Ramp Pesto

I ventured down to the farmers market this morning in 40-something weather.  Not my idea of great weather to be wandering around an outdoor farmers market.  However, it was WELL worth the trip!  At the second to last stand I stopped at, I found ramps!  Oh Yeah!  If you've been following me all these years, you know that I adore ramps.  And today, they put and extra bunch in my bag as I checked out.  So, I decided to make pesto with the extra batch.  I make basil pesto and garlic scape pesto every year, but I have never made it with ramps before because I generally only have enough to make whatever dish I planned.  Well, now that I've made a batch, I will probably make it every year now.  Out of the three versions, this ramp pesto is my favorite! 

Ramp Pesto

• 1 bunch of ramps* (leaves and stems only - about 10)
• 1 cup baby spinach
• 1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
• 1/2 cup toasted walnuts
• 1-2 Tbsp lemon juice
• Extra virgin olive oil, as needed

Wash and dry ramps and baby spinach.  Cut ramp leaves and stems into 1-inch pieces.  Add ramps, spinach, parmesan and walnuts to food processor.  Plus until small pieces.  Switch to puree; add lemon juice and then slowly add olive oil until pesto is desired consistency.  Taste to adjust seasoning (you may add salt and pepper if you desire, or more lemon juice).  Store in the refrigerator for 3-5 days or freeze up to 30 days.  Best flavor if warmed.

*Farmers market ingredients

Braised Short Ribs

Yesterday a friend posted a recipe for soy-braised short ribs with mushrooms.  It sounded really good and I asked for the recipe.  Well, I have filed that recipe because it still looks really good to me, but today, I decided that I wanted to make a ragu with the ribs and got the idea that using marinara and red wine might produce a great ragu.  I am going to give my CSA, Middleton Farms, credit for the ribs even though I don't get a meat share, because I bought the ribs from them at the farmers market.  I used a Classico 4-cheese marinara, but next time, I probably will make my own as we will be getting tomatoes very soon in our Harvest Share.

Braised Short-Rib Ragu

• 2.5 lbs beef short ribs*
• salt & pepper
• 2 Tbsp olive oil
• 1 jar (or 4 cups) marinara sauce
• 8 cloves garlic*, crushed
• 2 cups red wine (I used Ruffino Il Leo Chianti)

Preheat oven to 350°.

Season the short ribs with salt and pepper.

Heat the olive oil in a Dutch oven over medium-high heat.

Brown the short ribs in batches (about 5 minutes per batch)

Add the garlic cloves, Donatella’s Marinara Sauce, and the red wine (enough so the meat is just covered).

Bring to a simmer on the stove-top then braise in the preheated oven until the meat is very tender, about 2 ½ – 3 hours.  Pull meat from bones and shred.

Serve over rice, pasta, spaghetti squash or zucchini "noodles".

*CSA ingredients

Nutrition (1/2 cup serving)
Calories, 221
Fat 13g
Carbs 8g
Protein 13g

Lamb and Herbs

Over the last month, I have rediscovered how much I love lamb!  Today they had some nice lamb chops at the store and I just felt that would be a nice protein to go with my roasted vegetables.  And given that I now have a small herb garden in my front yard, I decided to use some of the herbs to marinate the lamb.  Wow, how wonderful are fresh herbs? 

Pan-seared Balsamic Lamb with Fresh Herbs

•  2 Tbsp Balsamic Vinegar
• 2 Tbsp Olive Oil
• 4 sprigs Lemon Thyme
• 2 sprigs Hot & Spicy Oregano
• 1 sprig Marjoram
• Salt & pepper, to taste
• 4 lamb chops (about 1 pound)
• 1 Tbsp Olive Oil

Mix balsamic vinegar and olive oil in a zipped bag.  Roughly chop herbs and add them to the marinade.  Add the chops and salt & pepper, seal bag and shake to evenly coat the chops.  Marinate for 30 minutes to 1 hour in the refrigerator.  Bring chops to room temperature (about 20 minutes). 

Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat.  Sear chops for approximately 3 minutes on each side, to cook to medium-rare.  Allow chops to rest for 5 minutes before serving.

I Can't Believe It! Garlic Scapes!

I will admit that when this season started I thought I was going to miss out on all my favorite strange veggies.  Gotta hand it to the farmers at the Midland Farmers Market!  They have come through for me! This morning, I found garlic scapes!  It's been a couple years since I have had enough scapes to make pesto and I ran out of my stock about a year ago, so you can imagine that I am thrilled to have found these.  As with any recipe I make, what I put into it depends on what I have available.  Since I didn't buy anymore greens this week, I had to rely on what I have growing.  So, this pesto turned out a little less green than the batches I've made before.  What I had available was basil (which I have never included in my garlic scape pesto before) and burgundy Swiss chard. I have always used spinach in the past which kept the green theme going.  The burgundy chard did not change the color THAT much, but you can tell it's not the same.  I also didn't have pine nuts this time, so I decided to try almonds.  It definitely gives a different flavor to the mix.

