Bok choy, tomato & egg stir-fry

I used 4 of today's CSA - Bok choy, tomato, habanero pepper, and collard greens! Simple and yummy. Especially, when you are hungry, this recipe only takes 10 minutes.

Stir-fry

3-4 bok choy leaves
1 tomato
2 eggs
1/2 habanero pepper (optional)
1/4 tsp salt
1tsp fish sauce
1tsp cooking wine
1Tb olive oil
1/2 tsp sesame oil

photo credit: http://karenrothnutrition.com

0. Chop tomato and bok choy, thinly slice habanero pepper (take out the seeds)
1. Preheat the pan with olive oil on high heat
2. cook eggs, roughly scramble
3. throw in bok choy, tomatoes, habanero peppers
4. season with salt toss for about a minute
5. add fish sauce, cooking wine, and sesame oil
6. cook for another 30 seconds
7. serve over rice*

If you don't have fish sauce, feel free to season it with soy sauce or salt.

*Tip: I cook my rice with collard green stems (cut into small circles). Great way to use up stems!

Leftover CSA Produce?

I'm sure there are some of you out there that, like me, can't always keep up with the produce items that you receive every week in your shares. From my own experience, the most common leftovers in the fridge by the end of the week are greens and cabbage. I am sharing with you some very easy recipes that I have come up with that will hopefully both taste great and help empty out your fridge before tomorrow's veggies arrive. The cabbage soup, a variation of a soup that my mom would always make for my family, can use up to a half a head of cabbage at a time and requires almost no effort past chopping a bunch of vegetables (and has almost no calories!). The other two recipes can use collards, kale, chard, or any hearty green you have lying around. I often add extra veggies, or change up the herbs and spices I put in when I get bored. Have some fun, and happy cooking!


Quick and Easy Cabbage Soup

3 cups vegetable broth
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 15-oz. cans of pre-seasoned diced tomatoes (Italian or Mexican)
½ - 1 head cabbage, coarsely chopped
1 medium onion, chopped
1 cup carrot, chopped
½ cup zucchini, chopped (optional)
Basil and oregano, to taste
Salt and pepper, to taste

Directions: Add all ingredients to a large dutch oven or soup pot. Bring to a boil, cover, and simmer on low heat until all ingredients are cooked thoroughly and cabbage is transparent. Season to taste. For a spicier soup, add some diced chilies or jalapeno salt.

Sautéed Collard Greens and Cabbage

3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 medium onion, sliced
2 tsp crushed chili flakes, optional
2 cloves garlic, minced
¼ - ½ a head of cabbage (depending on the size of the head), sliced
1 bunch (about ½ a pound) of collard greens, center stem removed, sliced
Salt and pepper, to taste
1 tablespoon lemon juice, optional

Directions: Heat the olive oil over medium heat in a large skillet or wok. Add the sliced onion and crushed chili flakes if using, and sauté for a few minutes until they begin to soften and lose color. Add the minced garlic, salt and pepper, and continue to sauté until the garlic becomes fragrant. Stir frequently so the garlic does not burn. Once the onions are translucent and the garlic fragrant, add the sliced cabbage and greens. Frequently toss with tongs to coat cabbage and greens in oil, and to thoroughly cook all ingredients. The greens will first turn a fluorescent green, and then become steadily darker as they cook. Add more salt and pepper to taste. The dish is complete when cabbage is transparent, collard greens are a dark green color, and both are fully wilted. If using, add lemon juice right before removing from pan and serving – if added too early on, it can make the greens lose their vibrant green color.

Sautéed Greens and Mushrooms with Balsamic Vinegar

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 red onion, thinly sliced
2 cloves garlic, crushed and finely chopped
2 portabella mushroom caps, cleaned* and cut into ¼ inch slices, OR 1 cup button mushrooms, cleaned* and sliced
½ tablespoon chopped rosemary
1 tsp cayenne pepper
1 bunch (approx. ½ a pound) of collard greens, kale, chard, or any other dark leafy green that holds up well to cooking and heat (not spinach), thick center stem removed, sliced or coarsely chopped
2 tsp sea salt
Pepper, to taste
¼ cup balsamic vinegar or Marsala cooking wine

Directions: Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the sliced onion, and cook for a few minutes until they begin to soften and lose color. Add the garlic and cook about a minute more, until fragrant. Add the mushrooms, rosemary and cayenne pepper. Continue cooking until mushrooms are tender, stirring frequently. De-glaze the skillet with the balsamic vinegar or Marsala wine, and cook about a minute more. Add the greens, sea salt** and pepper to taste. Toss the greens frequently to cook thoroughly. The dish is done when the greens are fully wilted and darker in color.

*To clean mushrooms, do not rinse in water. Take a dry, clean paper towel and gently rub any remaining dirt off of the caps and stems.

**As a general rule, do not add salt to mushrooms until they are almost fully cooked, as salt will promote dryness and much faster cooking when added to raw mushrooms.

Good, easy greens

Here's something I just this weekend stole from Mark Bittman (New York Times). I tested it, and, ecco!, it's right as rain.

Here's the recipe, in its entirety:
Poach a couple of pounds of dark leafy greens, like kale, collards or spinach. Drain, cool, squeeze dry and chop. Then toss with oil, salt and lots of lemon juice. Serve with more lemon, oil, salt and pepper. Call it horta.

Pesto whole wheat fusilli, with dark greens, carrots, and chicken

I wrote this post on my own blog during week 3 of CSA. However, since the New York Times just did a piece about beets, I thought I'd share it with you all.


"No strawberries this week, but instead we got beets. I love beets, for the nice bloody red color they bleed into the food. I don't roast the beets, just wash well, and then slice the heads into nice half moons and chop the leaves and sautée in a pan with garlic and vegetable oil. This makes a very nice and beautiful side dish, no boring colors on the plate. So this week we'll have a lot of salads again, maybe tomato-less because of the recent salmonella scare, but Maryland tomatoes seem to be ok; Last night for dinner I made Pesto whole wheat fusilli, with dark greens carrots, and chicken. It's as simple as it sounds: sautée the carrots (sliced in nice ovals) and the dark greens in oil, with red hot pepper flakes and garlic, add a quarter cup of white wine (or however much you can spare from that glass you've been sipping from while cooking...) and let it cook until the carrots are almost done, still a bit crunchy (I don't like mushy carrots). When it's almost ready add the cooked chicken ( I had leftovers from a whole chicken that Tim barbecued on Sunday). Season with salt and black pepper. The pasta cooks in salted boiling water in a different pot, and when it's al dente , drain, add to a serving dish, mix in a bit of pesto and chopped herbs . Serve right after salad. Speaking of pasta, we had an authentic Italian dinner recently with A&L and L's Italian parents. It started with pasta (Pesto linguine) , the second course was a slice of roast with bread and cheese, and we ended with salad. This (salad ending) was most surprising , but then it makes sense, you sort of clean your palate, get it ready for desert. Then I remembered that I grew up in Romania and had salad only as a side dish to the meat course. I still remember my surprise my fist lunch at Marlboro College, when I saw people had salad for lunch (as lunch, with maybe a cookie as desert). I think people's eating habits and cultures are fascinating. Bon Appétit!"