Green Cay Heirloom Tomatoes

The cold weather in Florida has caused considerable damage to agricultural crops, but the CSA I belong to has not had extensive loss of vegetables in the fields. I had been worried about it, of course, because as a member of a CSA,  I have made a commitment to the farm and that makes it so much more real. Remember hearing about the citrus crops that might be lost because of the freeze? If you  are like me, you thought, "Oh, that's too bad." and went right back to what you had been doing.

I am not saying that my concern about the loss is anywhere near the concern of the farmer whose money, sweat and worries are all wrapped up in the farm. It is just that now that I have a share in a farm, losing the crop would mean that people who have entered my life are having a bad time and I would not have the wonderful heirloom tomatoes you see in the photo.

Today was my first day to pick up my box in quite a while because of the holiday season and I was thrilled to return home with a box overloaded with fresh vegetables grown 1 mile from my house.  In addition to the cherry tomatoes and arugula in the photo, I received red cabbage, kale, summer squash, green beans, French breakfast radishes, yellow and orange carrots, and fennel.

The summer squash will become muffins. The red cabbage is going to be a coleslaw with rice wine vinegar dressing, and the green beans my favorite vegetable dish, and the kale will be perfect in beans and greens.

It may be cold in Florida, but we still can enjoy local vegetables in January.

More soba noodles

Soba noodles with vegetables and sesame seeds

Soba noodles keep calling to me. This salad is bursting with the flavors of ginger and lime juice.

What an excellent salad to eat at room temperature, the way I like to eat food. The salad could also be chilled in the refrigerator and eaten cold. Since the vegetables remain raw, it is important to keep in mind the size of the pieces that will be combined with the noodles. You will want them large enough to have a taste, but not so large that they are difficult to eat.

juice of 1 medium lime
¼ cup reduced sodium Tamari
1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil
1 tablespoon sugar
1 jalapeno pepper, finely diced
1 tablespoon peeled and grated ginger
3 garlic cloves, pressed
3 ounces fresh spinach, washed, stemmed and coarsely chopped
½ small head red cabbage, shredded
3 medium carrots, shredded
1 red bell pepper, finely diced
1 small cucumber, peeled and finely diced
6 scallions, thinly sliced
1 10-12-ounce package soba noodles
2 tablespoons sesame seeds or Gomasio

Prepare the vegetables and set them aside.

In a large pot of boiling water, cook the soba noodles according to the package instructions, being careful not to overcook them. Drain and set aside.

In a small food processor, buzz the lime juice, Tamari, sesame oil, sugar, jalapeno, ginger and garlic for about a minute. Pour the dressing over the noodles in a large serving bowl, tossing to coat them well.

Add the remaining ingredients including the sesame seeds and toss to combine.

Serve immediately or chill to serve as a cold salad.

Serves 4 - 6

Soba Noodles with gingered bok choy

The bok choy from my CSA has inspired me to adapt a recipe I found for bok choy over soba noodles. A big fan of these Japanese buckwheat noodles,  I can never seem to get enough of them. For two days in a row, I have made this dish for my lunch. But the recipe still isn't quite right, so I have to keep trying before I have a recipe I  want to share.

If you happen to have Rip Esseltyn's "Engine2 Diet: the Texas Firefighter's 28-day Save-Your-Life Plan that Lowers Cholesterol and Burns Away the Pounds," you will find a recipe in that book. I prefer not to have the flavors of the brown rice vinegar and mirin Rip uses in that recipe. However, that is such a matter of personal taste that you may find Rip's recipe perfect for you just the way he wrote it.

Rip was one of the great presenters at the Healthy Lifestyle Expo I attended last month in Woodland Hills, California. It was so worthwhile and inspirational that I hope to attend again in 2010.

Food memories of Schav

Anna’s Schav

For years my husband has talked about his memories of schav, a cold Russian soup his mother made for summer time meals when he was growing up. She also made Borscht, which he liked but not as much as he liked her schav. Neither of those soups were in my cooking repertoire and concerned that no soup I made could make would live up to the soup of his memory, I never tried. Until yesterday when I received a large bunch of Swiss Chard from my CSA.

I researched schav recipes in my cookbook collection and on the web. I interviewed Jerry about what he remembered of the soup. I knew the recipe I ended up with would not include the traditional sour cream or the optional eggs and milk. I thought I could create a close approximation to the remembered soup using the chard instead of the more traditional sorrel. And it worked. I was surprised and pleased that my soup received praise for being so much like Anna’s soup of decades ago.

Anna cooked without recipes, carrying her ideas entirely in her head. The family says that wherever Anna was became the family gathering place. Although I never had the opportunity to meet her, I think it would please her to have others enjoying her schav.

