Stir-Fried Kohlrabi and Peppers

Recipe Adapted from Bergy

When I started Seasonal Eating in 2011, I contacted Bergy, food photography pioneer at Food.com for advice on kohlrabi. Back in 2001, no one considered food photography as art or craft. But at age 70+, Bergy inspired a new movement with her photographs of homestyle foods she cooked herself. Her food photo styling has become the industry standard, both in in print and online. Plus, her recipes rock! This kohlrabi recipe is no longer at Food.com, and is worth revisiting and republishing.

Moroccan Pumpkin Soup

Leeks on Top for Color Contrast

Recipe from Dan Musicant’s sister

Looking for creative uses for leftover pumpkin from the delightful Argentinian beef stew in a pumpkin recipe, I came across a recipe I printed out way back in 2011 when I first started this blog. I’ve already blogged a more elaborate Moroccan Butternut Soup as well as a Savory Roasted Pumpkin Soup and a Chunky Ginger Pumpkin Soup, but the addition of allspice makes this recipe unique. So I adapted it for the amount of leftover pumpkin that I had, and added some extra chickpeas, since my husband isn't a fan of super-smooth soups. I also chose to serve the sautéed leeks on top, instead of pureeing them with the pumpkin and spices, for variety of taste and texture.

Moroccan Butternut Squash Soup

Swirled with Spicy Oil, Topped with Raisins and Cilantro

Recipe by Melinda’s friend

I love everything about my new job, even the fact that it cuts down on the amount of time that I have for blogging. What better job for a writer than library aide: juggling books, lifting, shelving, pushing carts, reaching, bending and generally getting off one’s duff and away from the screen? Also, there’s constant exposure to great (and not so great) literature for inspiration. Even better, Melinda, my new coworker, is cheerful, smart, and an amazing cook. Her version of butternut soup has a spicy kick to it, along with chunky interest provided by chickpeas, bell peppers, and not-pulverized butternut. The spicy olive oil and golden raisins garnishes add yet more flavor. Since my husband is ho-hum about any super-smooth, creamy, bland soup, this kicked-up, texture-rich squash soup became an instant family favorite at my house.

Italian Style Braised Kale

Colorful and Flavorful Fun

Recipe by Robin

Versatile home cooks know that spinoffs are not just for sitcoms. Recipe spinoffs, aka tweaks, allow us to substitute on-hand ingredients while adding variety to our favorite dishes. This kale recipe is a spinoff from Simply Braised Greens, a summer recipe of mizuna, bok choy, and spinach flavored with garlic, onion, red bell pepper, and thyme. The spinoff employs springtime kale, green garlic, and leeks, dried tomatoes from last year’s garden, and oregano. These few ingredient switcheroos create a new dish: same method, but new and different flavor and texture.

Saffron Fish Stew

Saffron Adds  Golden Magic to Broth & Potatoes

Recipe adapted from Recipes from the Root Cellar

Hot fish stews and chilly winter nights, a match made in heaven for seaside dwellers? I’ve been planning to make traditional Provincetown Fish Chowder all month, but got hung up on the salt pork. My grandmother always kept it on hand during New England winters. But where to find it in Santa Cruz these days? What is it, exactly, for that matter? Luckily, our local library houses a copy of the quintessential winter cookbook, Recipes from the Root Cellar: 270 Fresh Ways to Enjoy Winter Vegetables. In it, there’s an unusual fish stew recipe. No salt pork, but enough saffron threads to make a subtle yet exotic golden broth.

Baked Winter Squash with Greens & Bacon

Contrast in Color, Flavor, and Texture

Kabocha Squash and Collard Greens, Recipe by Robin

Let’s wrap up 2012 with a favorite winter recipe that relies on contrasts. Pairing sweet, dense, and soft kabocha squash with strong, chewy, and sour collard greens, this is perfect food for saying goodbye to 2012, filled as it was with both ease and challenge. The recipe was inspired by a potluck dish I had years ago. The cook would only disclose that she used red kabocha squash, known in some countries as Japanese pumpkin. It’s drier than most winter squash, so benefits from cooking in sauce or stews. Green kabocha is also available, but you’ll have to peel it to get the color contrast. Though this is a vegetarian dish, my recent foray into the bacon world has inspired me to add a with-bacon option.

