Apple-Celery Salad: crisp and tangy for fall

Even though I miss summer tomatoes come fall, at least I have apples with tangy, juicy crunch.  A few weeks ago I tossed together a fall salad with simplicity of preparation that belies its sophisticated blend of flavor and texture.

For every two servings you’ll need:

• 1 well-washed apple
• 1-2 stalks of fresh celery
• 1 green onion or small bunch of chives
• 1 tablespoon, give or take, course-ground prepared mustard
• 1 teaspoon to 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
• optional:  pinch of salt to taste

Cut the apple into quarters (eighths if its really big) and cut out the tiny bit of core.  Slice the quarters or eighths across in sections about a quarter-inch thick.  Thinly slice the celery across the grain.  You should have a bit more apple than celery.  Cut the green onions across the grain or snip the chives.  Mix the mustard and cider vinegar in your serving bowl and toss with the apples, celery, and onion.  Serve at room temperature or cold.

Do you eat fewer salads in the fall?  Do you have a favorite fall salad recipe?  Tell us here!

Copyright 2010 Ozarkhomesteader.  All rights reserved.  Tweets and short excerpts with full URL and reference to Ozarkhomesteader are fair use.

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Spicy Peanut-Sesame Noodles with broccoli and coconut-crusted chicken

We went from wondering if another ice age was on its way to believing in global warming again this week.  The unseasonably warm weather cried out for a cooler dinner, and gigantic chives and Asian mustard that went from salad size to mandatory cooking overnight made me think of some of our favorite pseudo-Asian meals.  Tonight we’re having spicy peanut-sesame noodles with broccoli, coconut-crusted chicken, and a mess of mustard greens finished with hoisin sauce.

I first had peanut-sesame noodles a couple of decades ago at a Chinese restaurant in a country house outside Madison, Wisconsin.  Come to think of it, I’m not even sure if the place was licensed as a restaurant, but it got a big following quickly.  The food was good, but the most fun was the owner’s enthusiastic teenage daughter, Sunshine.  After we’d visited a few times, Sunshine told us that she was going to order for us that night, not from the menu but one of her favorite things that her mother made for the family.  Out came the noodles.  I was in love.  These probably bear little resemblance to those, but I can make them with ingredients I have on hand.

Spicy Peanut-Sesame Noodles

This recipe will make more than enough noodles for a whole family of four (or more).  I used whole-wheat spaghetti noodles, but you could use udon noodles or thick rice noodles too.

Serves 4-6

• 1/2 box whole-wheat spaghetti noodles
• 1/4 cup chicken broth (or veggie–also okay to use water, but then you’ll need to increase the other ingredients a bit)
• 1/3-1/2 cup good peanut butter
• 1 hot pepper (chile), diced finely–I used a red peter pepper I had in the freezer.  Feel free to use more peppers if you like it spicier.
• 1 crushed garlic clove or several garlic chives, diced finely
• 2-3 dashes rice wine vinegar
• 6-7 dashes soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil
• optional:  freshly grated ginger or pickled ginger, slivered
• 2-4 scallions or chives, sliced across the grain (both whites and tops)
• carrot, slivered or coarsely grated
• optional garnishes:  cilantro, coarsely grated radish, snow peas, shelled edamame

Begin by prepping the sauce for the noodles.  Heat the peanut butter and broth to get everything moving.  I heat them in a one-cup pyrex measuring cup in the microwave and then use the measuring cup for mixing everything else. Add in the hot pepper, garlic, rice wine vinegar, soy sauce, and sesame oil.*

Now prepare the noodles according to package directions.  Pour off the cooking liquid and while the noodles are still hot, add the sauce and stir well to combine.  Stir in some of the scallions, carrots, and garnish and pile the rest artfully on top.  Set the noodles aside or refrigerate.  You’ll serve these noodles at room temperature or even cold.

Do you want to make this a vegetarian one-dish meal?  Use the veggie broth, and toss in shelled edamame or stir-fried tofu.  By the way, this sauce is an excellent appetizer dip for vegetables!  When we take it to parties, people love that it’s not the same-old ranch or bleu cheese dip, and it’s a lot healthier for you.

Go ahead and take a closer look.

Quick Broccoli

I used two cups of florets, fresh from our garden, and tossed them in salted water in the wok.  That’s all!  Then I used them as additional garnish on the noodles.

