Kale Wisdom from the Guys

Joe's beautiful kale leaves in a snowy garden patch.

Submitted by Kat Braun
River House WV

This blog is dedicated to my husband and some of my favorite men-friends. Read on and you’ll see why!

About Kale

When I was a little girl I ate spinach and cabbage, potatoes and corn, broccoli, peas and carrots. I’d even venture an occasional brussels sprout or lima bean as long as they were small and tender.  But kale? Kale was beyond me. I’m so glad my Dad grew it and my Mom made me taste everything at every meal, so I eventually developed a taste for it. Now I love it! If you don’t care for it, keep trying. Research it anywhere—the list of benefits from kale is too long to print here!

Kale is not only supremely nutritious, it’s also -  

• Easy to grow and hardy in cold weather!  My husband, Joe, grows it almost year round outside, and his newest baby plants are starting to show!
• Beautiful in your garden!  There are many colorful varieties--Uncle Dave at Blue Mountain Farm included Russian Red kale in our CSA bags last week!
• Versatile:  Steam it, stir fry, chop it up and add its color and vital nutrients to virtually any dish—as in my examples below.

These are two fabulous recipes sent to me recently by friends - guys who, like my husband, grow, cook and value REAL FOOD!

Enjoy!!!

Ray’s Coconut Lentil Soup

from Ray Goodman

Ray makes this yummy soup from organic, wheat free, gluten free ingredients.

The recipe in a nutshell: 

1. Pre-soak 1 cup of lentils with 2 tablespoons of barley flakes in about 4.
2. Dump the presoak water from the lentils. Add fresh water to the lentils (about 4 cups). Bring to boil and then lower heat and simmer for ½ hour.
3. Add chopped veggies of your choice —usually beta-carotenes: Carrots, butternut squash, jewel sweet-potato, some parsley flakes, chopped up kale.
4. Season with kelp flakes, turmeric, a pinch of cayenne, toasted sesame oil, sea or celtic salt.
5. Throw in a handful of rice or Tinkyada noodles. (Tinkyada noodles are organic, wheat free, gluten free rice pasta.)
6. During the last 15 minutes of simmering, add ½ can of coconut milk.

This next recipe was forwarded to me by Dave Elliot (Uncle Dave) of of Blue Mountain Farm in Hedgesville, West Virginia. Dave is a hardworking, socially and nutritionally conscious organic farmer who likes to sit down and read the New York Times Nutrition & Fitness Section after a long day of work. Rock on, Dave!

Andrew Scrivani
for The New York Times

Slow-Baked Beans With Kale

By Martha Rose Shulman

New York Times Online Edition

February 1, 2011

Beans baked very slowly for several hours develop a creamy texture, while the liquid they cook in, which thickens to a syrup, acquires a caramelized flavor. The kale practically melts in this casserole, going from bitter to sweet. I love using lima beans in this dish because they’re so big and their texture is so luxurious.

• 1 bunch kale, stemmed and washed in two changes of water
• 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1 carrot, chopped
• 1 rib celery, chopped
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 2/3 cups white beans (3/4 pound) or dried lima beans, picked over and soaked for at least four hours and drained
• 1 6-ounce can tomato paste, dissolved in 1 cup water
• 3 cups additional water
• A bouquet garni consisting of 4 parsley sprigs, 2 thyme sprigs and a bay leaf
• 1 teaspoon herbes de Provence
• Salt and a generous amount of freshly ground pepper
• 1/2 cup bread crumbs

1. Preheat the oven to 225 degrees. Meanwhile, bring a large pot of water to a boil, salt generously and add the kale. Blanch for two minutes, then transfer to a bowl of ice water. Drain, squeeze out water and cut into ribbons. Set aside. (I blanch the kale to extract some of the bitterness, but you can skip this step if you wish).

2. Heat 2 tablespoons of the olive oil over medium heat in a large ovenproof casserole. Add the onion, carrots and celery. Cook, stirring often, until the onion is tender, about five minutes. Add the garlic and cook, stirring, until fragrant, 30 seconds to a minute. Add the dissolved tomato paste, and bring to a simmer.

