt cozy as the temperatures barely hit 60. As much as I love summer, I don’t mind the occasional cool, rainy day; they remind of summer camp- hunkering down in the lodge, a chance to don a sweater, a change of pace. Moving on to pull weeds from the winter squash, my mind wandered to soup. Making a deliciously simple potato soup for lunch is something that my mother pulls off on a regular basis, regardless the season. I think it is something that she inherited from her parents. When I picture my grandpa, it is often at the stove. Either the small gas one that sits in front of the brick-lined kitchen wall of the northwest Iowa cottage or the one sixty miles away at his home where I could hand-crank the bell on the door that led inside to the kitchen, announcing my arrival. At the cottage he popped his homegrown corn to perfection; at home he stirred his award-winning fudge. But I think he loved potatoes the most. To make a simple potato soup, cut up some potatoes and put them in a pot with just enough water to cover. Gently boil until the potatoes are cooked and most of the liquid is absorbed. Mash up the potatoes to the desired consistency and add milk, butter, salt and pepper. Mine never tastes as good as my mom’s.

After returning home from the farm today I wanted to make an Iowa-inspired potato soup for lunch, but I have turnips haunting me from my crisper drawer and garlic scapes curled-up, hovering on the bottom shelf waiting for something extraordinary to happen to them. I also took home two beets today from the farm, deemed “farmer food” due to the fact that some worms also wanted a few bites, so into the pot they go. And don’t forget the neglected leek, long forgotten under kale and lettuces.

So I chopped up turnips, a couple of potatoes and beets and added them to leeks and garlic scapes sauteed in olive oil and butter. I added dill and red pepper flakes. Right before serving I blended it all up, added salt, pepper, a drizzle of olive oil and a squeeze of lemon.

As the vegetables simmered on the stove, I sauteed more garlic scapes, dill and chives in olive oil and made herbed croutons from the 1/2 eaten loaf of sourdough bread leftover from my lunch a few days ago. Danger Boy watched the whole thing, perched under my muddy jeans and garlic scapes.

Please use the following recipe as a guide- I don’t have a tendency to measure things- and adjust it to whatever vegetables are haunting you.

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Early Summer Soup with Herbed Croutons

Soup ingredients:

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon butter
1 leek, cleaned and chopped
4 garlic scapes, finely chopped (use only the part below the bud)
2 potatoes, cut into chunks
5 white turnips, cut into chunks
2 beets, cut into chunks
herbs (I used dried thyme, pepper flakes and fresh dill)
4 cups water (or veggie broth, if you like)
lemon juice
salt + pepper to taste

Crouton ingredients:

1/2 loaf of good, old bread
2 tablespoons olive oil
3 tablespoons fresh herbs (I used dill, chives and a chopped garlic scape)
salt + pepper

Directions:

In a large soup pot heat the olive oil and butter over medium heat. Add the leek and scapes and saute for a few minutes. Add the root vegetables and herbs and cook for a couple of minutes. Add the liquid to the pot and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for 25-30 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Rip the bread into bite-sized pieces. In a skillet, saute the fresh herbs in the olive oil. Remove from the heat and add the bread, tossing to coat. Pour the bread onto a baking sheet, making sure to spread the pieces out. Bake for 15 minutes, stirring occasionaly.
When the vegetables in the soup are tender, blend it with an immersion blender until smooth. Add fresh herbs and as much lemon juice as you like (I like a lot, Dan likes a little, so I add more to my own bowl). Add salt and pepper to taste. Ladle into bowls and garnish with a pour of olive oil, more dill and herbed croutons.

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Cultivating and cooking are in our bones. This soup will warm yours.

Cheers.

Farm report

Last week I started working 12 hours a week at Troy Farm. This statement sounds somewhat ridiculous considering most farmers work more than 12 hours a day, but hey, although I have an official farmer’s tan now, I’m no farmer. But I did feel a burst of pride when I spied the bundles of parsley that I helped to harvest being sold at the Willy Street Co-op and I am getting really good at making kale “bouquets” (the trick is to cradle the bunch of leaves in the nook of your arm and give it a gentle squeeze- not hard when you feel as affectionately about this vegetable as I do). My first task at the farm was picking ripe ‘Sumo’ snow peas. Something I quickly learned was no easy assignment. Although my instructions from the head farmer, Jake, were to be “super-human fast” I went at the pace of a sloth as I deliberated over every pod’s level of maturity, scared of doing it wrong and picking peas that were under or over-mature. After an hour I had picked 1/5 the amount of peas as the rest of the crew and was feeling like I should have stuck to shopping for peas at the market. But when my shift ended I was red-faced, sweaty and covered in dirt. And I couldn’t wait to go back the next day.