Coconut-Crusted Spicy Chicken

serves 2-4

• 1 chicken breast, about half a pound, cut into strips (half of the thickness of the breast, about 3/4-inch wide each)
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• 2-4 tablespoons lime juice
• optional:  2 tablespoons rice vinegar (use if you only use 2 tablespoons of lime juice)
• 1 large jalapeno or other chile, diced fine (or more to taste)
• 1 egg, beaten  You don’t need to double the egg if you double the recipe.
• 1/3 cup coconut

Start by making the marinade by mixing together your liquids and prepped jalapeno.  Process everything with a stick blender or in a regular blender.  It’s okay if some of the pepper remains unprocessed.  If you do not have a blender, just chop the pepper even more and let it meld with the marinade for a little while..

Pour the brine/marinade over the chicken breast strips and let everything soak for several hours, turning regularly to make sure that the marinade reaches all parts. (If you’d like to let the chicken soak overnight in the mix, add 1/4 cup water to make a brine.  Otherwise, the acid in the juice and vinegar will “cook” the chicken and make it tough.)

To have un-crusted chicken, pour off the marinade or brine and stir-fry the chicken in a little coconut oil.  To crust the chicken, pour off the brine, dry the chicken well, and dip it first in the egg and then in the coconut.  Place the chicken pieces on a greased cookie sheet and bake it in a 325 degree F oven for about 20 minutes, turning the chicken over half way through, until the chicken is golden brown on the outside (and, obviously, cooked through inside.)

I also served dinner with mustard greens in hoisin sauce (pictured in the upper right corner of the bowl).  Simply prep a mess of greens (see photos above and below for what constituted a “mess of greens” tonight!) by stripping off the tough stems, chopping everything roughly, stir-frying quickly in sesame oil, and tossing in some hoisin sauce to finish wilting the greens.  As hot as it’s been outside, the greens were really sharp.

*If you have a family member who’s a little leary of new things, reduce or leave out the toasted sesame oil altogether and add a bit more chicken broth and vegetable oil to thin the noodle dressing. Sesame oil has a distinctive (some say acquired) flavor.

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Favorite Salad #2: Mediterranean, and other than that you’ll just have to read

We eat a lot of salad around here with various permutations and combinations, but two have come to have names.  One we call “favorite salad #1.”  No, I have not posted about it yet.  You’ll just have to come back to find out about it.  (Grin.) Tonight I’m talking “Favorite salad #2.”  Favorite salad #2 is Mediterranean in influence, incorporating some things we grow and some things we buy.  Actually, this salad has a larger percentage of non-local products than we usually eat; maybe that’s what makes it name worthy.    The ingredients are sweet, tangy, salty, and ever so slightly bitter, making for a wonderful blend.  For each individual salad, layer the ingredients from top to bottom in roughly this order:

• 1-2 cups mixed baby greens, big pieces gently torn, or in summer chard and/or mustard greens
• optional if in season:  cucumber, quartered lengthwise and then sliced thinly–put on outside edge of greens
• course grated carrot (a couple of tablespoons per salad)
• 1-2 thinly sliced radishes
• 1-3 dried tomatoes, cut into thin strips
• 1 tablespoon of feta cheese (goat cheese feta makes it really special)
• a few sliced pitted kalamata olives
• optional if in season:  halves or quarters of cherry tomatoes
• 1-2 tablespoons slivered or sliced almonds, toasted (325 degree F for 5-7 minutes)
• 1-2 tablespoons dried black currants
• optional:  chives, thin slices to garnish (I cut these with kitchen scissors straight over the salad)

You can serve this salad with a homemade oil and vinegar dressing or get even more non-local and try it with a store-bought Mediterranean-inspired dressing like Drew’s Lemon Goddess Tahini or Annie’s Goddess Dressing. Both of these are tahini-based dressings, the sesame paste featured in  hummus (chickpea dip). We like the salad with Italian, Greek, and Middle Eastern food.  In the winter it may be a part of a big meal.  In the summer, it may be the meal all on its own (or maybe with some watermelon, mmmmmm).

Give it a try and let me know what you think!  Do you have a favorite salad combo?  We’d really like for you to share it with us.

