Tips &Recipes
Field peas and Rice Jamaican Style inspired by Auntie Phyllis on utube
This recipe really works well with the Caramonie field peas we grow at Pauline's Lucky Market Garden. The peas are dried and there's no need to soak them. They will have an al dente texture that really compliments the soft rice and veggies. It's satisfying yet not super filling, a fine side dish to accompany grilled or fried fish, shellfish, chicken and tofu. VEGAN Serves 4-6
INGREDIENTS:
1/2 cup dried Pauline's Lucky Market Garden Caramonie field peas
4 cups water
1 tsp salt
1 onion sliced
1 Tomato diced
1/2 large red or yellow bell pepper sliced
1 tsp fresh minced garlic
1 cup white rice
2 cups coconut milk
METHOD:
Using a medium sized pot, boil water and add salt. Stir in the dried field peas. Adjust heat to medium. Cover and cook peas for about 30-40 minutes until they soften enough to be smashed with a spoon (tender not mushy).
Stir in garlic, tomatoes, peppers and onions. Add rice and coconut milk. Stir briefly, then cover and cook on low simmer until all the liquid is absorbed 20-30 minutes. It's ok to lift the lid and check in case it's cooking too quickly. Fluff and serve. Tastes just as good the next day!
Baby Bok Choy Soup
This is light soup that will warm you up inside. Wonderful on a cold gloomy winter day. Makes about 4 servings
6 cups chicken or veggie stock
Salt and pepper to taste
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1 1/2 cups leftover cooked pasta eg spaghetti chopped
1 cup cooked spinach chopped
Place bok choy, onions and stock in a large pot. The liquid needs to cover the veggies by about an inch. Bring pot to boil uncovered then reduce heat and cook til veggies are tender about 20 minutes on medium heat. Add your optional ingredients and heat through. I love to fry my pasta up first in a little butter. Season with garlic powder, salt and pepper. Drizzle with a little melted butter. surely some might want to add a little ginger and wouldn't just about any mushrooms just make it even better?
Mediterranean Lemon & Garlic Dressing Recipe, the perfect match for Spring Mix
INGREDIENTS:
2 cloves garlic
2 1/2 lemons
1 1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
2 tsp locally produced honey
2 cups canola oil
DIRECTIONS: Mince garlic and crush with the back of a spoon in a medium sized mixing bowl. Squeeze lemons and add juice to bowl. Stir in salt, pepper and honey. Blend well. Slowly whisk in oil pouring it into bowl in a thin stream. Store in a glass jar. Use within 5 days.
USING HIBISCUS LEAVES AND FLOWERS
In Mexico the hibiscus flowers are well known to make a wonderful beverage called agua jamaica. In New Zealand and Austrailia they are used to make jams and sauces. When eaten fresh, they taste a bit like a very tart blueberry. The leaves can be stripped from their stems and used raw in salads or cooked in soups and stews. They are especially good prepared in dishes with fish, shrimp, rice, chicken, lentils and curry. It is good to note that the leaves become tender very quickly and cook down in size as many greens do. Raw leaves can also be turned into tasty wrappers to stuff small amounts of foods such as rice, tuna or chicken salad etc. We usually use about 1 tablespoon of stuffing per leaf, carefully fold the leaf edges over to wrap the fillings and then steam the stuffed leaves for 5-8 minutes or microwave for about 14 sec. Try our favorite recipe below. They can be made ahead of time and reheated. Rolling the filling into the leaves is super easy.
18-20 hibiscus leaves
Fold the leaf to encase the rice.
Fold in outer leaf sections |
Carefully roll the leaf into a tiny package |
Set in a steaming basket. Continue filling the leaves.
Steam over gently boiling water for about 7 minutes just until the wrappers lose their bright green color. Carefully remove the stuffed hibiscus leaves using tongs. Set them on a pretty platter and lightly sprinkle with salt. Drizzle rolls with a good quality, light flavored olive oil. Serve them warm or at room temp.
Nestled in a basket and ready for steaming 🌱🌱🌱🌱🌱🌱🌱🌱🌱🌱🌱🌱🌱🌱🌱🌱🌱🌱🌱🌱🌱🌱🌱🌱🌱🌱🌱🌱🌱 |
AT THANKSGIVING MAKE THIS WITH LOCALLY GROWN HIBISCUS FLOWERS
"Roselle or Florida Cranberry Sauce"
Ingredients
2 cups well washed whole hibiscus flowers
1 cup water
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 tablespoons cornstarch
Directions
Remove the red calyx and discard the green SEED pods. Cover the red calyces with water and simmer for 10 minutes uncovered. Mix together sugar and cornstarch. Combine with the roselles and cook for an additional 5 minutes.
Serve cool as you would cranberry sauce
Recipe from JOY OF COOKING
OUR WINTER SQUASH AND SOME RECIPESour favorites: Green Kabocha (left), West Indies Pumpkin (center), Musca (right) |
Green Kabocha: A beautiful Japanese winter squash. 2-4 lb average weight/each. Green with grey stripes. Keeps for several months at room temp. Sweet silky deep orange flesh. Easy to prepare. Cut in half, remove seeds. Steam for 20-30 minutes or bake cut side down at 350 degrees for 45-60 minutes. So good with a little butter, cinnamon & nutmeg. Firm enough to use for stuffed squash. Tastes similar to a sweet potato but with a slightly drier texture.
