This week’s box included: green leaf lettuce, collards, mustard greens, green peppers, butternut squash, white sweet potato, apples, popcorn, spaghetti squash, eggplant
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The competition for world’s largest vegetables continues with this box. That lettuce! When my husband picked up the box, he came home beaming. “Look at this lettuce. I’m just going to eat lettuce!” I hope that’s true because he will have a long way to go to get through a head of lettuce that size. So pretty.
Kale and collard greens in our box. Reading at Suzanne’s recent blog post, made me think about dealing with greens and how she just froze her greens without blanching them. I’m still in the school that likes to blanch things, but I have been wanting to simplify my process. This weekend I needed to blanch that big bunch of kale from last week and the mustard greens. And I had a brainstorm. I got out my salad spinner. I tore the leaves into small pieces and put them all in the basket. Then used my electric kettle to boil water. Poured the water over the greens in the basket while they were in the bowl, and voila, they’re sitting in boiling water and all I have to do is pull out the basket to drain them. Then I spun them dry! It was genius. At least what passes for genius in this household.
And the greens went into a batch of broths I made for an AJC cover story with Stella Dillard of Dandelion Food and Goods. She shared her recipes for three fabulous broths – vegan ramen, beef curry, and sweet potato wonderbroth – that we’ll be publishing next week. You turn the broths into hearty soups with the addition of greens, and that’s where mine went.
But … recipes!
Sweet potatoes in the box remind me we have lots and lots of sweet potato recipes at grassfedcow.com but I’m adding one more. Down below you’ll find Alexandra Stoddard’s recipe for Sweet Potato and Black Bean Burritos. Delicious filling and a way to use some of that beautiful lettuce as well. And yes, we have lots and lots of greens recipes, too, but here’s one more, Stoddard’s Crustless Quiche Loaded with Kale. I love anything that looks like a pie but doesn’t make me prepare a crust!
And in case you still have a delicata squash or two sitting on your counter … I had three that I had sort of forgotten about. When I looked at them yesterday, one had spoiled. Delicata just simply do not keep like other hard-shelled squashes. So I quickly looked for a few new recipes and the Washington Post suggested delicata squash nachos (using slices of squash in place of chips), sheet pan stuffed delicata squash with a rice filling, and roasting a medley of squash (say some of the delicata and some of this week’s butternut) and then glazing it with a mix of miso and maple syrup. I would share the links but they’re behind a paywall, so just hoping this provides some inspiration for others who are in the same boat I am.
The return of spaghetti squash gives me the chance to offer one more recipe – Spicy Spaghetti Squash with Shrimp – from Southern Living. Sort of like shrimp and grits but with spaghetti squash.
Sweet Potato and Black Bean Burritos
For the sweet potato filling:
1 1/2 cups finely chopped onion
2 garlic cloves, minced
3 to 4 tablespoons neutral oil such as olive, grapeseed or canola
4 cups grated peeled sweet potato
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 to 2 teaspoons ground cumin
generous pinch of cayenne
salt and ground black pepper to taste
a cup or more of finely minced cilantro
fresh lime juice to taste
For assembly:
6 burrito-sized tortillas
sweet potato filling
1.5 cups cooked black beans, canned are ok, drained and rinsed
lettuce
grated Cheddar or Monterey Jack to taste
sour cream to taste
fresh lime to taste
Make the sweet potato filling: In a large sauté pan set over medium heat, sauté the onions and garlic in 3 tablespoons of the oil until the onions are translucent. Add the grated sweet potatoes, chili powder, cumin and cayenne and cook, covered — covering is important to prevent sticking — for about 8-10 minutes, stirring every few minutes to ensure it’s not sticking or burning. When the sweet potato is tender, add salt and pepper to taste and remove the filling from the heat. Stir in the cilantro. Squeeze 1/2 a lime over the sweet potatoes, mix, taste, and adjust with more lime and salt to taste until it tastes nicely seasoned.
Assemble the burritos. Gather all of your ingredients. I like to warm up my beans in a small skillet, and if my sweet potato filling has been refrigerated, I like to warm that up, too. I also like to quickly warm up my tortillas (30 seconds) in a large, dry skillet.
Place a tortilla on a plate. Top with lettuce. Top with beans, then cheese, sweet potato filling, sour cream, and a big squeeze of lime. Roll into a burrito. Halve and serve. (Obviously: layer the fillings as you wish.) Repeat with remaining tortillas and ingredients.
Crustless Quiche Loaded with Kale
5 large eggs
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 cup sour cream
1 cup milk
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon fresh thyme, finely chopped
1 to 3 cups uncooked coarsely chopped kale
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
Place 1 egg and the flour in a large bowl and whisk until smooth. Whisk in the remaining 4 eggs until blended.
In a medium bowl, whisk the sour cream until smooth. Whisk in the milk. Pour the egg mixture through a fine mesh sieve held over the milk mixture. Whisk in the salt, pepper and thyme.
Pile your greens into a pie plate. Pour the egg mixture over the greens, then press the greens down with a spatula so they are submerged in the custard. Place in the oven and bake for 10 minutes. Reduce the oven temperature to 325 degrees and bake until the filling is just set, about 30 minutes longer. The center of the quiche should still feel slightly firm, rather than liquidy, when touched. Let cool on a wire rack for at least 20 minutes to allow the custard to set up, so that it will slice neatly. It can be served warm or at room temperature. To serve a fully cooled quiche warm, cover it with aluminum foil and reheat it in a 325 oven for about 15 minutes.
Spicy Spaghetti Squash with Shrimp
1 spaghetti squash, cut in half lengthwise, seeded, and cut into half-moons
1/4 cup olive oil, divided
1 1/2 pounds medium-size peeled, deveined raw shrimp
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt, divided
1/2 teaspoon black pepper, divided
1 cup chopped yellow onion (from 1 medium onion)
4 garlic cloves, finely chopped (4 tsp.)
3 anchovy fillets, finely chopped
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper
1/3 cup dry white wine
1 (28-oz.) can crushed San Marzano plum tomatoes
1/4 cup heavy whipping cream
2 ounces pecorino Romano cheese, grated (about ½ cup), divided
1/4 cup small fresh basil leaves
Preheat oven to 450°F. Place squash on a large baking sheet, and toss with 2 tablespoons of the oil. Bake until squash starts to brown and strands separate from peel when pulled with a fork, 15 to 20 minutes. Remove squash strands from peel, and set aside in a large bowl. Discard peel.
While squash bakes, season shrimp with 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon black pepper. Heat remaining 2 tablespoons oil in a large high-sided skillet over medium-high. Add shrimp. Cook, turning once, until opaque and starting to crisp on both sides, about 1 to 2 minutes per side. Remove to a plate; set aside. Add onion to skillet. Cook, stirring occasionally, until onion starts to soften, about 5 minutes. Add garlic, anchovies, and crushed red pepper. Cook, stirring constantly, until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add wine, stirring and scraping bottom of pan to release browned bits. Cook, stirring occasionally, until wine has almost fully reduced, about 1 to 2 minutes. Add crushed tomatoes and remaining 1 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon black pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, until sauce starts to thicken, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat; stir in cream, shrimp, and 1/4 cup of the grated cheese.
Divide spaghetti squash evenly among 4 bowls, and top with shrimp mixture. Sprinkle each bowl with 1 tablespoon each of basil leaves and remaining grated cheese. Serve immediately.