3. Add the drained beans, the remaining water, the bouquet garni, herbes de Provence and salt and pepper.. Stir in the kale, bring to a simmer, cover and place in the oven. Bake three hours until the beans are tender and creamy. Taste and adjust salt.

4. Mix together the remaining olive oil and the bread crumbs. Sprinkle the bread crumbs over the beans, and continue to bake another 30 minutes to an hour until the bread crumbs are lightly browned. Remove from the heat and serve; or allow to cool slightly and serve.

Note: Make sure that the beans come to a simmer on top of the stove before placing them in the oven. Do not use old beans, which will not soften no matter how long you simmer them. If the beans do not soften in the oven after a couple of hours, raise the heat to 300 degrees. If you live at a high altitude, raise the oven temperature and let the the beans bake for longer.

Yield: Serves six.

Advance preparation: You can make this recipe through Step 3 and store it in the refrigerator up to four days ahead of serving. Top with the bread crumbs, and reheat in a 350-degree oven for 15 minutes until the beans are bubbling and the bread crumbs lightly browned.

Nutritional information per serving (six servings): 370 calories; 8 grams fat (1 gram saturated fat); 0 milligrams cholesterol; 58 grams carbohydrates; 12 grams dietary fiber; 191 milligrams sodium (does not include salt to taste); 19 grams protein

Martha Rose Shulman is the author of "The Very Best of Recipes for Health."

We Want Your Ideas

If you have recipe suggestions or great ideas about anything at all, please send them to coop.cooking@gmail.com. Be sure to include your name so we can recognize your contribution. Photos are welcome but not necessary.

Kat's Musings .... We Can All Make Noodles!

Submitted by Kat Braun

This may sound silly, but in reading Angela’s recent post, it occurs to me how wonderful it is that we can make noodles -- or maybe, what’s wonderful is when we realize that we can -- and then further, to encourage others by letting them know that they, too, can make noodles—or whatever!  Noodles are a great analogy here for what I call “reclaiming the knowledge of our self-sufficient inter-connectedness”.

Nowadays the noodles we know are mass-produced, pre-packaged, bleached, stripped, then re-“enriched”. Like anything else, pre-packaged noodles are nothing compared to homemade!   I’ve made my own wine, cheese, bread, butter, chocolate, jerky and soap…and I have not ever tried noodles…But I will now!

Part of the motivation for this blog was information sharing, as we found ourselves being asked each week what we did with certain CSA veggies.  For example, last week’s mizuna from Uncle Dave at Blue Mountain Farm.  Mizuna, a Japanese leafy green, is zingy--a bit like arugula. We stir fry/steam over any dish…That’s if there is any left over from mixing into salad...Very yummy!

Mizuna is often used in a cultural Japanese type of dining termed “nabemono”.  Akin to American “Family-Style” dining where everyone around the table serves themselves from a common pot, nabemono is believed to deepen the relationships of those who participate together, nourishing themselves from a common source.

As SHARING was one of the principle motivations for this blog, AWARENESS is one of the principles we wish to promote.  By kindly monitoring our selves and slowly adopting progressively better habits, we (humans) focus on the Art of Living.  One of the luxuries of this kind of choice is that, although it’s not easy, time spent cultivating our “self” and our relationships, learning, sharing information, helping one another, growing tolerance and compassion--are all mutually supportive with any chosen personal and professional path.  

So, here’s our challenge, to you and ourselves:  Live artfully with whatever you touch and with the knowledge that you can.  Anyone can create beautiful, expressive artwork in every way--nutritious meals, a cozy home, a natural garden to help feed themselves and learn about nature through nature itself, nurturing relationships, teaching at work and at home, actively supporting positive community or group efforts…in EVERY facet of every life.

Try something you’ve always wanted to do…Do that something you’ve not yet done just because you haven’t done it yet!  We’ve each only got so much time on earth…Make a difference…Make noodles!!!

