Asian Cabbage Rolls, Pollo Verde, Falafel, Flour Hummus, Purple Sweet Potato Balls

 Purple Sweet Potato Balls
I promised our Produce Co-op coordinator that I would make "something interesting" with some small but tasty purple sweet potatoes that came in my veggie box this week, and here it is.  Of course you can use any color of sweet potato to make these snack or dessert balls. This is a technique, not a hard and fast recipe.  Feel free to experiment.

Sweet Potatoes, peeled and cubed (they cook faster when cut small)
Honey (1+ Tbsp per pound of potatoes)
Cinnamon (1+ tsp per pound)
Sesame Seeds for coating

Boil, steam or nuke the potatoes until soft and mashable.  I had about half a pound of potato to make the balls pictured here.  Mash them smooth, adding the honey and cinnamon as you do.  You don't want a very 'wet' mash.  Cool.

Roll the mash into balls -- walnut-to-golf ball size depending on how much you love sweet potatoes.  Gently roll each ball in a saucer of sesame seeds.  Serve.

Asian-Style Cabbage Rolls
Someone asked last week if I had a recipe for 'cabbage rolls'.  Even though I'm of half German ancestry, stuffed cabbage or cabbage rolls just weren't in our family cookbook.   Oh, I've eaten my share of cabbage rolls over the years.   I even created a "stuffed cabbage" recipe where you cut the core out of a head of cabbage, stuff the core hole with "German-spiced" ground pork, tied a leaf over the filling and steam the entire head. But this time I got a hankering to experiment with an Asian-inspired cabbage roll.  

Think steamed Spring Rolls -- chūn juăn -- featuring shrimp, rice, and shredded veggies rolled in a blanched Napa cabbage leaf rather than a translucent rice flour wrapper.  Said rolls are then poached to cook the shrimp, before serving.  The following made 16 rolls -- dinner for four with a helping of rice and maybe a side salad or Asian style pickled veg.

Filling & Skins
1/2 lb raw Shrimp, chopped
2/3 cup cooked and cooled short grain Rice
1/8 cup sliced Shallot
1/8 cup thin sliced Red Bell Pepper
1/8 cup shredded Carrot
1/4 tsp grated fresh Ginger
1 Tbsp Soy Sauce
1/2 tsp Toasted Sesame Oil
1/2 tsp Rice Wine Vinegar
1/4 tsp Sriracha
1/2 tsp Japanese Seven Spice blend
1 head Napa Cabbage

Poaching Liquid
2 cups water
1Tbsp Vegetable Base powder
1/8 cup Soy Sauce
1/8 cup Rice Wine Vinegar
1 Tbsp Toasted Sesame Oil

Mix together the filling ingredients and reserve.  Peel off the largest whole cabbage leaves -- you'll need 15 or 16.  Assemble the poaching liquid in a large skillet about 1/4" deep.  I used my Saladmastertm electric skillet, initially set to 150F while I assembled the rolls.

The cabbage leaves need to be blanched so they will roll up without breaking.  You can do this in a large pot/pan of simmering water or broth.  I took the easy way and microwaved three leaves at a time for 1 minute.  

Once blanched, use your chef's knife to thin the butts of the leaves so they will roll up better.  Lay out a leaf, butt towards you.  Put a couple tablespoons of the filling on the butt, and roll up the same way you would a burrito -- bend the end over, then tuck in the sides as you roll towards the tip of the leaf.  

Place each finished roll seam-side down in the warm poaching liquid in your skillet.  When the pan is full, crank the temperature to just barely a boil, cover the skillet, and poach the rolls for 15-20 minutes until the shrimp are cooked.

Remove the rolls and plate.  If you want to be fancy, mix up a cornstarch slurry and thicken the poaching liquid into a sauce to pour over the rolls when you serve them:

Pollo Verde
Sally took a few days vacation and went to visit her daughter Holly up in Alexandria, VA.  So I got to fix some dishes that I love but she doesn't eat, including this chicken and green chilies recipe.  Think Green Chili & Chicken Nachos...  This is really a technique, not a recipe.

