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Tag: recipes (Page 12 of 18)

Summertime Gazpacho

Today I’d like to share with you one of my favorite summer recipes — gazpacho! This chilled, raw-vegetable soup is so refreshing on a hot summer evening. Pair it with buttered, rustic bread and a cold beer, and you’ve got yourself a fabulous quick summer meal that’s light and delicious.

I don’t actually measure my gazpacho ingredients anymore, and it’s a little different each time I make it. But this recipe is a favorite, and is a good place to start.

Summertime Gazpacho

2 lbs (approx.) ripe tomatoes, diced (3 – 4 large tomatoes)

2 scallions, chopped

1 red bell pepper, diced (optional – I usually leave it out if they’re too expensive or I can’t find organic)

2 celery stalks, chopped

1 – 2 garlic cloves, minced

2/3 cup lightly packed cilantro, chopped (or lots more if you like!)

1/2 – 1 jalapeno, diced with seeds removed (optional!)

Half a cucumber, diced

6 Tbsp olive oil

2 – 3 Tbsp red wine vinegar

3 – 4 Tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice

Salt to taste (usually between 1/2 and 1 tsp)

1/2 to 1 tsp pepper

Couple dashes of Penzeys Smoked Paprika (optional, but adds incredible flavor…I am obsessed with this smoked paprika! It’s one of those “secret weapon” ingredients.)

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Mix everything together in a bowl. If you’d like, transfer half to a blender and blend until somewhat pureed but still a little bit course. Transfer back into main bowl. OR, feel free to skip that step! It’s up to you whether you like the texture smoother and soup-like, or chunkier and salsa-like.

Serve with homemade croutons, or toasted & buttered rustic bread.

Yum, I could eat this every day!

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How to Make Sauerkraut

Today I’m going to show you how to make your own old-fashioned, raw, lacto-fermented sauerkraut. The first time I made sauerkraut, I was sure I was doing something wrong because it was so easy!

Ingredients:

Cabbage – red or green (or a combo), organic

Sea salt – See my salting chart below, plus you may need more to mix up extra brine. (Any non-iodized salt will do, but unrefined sea salt is better for your body.)

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Here’s my salting chart. These are just guidelines — if you want, you can add a little more salt in the summer and a little less in the winter.

10 tsp salt per 5 lbs vegetables

5 tsp salt per 2 ½ lbs vegetables

2 tsp salt per 1 lb vegetables

1 tsp salt per ½ lb vegetables

½ tsp salt per ¼ lb vegetables

Cabbage becoming sauerkraut. (Little bits of cabbage clinging to the side of the jar --like in the picture-- should be scraped down into the brine, otherwise they'll get moldy.)

Chop, shred, or grate your cabbage — coarse or fine, however you like it. Sprinkle the salt onto the cabbage and mix it up. I let mine sit on the counter for several hours or overnight (this step is in place of pounding) so that the salt can begin to draw water out of the cabbage. The water contains nutrients, and these nutrients then become the substrate for the growth of the lactic acid bacteria which is what turns your cabbage into kraut. (Steinkraus, Handbook of Indigenous Fermented Foods, p.120.)

After the cabbage is wilted and some water has been drawn out, pack the cabbage WITH its water into a glass jar. You really want to pack it in there (use your fist or any kitchen tool), because this will help squeeze more water out. You can also use a specially-made ceramic sauerkraut crock, or a glass or ceramic bowl (anything except metal, since salt and acid can react with metal).

Keep your cabbage submerged under the brine by placing a smaller plate on top and weighing it down with something heavy (a jug of water, a boiled rock, etc.). Or, nest a smaller jar of water inside your larger glass jar. Or, wedge a whole cabbage leaf into the jar to keep everything submerged.

Sauerkraut fermenting in a ceramic bowl, weighed down with a plate & a water-filled bowl.

This is kale, not sauerkraut, but same idea. I particularly like this nesting-jars method for keeping everthing submerged in brine.