We Want Your Ideas

If you have recipe suggestions or great ideas, please send them to coop.cooking@gmail.com. Be sure to include your name so we can recognize your contribution. Photos are welcome but not necessary.

Flourless Chocolate Almond Torte

Submitted by Angela Matthews

Flourless Chocolate Almond Torte

The CSA bags have not arrived yet so there is no "fresh, seasonal, regional" recipe for today. However, Mark's birthday was Sunday night and we wanted to bake him a really special chocolate cake to celebrate. So here goes.


A wheat free gluten free birthday party presents a real challenge, especially when trying to find a recipe for a birthday cake. My torte is adapted from a Flourless Chocolate Cake recipe at Wheat-Free.org. This website is extremely useful but it is a European organization so the recipes are in metric measurements. Fortunately, Eat Cook Share has a simple online calculator to help convert grams into cups, teaspoons, etc.


Images will follow the recipe for this post. I want to keep them in order so you can see the actually progression of the torte. This dessert is truly a marvel or chemistry and physics! Watching the process is almost as scrumptious as the torte itself.

Flourless Chocolate Almond Torte (Serves 8 – 10)

Ingredients:

Dark chocolate cut into pieces

2 bars of 60% - 72% cocoa dark chocolate broken into pieces

¾ cup butter, margarine or low fat spread

5 medium eggs

¾ cup sugar, divided in half

3 tablespoons strong coffee, instant or brewed

¾ cup plus 2 tablespoons ground almonds

2 tablespoons dark cocoa powder, unsweetened

1 teaspoon baking powder

melting chocolate, cocoa powder or confectioner’s sugar for top of cake (optional)

Heat oven to 375°

Melt chocolate over low heat

Line a 9" circular spring form cake pan with non-stick baking paper.


Put the chocolate pieces and butter into a saucepan and melt over a gentle heat until completely melted and well combined.

Egg whites beginning to peak

Beat the egg whites until they are stiff, when you can tip the bowl on its side and the beaten egg whites don't move you know that you have beaten it enough. Then add half of the sugar and beat together.

Fold egg yolks into melted chocolate. 

The mixture will start out looking like

marshmallow & chocolate sauce.

Add the other half of the sugar to the egg yolks and beat together until the mix is creamy and thicker.


Add the egg yolk mix and the coffee to the melted chocolate. Gently stir the ingredients together.


Gently fold the beaten egg whites into the mixture, ensuring that the air beaten into the egg whites is not lost.


Mix the ground almonds, cocoa powder and baking powder together thoroughly, then slowly add this mix to the chocolate mix. Make sure that both mixes are well combined, but do not beat the ingredients together.

Torte batter will remain slightly lumpy.

Pour the mixture into the baking pan and bake for 45-50 minutes. To check that the cake is cooked properly insert a skewer into the center of the cake, if it comes out clean then the cake is cooked.


Leave the cake in the baking tin for 30 minutes to cool, then turn out to cool completely on a wire cooling rack.


Before serving, dust with either sieved cocoa powder or icing sugar or drizzle with melting bakers chocolate.


Helpful Tips

Ingredients pre-measured and pre-mixed
by recipe stages.

Read through the entire recipe and stage the ingredients before beginning to make this recipe. Wherever possible, mix dry ingredients before hand in a separate bowl for each step. This will allow you to pay attention to the airy egg mixtures.

Put the bowl you will use for the egg whites, along with the beaters, in the refrigerator for at least an hour before beginning your baking. This will give you a cold bowl to beat the egg whites in, helping the egg whites to peak.

The darker the chocolate or cocoa powder you use, the drier the torte will be. If you use chocolate with more than 72% cocoa then serve the torte with a vanilla cream sauce, ice cream or a pudding to help moisten the cake. We like a pistachio sauce or pistachio pudding with ours.

We Want Your Ideas

If you have recipe suggestions, please send them to coop.cooking@gmail.com. Be sure to include your name so we can recognize your contribution. Photos are welcome but not necessary.

