Zucchini and Fenugreek Seeds

Zucchini and Fenugreek Seeds
Serves four

6 tbsp vegetable oil
1 onion, finely chopped
3 fresh green chilies, finely chopped
1 tsp finely chopped fresh gingerroot
1 garlic clove, crushed
1 tsp chili powder
1 lb/450 g zucchini, sliced
2 tomatoes, sliced
2 tsp fenugreek seeds
chopped cilantro, to garnish


Heat the oil in a large, heavy-bottom skillet. Add the onion, green chilies, ginger, and chili powder, stirring well until mixed.

Add the sliced zucchini and tomatoes to the skillet and stir-fry for 5-7 minutes.

Add the fenugreek seeds to the zucchini mixture in the skillet and stir-fry for an additional 5 minutes.

Remove the skillet from the heat and transfer the zucchini and fenugreek seed mixture to serving dishes. Garnish with cilantro and serve hot.

Farmer's Zuppa Toscana

Contributed by Marco Ascoli...
Ingredients

- Tuscan Bread (2-3 days old)
- Kidney Beans 300 g (or a can for the shortcut)
- Olive Oil (extra virgin), 40 g
- Water, 1 litro
- Savory Cabbage (the one with wrinkly leaves) , 1/4 of a ball
- Tuscan Black Kale, as much as or more than the savory cabbage
- A bunch of chard (I find this optional)
- 1 Onion
- 1 Leek
- 2 small potatoes (I find this optional)
- 2 carrots
- 2 Zucchini (green!)
- 1 full Celery stalk
- Optional pork back fat or Prosciutto skin (what is cut out before slicing it)
- Garlic
- Parsley
- Tomato paste (concentrated) or Tomato canned chopped or whole (avoid any sort that has "freshness" ingredients like calcium chloride and citric acid, they just do not taste right)

Preparation

Put the beans in a bowl well covered with water for about 8 hrs, then boil them in 2 liters of water for 2 hrs. In a pot lightly brown an onion sliced thin or minced with the prosciutto skin if that's the case, add 1 by 1 the other vegetables coarsely cut and let them mush-out (become mushy or loose their rigidity) for about 10 minutes, add most of the boiling water of the beans and half of the beans. The other half of the beans need to be processed/blended, add this blend to the pot. Adjust salt and pepper let simmer for about 2 hrs. At this point you can make layers of sliced toasted bread and soup in a large bowl or in alternative just add the sliced bread toasted in the pot, mix and then simmer for 10 more minutes.
Let rest and serve with just a line of extra-virgin olive oil and ultra-thin sliced onion if you like.
It is best served the second or third day.
Keep in refrigerator.

Raw Kale Salad

The kale is in full swing! Ever enjoy a raw wilted kale salad?

There's two reasons I love this salad:

1- It lasts for a week or more in the fridge.

2- It brings out kale's full tenderness and flavor without cooking it.

Ingredients:

Bunch of Kale, chopped

1 lemon, squeezed over kale

1 tsp - 1 TBS Sea Salt

1 TBS - 1/4 cup Olive Oil

Combine all the ingredients together in a bowl, using the smaller amount of salt and oil to begin. With your hands, massage the lemon, salt, and olive oil into the kale. This combination of ingredients actually breaks down the kale so that it becomes tender. Keep on rubbing into the kale. If it doesn't seem to be tenderizing, add more salt and olive oil. Smoosh between hands until the kale is a dark green glistening color. Voila! Now you have a raw kale salad!

This can be eaten deliciously as is, or it can be added to.

Tasty add-ins: tomatoes, beans, avocado, green peas, fresh lettuce, feta cheese, olives, shredded cabbage, garlic scapes, pine nuts, radishes, ect.

For more flavor, consider chopping in parsley, oregano, and basil.

~Feedback from Ingrid 07/17/10:

I just tried this and it is delicious. I added avocado, cucumber and grape 
tomatoes. I would recommend using 1/2 a lemon to start if you have a small 
bunch of kale- the farm share. I will be serving this with grilled salmon, 
so the extra tartness is ok, but I'm not sure it is to everyone's taste.