Chicken Breast Tenders or pieces
Diced Onion
Diced Green Peppers
1-2 "old" Corn Tortillas
Green Chili Enchilada Sauce or Salsa Verde
Mrs Dash Chipotle Seasoningtm or chili powder of choice
Low Salt Tortilla chips

Saute some diced onion and peppers in a splash of oil.  Then add some chicken pieces (a cut up chicken breast will do) and cook for a couple minutes.  Turn the meat and cook again.  Now add the green chili enchilada sauce, Mrs. Dash Chipotle or another chili powder, and the ripped up tortillas.  

Thin the sauce out and poach the chicken for a few minutes until cooked through and the tortillas have basically dissolved.  Serve  al nacho on a bed of crispy tortilla chips.

Falafel
Our friends Susan and Patrick have socially-distanced to their mountain home in North Carolina, but Patrick was back in town for a few days for his work.  So while the women were out of town he and I had a Guy's Night dinner of falafel.  Because Patrick is sodium-intolerant, I made these falafel without any salt, and they were great.  But if you just gotta have it, add a teaspoon of salt to the following:

1 cup Chickpea Flour
1/2 tsp Salt
1/4 tsp Baking Soda
1/2 cup chopped fresh Parsley
1/4 cup chopped fresh Dill
1/2 tsp Cumin
1/4 tsp Coriander
1/2 tsp Garlic Granules
1/4 tsp Onion Powder
2 tsp Lemon Juice
1/2 cup Water (hot)
Oil for frying

For serving:
Pita Breads
Homemade Hummus
Homemade Raita or Tzatziki Sauce (yoghurt with herbs, garlic, cucumber and more)
Diced Tomato
Sliced Cucumber

How simple is this?  Mix together the ingredients.  Use a spoon to make small fritters, and fry in a bit of vegetable oil until brown and crispy.

Serve on a pita, with accompaniments.

Creamy Garbanzo Flour Hummus
Homemade falafel just seemed to cry out for homemade hummus, as you can see in the photo just above. 

What's a little more garbanzo flour, anyway!  Yes, that's right -- flour.  Not pureed canned or otherwise cooked beans unless you like chunky hummus (we don't).    This makes 4-6 large servings.  This recipe is salt free.

1/2 cup Garbanzo Flour
1 Tbsp powdered Vegetable Base
1-1/2 cups Water
1/2 tsp Cumin
1/8 tsp White Pepper
1 Tbsp creamy Peanut Butter
2 Tbsp Lemon Juice
1/4 cup minced Shallot
1/8 cup toasted Pine Nuts

Bring the water to a boil.  Add the flour and vegetable base, and stir.  Reduce the heat to medium-low and continue stirring as you add the lemon juice, spices, peanut butter and shallot.  Remove from the heat and fold in the pine nuts.  Adjust the spices and consistency if you need to.  Too thin?  Stir in a tablespoon of garbanzo flour to tighten it up.    Too thick?  Stir in a bit of broth or water.  Remove to a serving bowl and cool.  Serve with falafel or pita crisps, or just schmear on a toasted pita.

Carrot Ribbon Steam-Fry, Acorn Marmalade, Stuffed Eggplant, Med-Bread, Asparagus Tart

 Carrot Ribbon Steam Fry
Half steamed, half stir-fried -- that's what this dish is:

I've been making orange-ginger carrot ribbons for years:  peel some carrots, and keep peeling until that's all you have.  Pan-steam them with some orange juice concentrate and minced ginger, and call it a fabulous side dish.  

This time, however, I started with a GIANT carrots from the SW Florida Produce Co-op.  They know I generally prefer Large veggies, but this was exemplary!

In the same produce order we got a box of snow-pea pods that were begging to be stir fried.

So I string-sliced half a sweet onion and stir fried that together with the pea pods and some raw cashews.  Then I added giant strips of carrot ribbon, and 3-4 Tbsp of frozen OJ concentrate and 1/4 cup of water.   

I put the lid on the skillet and let things steam together for 6-8 minutes before tossing and serving.  WOW!

PS.  This will also work with smaller, more ordinary carrots...

Acorn Squash Marmalade
This is super simple!

Halve an acorn squash. 

In this case I used an uncommon White Acorn squash, and seed it. 

Bake or nuke until the skin is pliable but not mushy and the meat is fork tender. 

Add a couple spoonfuls of your favorite homemade marmalade (as I've described here many times) -- and serve.  This time I used Pomelo Marm made from one of the beautiful pomelos we've been getting locally.  