Whatever method you devise, just be sure that all traces of cabbage are completely submerged in the brine. Little bits sticking up above the water line will quickly lead to a moldy situation like the photo below (and if you do end up with mold like this, scrape off the entire top layer of cabbage, but the rest underneath should be fine! The kraut below the mold in this picture turned out great.)  So if you need to mix up some more brine (which is just a fancy name for salt water), use the ratio of 1 tsp salt to 1 cup of water.

This is what happens if your cabbage doesn't stay submerged in brine.

Cover the jar with either a lid (leave it loose to prevent pressure buildup) or a towel to keep bugs out.* Leave it to ferment at room temperature until you like the taste of your kraut. Let your tongue be your guide to done-ness. Taste it every few days, and transfer into the fridge when it tastes the way you like it. I like mine pretty sour, so I usually leave it out for 1-2 weeks or more, depending on how warm it is in the kitchen.

Once in the fridge, your sauerkraut will keep for many months. Don’t throw out the sauerkraut juice; it’s full of beneficial Lactobacillus (lactic acid bacteria) and is said to be a very good digestive tonic. And if you like, add a little of the juice to your next batch of sauerkraut as a starter.

*If you see a white film (“kahm yeast”) develop on the surface of the brine, scrape off what you can each day until the kraut is done. Sometimes I don’t get any film. Sometimes I get a fair amount. There doesn’t seem to be any rhyme or reason. The kahm yeast won’t harm anything, but if you keep getting a lot of it day after day, it can sometimes (not always) impart an off taste to the brine. If that happens, I will actually dump out the brine and replace with new brine. How salty to make the replacement brine? Good question. I’m still experimenting with this. When I did this I used 1 tsp salt to 1 cup water, but then my kraut was almost done fermenting and ready to go into the fridge. In the summer — or if your kraut still has a ways to go — I might increase the ratio to 1 Tbsp salt per 1 cup water. Use your judgment and go for it; fermentation is an imprecise art!

Here you can see the white film (kahm yeast) that sometimes develops on the brine's surface (between the blue bowl and glass bowl).

Classic Caesar Salad Dressing

Since we’re on the topic of salads, and it’s peak season for garden lettuce, I wanted to share a yummy Caesar dressing recipe with you. I love Caesar salads. In fact just today I plowed through an entire head of my garden Romaine just by adding this Caesar dressing and eating taco-style. OH. YUM.

A recipe for homemade Caesar dressing that actually tastes right has eluded me for years, and I would buy bottled Caesar as a very occasional treat. No more. I have found my recipe. I’ve adapted it from the original recipe in Alice Waters’s book, The Art of Simple Food. I can’t get enough of this dressing, and to me it tastes just like a true Caesar should.

In my recipe, I’ve left the raw egg yolk out. Not that I’m opposed to adding good quality raw eggs to food, but I find that the dressing didn’t need it, and more importantly, I’ve found that salad dressing with raw egg doesn’t store very well — it just doesn’t taste that great much past the day it was made. I rarely finish a batch of salad dressing in one sitting, so it’s important to me that the dressing will store well and still taste good.

Here’s my adapted recipe:

Caesar Salad Dressing

1 Tbsp red wine vinegar

1 Tbsp freshly-squeezed lemon juice (definitely use fresh lemon juice here, because bottled just won’t taste right in this application)

1-2 garlic cloves, finely chopped (I use two medium-small cloves so it won’t overpower)

1 – 1 1/2 tsp anchovy paste or finely chopped anchovy fillets (2-3 fillets) (anchovy adds great depth of flavor to your dressing without making it taste fishy)

freshly ground pepper, generous amount

salt to taste

1/4 cup olive oil

3 Tbsp parmesan cheese

[1 raw egg yolk] – Optional.

Combine red wine vinegar, lemon juice, chopped garlic, anchovy paste, and a generous amount of freshly-ground pepper. Whisk together or just shake vigorously in a jar with a lid (my preferred method).

Then add the olive oil and parmesan cheese and shake or whisk again to combine. Taste for salt and add as needed.

