October 24, 2012 CSA Delivery
Recipe Suggestions from Conne Ward-Cameron
Sweet Potatoes with Collard Greens and Field Peas
Apple and Chicken Liver Mousse
Baked Scented Beets and Greens
Honey-Jalapeño Chicken Tenders
Lettuce! Very exciting. Especially if you, like me, still had two tomatoes left from previous weeks. An official “salad” was served tonight for dinner. Some sliced daikon into the salad, a sliced apple served with a little blue cheese ….. dinner.
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Sweet Potatoes with Collard Greens and Field Peas
With apologies to those of you who get emails from Whole Foods, this is a recipe that just arrived in my inbox today. “Sweet potatoes, collard greens …. and how about substituting those field peas for the aduki beans called for in the recipe,” I thought. And so, here it is.
Your little bag of field peas
2 medium sweet potatoes
1 cup low-sodium vegetable broth, divided
4 green onions, sliced and dark green parts reserved for garnish
1 red bell pepper, cored, seeded and chopped
1 bunch collard greens, thick stems removed and leaves sliced 1-inchwide
4 teaspoons toasted sunflower seeds
1 lime, cut into 4 wedges
Preheat oven to 400°F. Place potatoes on a baking sheet and bake until tender when pierced with a fork, 45 minutes to an hour. Let cool, then peel and cut into 1-inch chunks. (or do this in the microwave in half the time)
In a small saucepan, cook your field peas in lightly salted water. When the peas are tender, drain and set aside.
While the peas and potatoes are cooking, in a large skillet, bring 1/2 cup broth to a simmer over medium high heat. Add white and light green parts of green onions and red bell pepper and cook about 5 minutes or until onions are translucent. Reduce heat to medium and stir in remaining 1/2 cup broth, collards and peas. Cover and cook 10 to 12 minutes or until collards are wilted and tender, stirring occasionally.
Divide greens between 2 bowls. Top with potatoes, sliced green onions, sunflower seeds and lime wedges and serve.
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Apple and Chicken Liver Mousse
I’m pretty certain I’ve never offered a chicken liver recipe in these notes. But why not? Here’s one from “A Great American Cook: Recipes from the Home Kitchen of One of Our Most Influential Chefs by Jonathan Waxman with Tom Steele (Houghton Mifflin Company, 2007).
2 pounds fresh chicken livers, preferably organic, trimmed
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 pound baking apples, such as Rome Beauty or Gala
4 shallots
1 cup walnuts
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup Calvados or bourbon
1/4 cup cognac
1 cup heavy cream
8 tablespoons unsalted butter
Toasted slices of walnut bread or good pumpernickel or white country bread
Heat the oven to 350 degrees.
Liberally coat the livers with sea salt and pepper; set aside on a plate. Peel and core the apples and cut into 1/4-inch dice. Chop the shallots.
Spread the walnuts on a baking sheet and lightly toast in the oven, 5 to 8 minutes, stirring occasionally; transfer to a plate.
In a large heavy enameled or other nonreactive skillet, heat the oil until it almost begins to smoke. Add the livers and stir them rapidly to sear, then cook for about 4 minutes, turning once. Remove the livers to a plate just when they become mahogany colored.
Add the apples and shallots to the skillet and cook for 5 minutes, or until softened. Turn off the heat, and carefully pour in the Calvados and cognac. Stir in the cream.
Melt the butter and let cool.
Combine the livers, apple mixture, and walnuts in a blender and puree just until the mixture is homogenous. Add the melted butter and blend well, then season to taste with salt and pepper. If you want the mousse to be very smooth, pass it through a fine-mesh sieve. Taste again for salt and pepper, transfer to a ceramic crock, and refrigerate for up to 2 days. Serve with the walnut toast.
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Baked Scented Beets and Greens
Elizabeth Schneider, the author of “Vegetable from Amaranth to Zucchini: The Essential Reference” (William Morrow & Company, 2001) loves root vegetables nested in their greens. She does something similar with hareuki turnips.
2 bunches small/medium beets with greens (8 beets)
4 whole star anise "flowers" or 1 teaspoon anise or fennel seeds
1 tablespoon butter
Lemon juice
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Trim off beet greens, leaving 2 inches of stem; reserve. Set each beet on a square of foil large enough to enclose it. Break star anise in half and place a piece on each square (of if using anise or fennel, divide among packets). Crimp each packet tightly shut.
Set beets in roasting pan. Bake until tender when pierced through with knife tip or cake tester, about 40 to 60 minutes.
Meanwhile, rinse greens in several changes of water.
Cool beets or not, as convenient. Keeping them wrapped up, gently squish each beet, sliding the skin back and forth so that it loosens. Open foil and, still holding beet with it, slip off skin and stem. Discard with spices. Halve beets.
Set greens on a rack in a steamer over boiling water. Cover and cook until tender, about 5 minutes. Meanwhile, heat beets in a pan with butter.
Toss greens with lemon juice. Arrange in a ring on serving dish. Nest beets in center.
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Honey-Jalapeño Chicken Tenders
Adapted from a recipe in “The Farm: Rustic Recipes for a Year of Incredible Food” by Ian Knauer. Long list of ingredients, simple directions and it will use up some of those jalapeños!
1/4 cup honey
3 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
4 garlic cloves, minced
6 jalapeño peppers, finely chopped
1 tablespoon finely grated lemon zest
2 teaspoons kosher salt
3/4 teaspoon black pepper
3 pounds chicken tenders
1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
Sour cream for serving
Preheat the grill and oil the grill rack.
Whisk together the honey, soy sauce, oil, garlic, jalapeño, lemon zest, salt, and pepper. Toss the chicken in the marinade and let stand for at least 10 minutes.
Grill the chicken until well browned and cooked through, 4 to 6 minutes. Serve the chicken sprinkled with the cilantro and with a dollop of sour cream on the plate.
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and that’s it for me tonight.
conne
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