I like to fill my pantry with all manner of goodies for the winter, and this is definitely one of those things. You can skip the canning process step (the water bath) and store these in your fridge for use within the next few weeks. This is a super easy way to use up a large amount of cabbage, and have it turn into something magic! Great as a side dish or a topping for salads, pita, or falafal.

Makes 6 500ml jars

Ingredients 

2 heads of red cabbage

2 tbsp pickling salt

2 tbsp pickling spice (see recipe below if you want to make your own)

10 cups white vinegar

Directions

Grate or thinly slice cabbage (I use the grater wheel on my food processor) In a large bowl, mix pickling salt with cabbage, cover, and let sit on counter overnight. Drain any liquid in bowl, and sterilize jars & lids. Tie pickling spices in a piece of cheesecloth (or a coffee filter works just fine) and in a large pot, bring spice ball & vinegar to a boil. Pack cabbage tightly into jars and then fill with vinegar.

If canning, process in a water bath for 10 minutes. If not canning, allow jars to cool and store in fridge and use within the next 4 weeks.

**Pickling spice. You can definitely buy a pre-mixed blend, but I prefer to use make my own as I can tweek it based on my own personal taste. Sometimes I add dill seeds, or extra mustard seeds, or even throw in some caraway seeds or an anise pod. Play with it!

1/2 tsp ground ginger

1 tsp whole peppercorns

1 tsp whole cloves

1 tsp mustard seeds

1 tsp coriander seeds

1 small piece cinnamon stick

1/2 tsp cumin seeds

4-5 whole allspice

3 bay leaves, crumbled up

Store in an airtight jar and use as needed.

The post Pickled Purple Cabbage appeared first on TapRoot Farms.

Tarragon is my personal fav for this sauce, but sub out any herb that you have or want, based on whatever you’re putting it on.

Herb Cream Sauce

2 cups cream

1 tbsp butter

1 tsp Dijon mustard

1 tbsp chopped herbs

salt & pepper to taste

Directions

In a thick bottom pan, whisk together mustard & cream, season with salt & pepper, and heat on medium low, stirring frequently, until it’s simmering. Mix in herbs and allow to simmer for about 10 minutes to let sauce to thicken. Remove from heat and stir in butter until melted.

Now pour this on EVERYTHING.

EVERY. SINGLE. THING.

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I know that some people find the size or effort to clean them to be a little intimidating, so let’s dive right in to how easy they can be. And how DELICIOUS!

This recipe can be altered to be vegetarian, vegan, or not. Super simple, and easy to do on a small or large scale for the perfect cold weather side dish.

Ingredients

Leeks. (as many as you have! Assume half a leek per person as a side dish)

Cream (or vegetable stock) Enough to come just over halfway up a split leek. This amount will vary wildly based on how many leeks you’re doing, and what size pan you’re using.

Salt & pepper to taste

**optional- Fresh herbs (Thyme or rosemary both work great) Parmesan to garnish

Directions

Trim off the root end, and the very tip of the green edge of your leeks, and then cut them in half lengthwise. Hold each half under cold running water while bending it a bit to get the water into all of the many layers. Do this for several minutes (leeks can hide a great deal of soil, especially in the dark green tops.)

Now trim all of the dark green part off, and slice it thin, like you would with an onion. The dark green part of a leek is often trimmed off and thrown out, which I think is a huge mistake! It’s delicious, but requires a finer cut to become as tender as the white part.

Arrange the white parts of the leek (cut side down) in an oven safe dish large enough to lay them in a single layer. Sprinkle the smaller chopped green parts evenly over the cut leeks. Season with salt & pepper and cover to just over halfway up with cream or stock. Bake at 375 for 35 min and then switch to the broil setting for the last few minutes (watch them carefully) to get a nice toasted browned top. Sprinkle with fresh herbs and Parmesan if using, and serve. Spoon a bit of cream or stock that they were braised in over them, and this cooking liquid also makes a delicious topping for mashed potatoes, or meat.

