carrot greens warning

some people were asking today whether the green leaves on the tops of the carrots are edible.

while there are some people who eat them, they are listed by wikipedia as being mildly toxic to humans

I'll ask some experts for a second opinion, but for now you might want to hold off on eating those carrot greens...

Sami's Stir Fry Baby Bok Choy

Ingredients:

* 1 1/2 pounds baby bok choy
* 2 tablespoons peanut oil
* 1 (1/4-inch) piece fresh ginger, minced (about 1 teaspoon)
* 2 scallions (white and green parts), thinly sliced
* 4 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
* 1 teaspoon coarse sea or kosher salt
* 1 teaspoon sugar
* 1/8 teaspoon ground white pepper

Prep:

Trim 1/4 inch from bottom of each head of bok choy. Slice bok choy crosswise into 1/2-inch-thick slices. Wash bok choy in several changes of cold water and dry in colander or salad spinner until dry to touch.

In wok or large sauté pan over moderately high heat, heat oil until hot but not smoking. Add ginger, scallions, and garlic and stir-fry until aromatic, about 15 seconds. Add bok choy, salt, sugar, and pepper and stir-fry 1 minute. Add 1 tablespoon water, cover, and cook until wilted, about 30 seconds. Uncover, stir-fry 5 seconds, then cover again, turn off flame, and let steam in residual heat until just tender, about 30 seconds more. Serve immediately.

Ideas from Jessica

Thanks to Jessica Jenkins, who also submitted the cole slaw recipe!

1. For corn: roast it over an open flame until it's pleasantly charred. Slather with butter and the seasonings of your choice.

2. For greens: steam them until they're good and wilted. Make a paste of olive oil, lemon juice, and lots of mashed garlic. Dress the greens with the lemony-garlic-oil. So good.

3. I have two approaches to cucumbers:

- My English Nana's style: Slice them thin and marinate in white wine vinegar and dill

- Central American style: Cut in chunks and sprinkle liberally with lime, salt and cayenne pepper.

Slaw that you actually want to eat

By Chefs Michael Romano & Kenny Callaghan. New York Times 2002.

Dressing
2 teaspoons sugar
1 teaspoon dry mustard
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
1/8 to 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper, or to taste
1 teaspoon celery seed
7 tablespoons champagne vinegar
1 cup sour cream
1 cup mayonnaise

Slaw
2 pounds green cabbage, thinly sliced
2 green bell peppers, quartered, seeded, and sliced
1 small sweet white onion, finely diced
1 large carrot, peeled and grated
1 Granny Smith apple, grated with skin on

Instructions

In a large mixing bowl, combine all the ingredients thoroughly.

The slaw can be served immediately, but it is much better, more melded and tender, if allowed to stand and tossed occasionally for 30 minutes to 1 hour.

For a very limp slaw, refrigerate several hours or overnight.

sesame purple cabbage

cross posted to two heads of lettuce
a great quick and easy dish that serves many people

1/3 cup raw sesame seeds
2-3 tbsp olive oil
1 head purple cabbage chopped
3 tbsp teriyaki or soy sauce
2 pinches brown or white sugar- only if using soy sauce
1 tbsp fresh or ground ginger- optional
1 pkg defrosted frozen spinach- optional

the key is toasting the sesame seeds properly. Have your cabbage washed and chopped and on hand.

In a chicken fryer or in a large pot place the oil and the sesame seeds. Turn the flame on medium to low. stir the sesame seedsconstantly till they SLIGHTLY turn beige. the difference between burnt sesame and toasted sesame is very slight- so better err on the side of underdone. Basically, as soon as you hear about 2 seeds pop IMMEDIATELY add the cabbage and stir. add the rest of the ingredients. stir till cabbage is soft but not mushy/limp.

enjoy hot, room temperature or cold.

tastes great on top of quinoa

whole wheat carrot bread/muffins

cross posted at two heads of lettuce

Carrots are great for eating plain, or chopping up into salads. But if you want a tasty, healthy breakfast try this recipe.

You can grate the carrots by hand or in a food processor, or buy grated carrots, but I like it best when you make a "carrot smoothie" in the blender as described below.

