Winter Squash, Kale, & Sausage w/ Gorgonzola Sauce

Winter Squash, Kale, & Sausage w/ Gorgonzola Sauce



1 small delicata squash
1 sweet sumpling squash (feel free to use other types of winter squash or 1 large squash)
1 bunch baby kale (or mature)
1 lb. of sweet italian sausage links
Sage
Rosemary
1 tblsp+ Olive oil
2 tblsp of apple cider vinegar
1 1/2 cup of chicken broth
1 tblsp butter
1/4 onion, diced
2 tblsp of flour
3/4 cup milk
5 oz of Gorgonzola cheese

Pre-heat the oven to 400 degrees F.

Peel and chop the squash. (If using a larger squash, you can boil it until the skin softens before peeling and cutting). Place the squash on a greased pan, season with sage and rosemary, and put in the oven. Bake until soft and the edges are crisp.

While the squash is baking, heat 1 tblsp of oil, 1 cup of chicken broth, and 2 tblsp of apple cider vinegar in a large pan. Add the sausage and cook on medium-high until the liquid has evaporated and the casing is crisp. Slice the sausage and add the squash and kale to the pan.

While the sausage, squash, and kale are cooking, heat a drizzle of oil and 1 tblsp of butter to a sauce pan. Once the butter has melted, add the onions and cook for 2 minutes. Stir in the flour and cook for a minute. Add the milk and broth and bring to a boil. Once boiling, stir in the cheese and simmer until the cheese in melted.

Once the sausage is cooked through, pour the sauce over the sausage, squash, and kale mixture.

The Way to Eat Beets: Grated!

It's official. The way to make beets awesome and/or not gross, depending on your perspective, is to grate them. A food processor, especially one with a grating attachment, makes this super easy but you can also use a cheese grater.

Here are two recipes: A simple one (Pulled Pork w/ Chard, Beet, & Carrot Saute) and a more intensive one (Spicy Sausage Beet-Balls & Mustard-Dill-Beet Mashed Potatoes).

Pulled Pork w/ Chard, Beet, & Carrot Saute


Chard, Beet, & Carrot Saute
1 Beet
1 Carrot
1 bunch of Swiss Chard
1 bulb of garlic
Olive Oil

Grate the beet and carrot either with a food processor or grater. Heat oil in a skillet with the garlic. Add the beets and carrot. Saute for a minute or two and then add the chard. Saute until the chard has wilted. Bam. Done

Pulled Pork
This is kind of a bonus recipe. We often get ~1 lb. pork steaks from our meat CSA. The best and easiest way I've found to make them is in a crock pot. Put the pork steak into the pot and cover with water. You can use bbq sauce or other sauce but top off with water to cover all of the steak. Heat it on Low for 8-10 hours. It's done when the pork easily shreds with a knife. Scoop out the pork with a slotted spoon and put in a colinder on top of plate. This allows the fat to drip off the pork. That's it. Yay!


Spicy Sausage Beet-Balls & Mustard-Dill-Beet Mashed Potatoes



This was awesome if I do say so myself! The measurements are approximate - sorry to all you anal ones out there.

Spicy Sausage Beet-Balls
1 Beet
1 Carrot
1 lb. Spicy Italian Sausage
1 Egg
1/4 cup Milk
1 1/2 handfuls of bread crumbs
1/4 cup grated Parmesan Cheese
1 small handful of TJ's Provolone, Parmesan-Reggiano & Asiago Shredded Cheese Mix (or any shredded cheese)

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

Grate the beet and the carrot in the food processor. Reserve half for the mashed potatoes. In a bowl combine the sausage, half the beet-carrot mixture, egg, milk, bread crumbs, and cheese. Form the mixture into balls and place on a pan. Bake for ~ 30 min. (I didn't really pay attention - I took the balls out of the oven when everything else was done.)

Mustard-Dill-Beet-Potatoes

1/2 of the grated beet-carrot mixture from above
2 med & 2 small potatoes
1 tblsp of dijon mustard
Dill Weed
4 large spoonfuls of sour cream
1 tblsp butter

Boil the potatoes. When the potatoes are pierced easily with a fork, drain them and return to the pot. Add the butter and smash. Mix in the beet-carrot mixture and then the mustard, dill, and sour cream.

