Notes from Debbie's Kitchen
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Welcome back everyone - it was nice to have a break, but I bet you're ready for CSA veggies again... three weeks is a long time to go between shares! I love that Tom explained the 'why' of brassicas' particular sweetness in winter. I knew from experience that Red Russian Kale, for example, is markedly sweeter in winter, I just didn't know why. Now I do. You learn something new every day! - Debbie

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Let's start with that Red Russian Kale, shall we? In addition to my "hot salad" standby for cooking kale, as of late I've developed a fondness for for a different method of preparing it; one that doesn't involve any cooking at all...

Debbie's massaged kale
You can eat this like a salad or a side dish; it's kind of whatever you want it to be. It's uncooked but basically room temperature; not 'cold' like a leafy salad somehow. If you're hankering for a salad, serve it as a salad. But it is also quite tasty as a side dish with any number of meat or vegetarian entrees, beans, grains or rice. What makes this flexible is simply varying how you 'dress' it. I'll start with a basic version, then explain how you can modify it to suit the rest of the meal.

One bunch of kale will serve two generously or four modestly.

One bunch of Red Russian kale
approx. 1/4 tsp. sea salt (use slightly more or less, to your salt-liking)
about 1 tbsp. red wine vinegar
about 1/2 tsp. Dijon mustard (or similar)
about 2 tbsp. flavorful olive oil

Wash leaves if needed and thoroughly pat dry (you don't want a lot of water clinging). Strip leaves from stems (compost the stems), and either chop the leaves or tear them into bite-size pieces and place in a large bowl. Note that it will look like a LOT of greens to start, but the volume goes way down in short order. Oh, and wash your hands too, because they're the 'utensils' you're going to be using to make this!

Sprinkle the kale with salt with one hand while lifting leaves and kind of tossing a bit with the other to get the salt evenly distributed over the kale. Now with one or both hands, start grabbing and squeezing and squishing the salted kale. Mash it together; don't be shy! At first, it will seem like nothing's happening, but then you will notice the kale start to soften and shrink. Keep 'massaging' the kale until it is reduced in volume by half or more, and the leaves have gone from dusty green to a dark, glistening green. This only takes a couple minutes.

In a small cup or dish (I use an old teacup) whisk the vinegar, mustard and oil together with a fork until blended. You're basically making a vinaigrette, only in this case DON'T add any salt, as all the salt is already there in the kale you just massaged.

Lastly, simply toss the massaged kale with the dressing and... voila! That's it!

Now the way to vary this is quite simple: just vary the 'dressing' part, and/or add other goodies. Think about balance and contrast. If you have a sweet-ish main dish, with tomato sauce, say, use a savory dressing like I described above. If you're serving a salty or savory entree, like maybe a steak or burger (Morris Grassfed Beef, of course!), make your dressing with a fruity vinegar, like Balsamic or Fig or Raspberry (there's lots of lovely varieties out there), and a mild or nutty oil (I love roasted walnut oil). And maybe add little pieces of fruit -- dried fruit, or diced apple, or diced fuyu persimmon (at least this time of year). You can get even more creative and add things like thinly sliced red onion or shallot, or nuts.

Tom's giving us lovely fresh turnips with their greens, so here's a recipe from my clippings collection that sounds just perfect:

Turnips and Collard Greens
modified from a cookbook called "Real Beer and good Eats", by Bruce Aidells and Denis Kelly (I changed it to suit the box, and... well, you'll see below) ;-)

The lead in in the cookbook says, "This savory combination of turnips and bitter greens goes beautifully with ale, picking up the lightly astringent flavors of the hops and balancing the sweetness of the malt. Serve with roast pork, ham, or chicken, grilled or stewed beef, with a full-bodied malty ale, such as New Amsterdam Ale or Grant's Scottish Ale."  Yum! Of course you can also skip all the beer advice and just make and eat it with your dinner too!

1 bunch collard greens, leaves washed, stripped from stems and chopped
all the greens from the fresh turnips, same
4 tbsp. olive oil
2 garlic cloves or more, minced
4 tbsp. chopped parsley
3 to 4 turnips, scrubbed, trimmed and diced [no need to peel; the skin is tender, edible]
2 tbsp. butter
1 lemon, zest and juice
1 tsp. sugar
2 tbsp. minced chives or scallion greens [use the green part from the bunching onions]
Salt and pepper
1/2 C sour cream (optional)

Okay... confession time! I copied this recipe out of a library cookbook years ago, and only now discovered that I copied the part with the ingredient list, but not the instructions! So the instructions are mine; I'm winging it. ;-)

In a nice, heavy-bottomed skillet, melt butter and add diced turnips. Sprinkle with sugar. Saute over medium heat until beginning to brown, stirring occasionally. Season with salt and pepper, transfer to another dish and set aside.

