Salt Potatoes

Made famous back in the 1800’s, Salt potatoes are known as a regional specialty of Syracuse, New York, a.k.a. The Salt City. So simple and so tasty – only requires water, salt, potatoes, butter and herbs. The end result is a salty crust and a buttery finger licking “sauce” enhanced with a sprinkle of chopped fresh herbs.

One crucial note is to ONLY use small bite sized baby potatoes. This recipe won’t work with potatoes that are cut. There are those who say once you add herbs they are no longer salt potatoes and that you should only use golden potatoes. So if you want to remain true to tradition leave out the herbs and keep it golden! I use kosher salt because that’s what I mostly cook with. I also use a bit more salt than most other folks do, feel free to adjust to your personal tastes. As with most of my cooking I use whatever I have on the farm so this recipe was done with a rainbow mix of potatoes – magic mollies, keuka gold, red skin, russet, fingerlings, you get the idea!

Once the potatoes are cooked and strained that’s when the magic begins! The skin will shrink and shrivel and become delicate as the salt dries and the surface becomes crusty. While the skin is getting busy on the outside, inside the flesh is becoming all creamy and oh so tasty! The chemistry that happens is pretty amazing. I can’t stop picking at these they’re that good!!! Serve them up as an appetizer, or a side you just can’t go wrong!

Here’s the recipe:

3 Pounds baby new potatoes skins ON and scrubbed clean

1 1/2 Cups kosher salt

8 Tablespoons unsalted butter ( 1 Stick)

Fresh herbs chopped – I like parsley, thyme and rosemary. You can use any one of them or a blend of your choosing

You’ll need about 3 quarts of water (12 cups) maybe more. Stir salt into water until fully dissolved and there are no grains left at the bottom of the pot. Add the potatoes to the salted water (add more water if potatoes aren’t covered) and bring all this to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and cook until the potatoes are fork tender. Takes about 20-25 minutes.

Drain the potatoes in a colander. While the potatoes are draining. Melt the butter in the same pot you cooked the potatoes in. Once butter is melted add potatoes back into pot. Gently toss with the butter, pour into a serving bowl and top with chopped herbs. Best eaten right away!

Salt Potatoes with Herbs

At the risk of being accused of being sacrilegious I have on occasion dressed these with pesto and a dollop of goat cheese, but seriously why? They are so good just the way they are!

Autumn Roots Soup

This is such a great recipe, it’s very forgiving! I never seem to do it the same way twice as I’m always working with what I’ve got laying around from the farm.

• 1/2 Cup chopped onions or sliced leeks or a combination of your choosing
• 4-6 Cloves Garlic, chopped finely
• 2 Tablespoons Olive Oil
• 1 Quart (4 Cups) Vegetable Broth (can use chicken broth instead)
• 1 can of beans 15-16 ounces – cannellini or black or garbanzo or navy (drain and rinse)
• 2 cans of tomatoes – diced (undrained)
• 1/2 teaspoon Salt
• 1 cup dried pasta some suggestions include: elbows, mini shells, ditalini
• Dried Italian Herb Seasoning
• Grated Parmesan Cheese

• Assorted root vegetables may be any combination of carrot, winter squash, parsnip, turnip, sweet potato, rutabaga totaling about 2-2 1/2 pounds. More vegetables will make it feel more like a stew rather than a soup. May be as many or as few as you like. They may be sliced or diced into whatever size and shape you like. One of my favorite ways is to slice carrots and parsnips on the diagonal and dice winter squash, rutabagas and turnips into small cubes. The different cuts give a great visual and textural feel. I tend not to use beets unless I have white or gold ones available as the red beet juice will dramatically change the color of the soup.

Stove top Method:

Cook onion and garlic in hot oil until tender be carful not to overly brown. Add vegetables and broth. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer about 45 minutes to an hour.until vegetables are tender. Remove from heat, stir in pasta, cover and let stand about 10-15 minutes until pasta is tender. Serve, top bowls with grated cheese as desired.

Sautéed Snap Beans and Summer Squash

 

Ingredients:

• Fresh summer squash, 2-3, large
• Fresh snap beans about 2 handfuls will do
• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• Dash of sea salt
• Scallions chopped

Directions:

• Wash and chop the squash and beans.
• Add olive oil to sauce pan over medium heat.
• Add squash and beans and cook for about 5 minutes add scallions cook until beans are bright green and squash is tender.
• Add salt and pepper to taste.