Cheese Sauce (for meatballs)

Olive Oil
1 tblsp butter
1/4 onion, diced
1 tblsp flour
3/4 cup of milk
1/2 cup of chicken broth
5 oz of TJ's Provolone, Parmesan-Reggiano & Asiago Shredded Cheese Mix (or shredded provolone cheese)
Nutmeg

In a sauce pan, add a drizzle of oil and the butter. When the butter has melted, add the onion and cook for 2 minutes. Stir in the flour and cook for 1 minute. Whisk in the milk and chicken broth and bring to a boil. One boiling, stir in the cheese and let simmer until the cheese melts. Sprinkle with nutmeg to taste.

~~~

Seriously, even if you think you hate beets, at least try this last recipe. Adam said he couldn't even taste the beets in the meatballs.

Spiced Apples, Cabbage, Carmelized Onions, Candied Pecans and Sausage

I threw this together using the last of February's winter share and am quite proud of myself ... perhaps I'm getting a hang of this whole cooking thing.

1 onion
2 apples, cored and sliced
1 tbsp of butter
1 tsp each of nutmeg, allspice, and cloves
1/2-1 cup of pecans (or other nut)
1 tbsp of maple syrup
1 head of cabbage
4 pre-cooked sausages (I used TJ's Chicken Apple Sausages)
oil for sauteing

Pre-heat the oven to 350. Slice the onion, spread out on pan, and place in oven. Stir occasionally until brown.

Meanwhile, heat butter in a large pan over medium high heat. When the butter is melted, add the spices and then the apples. Stir-fry the apples until brown then remove the apples from the pan and set aside.

Turn the heat to low and add the pecans. Toast for a few minutes then pour in the maple syrup. Mix until nuts are completely covered then remove from pan and set aside.

Add a little bit of oil to the pan if needed and turn the heat up to medium high. Add the sausage and cabbage and stir-fry until cabbage begins to wilt. Add the apples and pecans back into the pan and cook until everything is warm.

Sweet Potato Quesdaillas

This recipe is from Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life and can be found online here.

I altered it a little, partly on purpose and partly by accident ...

2 medium sweet potatoes
1 onion
2 cloves of garlic, minced or finely chopped
1 tbsp oregano
1 tbsp basil
1 tsp cumin
olive oil for saute
4 tortillas (I used Trader Joes Spinach tortillas)
1/2-1 cup of shredded cheddar cheese or "mexican" mix

Cut sweet potatoes into chunks, place in microwave safe bowl, and microwave for 8-10 minutes until soft then mash.

Chop the onion and saute it along with the garlic in a large skillet. Add the spices and sweet potato. Mix. Turn the burner of low.

Preheat the oven to 400. Oil a baking sheet. Spread tortillas one at a time onto the sheet and press into the oil. Spread the sweet potato mixture onto half and top with cheese. Fold the other half of the tortilla over. Repeat with each tortilla. Bake until brown and crisp.

Notes:

• These were pretty good although I felt like they needed a bit more - I topped them with cream cheese (since I was out of sour cream) and it was quite tasty.
  
• I have extra sweet potato mixture left over so I think I will try it with brie as in the original recipe and also with cream cheese on the inside.
• The original recipe calls for adding shredded swiss chard along with the cheese. I didn't have any but will surely try this if I have chard, kale, or spinach next time.
  

Celeriac and Apple Salad: Take Two

This is my second experiment with celeriac and apple salads. The first one is here.

4 cups of water
3 tablespoons of lemon or lime juice
2 tart apples, peeled, cored, and sliced into strips
1 large celeriac, peeled and cut into to thin strips

Put the the apples & celeriac into a bowl with water and lemon juice to prevent browning. Leave approximately 15 minutes.

1/2-1 cup chopped walnuts or almonds or combination

Toss the walnuts in a skillet over high heat (don't add oil or anything) until they start to brown.

1 1/2 tbsp of apple cider vinegar
4 tbsp of greek yogurt
1 tblsp heavy cream
2 tsp of Coriander
1/2 tsp Pepper

Drain the celeriac and apples and return to bowl. Pour apple cider vinegar over and mix. Add the nuts.

Mix the yogurt, cream, coriander, and pepper in a small bowl. Pour the dressing over the celeriac and apples and toss to coat.

Chill over night.

This was pretty good, however, I have some thoughts on improvement:

• Replace the 1 tbsp of heavy cream with orange juice and/or add 1/4 tsp of orange extract
• I used walnuts in this one and I think almonds would be better
  

Adapted from Farmer John's Cookbook.

Sweet Beet & Goat Cheese Pita-dilla

I'm always in search of new things to do with beets (and kale and celeriac) and for some reason, I had mexican on the mind. So I googled 'beet quesadilla.' While I didn't find a recipe, I did find a scrumptious and inspiring image on flickr.

Adam says this is almost dessert. Sweetness can be adjusted to your liking.

• 2-3 large beets, 4-5 small beets, cooked with your preferred method, peeled, and chopped into chunks.
• sausage or chicken sausage or other meat or protein (optional)
• 4 pitas
• honey or maple syrup or agave nectar syrup (I used Trader Joe's Apple Chicken Sausage)
  
