Tofu Scramble

Breakfast isn't really a time when most people think of vegetables, but it could be.  Take the classic scramble, here with a plant-based twist.  A nice firm tofu, the right seasonings, and farm-fresh veggies combine to create a mouth and eye-pleasing alternative to the classic, that is quick to make, filling, and without all that pesky saturated fat and cholesterol.  Best of all, you can spice it up however you like, perhaps middle-eastern for the Shakshuka fans of the world, or Italian spices like basil and oregano for the diner style breakfast club.

This is a great technique that you can also apply to feta and ricotta toppings, and is overall a great stab at preparing tofu in new and delicious ways.

Serves 4, or 2 really hungry people, and reheats well.  Great on its own or on toast or in breakfast burrito wraps.

What you'll use from your bag:

1 Tomato (I had some left over from last week's bounty), diced

1/2 hot pepper, or a whole one if you like the heat, diced seeds removed

3 small sweet peppers, diced

1 red onion, diced

3 cloves garlic, finely chopped

What else you'll need:

2 Tbs avocado or safflower oil

1/4 cup fresh basil, chopped and added at the end

1 block firm tofu

1 tsp cumin or curry powder (skip for a more Italian or French style)

1/4 tsp India Black salt, for the egg flavor

1/2 tsp parsley, dried

1/2 tsp black pepper

1/2 tsp sea salt

2 tsp nutritional yeast

1/4 tsp fennel seed powder

1/2 tsp turmeric, for health and color

First, drain and press the tofu

This is the most important step when working with tofu, and if often the reason people think they don't like it.  Tofu gets packaged in liquid to keep it fresh, but the liquid has no flavor, and will often keep flavors from penetrating the tofu and DEFINITELY keep the texture soft, rather than hearty and meaty, so proper pressing to remove the liquid is going to change your tofu game.  I recently discovered the most amazing way to press tofu (and lots of other things) is using a salt slab cutting board.  Or in this case, 2 of them.  This is the perfect amount of weight, and salt cures it which not only speeds up the liquid draining time, but gives is a nice mineral rich, salt flavor, so you can actually skip the added salt.  If you don't have one, they are MAJORLY affordable right now at Trader Joe's, or you can wrap your tofu in a dishcloth, and put a cutting board on top of it with a few cans of something heavy, like beans. This takes about 5-10 minutes, and you can prep your veggies while this happens

Next, start your sauté

Heat oil in a frying pan, and add your diced onions, garlic, and hot pepper.  

While they soften, assemble your spices in a large mixing bowl, and toss in your tofu in large chunks.  A potato masher works best, but a fork will work just fine, as you are trying to mix the spices into your tofu as you "scramble" the tofu, into nice pillowy, bite sized, flavorful clumps.

When its done, it will look like cooked scramble, which is pretty cool, since that is what we are making :)

It will be yellow, from the turmeric, and smell of egg, from the India Black salt, and be delicious from all the spices, but will be EXTRA great warm and with all your veggies.

Now, add your tofu to the sauté mix

Let the oil, onion, garlic and hot pepper fully integrate with the tofu mixture, and you will notice the scramble get a brighter yellow, and even slightly brown in some area.  This is excellent because it means all those flavors are penetrating, and intensifying.

Add your diced tomato, and sweet peppers in, and sauté for 2-3 minutes until they soften. This adds some moisture back into the mix, so decide how "well-done" you like your textures, and if you want dryer scrambles, bump that up to 5 minutes.

Toss in your basil, stir until its soft, and take a good long sniff at the heaven in your pan.

If you are going for French style, add some vegannaise, or some coconut creme fraiche with some Herbs d' Provence, for Italian, add some thyme and oregano and serve over toasted Ciabatta, and for my curry style, add that full pepper, and garnish with a little sprinkle of ginger and light a fire under your day!

Enjoy!

Farmstyle Potato and Leek Soup

With the summer season abundance comes very full CSA bags, and if you are running short on fridge space, or have trouble using all of your produce every week this soup is ideal for you.  One recipe uses most of this week's bag, but lasts the rest of the week and can even feed your entire family.

