Ingredients: 

• 2 lbs collard greens
• 4 -5 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 3 cups vegetable stock
• 1 teaspoon salt (to taste)
• 1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
• 1 teaspoon smoked sweet paprika (optional)
• hot sauce (optional) or red pepper flakes (optional)

Directions:

Ingredients: 

• 1 cup uncooked dried beans of any type, soaked overnight (You could substitute 1 can of beans)
• 1/2 tsp. garlic powder
• 1/2 tsp. onion powder
• 4-5 links hot turkey or pork Italian Sausage (you could also use vegetarian sausage, if you’d like. You may need more oil for browning the veggie sausages.)
• 1-2 tsp. oil, for browning sausage
• 1 bunch collard greens, kale, or swiss chard, cut into ribbons and washed
• 1/2 cup bean cooking liquid (or water plus liquid from canned beans if using canned) – or possibly more if your crockpot is large.
• 1 tsp. finely minced fresh garlic

• Parmesan cheese for serving, if desired

Directions:

Put beans in small saucepan with garlic powder, onion powder, and enough water to cover. Cook for about 30 minutes, or until beans are nearly done but still have a little bite. Drain, saving 1/2 cup of the cooking water. (Fresh cooked beans are by far better, but if you forget to soak some, use a can of kidney beans, white beans, or pinto beans and save 1/2 cup of water when you rinse them.)

While beans cook, brown sausage well in frying pan, adding a little olive oil for turkey sausage. The crock pot kind of removes the color from browned foods, so let them get very, very brown. When sausages are nicely browned, remove from pan, cool enough to handle, and cut into slices.

Cut stems off collard greens, cut into ribbons crosswise, then cut the long ribbons into 2-3 pieces and rinse. Place collard greens in bottom of crock pot. Pour 1/2 cup bean cooking liquid into pan where you cooked the sausage, add fresh garlic, and cook 2-3 minutes to deglaze pan. Put beans in crock pot, top with sausage, and pour deglazing liquid from pan over.

Cook on low 4-6 hours or on high 2-3 hours, or until collard greens are quite soft and flavors are well-combined. Serve hot, with Parmesan cheese if desired. Enjoy!  Makes 4-6 servings.

Ingredients: 

• 5 small apples, peeled, cored and cubed
• 1 acorn squash, peeled and cubed
• 3 tbls brown sugar
• 3 tbls white sugar
• 2 tbls good maple syrup
• 4 tbls butter
• Your favorite pie dough

Directions:

Cook apples and squash in sugar, syrup, and butter until soft.  In the meantime grease a 12 cup muffin tin and cut out dough to make small cups.  Fill each pie pie dough with apple squash mixture and bake according to your pie dough recipe.  Top with your favorite crushed almonds, vanilla cookies, or fresh mint and serve with vanilla ice cream. Enjoy!

Ingredients: 

• 8 cups fresh spinach, washed thoroughly and patted dry
• 1 tbls minced garlic
• 2 small onions, chopped
• 3 tbls olive oil, plus additional for brushing
• 1 whole wheat pizza dough
• 1/2 cup low fat sour cream
• 1/4 cup shredded good parmesan cheese
• 1/2 cup shredded sharp Cabot cheddar
• 1/2 -1 cup of tomato sauce

Directions:

Saute spinach onions and garlic in olive oil until soft.  Meanwhile roll out pizza dough until thin, about 1/8 inch thick.  Combine sour cream and cheeses.  Once spinach mixture has cooled add sour cream/cheese mixture.  On a large cookie sheet brush olive oil.  Please dough on sheet.  Put mixture in center of dough, top with sauce and fold over.  Poke holes in the top.  Brush top with olive oil and sprinkle additional parmesan cheese and minced garlic.  Cook for 15-20 minutes until golden brown. Enjoy!

Throughout the week and in all the CSA pick up locations where I went, I got asked the same question over and over again; “Excuse me, what is this?” and I always responded “It´s Celeriac! And I´ve heard it makes great soup”. Well, I´ve always said that it´s better to know something for a fact, and so I ventured into finding an easy recipe for Celeriac.

First of all, I did some research about Celeriac, and I discovered that this root veggie may be used raw or cooked, is mostly used for flavoring soups and stews, normally keeps well, and should last three to four months if stored between 32°F and 41°F and not allowed to dry out.

Please note that I tried to select a recipe that is consistent with the contents of this week´s share, and kept it as simple as I could, trying to highlight the favor of celeriac. Now, as this is a recipe blog, and not a journal, I hope you try this one out, and if you have an easier/better one, please share!

Celeriac Soup

Adapted by Gibran Cortina from Cook it Simply, Channel4 and La tartine Gourmande.

Ingredients: 

• 2 Celeriac, peeled and cubed
• 3 Potatoes, peeled and cubed
• 4 Carrots, peeled and cubed
• 2 Leeks, trimmed, washed and roughly sliced
• 1 Onion, peeled and roughly chopped
• 1 Garlic clove, chopped
• 50g Butter
• Salt and Pepper

Optional Ingredients:

• Fresh Parsley
• Cream

Directions:

Start by washing, peeling, chopping, slicing or cubing the ingredients, according to the ingredients list. Note that it´s important to remove any soft part inside the Celeriac.

Take a large pot and melt the butter inside over a medium-low heat. Add the celeriac, potatoes, carrots, leeks, garlic and onion, season generously, and gently sweat the vegetables until they’re all starting to soften (this will take about 10 minutes).

Add the stock, bring the soup up to a boil, turn down the heat and simmer for about 20 minutes or until the celeriac is completely tender. Puree until smooth, return to the pan and reheat over a medium flame.

