Guest Recipe: Late Summer Lasagna

Our second of two recipes from vegan cook extraordinaire: Natalie! This one is my favorite, it's so yummy. Zucchini, patty pan squash and potatoes stand in for the traditional lasagna sheet pasta, making this dish gluten free and loaded with fresh garden flavour. Vegan cashew cheeze holds it all together, but those of us who eat dairy can opt for the more standard ricotta or cottage cheese. I challenge you to try the cashew cheeze if you never have before, its lightly nutty taste works so well with the roasted veggies.

Ingredients:

Lasagna "Noodles":

- 2 large pattypan and/or zucchini squash, sliced into 1/2 inch thick sections

- 2 lbs potatoes, washed well and sliced lengthwise into 1/2 inch thick ovals

- olive oil for drizzling

- salt to taste

Tomato Sauce:

- 2 lbs/1 pint Roma or other fresh garden tomatoes

- 1 tsp oregano (fresh or dried)

- 4 cloves garlic, minced

- 1 tsp salt

- 1/2 tsp black pepper

- 2 tbsp olive oil

Cashew Cheeze (or 2-3 cups ricotta/cottage cheese in it's place):

- 1 cup raw cashews

- 1 block (454 g) Firm or Extra Firm tofu

- 1/2 cup fresh (or 1 tsp dried) basil

- olive oil

- juice of 1 lemon

Topping:

- 1 cup sliced cherry tomatoes, zucchini, or melty cheese, whatever you'd like!

Steps:

To prepare noodles:

1. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Coat squash and potato slices in olive oil, sprinkle with salt, and place on them on baking sheets.

2. Roast at 450 degrees for 15-20 minutes or until slightly browned. You may have to do this in batches depending on the size of your slices or if you only use one baking sheet.

Meanwhile, prepare the sauce:

1. Chop tomatoes and set in a colander (in a bowl or the sink) with about 2 tablespoons of salt for 15 minutes. This should reduce the juice...and don't worry, most of the salt will drain with the juices.

2. Once they are ready, coat a medium sized heavy bottomed saucepan with the oil and set to medium/high heat.

3. Add garlic and cook until just fragrant, then add oregano, salt, pepper, and the tomatoes. Simmer for 15 minutes or until desired consistency is reached. If desired, blend with an immersion blender to eliminate any remaining chunks or skin.

Lastly, ready the cashew cheeze:

1. Place the cashews, garlic, salt and oil in a food processor or blender and process into a paste. Add the tofu and lemon juice and blend until the mixture reaches a spreadable consistency. Adding water is sometimes necessary depending on the type of tofu used.

2. Once smooth, add the basil and pulse to chop and combine.

Now put it all together:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Oil a 9 x 11 pan.

2. Layer the lasagna. First a layer of squash to cover the pan. Make sure to cover the pan completely.

3. Next all of the potatoes.

4. Half of the cheeze/cheese.

5. Half of the sauce.

6. The remaining squash.

7. The remaining cheeze/cheese.

8. The remaining sauce.

9. Lastly add your topping of choice. We chose sliced tomatoes for this late summer feast!

10. Cover in foil and bake for 15 minutes with it on, then 15 with it off. Let cool for 10 minutes before serving.

Enjoy!

Denver is all business when it comes to this delicious lasagna.

Info

Comment

Guest Recipe: Roasted Salad

For the next two weeks I'm thrilled to feature guest recipes from my dear friend Natalie. She's an awesome vegan cook, a mom to two sweet little boys, and a Toronto ex-pat like myself. Our respective downtown apartments used to be just a couple blocks from one another, but these days I pack the kids in the car and we drive from the farm out to Peterborough to visit. Wish we had the time to do it more often.

Natalie with her two monkeys, Barrett and Denver.

Natalie's at her most creative in the wee hours, when the house is quiet, and that's when this dish came to her. Sure, salad is delicious, but what about a roasted salad? That is, a salad made up entirely of oven roasted veggies. Mmm. The potatoes, squash and beans give this dish some weight and texture, while the tomatoes add caramelized sweetness and the kale a crisp leafiness. I think all I need to say are two final words: roasted garlic.

Ingredients:

- 1 lb potatoes, cubed
- 1 medium sized patty pan squash, sliced
- 2 cups snap beans, trimmed
- 2 cups kale, coarsely chopped
- 2 cups tomatoes, chopped
- 2-3 cloves of garlic, minced
- olive oil
- balsamic vinegar
- salt and pepper to taste

Steps:

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Toss patty pan squash, potatoes and snap beans in olive oil in a roasting pan and salt lightly.

2. Bake, stirring occasionally, until veggies are tender and beginning to brown, about 45 minutes.

3. Add tomatoes, kale and garlic to roasting pan along with a bit more olive oil and salt.

4. Bake until kale is beginning to crisp, about 5 minutes.

5. Remove from pan to a salad bowl and allow to cool for 5-10 minutes. Take this time to pull kids away from their fun activity for boring old dinner. Might take longer than expected...

6. Serve with additional olive oil, balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper and enjoy with some good friends. Yum!