Best of all, if you time it right, it shouldn't take you more than 45 min to make, and can be eaten immediately, or chilled, served hot or cold.

Eating your colors was never easier!

Serves A LOT, plan for 8-10 big bowls.





What you'll use from your bag:
All of your potatoes, diced
2 red onions, diced
2 summer squash, sliced & quartered
1 medium leek, 2 small leeks, half moon sliced
1 small cabbage, coarsely chopped
5 small red/orange peppers, half moon sliced




What else you'll need:
3 cloves garlic, chopped or minced
1/4 cup oil (safflower or avocado recommended)
8 cups vegetable broth

For the "buttermilk":
juice of 1 lemon
2 cups of coconut cream

For the end, spice mix:
1/4 cup cinnamon basil or other basil, chopped
1 tsp mustard powder
1 tsp coriander seed powder
1/2 tsp black pepper
1 1/2 tsp sea salt, fine
1/2 tsp dried tarragon
1/4 tsp thyme
1 Tbs fresh dill, and more to garnish/serve
1 tsp garlic powder
1/4-1/2 tsp cayenne pepper (dont be afraid, the cream levels this smooth)


First, heat your oil on low/med in a large soup pot
While the oil heats, dice your onion, and toss them in as you go, then dice the garlic and toss it in, and then the potatoes.  Think homefries, a quick dirty smallish dice, to encourage softening and even cooking.  A pinch of salt here is also a good idea.

While they cook, chop your peppers, squash, and cabbage. When the potatoes are tender, add the peppers and squash and cook for 3 minutes.  Then your cabbage, and cover. 3 minutes.

Now, add your broth
I can't stress the importance of a good full-flavored broth for making your own soups, and I encourage you to make your own broth with scraps from your CSA produce!  After to add the broth, stir and scrape the bottom of the pot to get all the ingredients circulating.  Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 8-10 minutes.

While the soup simmers, add 2 cups coconut cream (the kind from a can!) into a bowl or measuring cup and squeeze the lemon juice in, stir or whisk thoroughly, and allow to sit at room temperature to curdle.

Once the simmer is close to a boil, add the milk
Mix the soup really well, until you can't see any white cream concentrated anywhere.  Turn the heat
back up and simmer 5 minutes, uncovered.

Add the spice mix, reduce the heat to the lowest setting, and stir constantly for 1-2 minutes.  Remove from heat, and let stand 5-10 minutes before serving (hot) or chill overnight to serve cold.

Serve it with fresh ground black pepper, a cashew dill sauce, fresh dill, or smoked salt.

Enjoy!

Quick Homestyle Tomato Sauce

 Homemade tomato sauce, is there anything more delicious, more classic, and more symbolic of truly from-scratch home cooking?  There's a good reason: traditional recipes call for over 4 hours of long simmering....ain't nobody got time for that.

This recipe packs in all the flavor density of peak season, farm fresh tomatoes, with time saving tricks to peel the tomatoes with a parboil, followed by a chop and stew, which reduces the simmer time to just over 1 hour.  Use that time to roast your veggies for a lasagna, and cook your noodles, or in my case to roast and scoop up a spaghetti squash, to toss into the sauce as soon as its ready, and while they are both hot!

This recipe prepares about 4 cups, the size of a large jar from the market.




What you'll use from your bag:
7 medium tomatoes
1 Red onion, finely diced
1/2 jalapeño, diced, or the entire thing if you like it hot

What else you'll need:
4 cloves of garlic, diced
1 Tbs Tomato paste (they make this in a tube now, so you don't have to waste the entire can)
1 tsp sea salt, fine
1/2 tsp black pepper, the fresher ground the better
5 cups veggie broth
2 Tbs olive or avocado oil
1/2 lemon (for the juice)
1 Tbs red wine vinegar, or soured red wine (you know, the kind you've left open too long)

at the end:
3/4 cup fresh basil (packed, because you can never have too much basil in tomato sauce)
1/3 cup fresh oregano  (oregano form the farm is incredibly aromatic, highly recommended)
1/3 cup fresh cilantro


First, fill a large soup pot with about 6 cups of water
Take all of your tomatoes, and carve Xs into the butt of them, where they come to a little point.  This will serve to allow the water to loosen the skin from the flesh of the tomato, and make an easy starting point to peel.  The skin tends to slide off when little coaxing after a light boil.

