Slow Cooker: Tuscan Bean Stew

I picked up a slow cooker for an incredibly low price recently. It seems they are the media favorite right now. Everywhere you look, (from the supermarket check-out magazines, to emails from Sunset, to the latest cookbooks) someone is touting the virtues of the slow cooker. And then my friends and colleagues were all glowing when I asked them about their slow cooker experiences.

Well, I'm still early in on my journey but so far I've been pretty underwhelmed by the vegetarian slow cooker recipes I've seen and tried. They seem fairly bland and unimaginative. It seems that someone found the recipe book from the 1970s and put those recipes online. Haven't we learned some things since then?

Of course, I realize that I've added the extra challenge of trying fit the slow cooker into a vegetarian/pescetarian household. So I always have to be thinking about the substitute for the meat in recipes.

But I shall continue on my slow cooker journey and report out the worthy ones here. I have a few recipes on deck to try out in the near future. I've added a "slow cooker" label over to the right. too.This slow cooker recipe was actually pretty good. Definitely a great starting point. I might add some additional seasonings next time to make it bolder.

I was also drawn to how this recipe used unusual beans which I have been wanting to explore. The recipe calls for Borlotti beans which I made here for the first time. I was surprised to find them at my local Whole Foods. If you are looking for a good mail order store for rare or heirloom beans then be sure to check out Rancho Gordo.

This recipe was adapted from an article in the San Francisco Chronicle and instead of chicken I used Soyrizo. Enjoy!

Slow Cooker Tuscan Bean Stew

Ingredients

• 1 yellow onion, diced
• 3 large carrots, peeled and cut into 1 inch chunks
• 6 cloves garlic, peeled
• 1 sprig rosemary
• 1 tablespoon dried oregano
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 Parmesan rind
• 1 14 oz. bag dried borlotti beans, soaked overnight in water
• 1 14 oz. bag dried cannellini beans, soaked overnight in water
• 5 cups of veggie broth
• About 10-12 crimini mushrooms, sliced
• 1 Soyrizo, squeeze it out of the casing
• 1 28 oz. can San Marzano tomatoes, coarsely chopped
• Salt and pepper to taste

Instructions:

• Place the onion, tomatoes, carrots, garlic, rosemary, oregano, bay leaf, Parmesan rind, beans, and broth into the pot of a slow cooker. Turn the cooker on low for 6 hours
• Remove bay leaf, rosemary sprig, and Parmesan rind. Add the mushrooms and cook for 1 more hour
• Add the Soyrizo and cook another hour
• Season with salt and pepper to taste

Interesting CSA Alternative

This is an interesting development in CSAs. Imagine walking to your local restaurant to pick up your box? That's what's happening with this San Francisco restaurant where the chef now also provides a CSA box for pick up.

The boxes are part of chef and co-owner Dennis Lee's Community Supported Agriculture program, launched just two months ago as an alternative to the more traditional farm-to-consumer, subscription-style CSAs.

Filled with manageable amounts of vegetables and fruit for both individuals and families, the program also provides a direct line to the chef. It's about more than just getting ingredients for dinner.

His program allows customers to order a box up to about 36 hours before pickup. For $3 more, no advance orders are required; just walk in on a Sunday morning and purchase one, until they're gone. No need to commit to a weekly service.

A preordered small box, for one to two people, costs $15; a large box, feeding three to four, is $25.

Because the boxes are made up of produce from several farms, the selection can be relatively broad.

The produce is coming from County Line, Star Route, Torosian Farms, Dirty Girl and others, says Lee. A recent crate contained German butterball potatoes, Little Gem lettuce, shiitake mushrooms and lemongrass, among other items.

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/02/23/DD4M1HNJFC.DTL#ixzz1EwT4e97A

Cilantro Chutney

I have to admit that there's a hint of disappointment whenever cilantro arrives in the box. While I enjoy the flavor, it too often sits in the fridge until it's a shriveled, withered lump of future compost. I like cilantro in small amounts. It's great in salsas but I don't make salsa all that often. I've made cilantro pesto and cilantro-arugula pesto but they are second fiddle to a good basil pesto. I was almost getting to the point of getting it banned from the delivery box. But then I found this chutney.