Homemade Soup Stock

Contributed by Angela Matthews

Bag of "Ends & Bits"

If you have never made soup with a homemade stock then you are missing an entire realm of rich flavor and texture that only home cooking can provide. In fact, once you've tried it, I guarantee that you will find yourself skipping the canned broth aisle altogether.

Have I mentioned that I cook like a peasant? This does not mean I use cheap ingredients or boxed substitutes. This does mean that I use quality ingredients in a way that makes them stretch the furthest and still provide clean tasting, rich and soul-satisfying food. One of the ways I do this is to make my own soup stock every week. I do this by keep a “stock bag” in the refrigerator where I place “ends and bits” until stock day and I also keep a separate bag of soup bones from meat served throughout the week in the freezer.

For example:

·         Root vegetable peels (carrots, potatoes, turnips, beets, etc.)

·         Onion and garlic skins, tops and roots (the onion skins give vegetable and chicken stock that buttery yellow color that we all expect)

·         Wilted leaves from greens (wilted or rusty but not brown and slimy)

·         Stems cut from greens, tops from celery, etc.

·         Squash, cucumber, cabbage, apples, mushrooms, peppers … you’re getting the picture.

Preparing the vegetables above

creates an entire bowl of useable

"ends and bits".

Stock pot with "Ends & Bits"

Place all these ends and bits in a large stock pot along with an onion (cut in half) and a full garlic clove, cover with water and bring to a rapid boil. Sometimes I also add leftover stock from the week before. Lower heat to a simmer and leave alone. I mean this – do not stir. Every hour or two you can remove any bubbly residue from the sides of the pan if you like but do not stir! Check the pot once in a while. Remove from the heat after the liquid has been reduced by half. This may take six to eight hours.

See the color of the stock becoming a
rich golden color.

After the stock has cooled strain into another soup pot. Some people use a fine sieve for this but I prefer a food grade straining bag. Let the liquid drain then squeeze the juice from the vegetables. You can then discard the remaining vegetable bits. Do not compost them if you do not have a super hot composter. I throw them out for the critters. If your stock is vegetarian, then you can put the cooled mash 
out for the birds. They absolutely love it.

Food grade bag for straining.

I normally pour the stock into quart freezer containers then place them in my refrigerator overnight. This allows any grease to solidify on the top so it is easily scooped off. I use the stock throughout the week as a soup and gravy base and to flavor rice dishes. I freeze any stock I don’t think I will use. It comes in handy, especially when unexpected guests pop in.

We Want Your Ideas

If you have recipe suggestions, please send them to coop.cooking@gmail.com. Be sure to include your name so we can recognize your contribution. Photos are welcome but not necessary.

Welsh Pasties (Gluten Free)

Contributed by Angela Matthews

A Wintry Mix Can Be Expected

This week Dave brought us beautiful turnips, mizuna, spinach, green onions and carrots. A perfect mix for warm wintry baked dishes.

I make peasant food. Good, hearty, stick to your ribs peasant food, my favorite kind. So today I valiantly attempted gluten free Welsh pasties. No, not the strip tease kind! These are hand sized pies full of meat and vegetables. Appalachian men took them out into the coal mines and the fields wrapped in a towel to keep them warm until lunch. Sometimes they were made with meat on one side and fruit on the other, lunch and dessert in one container.

Welsh pasties, Spanish empanada, Polish pirogues, Italian calzones, Indian samosa – all hand pies that begin with a crusty dough and hearty filling that can keep the average worker filled until dinner time. Mine need to be wheat free and gluten free to meet the health needs of my household but I will give time and measurements for wheat flour pastry as well. Also, if you want to save time you can use pre-made pasty sheets from the refrigerator section of your grocery store.

Pastry Recipe

2½ cups of flour (all purpose wheat or gluten free mix)

1 teaspoon salt

2 sticks ice cold butter cut into tablespoon size chunks

8 – 10 tablespoons ice water

1 tablespoon vinegar (I prefer apple cider)

4 cups of meat and vegetable filling (see below)

For gluten free, stir a cold egg to the first 8 tablespoons of water immediately before using it.

