Creamy Corn and Coconut Curry with Tasty Thai Basil

Every time I see our home herb garden or the one at Charlestown Farm, I am astounded by the variety of plants.  Some herbs I know well, like mint and rosemary, but others are less familiar and present exciting possibilities.  One specific herb is Thai basil, which my mother loves.  This delicate plant, with purple flowers and thin, smooth leaves, barely resembles its more common relative, Genovese basil, and has a distinctive flavor that cannot be duplicated.  Thai basil is crucial to this coconut curry and a great herb that calls for discovery.

Creamy Corn and Coconut Curry with Tasty Thai Basil (Serves 2)

Ingredients:

• 2 ears corn (I used older ears of our sweet Mirai corn)
• 1 medium onion
• 1 sweet pepper
• 1 good-sized handful green beans
• 1 bunch Thai basil (I used a small bunch – about 8 leaves)
• canola oil
• 1 can lite coconut milk

Directions:

1. Husk the corn, remove the silk, and cut or scrape off the kernels.
2. Peel the onion, cut in have, and slice lengthwise.
3. Slice the sweet pepper in half, remove the seeds, slice lengthwise and then once along the width.
4. Snap the green beans.
5. Set a large sauté pan over medium to high heat and add some lugs of canola oil. – enough to barely cover the bottom of the pan.
6. If you like heat, add a sprinkle of crushed red pepper flakes as the oil heats.
7. Add the onion and sauté a few minutes or until it begins to soften.
8. Add the beans and pepper and continue to sauté another 3 minutes, until all the vegetables are softening but not mushy.
9. Pour in the corn and stir in with other vegetables.
10. After a few minutes, pour in the lite coconut milk. (I used about 1/3 of a 13.6 oz can. However, I was eating the curry alone and thus wanted it to be thicker.  If you want to eat the curry with rice, you should add more milk, if not the entire can.)
11. As the curry begins to bubble over high heat, strip the Thai basil leaves from the stems and throw in.  If you do not want to use whole leaves, feel free to coarsely chop them.  However, wait to chop the leaves until the last possible moment because you will lose their full flavor if you leave them chopped for too long.
12. Continue to cook until the curry reaches the consistency you prefer, and serve.  Enjoy!

A few notes:  This dish will need salt, and you could certainly add some garnishes.  I added some peanuts and sriracha to mine.

Cool Cucumber Soup with a Hint of Sweet Summer

Today, Michelle, our farm manager at Charlestown Farm, told my mom that we have a bumper crop of cucumbers.  Realizing that we would be eating these juicy vegetables for a while, I decided to find a new way to prepare them.  After hearing my sister rave about a cucumber gazpacho she had had this spring, I resolved to make a cool cucumber soup that would take some of the heat off these blistering summer days.  Here is my simple cucumber soup that is a bit sweet and quite refreshing.

This recipe serves 2 at the most, but it’s works perfectly if you double it.  Just make sure it all fits in your blender!

Ingredients:

• 1 cucumber
• 1 small clove of garlic
• 1 bunch mint
• 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
• 1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar
• 1 teaspoon honey
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• ¼ cup plain yogurt
• Salt and fresh ground pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Peel the cucumber, slice it in half lengthwise, and use a spoon to remove the seeds.
2. Cut both slices in half and place in blender.
3. Grate garlic into blender.
4. Strip the mint leaves, chop coarsely, and add to blender.
5. Add olive oil, vinegar, honey, salt, and yogurt and blend.
6. Add salt and pepper to taste.
7. Enjoy!

Feel free to add more or less of the ingredients, plus some altogether new ones.  I added red pepper flakes to one test and red wine vinegar to another.  You could also add Tabasco sauce for some heat or maple syrup instead of honey.  Just keep tasting it to make sure you like it!

My Mother’s Famous Napa Cabbage Slaw

This simple recipe has quickly become a family favorite.  Everyone loves the crunch of the napa cabbage mixed with the heat of the sriracha and the zing of the lime.  It is a great Asian-style dish that we always enjoy.  We never have leftover slaw, or it quickly disappears if we do.

