Baby Potato Salad with Arugula

We are starting into our second crop of the year for baby potatoes. We find that Yukon Gold and Red Norland do well and are very early in our cool Minnesota spring conditions, yet do well in the warmer summer months as well.

I like to experiment with recipes and I have been trying variation of the lowly potato salad. These baby potatoes work will for making potato salad as they have a waxy texture and hold together well.

The subtle flavor of potatoes jacked up with arugula is an amazing combination. I've combined the flavor of roasted and seasoned browned and crisped potatoes with a zesty mustard vinaigrette. This simple recipe is easy to construct, see recipe below.

Grilled Corn with Chipotle Butter

This recipe has a great balance of sweet, spicy and tangy zip from the lime juice. Our sweet corn great all by itself but you can do some interesting and very tasty things with butter. If you are not familiar with how to roast the corn, see below.

Ingredients:

6-12 ears of Petersen's sweet corn husked.
1 stick butter
1-2 Petersen's chipotle peppers minced (pour boiling water over them and let sit 15 minutes)
2 teaspoons fresh lime juice
1/4 teaspoon sea salt or mineral salt such a pink salt
Lime wedges

Directions:

Melt butter in saucepan over medium heat. Add chipotles minced, fresh lime juice and salt. Reduce heat and cook 1 minute to mix flavors.

Brush fresh corn with the chipotle butter mixture. Cover and refrigerate if needed.

Heat up barbecue. Grill corn until tender and blackened a bit, turn frequently. This should take 5-7 minutes. Serve corn with lime wedges. Drizzle lime juice from wedges on corn just before eating.

Kick it up:

1. Cover liberally with fresh ground pepper
2. Salt to taste
3. Sprinkle with a dash of cayenne pepper (careful this is hot)
4. Make your own fresh butter with a little cream (yum)
5. 
   

A Simple Fresh Salsa Recipe

A salsa kit contains all the vegetables that it takes to make a great salsa. Once the tomatoes start we offer this weekly. It can vary a little from week to week early in the season, don't worry about the exact proportions, about anything works. The kit typically contains the following:

• Tomatoes
• Bell Peppers
• Jalapeno
• Sweet Onions
• Tomatillo
• Garlic
• Cilantro
• Salt and Lime to Taste (not included)

We suggest you add salt and lime, but we don't grow those so they aren't included.

It would typically be about twice the cost to gather up all the ingredients separately so this is a pretty good deal. Makes 1.5 quarts of salsa.

A Simple Fresh Salsa Recipe

Instructions to assembly your salsa. It is easiest to use a food processor, but you can make salsa with just a sharp knife.

Chop up the garlic, cilantro and jalapeno first (if you want it hotter, leave the seeds in, otherwise remove the seeds). Add bell peppers, tomatillo and sweet onions and pulse the food process several times to chop. Cut tomatoes into quarters and pulse again to chop. If you want chunky only pulse a couple of times. If you want a smoother salsa, pulse a few more times.

Enjoy!

Kick it Up:

• Add some of Petersen's sweet corn, cut kernels off the ear (a great way to use up leftovers)
• Add black beans
• Add chipotles
• Add more Jalapenos
• Double the recipe size with your own tomatoes or buy some extra

A Minnesota Paella

I first had a paella at Nosh Restaurant in Lake City, Minnesota. It is one of Greg Jaworski's signature dishes and is typically on the menu in any season. Greg is a weekly customer at the Rochester Downtown Farmers Market and buys greens (spinach, spring mix, arugula, ruby sweet, cress, baby kale), patty pan and carrots from our stand during the season. I'd highly recommend Nosh Restaurant and Greg's paella to you.

We had the fresh ingredients on hand so I thought I would make a paella for supper Saturday night after the market last week. The paella is a rice dish that originated in Spain near Valencia. It is very popular and is often considered  to be Spain's national dish. There are many variations. Greg makes his paella with his own house sausage and seafood including clams. A typical paella also includes vegetables, beans, short grain rice, saffron and olive oil. Paella is derived from the Old French word for pan, which comes from the Latin word patella for pan as well (I put that in here because my children have had 6-7 years of Latin in school and I thought they might recognize it.) Traditional paella is cooked over an open fire, fueled by orange and pine branches with pine cones, which produces an aromatic smoke which infuses the paella (I didn't go quite that far for authenticity.)