Chilled bowl & butter chunks.

Mix the flour and salt together in a large, chilled mixing bowl. Quickly cut the butter into the flour. I used a pastry cutter but you can also process with a couple pulses of your food processor. You are finished cutting when the mix is chunky and the size of large peas. Place the bowl in your refrigerator for 20 minutes to half an hour.

Clumps after tossed with liquid.

Combine the first 8 tablespoons of ice water with the vinegar. (Add the egg for the gluten free flour mix.) Take the bowl of flour mix from the refrigerator, make a well in the mix, pour the water & vinegar mixture into the well and quickly mix with a fork. If the dough is too dry add the remaining water and toss again. The water should complete be absorbed, the dough clumpy not like cookie dough. Place bowl in the refrigerator for another 30 minutes.

Roll the dough into a ball on a floured surface and split the dough into four separate balls. Roll each ball of dough into a circle. (For gluten free I cut into eight squares.)

Rolled gluten free dough.

For wheat crust: Take one circle of dough. Place it on an ungreased baking sheet and fill one side of the round with meat and vegetable filling. Fold the remaining dough over to make the pie. Crimp the edges of the pie together and repeat until all pies are filled.

Squares of gluten free pasty dough.

For gluten free: The gluten free dough is not as elastic as the wheat dough, so you will not want to fold it. Instead, place a square of dough onto the baking sheet. Fill the center of the dough with filling. Place a second square of dough over the top and crimp the edges.

Place meat pies in the oven at 350° for 40 – 60 minutes. The crust will be golden brown and flaky when finished.

Serve with a dipping sauce if you like. My family usually preferred something like ketchup but others prefer a meat gravy or spicy sauce.

Vegetables for filling.

Meat and Vegetable Filling 

The filling is simple. Use cooked meat in your filling. Roasted beef or chicken, cold ham and sausage are good fillings. I had low fat turkey sausage in the refrigerator so that is what I used. Root vegetables are the perfect pasty texture so I used carrots, turnips and potatoes along with a little onion. It takes 1 cup to 1½ cup filling for each pie. (As you are cutting the vegetables, don’t forget to put vegetable roots, skins, wilted (but not spoiled) bits, etc. into your stock container. (See post on “Homemade Soup Stock”.)

Helpful Hints 

Finished Welsh Pasties
A little brown on the edges because I was trying
 to shovel snow and bake at the same time.

Start your pie crust and use the time you chill the crust to prepare the vegetable and meat mixture. You cannot chill the dough too much.

We Want Your Ideas

If you have recipe suggestions, please send them to coop.cooking@gmail.com. Be sure to include your name so we can recognize your contribution. Photos are welcome but not necessary.

GF Slippery Noodles

Contributed by Angela Matthews


Back home in Kentucky a pot pie was a full, flaky pie crust filled with meat and vegetables and thin, flat dumplings in a stew were called rolled dumplings. After moving to Berkeley Springs I ordered a chicken pot pie and received what I think of as a bowl of chicken and rolled dumplings. Now I know this is Pot Pie with Slippery Noodles.


Something about freezing temperatures and howling winds makes people want a good stew with dumplings. Everyone here agreed that chicken pot pie with slippery noodles would hit the spot. The gluten free dumplings turned out tender, chewy and delicious!

Chicken Pot Pie with Slippery Noodles

Gluten Free Slippery Noodles


You will need a pot of your favorite stew hot and ready to cook your noodles in. While the stew is heating make your noodles.


Ingredients:


2 c. gluten free flour mix
1 T baking power

1 t salt

2 T butter or margarine
1 c. milk
1 egg

Pat dough into a rectangle.

In a deep mixing bowl combine the flour mix, baking powder and salt. Cut butter into the flour mixture until it the mix looks like coarse corn meal. Make a bowl in the flour mix and set aside.




Mix egg into milk. Pour milk & egg mixture into the bowl in the flour mixture and fold the flour mixture into the milk. The dough should be stiff but not crumbly. If it is crumbly, add more milk to the mixture until it holds together well.

