Good Real Food

I love nettles!

Granted, today was my first experience with them outside of tea, but after today, I can see that nettles and I are going to have a long and lovely relationship.

We received some nettles in our CSA box, and C, knowing that I was intrigued at the idea of eating something that was going to do its darnedest to fend me off with its sting, grabbed a few extra bunches from the “trade” box at the pick-up site.

Given that this was my first time with nettles, I did some research and found that the only real consensus on nettles was that you had to cook them to remove the sting. Okay, fine, we can work with that.

I also learned that some people had tried doing a version of pesto using nettles. I figured you couldn’t go wrong mixing a green with loads of garlic, pine nuts, parmesan, and olive oil, so that’s what I did.

To do what I did, you’ll need the following:

• a bunch of nettles, well washed, leaves removed from stems (be careful, and do your research on how to handle the leaves
• a bunch of spinach, washed and de-stemmed
• garlic cloves, at least 3, though I think more is better
• toasted pine nuts, and maybe a few walnuts, almonds, or other nut of your choice
• parmesan
• olive oil
• salt and pepper

What to do:

1. wash your nettles and spinach
2. boil some water, and cook your nettles in the boiling water for about five minutes
3. drain, and dump nettles into a food processor
4. toast your pine nuts and walnuts either in your oven or on stove top
5. add toasted nuts to nettles, and pulse in the food processor
6. add garlic, spinach, and parmesan, along with some salt and pepper - proportions are really up to you here, if there’s a pesto recipe that you like, use it as a guide, I usually wing it
7. whiz that all up, then turn the processor on and add a steady stream of olive oil till it’s your desired consistency
8. toss with pasta and enjoy

One note: Last year, I came across a pesto recipe that suggests putting diced potatoes in with the pasta when you cook it, so when you toss with the pesto you’ve got pasta, potato, pesto happiness. I’ve taken to doing this, and highly recommend it. I generally use small red potatoes, and cut them to somewhere between 1/4 and 1/2 inch cubes - skin on. Basically, you want them small enough that they cook in same time as the pasta does.

So there you have it - stinging nettles and spinach pesto. Enjoy!

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I started out with the best intentions to make a traditional tabouli salad…but the great veggies in the fridge kept calling until I had created a new favorite salad.

What I used (veggies can vary)
-1 cup bulgur
-2 cups hot water
-juice of one lemon
-3 cloves garlic smashed with the back of a knife
-1/2 cucumber cubed
-4 radishes cubed
-7 cherry tomatoes, quartered
-1/2 red pepper chopped
-1 handful parsley chopped
-1/2 avocado chopped
-1/2 cup corn (fresh or thawed)
-1/2 tsp salt
-1 tbsp olive oil
Squeeze the lemon into a stainless steel bowl. Add smashed garlic and dry bulgur. Cover with the boiling hot water and let stand for 1/2 hour. In the meantime, chop all the veggies. Add them to the cooked bulgur, toss with salt and olive oil and serve luke warm or put in the fridge for an hour to cool before serving.

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Ah the lovely Radish. A sure sign of spring. But fodder for recipe inspiration? I recently served my colleague lunch at my house where a radish sandwich was the main course. She had never tasted one, and looked at me sideways, but in a polite way. I think I successfully converted her. (spread hearty bread with Neufchâtel or cream cheese and top with sliced radishes.)

Surely, these are the crown jewels of the veggie world!

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Apologies for the totally self-interested posting here. The final few weeks of pregnancy are upon us, hence my lack of posting. While I’ve been busy with work and baby prep, I’ve actually been cooking up a storm, and since our CSA has recently started up, I’m looking forward to a fun filled summer of sleepless nights and abundant fresh produce.

Given that combination, I thought I’d send an appeal to you, dear readers, and ask you for your favorite “almost no cooking” recipes - the ones that you go to time and time again when you’re too tired to cook or when your CSA share drops lovelies in your lap that you just can’t bear to sully with too much cooking. I’m hoping your suggestions can help me feed my family during the first few weeks of our new baby, so don’t hold back - any suggestion goes, and it’s likely that in the next few months, I’ll cook them all.

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It is FINALY salad season! If you have spoken to any Minnesotan in the last two months you already know what a total **&^%$##3@ bear of a winter we have had. Spring is at least three weeks behind, the birds are desperately waiting for the mosquitoes to arrive, and after this winter and two weeks of Irish food, I am craving green green green! So, I found this recipe online and it was just the thing to jump start my own green (eating) revolution.
For the dressing:

1/2 cup fresh or frozen sweet peas
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon honey
1 clove roasted garlic
2 sprigs fresh parsley
2 teaspoons sea salt
1/2 cup white wine vinegar
1/3 cup canola oil
1/4 cup water

For the salad:

1 cup dry pasta (baby shells or elbows)
2 ripe avocadoes chopped
4 oz. fresh spinach (or about 4 cups), chopped
2 oz. grated Vella Dry Jack Cheese (or a mild hard cheese)
2 ripe tomatoes, chopped
2 small carrots, julienne cut
Directions
Make the dressing:

Place all of the dressing ingredients except oil and water in a food processor and blend until well combined. (Alternatively, place the ingredients in a large, deep bowl and use an immersion blender.) While pulsing the processor, slowly add oil to emulsify. Thin with water as needed to salad dressing consistency.

Cook pasta according to package directions. While pasta cooks, place in a mixing bowl. When pasta is cooked, drain, run under cold water to chill, and drain again. Add cooked chilled pasta and all of the vinaigrette to the bowl and toss gently to combine. Serve immediately.

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I was in Northern Ireland this month and my host served me this terrific stew; so even though it is showing signs of spring around here, and I will post the salad recipe after this one, I must share this recipe with you. Besides being delightfully authentically Irish, it is also a great way to tenderize beef stew meat and give it a depth of flavor.

Ingredients
2 pounds lean stewing beef
3 tablespoons oil
2 tablespoons flour
Salt and freshly ground pepper and a pinch of cayenne
2 large onions, coarsely chopped
1 large potato peeled and cubed
1 large clove garlic, crushed (optional)
2 tablespoons tomato puree, dissolved in 4 tablespoons water
1-1/4 cups Guinness stout beer
2 cups carrots, cut into chunks
Sprig of thyme

Instructions
Trim the meat of any fat or gristle, cut into cubes of 2 inches (5cm) and toss them in a bowl with 1 tablespoon oil. Season the flour with salt, freshly ground pepper and a pinch or two of cayenne. Toss the meat in the mixture.

Heat the remaining oil in a wide frying pan over a high heat. Brown the meat on all sides. Add the onions, crushed garlic and tomato puree to the pan, cover and cook gently for about 5 minutes.

Transfer the contents of the pan to a casserole, and pour some of the Guinness into the frying pan. Bring to a boil and stir to dissolve the caramelized meat juices on the pan.

Pour onto the meat with the remaining Guinness; add the carrots, potatoes and the thyme. Stir, taste, and add a little more salt if necessary.

Cover with the lid of the casserole and simmer very gently until the meat is tender — 2 to 3 hours. The stew may be cooked on top of the stove or in a low oven at 300 degrees F. Taste and correct the seasoning. Scatter with lots of chopped parsley.

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