Chicken Marengo

Add Chicken to Sauce and Simmer

Recipe by Robin

Chicken Marengo. I’d heard the name for years, but never realized that it’s a historical dish. Napoleon Bonaparte’s chef Dunand first whipped it up after Napoleon’s victory at the Battle of Marengo in northern Italy in 1800. Using miscellaneous foraged ingredients, Dunand employed considerable skill in crafting the original recipe using chicken, eggs, tomatoes, onions, garlic, and crayfish, plus a couple of glugs of cognac from Napoleon’s flask.  The result was a chicken-tomato-onion stew served with fried eggs, crayfish, and soldiers’ bread rations on the side. Although this sounds like it would only taste good if you were camping, Napoleon considered the combination lucky. He insisted that Dunand prepare it the same way time and again when they returned home, despite the chef’s desire to modify the ingredients. Fortunately modern chefs are no longer literally under the sword, and have reinvented the recipe minus the eggs and crayfish and plus a few classic ingredients from Italian cuisine.

Minestrone with Fresh Beans

Warming, Healthful, and Italian!

Recipe by Robin

What’s the #1 way to use up lots of veggies from your CSA when nights are cool? That’s right: a hearty, warming soup. One of the keys to good soup is tasty broth. Onion, celery, and carrots, added at the beginning of the cooking time, make a savory broth base. Or use leeks and shallots instead of all or part of the onion. To fully develop their flavor, sauté these veggies before adding liquid to make the soup. Late season tomatoes, added after the broth has developed a bit, turn the broth in a decidedly Italian direction, especially when paired with garlic and dried oregano, basil, and marjoram. Almost any veggie can be “souped,” but be aware that cruciferous veggies like broccoli or kale will tend to dominate the soup’s flavor. Combining milder veggies like squash, potatoes, and green beans with them mellows the blend, as does pasta, rice, or beans. Greens such as spinach, parsley, or leftover basil add freshness and texture to your creation.

Vichyssoise: French Potato Leek Soup

Yukon Gold Potatoes = Mellow Yellow Color

Recipe by Robin

Neither my Santa Cruz style potato leek soup nor Sylvia Folkart’s no-milk potato leek soup seemed appropriate for a Bastille Day potluck last week. Both recipes minimize two ingredients that French chefs love: butter and cream! Also, my earlier recipes were for hot potato leek soup, whereas vichyssoise is always served chilled. And of course, since classic vichyssoise is very smooth, my usual unpeeled potatoes ne sont pas acceptables. A Facebook friend quipped, “I can’t even pronounce vichyssoise, much less make it!” Say “vee shee SWAZ” (hear pronunciation). The final s is pronounced, and accent is on last syllable.

Green Garlic Kale with Leeks

Greens and More Greens

Recipe by Robin

I have a love-hate relationship with green garlic. I love the novelty of the first green garlic in spring, its mellow flavor both green-ish and garlicky, and how we can slice up the whole thing without separating it into cloves. I love celebrating the green garlic season, before garlic dries into its more familiar form. My problem? Too much green garlic! During the season we get a bunch every week from our CSA, and as time goes by the bulbs get bigger, which means increasing weekly quantity.  After the usual Pasta a l’Olio, Red Pasta Sauces, and Stir Fries, I run out of green garlic ideas.

Escarole and White Bean Soup with Bacon

Winning Combo: Escarole, Bacon, and Beans

Recipe by Robin

Bacon. I can’t understand why so many people are fans of the stuff. Friends who like it tell me that it goes with everything, and even like it chocolate-covered. I don’t get what’s great about the salty fattiness. Oddly enough though, while brainstorming a use for massive amounts of escarole from our CSA, I kept envisioning a bacon with white bean flavor. Perhaps the motivation comes from my Auntie’s baked beans, white beans delicately flavored with bacon and maple syrup. Or perhaps I’ve eaten a similar Italian-style soup in the distant past. In any case, a little bacon did indeed make this the perfect soup, on the first try.

Spaghetti and Broccoli

Healthful Pasta

Recipe from “The Cooking Decade”

“Weird!” said my husband both times I’ve mentioned making this recipe. I could tell from the tone of his voice that he didn’t mean “different and interesting,” he meant “sounds terrible,” mainly because he’s not fond of yogurt. But I’ve been intrigued by this no-red-sauce spaghetti for awhile. My husband isn’t home today, but a huge bunch of CSA broccoli is, so the time was right to try it.