Ingredients:

1. Saffron rice. (I just bought a Spanish saffron rice and followed the directions. You could also add turmeric to rice to get the golden color.) 2 cups
2. Patty Pan (Petersen's) 1/2 pint
3. Yellow Zucchini Summer Squash (Petersen's) 1/2 pint
4. Sweet Onion -minced (Petersen's) (1 large)
5. French Fillet Beans -cut in half, with stems and tips removed (Petersen's) 1/2 pound
6. Garlic Minced (Petersen's) 2 cloves
7. Italian Sweet Sausage (You can make your own or uses your favorite)
8. Large Shrimp - 1/2 pound
9. Cajun Style Andouille Sausage Links (cut into bit sized pieces)
10. Paprika - tsp
11. Turmeric - tsp
12. Salt - 1/2 tsp (optional)

Directions:

In a large sauce pan prepare the rice according to the directions on the package. Takes 30 minutes.

In a large skillet cook the sausage thoroughly, leave in 1 inch chunks, let caramelize a little on the outside. When the sausage is almost done add the onions, garlic and shrimp. Cook another 5 minutes until shrimp is done. Add the patty pan, zucchini, and green beans. Cook lightly, leaving the vegetables crunchy. Add paprika, turmeric and salt.

In an official paella you have a paella pan and put the rice in the bottom, stir with the vegetables and meat and cook on a open fire or in the oven for 5-10 minutes after combining all ingredients. You want the rice to scorch a little on the bottom. I didn't do that.

I served the rice and meat/vegetables separately in bowls, letting each family member select the quantity of each (I wasn't sure everyone would like everything). Reed really likes shrimp so he took a disproportionate amount of that. 

For this same meal, Jenna made leek fritters with lime and sour cream. That is for another post.

Baby Patty Pan, Zucchini and Kale White Sauce

I made a delightful white sauce with very small Patty Pan and Zucchini squash, Baby Kale and Sweet Onions last weekend. We will have all of these at our market stand this week. I used Ricotta cheese as the base for the sauce. You can get hand made pasta at the Farmer's Market, or use any pasta you wish. I used bow tie pasta as I had that on hand.

It was very good, give it a whirl.

Ingredients:

1 box of patty pan squash (Petersen's)
1 box of baby zucchini squash, tips and stems remove and sliced into bite sized pieces (Petersen's)
Large bag of baby kale (Petersen's)
Large Sweet Onion, diced (Petersen's)
8 oz of Low Fat Ricotta Cheese
1 cups of low fat milk
white pepper to taste
salt to taste
pinch of cayenne or chipotle pepper
1 clove of garlic, minced (Petersen's)
1 tsp of arrow root starch or corn starch dissolved in a small amount of cold water
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 pound pasta of your choice (bow tie, spiral, penne)

Directions:

Prepare pasta of choice and drain while finishing sauce (most pastas take 8-10 minutes to cook)

Saute onion with olive oil and garlic. When on)ion is starting to soften add patty pan and zucchini. Cook about 2 minutes (don't over cook squash). Stir in Ricotta cheese and milk, salt, pepper and cayenne. Warm up to where it just starts to bubble, add arrow root starch to thicken. Bring back to a simmer and add kale. Wilt kale and gentle stir into the sauce. Serve over pasta.

Kick It Up:

Serve Over Potatoes (Petersen's)
Serve Over Saffron Rice
Serve Over Seafood like scallops or shrimp
Add a little more cayenne.
Add some fresh Rosemary (Petersen's)
Add some fresh Basil instead of Kale, price is the same at our stall (Petersen's)
Add some fresh Thyme (Petersen's)
Add more garlic or several shallots. (Petersen's)

A Simple Arugula Pesto

With the taste of Arugula Pesto still fresh on my tongue I thought I would write down the recipe. We has some really nice baby leaf arugula at the market today. It had a nice full flavor without being too spicy as arugula can be in the summer months. We succession plant every few weeks to keep our greens top quality.

The unique thing about ARUGULA pesto is it stays bright green even during cooking.

Ingredients:

2 cups fresh ARUGULA leaves, packed
2 cloves garlic (1 clove if you don't like strong garlic or if they are very large)
1/4 cup pine nuts or walnuts (you can toast or use raw)
2/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste
1/2 cup Parmesan or Romano cheese

Directions

Process ARUGULA, garlic and nuts in a food processor until coarsely chopped. Add oil slowly and process until smooth. Season with salt and pepper. Mix in cheese if using immediately. If freezing leave the cheese out.