During the week I also trellised tomato plants, sheared off fennel roots, picked basil and was reunited with my new nemesis, the snow pea. But this time around I already felt more confident in my agrarian abilities and I worked one speed higher than sloth. Somebody buy me a John Deere tractor hat.

In exchange for my work at the farm, I am receiving a weekly share of vegetables. It’s a tad overwhelming trying to figure out what to do with all this food.

My answer this past week has been salads. Lots and lots of salads. I’ve been smashing a garlic clove on my cutting board and pouring on some salt. I smear it into a paste and add it to my new beautiful salad bowl (thanks, Dan!) Next I add a fork full of stone ground mustard and some sort of acid- either lemon juice or red wine vinegar. Pour in a generous amount of olive oil and some fresh herbs (I like parsley and dill). Whisk this all together and add greens and whatever crisp veggies you have lying around, toss it all together and enjoy for a late lunch! If you’re feeling fancy, and don’t have to go back to work, maybe even pour yourself a glass of lazy sangria (red wine + San Pellegrino blood orange soda + sliced lemon and limes).

I know you don’t need me to tell you how to make a salad, but here you go.

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Farm Salad

Dressing: Garlic, salt, lemon juice or red wine vinegar, stone ground mustard, olive oil, fresh herbs

Salad: Greens- combination of lettuces, spinach, and/or kale (washed and dried), chopped veggies (summer squash, cucumber, kahlrabi, radishes, etc.)

Optional add-ins: Sprouted lentils, sliced dried figs, hard boiled egg, parmesan cheese…

Directions:

Smash a garlic clove and pour salt over it. Chop and smash until you have a smooth paste. Add to your big salad bowl, along with mustard and lemon juice or vinegar, olive oil and fresh herbs. Add your greens and toss to coat all of the leaves. Add chopped veggies and toss again. Grate parmesan cheese over the top, if you like. And serve with a side of good bread.

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Happy summer.

Too little too late

I apologize for the tardiness of this post, but if you are anything like me and you still have a couple of bunches of ramps stashed away in your crisper drawer, then you’re in luck. Everyone else- tuck this one away for next April, when the ramps’ too-short growing season will be upon us again.

This spring I have been eating ramps raw in salads, pickling them and, something that I could eat for breakfast, lunch and dinner, eating them sauteed in butter and served on toast with an egg: For two servings, slice a bunch of ramps (bulbs and greens) and melt a pat of butter in a pan. Saute’ the bulbs and stems for a few minutes- add salt and pepper- and then add the greens and saute’ for a couple more minutes. Remove the ramps from the pan and melt a little more butter and fry two eggs (make sure the yolk is still runny). Meanwhile preheat the oven to 350 degrees or so and toast a couple of pieces of good bread (I like Madison Sourdough’s ‘Country’ bread). Pour olive oil over the toast and sprinkle with salt. Spread a soft cheese (I have been using goat cheese) on the toast and top with the ramps and an egg. Serve open-faced with a salad or roasted asparagus.

Happy growing season!

Dirt made your brunch

Today I found out some exciting news! This summer I will be spending 12 hours a week working at a local organic farm in exchange for a full share of produce, herbs and flowers. I can’t wait to get my hands in the dirt.

I also recently discovered my new (only) favorite farming blog, so the timing is pretty great. Let’s celebrate with a healthy brunch, shall we?

Fresh off an eleven and a half day cleanse (I couldn’t let National Pizza Week go by without celebrating last Friday night) I made this dish for brunch on Saturday (and again on Sunday). It is the perfect thing for a reformed vegetarian diet that will be heavier on the avocados and lighter on the cheese. With a hot cup of black coffee on the side (it was only warm water and lemon juice for 12 mornings), it tasted like spring.