Zucchini Bruschetta

What do you do with a summer squash the size of small dog?  Get out your food processor and this fantastic recipe will come together  in minutes!

Ingredients
Extra Virgin Olive Oil (or butter) – about 2 Tablespoons
One huge zucchini, or several small ones (about 2 lbs) – peeled and grated
Large onion – grated
2 garlic cloves – minced
Herbs to taste – we used several stems of fresh thyme, or try Italian seasoning
Salt and pepper to taste
Balsamic vinegar to taste

Directions
1) Saute onion in butter until soft – then add garlic, salt, pepper and herbs.
2) If grated zucchini seems wet squeeze out extra water in a dish towel.  Add to onion mixture and saute at a medium-high heat for 10 -15 minutes, stirring frequently.  Adding additional oil or butter needed.
3) Taste and adjust seasonings, and finish with a drizzle of vinegar.
4) Serve hot over pasta, or scoop it up chilled with crusty bread. Freezes well!

Spigarello Spaghetti

Bewildered by Spigarello?  It’s a relative of Broccoli and has a slightly sharp taste reminiscent of Broccoli Rabe.  

INGREDIENTS
1 bunch Spigarello, remove thick stems, wash and rough chop
1 package spaghetti
1 bottle of dry red wine (we used Zinfandel)
1 tablespoon sugar
Olive oil
Medium onion – diced
1-2 garlic cloves – minced
Red pepper flakes
Italian Herb Seasoning, fresh or dry
Salt and Pepper to taste
Parmesan Cheese

DIRECTIONS
1. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil.  Add the greens and cook until bright green and tender, about three minutes. Lift from the water and place into ice water bath.
2. Reusing the greens water, cook the pasta at least 3 minutes under the recommended cooking time on the package.  Don’t worry you’ll finish cooking the pasta later.  Reserve a cup of the cooking liquid, and then drain the pasta in a colander.
3. Now add the wine and sugar to the pasta pot, bring to a boil and reduced by half.  Add the drained pasta, stirring until most of the liquid has evaporated.
4. In a large pan saute the onion and garlic.  Squeeze the water out of the greens and add to the onion mixture.  Season with red pepper flakes, italian herb seasoning, salt and pepper to taste.
5. Add the greens mixture to the pasta, tossing to combine and adding a little bit of the pasta water if needed.  Serve with Parmesan cheese.

Zucchini Slaw

It’s the heat of the summer and the lettuce has bolted.  This super easy recipe is a great way to create summer salads without lettuce, and if you have a spiralizer it makes this salad a cinch! Feel free to add any other veggies you have on hand – like chopped broccoli, cauliflower or bell pepper.  The more colorful the better!

INGREDIENTS  – serves 4
1 or 2 zucchini or summer squash – juilienne or spiralize
1 or 2 carrots – juilienne or spiralize
1 turnip – juilienne or spiralize
1 or 2 scallions – sliced very thin.
1/4 cup chopped herbs (optional – we used a mix of parsley and basil)

DRESSING
1 tablespoon vinegar (we used white wine, but you could try rice or cider)
1 tablespoon coarse mustard (or use regular dijon)
1/4 cup mayonnaise
Salt and Pepper to taste

DIRECTIONS – whisk together the dressing ingredients, you should have enough to cover up to 4 cups of veggies.  Top the veggies with as much of the dressing as you like.  Mix and serve.  Leftover dressing can be refrigerated for another use.

Kale Pesto

Ingredients:
1 very large bunch of kale – wash, de-stem, tear into large pieces.
1/4 cup of nuts (try almonds, cashews, pine nuts, or a mix)
1 or 2 cloves of garlic – rough chop
1/2 cup packed parsley
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese
1/8 cup Lemon juice – more to taste
1/4 cup olive oil – more to taste
Salt and Pepper to taste
Package of pasta (your choice)

Directions:
1) Prepare to blanch the kale.  Bring a large pot of salted water to boil, and prepare a large bowl of ice water.  Boil the kale for about 2 minutes – and lift it out of the water with tongs, immediately placing it in the ice water.  Save the hot water to cook the pasta.  Drain off the ice water and kale in a colander, and squeeze out all the water.
2) In a food processor pulse the Kale, Nuts, Garlic, Parsley. Lemon Juice and Parmesan.  Add the Olive Oil slowly until roughly mixed.  Season with salt and pepper to taste, adding more olive oil or lemon juice as preferred.  Continue to pulse until desired texture is achieved.
3) You can package up the pesto to use later (or freeze), or use the kale water to boil the pasta of your choice following the instructions on the package.  Reserving 1 cup of water, drain the pasta and mix in a generous amount of pesto.  Use the reserved water if the mixture seems dry.

