Substitutions Are Your Friends: Choose Wisely

I love pancetta. I like to make it with bucatini all'amaticiana. I love to use it for simple dishes like pancetta with broccoli, ziti, and garlic. These are fast and delicious recipes that get dinner on the table in a half hour. But what if you don't eat meat, or have other dietary obligations that keep this delightful, cured Italian pork bacon off your table? This is the question that troubled me. I wanted to offer a recipe that covering the poles of these flavors- the green veggies, the crispy salty meat, and the pasta, but how best to avoid the pork? The answer came to me in a dream. A dancing cured poultry product pranced before me, beckoning me to use it as a substitution. But what had I see? Had it been chicken sausage? Or perhaps it was turkey bacon? Yes. Turkey bacon. This seemed to hold promise as a pancetta replacement.

Alas, because I was about to embark on a trip I was unable to test this hypothesis. Fortunately, my dear friend, fellow cook, Maplewood resident and CSA participant, Jocelyn Ruggiero, aka Foodie Fatale, was intrigued enough to make a version herself and to offer both her assessment and preparation of the dish. Thanks, again, Joce!

-Clyde Tressler

Ingredients:

• 5 or 6 pieces of Applegate Farms turkey bacon, chopped into small cubes
• 3 or 4 scapes, chopped into small pieces (approx ½ inch)
• 2 green onions, chopped
• 1/2 a head of green garlic, minced
• handful of sun dried tomatoes
• 1 head of kale, stems removed
• extra-virgin olive oil
• 8-10 ounces whole wheat pasta (ziti, rigatoni or similar)
  

Preparation:

• Pan fry bacon until crispy, then remove and set aside.
• Saute onions and scapes in olive oil until onions are translucent and scapes are wilted
• Add chopped kale
• Drizzle a little more olive oil over kale, cover frying pan and cook over low heat.
• After approximately 5 minutes add reserved bacon and pepper/kosher salt to taste
• Continue to cook kale until tender, approximately 5 more minutes. Once the kale is cooked, I like to turn the heat off, and keep the pan covered for a few minutes.
• Toss with 8-10 ounces of whole wheat pasta, sprinkle with Parmesan and serve!

Vegetarian Cooking For Young People- A FREE Class!

Our blog contributor Randy Rabney wanted to let all of us in the CSA family to know about the free class she is offering:

 

Vegetarian Cooking Class for Young People (ages 10‐15)And Their Adults

At Whole Foods Market, 2245 Springfield Ave., Vauxhall, NJ

 Wed., July 22nd

 Time: 6:30-8:00 PM

Many young people are choosing to be vegetarians but often are not getting the nutrition that they need. Come learn how to make healthy choices and prepare and sample an easy, delicious, health conscious recipe.

Randy Rabney trained as a Chef at the Natural Gourmet Cookery School in NYC. She has cooked in the kitchen of the Golden Door Spa in Ca. and has taught cooking classes to children in NYC. She is a mom and also has a degree as a Certified Holistic Health Counselor.

For more info, visit Whole Foods or contact Randy Rabney at (646) 734-9077.

Sign up at Whole Foods Market Customer Service or call 908-688-1455

Visit

www.RandyRabney.com for your Free Foodie Survival Guide: 3 Health

Conscious Recipes for Every Lover of Food.

The Ultimate Dressing

I use the word ultimate because I have yet to find something I don't like it on!

-Lea DeCosta

www.wellnessextended.com

Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
• 1-2 cloves of garlic, chopped
• 2 teaspoons chopped fresh parsley
• 2 teaspoons chopped fresh basil
• 1/2 teaspoon dried rosemary
• sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Preparation:

Place all ingredients in a bowl and whisk together.

Pour over grilled chicken breast, or vegetables that have been grilled, or roasted, with a small amount of olive oil and sea salt.