INGREDIENTS
1.5 cups whole wheat flour
1/2 cup wheat germ
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
4 eggs
1/3 cup vegetable oil
2/3 cup apple sauce
3/4 cup brown sugar ( i used white, it was great)
3 cups shredded carrots (about 3-4 carrots)
raisins- optional

DIRECTIONS.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F
put carrots, oil, eggs and applesauce into a blender. blend into a "carrot smoothie."
in a separate mixing bowl, mix all the dry ingredients.
add the "carrot smoothie" to the dry ingredients
pour into a greased baking pan or greased muffin tins.
Bake in preheated oven for 25 to 35 minutes.
OR pour into a greased baking pan and let cook for 30-40 minutes.
Let cool

Sarah's Persian Cucumber Salad

cross posted from two heads of lettuce

Here is an alternative recipe for cucumber salad:

drain 2 cups yogurt overnight (if you have time, I often skipped this step - it just makes the salad less watery)

peel, seed, and dice 1 cucumber (you can keep the seeds- but again its waterier)
salt lightly and let drain of excess juice in a colander (this step too can be skipped or shortened, but again will make the salad more watery)

Combine along with
juice of 1/2 a lemon
handful of golden raisins (dried cherries are awesome too, if you have them on hand)
dash of rose water (you might want to measure out a teaspoon til you get a feel for it - too much is strange!)
small handful of chopped walnuts
small bunch (a tablespoon or so) of chopped mint
salt and pepper (preferably white) to taste

another cucumber salad:
chop cucumbers (optional- drain them like above recipe)
yogurt (again- drained is optional)
1 small red onion, chopped
1/4 cup dried dill (1/3 cup fresh)
1/2 squeezed fresh lemon (using fresh is important)
cashews or walnut- optional
salt and pepper to taste

mix together for a great and refreshing quick salad!

Bok Choy

... also known as chinese cabbage.

You might see it in its adult variety:

or as baby bok choy:

adult bok choy should be cooked, but baby bok choy is tender and can be eaten raw or cooked.

for adult bok choy:
* wash well, though it is rarely as sandy as other greens
* It can be lightly sauteed, or sauteed until well done like other greens
* saute with soy sauce (extra good additions include onions, garlic, and/or mushrooms)
* sauteed bok choy is excellent with sesame peanut noodles or with tofu.

for baby bok choy:
*great in salads. tasty dressings include:
** peanut sauce dressing
** a touch of teriyaki sauce
** vinaigrettes, especially fruity vinaigrettes
* here is an excellent tahini bok choy salad recipe
*can be roasted (and then served with any of the above toppings)

other suggestions?

9/30 Delivery!

Here's this week's haul. Got the tail end of the beans!

1 Bok Choy
2 lg or 3 sm Corn
1/2 lb Beans
1/2 lb Carrot
1 Lettuce
3/4 lb Greens
1/2 Cabbage
1 lb. Cukes

Volunteer Schedule

Hey everyone, here's the volunteer schedule for the weeks ahead.

