Monica

CSA cooking: tomato-vegetable soup

Mon, 11 Feb 2019 01:30:32 GMT

This is loosely adapted from this recipe suggested by the CSA. I omitted the bacon (of course), decided that they couldn't possibly have meant 3 quarts of broth (along with other liquids, to say nothing of the solids) for "8-10 servings", and used margarine instead of butter so it would be pareve. I also used the veggies I had on hand rather than their specific list.

So, in other words:

half stick margarine
2 medium shallots and one medium red onion, chopped small
1 large clove garlic, chopped small
several shakes dried basil, a few shakes dried red pepper, black pepper

Cook the above over medium heat until the vegetables are soft (~8 minutes), stirring often.

3 small carrots
1 small parsnip
1 rutabaga
1 small sweet potato
2 medium golden potatoes

Chop all that into reasonable sizes for eating out of a soup bowl, add to pot, cook another 5 minutes, stirring often.

15oz can vegetable broth (I was going to use a quart but didn't know if it'd fit in my pot; future me: it would have just fit in the nice new 3.5-quart pot I used)

Stir, cook on high until simmering.

25oz jar tomato sauce (this was from the farm; it's just tomatoes, apparently pureed; no other ingredients)
0.25 cup apple cider vinegar
jar (12oz?) roasted red pepper slices

Add, reduce heat to low, cover (with a vent), cook 30 minutes.

We had it with hearty rye bread fresh and warm from the bread machine.

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some CSA cooking

Thu, 29 Nov 2018 04:00:00 GMT

1 small shallot, chopped small
half a large black radish, sliced very thin (I used a vegetable peeler and then chopped up the last stub)
2 carrots (~6"), ditto
three leaves of Chinese cabbage, torn into bite-sized pieces
butter
sea salt

Melt butter in a skillet and cook shallots and the chopped "stubs" from the root veggies. After a couple minutes, add the thinly-sliced radish and carrots. Cook on medium-low heat, stirring frequently, until the vegetables are almost to desired level of done-ness. Add cabbage and sea salt and continue cooking a couple minutes longer. Serves two as a side.

This was a nice mix of colors and tastes. I didn't take a picture and it's all gone now, sorry.

I usually cook vegetables with oil rather than butter, but a gut feeling told me that butter would taste better here. I'm not sure why. (But it was a dairy meal so I could.)

(The other half of the radish is getting roasted with some other things tomorrow night.)

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recipe: dal (red lentils)

Mon, 11 Jun 2018 00:32:24 GMT

I took advantage of Dani being out of town to cook food he doesn't like but I do. There are lots of kinds of dal ~~(dal means "lentils" in Hindi or Urdu)~~. I based what I did on this recipe.

In a deep skillet, saute in hot olive oil over medium heat until onions are soft but not yet brown:

1 large sweet yellow onion, chopped
~3" ginger root, peeled and cut fine
1 heaping teaspoon minced garlic
3 red mini-peppers, chopped

Then stir in and cook while you chop tomatoes:

~1 teaspoon ground cumin
~1 teaspoon ground turmeric
several shakes of dried red pepper flakes

Add:

4-5 small sweet tomatoes, diced (maybe a cup or so?)
1 bag frozen stir-fry vegetables, thawed (the cauliflower in the recipe I found sounds nice but I didn't have any)

Cook for a couple minutes, then add:

1 cup dried red lentils
2 cups vegetable broth

Bring to a boil, stir, then reduce heat and cover. Stir occasionally and add broth or water as needed. I needed another half-cup or so of liquid after about 10 minutes, and a bit more after another 10. Cook until done, about 30 minutes total.

Right before serving, stir in a few squirts of lime juice and some chopped cilantro. I had it over brown rice.

With rice, this made 5-6 meal-sized servings. (I made 1.5 cups (dry) rice.)

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