Summer Grilling Tip: I throw almost all vegetables on the grill in the summer. The taste is fabulous, and it doesn't heat up the kitchen. The downside is that it can be difficult to keep the veggies from falling through the grates. The solution? A good grill pan. Simply toss vegetables such as asparagus, pieces of onion, scallions, slices of zucchini or eggplant, cherry tomatoes, mushrooms, etc. into the pan with a little olive oil and salt and you are good to go.

The pan I like to use is made of stainless steel (you don't want to use non-stick here because at the very high temperatures you will be releasing toxic chemicals into your food), and because it has sides, which makes it easier to stir the veggies, and lift them out when done.

Enjoy!

Wellness Extended Newsletter

July 2009 Volume 2, Number 7

Alert: Important Bok Choi Addendum

Due to an email filing error, I neglected to include this delightful recipe from Alan Rojer.

Alan is also currently experimenting with creating Kim Chee from our Chinese cabbage, and we eagerly await his full report.

'Here's a bok-choy quickie, for use with a grill wok.

Ingredients:

    4 heads baby bok choy
    1 tbs chopped ginger
    1 tbs toasted sesame oil
    1 tbs soy sauce
    1/2 head garlic, peeled and sliced
    crushed red pepper
    (all quantities are approximate and subject to your personal taste)

Preparation: 

    Trim bok choy at base.
    Toss with other ingredients.
    Cook on med-high heat in a grill wok, about 5 minutes,
    stirring regularly, until wilted but still crispy.

    Suggested for serving with grilled flank steak, sausage, salmon or
    shrimp kebabs.  Bon appetit!'

 

Thanks Alan!

Bok Choi and Chinese Cabbage Round-up

 

To date we've received a variety of delicious bok choi and some extremely excellent Chinese cabbage. It's really quick and simple to make delicious dishes from these leafy veggies, so I decided to present a number of ideas in 'round-up' format. What does that mean? I am not quite certain, but I think it means they are more like sketches than precision-guided recipes. Try them all!

 Here's a quick idea for bok choy and/or Chinese cabbage.

Just as a disclaimer, I've made this many times but just cook it by instinct. I don't have a written recipe, so here it is from my head without testing the amounts. People should feel free to adjust as needed but this is the basic idea.

-Randy Rabney

Tofu and Bok Choy Stir Fry

The sweetness of the apple juice and saltiness of the shoyu balance each other nicely here.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 medium onion, thinly sliced
• 1 clove garlic, thinly sliced
• 1 inch piece of ginger or more to taste, thinly sliced or diced
• 1/2 a package of firm or extra firm tofu, cubed
• 2 cups loosely packed baby bok choy or Chinese cabbage, in bite size pieces (leaves separated)
• 2 Tablespoons shoyu or tamari (high quality soy sauce)
• 2 Tablespoons apple juice
• Oil for cooking

You can add a few drops of your favorite hot sauce if you like some heat, a few drops of rice wine vinegar and or toasted sesame oil also makes a nice addition (all are optional).

Preparation:

Heat oil in a saute pan over medium high heat. Add onion and garlic, stirring as needed, when onion starts to soften, add ginger and stir again. Add the tofu and let it sit until it's easy to turn then stir and add in the ribs of the cabbage and reserve the leaves. Cook about 2-3 minutes and add the leaves. Cook 1 more minute or so until the leaves start to wilt and add the shoyu and apple juice, you can add more of either liquid if needed (shoyu if you want more salt, apple juice if you want less or equal amounts of each if the flavor is good for you).  Taste for seasoning and enjoy.