Garlic Scape Pesto with Swiss Chard and Almonds

• 1 bunch garlic scapes**
• 5 leaves burgundy Swiss chard**
• 1/4 cup basil leaves**
• 1/3 cup grated parmesan cheese
• 1 Tbsp lemon juice
• 1/3 cup roasted almonds
• Olive Oil

Wash the scapes, chard and basil leaves to remove grit.  Cut scapes into 2" pieces and add to the blender.  Break chard and basil leaves into bite-sized pieces and add to blender.  Add parmesan and lemon juice.  Place top on blender and process, on Puree, slowly adding olive oil until the mixture reaches the desired consistency.  Add the almonds and puree, adding more olive oil as needed, until smooth.  You may store in the refrigerator for up to a month or freeze.  I find it works very well to pour into ice cube trays to freeze as that size is about what you need for recipes.

**Farmers market ingredients

Hummus

I had a can of pumpkin I needed to use up after substituting pumpkin for oil in brownies yesterday. As I was searching for things to use it in, I ran across a recipe for pumpkin hummus. My friend, Saada Eid, is from Jordan and always made the best hummus and Baba Ganoush, but when we asked for recipes, she always told us that it depended on taste. After making hummus today, I now understand. This recipe is only the basis for the hummus, you will want to adjust the garlic and lemon juice to your taste. Oh yeah, I always thought it was hard to mix natural peanut butter or almond butter when first opened. Well, tahini is even harder! But so worth the effort!

 Pumpkin Hummus
 Adapted from: http://veganyackattack.com/2011/11/14/pumpkin-hummus/

• 1 can Chickpeas, drained and rinsed
• 1 can Pumpkin Puree
• 2 Tbsp. Tahini
• 2 Tbsp. Olive Oil
• 3-4 Cloves of Garlic
• 1/2 Tbsp. Lemon Juice
• 1/2 tsp. Paprika
• Optional: Water or more lemon juice to get a smoother, more fluid consistency

 Place all ingredients into a food processor and puree until smooth, or until the consistency is to your liking. If you choose to add water, add very little at a time so that it is not too liquidy. Note: Adjust flavors with lemon juice and garlic.

Ramps Pesto

I got the most beautiful bunches of ramps this week. If you haven't tried these beautiful wild leeks, you need to go find them at a farmer's market. They have a flavor that combines onion and garlic flavors. I discovered these 3 years ago in my first year of the CSA and now they are my most-anticipated item. This year, I decided to do double duty with my ramps. I am making pesto from the leaves and I will pickle the bulbs. Look at how beautiful these are!

Ramps Pesto

•  2 bunches ramps leaves*
•  1/2 cup romano cheese
•  1/4 cup pine nuts
•  olive oil
•  1 Tbsp lemon juice

 Wash ramps and cut into 1-1/2 inch pieces. Place ramps, cheese and nuts into blender with 1/4 cup olive oil. Puree, drizzling more olive oil as needed, until pesto is right consistency. Add lemon juice to taste. Pour pesto into an ice-cube tray to freeze if not using right away.

*CSA ingredients

 To come: Chicken in the crockpot

Garlic Scapes!!!

One of the biggest perks of getting CSA shares is the variety of vegetables that you could receive.  This week we got garlic scapes, yet another first for me.  Garlic scapes are the green shoots that grown out of garlic cloves.  They are curly and may have flowers on them.  And there is a variety of things that you can make with them.  They can be sauteed and used in place of garlic and/or onions.  But what intrigued me most was the idea of making pesto with them.  This is where another first comes in.  I have never made pesto before.  Being a bit Italian, I love a good fresh pesto and this sounded like a great idea.  Besides, I picked up some pignolia when I was at the market earlier this week, so there's another reason to give it a try!

The batch of scapes we received was less than what was called for in any recipe that I looked at (I like to look at many recipes and then create my own).  I also got a nice bunch of fresh spinach in my package, so I decided to supplement the scapes with spinach.  Here's what I came up with:

Garlic Scape & Spinach Pesto

• 1 bunch of garlic scapes (about 1/4 lb)*
• 4 large leaves spinach (or 1 cup baby spinach)*
• 3/4 C grated parmesan
• 1/2 C fresh lemon juice
• Olive oil
• 1/3 C pine nuts

Wash scapes and spinach; dry.  Cut garlic scapes into 4" pieces (including flowers); place in blender.  Break spinach leaves up into bite-sized pieces; place in blender.  Add parmesan cheese and lemon juice and begin blending.  Slowly add olive oil while blending until all vegetables have been pureed.  Add pine nuts and continue blending and adding olive oil until pine nuts are pureed and the pesto is a good consistancy.  Serving size 1-2 Tbsp.  May be used as spread on sandwiches, on pasta, or as a dip.

* CSA ingredients


This pesto has quite a bite to it, so it will probably be best used as a condiment, but not a bad first try at all!  Maybe I can find a way to use it with the chicken that is thawing in my refrigerator right now!