Add the X'd tomatoes into the water, and bring to a boil, and allow to boil for about 2 minutes.  This is softening the tomatoes and loosening the skin at the same time and will reduce the overall cook time in the later step.


When removed from the water, the skin tends to look like this, and easily peels and slides off, reducing a lot of prep time.  You can keep these skins for broth, salads, or compost.




Next, heat your saucepan and prepare your vegetables
It's important not to use stainless steel with high-acidic dishes like tomato sauce, so for this I am using ceramic covered cast iron (Le Creuset).  It also makes for MUCH easier clean up.  Heat the oil in the pan, and add your finely diced onions and garlic, sauté, and after 2 minutes add the jalapeño.

Take your peeled tomatoes and chop them into at least 6 pieces, and toss them in with the sauté, allowing them to scorch, and stir them once or twice.  While they scorch, whisk the tomato paste and vinegar into the vegetable broth, and once the tomatoes are scorched on all sides, pour the broth mixture into the
rest.

Bring to a low boil, and immediately drop down to a simmer, and let simmer for 1.5 hours, stirring occasionally.

Then, you'll add the herbs
Towards the end, say in the last 15 minutes, start to chop your basil, oregano and cilantro.  Toss them
into the sauce and stir evenly and allow to cook with the remaining time.  The sauce should look more like sauce and less like chopped tomatoes as they have broken down, the liquid should also be substantially reduced.

Allow to cool, and keep in the fridge for up to 2 weeks, or enjoy immediately!

Cherry Tomato Gazpacho- Raw, Fast, Easy and Delicious

If you are like me, than summers aren't exactly easy.  You need to cram family visits, outdoor activity, work, and recovering from the heat into practically everyday.  So you need something, fast, something cooling, something that'll keep in your fridge and something that you can make with allllll those cherry tomatoes we keep getting in our Karma Farm bags :)

This gazpacho can be ready in under 10 minutes, with a food processor, and only requires the most minimal of pre-chopping.  If you are chopping by hand, I recommend a VERY sharp, very large chef knife to speed through the fine dicing...and you will get a chunkier soup, which is totally fine.

This recipe will produce 2 hearty portions, or 4 lunch time portions, depending on when you need the most humidity recovery intervention.


What you'll use from your bag
2 orange peppers
2 spring onions
~ half your cherry tomatoes
red onion (technically from last week, but you may use store-bought)
1-2 cucumbers (this week's or last's)


What else you'll need
2 spring of fresh parsley
1/4 cup cilantro
1 Tbs fresh dill
1/2 lemon
2 radishes
1 Tbs balsamic vinegar
2 tsp agave nectar
salt and pepper to taste
Optional: 1 tsp crushed red pepper


First, pre-chop the onion, cucumber and peppers
You can leave the tomatoes, whole, but it's best if no other ingredient has pieces larger than your tomatoes, to ensure a more consistent final texture.

Add all your ingredients to the food processor, for me that just about filled my 14 cup.  Feel free to divide your ingredients in half, or add the tomatoes last, as it will compress very fast as it becomes

chopped.

I usually pulse in counts of 5 until the texture is still a little chunky, but looks completely mixed, with no large chunks of any one vegetable or herb.  This usually takes about 1 minute, and I scrape down the processor bowl with a spatula once or twice and add salt and pepper to taste.

Once it is a nice texture, you may chill it and enjoy it for up to 5 days, or eat it straight out of the processor bowl (which is usually what I end up doing!)