Info

1 Comment

Recipe: Colcannon

One of the many traditional Irish recipes for mashed potatoes, this one features scallions and either kale or cabbage. I like the way our Toscano kale tastes with Yukon Gem potatoes that are in the boxes this week. Made creamy and rich with the help of milk and butter, this can be a tasty side dish or a heavier main course with the addition of bacon.

Ingredients:

- 2 lbs potatoes, peeled and cubed

- 4 cups kale, chopped

- 1 cup scallions, finely chopped

- 1 cup milk

- 4 tbsp butter

- (optional) 5 strips of bacon

- salt to taste

Steps:

1. Boil peeled and cubed potatoes in lightly salted water until fork tender, about 15-20 minutes, and drain.

2. At the same time, simmer kale in lightly salted water until softened and reduced, about 15 minutes.

3. Add butter to potatoes and melt on low heat. Mash potatoes and mix thoroughly with melted butter.

4. Add scallions, milk and kale and simmer for 10 minutes on low-medium. Taste and add salt as needed.

5. If adding bacon, fry and cut into thin strips, mix into colcannon just prior to serving.

*** * ***

Harvest Day Dinner

With two hungry farmers to feed on this busy harvest Monday, I needed to make sure dinner was filling enough. For this meal I added bacon to the colcannon and served it with roasted patty pan squash and a huge salad. I also fried some mushrooms by special request of Sylvia, the only kid I've ever known who love mushrooms.

Dinner in order from front to back: colcannon with bacon, garden salad (featuring red peppers that will be in next week's box!), fried mushrooms in yogurt and roasted patty pan squash

Guest farmer Kevin stops by to help Eric out with harvest day. Thanks, Kevin!

Info

Comment

Recipe: Corn Summer Salad

The classic way to enjoy the abundance of corn this time of year is on the cob with butter and salt, and I'm definitely a fan of the classics. However, I love the way this recipe combines the other flavours of summer into one amazing, height-of-the-season salad. The goat cheese blends with the oil and vinegar and the water from the tomatoes to make a lightly creamy dressing.

If you have the time, you can sprinkle the chopped tomatoes with some salt and let them rest in a colander in the sink for 10-15 minutes before adding them into the salad. The excess water will be pulled out by the salt and drain away, preventing the dressing from becoming too liquidy.

Ingredients:

- 4 ears of corn
- 4-6 tomatoes, chopped and drained (if desired)
- large handful of basil
- 150 g of goat cheese, crumbled
- olive oil
- balsamic vinegar
- salt and pepper to taste

Steps:

1. Shell corn. I've tried a few different tools for this and so far my favorite is a corn zipper. Google it!

2 Bring a small pot of water to boil and dump corn into the pot. Let simmer for 1-2 minutes.

3. Drain corn in a colander and rinse under cold water until cool to touch.

4. Combine all ingredients into a large bowl. Drizzle oil and vinegar and add salt and pepper as desired. Mix thoroughly and serve.

Info

Comment

Recipe: Tomato Confit

Juicy, ripe tomatoes are slow cooked in olive oil on a bed of basil until they nearly fall apart. You can use the resulting chunky sauce over pasta or rice, mixed with other veggies or meat, or simply over toast. The smell that will waft through your house while this dish is in the oven is too delicious for words.

Ingredients:

- fresh basil, enough to cover the bottom of an oven safe dish
- 5-7 tomatoes, depending on size
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- salt to taste

Steps:

1. Preheat oven to 350F.

2. Place basil in an even layer on the bottom of an oven safe dish.

3. Peel tomatoes (this can be done raw or you can blanch first to make it a bit easier to peel). Cut in half.

4. Lay tomatoes on top of basil layer, core-side down.

5. Pour olive oil over as evenly as possible and sprinkle salt.

6. Bake for 90 minutes.

7. Mix basil and tomatoes together and serve. Enough for 4 as a side dish but can served over pasta, meat etc. as a main course for 2 (see above for suggestions).

Info

Comment

Recipe: Beans with Crispy Sage

Sage lightly fried until it’s crisp and fragrant is a great addition to any veggie dish. We’ve got an overload of beans these days but fortunately these two go very very well together.

Ingredients:

- beans, enough to cover a pan in a single layer (careful not to fry too many beans at once or they will end up soggy and unevenly cooked*)

- handful of fresh sage leaves, stems trimmed off

- 1.5 tsp olive oil

- salt to taste

Steps:

1. Heat dry pan on high while prepping veggies. Make sure beans are thoroughly dry.

2. When pan starts to smoke lightly, add beans.

3. Stir beans frequently for about 1-2 minutes. When brown spots appear on the beans, remove to a plate. Do not let the beans blacken.

4. Drop the heat to low and let the pan cool. In the meantime, heat another pan to low-medium and add 1/2 tsp oil.

5. Add sage to oiled pan and fry until crispy, about 3-5 minutes. Remove from heat and cover to keep warm.

6. Add 1 tsp oil to the other pan that's been cooled down to low heat. Put the beans back on and cook about 10-15 minutes.

7. Mix beans and sage together and serve.

* For larger amounts of beans: Prepare in batches. Transfer batches from the pan after the high heat stage to a shallow dish in the oven at 300F and cook in olive oil for about 15 minutes (or until sufficiently softened).

Info

Comment

Eva Mae Farm

* * *

*** * ***