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Ack! I have so much left from my first week of Urban Organic. I thought the selection was a little weird. I have huge bags of lettuce, spinach and rainbow chard from them -- I could've eaten salad every night this week between the lettuce and spinach, but who wants salad for dinner in this weather? Plus there were no cucumbers, celery or tomatoes (not that I couldn't use the other vegetables on the salad). So besides the greens, I'm left with a few beets, a bunch of carrots, a couple of potatoes and onions and a whole head of broccoli. Anyone have any ideas for how I can use them up? I don't even have a clue how to use rainbow chard. And Monday's box will be full of very similar items...

abby,

Feel free to use our search function - we're gathering more and more recipes as the months pass.

http://thekitchen.apartmenttherapy.com/food/092605/vegetable/recipe-sauteed-chard-and-bell-peppers-004103

If you're a meat eater, a little sautéed pancetta always compliments chard nicely. If not, the above recipe is delicious sans meat.

As for the rest, I might make a soup off the potatoes, carrots and broccoli, then roast the beets. The beats could be substituted into the chard for the bell peppers.

Thanks Sara Kate! I've actually been trolling the internet for recipes since I posted, and I think I'm going to make chard gnocci to use up the chard and the potatoes. Soup sounds like a good idea, though, too. And as for the beets, I actually prefer them raw, although I don't know anyone else who likes them that way. Maybe I'll throw them in a salad.

I like sauteed spinach, which is a great way to use up a huge amount. I often saute a whole bag down into one or two portions. I heat a little chopped garlic in some olive oil, throw in the spinach by handfuls and cook until it gets soft, then splash in a bit of soy sauce. Salty, garlicky and warm!

that gnocchi sounds really durn good!
have you made it before, b/c its a very tricky thing to do, especially when using pureed vegetables that may contain more or less water than anticipated in the recipe
my one big hint w the gnocchi is to work it as little as possible, add as little water as possible and most importantly, reaaaaaally let the dough hydrate before working some more!
make sure to let us know how it turns out!

malfatti! fabulous
that's chard gnocchi, googleable although I forget the search terms that get the recipe from Anna Klinger at aldila that was in the Times awhile back . . .

I tried it with spinach once (a problem)
chard has different water content than chard, as ann knows and I discovered.

brilliant stuff in browned sage butter.


if this makes you crave it, and you are lazy like me
go to restaurant al di la in park slope brooklyn and eat it there...

guido -- it's like you read my mind. i actually made some sage garlic brown butter sauce to go with the gnocchi.

the gnocchi itself, though, wasn't my best work. the recipe said not to overknead it, so i don't think that was the problem. i kind of edited the recipe to make it a little healthier. i used whole wheat flour (i probably should've done half ww, half white), i used fat-free ricotta, and i couldn't find ricotta salata at my little grocery store and it was too cold for me to venture further, so i used extra parmesan. the overall result was pretty ugly, b/c of the whole wheat flour. it didn't taste awful, but my husband was pretty put off by the way they looked. the sage garlic butter was probably the best part. little crunchy bits of fried sage and garlic. yum!

btw, guido, i've heard al di la is great. i think we tried to go there once but the wait was too long so we went to franny's instead (mmmm...).

also, for anyone who wants the chard gnocchi recipe, click on my name. (i didn't do the end of the recipe, where it's served in broth)

yeah, sage butter on cardboard would make me happy
(of course, the pastas are better ; ) I usually go with storebought fresh ravioli)

click my name for the malfatti version - much less flour, no potatoes. Not exactly gnocchi. They are more of a vegetal puff . . .
the recipe works great if you follow it exactly, which is not something I usually do. So far all substitutions have had ghastly (although edible...o sage butter) results.


faith, I make spinach just like that - soy sauce is a great secret ingredient.
I just used my big bag of spinach in mexican chicken soup (partner is sick) - you definately eat it alot faster when it's wilted.
Abby, if you still have a mountain of spinach - and still have the cooking buzz going - how about spinach pie? I make it in a big lasagne pan, and keep it for lunch.
Filo dough from the freezer section, a bit of feta and ricotta, chopped onion, chopped parsley, and spinach wilted in garlic and oil, and an egg. Layer the filo with light brushes of butter. Great stuff, great party food too.

I tried Nigella's mushroom ragout last night. I didn't have the dried porchinis, so I guess that made a big difference. I liked the technique of making a gravy with the mushrooms, but found it too sweet. Anyone else?

Has anyone read the Times' article on the Noodle Cartel in China.... It is great and insired a noodle filled night.

I made Linguine with portobello mushrooms, onion, garlic, chicken apple gouda sausage, asparagus, and swiss chard with a light wine and cream sauce.