Dough cut into noodles.

Pat the dough into a ball and move it to a surface floured with gluten free flour. Press the dough to 12" long by 4" wide by 1" thick rectangle. Continue to press until the dough feels very firm under your hands.


With a sharp knife cut ⅛" wide noodles from the shortest (4") edge of the rectangle.

Finished noodles.

Drop noodles into your boiling stew one at a time. Aim the thin edge of the noodle into the stew so that the noodle slips a little under the surface. This will allow your  noodles to cook fully without  sticking together. Cover your pot and lower the heat. Simmer noodles for 10 minutes or so. They will be done when cooked through but still chewy. Remove from heat and serve.

Basic GF Flour Mix & Yeast-Free GF Pizza Crust

Individual size pizza made with gluten free flour mix.

If you or another household member has been diagnosed with one of the many diseases related to wheat or gluten allergies, you know how hard it is to find gluten free products and the products you find are expensive. Knowledge of gluten free cooking can help ease the strain on your budget and allow the entire household to make their diet more adventurous.

Here is the basic flour I am currently using for wheat-free gluten-free recipes:

Gluten Free Flour Mix

Ingredients:

• 1 lb. finely ground rice flour
• 1 lb. finely ground tapioca starch
• 1 lb. pounded yam flour

Put the flours together in a large container with a lid. I usually layer them 1/3 pound at a time and then mix with a heavy whisk. Then roll the container around for 5 - 10 minutes, turning it end over end as well as rolling side to side. This will help ensure that your flour is evenly mixed. I also roll it around a little every time I take it out of the pantry to use it.

Although these flours can be found in most health food stores, I prefer the ones I find in the Asian and African markets. The flours are a finer grind and the final result is more cake like and less grainy than many of the other gluten free flours.

Gluten Free & Yeast Free Pizza Crust (Makes 2 Large Crusts)

This easy recipe makes a pizza crust that everyone in the household enjoys. Gather the follow ingredients:

• 3 c wheat free flour mix, tightly packed (recipe above)
• 1½ T baking powder
• 1 t sea salt or kosher salt
• 2 T olive oil
• 2 eggs
• ⅔ c milk
• ⅔ c water (as needed)

Preheat your over to 425°. Lightly oil and flour your baking pan(s).

In a large bowl sift together flour mix, baking powder and salt. Set aside.

Dough is becoming smooth

Stir together olive oil, eggs and milk. Make a well in the flour mix and pour the milk mixture into the well. Using your hands, fold the flour mix into the milk mixture until all of the liquid is absorbed. The dough will be crumbly at this point. 

Add a small amount of water at a time to the dough, squeezing the dough until is is slightly soft and no longer crumbly. (You may or may not need all the water.) It will not be as elastic as a wheat flour dough but should be form-able at this stage. Separate the dough by squeezing it into two balls. Roll the balls in GF flour. I use the flour mix but rice flour or masa work well.

The dough is ready for the oven.

Place the dough onto your oiled and floured baking sheet. Flatten it from the center outward until it is the thickness you desire, leaving a thick enough outer edge to hold your toppings on.

Place baking pans in 425° oven and bake for 15 to 20 minutes. The crust will be smooth,  mildly crispy (try tapping) and slightly golden. Remove from oven and let cool while you organize your toppings.

Individual pizzas

Add your pizza toppings. Place your pizzas back in the oven. Your pizzas will be ready when both the crust and the cheese toppings are golden, usually between 10 and 15 minutes.

Pizza Night at Frog Valley

Once in a while we have a “make your own” pizza night. I used this recipe to make three separate crusts and pulled together various ingredients from the refrigerator and pantry. These included sun dried tomatoes from our garden, capers, homegrown & canned Hungarian pepper rings, caramelized onion, Neufchatel cheese balls (very much like goat cheese), parmesan cheese, mozzarella cheese, olive oil/garlic/dried herb sauce and stir fried chicken. The results were beautiful and everyone had exactly what they wanted on their pizza.