roasted radishes and radish greens

These beautiful radishes were from my local farm, but I was saladed out and came across this recipe.  I made it for friends and one was especially enchanted with it, saying she would eat this before candy any time.  We fought over the last bit, as it didn't make much when only using one bunch of radishes. 

Roasted Radishes with Radish Greens

Ingredients
3 bunches small radishes with greens attached
2 T oil
salt & pepper
2 T butter
2 T fresh lemon juice

Instructions
Preheat oven to 500 degrees.  Wash and prep radishes and greens.

In large ovenproof skillet, heat oil until shimmering.  Add the radishes, season with salt and pepper and cook over high heat, stirring occasionally, until lightly browned in spots, about 2 minutes. Transfer the skillet to the oven and roast the radishes for 15 minutes, until crisp-tender.

Return the skillet to the burner and stir in the butter to coat the radishes. Add the radish greens and cook over moderate heat until they are wilted, about 2 minutes. Add the lemon juice and season with salt. Serve the radishes right away.

 

turnip tops

So, this fabulous local farm provided some lovely salad turnips to me.  They're fine and all, but really excited me was cooking their greens.  Ever since falling madly in love with the Liberian national dish "potato greens" (it's actually sweet potato leaves), I look at the greens of root vegetables entirely differently.

I essentially did this and it turned out quite good but I'd say that the greens for one bunch make only enough for 2-3 people, not six.  And go lightly on the red pepper flakes.

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 medium onion cut into wedges
• 1 pound turnip greens cleaned and chopped

• 1/4 cup water (or better: broth)
• pinch brown sugar
• 1/8 teaspoon red pepper flakes adjust to preference

Instructions

• Drizzle olive oil into skillet over medium heat.
• Add onion and cook until just tender, about 3 minutes. Then add 1/2 of turnip greens. Allow to cook down and add the remainder of the greens.
• Add water, brown sugar and red pepper flakes. Adjust the amount of red pepper to your personal taste.  Cook 15 minutes or so until the texture and taste you want.  

savory cabbage pancakes

I love cabbage.  I eat it so many different ways and I am always happy because it's such a fantastic vegetable.  While I've had some misses with other foods, things I've made that I didn't really want to finish up, I can't think of a single time that has happened to me with cabbage. 

I got a beautiful head of locally grown cabbage yesterday which meant I needed to use up the old cabbage in my crisper drawer.  Because one of the things that I love about cabbage is that I can store it for a long time - use half for something and then wait even weeks to use up the other half.

I've been eating zucchini and scrambled eggs for breakfast and I'm liking starting my day with vegetables, so I was thinking of some kind of cabbage pancake when I came across this from Budget Bytes.

Oh. My. Goodness.  These aren't just good, they are FANTASTIC.  My only regret is that the sriracha mayo is so tasty that I want it, but it's so spicy that it sort of masks some of the other flavors.

I just followed the recipe as it is, so I'll just copy it. (Usually I make some changes based on what I have in my fridge and cupboard, but this was just straightforward and SO GOOD.)  I may sometime do some more research to find more authentic recipes.

Savory Cabbage Pancakes (Okonomiyaki-influenced)

Ingredients
2 extra large eggs
1/2 cup water
1.5 Tbsp soy sauce
1 Tbsp toasted sesame oil
3/4 to 1 cup all-purpose flour
4-5 cups shredded green cabbage
1 carrot
3 green onions
2 Tbsp oil for frying

Toppings
1/4 cup mayonnaise
2 Tbsp sriracha
1/2 Tbsp sesame seeds
2 green onions

Instructions

• Remove any wilted leaves from the outside of the cabbage. Cut the cabbage into quarters and remove the core. Thinly slice or shred half of the cabbage, or until you have 4-5 cups shredded cabbage. Peel the carrot and shred it using a large-holed cheese grater. Slice the green onions.
• In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, water, soy sauce, and sesame oil until smooth. Begin whisking in the flour, 1/4 cup at a time, until it forms a thick, smooth batter (about 3/4 to1 cup total flour).
• Add the cabbage, carrots, and green onion to the batter and stir until the vegetables are mixed and everything is evenly coated in batter.
• Heat 1/2 Tbsp oil in a non-stick or cast iron skillet over medium heat. Once hot, add 3/4 cup of the vegetable and batter mixture. Press it down into the hot skillet to form a circle, about 6 inches in diameter and 1/2 inch thick. Place a cover on the skillet to hold in the steam, which will help the cabbage soften as it cooks. Cook the pancake until golden brown on the bottom (3-5 minutes), then flip and cook until golden brown on the second side. Pile the cooked pancakes on a plate and cover with foil to keep warm until ready to eat. Add more oil to the skillet as needed as you cook the pancakes.
• To prepare the sriracha mayo, mix together 1/4 cup mayonnaise and 2 Tbsp sriracha in a small bowl. Drizzle the sriracha mayo over the pancakes just before serving, followed with a sprinkle of sesame seeds and sliced green onion.