Raspberry Roasted Zucchini Salad

This salad has four main parts:
1. Base of Spinach with Parsley and Dill chopped in
2. Roasted Zucchini
3. Roasted Tofu
4. Raspberries, Goat Cheese, Dressing, and Thyme on top

How to do each:
1. Wash and chop the spinach and herbs, arrange as a base on the plates.
2. Roasted Zucchini can be made ahead of time. Slice zucchini rounds about 1/3 inch thick. Toss them with balsamic vinegar, tahini, olive oil, sea salt, and pepper. Bake in the oven at 425 until they are browned and roasted. Maybe 30 minutes?

3. Roasted Tofu: Chop a 1 lb block of firm tofu into cubes. Marinate those cubes overnight in a dressing- I used miso ginger. Make a 'bread crumb' mix of 1/3 cup sunflower seeds and 1/3 cup kasha grain (roasted buckwheat) by grinding or cracking the seed and grain together (coffee grinder of high power blender). After it's marinated, drain the tofu and roll it around in the 'bread crumb' mixture. Bake at 400 or so for about 30 minutes until it's golden brown.

4.
~Local raspberries, picked fresh. There's lots of black raspberries growing in Stafford right now.
~Bush Meadow farms has awesome goat cheese for sale on Rt 190 between the farm and 84.
~Fresh thyme is plucked and sprinkled all over the salad
~To make the dressing, combine in a jar with a top: olive oil, balsamic vinegar, orange juice, honey, dried thyme, sea salt. Shake it up and pour over that salad!

Put all these exciting things on top of the greens and enjoy!

Savory Basil Corn Muffins

This is my new corn muffin recipe. It has a lot of flavor and is tasty as a side to salad or summer soup. It's a vegan muffin when the cheese is omitted.
Here are the ingredients. Put all the dry stuff in one bowl, and all the wet stuff in another bowl. Flax seeds go into the wet bowl. Combine both bowls together. Mix gently.

1/2 cup Olive Oil
1 1/2 cups Buttermilk (make your own by adding 1 tsp of vinegar to 1 1/2 cups of soymilk, almond milk, cow milk, goat milk, what have ye)
2 TBS ground Flax seeds (grind in coffee grinder or with mortar & pestle)
1 3/4 cup cornmeal
3/4 cup whole wheat flour
3 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp sea salt

These are all the ingredients that are just imagined up for flavor.
Do your thing! Here's what I did:
1/3 c. shredded Parmesan
1/2 cup basil sliced
1/3 cup roasted peppers, diced
1 small pepper of whatever kind
4 shakes garlic powder
1 tsp poppy seeds
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes

Bake at 425 degree for 2o-30 minutes: until the top of the muffin is golden brown. Makes about 15-18 muffins.

Sweet Pea Basil Salad

With our tasty peas, basil, and greens, I'm feeling nostalgic for a great summery salad Steve makes. It's so tasty and simple! Chop up:

Sweet Peas/ Snap Peas/ or Green Beans
Fresh Basil
Garlic Scapes

Additional stuff that can be added: + radish +lettuce +shredded kale
+hemp seeds + chopped walnuts

To dress the veggies,
Pour olive oil, lemon juice, and sea salt over them.
Eat as is or serve over a bed of lettuce.

Yummy!

Radish Ideas from Ingrid

Ingrid doesn't eat radishes raw. Here she shares two of her favorite ways to eat them. Check it out!

1 Simple Radish Pickles
Slice thin and sprinkle with salt. Press between two plates with a heavy
weight on top. Let sit for a day. Rinse well and eat. - No more heat!

2.  Radishes are delicious cooked in a simple miso broth.  Slice a few
radishes and cook in water with a few leaves from one of them, scallions and
dried mushrooms.  Add a splash of balsamic vinegar.  Crumble in rice
vermicelli and simmer 5 - 10 minutes. Add a dollop of sweet yellow miso and
remove from heat.  Stir well and let sit to cool a bit. Good both hot and
cold.  The cooking takes the bite out and leaves a nice radish flavor.