Very yummy.

http://thekitchen.apartmenttherapy.com/food/092605/vegetable/recipe-sauteed-chard-and-bell-peppers-004103

NYTIMES article

noodle cartel

I have a great recipe for chard:

1. Saute diced onion and garlic in olive oil untill it turns golden. Add some red pepper flakes and rosemary, salt and pepper. Then add a little bit of white wine. Reduce untill it becomes a little jammy.

2. Meanwhile, cook the cleaned and cut up chard in boiling water for about 5-8 min just to soften it up. Drain and chop.

3. Add the chard to the onion mix and also add a can of cannolini beans.

4. Finally, add crumbled bacon and shaved parmesean to the top.

This is a favorite of all my friends. I also sometime substitute Black eyed peas for the cannalini beans.

Sometimes I like to use the ribs from the chard and roast them like I would asparagus with Oilive oil and parmesean.

For the spinach, I love to add spinach to any pasta sauce that I make.

Also here is a good recipe for spinach:

1. rinse the spinach

2. saute onions in olive oil, after golden add the spinach, saute just untill the spinach is limp

3. take off heat and add taosted pine nuts and raisins that have been soaking in warm water.

Friday I made Bittman's recipe in the NYT for "Chicken with green olives." It was fantastic. I never tried any North African-type cooking before, but the recipe was really easy. I love cinnamon in chicken dishes. It smells soooo good!

I love that recipe, chrisB! it always pleases guests, too.

i live in a very italian american neighborhood, and today went on an italian housewife grocery journey (despite my half-jewish single girl status). fresh pasta, home-made fennel sausage (and red wine!), and broccoli rabe--all of which the shop-owners instructed me how to cook their way (in great detail). now: a tomato sauce simmering, rabe sizzling in garlic and red-pepper, red wine decanting. huzzah.

My favorite recipe (easy!) for chard or spinach from my old favorite restaurant in DC - Jaleo (a spanish tapas place:

Ingredients:
Chard or spinach
pine nuts
raisins
garlic (1 clove)
olive oil

Cover 1/4 cup of raisins with boiling water and soak for about 5 minutes (or whenever you get around to draining).

Grab a handful of pine nuts and put them in the toaster oven until lightly golden. Watch out - they burn pretty quickly after a certain point.

Saute the chard or spinach in olive oil, adding garlic halfway through (it's the only way it doesn't burn on me). 3 minutes or so.

Then add the pine nuts and raisins to the pan and let it cook for another minute. Sometimes I add a splash of white wine. Salt to taste. Serve!

I eat this all summer long.

i'm feeling poorly tonight, so the boy has just run to the chinese market to fetch some produce and then over to the key foods to get a roasted chicken, and then we're going to cobble together my "sick day soup"
full of ginger, garlic, chicken, greens and other soothing things, i'm hoping it will kill the malaise so that tomorow, i can do some serious, seeeeerious cooking! not sure what to tackle yet, but i have a sneaking suspicion it might involve pork!

I made:
a salad of sliced kumquat, arugula, parsley, bits of medjool date and parmesan with a lemon dressing (amanda hesser did the recipe last weekend in the NYT Mag.)

wholewheat buttermilk biscuits in our little lodge pan

french lentils with pancetta

Brokeback RANCH!

A night isn't right untill you have both cowboys and ranch. So i indulged in my two favorite temptations in honor of oscar weekend and Brokeback Mountain:

Middle-eastern tacos with american tahni (ranch)= falafel stuffed in pita with cucumber, lettuce, tomato, and ranch.

Luke,
Thanks for the swiss chard recipes. I'm always looking for ways to get more greens in my cooking.

I'm rooting for Brokeback, too. BTW very nice food blog!

that NYT noodle article was the first thing I read in the paper yesterday - the photo was irresistible

thanks for the pine nuts and raisin recipe for greens
I make tons of the stuff with garlic/oil/soy/chili, and occasionally a millimeter of bacon
so a new variation is nice

ann, pork . . .
the Zuni porchetta is absolutely fabulous
although it requires a couple days of sitting in the fridge absorbing spice rub . . .

thanks guido! i don't have the zuni cookbook, so i winged it (is that a word?) i took a little inspiration from julie powell's article on Nigel Slater in the times yesterday and did a rosemary, garlic and verjus braised loin (i'm in the process of writing it up, with pictures! but it'll have to wait til i get out of work...)
i served it with the potato/pea mash from this month's gourmet which was A.M.A.Z.I.N.G. but the recipe was WAY off on the times/amounts, etc
i adapted the recipe to include only goat dairy products which was, imho, an inspired move
they mash was just PHENOMENAL (if a little bizzarly colored!)

goat anything, YUM
I don't like peas so much , but both my girlfriend and best friend do so . . .

click on my name to a link to Zuni porchetta recipe
for next time . . .