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Garlicky Kale Toast with Avocado and Fried Egg

From Dishing Up the Dirt

Two large slices of a good quality baguette
2 eggs (organic free range if possible)
1 large bunch kale, stems removed and chopped into bite sized pieces
1 small ripe avocado, pit removed
1 TBS olive oil plus 1 tsp for drizzling
2-3 large cloves of garlic, minced
1/2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
salt and pepper to taste

In a large skillet heat olive oil over medium heat. Add garlic and sauté for about 3 minutes. Add kale and sauté for about 5 more minute or until kale is tender and bright green.
Meanwhile, poach two eggs in boiling water for 4 minutes (you could also fry two eggs instead*)
Toast two slices of baguette
Spread a little avocado onto each slice of bread. Top with kale and poached egg. Drizzle with olive oil, salt and pepper. Enjoy!

*Having never poached an egg, I fried the eggs in a little coconut oil

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Cheers.

On cabin fever and heavy cream

My tabby cat, Danger Boy, is simultaneously running around the house at high speeds and using the bathtub as a make-shift stage for his yelling practice. At press time, he is entertaining himself by sitting on the kitchen table and sticking his paw in my breakfast- a ceramic white bowl full of steel cut oats, pumpkin seeds, raisins and- Danger’s favorite- a dash of heavy cream.

I can’t blame him- on March 2nd the light is getting longer, but winter is holding heavy here in Wisconsin.

I’ve relied on my regular winter activities to keep myself entertained: Cross-country skiing, hot yoga, hot whiskey, entering the cats in a Bachelor gambling pool , making soup, watching Almost Famous on repeat… but things here have reached an ice-covered fevered pitch. And I’ve turned to sugar.

My mom recently brought me her February back issue of Bon Appétit magazine and the first page I dog-eared had a recipe for meyer lemon cream. I keep telling myself how much I love winter (I love winter I love winter I love winter) and one of the reasons why I love winter is because of floral meyer lemons*, available from November to March. My friend Martha recently gave me a bunch that she hauled back in a suitcase from her husband’s parents’ house in California (California! Lemons grow there on trees! In the winter!) So last night- after hot yoga- I whipped up a batch of meyer lemon cream, while Danger Boy pranced and yelled at my feet. I don’t always have the most success with making desserts, but this one is so simple it would be nearly impossible to mess up.

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Meyer Lemon Cream with Graham Crackers and Sea Salt

This recipe appeared in the February 2014 issue of Bon Appétit magazine

Ingredients:

3 large eggs
⅔ cup sugar
2 teaspoons finely grated Meyer or regular lemon zest
½ cup fresh Meyer or regular lemon juice
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into pieces
1½ cups chilled heavy cream
6 graham crackers, crumbled
Flaky sea salt (such as Maldon) finely grated

Directions:

Cook eggs, sugar, and lemon juice in a medium saucepan over medium heat, whisking constantly, until thickened (mixture should coat a spoon), 8–10 minutes.
Transfer mixture to a blender and blend on low speed, gradually adding butter, until mixture is smooth (you’re not trying to aerate the mixture, so keep blender on low speed). Transfer lemon curd to a medium bowl, cover, and chill at least 2 hours.
Just before serving, whisk cream into lemon curd. Layer lemon cream and graham crackers in small glasses or bowls, finishing with graham crackers. Top with lemon zest and sea salt.

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Hang in there, my friends- spring is lurking out there somewhere. Until then, enjoy meyer lemons and a romp in the snow while they last.

*Freshly squeezed meyer lemon juice is also delicious in hot whiskey.

Let’s cut to the chase

There’s a band practice happening in my living room and the snow outside is calling my name, so let’s make this speedy, shall we? A million years ago- or last month- Dan and I loaded up the car with groceries and headed up north to Chetek for a long (-er than expected) Thanksgiving weekend.

Chetek, tucked between Bloomer and Rice Lake, is where relatives on my mom’s side of the family settled their lake homes. After a long hiatus (I have early memories of picnics with my cousins on the ice, a yellow and white checked vinyl tablecloth and beds with electric blankets), I have rediscovered this place, thanks to the hospitality of Nancy and her family.