Braised Leeks Mexican (ish) Style

Serve Hot or Cold

Recipe adapted from Mexican Everyday

Three weeks of leeks, and then some! Leeks are one of our CSA’s most prolific crops, week after week, and their size requires considerable real estate in the refrigerator. They typically need to pair with other veggies, as in Potato Leek Soup, or with meats or rice. They’re not like broccoli, chard, or carrots. You can’t use up mass quantities of them by simply steaming. My attempts at baking them in various ways have failed: witness the cheesy leek bake. Leeks keep piling up, week after week. Clearly I’m not doing a good job of what my friend Barbara (hi, Barbara!) calls “refrigerator maintenance.”

Braised Chard with Leeks

Garlic and Leeks Compliment Chard

Recipe by Robin

To say that chard saved my life is perhaps an exaggeration. To say that it saved my spirit is not. Back in the days that I lived mostly on beans, rice, and ramen, I could only dream of a supply of fresh veggies in winter. I wasn’t aware of which veggies were in season, only how much they cost at the market. I had no idea that local farms were growing vegetables year-round.

Spring Tonic Root Vegetable Soup

Get Your Vitamins & Minerals Here

Recipe by Robin

About this time of year a few generations ago, mothers in Appalachia concocted spring tonics to invigorate family members after the long winter. Many ingredients were bitter and thought to encourage blood flow to revitalize body tissues, as natural and beneficial as springtime sap rising in a tree. Some traditional ingredients have been proven to be full of vitamins and minerals. Violet leaves are rich in Vitamin C and dandelion greens in Vitamin A. Comfrey is a potent source of calcium and is still prescribed by naturopaths for patients with broken bones.

Spicy Tomato Poached Fish with Veggies

Spicy Fish With Veggies

Recipe by Robin

According to WebMD, three ways to lose weight are to eat protein at every meal, spice food up so it’s more satisfying, and eat more veggies. This recipe incorporates all three. Many of us are ready to eat lighter fare after the holidays, so I thought this recipe would be perfect for January. Bonus: it's easy to make.

Originally I came up with this idea to use up the spicy homemade tomato juice that our CSA supplies to us in winter (made in summer with their tomatoes). While I have used two summer veggies, zucchini and bell pepper, this recipe still seems wintery because it’s a hot and spicy fish stew that’s warming on cold days.

Herb Steamed Fish with Vegetables

Tilapia on Bed of Veggies

Recipe by Robin

While preparing one of my most popular recent posts, Yankee Magazine’s Rosemary Chicken with Fennel, I was reminded of a similar dish that I make with fish. My mom used to make delicious chicken fricassee flavored with carrots, celery, and a few onions, mostly in winter when few other veggies were available.  I reworked this idea once when the only veggies that we had in the house to accompany our fish were carrots and celery. This one-dish meal is quick and easy to prepare, and makes a light yet warming meal.

Winter Veggie Frittata

Winter Veggie Frittata

Recipe by Robin

I confess that I have never made a frittata before. The word intrigued me, and when I won a raffle prize of 6 fresh eggs from the office manager’s chickens, I thought “frittata.” Frittatas, it turns out, are quite similar to “veggies and scrambled eggs,” which I used to make every Sunday morning when I was single, paired with whole grain toast and homemade jam. Back in those days I used zucchini, bell peppers, and sometimes tomatoes, in other words summer veggies. To honor where we are in the yearly cycle (and to use veggies on hand), I winterized my old recipe.

Late Summer Pasta with Leek, Pepper, and Tomato Sauce

Top with Cheese, or Not!

Recipe by Robin

In late summer we are blessed with lots of tomatoes and basil, and this pasta dish features both. We also had a large leek and lots of scallions, but you could substitute any kind of onions. Similar to my Pasta with Onion-Garlic Red Sauce and Veggie Crumbles and Early Summer Pasta with Red and Green Sauce, this recipe can be adapted to include other late summer veggies like zucchini or summer squash.

Mashed Potatoes Florentine

Recipe with Yellow Finn Potatoes

Recipe from Live Earth Farm, 1999

 We were perusing our CSA’s website to find recipes that use the maximum number of the veggies that we received this week. A bounty of yellow finn potatoes led us to this unusual mashed potato recipe, which also incorporated the large bunch of spinach we received. These potatoes were a perfect accompaniment to the exotic salmon sausages that our local natural foods store makes.