Throw-it-all-in Veggie Pot Pie

This recipe is from the Joy of Cooking and we absolutely love it. I'm including here the ingredients recommended in the original recipe, but I tend to throw in whatever I have and leave out what I don't. Parsnips are a key component though - they really add something great that I don't go without if I don't have to. Those overly mature beans from last week's harvest were terrific in it - we just pulled the beans out of the pods and threw them in.

Chop up and keep separate so you can saute each to perfection...
2 medium red onions cut in thick slices
3 medium carrots, peeled and cut in 1-inch pieces
3 parsnips, peeled and cut in 1-inch pieces
1 celery root, peeled and cut
1 butternut squash, peeled and cut
1 acorn squash, peeled and cut
8 oz. portobello mushrooms cut in thick slices and halved

Heat 3-4 T olive oil and 3-4 T butter in skillet. Saute the vegetables each until slightly soft but not brown, first onions, then carrots and parsnips, and so on down the list. As you finish with each, throw it in a casserole dish and season with salt and pepper.

Preheat oven to 400.

Add to veggies 2 T chopped fresh marjoram or 1 T dried. Mix and pour over the veggies 3 c. veggie stock (the recipe recommends 4 but I find it makes the recipe too soupy). Cover and bake until veggies are just tender, 30-45 minutes.

Meanwhile, make cheddar biscuit crust (this is my easy recipe, not Joy of Cooking):
3 c. flour
6 t. baking soda
1/2 t. salt
1 c. cream or half and half (milk if you don't have those)
6 T. oil
1/4 t. cracked black pepper
Stir together and then add 3 cloves minced garlic with a generous handful of grated cheddar cheese.

When veggies are just tender, pull out and add biscuit crust in big dollops over the veggies. Any extra can be turned into biscuits! Bake until biscuit crust is browned 20-25 minutes. Remove, let stand for 10 minutes, and serve.

Onion Soup

6 Alisa Craig Onions
4 Red Potatoes
Parsley, small bunch (Chop stems into little pieces. Reserve leaves for garnish)
1/3 cup Olive Oil
Water
Ume Plum Vinegar or Red Wine Vinegar
2 TBS dried Thyme
2 tsp Paprika
dash of red pepper
fresh cracked pepper
A whole lot of Sea Salt

Slice onions thin. Chop potatoes into small pieces. Heat olive oil in the base of a stock pot. In hot oil saute: onions, potatoes, and parsley stems until the onions are translucent. Then add thyme, paprika, pepper, red pepper, and sea salt to vegetable saute. Once spices are combined well with the onion saute, add enough water to the pot so that it looks like soup. Let simmer for a half hour (or more if you can). Taste the soup to be sure there's enough salt. Add a dash of vinegar to each bowl before serving, and garnish with parsley leaves. It's extra tasty with some cheddar cheese on top too!

Hidatsa Stuffed Sugar Pumpkin

1 Sugar pumpkin, 4-5 pounds
2 t Salt
1/2 t Dry mustard
2 T Rendered fat
1 lb Ground buffalo, venison or beef
1 Medium onion, chopped
1 c Cooked wild rice
3 Eggs, beaten
1 t Crushed, dried sage
1/4 t Pepper

Preheat oven to 350 deg F. Cut the top off the pumpkin and remove strings and seeds. Reserve seeds for another use. Prick the cavity with a fork and rub with 1 teaspoon salt and the mustard. Heat fat in a large skillet, add meat and onion and saute over medium-high heat until browned. Off the heat, stir in wild rice, eggs, remaining salt, sage and pepper. Stuff pumpkin with the meat mixture. Place 1/2" water in the bottom of a shallow baking pan. Put pumpkin in the pan and bake for 1 1/2 hours, or until tender. Add more water to the pan as neccessary to avoid sticking. To serve, cut pumpkin into wedges, giving each person pumpkin and stuffing.
Spirit of the Harvest

Garlic Herb Pasta with Egg on top

Serves 2 as a filling meal, serves 4 as a side dish.This may have been the best pasta I've ever made- and it's so easy! Garlic pasta is a dish made traditionally in northern Italy- especially (I'm pretty sure) in Emilia-Romagna. It's traditional to ladle a bit of very high quality balsamic vinegar over the dish. Here's my recipe:

1/2 head of Garlic
Olive Oil to generously coat saute pan
1/2 pound whole wheat pasta
1 bunch of parsley
1 bunch of basil
a few stems of oregano
4 eggs, fried or scrambled
2-4 tsp. balsamic vinegar (or lemon juice)
salt and pepper

First, boil water for pasta.

Then chop up all the herbs. Set aside.

In a saucepan, saute garlic in plenty of olive oil over medium heat. Let the garlic cook until it is translucent. Don't let the garlic brown, or else it will become bitter. As the garlic is cooking, fry eggs in another pan.

If eggs or garlic is ready early, just remove the pan from heat and cover with a lid.

Cook pasta in the waiting water, drain.

Separate pasta into bowls. Pour garlic saute over pasta, then mix in the fresh herbs. Sprinkle balsamic vinegar over pasta, then place eggs on top of dish. Salt and Pepper. If you wish, sprinkle some parmesan on top as well. Mange!

Tabouli

Here's the recipe for the awesome tabouli Kristin prepared for us at this Tuesday's work day, compliments of Caroline from Frankie Lappe’s "Diet for a Small Planet."

TABOULI (Zesty Lebanese Salad)

1. Pour 4 cups boiling water over 1 1/4 cups raw bulgur (cracked wheat) in a bowl. Let stand covered, about an hour, until light and fluffy. To remove excess water, shake in a strainer and squeeze with hands.

2. Combine Cooked Bulgur with

3/4 cup garbanzo beans, cooked or canned, rinsed and drained

1 1/2 cups fresh, minced parsley

3/4 cup fresh minced mint

3/4 cup chopped or sliced scallions

3 medium tomatoes chopped

1/2 cup (or more) lemon juice

1/4 cup olive oil

1 tsp salt (or to taste)

Freshly ground pepper to taste

3. Chill at least one hour. Serve on raw grape, lettuce or cabbage leaves.

Red Bean Dip

Mary Ellen reminded me to share this recipe for the Red Bean Sauce/ Dip I made at the first work day this year. Here it is! Also, I used this same recipe last night with black beans instead, and that was tasty too.
1 can of Red Beans (Kidney Beans), drained
1/4 cup Olive Oil
half a Jalapeno Pepper
2 splashes of Red Wine Vinegar (or a big splash of Apple Cider Vinegar)
2-3 cloves Garlic
splash of Water
Pepper Salt

Blend everything together in a blender. Great served as a crispy veggie dip or over a salad.

Cucumber Tabbouleh Salad

Kristin's tasty tabbouleh inspired me to make more!
But I didn't have any bulgur wheat.
And I didn't have any quinoa.
But what I did have was lots of cucumbers!
Here's what transpired:
2 Lemons, juice of
1/4 cup olive oil
4 cloves of garlic
1 tsp maple syrup or honey
.... Blend in blender. That's your dressing to put over the vegetable medley below:

Two big bunches of Parsley and one bunch of Mint
~wash herbs and chop finely.
4 cucumbers, copped fine
1 Tomato, chopped fine
cracked Pepper
(Sea Salt- but not until serving. Otherwise the salt will pull all the water from the cucumbers and there will just be a soupy mess.)

Arrange the vegetables in a pretty way on a plate before dressing. Or mix everything together, and make little bunnies with a few romaine leaves!