Summers on Lake Chetek are full of waterskiing shows, treading water for hours with cans of beer and a sleeping porch that might be my favorite spot in the world to sleep, but winters there offer more quiet isolation. Dan and I read by the wood-burning stove and went for long walks looking for animal tracks in the snow.

We did venture into town for some adventure one night and met Betty, the bartender who could not understand what we were possibly doing there after we told her we were neither hunting nor ice fishing. She cracked our bottles of Leinie’s and went about her Christmas decorating while I plugged money into the jukebox for us and the guy in the corner at the gambling machine. No matter the time of year, here is my rule about Chetek- I always stay an extra day then I intend to. I suggest you do the same.

And while I have a feeling that food is the last thing in the world that you want to hear about right now, I do want to share a couple of recipes with you. Dan and I had a lot of fun cooking our vegetarian Thanksgiving meal. It was the first time that I planned and prepared one, ever.

We had mushroom gravy, sage and onion stuffing, bread from Madison Sourdough Company and a crazy delicious kale salad which I will tell you about now. No matter how much you have eaten in the last month, there’s always room at the table for kale salad.

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Raw Tuscan Kale Salad

From 101 Cookbooks

1 bunch Tuscan kale (for ex: black or lacinato)
2 thin slices country bread, or two handfuls good, homemade coarse breadcrumbs
1/2 garlic clove
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt, plus a pinch
1/4 cup (or small handful) grated pecorino cheese, plus adiitional for garnish
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, plus additional for garnish
Freshly squeezed juice of one lemon
1/8 teaspoon red pepper flakes
Freshly ground black pepper to taste

Directions:

Trim the bottom few inches off the kale stems and discard. Slice the kale into 3/4-inch ribbons. You should have 4 to 5 cups. Place the kale in a large bowl.

If using the bread, toast it until golden brown on both sides and dry throughout. Tear into small pieces and pulse in a food processor until the mixture forms coarse crumbs, or crumbs to your liking.

Using a mortar and pestle or a knife, pound or mince the garlic and 1/4 teaspoon of salt into a paste. Transfer the garlic to a small bowl. Add 1/4 cup cheese, 3 tablespoons oil, lemon juice, pinch of salt, pepper flakes, and black pepper and whisk to combine. Pour the dressing over the kale and toss very well (the dressing will be thick and need lots of tossing to coat the leaves).. Let the salad sit for 5 minutes, then serve topped with the bread crumbs, additional cheese, and a drizzle of oil.

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And the other recipe is for a cocktail, because you can’t possibly be tired of those yet- we still have New Year’s Eve to deal with. I adapted this recipe from 101 Cookbooks, also, altering it to include my favorite winter citrus fruit, meyer lemons.

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Meyer Lemon Gin Sparkler

Adapted from 101 Cookbooks

2 cups water
1 cup sugar
4 tablespoons fresh rosemary leaves
1 bay leaf
meyer lemons
gin (I used Death’s Door)
tonic water

Directions:

Combine the water, sugar, rosemary, and bay leaf in a small saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a simmer for 3-5 minutes, or long enough for the sugar to dissolve, stirring occasionally. Remove from the heat and let infuse for 10 minutes. Strain into a jar to cool completely.

In the meantime, juice and strain your lemons.

To make each drink combine 1 1/2 ounces gin and 1 1/2 ounces lemon juice and a bit of rosemary syrup in a tall glass. Stir to combine, fill glass 2/3 full with ice and top off with 1 1/2 ounces of tonic water. Stir again and garnish with a rosemary sprig.

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Happy holidays.

Pickles and polaroids

Our friends, Mary and Jeffrey, of cucumber luge fame, got married this past weekend in Soldiers Grove, Wisconsin.

And I, trying to rival what Mary and Jeffrey pulled off in that magical valley, I made pickled green beans for my picnic the evening before (more on those in a moment). But it was a seriously beautiful wedding.