-Randy

 

Chinese Cabbage Slaw

Here is another one that works well with both Chinese cabbage and bok choi. I made it a couple of weeks ago with the spicier, dark-leafed bok choi, and I have twice now used our fine heads of Chinese cabbage for this recipe. It's pictured above. Again, this is a prepare-to-taste recipe and can be user-adjusted to accommodate a wide range of palates. Tinker with the vinegar/sweetening ratio to your liking.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup, total, cider vinegar and/or rice vinegar- in any proportion
• 1/4 cup mirin
• 2 teaspoons brown sugar
• tablespoon soy sauce (I'm deferring to Randy on the shoyu!)
• teaspoon toasted sesame oiil
• 1 head Chinese cabbage chopped coarsely, or equivalent amount of bok choi

Preparation:

Place chopped cabbage in large mixing bowl. Whisk remaining ingredients in smaller mixing bowl. Pour mixture over cabbage and toss lightly. Cabbage will release lots of liquid and wilt before your very eyes! After this process has slowed, remove cabbage and liquid to an appropriately-sized serving dish. Keeps for days in the fridge if you don't demolish it on the first round.

-Clyde

Here are a couple of quickies:

1- This is the simple recipe passed on to me by @EpicureanJourny "grilled baby bok choy: skewer on soaked bamboo sticks, baste with a little Hoisin sauce, and grill [or griddle if you have a good fan!] for a few minutes."

-Jocelyn Ruggiero

2- Sauteed Bok Choi with garlic: wash baby bok choi. Leave whole or slice in half lengthwise. Sauté thinly-sliced garlic in olive oil until it turns golden, just short of brown. Add bok choi. Toss for a few moments over medium-high heat. Add 1 cup water or chicken stock. Cook until bok choi is translucent but  still retains some crunch. Add coarsely ground pepper and salt to taste.

Collards for the 21st Century

My Grandma had a simple, straightforward method for cooking kale or collards. In fact, it was her go-to method for any green that didn't wilt by glaring at it.

The recipe required the washed greens to be placed in a large pot and covered with water. Ham hocks, or more often, a few large chunks of double-smoked bacon obtained from Amish country in Lancaster, PA, was added as the primary flavoring ingredient. Then, the whole mixture was boiled full-throttle for an hour. At the end, the greens were ladled out of the liquid and a little cider vinegar was sprinkled on before serving. It was hearty, if not heart-healthy.

So, in my cholesterol-challenged present, I experienced a certain saturated-fat line of thinking that made me want to avoid the addition of meat. In the end, however, I accepted it as a integral to this style of preparation.

My challenge was to modernize the recipe, using the ingredients I had at hand. The first thing to note is, the turnip greens and the collards can be combined and cooked together into an indistinguishably delicious combination. Just cut the greens off the turnips, remove as much of the woody stalks as possible and snip off any yellowing parts of the greens. Remove the stalks from the collards and wash everything thoroughly. Here is where Grandma and I diverged:

Ingredients:

• 2 slices pancetta 3/8" thick, diced. (I get mine at Di Pietro's on Springfield Ave in Maplewood and it is exceptional)
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 bunch turnip greens, cut coarsely (try scissors for this)
• 1 bunch collard greens, cut similarly
• water
• red wine vinegar

Method:

Heat a large skillet. Add pancetta and stir until some of the fat renders and it browns slightly. Add the onions and stir the mixture vigorously. Don't let it burn! If the browning process gets away from you, add a cup of water and keep going. Cook until the onions are translucent.

Now add the chopped greens. Add just enough water to cover, but not drown the mixture. Cook until the greens are soft, about 15 minutes. (It seemed like 15 minutes. I was observing the greens and not the clock.) Remove the skillet from the heat.

Transfer the greens to a bowl, leaving behind the bits of pancetta and onions, as well as the the cooking liquid. Press any remaining liquid out of the greens and add back into the pot.

Now add a few splashes of red wine vinegar to the liquid. Reduce the mixture over medium-high heat. It should develop a velvety, voluptuous texture. Taste and add salt if necessary. When it's fully-reduced, remove from heat and add the greens, tossing until they are well-coated. Serve immediately, if not sooner. Some may enjoy  a sprinkle of hot sauce or red pepper flakes!

 

-Clyde Tressler