Stuffed Eggplant
This is one of our favorite dishes because you can using different spices to take it in a wide range of flavor directions -- Latin, Cajun, pan-European, Asian, Mediterranean...  You can make it vegan or pescatarian (our favorite) by adding canned tuna, or cooked shrimp, crawfish, even scallops/clams/mussels.

Halve the eggplant lengthwise, and use a knife and spoon to cut the meat out of each half, leaving about a 1/4" thick shell.  

Set the shells aside, cut side down, while  you make the stuffing.  

Chop the eggplant meat and saute it with some EVOO and a cup or so of chopped vegetables.  I used celery, onion, and bell pepper; but par-cooked carrots or parsnips, corn, peas all make good additions.  Spice with your choice.  I also used about a tablespoon of our favorite Cajun seasoning, but any spice combination will do.  

Add a bit of water to help the cooking process.  If things get too wet, you can always add a handful of panko or other breadcrumbs to tighten it up.

Stuff the eggplant "boats" and top with some shredded cheese, and bake in a pre-heated 350F oven for about 25 minutes until the cheese is well melted.

And serve:

Mediterranean Fauxcaccia
Terrible play on words, isn't it?  Faux plus caccia = imitation focaccia.  A shallow round loaf of bread.  In this case a Cider Bread I made using my basic Beer Bread recipe but with a hard cider instead of a beer.  Nice and light and slightly sweet.

I took half of the loaf, and cut it into four pieces:

Then using the multi-colored baby bell peppers and cherry tomatoes from our produce box, I roasted them with kalamata olives and red onion to create a Mediterranean style topping.  Opa!

Top it all with some crumbled feta and you've got a great supper!

Asparagus Leek & Mushroom Tart
Another great product of our SWFL produce box -- pencil-thin asparagus, sliced leek and rustic mushrooms, with cheese and bleu-cheese dressing.

The crust was made from my Two-Ingredient Yoghurt-Self-rising Flour recipe.  And I par-cooked it for about 10 minutes to get the bottom cooked.

Then I laid down some cheese, and added a pound of par-cooked 1" asparagus pieces, slices of disassembled thin-cut leek, chopped red bell pepper and mushrooms.  

I topped it with more cheese and a nice splash of bleu cheese salad dressing and baked it for about 15 minutes at 400F until everything was bubbly.

Salmon en Crout, Braised Parsnips & Red Cabbage, Stuffed Delecata, Cider Bread and Tavern Biscuits

Salmon en Croute
Often en croute dishes are made with puff pastry.  But not always.   This time I made the Two Ingredient Yogurt Tart Crust which I wrote about on August 25 (2 parts self-rising flour, 1 part Skyr or Greek yogurt).   I made a large batch of dough and quartered it.  One each for Sunday Brunch, and one for Sally to take as work lunches.   

Sally and her Mum wanted wilted spinach in theirs, and I put sauteed mushrooms in mine.  Both go equally well with salmon.  I added just a little freshly grated nutmeg, a 'salmon-friendly' spice.  

Sally gave me a great idea to get rid of the salmon skin.  IMHO you don't want to cook the salmon 'skin on' in this preparation.  Fry the salmon filets, covered, for a few minutes (5 or 6), skin-side down, in a barely oiled skillet.  The skin stays in the pan as you slide a spatula under the fish!  No more messy, frustrating, attempts to skin the filets!

I baked these for about 20 minutes at 400F, until I got a nicely browned crust, and served them with steamed broccoli.

Braised Parsnips
I got these absolutely HUGE parsnips from the Southwest Florida Produce Co-op (thanxs, guys!).   

I peeled and quartered the 'nips, and sliced an onion into strips.  I browned them in my electric skillet for just a couple minutes, then added a cup of white wine, a cup of water, and a tablespoon or so of vegetable base as seasoning.  Turned the temperature down from 350F to 225F and left the covered dish simmer about 2 hours.  I checked every 20 minutes or so to make sure the liquid didn't all cook away, adding a bit of water here and there.

Braised Red Cabbage 
This FOK recipe is a perfect Fall dish.  Simple and ever so tasty.  Real peasant food, in the best sense of the phrase -- inexpensive, hearty, and easy.