One evening I was wondering how to prepare a piece of swordfish that we picked up that day. I saw a recipe for a cilantro-mint chimichurri in Bobby Flay's Mesa Cookbook that looked quite tasty. I didn't have all of the ingredients on hand so I just kind of winged it using what I had on hand. It was pretty spicy but tasty.

Ironically, the next morning's newspaper had this article and recipe and it is pretty darned close to what I had made the night before. The chutney can be used in a variety of ways as you'll see in the article.

Cilantro Chutney
Makes 1 cup

This Indian condiment is often made with both mint and cilantro, so feel free to substitute mint leaves for some of the cilantro.

• 2 bunches of cilantro - I just do one bunch
• 2 cloves of garlic, minced - I used 3
• 1 Serrano chili, seeded and chopped
• 1/2 cup of water - I skipped this step
• 6 tablespoons lemon juice (about 2 lemons) - I used limes instead
• 1 tablespoon of sugar
• 2 teaspoons of finely grated ginger
• 1 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt - I just did one teaspoon

Instructions: Rinse cilantro well and let it dry completely. Pick of the leaves and discard the stems. Place garlic and chili in a food processor and puree until finely chopped. Add the remaining ingredients and pulse until a chunky salsa forms, scraping down the sides a few times to integrate all of the ingredients. Can be stored in the fridge for several days.

Salmon Loaf - Revisited

It's fun sometimes to go back and revisit those classic recipes that you remember from childhood. We both have fond memories of our mother's making a pretty tasty salmon loaf (mostly on Friday nights). But when you really look at it, it's actually a pretty basic meal that was more likely made for its value and its ability to feed a family.

This web site, dedicated to preserving vintage cookbooks and recipes, has a scan of a salmon loaf recipe from 1942 (that included Rice Krispies!).

A few months ago, we noticed the canned salmon at our local supermarket and decided we should pick up a few and make that salmon loaf again someday. Well, that day came to pass recently.

I found lots of basic salmon loaf recipes online. But then I decided to take a different approach and do my interpretation of a recipe update. I'd keep the basics (canned salmon, eggs, bread crumbs) but up the herbs and seasonings. So that "dash of pepper" is updated to "generous." Many recipes call for only dried parsley so I broadened the list to add some variety. Then I decided to top it with something thoroughly modern - panko bread crumbs.

It's still a "value meal" and still quite tasty. Some roasted fingerling potatoes from the box and a bottle of Pinot from our cellar rounded out the meal. Our cat purred contentedly as we enjoyed it.

Salmon Loaf - Revisited

Ingredients:

• 1 can (16 oz.) salmon
• 1 cup bread crumbs
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten
• 1/2 cup milk
• 3 Tbsp. lemon juice
  
• 3 Tbsp. minced onions (I used about 1/4 of the red onion in the box this week)
• 1 Tbsp. dried parsley
• 1/2 tsp. dried dill
  
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• generous amount of black pepper
• 1/2 tsp. Penzey's Mural of Flavor seasoning - or use any herb mixture: Italian Seasoning mix, bouquet garni, or whatever you have
• dash of lemon pepper
• pinch of "heat" - cayenne pepper, ground chili powder - I used Penzey's Arizona Dreaming seasoning
  
• 1/2 cup Panko bread crumbs

Steps:

1. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees
2. Open the can of salmon and flake the meat into a bowl removing any skin and bones (Feed your cat the skin and water).
3. Add all other ingredients except panko bread crumbs. Stir to mix but get your hands in there and really mix it up.
4. Place the mixture into a buttered casserole dish.
5. Form the mixture into a loaf with your hands.
6. Press a thin layer of panko bread crumbs into the loaf.
7. Bake for 45 minutes, or until loaf is firm.