We used the pesto as a bruschetta on some fresh bread. We toasted our bread and that mellows the ARUGULA a little for a spicier pesto toast the bread and then put the pesto on it right before serving.

ARUGULA pesto works well on pasta and can be used to stuff squash blossoms.

Basil Pesto Recipe

When I wrote the post you can make pesto from about anything talked about the ingredients in Pesto but not the exact proportions. So here is a full recipe.

Ingredients:

2 cups fresh basil leaves, packed
2 cloves garlic (1 clove if you don't like strong garlic or if they are very large)
1/4 cup pine nuts or walnuts (you can toast or use raw)
2/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste
1/2 cup Parmesan or Romano cheese

Directions

Process basil, garlic and nuts in a food processor until coarsely chopped. Add oil slowly and process until smooth. Season with salt and pepper. Mix in cheese if using immediately. If freezing leave the cheese out.

Toasted Walnut Kale Pesto

Kale and toasted walnut pesto follows the theme that you can make pesto from about anything. We have some excellent baby Kale that makes a great pesto. Toasting the walnuts adds a nice additional flavor.

Recipe for Delicious French Filet Bean Sauce

I developed a very tastey sauce for french filet beans. I used basil, rosemary, garlic and sweet onions.

Prepare the beans for sauteing by removing the stem and tip. You can chop the beans into smaller pieces or leave them half size.

Dice 1 cup of basil, a table spoon of fresh rosemary, two cloves of garlic and a small sweet onion. Cook in olive oil or coconut oil. Mix all ingredients and saute with green beans.

Serve warm or if you don't finish it is also good cold or warmed up.

Kale Salad With Almond Sweet Curry Dressing

Creamy Almond Sweet Curry Kale Salad (wheat-free, gluten-free, soy-free, oil-free, low fat, low salt)

This time of the year we have lots of fresh cut baby kale, so I was looking for a delicious dressing to go with this extremely healthy green. Kale by itself is pretty plain and is best if complemented by a good dressing. I tried several non-oil type dressings and picked the things I liked the best from each. So here goes, Almond Sweet Curry dressing.

Salad Ingredients

1 pound baby kale chopped (Petersen's)
3 carrots grated (Petersen's, new this week)
1/4 cup dried cherries or cranberries
1/4 cup slivered almonds

Creamy Almond Sweet Curry Dressing Ingredients

1/2 cup raw almonds (any almonds will do)
3 tbsp apple cider vinegar
3 tbsp maple syrup (can also use equivalent stevia)
1/2 cups water (or more to thin if needed)
1 small clove garlic or can also use a shallot
1 tsp fresh grated ginger
1 tsp Dijon mustard
1/4 tsp sweet curry powder (I like Pensy's blend)
salt and pepper to taste

Instructions for Dressing

Using a high powered blender mix all ingredients until very smooth and creamy. Thin with water to the consistency you wish. Sample and add more curry if you wish. This makes a good full cup, you can easily double the recipe by doubling all the ingredients. This baby is really good and works well as a dip. Just cut back the water and chill before serving.

Instructions for Salad

Just toss carrots and kale with dressing. Sprinkle with slivered almonds and cherries.

Kick it Up

- Add an apple julienned or thin sliced fennel
- Red bell pepper julienned
- Grated Beet will give the salad a pink color
- Use other dried fruit (raisins, apricots, goji berries)
- Use fresh fruit like blueberries or strawberries

Basil Recipe - Lemon Basil Aioli

Lemon basil is one of those must have herbs after the mainstay herbs are in. The citrus highlights and flavor are very unique. This recipe for Lemon Basil Aioli is great on chicken or fish. Basil will be our herb of the week at the Farmers Market.

Ingredients:

1/4 cup finely chopped Lemon Basil
2 tablespoons of mayonnaise (make your own)
1 tablespoon lemon juice
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
3 cloves minced garlic
1/2 teaspoon olive oil

Directions:

1. Mix ingredients together and let the flavors combine. Refrigerate if not used right away.

Kick It Up

1. Add a clove of black garlic
2. Make your own mayonnaise
3. Use lime juice instead of lemon

Basil Recipe - Thai Basil with Sesame Noodles

Thai Basil has that wonderful cinnamon like flavor, and beautiful dark green and purple leaves. Sounds good already. It grows rapidly and likes to be harvested to stimulate new growth. This recipe for Thai Basil and Sesame Noodles is good for the vegetarian basil lovers.