Wednesday, September 30

Farm to Fordham committee: Daniel Buckley

3:30-4:30 pm: Mike Agosta, Gabriel Arce-Yee, Rachel Vorspan

4:30-5:30 pm: Michal Shinnar, Edward Atkin

5:30-6:30 pm: Amanda Barner, Roxana Bernal

6:00-7:00 pm: Kristin Blomquist, Sarah Borsody

Wednesday, October 7

Farm to Fordham committee: Sirrah Harris

3:30-4:30 pm: Nick Behr, Laura Berger, Corey Calabrese

4:30-5:30 pm: Alicia Carroll, Katharine Chen

5:30-6:30 pm: Bridgette Dunlap, Xiomara Ferrera

6:00-7:00 pm: Naoki Fujita, Miranda Galindo

Wednesday, October 14

Farm to Fordham committee: Noushin Ketabi

3:30-4:30 pm: Emily Chepiga, Claire Dekar, Ken Giancola

4:30-5:30 pm: Abby Hernandez, Hillary Exter

5:30-6:30 pm: Megan Horn, Divya Jayachandran

6:00-7:00 pm: Jessica Jenkins, Anne Kim

Wednesday, October 21

Farm to Fordham committee: Franklin Matranga

3:30-4:30 pm: David Mandelanthony, Sharon Mack, Haley Plourde-Cole

4:30-5:30 pm: Marissa Marco, Elizabeth Marcon

5:30-6:30 pm:Nicholas Mullen, Melissa Metzger

6:00-7:00 pm: Lara Melniker, Adrienne Montes

Wednesday, October 28

Farm to Fordham committee: Mike Zimmerman

3:30-4:30 pm: Lelly Montgomery, Collen Noonan, Daniel Northrop

4:30-5:30 pm: Victor Noskov, Erik Nygaard

5:30-6:30 pm: Morgan Petriello, Viki Rasmussen

6:00-7:00 pm: Lisa Tech, Andrew Racle

Wednesday, November 4

Farm to Fordham committee: Alex Rizio

3:30-4:30 pm: Sami Ingram, Nicholas Rosado, Jane Rose

4:30-5:30 pm: Amanda Rich, Danielle Von Lehman

5:30-6:30 pm: Alana Roth, Inna Samayan

6:00-7:00 pm: Richard Saenz, Karen Wahl

Monday, November 9

Farm to Fordham committee: Eric Axelrad

3:30-4:30 pm: Sarmili Saha, Fernando Sanchez, Elisabeth Wickeri

4:30-5:30 pm: Gretchen Reeser, Aaron Scheinwald

5:30-6:30 pm: Alex Schlow, Becky Shank

6:00-7:00 pm: Sarah Smullin, Heather Spilkin

Monday, November 16

Farm to Fordham committee: David Urena

3:30-4:30 pm: Ryan Stott, Matthew Termine

4:30-5:30 pm: George Thomas, Andrew Trask

5:30-6:30 pm: Rebecca Kagan, Anastasia Andriasova

6:00-7:00 pm: Marie Vaz, Shu Zhou

Greens!

Some people don’t like greens- but that’s usually because they’ve had greens that are either (1) cooked into a mush or (2) undercooked, and therefore tough and bitter. Here is how to easily cook your big leafy greens so that they are well cooked, not mushy, and delicious

Ingredients:

· 1 bunch of Greens (can be collard, mustard, kale, turnip, beet, chard, etc. all are delicious)

· 1 large onion or 2 medium onions

· garlic cloves, chopped (2-8, depending on your taste)

· olive oil

· 2 tsp salt (kosher or coarse sea salt, preferably not table salt).

Directions

· utensils:

o use a pot or pan with as much surface area on the bottom as possible. Pan should be stainless steel or cast iron (NOT non-stick/Teflon- unless that’s all you have). Pan MUST have a lid. my favorite is the glass lid chicken fryer (image on the right):

· chop the onions

o chop into slivers or dice it into cubes (around ½ inch cubes work- doesn’t have to be super fine, but bigger pieces take a lot longer to cook)

· sautee the onions till translucent

o heat about 3 tbsp of olive oil in the pan. When the oil sizzles when you splash a drop of water into it, add the onions

· wash and chop greens while onions cook

o greens can be be very sandy- so they need to be washed well. Some methods include:

§ running each leaf under a stream of water

§ filling your sink with water and letting them soak so that the sand falls to the bottom

§ if you're using a textured green like Kale, then make sure all the sand is gone from the harder to wash textured parts of the leaves

o chop leaves in a checkerboard pattern- cut them vertically and then horizontally so you have manageable sized pieces. Chop stems into small pieces.

· add greens to the onions, add 1/3 c water, 2 tsp kosher salt. stir and place lid on

o greens are very tough, so allowing them to steam for a while softens them and reduces your cooking time.

o The salt sucks some of the moisture out of the greens and allows them to soften further

· when greens have shrunk significantly, open the lid and stir. Add another splash of olive oil (approx 2-3 tbsp) and stir more.

· At this point your goal is to cook the greens to that they are almost brown without burning them.

o if you kept steaming them, they would turn into unpleasant green mush. So now you want to sauté them to make them a bit crispy and full of texture.

o this requires frequent stirring so that all pieces get time on the bottom of the pan, and adding another splash of olive oil while cooking, and possibly some more salt to your taste

· When the greens start to brown, add the garlic and another splash of olive oil and stir.

· When finished, your greens should be:

o A very very dark shade of green

o Smell very fragrant (garlic, and onions and olive oil- yum!)

o Be very very well cooked. Its hard to overcook greens once you stop steaming them, so keep them on the stove top for as long as possible until they are to your liking!