Notes from Debbie's Kitchen
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Wow, winter has just flown by - I can't believe this is the last delivery week of the winter season and we're starting the regular season in less than a month! From the feedback I've received, it sounds like people have been really loving their winter shares, which is great. Let's see what I can do for a send-off, to help you with your last share and also keep you in wistful anticipation of spring... I think maybe a bunch of recipes from enthusiastic members!
- Debbie

Let's start with collard greens. Member Anna Stockel wrote me last week saying, "so far, my absolutely fave recipe of yours is the collards [with garlic-lemon butter, rice, and diced tomato] - I have never had them before, now I love them!" Anna felt the fat content (I love a lot of butter) and ratio of grain to veggies was high, so she tweaked it to a version she says is just as good and "more healthy". I'll politely agree to disagree, as I am something of a Weston A. Price follower myself, but for those who prefer less fat and less grains and a higher proportion of greens (no argument there!), give her version a try!
 
Anna's version of Collards with garlic-lemon butter, rice and tomato
 
2 bunches collard greens
1/2 C uncooked rice (such as basmati) [lately I've been into the nuttiness of brown rice; I bet that'd be good here too. - Debbie]
2 tbsp. butter
2 tbsp. olive oil
2 cloves of garlic, minced
juice from one lemon (a meyer would be perfect!)
diced fresh tomato [or diced preserved tomatoes or plumped sun-dried]
dash sea or mountain salt

[Rest of instructions are same]

Cook rice however you normally do.

While rice is cooking, wash collard leaves as needed to remove dirt, strip leaves from stems (compost stems), and cook in boiling, well-salted water about 5 minutes. Pour off excess water, add cold water to quick cool leaves; pour that off and squeeze out as much water as you can with your hands. You should end up with about a fist-sized lump of cooked collard leaves. Put this lump on a cutting board and chop fairly finely.

In a small saucepan or skillet, melt butter over medium heat, add diced garlic and olive oil, simmer a minute or so. Add lemon juice and heat until all is simmering then turn off heat.

In a large pot or bowl, combine rice and collards, stirring well to evenly mix. Pour lemon-garlic butter mixture over all and stir to mix again. Add diced tomatoes, salt to taste, stir just to distribute, then serve.


Anna also mentioned that she was "up to her eyeballs in apples" and so gave me this apple butter recipe (she did not cite a source, so I don't know where it is from):

Apple Butter


Cut the apples into quarters, without peeling or coring them (much of the pectin is in the cores and flavor in the peels), cut out damaged parts.

Put them into large pot, add the vinegar and water, cover, bring to a boil, reduce heat to simmer, cook until apples are soft, about 20 minutes. Remove from heat.

Pre-heat oven to 200 degrees.

Pass the apples through a food mill and add the remaining ingredients.

Pour 3/4 of the mixture back into the pot and cook, uncovered in the oven 8 - 10 hours, occasionally adding the rest of the apple puree.
 
Sterilize your jars and lids for canning.

Pack the hot apple butter into hot pint or half-pint jars.  Leave 1/4 inch head-space and process for 10 minutes.

If sterilized and processed properly, does not need to be refrigerated until opened.


Member Jessica Gillis sent this new kale recipe she saw, saying, "with all the kale we get, I was happy to see something new to do with it." This is from 101 Cookbooks. Looks good... I may have to try it!

Pan-fried Corona Beans & Kale
serves 2 - 4

Chef's notes: "A few notes related to the recipe - be sure to wash the kale well, so you don't end up with grit in your beans. I use dried beans (that I've cooked myself) here, and would highly recommend using them over canned beans - they brown up better and are less likely to go to mush. I used giant corona beans, but you could use runner cannellini, or something similar. I like the white beans because they take on a lot of color in the pan. Alternate recipe - I'm confident you could do this preparation with gnocchi (don't boil the gnocchi first) in place of the beans."

1/2 bunch dino kale or lacinato kale, remove stems
2 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
2 - 3 big handfuls of cooked large white beans (see notes, above)
1/4 tsp. fine grain sea salt
1/3 C walnuts, lightly toasted
1 clove garlic, minced
1/8 tsp. freshly grated nutmeg
scant 1 tbsp. fresh lemon juice
zest of 1 lemon
1/3 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Finely chop the kale, wash it, and shake off as much water as you can. [I think I'd wash and shake it myself before chopping.]  Set aside.

Heat the olive oil over medium-high heat in the widest skillet you own. Add the beans in a single layer. Stir to coat the beans, then let them sit long enough to brown on one side, about 3 or 4 minutes, before turning to brown the other side, also about 3 or 4 minutes. The beans should be golden and a bit crunchy on the outside.

Add the kale and salt to the pan and cook for less than a minute, just long enough for the kale to lose a bit of its structure. Stir in the walnuts and garlic, wait 10 seconds, then stir in the nutmeg. Wait ten seconds and stir in the lemon juice and zest. Remove from heat and serve dusted with Parmesan cheese.


Member Alie Victorine sent me an email recently saying, "I made this great salad last night"...

Grated Apple, Pear, and Rutabaga Salad
Grate one rutabaga, one d'anjou pear (firmer variety) and 2 small apples from the farm.  Toss with a lime flavored olive oil and a scant bit of basalmic vinegar. Add salt and pepper - more pepper than salt. Yummy! If I didn't have the lime-infused oil I would have used regular oil with juice from a lime and probably withheld the vinegar. Anyways, it turned out to be a yummy way to use both rutabaga and apples.


Lastly, here's a recipe sent to me by member Winnie Baer back in December, with the contents of her very first box of winter. Since we have a similar set of ingredients this week, it seemed like a fitting final recipe:

Winnie's Fennel, Kale and Leek Soup
Here is a soup that I made with the kale, leeks, and the green stalks of the fennel.  I found those giant bunches of kale daunting, so I decided to try to deal with them all at once. I added vegetable broth and a couple of potatoes, cooked it, pureed it, and then spiced it with nutmeg, ginger, cloves, and cayenne (not too much of any of those!), and of course, salt.  It looked like something Mr. Spock would have eaten on the planet Vulcan. We loved it.  After making two meals of it, we used the last of it as a kind of pesto sauce on rotelli pasta with garbanzo beans, topped with feta cheese.

Sounds yummy to me! Bon Appetit, everyone!! - Debbie

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