Ingredients:

• 1 head Napa cabbage
• 2 tablespoons fish sauce
• 1/2 – 1 tablespoon sugar
• 2 limes
• sriracha
• salt to taste
• 1 bunch mint
• 1 bunch cilantro (unless you are on the hate side of the love-hate relationship with cilantro)

Directions:

1. Chop the head of cabbage and place in a large serving bowl
2. Stir together fish sauce and sugar.
3. Grate the zest of half a lime directly into the dressing (grating the zest straight in ensures that you get the most flavor – when you grate into a measuring spoon, you lose some of the essential oils that give the full lime flavor)
4. Juice both limes and stir into dressing
5. If you have sriracha, feel free to add some to give the slaw some heat.   Otherwise, feel free to add some crushed red pepper flakes.  If you’re wondering, “What the heck is sriracha?,” it is a delicious Asian hot chili sauce that has become a staple in our house.  Here is a link to the Amazon site for it.
6. After stirring the dressing, taste it.  You may want to add some salt and more fish sauce or lime juice.
7. Strip and chop the mint leaves and mix into the cabbage.
8. Do the same with the cilantro, unless you don’t like it.  My sister hates cilantro, but still enjoys the slaw with just the mint.
9. Finally, give the dressing another stir, pour over the slaw, and mix it all together.
10. Enjoy!

Zucchini Ribbons with Lemon Dressing

This past weekend my sister visited from New York City and made us a dish that was pleasant and light in the summer heat.  Rather than feeding us pasta, which would have weighed us down in the field, she created faux pasta with zucchini.  While she added toasted hazelnuts to hers, I threw some walnuts in mine today.  Either nut is fine; both add a satisfying crunch and depth of flavor.

Serves 2

Ingredients:

•  Juice of ½ a lemon
• extra virgin olive oil
• 1 clove garlic
• 2 tbsp. finely grated parmesan cheese
• 2 tbsp. walnuts or hazelnuts
• 1 medium or 2 small zucchini

Directions:

• If you are using hazelnuts, place them in a sauté pan over medium heat and allow to toast for 5 minutes, shaking occasionally
• Juice the lemon into a mason jar
• Grate clove of garlic into jar and add 1 tbsp. olive oil and a pinch of salt
• Place a lid on the jar and shake until oil and juice have mixed
• Taste dressing and continue adding olive oil until you find a balance you like – this way your dressing can be as sour as you like (you might also like to add freshly ground black pepper)
• Cut the zucchini in half lengthwise
• Begin peeling ½, but when the green skin is gone, don’t stop
• Continue peeling ribbons until you reach the seeded part
• Cut the seeded inside into small chunks
• Add ribbons and chunks to large bowl and repeat process with other ½ zucchini
• Mix walnuts and parmesan into ribbons – saving some parmesan to sprinkle on top
• Give the dressing another shake, pour over the ribbons, mix in and serve
• Feel free to add salt, fresh ground pepper, or more parmesan
• Enjoy!

Kohlrabi Risotto!

Of the vegetables we grow, kohlrabi is one of the most puzzling.  Its bulbous end is too tough to readily eat, while its greens are too chewy to throw in a salad.  However, by simply searching the New York Times online, I quickly found a recipe for kohlrabi risotto.  Although I generally consider risotto to be a hearty winter’s meal, this cool June weather convinced me the warm rice dish would be wonderful.  I will admit that I was nervous about how the kohlrabi would work with the rice, but there was no need to worry.  The risotto tasted great and had my brother going back for seconds.

Here is the New York Times recipe: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/05/health/nutrition/kohlrabi-risotto.html?_r=2  I followed it pretty closely but used short grained brown rice, instead of the Arborio rice, and a little extra white wine for flavor.  Although the brown rice requires a bit more time, I think it has a better flavor and is more filling.