In the picture, my bowl is adorned with raw sprouted watermelon seeds, and if you haven't tried them,  I encourage you too!  The black shell casing is removed, and the sprouted seeds have a wonderful nutty flavor.  You can find pre-sprouted seeds for sale at places like Mom's.

ENJOY!

Classic Half-Sour Pickles

Not sure what to do with a pile of cucumbers of all sizes? Well, especially since Harmony Cucumbers are pickling cukes, I say: We Can Pickle That (part 2)  The thing to keep in mind about pickling varieties, is that they don't keep very long in the fridge, and since they aren't very tasty on their own (but they're fine to cook with)  I'm taking all of mine straight from the bag and into my pickling jar.

This method is a lacto-fermentation method, meaning that it uses the natural bacteria in water and air to pickle the vegetable with the preservative assistance of salt, and uses no vinegar.  A vinegar pickle is a "full-sour" and these get referred to as a half-sour.  Better yet, the fermentation allows for a concentration of pro-biotics, most importantly the lactobacillus bacteria that lends itself to the name lacto-ferment.

I'm using a 2L jar, but you could probably use a 1/3 gallon, or 6 or 7 cup jar with an air-tight lid.  Using this method your pickles will be ready in 5-7 days!

What you'll use from your bag:

All your cucumbers, make sure to wash them thoroughly!

What else you'll need:

1/2 tsp coriander seeds

1/2 tsp caraway seeds

1 tsp black pepper corns

1/2 tsp yellow mustard seed

1 black cardamom pod

1/4 tsp fennel seed

1/4 cup sea salt

small handful of fresh dill

1 bulb of garlic, crushed

6 cups water, filtered

First, crush or grind your spices

You can leave the spices whole, but its much better to invite the liquid to mingle more, so the pickles become more infused.

Add the spices to the bottom of the jar, and then add the crushed garlic, and the fresh dill.

Next, add the salt to create a brine

Add the salt right to the top of the pile at the bottom of your jar, and then cover with the 6 cups of water.  Cover with the lid, and shake until the salt has dissolved completely, the dill should rise to the surface of the liquid.

Note: if you use a smaller jar, drop the liquid to 5 cups.

Next, add your cucumbers

I usually leave them whole, and I haven't tried making sandwich slices, or spears, so I just dump them all in, allowing any excess water to spill into the sink (you want an inch of air or less in between the liquid and your jar lid)  and then I place the jar, sealed, into my fridge.

Check them in 5 days to see if they are pickled enough for you, and if not check them once or twice.  Theoretically, half-sours should keep for about a month, but the above picture are pickles I made at least 5 months ago and are still perfect and tasty (but VERY pickled).  Unlike vinegar pickles, they won't sour up, or have a strong pickle smell, but they should be firm and still a little crisp, like an in-between vinegar pickles and cucumbers in appearance.

Enjoy!

Kohlrabi Cornmeal Fritters

Kohlrabi is a really versatile veggie, you can eat it raw, roast it, sauté it, steam it, and it's hearty enough to withstand all these different cuts and heats while staying strong, and a bit sweet.

Think of these as a high fiber, vitamin c packed, B-vitamin latke that comes with it's own delicate sweetness and nowhere near the carbs of potato, and is also gluten free and very hearty, thanks to the cornmeal

Plus, using flax to bind it stocks these kohlrabi pancakes with Omega-3s, and skips all the saturated fats of things like eggs and butter.

Swap out a cup or two of kohlrabi with summer squash, grated just the same, for a bit more sweetness or variety, or alternate, and have a fritter buffet.

Makes about 12, 3" diameter fritters.  I really like them with sriracha added to a little vegan aioli (as pictured) but they also served up well with pumpkin or squash butter.