In the Garden: January 2011

It's been awhile since I posted an "In the Garden" entry. After I cleared most everything out of the garden, we have had weeks of cold, rainy weather. It was a disappointing year. We had a cool cloudy summer which meant that the plants didn't take off. We got no basil last year. Hopefully, this year will be better. Today, was a nice enough day to get outside and take care of a few things in the garden.

Citrus
I harvested our first oranges! The tree was planted 3-4 years ago. It didn't produce anything for the first year or two. Then it produced something but they weren't oranges. Now it's starting to look like an orange tree.
I also harvested our first lemon as well. The peach tree got its first spraying of copper fungicide to prevent peach leaf curl.

Fall Garden
About a month ago I put two broccoli plants in the beds. They survived the few freezing nights we've had recently. Today I added a cauliflower. It says that in about 65 days I should have some cauliflower.

The Night Before Going Back to Work

It was Sunday night after a busy two weeks of family, friends, and food. Our refrigerator was full with a wonderful variety of leftovers from the holidays: Heavy cream and mushrooms from a tart I hope to post someday, smoked salmon slices from an appetizer for relatives for the day after Christmas, leftover yellow onions from the box recently. I looked around the fridge and came up with the following dinner for the Sunday night before going back to work. This also represents how I cook most weeknights after work. I just try to use up what's in the fridge and not follow any particular recipe. Most of the time it works out. The results here were delicious. I mixed in both cream and skim milk just so it wasn't a "heart attack" alfredo sauce. The salmon slices almost tasted like pancetta in the cream sauce. All of the measurements are approximate as I pretty much just winged it with the ingredients I had on hand. 

Creamy Smoked Salmon Pasta 

Ingredients:

• pasta; I used Cavatappi
• butter, about 1-2 tablespoons
• 1/2 yellow onion, diced
• mushrooms, about 2 cups, chopped
• garlic, 3 cloves minced
• smoked salmon, sliced thinly, about 2-3 cups
• heavy cream, probably 1/2 cup
• skim milk, probably 1/4 cup
• pepper: freshly ground black pepper if you like it mild; a generous pinch of red pepper flakes if you like it spicy

Instructions:

1. Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add pasta and cook for 8 to 10 minutes or until al dente; drain.
2. As water boils, melt butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Saute onion in butter until tender.
3. Add mushrooms and cook for a few more minutes.
4. Stir in cream and milk. Heat to just below boiling point and cook over low heat for 4 minutes.
5. Toss in smoked salmon, and cook for 2 more minutes. Serve over pasta.

Apple Cranberry Crisp

We had a backlog of apples from the box over the last few weeks that we had yet to use. Then a neighbor dropped by with some more homegrown apples. Usually I would make an apple pie in situations like this but I was inspired by this recipe from a fellow CSAer to go for the crisp. I like the idea of incorporating oats instead of just a white flour pie crust. The crisp is a nice, tasty alternative to pie.

As a starting point, I just used the recipe off of the oats box (with a few minor modifications). It says you can also use pears and peaches instead.

Apple Cranberry Crisp

Filling:

• 6 cups of diced apples, peel on (about 6-8 apples)
  
• 1/2 cup dried cranberries
• 1/3 cup maple syrup (I didn't have any so I used some honey and brown sugar instead)
• 1 tbsp. lemon juice
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg

Topping:

• 1 cup Quick or Old Fashioned uncooked oats (I used Country Choice available to Trader Joe's)
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/3 cup flour
• 1 tsp. cinnamon
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1/2 stick of melted butter

1. Preheat oven to 375. With a small dab of butter grease the bottom of a glass or ceramic 9 inch pie pan.
2. In a large bowl collect the apple pieces, lemon juice, cranberries, syrup, vanilla extract, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Stir until well mixed. Spread evenly into the pie pan.
3. Prepare the topping by mixing together the oats, brown sugar, flour, cinnamon, and salt. Add the melted butter and stir until evenly moistened. Spread evenly over the fruit.
   
4. Bake 35-40 minutes or until fruit is tender.
5. Remove from the oven and let stand for 20 minutes