Love the leek!!!!!

See ya next week,

K

**Full disclosure- I made these on Friday, but forgot to take a picture, so this photo is one found on the internet, rather than my own.

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I’m back to freezer goodies this week & this one can multitask like a champ! Breakfast, a snack, or a yummy dessert after lunch or dinner, this little piece of heaven does it all. And what says fall more than fresh apple crisp, right?! well, this is that…. but in uber convenient muffin form.

Ingredients

1 1/4 cup flour

1/3 cup sugar

1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder

2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp nutmeg

pinch of salt

4 apples, peeled & diced

1/2 cup milk

1 egg

1/4 cup vegetable oil

For the crumble topping

1/2 cup rolled oats

1/4 cup softened butter

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/4 cup brown sugar

Directions

Add flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt into a large bowl & mix well. Add diced apples to bowl and toss well to coat apples (this keeps them from sinking to the bottom of the batter) In a small bowl whisk egg, milk, and oil and fold into dry ingredients. Mix gently until all the flour mixture is incorporated. Spoon evenly into muffin tin.

Combine crumble ingredients together and mix until it resembles coarse crumble. Top each muffin with crumble mixture and bake at 350 for 24-25 minutes, or until tops are golden brown. allow muffins to cool for 10 minutes before removing from tin.

**Freeze in airtight bag or container and pull out as desired. They only take about 20-30 min to thaw!

Enjoy!

Kim

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Today is all about the eggplant. Or, as they call it in Jamaica, Purple Garden Egg. (MOST ADORABLE NAME EVER) I know there are loads of people out there that do eggplant parmesan, or layered in lasagna, or just straight up grilled on the bbq, but for us, it’s baba ganoush, all day, every day.

The best part about this, is that once you process the eggplant, you can freeze it in small batches and just pull out enough to make dip whenever your heart desires. Eggplant doesn’t have a particularly long shelf life when fresh, so this is definitely a huge bonus since we like to do regular falafal feasts- with all the trimmings- during the colder months. Having said that, I don’t make and freeze the actual dip, just the smoked and roasted eggplant flesh. I find the texture gets a bit grainy and weird if frozen in its completed stage. I also know that not everyone has a massive smoker like we do, but have no fear, with a bbq and a cast iron pan, you can rig one up in a couple of minutes! I’ll tell you how at the bottom of this post.

Method

Remove the stem end (be careful- eggplant have very sharp spines on the stalk) and then slice it in half lengthwise.Rub cut side with a bit of oil & season with salt & pepper. Roast (Cut side down) at 350 for about 20 min, or until beginning to soften. Remove from oven & smoke (cut side UP) for an additional 20 min. Scrape out pulp, blend until fairly smooth, and freeze in individual size portions in a freezer bag. I do about 2 cups per bag and that makes a nice size dip.

Baba Ganough

2 cups roasted & smoked eggplant pulp (fully thawed)

1 tbsp lemon juice

2 tbsp tahini (sesame paste)

1 tbsp olive oil

salt & pepper to taste

**optional sprinkle of chili flakes or cayenne powder

Directions

Blend everything together & serve cold with bread for dipping

Smoker alternatives

If you don’t have a smoker, you can skip that step and simply add a tbsp of smoked paprika to the pulp when you’re blending the dip. You can also make a small smoker by lighting chips in a cast iron pan. Put your eggplant in the bbq, (cut side UP) light wood chips in a hot, dry, cast iron pan and place it beside the eggplant & close the bbq lid. Leave it for 20-30 min and then remove & allow to cool before bagging for the freezer.

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Today is another (easy) delicious bean recipe. One of the best benefits of a CSA is getting a whole lot of whatever beautiful bit of fruit or vegetable that is in season, and then being able to preserve some of it for those bleak months of winter when there is little of nothing coming fresh from the field. This particular recipe is really easy, requires little more than a canning pot, beans, and some of the delicate dill that is currently filling the shelves of most of our local farm markets.