There was a pre-ceremony cocktail hour in the woods where a square wooden frame hung from a pine tree, beckoning smiling faces. There were guests sitting on hay bales and horse blankets watching Mary and Jeffrey plant a tree in soil dug up from their respective home- and adopted- towns. And there was a groom in yellow sneakers, not to mention a bride in a stunning pine needle forest floor-length gown. I even got to fulfill a dream- singing a Townes Van Zandt duet with Dan at the reception (I’ll tell you what- singing in the shower is a whole different ballgame than hearing your voice amplified throughout a valley). In the background the shade crept up the hill as people played badminton and croquet, caught up with old friends and sipped on gin and ginger beer cocktails. When darkness took over there were speeches and bottles of prosecco. The speeches are usually one of my favorite things about a wedding, and this one was no exception. A hush fell over the crowd and tears sprang to eyes as a man named Nils with skinny yellow shoelaces went from describing a scene in which Mary stopped traffic on a Colorado highway as Jeffrey’s truck with 560,000 miles took its last breath, to poetically stating how every relationship needs a doer and dreamer. It was so moving, I almost pocketed the copy of the speech that he left folded on the corner of the head table (maybe there is a less sneaky way to have it? Mary and Jeffrey- could you hook it up?) And then there was dancing. And tiny polaroid photos to be taped into a makeshift guestbook on yellow legal pad paper.

And more dancing followed by the late-night discovery of the bottled beer stash when the tapper ran dry. As I led Dan by the hand back through the pitch black pine forest without a flashlight (I was a camp counselor, afterall) we emerged under shooting star-filled skies, back at the camper near the cornfields we got to call home for the weekend. A successful day, to say the least. Cheers to you, Mary and Jeffrey- thank you and your families for a lovely weekend.

And now, finally about those pickled beans. I decided to pack a picnic for our dinner when we arrived in Soldiers Grove on Friday evening. I prepared a panzanella salad with sungold cherry tomatoes from my garden (I kept the olive oil and balsamic vinegar in a separate jar until we ate and didn’t add the bread until later, either) and decided to ‘quickly’ pickle the green beans I had just purchased. Along with a loaf of country bread from Madison Sourdough Company (three-quarters of which we ripped up into bite-sized pieces to add to the panzanella salad), a circle of goat brie, salty olives, 1/2 a bottle of chilled rose wine, and a brief appearance by an orange crescent moon, it was quite the picnic.

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Quick pickled green beans

¾ lb. green beans, tops removed
1¼ cups water
1 cup cider vinegar
¼ cup granulated sugar
2 garlic cloves, lightly crushed
fresh dill
red chili flakes
1/2 chopped jalapeno pepper
salt

In a large saucepan, blanch the green beans for 3 minutes in gently boiling water, just until tender but still with a snap. Place the green beans in an ice water bath to stop them from cooking further. Transfer beans to a clean (washed in hot, soapy water) jar.

In a medium saucepan, bring the water, vinegar, sugar, garlic, dill, red chile flakes, and salt to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for 2 minutes.

Pour the pickling liquid over the beans and cool, uncovered, in the jar (I added the chopped jalapeno- leftover from my lunch- at this point). After about an hour, they should be ready to be sealed up and hit the fridge.

Chill, covered, for at least 24 hours for the flavors to fully develop.*

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*We enjoyed the beans later that evening, although they continue to taste better each day.

Happy June

Hot damn! It’s been years. I sit here at 11:28 p.m. on a Friday night because tomorrow is June 1st and there isn’t a month that has gone by since I started writing here that I haven’t posted at least one thing. And I haven’t posted one thing this whole whirlwind month (but I have been writing a little…).

So as Dan sits outside by the fire with a beer and our cats, I sit here on a pile of clothes, staring at dust bunnies, wondering where to begin. And because tomorrow (in several minutes) is the first day of June, I’ll just tell you about grilled mushroom burgers. A year ago my friend Sam invited us over for a cook-out (sometimes a dreaded event for vegetarians) and served grilled portabella mushroom burgers. She marinated portabella mushrooms in crushed garlic cloves, BBQ sauce, Worcestershire, apple cider vinegar, mustard and olive oil. Then her husband Matt grilled them while their dogs photobombed each other and looked adorable.

The mushrooms can be topped with cheese and served on a bun or eaten by themselves. With a side of grilled asparagus and a cocktail, it makes for a scrumptious, meat-free cook-out.

Happy June.