Recipes and pairing ideas!
This weeks box includes a lot of amazing foodstuffs! Sophia had a great time baking cookies and jam bars as special treats in the box. Brandon made two great salads, one is a spinach salad and the other a wild rice salad. The kimchi would go great with both! The arugula pesto can go with your polenta and canellini beans that you make - or with the wild rice salad. The lentil morrocan stew is such a great hearty stew that goes good with some kind of cream sauce or salad. The hot and sour tofu soup was made with our pepper jam. You have a jar that you can use for making a sweet and sour sauce. Simply at tamari and some chili's or hot sauce mixed with the pepper jam to make a sauce or glaze for vegetables. The rainbow root mix from Mariquita farm is a way to bring a lot of playfulness into your cooking this week!!! And the citrus from Big Sur is loaded with vitamin C! The lemons from our friend Terrence in Santa Cruz are great for cooking or for a fresh lemonade. Be sure and see our recipes for making candied citrus peels on the blog!
We hope you enjoy your boxes and please let us know if you have any questions!!!
Love, the entire happy girl crew!!!
Heirloom Cannelini Beans – Tonight we will add these cooked beans to the tomato sauce for a hearty and creamy topping on our polenta. I would ideally soak beans for about 8 hours before cooking them, but I often don’t have the time/organization to plan ahead! The next preferred scenario is to soak them in hot water for an hour before cooking them. In either soaking method, I like to drain the water off and cook with fresh water. In a pinch, just cooking dried beans works just fine – the only difference is that they take a bit longer to cook (possibly as long 1- hour, but also varies depending on the bean and the freshness.
1-pound dried beans
water
2 to 3 teaspoons salt
optional aromatics: garlic clove, ½ onion, carrot
If the beans have been soaked, drain the water and add fresh water. Cover the beans with an inch or so of water. If you have not soaked the beans, add more water. Bring the beans to a boil and immediately lower the heat to a gentle simmer and cook. Once the beans have softened and are almost completely cooked through, add salt, turn the stove off and cover the beans. Let them sit for at least 15 minutes. This is a little trick to avoid over cooking the beans (especially if they didn’t get to soak beforehand) and let them absorb the salt.
If you will be storing additional beans in the refrigerator, keep them in some of their cooking liquid. They will keep for at least a week.
Creamy Polenta – Polenta is basically a cornmeal mush that can be made with coarsely to finely ground corn. The key to a creamier polenta is to cook it sufficiently so that the corn has fully absorbed the water/liquid. Also, the addition of oil or cheese contributes to the creaminess! A cool thing about polenta, is when you make too much, you can spread the leftovers in a shallow tray and let it cool. Then slice and fry the cubes the following day, and you’ll have ingredients for another bowl!
1 cup dry polenta
3-4 cups water or broth, hot
1-teaspoon salt
olive oil, goat cheese, parmesan or other mild cheese.
Herbs or spices, as desired
For firmer polenta, go lighter on the water. I typically use a ration of 3:1.
Put the polenta in a pot and stir in 1-cup hot water at a time, stirring well after each addition. Add salt. Start cooking and while stirring often to make sure that the polenta doesn’t form lumps. When the polenta has absorbed the water and is a good consistency, add a generous drizzle of olive oil or cheese (as desired). Stir well and notice how the texture changes!