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon peanut oil (or coconut oil)
2 tablespoons fresh ginger, minced
1 head of garlic, minced
3 tablespoon sesame oil
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon sea salt (optional)
1 pound angel hair pasta or Chinese egg noodles
12 scallions (green onions), thin sliced
1/2 cup chopped and roasted peanuts
1/2 cup thin sliced Thai Basil leaves

Directions

1. Heat peanut oil over medium heat. Add ginger and garlic; saute 1 minute. Set aside in a bowl. Add next 6 ingredients. Whisk to blend.
2. Cook noodle with water and salt until just tender, stirring. Drain and rinse until cool. Mix with sauce. Add green onions and mix to coat noodles. Let stand ant room temperature until flavors are mixed. Maybe 1 hour. Stir in peanuts and Thai Basil. Season with salt and pepper. Serve at room temperature.

Kick it up

1. Add some finely gratted carrots
2. Add 2 heads of garlic
3. Add some Thai peppers

Basil Recipe - Holy Basil Chicken

Holy Basil is an Asian version of basil used in Thailand and surrounding area. Basil will be our featured herb of the week at the farmers market.  The aroma and flavor are exotic, yummy and Asian. This recipe combines chicken, Holy Basil, garlic, chilies and rice. It is the real deal.

Ingredients

3 cups holy basil and a little more for garnish
2 heads garlic, mince the cloves
6 fresh Thai chilies
1/4 cup coconut oil
2 pounds chicken breasts, cut into 1 inch chunks
2 teaspoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons sugar
Fresh ground pepper
Jasmine or sticky rice

Directions

1. Mash garlic and chilies together with the flat side of a large knife. Heat oil in a wok or large skillet over medium heat. Add mixture of chilies and garlic. Cook, stir continually, until garlic is golden brown (30 seconds).
2. Add chicken pieces; cook, stir often, until chicken is fully cooked, 5 minutes. Stir in soy sauce, sugar and 1 teaspoon pepper. Add Holy Basil; cook and stir for 1 minute. Serve over rice. Use basil as garnish.

Kick it up

1. Add fish sauce.
2. Add 1/4 cup of peanut butter
3. Use Thai noodles instead of rice
4. Use shrimp instead of chicken
5. Add some cashews or pine nuts
6. Reduce chilies if you like a milder dish

Red Russian Kale

Red Russian Kale is one of the premium ingredients in our spring mix. We also offer it separate as baby kale. It is great in soups or a crunchy salad, although we have also had people buy it to make kale chips. It is very popular with our salad loving folks with unsurpassed tenderness and sweet flavor.

Russian traders brought this kale from Siberia to Canada in the 1800's. Kale is in the brassica family and has some of the same healthy ingredients as broccoli and cabbage.

I planted a 30 foot by 4 foot bed, so we will have a good supply. It does well at cut and come again, so the beds can be harvested for several weeks before succession planting. Kale loves this years cool wet weather and has great disease resistance. So bring on the spring showers.

When choosing Red Russian Kale look for bright, fresh, firm leaves and wash well before using.

A quick tasty side dish can be made by sauteing the washed and trimmed leaves in a little butter and garlic. Or use olive oil and add bits of bacon, red pepper, onion and a spicy sausage. Yumm.

This can also be added to pasta dishes such as linguine or spaghetti.

Spring and summer kale is wonderful and healthy. Similar to many other vegetables, the light frosts of fall sweeten the kale further for the peak of the season.

Cilantro Recipes - Easy Guacamole

Easy Guacamole breaks with the theme of mostly local ingredients. In the tomato off season we often "dip" into avocados. So let me recommend that you purchase your avocados at Peoples Food Coop. They will be organic and the Coop is a local business.

Ingredients

2 ripe avocados (PF Coop)
1/3 sweet onion, minced (1/2 cup) (Petersen's) Use scallions until sweet onions are available
1-2 chipotle peppers (Petersen's)
3 tablespoons baby cilantro (Petersen's)
1 tablespoon of fresh lime juice
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
Freshly grated black pepper to taste
Optional: 2 sun dried tomatoes (rehydrate by 15 minutes in hot water, drain), or 1 fresh Roma tomato

Directions:

- Avocado, remove seed and peel. Mash in a bowl. Leaved chunky.
- Add chopped onions, cilantro, lime/lemon, salt, pepper and mix or mash.
- Experiment with the right amount of chipotle peppers, can also use Jalapeno or Serrano in season
- Cover Guac with plastic wrap until serving to prevent oxidation from air, refrigerate
- Fresh tomatoes should be added before serving, dried tomatoes can be added at preparation and will be best if allowed to sit an hour or two before serving.

