Thursday, July 1, 2010

Greens, greens and beans

All of us have those days that get really busy and it's hard to make elaborate meals, or update an entry on time (sorry!). But a hectic day doesn't mean that you can't make something simple and delicious. The following recipes can be made quickly, or while you're doing other things. Majority of this week's recipes are made from green leafy vegetables, which are very easy and quick to cook.

But first, let me introduce you to Jamie, one half of our weekly host, the cook extraordinaire, supplier of fresh farm vegetables and when he has time, also of delicious lamb meat (yum yum).

That's Jamie with one of the humongous pak choy that he grows in his parents' farm.

Now for the recipes, the following were enough for 12 people.




Swiss Chard Salad


10 leaves of swiss chard, chopped
3 tomatoes, chopped

6 garlic cloves, sliced
2 Tablespoon of butter

1 cup of grated cheese (can be Parmesan, Romano, Asiago, or your preferred type of hard cheese)


1. Slice garlic, saute in butter in low heat for 30 min. Make sure not to burn garlic or butter.


2. Mix swiss chard and tomatoes, pour sauted garlic and butter.


3. Top with grated cheese.





Pok Choy with Maple Syrup

1 bunch of pok choy (see Jamie's photo on top)

1 onion, diced
2 teaspoons of red pepper flakes

3 garlic cloves, chopped

2 T of olive oil

1 T of sesame oil

2 T of maple syrup

2 T of whiskey (optional - you can also substitute white wine, sherry or other cooking wine)


1. Saute garlic and onions in olive oil in medium heat. Add pok choy until wilted. If you have a lot of pok choy, divide in either third or half when adding to the pan. Start with the bottom parts of the pok choy, then the leaves to ensure consistency - the bottom parts take a while longer to cook compared to the leaves.

2. Add the red pepper flakes, you can skip this if you don't like spicy dishes but if you do, this adds a nice and very subtle spiciness. Sautee for another five minutes.


3. Add sesame oil, maple syrup and whiskey. Sautee for another 5 minutes, do not overcook.


Collard greens and spinach with onions

1 bunch of collard greens, chopped

1 bunch of spinach, chopped

1/4 glass of white wine

1 onion, diced


1. Mix all ingredients in medium heat, saute until greens are cooked.



Broccoli wit
h kohlrabi
1 head of broccoli
1 kohlrabi, sliced

1. Pre-heat oven to 350 C or start your grill.

2. Chop broccoli and slice kohlrabi. Mix together with olive oil, salt and pepper.

3. Put in oven or grill for 30 minutes or until vegetables are cooked but not soggy.










Beans

1 bag of dried kidney beans, soaked overnight but if you don't have time, it will just be in the oven a little longer

1 onion, cut in half

3-4 sticks of dried marjoram (or any other spice you prefer), this also amounts to 2 tsp of dried spice (can be oregano, thyme, rosemary, etc.)



1. Set oven to 400 C. Boil beans on stove top while waiting for the oven to heat, follow the water to bean ratio in the package. If you have time to soak the beans overnight that's great as cooking time will be shorter. But if you don't, it's ok as it just means that it'll be in the oven longer. If you're busy, you can do other things (such as writing your essays!!!) while the beans are in the oven.


2. Once beans have boiled, add spice, boil for another 10 min.

3. Add some risotto from the collard greens for added taste.
Put in the oven for 60-90 minutes or until beans are soft, check intermittently.

If you have a bit of time, here is the bread and dessert that was served with the veggie dishes above:

Rye bread
Prep time: 20 minutes
Whole process: 3 1/2 hr


This recipe is from Jenna, one of the bakers in the group. Hopefully there will be a recipe from Jenna for one of her vegan desserts. Sorry there's no photo of the bread - it disappeared very quickly, it was that good! The best part about this bread is that you don't need a breadmaker and most of the time is just waiting for the bread to bake. Plus who doesn't want a kitchen that smells of freshly baked bread?


t = teaspoon
T= tablespoon

1 1/4 cup white flour

2 cups dark rye flour

1 T bread machine yeast

1 T kosher salt

1 T caraway seeds

1 1/2 cup lukewarm water

1/4 cup molasses


1. In a bowl, mix white flour, dark rye flour, yeast, kosher salt and caraway seads


2. In a separate bowl, mix lukewarm water with molasses.


3. Mix the above toger and stir until blended. Stir about 40 times until all ingredients are nicely mixed. Take the mix and cover with plastic for 2 hours in the refrigerator.


4. Take the bread mix and mold with both hands (don't knead!) until it is formed into a loaf.


5. Cover with a towel (but not a terry cloth) to rest for 40 minutes. While waiting, pre-heat oven for 30 minutes at 450 C.


6. Put the bread mix in a casserole dish, roasting pan or cookie sheet and place in the oven. A casserole dish, especially one with a cover is the best as it will result in consistency.


7. Bake the bread, preferrably in the covered dish but a cookie sheet is also ok, for 30 minutes. Remove the cover and add a pan of hot water at the bottom of rack (for moisture), bake for another 15 minutes.

8. Remove from oven and cool on a rack.


Julia's Trifle
This trifle was made by Julia with a lot of improvised ingredients - the best part is that you can change any of the layers with your favourite flavours. This particular trifle resulted in a whole lot of chocolate and berries (nice mix of texture and taste) in one bite. This recipe is great because it nicely uses packaged cake mixes with fresh berries that results in a delicious yet easy to make trifle.
Approximate cooking time is 1 1/2 hours for everything, cake included.

1 box of Dunken Hines chocolate cake (you can use white cake or any other flavour of cake that you prefer)

1 box of Lindt chocolate, chopped

1 cup of white chocolate chips

1/3 cup whipping cream, chilled

2 cups dried apricots, pureed after being soaked in water for 20-30 min.

2 cups of vanilla pudding
1 cup raspberry jam

1 cup of berries (raspberries, blackberries are best but you can also add or replace with strawberries, blueberries)
1 cup of rum mint leaves for decoration

1. Bake the Dunken Hines chocolate cake as directed. Once cooled, slice into small pieces the size of a Mars bars or smaller, depending on the size of your pan.


2. On a stove top, melt the milk chocolate with the whipping cream.

3. Soak the dried apricots in water for 20-30 minutes, then puree.

4. Put the sliced chocolate cake at the bottom of the pan. Drizzle with rum - don't use all of the rum and make sure not to oversoak.

5. Pour a layer on top of the cake followed by a layer of pureed apricots, layer of vanilla pudding (you can swap whipping cream for this), topped with melted raspberry jam.


6. Repeat step 4 to 5.

7. Top with a final layer of sliced cake, drizzle with rum, add a layer of whipped cream and a final layer of fresh berries and some mint leaves for decoration.


Check back next Wednesday for next week's recipes!

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