This method leaves the beans uncooked prior to canning, and this helps keep them bright and crunchy, rather than those sad soft pickled beans that I’m sure we’ve all had the misfortune of trying on a few occasions.

Makes 7 250ml jars

Easy pickled beans

2 1/2 lbs beans (any colour, though all but yellow beans will revert to green when processed)

2 1/2 cups white vinegar

2 cups water

1/4 cup salt

2 cloves of garlic (cut into 7 slices)

7 sprigs of fresh dill

**Optional 7 slices of hot pepper (cayenne, jalapeno, birds eye, etc)

Directions

Trim beans to the height of the jar (leaving the neck clear as your head space.) I save all the long trimmed pieces and fill the last jar or two with those. Fill canning pot with your clean jars and let come to a boil as you start the pickling liquid. In a small pot, heat the jar lids to just below a simmer.

Mix vinegar, water & salt in a pot and bring it to a boil.Carefully remove heated jars, one at a time, and place a sprig of dill, a piece of garlic, and piece of chili if using. With the jar laying on its side, pack in beans as tightly as possible and then top with hot pickling liquid, wipe rim, and then secure lid and collar.

Process jars for 10 minutes in a simmering water bath and then remove from pot and let cool at room temperature. If any jars don’t seal, simple place them in the fridge and use within the next month. All other jars can be stored in your pantry & enjoy over the winter!

Cheers!

K

PS- Get ready for a flurry of tomato recipes because we’re heading into that amazing season!

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In case you haven’t checked the share list for this week, everyone is getting some gorgeous organic green beans! I figured that this would be the perfect time to share my very favourite bean recipe- a quick and easy go to in our house, all summer long. This recipe is great hot or cold and doubles easily for larger gatherings. I’ve used a mix of green beans, dragon’s tongue, and purple beans, but this dish is great with any colour that you have on hand.

Ingredients

A couple big handfuls of fresh beans

4 cloves garlic, thinly sliced

1 small onion, finely diced

1 red chili, diced **optional

1 tsp grated ginger

1/4 cup hoisin sauce

1 tbsp soya sauce

2 tbsp sesame oil

splash of rice wine vinegar

Sesame seeds to garnish

Directions

Heat the oil in a large skillet on medium. Add garlic & onions and saute until translucent, but not brown. Add all remaining ingredients except beans & garnish, and mix well until bubbling gently. Add beans and toss to coat evenly in the sauce. Saute on medium heat until beans are as tender as you like them (I like to leave mine with quite a bit of crunch- about 4 minutes cooking time.) Place beans in a large serving dish, pour remaining sauce over top, and sprinkle with sesame seeds.

Enjoy!

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For some people, garlic scapes are an unfamiliar ingredient, and for others, it’s all about garlic scape pesto, but little else. Since the season that they’re available is so fleeting, I’m going to give you some alternate ideas that will have you hunting down more of these curly little treats to enjoy all year long.

Garlic scape pasta sauce- I think scape pesto is the one that most people default to- and for good reason- it’s so scrumptious!! It also happens to be pretty easy. Just swap out the basil for garlic scapes in your favourite recipe and suddenly you’ll have a bowl of gorgeous pesto! But guess what- it can be even easier than that…… Blend up your scapes with a good glug of olive or grape seed oil, a pinch of salt, and maybe even a little lemon zest if you have it available. You now have the starting point for an amazing pasta sauce. Use it as is tossed over your favourite noodles, or add a few things from the fridge & pantry to jazz it up a bit. I usually add a jar of diced tomatoes, maybe a little pancetta, and some olives or capers, and top it all off with a bit of grated parm or some feta. The scapes are so flavourful that you can totally skip using the nuts that you would normally add to a pesto sauce!

BBQ scapes- If you love garlic, and you love potatoes chips, this one is for you! Toss your scapes in a bit of oil and season with salt & pepper. Put them on a hot grill and turn them frequently until the scapes are nicely charred. Allow them to cool, and then munch away. Their crispy salty goodness is highly addictive.

