Although best cooked on the day of purchase/delivery, asparagus will keep tightly wrapped in a plastic bag in the refrigerator, for up to 4 days.
Belonging to the Lily family, asparagus grows from an underground zhizome; it can produce new spears for 10 to 20 years! The first crops appear as early as February in California, while the growing season generally lasts until as late as July in the midwest.
4 T Olive Oil 2 lb root vegetables*
1 T rosemary (or thyme)chopped 1 head garlic minced
Chop 2 pounds of root vegetables of your choice. You can chose a variety or have just one. Preheat oven 425 °F. Place oil in large frying pan, low heat. Add vegetables (except garlic) and rosemary (or thyme). Sprinkle with salt and pepper and cook briefly. Stir to coat vegetables with oil. Place veggies in 9×13pan and place pan in oven.
Bake 30 min, opening oven and stirring once or twice.
Add garlic and stir. If vegetables are not brown, set temperature to 450 °F.
Bake another 30 minutes, stirring every 10 min (until vegetables are tender and browned).
*carrots, onion, garlic, potatoes, turnips, parsnips, sweet potatoes, potatoes
This is a small batch recipe, about 3 cups of pickles. They’re quick pickles that will keep in the refrigerator for a couple weeks - if they last that long!
For the brine:
equal amounts of water, white vinegar, and white sugar - I usually use 1/2 cup each.
a couple small slices of lemon peel - more or less to taste
2-3 whole small hot red peppers (Omit if you don’t like spicy food - the pickles will get hotter as they age. Pepper flakes will be even hotter than whole peppers, if you substitute.) a pinch of salt a pinch of powdered tumeric (This is for colour, not flavour, so it can easily be omitted, too.)
For the pickles:
about 2 cups of thinly sliced (1/8-inch thick) peeled white turnips of any variety. This recipe also works well with carrots and/or any variety of radishes.
Put the cold brine ingredients into a small saucepan big enough to hold it and the turnips, but don’t put the turnips in yet. Bring the brine to a boil, stir until the sugar dissolves. Boil for 1-2 minutes - longer boil time will make the brine a little more syrupy and bring up the heat of the peppers. Turn off the heat, put the turnip slices in the brine. Stir to make sure they’re all coated and cover the pan. Let cool to room temperature.
The pickles are ready to eat at room temperature and may be refrigerated to keep longer.
——————–
Tear leaves into chip sized pieces, toss with a tbl of olive oil and some salt and bake in a single layer on a tray for 10-15 minutes at 350. Check them after 10 minutes so they don’t burn. They will get crispy like chips.
2 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup cream, heavy,
1 onion, chopped
half-n-half
1 russet potato, peeled and chop
Nutmeg, to taste
6 cups canned chicken stock, warmed
Salt
3 cups chopped broccoli florets and stems
Pepper
Directions
In a large pot, melt butter and cook onion until tender over medium high heat. Add potato and toss to coat with butter. Add hot stock and bring to a simmer. Stir in broccoli and return to a simmer. When potato and broccoli are tender, puree in batches in a blender or food processor. Return to pot and add cream. Season to taste and serve warm
| 1 | can (11 oz) refrigerated pizza crust |
| 1/2 | cup refrigerated basil pesto |
| 1 | small green bell pepper, sliced |
| 1 | small red bell pepper, sliced |
| 1/2 | cup chopped red onion |
| 1 | cup sliced fresh mushrooms (3 oz) |
| 1 | large plum (Roma) tomato, sliced |
| 2 | tablespoons sliced ripe olives, drained |
| 1 1/2 | cups shredded Italian cheese blend (6 oz) |
| 1. | Heat oven to 400°F. Spray or grease 15×10-inch or larger dark or nonstick cookie sheet. Unroll dough on cookie sheet; starting at center, press dough into 15×10-inch rectangle. |
| 2. | Spread pesto evenly over dough. Top with remaining ingredients. |
| 3. | Bake 10 to 12 minutes or until crust is golden brown and cheese is melted. |
| 1 T olive oil (3-4 T. olive oil) 2 c chopped onions (1 bunch chopped green onions including tops) 1 bay leaf 2 stalks of chopped celery (4-5 chopped stalks of celery) 2 medium sized chopped carrots (no carrots) 3 c cooked white beans (1 can Great Northern White Beans or Chick Peas or both if you like) 2 ts salt (NO SALT substitute 3-4 slices chopped salt pork) 6 c. stock or water (10 c. chicken stock) 3 T minced garlic (3 heavy T minced garlic) 1 1/2 lb collard greens; stemmed and torn into small bits (1 bunch of collard green stemmed and torn)*** 1 tsp fresh ground pepper (7-8 turns of the pepper mill) Heat Oil in soup pot; Add onion, bay leaf, celery, carrots, garlic and salt or salt pork. Cook over low heat for abt 10 minutes, then add stock or water. Cover, bring to a boil, then lower heat to a simmer for abt 20 minutes. Add beans and as much of the collard greens as you can fit, cover and wait a few minutes for the greens to cook down. Keep adding greens in batches, waiting between additions for them to cook down, which they eventually will. Add black pepper to taste. Serve hot with thickly-sliced buttered dark Pumpernickel bread. ***Make you you remove the very bitter heavy center stem in each collard leaf. ENJOY! |