Ingredients:

1 medium to large onion

1 to 2 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil

2 cloves garlic

4 small to medium kohlrabis (keep the greens if still attached)

1 ½ cups short grain brown rice

½ cup dry white wine (keep a little extra for later in the recipe)

4 cups chicken or vegetable stock

¼ to ½ cup finely grated Parmesan cheese

small bunch fresh parsley coarsely chopped

Directions:

Begin by pulling the greens off the kohlrabis and set the greens aside.  Peel the fibrous skin off the kohlrabi (I found that a regular apple peeler worked well. Also, I checked each one by biting into it. You will know if you haven’t taken off all the skin).  Cut the kohlrabi into small chunks (The NYtimes recipe says around a ½ inch).  Mince the onion and garlic cloves, but keep them separate

Pour the stock into a medium sauté pan on low heat.  Put the tbsp. extra virgin olive oil in a heavy bottom small stock pot on medium heat.  Throw in the onion and sauté until tender but not golden – a few minutes.  Throw in the garlic and kohlrabi chunks – Keep these going on the heat until the kohlrabi is beginning to soften

Add the rice and stir for a few minutes.  Pour in the wine (there will be a some steam, so watch out!) and stir until it has evaporated.  Add a medium ladleful of the simmering stock and stir.  (*Note: The higher you keep the heat, the more quickly the stock evaporates, but that does not mean the rice is cooking faster.  Keep the rice on medium to high heat.)  As the stock evaporates, continue adding more ladles, and stir to prevent the rice from sticking to the bottom.  Because you are using brown rice, this recipe will take longer than usual (around 45 minutes to cook), but it is worth the wait!

If you saved the kohlrabi greens, now is a great time to work with them.  First, de-stem each leaf.  The easiest way is to fold each leaf in half and cut along the stem.  Next, partly fill a stock pot with water and bring to a boil.  As it heats, remember to check the rice. Fill bowl with cold water.  Once the water boils, pour in the whole leaves and cook for around one minute.  Using tongs, pull them out and place in the cold water.  Then drain the leaves and coarsely chop when cool enough.  Set aside again.

Keep checking on the rice.  By the time you have used up the stock, the rice should be starting to soften up.  Stir in the greens and continue cooking for around 10 minutes.  Add a splash or two of wine, stir for another 2 minutes, and remove from heat.

Stir in the grated cheese and parsley.  Add freshly ground pepper and serve.  You will probably want to add some more salt, and don’t be afraid to add some more pepper!  Enjoy!

Crispy Kale and Shiitakes

Realizing that we would be receiving an influx of vegetables from our farm, I decided to use up some of the straggling goodies in our fridge.  Sadly, the kale I found had begun to wilt and the shiitake mushrooms were drying out.  However, these simple ingredients (along with two scallions) made a tasty and slightly crunchy/crispy portion of my lunch.

Crispy Kale with Shiitakes and Scallions

Ingredients:

1 tbsp. grape seed or canola oil (or some other neutrally flavored oil)

1 bunch kale

4-6 shiitake mushrooms

2 scallions

½ tbsp. soy sauce

½ tbsp. rice wine vinegar

light drizzle of toasted sesame seed oil

Directions:

• Coarsely chop the kale greens – don’t worry about if you get a bit of stem in there (it’ll just have more crunch)
• Slice the shiitakes and scallions
• Set a heavy bottomed sauté pan on high heat on the stove and pour in ½ tbsp. oil
• After a few seconds, pour in the shiitakes into hot oil and sauté until they begin to brown – a few minutes
• Push the shiitakes to one half of the pan and pour in the second ½ tbsp. oil
• Put in the kale and let it sit for a second or two so that it begins to crisp
• Then start to flip the kale and mix in the shiitakes
• After a minute or so, pour the kale and shiitakes on your plate
• Sprinkle on the scallions
• Mix the soy sauce and rice wine vinegar and pour over the kale
• Drizzle on the toasted sesame seed oil and enjoy