1/2 head Red Cabbage, sliced thin
1-1/2 cups Red Wine
3 cups Mirepoix = 1 cup each -- chopped Celery, Carrot and Onion
2 Tbsp Dijon Mustard
2 tsp dried Thyme
2 tsp Caraway seed
1 can White Beans, drained and rinsed.  I used Butter Beans, but use what you like.
1 Granny Smith Apple, chopped
Salt & Pepper to taste -- I didn't use any

Saute the mirepoix in a splash of oil until they start to soften.  Add the liquids.  Then top that with the cabbage, beans and herbs.  Reduce the heat, cover, and simmer for about 15 minutes.

Add a bit more wine/water if needed. Lastly add the apple and cook another few minutes until the apple is soft.  Fold everything together before plating.  

Goes well with a nice crusty bread, like the following Cider Bread!

Cider Bread
My latest take on simple two-ingredient Beer Bread.   

3 cups of Self-Rising Flour.  
1  12 oz Hard Cider (so many to choose from these days!).   

Bake at 400F for about 30 minutes to reach 190-220F internal.  This time I also tried a "focaccia" shaped loaf in a 9" cake pan.  Works well, too.   I'm going to use this shape for a dish next week -- sort of a thick, fluffy, flatbread.

Really nice.  just barely sweet.  Great crumb, as you can see above!

Stuffed Delecata
#MakeOverMyLeftover
This one is for my Makeover Leftover Chef friend Suzanne DuPlantis from Louisiana.  Leftover wild rice blend.  Leftover black beans.  Leftover home-made mushroom gravy.  Bring it all together in a pan, and top up the seasonings as it warms through.  Slice a delecata squash lengthwise, seed it and bake or nuke.  Top with the stuffing.  Yummmm!

Tavern Biscuits
Tavern Biscuits are a recipe that dates back as far as 1824.  A simple unleavened dough with a  bit of nutmeg and ground ginger.  Not quite a cracker, but not a modern biscuit either!  I made mine "slightly risen", using the same Yogurt Dough that I used for the Salmon en Croute -- with an added teaspoon of nutmeg and ginger.  The original recipe called for significant amounts of sugar.  To make these slightly sweet, I brushed them with a bit of whole milk and distributed a teaspoon of sugar over the batch.  

2 cups Self-rising Flour
1 cup  Skyr yogurt
1 restaurant Sugar Packet
Whole Milk

Combine the flour and skyr and knead on a floured surface to combine into a non-sticky dough.  Roll the dough out 1/4" thick and use a 2-1/2" biscuit cutter to cut rounds.  Roll out the scraps and repeat.  You should get 15-16 biscuits.

Bake at 350F for about 40 minutes until golden brown; or take the temp up to 400F and cook for 15-20 minutes.  

Really interesting and very tasty.  Great for soup!  Not quite a biscuit, but not quite a cracker either.  Crispy/chewy outside and a thin, soft inner layer.

For our WW friends, these are 1 point each!

Delecata Squash Bowl, Carnival Squash & Pomelo Marm, Paella, Potato Soup, Stuffed Tomatoes

Delecata Squash Bowl
This recipe came to us from Nicole Michaelson-Traum, our favorite Yoga teacher.

1 Delecata Squash
3/4 - 1 cup cooked Rice/Quinoa mixture
1/2-1 tsp Togarashi Spice Blend
Kombu or Nori dried seaweed
1/4 cup Soy Sauce or Tamari
1/4 cup Mirin or White Wine
1 Cucumber, diced
2 Green Onions
1 cup frozen cooked Edamame, shucked from the shells
4 oz Kale-Chard- baby greens
1 oz Pickled Ginger

Cook a batch of  half rice/half quinoa.  I used my rice cooker.

Cuts the ends off the squash and remove the seeds. Cut squash into 1/2" rings.  Roast them (skin on) at 400F  for 15-20 minutes, dressed with a splash of EVOO and the togarashi spice to taste.  Togarashi contains a lot of red pepper, so be careful -- I used 1/4 teaspoon!

Make a "dashi" broth in a sauce pan, using 2 cups of water, a 2" square of kombu or Nori sliced into shreds, more togarashi spice, the soy sauce and mirin.  Bring it to a boil, then reduce heat and keep it warm for use.