Just before serving, check the soup for seasoning, add more salt and pepper if needed, and if you want a thicker texture add cream. Serve with a drizzle of parsley pesto. Enjoy!

Ingredients: 

• 1 – 2 pounds potatoes, peeled and sliced 1 1/2 inches thick
• 1 – 2 celeriac roots, peeled and sliced 1 1/2 inches thick
• Coarse salt
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg
• Freshly ground pepper

Directions:

Place potatoes and celeriac in a medium saucepan, and fill with enough cold water to cover by about 2 inches. Bring to a boil over high heat; add salt generously. Reduce heat to a simmer, and cook until vegetables are tender when pierced with a paring knife, 20 to 25 minutes. Drain in a colander.
Pass potatoes and celeriac through a ricer or food mill into a serving bowl. Add sour cream and butter, and stir until combined. Stir in nutmeg, and season with salt and pepper. Serve immediately.
Farmer’s tip: try substituting parsnips for some of the potatoes or celeriac, for a different flavor! 

Ingredients: 

• 4 cups washed, torn spinach leaves, stems removed, well packed, 16 to 24 ounces
• 3 garlic cloves, halved
• 3 tablespoons pine nuts
• 1/2 teaspoon dried leaf basil, crumbled
• 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 1/8 tsp. salt

Directions:

Place a few spinach leaves, garlic, pine nuts, basil and a little oil in blender or food processor container. Cover and puree until leaves begin to look crushed. Continue adding spinach leaves a few at a time with small amounts of oil to blender, using a rubber spatula to help to combine pureed mixture. Add Parmesan cheese and 1/8 tsp. salt. Cover and process until spinach pesto mixture is smooth. Serve with hot pasta, as a topping for soup, mashed potatoes or pizza, or as a spread for fresh bread.

Spinach Pesto is an excellent alternative for Basil Pesto during the winter. Enjoy!

Ingredients: 

• 3-5 medium beets (1 1/2 lb with greens), trimmed, greens chopped and set aside
• 4 cups chicken broth
• 1 small onion, finely chopped
• 1 tsp garlic, minced
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 cup arborio rice
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/2 cup finely grated Parmigiano-Reggiano

Directions:

Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 425°F.

Tightly wrap beets in a double layer of foil and roast on a baking sheet until very tender, about 1 hour. Cool to warm in foil package, about 20 minutes.

When beets are cool enough to handle, peel them, discarding stems and root ends, then cut into 1/2-inch cubes.

Cook onion and garlic in oil in a large saucepan over moderate heat, stirring occasionally, until softened, about 3 minutes. Add rice and cook, stirring constantly, 1 minute.

Stir in 1/2 cup broth and simmer briskly, stirring constantly, until broth is absorbed. Continue simmering and adding broth, about 1/2 cup at a time, stirring constantly and letting each addition be absorbed before adding the next, until rice is just tender and creamy-looking, about 20 minutes.

Stir in beets, greens, salt, and pepper and stir until heated through. Stir in cheese and remove from heat.

Ingredients: 

• 2 pounds red beets, medium sized, scrubbed clean, green tops removed (see beet greens recipe for what to do with beet greens)
• Olive oil
• Salt
• 1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
• 2 teaspoons sugar
• 1 teaspoon grated orange zest
• Freshly ground black pepper

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400°F. Line a roasting pan with aluminum foil. Place the beets in the pan. Rub olive oil over the beets, and sprinkle with salt. Cover the beets with another sheet of aluminum foil. Roast for 1 to 2 hours, depending on the size of the beets and how old they are. After 1 hour, test every fifteen minutes by poking a beet with the tines of a fork. Once the fork tines go in easily, the beets are tender and cooked. Remove from the oven.

2 While the beets are cooling, prepare the balsamic glaze. In a small, shallow sauté pan, add the balsamic vinegar and sugar. Heat on high until the vinegar has reduced to a syrup consistency. Remove from heat.

3 After the beets have cooled for several minutes, but are still warm to the touch, peel off the outer skins and discard. Cut the beets into quarters or more, bite-sized pieces.

4 Place beets in a serving bowl. Pour balsamic glaze over the beets. Stir in grated orange zest, and add salt and pepper to taste. Garnish with a little orange zest to serve. Serves 6 to 8.

Ingredients: 

• 2 bunches (6 to beets, with the greens (about 2 pounds beets and 3/4 pound greens)
• Salt to taste
• 3 eggs
• 3/4 cup low-fat milk
• 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
• 2 large garlic cloves, minced
• 1/3 cup chopped chives (1 bunch)
• 2 ounces Gruyere cheese, grated (1/2 cup)
• Freshly ground pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Roast the beets. Remove from the heat and allow to cool, then cut the ends off, slip off the skins and slice across the equator.

2. Bring a large pot of water to a boil while you stem and wash the greens in two changes of water. Fill a bowl with ice water. When the pot of water comes to a boil, salt generously and blanch the greens for about one minute. (You can also steam the greens until they wilt, one to two minutes). Transfer the greens to the ice water, then drain and squeeze out the water. Chop coarsely.

3. Heat the olive oil over medium heat in a medium skillet, and add the garlic. Cook for about 30 seconds, stirring, until fragrant. Stir in the greens. Stir together for a minute, season the greens with salt and pepper, and remove from the heat.

4. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Oil a 2-quart gratin or baking dish with olive oil. Beat together eggs, salt (about 1/2 teaspoon), pepper, milk, chives and the Gruyère. Gently stir in the greens and beets. Scrape into the gratin dish. Bake 35 to 40 minutes until set and lightly browned on the top. Allow to sit for 10 to 15 minutes before serving. Serve hot, warm or room temperature. Serves 6.