Frozen scapes- This is something I do every year with the bulk of our scapes harvest because I love having them available through the winter. All you need to do is blend them up with some oil and salt & pepper until smooth, and then separate into your family sized portions to freeze. I form them and cover each with a little clingfilm before putting them in the freezer on a tray. Once they’re frozen, they can all get tossed into a bag in the freezer (this step ensures that they don’t freeze into one massive clump.) Now you have them readily available through the cold winter months to serve with pasta, spread on fresh bread, over baked chicken or fish, or even as a topping for steak, or a dollop added into humus. The possibilities are endless, and trust me when I say, a steaming bowl of bright green garlic scape pasta on a cold January night is pure heaven.

Happy eating & I’ll see you next week!

Kim

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We know that these overwintered beauties are pretty much done until the next harvest, so it was really exciting to see a nice big bag of them in the shares recently. If you’ve traditionally not loved parsnips, make sure you give these ones a second chance, because overwintered parsnips are like a completely different vegetable compared to the ones fresh out of the ground. The sugars have concentrated and that slightly bitter flavour that some people note has left the building (or in this case, the storage cooler) To me, overwintered parsnips taste like coconut. Seriously, they become unbelievably sweet.

When I have a bunch of them, I like to utilize a recipe that freezes well, and this one is it! When you’re done, just divvy it up and put some away in the freezer for later in the season.

Parsnip Puree

Wash parsnips well- you can peel them, but you certainly don’t need to- and chop into evenly sized pieces. Toss with oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and roast at 400 for about 15 minutes or until very soft. Blend in a food processor, adding milk or cream or veg stock until smooth. Portion off as much as you’d like to freeze.

This is your standard puree, so when you’re ready to serve it, you can add additional seasoning to taste, fresh herbs, garlic….. whatever you like!

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Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE soup, and it’s the perfect way to use up all of those little odds & ends in the fridge before your new share arrives for the week. However, when it comes to the great “fridge clean out” meal, I like to shake it up a bit. We all have our favourite versions of this meal, and I’m going to show you two of mine that are perfect for this time of year. Most of the greens coming out of the fields are sturdy ones that can stand up to some heat & are delicious when sauteed (think kale, chard, spinach, turnip greens, nettle, dandelion, beet greens, etc) all of this goodness has a place in my fridge clean out meals……

Ground Meat Magic– For this one, I take 1 package of Taproot ground beef or ground pork and mix it with pretty much anything else that’s in my fridge. Greens, root veg, fresh herbs, you name it, it all goes in. Depending on what you season it with, you’ll end up with a completely different bowl of awesome every single time. Some of our favourites include;

All the veg & greens, ground meat, rice, ginger, garlic, shredded cabbage, soya & sesame seeds

All the veg & greens, ground meat, can of mushroom soup, fresh herbs

All the veg & greens, ground meat, pasta, canned or frozen tomatoes

All the veg & greens, ground meat, diced potatoes, chives, feta or cheddar cheese

Veggie Hash– For this one I start with a nice firm winter veg like turnip, potatoes, celeriac or parsnips – this picture is turnip hash – and dice it up, toss with some oil & salt & pepper and roast for about 20 min on 400. Next fry up a couple slices of Taproot bacon cut into small pieces & then dice up onions, carrots, garlic, and any other veg or greens in the fridge. Saute the whole thing for 5-10 minutes until everything is cooked, but not mushy. The bacon grease should provide enough moisture, or as an alternate you could add a splash of stock or oil. I season heavily with salt & pepper, dried chili flakes & lots of fresh chives. This one makes a great side dish at dinner, or top it with a poached egg for a super hearty farmer breakfast.

Both of these make cleaning out my fridge to prepare for a new share week a very delicious venture.

Go empty that fridge & I’ll see you next week!

Kim

The post 2 ideas for a fridge clean out that aren’t soup! appeared first on TapRoot Farms.