Layer some greens in the bottom of the bowl, and top that with rice-quinoa mix.  Layer in cucumber, edamame, green onions, and top with squash rings and pickled ginger.  pour the warm dashi over the bowls as you serve them.

Certainly an interesting dish and tasty dish.  Very Japanese with it's blend of textures, tastes and temperatures, in spite of the additions of non-Japanese Kale, Quinoa and Delecata squash.

Carnival Squash with Marmalade
Another of the Co-op's Fall Squash Pack.  This one is similar to an Acorn squash, but with a slightly different texture. 

Here I baked it (well... microwaved it) and stuffed it with a large spoonful of the Pomelo Marmalade which I made from the fruit we got in the Co-Op Fruit Box.

Valencia Green Bean Paella
Here's a classic Spanish dish I haven't made in quite awhile.  Most people think paella has to have seafood -- it doesn't.  Fava beans, green beans and other vegetables are much more traditional in Valencia where paella originated as a farmer's dinner. The ingredient paella must have is Saffron at least a few threads!  

Here's the ingredients I used.  Yeah... OK there were some shrimp there; added at the last minute.  We like shrimp!

2 cups Short Grain Rice
1 cup of diced red and green bell peppers (I used a Poblano for the green)
1/2 cup Roasted Red Peppers
1 lb cooked Lima or Fava Beans
1 lb Green Beans, topped & tailed
1 can Garbanzo Beans, drained and rinsed
1 jar Artichoke Hearts
1 Onion, chopped
1/4 cup Sundried Tomatoes in oil, drained, dried and chopped
4 cloves Garlic
4-6 threads Saffron (I used a Badia spice blend which included saffron)
1 Tbsp Cumin
2 tsp Smoked Paprika
12 16-20 Shrimp, peeled and tailed

Start by browning the rice, in a splash of EVOO, in a wide flat skillet or paella pan.  You want a medium hot pan, at least 16" diameter and shallow.  

Now add 2 cups of water, the onion and garlic, and cook a few minutes until they soften.  Now you add the other ingredients, one at a time, alternating with the adding of a spice.  Lay things out artistically in the pan (like you would a pizza0.  You aren't going to stir anything, and you want the dish to look good as well as taste good.   

Add the additional water between the second and third addition.

Gradually the rice will cook, and some will stick to the pan.  That crusty rice is called socarrat, and is an important part of overall paella flavor.  It's also the prized bit of the paella, like the extra crunchy batter bits in fish & chips).

As the rice is cooking, everything else is too; or at least warming through.  When almost all the water is gone, add the shrimp to the pan and cook until they have just changed color -- you want them tender not tough.   

Plate and serve, making sure everyone get some of the socarrat.

Potato Soup
I had some spuds that needed using up, and found this simple and flavorful version of potato soup, which you can switch from mild to wild depending on the garnishes you include.

The "cream" base is made with Bistotm White Sauce crystals and water, added to sauted onion and peeled boiled potatoes.  I spiced it up with a bit of white pepper and some vegetable gravy base as well as the thickener.  Here, I garnished with diced red bell pepper and chopped scallion.

Stuffed Tomatoes
Now a world-wide favorite dish, tomatoes (not to mention stuffed tomatoes) would never have reached the world stage it it weren't for Columbus and the other Spanish exploiters who invaded Mexico, Central and South America and brought the tomato to Europe.  Along  with Maize, they were certainly a more lasting treasure than the gold the Spanish stole from the natives!!  Originally considered a poison fruit, the tomato soon spread to kitchens everywhere from Britain to Africa and across Central Asia to the Far East.

4 large Heirloom Tomatoes
2 cups cooked White or Brown or mixed Rice
1/2 cup toasted Pine Nuts
1/2 cup Zante Currants
Cumin, Coriander, Sage and Dried Basil to taste

Slice off the tomato tops and reserve them.  With a spoon, "gut" the tomatoes and turn them upside down on paper towels to drain.  

Add the tomato guts to a skillet, with a splash of oil.  Add the rice, and other ingredients, and simmer until the tomato is cooked soft.

Stuff the tomato shells, place them in a baking dish and put the caps on top.  Surround the stuffed fruit with any excess stuffing.  Bake at 350F for 20-30 minutes.  

Plate and serve.