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Baked Apples with ginger, cinnamon, and honey-mustard

Tonight I had planned on making pizza, but life intervened and I ended up with less prep time than I’d planned.  Given that I had good chicken bratwurst, red and green cabbage, onions, and some wide whole-wheat Amish noodles, I decided to go with a German-inspired meal.  I was going to serve it with traditional baked apples.  I thinly sliced the onions and cabbage.  Then I sauteed the onion until it started to caramelize.  I pulled it out and sauteed the bratwurst in some brandy in the same pan.  Then I cooked the noodles al dente and tossed them in a smidgen of butter.  I was about to saute the cabbage in the bratwurst liquid and then pull everything together, with the noodles in the bottom of each bowl and then the cabbage mixed with onion and the brats on top–when I saw the four apples I’d gotten out.  I’d pictured them with cinnamon, slowly baked, but that wasn’t going to work now.

I quickly quartered, cored, and peeled the apples.  I tossed them first with a pinch each of cinnamon and ginger.  Okay, I used more than a pinch of ginger, maybe a whole teaspoon (or more?), but I decided that’s too much. I also sprinkled on a little salt.  I added about a half inch of water in the bottom of the little casserole dish.  Then I popped the spiced apples in the microwave for 4 minutes on high.  Humph.  They tasted good, but they looked microwaved.  I was going to reach for brown sugar, when I decided something savory would be better.  I decided to toss them with honey and a sharp mustard, about a tablespoon or two total.  Then I popped them in the toaster oven for 10 minutes at 375-400 degrees F while I finished cooking the main dish.

The apples weren’t photo-worthy, but they were golden brown (all that mustard!), tangy and sweet and spicy.  They worked really well with the rest of the meal.  They’d be good this way with a pork roast (if we ate pork roast).  My husband spooned out the leftover sauce from the apples and added it to his cabbage, onion, brat, and noodles mix.

Ingredients:

• 4 apples, quartered, peeled, and cored
• pinch of ginger
• pinch of cinnamon
• sprinkle of salt
• splash of water
• 1/2 tablespoon honey
• 1/2 tablespoon mustard

Put the apples in a small glass casserole dish with the cinnamon, ginger, salt, and water and microwave on high for 4 minutes.  Add the honey and mustard and bake at 375-400 degrees F for 5-10 minutes, until the apples are bubbly.  Serve.  Enjoy.

Copyright 2010 Ozarkhomesteader.  Short excerpts with full URL for this site and attribution to Ozarkhomesteader are welcome.

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Arkansas Cheddar-Beer Soup

Given that Arkansas has an award-winning brewery and darn good locally produced raw-milk cheddar from cows that get to eat real grass, I thought a variation on Wisconsin’s renowned cheese soup might be in order for our Ozark croft.  The recipe is easy, and you should be able to make your own local, organic version just about anywhere in the country.  The only thing in our soup last night that wasn’t local was the celery, which was at least organic.  Note:  recent studies have indicated that much of the alcohol does not cook out in baking and other cooking.  Keep that in mind if you are planning on serving this soup to kids.  To serve to kids, increase the mashed potatoes and chicken broth, and eliminate the beer.  If you want to serve it to the guys for a Super Bowl Party, go ahead as is!

Makes about 4 cups

• 1 cup leek, stalk portion only, cut in half, cleaned, and finely sliced (or 1/2 cup sweet onion, finely chopped)
• 1 cup carrot, finely chopped
• 1/2 cup-1 cup celery, finely chopped
• 1/2 cup-1 cup mashed potatoes (nothing fancy added):  less for thinner soup, more for thicker soup
• 1 cup chicken broth
• 1 tablespoon worcestershire sauce
• optional:  a few dashes of soy sauce
• 1 1/2 to 2 cups grated cheddar cheese
• 1/2 cup to 1 cup beer* (depending on how much you like beer)

Begin by finely slicing and dicing the vegetables, adding each to a heavy pot on low heat (I used a 2-quart cast iron Dutch oven), lightly coated with oil (and maybe a thin pat of butter), as you finish chopping each vegetable.