Kick it Up:

- Add some hot salsa
- Add sour cream, or Greek yogurt
- Add black garlic (when available)
- Add cottage cheese
- Add grated pepper jack
- Add goat cheese (market vendors)

Cilantro Recipes - Simple Rice and Lime

Simple Cilantro, Lime and Rice. It has rained enough this spring that I think we could grow rice in some of the flooded fields.  But until then get your rice at the local People Food Coop.

Ingredients:

- 6 cups just cooked rice, hot
- 1 cup baby cilantro leaves (Petersen's)
- 2-3 cloves of garlic (or 1 tablespoon garlic powder)
- small sweet onion (Petersen's)
- table spoon lime juice
- Sea Salt and fresh ground pepper to taste

Directions:

- While the rice is cooking, finely chop or put in the food processor, all ingredients
- While the rice is very hot combine with the rest of the ingredients
- Let rest for 5-10 minutes

Kick It Up:

- Add 1 chipotle pepper, seeded
- Add your favorite curry
- Add chicken broth to the cooking rice
- Use wild rice or mix 1/2 wild rice. Note wild rice takes a little longer to cook.

Cilantro Recipes - Cilantro Skillet Potatoes

Wow cilantro from the garden already, it will only be a few weeks before we will have those beautiful red potatoes. The two together are dynamite.

Ingredients:

- Fresh cilantro leaves, 1 bag (Petersen's)
- 1 garlic clove or garlic powder or on shallot (Petersen's)
- 1/4 cup olive oil or 1/2 stick of butter
- 2 lbs,Baby Red potatoes washed and cubed (Yukon Gold is OK too) (Petersen's)
- salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

In a large cast iron skillet, cook the potatoes and oil until tender and lightly brown about 20 minutes. Add cilantro and garlic and stir for another 5 minutes. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Serves 4.

Cilantro Recipes - Roasted Salmon, Lime and Cilantro, with Asparagus

This week is our first cilantro harvest and we are sharing some of our favorite cilantro recipes. We will have fresh cilantro and abundant cilantro plants for those who want to grow their own.

Ingredients:

-Salmon Fillets (6-8 onces each)
- Sea salt and fresh ground tellichery pepper (just ground pepper will do). We get our pepper corns   from Penzy's in Minneapolis (check them out).
- 1/4 cup lime juice, or 1 tablespoon concentrate
- 2 table spoons soy sauce (low salt in desired)
- 8 drops stevian (herb plants available at Petersen's) or 1 teaspoon sugar
- 2 tablespoons chopped baby cilantro leaves (Petersen's all season)
- 1-2 bunches of Asparagus (Petersen's in season)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Arrange salmon fillets in a shallow pan or wrap in tin foil. Season with salt and pepper. Roast 15 minutes or until no longer pink in the middle and the salmon is flaky.

Whisk together the lime juice, soy sauce, and sweetner. Fold in the cilantro leaves. Spoon over fish and serve with asparagus.

You can substitute a white fish if you'd rather or we really like steele head trout when in season.

Cilantro Recipes - Mexican Pesto

In honor of our first week of baby cut cilantro leaves fresh from the garden and abundant cilantro transplants for those who want to grow their own.

Cilantro is our herb of the week and we are featuring some of our favorite recipes.

Mexican Pesto

Normally pesto is made from Basil, but cilantro makes an excellent green pesto in south of the border style.

Ingredients:

- 1/4 cup pepitas, hulled pumpkin seeds (you can also use walnuts or pine nuts)
- 1/2 bag of baby cilantro (Petersen's)
- 2 to 4 cloves of garlic or a tablespoon of garlic powder, one shallot can also be used (Petersen's)
- 1 cipotle pepper, seeded (reconstitute pepper by steeping in hot water for 15 minutes, drain)
   You can also use a fresh jalapeno or serrano when they are in season. (Petersen's)
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 6 tablespoons oliv oil
- Optional: 1/4 cup grated goat cheese, or Parmesan cheese (various market vendors)

Put nuts or seed in a food processor or blender; process until coarsely chopped (pulse). Add cilantro, garlic, chipotle, salt and oil. Process until smooth, at cheese (optional).  Add to meat, orzo pasta, rice or enjoy with your favorite bread as a bruschette.