What you'll use from your bag:
2 kohlrabi, peeled and grated
3 Spring onions, finely chopped
1 red onion, grated


What else you'll need:
2/3 cup Cornmeal
2 Tbs flax, fork whisked with 5 Tbs warm water
1 bulb of garlic, 3/4 minced, and 1/4 crushed and added to oil
1/3 cup oil, and more as you fry
2 tsp Crushed Red Pepper
2 stalks fresh Parsley, chopped
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp smoked salt
1/2 tsp sea salt
1 tsp coriander seed powder


First, shred you kohlrabi and onion
2 kohlrabi will produce approximately 5 cups grated, and the onion another 1+.  Wrap them in some paper towels, or a dish cloth and squeeze the liquid out (yes, that ball is the shredded mixture less wet).  Don't be so fast to throw out that liquid, thought, it's incredibly tasty and delicious and is an excellent addition to any broth or the base for a marinade.




Next, combine everything except the oil and 1/4 of the garlic
Start heating your skillet, frying pan, or griddle.  Mix all of the ingredients together, helping the

mixture firm up and evenly dispersing the parsley, flax, and spices.  The mixture should be tacky and maintain it's shape. Form into thin, flattened, palm-sized patties.

Heat the oil in the pan with the garlic, once the garlic has browned, add your patties to the oil, and cover, flipping 3 times, with about 1-2 minutes in between each, or to desired crispiness (MUCH less
time is needed if using a cast iron griddle!)

Whip up some more squash-cheese, serve with traditional apple sauce, or try a vegan avocado aioli recipe.  My partner said he thought old bay would be an excellent addition to these, and if you are in the mood for crab-cake alternatives give that a try!

Enjoy!

Garlic Scape and Sweet Pepper Pesto

The last of the garlic scapes has arrived.  Whether you are sick of them or looking to make them last, this pesto is going to really be a game-changer for you, and you'll find yourself adding it to everything.  This year, my partner and I discovered the joys of basil and pepper pesto on pizza, and it spawned an endless game of putting pesto on everything imaginable.

Also, word on the Karma Farm Streets is that if you go to visit the farm they'll send you out with an armful of fresh herbs, like basil, which is bountiful right now.  So reach out, and schedule your visit this weekend and make this delicious pesto your new obsession :)

Roasting is the best treatment for these sweet peppers, as the low heat short roast will soften them, allowing some earthy flavors to mix and drawing out the sweetness, while retaining some of the snap from the moisture.


What you'll use from you bag:
1 sweet carmen pepper
5 garlic scapes
2 bulbs of garlic (technically from last week's bag)

What else you'll need:
1 cup tightly packed basil, (you can get this from the farm!)
1/2 cup pine nuts, 1/4 cup raw and 1/4 cup roasted
1/2 cup avocado oil

1/4 cup nutritional yeast

3/4 tsp salt

1/2 lemon peel, sitting in the oil

1/4 cup spring onions

1 sprig fresh thyme 

First, you'll preheat the oven to 350 degrees

Cut the pepper into large pieces, just enough to get the seeds out, and to coat the inside and outside with some oil.  I just dunk them right into the bowl with oil, and brush off the excess.  Do the same with the garlic scapes, but keep them whole.

Onto a baking sheet lined with tin foil, add the oil covered peppers and scapes, 1/4 cup of pine nuts, and 2 entire bulbs of garlic with their end chopped off, skin still on.

Roast for 12 minutes, turning once.

Now, slice the lemon peel and add it to the oil

This will allow the oil to take on a slightly citrus quality, and soften up the lemon peel making it easier to incorporate in the food processor.

Add all your remaining ingredients to the food processor, and wait to add the lemon+oil until just before the roasted veggies come out.

Let the roasted veggies cool

Once you can comfortably hold them in your hand, transfer them to the food processor, but make sure to squeeze out the garlic from its skin, it should slide right out if you hold the pointed end.

The longer you process, the smoother and creamier the texture, so if you prefer a more oily looking, chunky pesto, don't process very long, but pulse until desired texture is achieved.  I like the creamy texture, and it fools even the most epicurean of omnivore foodies :)

Put this on just about anything. This is a soft, layered flavor, that has a bit of sweet, and a lemon (not sour) but a distinctly lemon flavor.  We put it on our breakfast scramble tacos this morning :)

Enjoy!