Saute the vegetables over low heat with the pot covered for about 10-15 minutes. Now stir in the mashed potatoes.  They’ll make the mixture look a bit disgusting, but they are there to thicken the soup, so don’t leave them out.   Next, add the chicken stock and worcestershire sauce.  Taste everything.  If it needs a bit of salt, add a few dashes of soy sauce.  Let the mixture simmer on low heat until the vegetables are soft and the soup starts to thicken, about another 10 minutes. Now add the beer, starting with the lesser amount.  Finally, as the beer stops foaming, add the cheddar cheese, a little bit at a time.  Serve with good bread, maybe a nice hearty sandwich.  (We served it with homemade pumpernickel buns with fresh mustard greens, turkey salami, and a spicy pickle spread I made as well as a Diamond Bear Paradise Porter that we split.)

Our cheese came from the Daley Dairy near Rose Bud, Arkansas.  Daley Dairy markets its raw-milk cheddar under the name Honeysuckle Lane. You can purchase it at area stores such as the Ozark Country Market in Heber Springs and Liz’s health food store in Conway.  You can also purchase it through markets similar to CSAs such as Conway Locally Grown. To be frank, a bit drier cheddar would have worked better in the soup, as this cheddar tended to clump and get a bit sticky.  Still, the flavor was amazing.

What kind of beer? We selected Diamond Bear’s Pale Ale for our soup. Diamond Bear is a Little Rock brewery that has won national awards. We like pale ales, and we especially like Diamond Bear’s. Use what you ordinarily drink, as long as you stay away from the hoppiest and most citrusy beers.  Even though we went with the Pale Ale for the soup, we chose a darker beer–Diamond Bear’s Paradise Porter–to drink with dinner.  It worked well with both the cheddar-beer soup and the pumpernickel bread.

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Winter Gardening: Getting Started

If you are wishing you could extend your gardening season but think it’s all over when the first frost hits, you have a whole world of winter gardening awaiting your growing pleasure.  You just need to pick the right things to grow, to give them adequate protection, and to expect them to grow a bit more slowly because they’ll be getting less sun.

It may surprise you to know that one of the nation’s most famous four-seasons farms is in Maine.  Granted, Maine’s coastal waters keep it from being as cold as, say, Minnesota, but it still gets awfully darn cold.  The folks at Four Seasons Farm are real experts, but you can get a start on small-scale winter gardening here with me.  Let’s get first to the seed.

For winter gardening, you obviously need to pick vegetables that are ordinarily geared for colder weather.  Do not expect to grow anything that seed packets label “tender” without a lot of energy-intensive protection, which is not sustainable.  That means you will most likely not be successful growing peppers, squashes of any kind (winter squash isn’t called that because it grows through the winter but rather because it keeps through the winter), cucumbers, melons, or most beans.  You can, however, grow everything in the cabbage and broccoli family , most greens, many root crops, and certain herbs.  For example, basil and parsley prefer warm weather, but chervil and cilantro like it cooler.  If a seed guide recommends early spring or late summer planting, you may be able to get a winter harvest.  If anything requires pollination, expect to do it yourself with a tiny paintbrush, because the buzzies who usually do the job won’t be out and about.

Now let’s talk about protection.  Winter gardening requires you to cover crops through the coldest weather.  If you only have an occasional light frost, you can do the job with old sheets.  If you expect regular freezing weather, begin by adding mulch around tender plants and especially root crops.  Then cover with plastic or glass, being sure that the plants do not touch the covering; plants that touch the covering may freeze.  Building raised beds make covering much easier.

Here are plants in a raised bed in early February, having started their life in early January and survived several nights down to almost 0 degrees F. I built the raised bed to fit an old window that my neighbor was replacing.  I placed the window directly on top of the wooden frame (made out of scrap wood).  On warmer days, you can slide the window back or use a small piece of wood to raise one end and let the cold frame vent hot air.

This pup-tent style grow house can be found in many forms on the internet and works well if you need something taller:   Note that I did not remove ice and snow after a storm.  Those are going to be a consistent 32 degrees F, so if the air temperature is much colder, the snow actually serves as a blanket.  Just know that it reduces light, so you need to get it off eventually.

That brings me to my last warning on winter gardening.  You’ll find that crops grow much more slowly in the winter.  They also may germinate less well, so you may want to overseed.  (You can always eat the thinnings, as we did from the cold frame shown above.) Still, you’ll find that the plants will take off as soon as the sunlight starts coming back, giving you an early spring harvest that will be the envy of your gardening neighbors.

 

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