• cinnamon
• allspice
• cloves
• goat cheese

While the beets are cooking, cut the pitas in half and spread goat cheese on the inside.

If you are using meat, lightly oil a pan and sauté the sausage over medium heat. When the sausage starts to cut through (before it browns), add some cinnamon, allspice, cloves, and maple syrup.

When the beets have finished cooked, puree them in a food processor or blender. Add a dash of cinnamon, allspice, and cloves, and a drizzle of maple syrup and run through the food processor again.

Mix the beets and sausage and scoop into the cheese lined pita halves. Place pita-dillas on a pan, sprinkle with goat cheese, and bake in the oven or toaster oven until the pitas become crisp (5 minutes or so).

How to Cook Beets

There are generally two ways to cook beets and from my perspective that don't taste that different for most recipes.

Boiling Beets

• Cut the beets into chunks and peels if you like
• Place the beets in a pot of boiling water until tender (i.e. you can easily pierce with a fork) usually about 15-20 minutes
  
• If the beets are not peeled, place them in cold water and slip the skins off

Roasting Beets

• Peel the beets
• Cut beets into chunks
• Preheat the oven to 350
  
• Option 1: Place beets on a piece of aluminum foil and drizzle with olive oil and any spices you'd like. Fold the top the the aluminum foil into a tent and place it in the oven
• Option 2: Place the beets in a roasting pan with a inch or so of water. Sprinkle with any spices.
• Roast until tender (i.e. easily pierced with a fork) usually about 15-20 minutes.

Roasted Beet and Ginger Quinoa Rissoto

I basically used this recipe: Roasted Beet Rissoto except:

- I added 3 tsp (I'd recommend 1-3 tsp) of pureed ginger at the end
- I used 1 cup parmesan cheese
- I used Quinoa instead of arborio rice
- I didn't use onions although I think it would have tasted better if I had (I'd try onions, shallots, or leeks)
- I replaced the 1/2 cup of red wine with 2 tblsp of red wine vinegar because I didn't have red wine

It wasn't pretty good - not earth shattering but I'll probably make it again.

Celeriac & Apple Salad: Take One

Adapted from Farmer John's Cookbook.

The description says it will make your mouth water. I was very skeptical, especially after misreading the recipe and adding 2 1/2 tablespoons (not 2 teaspoons) of mustard. But it really does get better after being refrigerated for a while. In fact, it was best on the 3rd and last day I had it.

4 cups of water
3 tablespoons of lemon or lime juice
2 tart apples, peeled, cored, and sliced into strips
1 large celeriac, peeled and cut into to thin strips

Put the the apples & celeriac into a bowl with water and lemon juice to prevent browning. Leave approximately 15 minutes.

1/2-1 cup chopped walnuts or almonds or combination

Toss the walnuts in a skillet over high heat (don't add oil or anything) until they start to brown.

1 1/2 tbsp of apple cider vinegar
2 1/2 tbsp of mayonaise
1 tblsp heavy cream
1-2 tblsp of Dijon Mustard
1-2 tsp of Marjoram
1/2 tsp Pepper

Drain the celeriac and apples and return to bowl. Pour apple cider vinegar over and mix. Add the nuts.

Mix the mayo, cream, mustard, marjoram, and pepper in a small bowl. Pour the dressing over the celeriac and apples and toss to coat.

Chill over night.

Cheesy Kale, Quinoa, and Black Bean Burritos with Cheesy Turnip Casserole (with Celeriac).

The burritos get a huge thumbs up; the turnip casserole gets an "eh." I have yet to be convinced that I like turnips.

Cheesy Kale, Quinoa, and Black Bean Burritos
Adapted from Cheesy Greens and Easy Green Enchiladas

Olive Oil
1 large onion, chopped (I used red because that was what I had)
2-3 gloves of garlic, minced
2 cups of cooked quinoa (which is 1 cup of uncooked quinoa) or any rice you like
1 large bunch of kale (or chard or spinach or green of your choice)
1/2 cup of grated cheese (or more!)
Soy Sauce
1 can of black beans
Tortillas
1/2 cup of vegetable broth (if using kale)

First, cook the quinoa. Rinse it in a sieve (very important as it will get rid of the bitterness!) and then add 2 cups of water for every 1 cup of quinoa to a pot and bring to a boil. The quinoa is done when it has absorbed all the water.
Saute the onion and garlic in olive oil until the onion just starts to get translucent. Add the rice and then the chopped greens. If you are cooking kale, add the vegetable broth. Cover and cook over low heat until the greens are wilted and bright green (up to 20 minutes for kale).
Place tortillas in the oven or a toaster oven to warm.
Add the beans, soy sauce to taste, and cheese and stir until cheese is melt. Scoop the mixture into a tortilla, top with more cheese if you want, and roll like a burrito.


Cheesy Turnip Casserole

This dish didn't deviate much from this Easy Turnip Casserole recipe except - I used 3 turnips (don't know the poundage) ; I used 1 celeriac instead of the bell peppers and celery; I used xanthum gum instead of flour (lower carb and gluten free).

EDIT: the Cheesy Turnip Casserole wasn't half bad topped with salsa and rolled in a burrito.