In same skillet, add olive oil and heat; add garlic and lemon zest and sizzle a few moments, then add chopped greens with any water still clinging from washing (add a splash of water if they're dry). Stir-fry/steam/saute until wilted to your liking; add parsley, lemon juice and cooked turnips and toss together, cooking a few minutes more to blend flavors. Turn off heat. If using, stir in optional sour cream, season to taste with salt and pepper, then serve topped with the minced chives/scallion greens.


I haven't run a carrot recipe in a while... here's an interesting version of carrot soup:

Spiced Carrot-Apple Soup with Fresh Mint
modified from an undated Bon Appetit clipping
serves 6

2 tbsp. chicken fat, butter or olive oil
1 1/2 C chopped onion
1 1/4 lbs [or so] carrots, peeled and diced
3 3/4 C chicken broth or stock
3/4 C diced Fuji apple
2 tsp. chopped fresh ginger
2 tbsp. Calvados [French apple brandy - optional]
1/4 tsp. freshly grated nutmeg
1/4 tsp. ground allspice
Sea salt or kosher salt
black pepper
Chopped fresh mint

Heat fat in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add onion; saute 2 minutes. Add carrots, broth, apple and ginger; bring to a boil. Cover. Reduce heat and simmer until carrots are tender, about 20 minutes. Allow to cool a bit then puree soup in batches in a blender [carefully! hot liquid expands fast in a blender and it can kind of explode on you and make a mess if it is too full and too hot]. Return to pan, mix in Calvados and spices, season to taste with salt and pepper. Serve in bowls, garnished with chopped mint.

How about this for chard?

Chard with Olives and Lemon
also from an undated Bon Appetit clipping, modified as well as scaled down to work with 1 bunch chard
serves 2 to 4

1 large bunch chard
2 tbsp. olive oil, plus a little extra
5 or 6 oil-cured black olives, pitted and quartered
1 small garlic clove, crushed
1 tsp. fresh lemon juice

Strip stems from leaves; chop stems and leaves separately.

Bring a well salted pot of water to boil. Add chard stems and cook until just tender, 2 to 3 minutes. Add chard leaves, cooking until just tender, about a minute or so more. Drain in a colander, squeezing/pressing out any water.

Heat olive oil in a heavy-bottomed skillet over medium heat. Add olives and garlic. Saute until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add chard and chard stems. Toss until heated through and any remaining water evaporates, another 2 to 3 minutes. Mix in lemon juice and some additional olive oil; season to taste with salt and pepper and serve. [Sounds a lot like my 'hot salad' recipe, with garlic and olives added!] ;-)

And lastly, a re-run from Winter last year -- my favorite way to prepare Brussels sprouts! (Had some for breakfast this way just this morning!)

Debbie's breakfast Brussels Sprouts
minimum ingredients:
Brussels sprouts
eggs
herbes de Provence
butter and olive oil
salt and pepper
cheese of some sort: I prefer feta or chevre, but another cheese will do in a pinch
extras (i.e. optional):
sweet peppers (did you freeze any from summertime?)
a little sweet onion or scallion... or some of the leeks in this week's box

This recipe is very scalable. Only cooking for one? just use a handful of sprouts and one egg. Cooking for more? Use a bigger pan, more sprouts and eggs. It's pretty simple.

Cut base off each sprout and peel off one or two outer leaves; just enough so as to get a clean little sprout. Cut sprouts in half.

Whisk up eggs and add some herbes de Provence (I like to rub the dry herbs in my fingers to bring out their flavor).

If the sprouts are bigger, you can steam them for maybe 2 minutes to soften just a bit, but if small, I don't even bother to do this. Again, heat a heavy-bottomed (cast-iron) skillet and melt some butter and add a modest bit of olive oil (don't be skimpy on the butter and olive oil). When bubbly, add sprouts, cut side down if you can manage it (and cut up peppers and/or onions or leeks, if using. Totally not required). Saute over medium heat until just starting to brown. Sprinkle with salt and grindings of black pepper.

Pour whisked eggs over the top of everything, turn down heat to low, cover and cook until eggs are just barely set, then lift lid, quickly distribute cheese over all, put lid back on, turn off heat and let sit for a minute or two until cheese gets melty.

That's it! Serve 'em hot (eggs and sprouts will be browned on the bottom but this is good!), with a side of toast and some of that fabulous Happy Girl Kitchen jam!!
 
 

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