This dish works well grilled chicken or fish, serve with a few lemon wedges.

Root Veggie & Fennel Salad by Jason

Another week and another bunch of veggies to make meals out of, this weeks recipe includes four veggies from this week’s CSA, and one from last week.

Ingredients:

• 1 bunch beets
• 2 bunch parsley
• 1 bunch radish
• 2 fennel
• 1 bunch parsley root
• 1/4 cup EVOO
• juice of one orange
• juice of one lime
• salt to taste

Directions:

Remove stems from root veggies, discard or save for another use.

Finely chop all root veggies. Finely Chop entire parsley and entire fennel, the stems of parsley hold a lot of flavor and are often overlooked, don’t let it go to waste.

Toss veggies in olive oil and orange juice and lime juice, add salt to taste.

I like to let this salad sit in the fridge at least one hour to let all the flavors meld, Enjoy!

Roasted Carrot-Pumpkin Soup by Jason & special guest Hanifa

It’s starting to get cool here’s a recipe to warm you up, using four items from this weeks CSA here at Rogowski Farm.

Ingredients:

• 3-4 bunches carrots
• 4 baby sweet pumpkins
• 3 onions
• 1 garlic
• 1 bunch swiss chard
• 1 baby ginger or ginger nub
• salt and pepper to taste
• EVOO (extra virgin olive oil)

Directions:

Cut pumpkin into quarters and deseed.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Cut onions in half, I leave the skin on, roughly chop carrots, peel garlic, toss in a few tablespoons of EVOO and sprinkle with salt, on pan. On separate pan, toss pumpkin quarters in EVOO spinkle with salt.

Place pans in oven, roast for 30-40 min, carrots and onion should be done a few minutes before the pumpkins, test softness with fork.

While veggies are roasting chop swiss chard and ginger.

Remove skin from pumpkins and onions, put enough water to just cover veggies, puree all roasted veggies and ginger.

Heat soup on medium low, add salt and pepper to taste, turn off heat stir in swiss chard. Serve, enjoy!

 

Stir Fry with Beet Greens and Asian Greens by Jason

Did you know that you can eat beet greens?  Well here’s a recipe with beet greens, mustard greens, asian grees, scallions, peppergrass, and onions from this weeks CSA, also used fertilized eggs and Mekong flower rice available for purchase at our store here at W. Rogowski Farm.

Ingredients:

• 1-2 lbs asian greens
• 1 bunch scallion
• 2-4 onions
• 1 bunch beet greens
• 1 bunch mustard greens
• 1/2 bunch peppergrass (garnish)
• 4-6 eggs
• 5 or 6 cups cooked rice
• 1-2 tsp thyme leaves
• 2-3 tbsp soy sauce
• 3-4 tbsp oil (I used 1/2 EVOO 1/2 sesame oil)
• sesame seeds
• Salt and Pepper to taste

I prefer to use cold cooked rice for my stir fry, you can use left over rice from another meal or make a little in advance. For rice you double whatever the amount of rice for the water, so if 2 cups of rice add 4 cups of water, place over medium high heat until water boils down where its barely covering the rice, then turn heat down to low and cover for about 20 minutes until water is absorbed and rice is fluffy. Set aside.

While rice is cooling you get get started slicing up your onions, scallions, peppergrass, greens, and carrots.

Heat up a pan, add oil, begin to saute onions, after about two minutes add carrots and beet greens, cook another 1-2 minutes then add the rest of your veggies, keeping about half of your scallions and your peppergrass for garnish.

Once your veggies have began to reduce, add salt, pepper, sesame seeds, thyme, and soy sauce. Cook about 2-3 minutes add rice and thoroughly mix veggies and rice, follow by adding your eggs, once eggs are cooked through remove from heat.

Place in serving dishes and top with remaining scallions and peppergrass. Enjoy!!