If you’re using the raw egg yolk, mix it in right before serving.

Serve the salad with an extra sprinkle of parmesan cheese, and croutons if you want to really do it right!

Store any extra dressing in the fridge.

The “Salad Taco”: A New Way to Eat Your Greens

Salad Taco drizzled with balsamic vinaigrette. Ready to be folded up and eaten!

We’re all familiar with the taco salad. It’s present at almost every single potluck I’ve been to. But this is a salad taco, and if your kids don’t enjoy eating veggies, this might be a novel way to present salads. The salad taco idea came about because I like to forage in my garden, picking lettuce leaves and adding bits of whatever else is growing — onion tops, baby chard, cilantro, dill, oregano — and then folding it all up like a taco to munch on.

Today, though, I decided to give the whole thing a little more formality and class. I cut up some avocado and added tomato, along with some other garden goodies — dill, cilantro, and green onion. Drizzled with some homemade balsamic vinaigrette and then folded up and eaten like a taco, it was fantastic!

Apart from using your fingers as salad tongs (which was my preferred method as a kid), this seems like a more efficient way to consume a salad. And loads more fun than trying to use a fork to spear micron-thin lettuce leaves (not to mention a cherry tomato).

You could even take this idea to the ‘next level’ by doing a salad taco buffet at the dinner table — little bowls with different vegetables and toppings that you spoon onto lettuce leaves, and then drizzle with your choice of dressing.

Vegetable ideas: cucumbers, shredded carrots, radishes, tomatoes, green onions, red bell peppers, avocados, sprouts, fresh herbs.

Topping ideas: sunflower seeds, blue cheese, dried cranberries, chopped pears, toasted pecans, hard boiled egg, crumbled bacon, bits of ham, croutons, feta cheese, kalamata olives, black beans, raw cheddar cheese.

Dressing ideas:

– Balsamic Vinaigrette (Balsamic vinegar, olive oil, thyme, basil, salt, pepper)

– Blue Cheese Vinaigrette (Apple cider vinegar, olive oil, crumbled blue cheese, powdered dry mustard, salt, pepper)

– Greek (olive oil, lemon juice, oregano, garlic, salt, pepper)

– Salsa & Sour Cream for a Mexican-style dressing

Kids or not, this makes salad-eating way more fun! 😉

Moroccan Carrot Salad

I made the most delicious carrot salad the other day, and the recipe is just too good not to share with you! It even features two ingredients that I don’t always love…carrots and cumin. But in this dish, they’re both dynamite! Do try it. As with most salads, this one is best enjoyed the same day it’s made. I was still eating mine two days after I made it, and it was still yummy, but just not quite as fresh. If serving to company, I’d definitely make it that same day. It’s a frugal dish too. I ate mine as a main dish for lunch with some cottage cheese on the side for protein. Yum!

Moroccan Carrot Salad

For the salad:

6 cups shredded carrots (about 6 large carrots)

1 cup raisins

2 1/2 cups chopped oranges (about 3-4 oranges)

1 1/2 cups green onions, thinly sliced

1 cup cilantro leaves, chopped and well-packed into the measuring cup

For the dressing:

1/3 cup olive oil

1/4 – 1/3 cup fresh lemon juice

2 – 3 tsp honey (raw is nice)

1 1/2 to 2 tsp ground cumin (more if you like)

1/2 tsp smoked or regular paprika

1/8 tsp cayenne

salt to taste

Combine dressing ingredients into a jar and shake well to combine. (Heat the honey gently if needed so that it’ll mix into the dressing more easily.)

Put all the salad ingredients into a bowl and pour the dressing over top. Mix gently to combine well, and enjoy!

Next time I might add some toasted pine nuts since I think they’d further enhance this already delightful dish. But it’s wonderful just as it is. Since it is a frugal dish that can be used as a light lunch or dinner with a bit of protein on the side, I’m including it in this week’s Pennywise Platter Carnival over at The Nourishing Gourmet.

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