 

beet greens and white beans

I made this dish one day this week based on what I had lying around, and it was very good.  I am especially enjoying it with toasted sourdough bread.  I even brought over a visitor to eat the leftovers of it with me. 

Saute:
-shallots, garlic

Add in:
-coarsely chopped beet greens (or swiss chard)

When it's beginning to wilt, add in:
-pint jar of white beans (no draining, no rinsing)
-dash of vinegar (I used apple cider)
-a little bit of honey
 -pine nuts

Did I forget anything?  I wish I'd written it down sooner.  It was really good!  


 

canning milk

Edit:  standard procedure - into room temperature jars and tap water in canner, pour cold milk with significant headroom (just under 1").  Put into pressure canner to heat up, vent for 10 minutes, then turn off and let cool. (I put it in for 1 minute.)

***

 

 Now that I can't have much dairy, it can be hard to get through a container of milk before it goes bad.  But, I really like to keep it on-hand for baking and such.  And I'm a stickler for humanely raised dairy, etc. which is SUPER expensive so I like to stock up when on sale (which usually happens when it's about to go bad). I do now have a local source of goat milk, but it's ... goaty.  So will use sparingly.  (It made some nice chevre, but the yogurt didn't work.  Will try once more with yogurt.) 

When I was at the store recently I picked up two half-gallons of milk because they were buy one get one free and I thought I saw that they were both "sell by" in a month, so I thought I could make yogurt later (I do still make it, just much less than before).  But I got home and saw one is sell by this week.  And because it's ultrapasteurized as most milk is here, I knew it could last awhile, but ... I didn't want the waste of it turning.  And I could freeze, but my freezer is already full. 

So, I decided to can it.  USDA doesn't sanction this, but loads of people do it without ill effect.  Also, the milk is likely to spoil but not botulism, so I will be able to detect it's gone bad if it does. 

I canned 2% and apparently that's better than whole for quality sake.  I have an electric canner and I couldn't find directions for this, so out of an abundance of caution, I went with 10 minutes.

I used cold milk in room temperature jars; water in canner from tap.  I did about 1/2"-3/4" headspace and there was some overflow.  Put it in canner on high, set timer for 10 minutes, making sure good steam flow before closing vent.  

I used Tattler lids which are cheap because reusable, but also more prone to failure for me at least, so we'll see if there was full seal. The jars look good, not too much flowed out.  I did three pints and two jelly jars which look to be about 12 oz. each (more than half gallon, to use up the milk already on hand). 

I'll plan to use them up in the next few months and will report back here about quality.

salmonberry jelly

I used Pomona Pectin* for this salmonberry jelly, as it always works well. I picked about three gallons of fruit (approximately - it was about three Folgers containers full) and got about 5 cups of juice, with 5 jelly jars and a bit extra to taste.

After mashing and straining the salmonberries, the ratios are

For every 1 cup of juice:
-1 tsp calcium water mixed in
-1/4 c. sugar (because salmonberries are pretty milk flavored, I think honey - which I usually use with Pomona - would overpower their taste)
-1 tsp pectin mixed into sugar

Makes about 1 jelly jar per cup of juice.

Process:

I'm told freezing the berries works to get the most juice out, which makes sense.  Thaw and then I also heat it up a bit.  Mash with potato masher, put through strainer.  I don't care about having crystal clear jelly so I don't use cheesecloth to strain finely.

Measure the juice and add calcium water.  (Start the lids simmering and the jars sterilizing - you'll want them hot since the jelly will be hot.)

Measure the sugar in a bowl and add the pectin, mix it up.

Bring the juice and calcium water to a full boil. Then add the sugar-pectin and stir it vigorously 1-2 minutes and bring it back to a full boil. 

Fill jars, 1/4" headspace.  Wipe rims cle, screw on lins, Put jars into boiling water bath for 10 minutes.

Note that because this is low-sugar, once opened it won't last as long as high-sugar.  Should be used up within three weeks or so. 


*Note:  I always use Pomona Pectin.  I love that it doesn't require sugar, so I can use a little honey or anything else I want.  It has almost always set up for me (sometimes takes a couple of days), and the one time I thought it didn't I called their jamming hotline and the person had a long, super helpful conversation with me.  I love supporting the sort of company that does that - especially because the quality is so good and i can not use sugar.  Highly recommend!