Schav

4 cups water
½ teaspoon dried dill
5 scallions, 2 chopped for cooking, 3 chopped for garnish
1 pound Swiss Chard
salt and ground black pepper to taste
1 small cucumber, chopped for garnish
3 radishes, chopped for garnish

Wash the chard well by partially filling the sink with water, gently swishing the chard around and then lifting the chard from the water. Repeat 2 more times. This method leaves the sand and dirt behind. Remove the tough stems and chop the leaves into pieces about one-inch square.

In a soup pot, bring the water to a boil and add the chard, dill, 2 of the chopped scallions and cook for about 5 minutes. Add the chard and simmer for about 10 minutes or until the greens are very soft, but still holding together well.

Remove from the heat and season with salt and pepper.

Chill and serve in bowls with the chopped cucumber, radishes, and scallions.

Serves 3-4

Veggies4U (make that for me!)

The area just north of where I live is called Boynton Beach and in Boynton Beach there is a CSA, Community Supported Agriculture. The Florida Department of Agriculture and Community Services describes a CSA as

"a partnership between farmers and consumers. In conventional agriculture, the farmer bears all the risk of production, but CSA allows farmers to share farming’s risks—and its rewards—with consumers. CSA revolves around a community of people who pledge their financial support to a farm. At the beginning of the growing season, members pay a fee to cover the cost of the farm’s operations and the farmer’s salary. In return, each member receives a weekly share of the farm’s bounty—typically a box of fresh vegetables and herbs, though the box might also include fruit, honey, eggs, and even meat. For farmers, CSA offers a fair, steady source of income—and a way to revitalize the small family farm. Consumers, on the other hand, get fresh, great-tasting produce grown in a sustainable manner by someone they know and trust."

It lists only 10 CSA's in all of Florida, so I am really lucky to have one nearby. Last year I applied to become a member of Green Cay Produce/Farming Systems Research Inc., the CSA in Boynton Beach. There are more people who want to be members than the Farm can accomodate, however, so I was placed on a waitlist and never did get a chance to join. This year, I was watching for the announcement that applications for membership were being accepted and this year, I was in time. Hurray! I am now a member of a CSA.

I will receive a box of just harvested vegetables on an established schedule and I opted to pick up at the Farm myself rather than have the box delivered to my home. I received driving directions from the Farm and was astonished at the location. The Farm nearly adjoins the gated community I live in. My produce is going to have an incredibly low number of miles to travel from growing field to my kitchen!

So I will receive really fresh produce grown with minimal chemicals (this is Florida!) and I will be supporting a local farm. When my farmer son starts a CSA in upstate New York, I hope there will be lots of people like me who sign up to support him.

35 new salads to make

Now that your garden and your local farmers' market are overflowing with with fruits and vegetables, you have a perfect way to eat the bounty in salads. Mark Bittman, in his New York Times Minimalist column, has written 101 "recipes" of just 2 or 3 lines describing inventive combinations of ingredients and dressings. Many of them are vegan and most are vegetarian.

The first one combines cubed watermelon with tomato chunks with basil and vinaigrette. The second features wedges of tomatoes, peaches, slivers of red onion, crushed red pepper, and cilantro with an oil and citrus dressing.

There are 33 that I want to make! This could be half of my menu planning for the rest of the summer and beyond.

What is your favorite?

Addicted to Green Beans

How can it be possible that I am addicted to green beans? Have you ever experienced a craving for a food that is so strong it is almost an addiction?

I suppose I am not exactly addicted to green beans, but in reality I just cannot get enough of green beans prepared in a manner that I am calling Greek because it makes me remember our great meal at Scholarhio in Athens. The recipe is in Donna Klein's "Vegan Italiano." I tried improving on the recipe by making the dish with grape tomatoes since I have long had a recipe for green beans using those little tomatoes. For some reason, the little ones just don't release the strong flavors the way a large beefsteak tomato does. This recipe is changed from the original only in halving the olive oil and tilting the bean/tomato ratio more toward tomatoes. Calling for just a few ingredients, the recipe's flavor payoff comes from cooking for an hour. You would think that by the time the beans had stewed for that long you would have a mushy mass turning grey and lacking in taste. Fortunately, the green beans remain quite green and the taste takes me back to the Plaka.

I served the beans with oven-roasted Greek potatoes and a Greek salad.

Here is Donna Klein's recipe. If you like this one, you will like many others in the Italiano cookbook and "The Mediterranean Vegan Kitchen."

1 Tablespoon olive oil
1 pound fresh green beans, trimmed
1 large tomato, seeded and chopped
2 large garlic cloves, pressed
½ teaspoon dried oregano
grind of sea salt
grind of black pepper
water as needed

In a large non-stick skillet with a lid, cook the green beans in the oil over medium-high heat, stirring and tossing often, about 5 minutes. Reduce the heat to medium-low and add the remaining ingredients, stirring well. Cover and cook until beans are very tender, about 1 hour, stirring occasionally and adding water as necessary to keep the mixture from drying out. Tastes fabulous warm or at room temperature (Florida room temperature!)

Off to The Boys Farmers Market to buy... green beans to make this again!