Musca Squash: A Florida heirloom, also called Seminole pumpkin, beige in color. Shapes can vary somewhat, sometimes teardrop, sometimes resembling a butternut. Sizes vary also from 5-8 (or more) lb each. This squash stores well for 4 plus months at room temp. A little like a pie pumpkin inside & very juicy when cooked, it is well suited for soups pies, breads & muffins. Once it is cut & seeded unused portions can be wrapped in plastic & stored in the refrigerator for up to one week. It is easy to prepare by halving, scooping out the seeds & baking at 350 degrees cut side down in a baking dish with sides for 45-60 minutes. Very nice flavor similar to but not as sweet as butternut. To serve as a side vegetable, drizzle with warm melted or browned butter and sprinkle with cinnamon and brown sugar after baking.
West Indies Pumpkin (also called calabaza): A Latin American delicacy. Be sure to try one of these. Looks like a very round beige pumpkin with alligator markings. Stored at room temp, this winter squash keeps for 4 months. A preferred squash to use in pumpkin flan and candied pumpkin. Makes a wonderful pumpkin pie and is also wonderful just baked & mashed. Individual squashes weigh 5-8 lbs each. Flesh inside is deep orange, with a rich sweet taste & smooth texture. Delicious baked. Using a dish with sides, bake at 350 cut side down for 45-60 minutes.
Golden Squash Pies
delicious hot or cold
CRUST
1 cup unbleached all purpose four
FILLING
1/2 cup sugar
VARIATION
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Pumpkin Muffins with Jumbo Chocolate Chips
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Oatmeal Pumpkin Bread
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Lemony Chicken Wings with Rosemary & Garlic
INGREDIENTS:
4 pounds chicken wings (about 24 pieces)
DIRECTIONS: Salt and coarsely ground black pepper
Recipe from "Farmhouse Cookbook," by Susan Herrmann Loomis. 1991 (c)
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Dill Pesto
INGREDIENTS:
1 cup fresh dill leaves loosely packed
1/2 cup fresh chopped scallion greens
1/2 cup grated sharp white cheddar cheese
1/2 cup sunflower seeds (or walnuts)
1/4 cup canola oil
salt & pepper to taste
DIRECTIONS: Grind herbs cheese & sunflower seeds in a food processor. Slowly drizzle in oil. When well combined season with salt & pepper to taste.
Store in refrigerator.
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Sorrel Sauce
(amazing spooned over grilled fish & steamed vegetables; extremely easy & quick)INGREDIENTS:
3 tablespoons butter
2 cups chopped fresh sorrel leaves
1/2 cup half & half
1 tablespoon cream cheese
salt & pepper to taste
DIRECTIONS: Using a sauce pan, melt butter until it turns golden. Add chopped sorrel, use a spoon to coat leaves with butter. When the sorrel is wilted, stir in half & half. Bring to a quick boil then drop in cream cheese stirring until it melts and cook just until the sauce thickens enough to coat the back of the spoon. Season to your liking with salt & pepper.
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Risotto with English Peas and Fresh Mint
(serves 6)INGREDIENTS: 2 lbs sweet fresh English peas in the pod
2 small onions
1 carrot, coarsely chopped
1 rib celery, coarsely chopped
1 fresh or dried bay leaf
6 fresh mint sprigs
1 Tbs extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for serving
3 Tbs unsalted butter
Kosher salt
2 cups Arborio rice (you can substitute white long grain rice)
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese (about 1 1/2 ounces),
plus more for serving
Freshly ground black pepper
DIRECTIONS: shell the peas. Reserve the pods! (you should have two cups of peas, more or less). Place the pods in large pot. Quarter one onion and add it to the pot along with the carrot, celery, and bay leaf. Cover with cold water and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer until the stock has a nice pea flavor, 30 to 35 minutes. Strain the stock, discarding the solids, then return the stock to the pot and place over low heat to keep warm.
Bring a small pot of salted water to a boil and prepare a bowl of ice water. Cook 1/2 cup of the peas. Drain the peas and transfer to the ice water to stop the cooking. Drain well. Process the cooked peas in a blender until smooth, adding a little of the peas stock if necessary to help them along. Set aside.
Strip the mint leaves off 4 of the sprigs and coarsely chop them. Set aside.
Heat the olive oil and 1 Tbs of the butter in a large, shallow pot over medium-low heat. Finely chop the remaining onion. When the foaming in the pan subsides, add the onion, remaining 2 sprigs mint, and a pinch of salt. Cook over low heat, stirring occasionally, until very soft, about 13 minutes. Add the rice and another pinch of salt and stir to coat with the oil. Raise the heat to medium and cook, stirring until the rice is lightly toasted, about 2 minutes.
Add about 1/2 cup of the hot pea stock, stirring constantly over medium to medium-high heat; the mixture should be bubbling. When the mixture begins to look dry, add another 1/2 cup stock, continuing to stir. Cook, stirring constantly and adding stock in small amounts as needed until the rice is cooked about halfway, about 10 minutes.
Add the remaining peas and continue to cook, adding stock and stirring constantly until the rice is creamy and the grains are al dente--- soft on the outside with a slight bite in the center, about 10 minutes. The peas should be tender and still bright green.
You may not need to use all of the pea stock; whatever is left over can be frozen.
Remove the mint sprigs and stir in the pea puree and the chopped fresh mint leaves. Remove from the heat and vigorously stir in the remaining 2 Tbs butter and the grated Parmesan. Season with salt and pepper. Divide among 6 warmed plates and serve immediately.
Offer more Parmesan cheese and extra-virgin olive oil to drizzle over the top, if desired.
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Kale and White Bean Soup with Spicy Sausage
Turkey Chowder
with leeks and sweet potatoes
Hi! I bought a Musca squash from you a couple of weeks ago. We cooked it up today and drizzled butter and black volcanic salt on it. Oh my, it was wonderful! One of the best squashes we've ever eaten. Thank you!
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed meeting you in Orange City today. I have a Musca in the oven and I will probably make soup with it. I look forward to trying the other squashes next time. Cheers!
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