Heart of the Kitchen

Greens are Cropping Up All Over

Aside from using them in salads, there are many delicious recipes that make use of greens.  I will be posting some recipes that contain these nutrient dense foods in the upcoming days.  Greens are often an early crop for many farms and gardens.  Usually, you can substitute spinach, kale, chard, collards in cooked recipes according to your tastes.

Fresh Greens Pasta Pie-Crystal Lake Gardens 

10 ounces vermicelli

2 tablespoons butter, softened

1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese

5 eggs

2 teaspoons cooking oil

1 small onion, chopped

2 cups chopped fresh spinach or other greens

1 cup (4 oz.) shredded mozarella cheese

1/3 cup milk

1/2 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. freshly ground pepper

1/8 tsp.  ground nutmeg

several shakes of hot pepper sauce (optional)

Heat oven to 350 degrees.  Lightly grease a large pie plate.  Cook vermicelli according to package directions; drain.  Stir butter and Parmesan cheese into hot vermicelli.  Beat 2 of the eggs and stir well into pasta. Spoon mixture into pie plate and use a spoon to shape vermicelli into a pie shell.  Cover with aluminum foil and bake 10 minutes.  Set aside.  Heat oil in a small skillet, add onion and saute until tender.  Beat the remaining 3 eggs and combine with spinach, mozarella, milk, seasonings, and sauteed onions.  Spoon spinach mixture into pasta shell.  Cover pie with aluminum foil.  Bake 35minutes; uncover and bake and additional 5 minutes.  Let stand 10 minutes before slicing.  Six servings.

This is an attractive dish and tastes really delicious.  There is a fair amount of protein and fat due to the eggs so I use this as a main dish with the following salad.

Mixed Greens Salad with Blue Cheese Vinaigrette

Red and Green Leaf Lettuces

Mustard greens (very tasty raw--spicy flavor)

Grape tomatoes

Cucumber slices

Dried Cranberries

Roasted Pecans (can be roasted in a dry skillet until hot)

Blue Cheese Vinaigrette

2 T.  red wine vinegar

1 T. Dijon mustard

1 garlic clove, pressed

salt and pepper to taste

6 T. olive oil

1/2 c. crumbled blue cheese

Beat together vinegar, mustard, garlic, salt and pepper.  Slowly beat in olive oil, then stir in blue cheese.  Chill.  (will keep up to 4 days refrigerated)

 

Pesto!

I simply LOVE pesto.  We use it in our home as a dip with toasted pita, as a sauce to mix with hot pasta or as a delicious coating on baked chicken. Pesto conjurs up such wonderful memories of hot summer days when basil is at its peak.  I grow basil in my yard each year and not a single leaf goes to waste.  It is important to pick sweet basil before it goes to flower.  Once flowering, the leaves turn bitter.  If you notice your basil about to begin flowering, snip the flower off so more of the plant's energy goes into growing the leaves. 

Here is our family's favorite pesto recipe that we acquired many years ago when my oldest was just a baby.  I worked at a co-op organic farm on Thursdays in exchange for a delicious array of vegetables each week.  After all the work was done, families gathered together under the trees and shared a community meal.  This is where I found:

The Yummiest Pesto

1 cup basil leaves, packed

1 cup olive oil

1 cup pine nuts (or walnuts are tasty too!)

1 cup parmesean cheese

Whirl it all up in your food processor, in that order, and Voila! 

Can be frozen...just leave out the cheese. Believe me pesto is a real treat in the middle of February!

Also, if you are dairy free, you can replace the cheese with tomatoes with a delicious result.