stuffed cabbage

A few weeks ago, we went exploring in the Gourmet Ghetto section of Berkeley. It was a Saturday, which is one of the days that the Berkeley farmer's market is held. We wandered around a bit and found two awesome vendors. The first, Three Twins Ice Cream, sold organic ice cream sandwiches, and the second, Highland Hills Farm, had grass fed & finished beef. (They don't have a website.) We picked up 2 lbs of frozen ground beef, so here is our first non-vegetarian dish of the blog!


Ingedients:
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 small onion, diced
1 cup of cooked white rice
1 lb ground beef
breadcrumbs
salt & pepper to taste
1 head of napa cabbage
1 jar tomato basil pasta sauce
grated parmesan cheese

Chop off the white core of the nappage cabbage. In a large bowl, combine the garlic, onions, rice, beef, breadcrumbs and seasonings. Mix by hand to fully incorporate. Roll a small ball of the mixture in your hand, about the size of your palm. Take one leaf of the cabbage and wrap the mixture inside, tucking the sides in and rolling them under, like wrapping a burrito. Assemble the stuffed cabbage in shallow baking dish, like so:


Pour a jar of pasta sauce over the cabbage, covering it completely. Fill the dish with water, about halfway up. Sprinkle with cheese. Bake in the oven at 350 degrees for an hour and half.

sesame kale

Ingredients:
1 bunch of kale
2 Tbsp canola oil
1 Tbsp sesame oil
1 Tbsp rice wine vinegar
1 Tbsp honey
1 Tbsp soy sauce
1 dash cayenne pepper
black & white sesame seeds for garnish

Steam the kale. Stir together the wet ingredients and cayenne pepper. Toss together and garnish with sesame seeds. Serve cold or hot, with marinated tofu and white rice.

weekly delivery 10/29

Hello! Our box this week:

A bunch of fingerling potatoes
1 bunch of kale

4 Bosc pears

4 Sugar Pie pumpkins
1 bunch of spinach

1 bulb of fennel

7 Red Jonagold apples

4 radishes
1 bunch of cayenne peppers
1 bunch of broccoli rabe

10 white button mushrooms (Yay!! -Katie)

fried rice

Ingredients:
2 cups of white rice
4 1/2 cups of water
1/2 block extra firm tofu
3 heads of baby bok choy
4 eggs
1/4 cup soy sauce
2 Tbsp sesame oil
1 1/2 Tbsp rice wine vinegar
2 Tbsp canola oil
2 tsp red pepper flakes
1 tsp garlic powder
1 1/2 tsp minced ginger

Cook the rice in a rice cooker- it takes 4 1/2 cups of water to cook 2 cups of rice in a rice cooker. Sear the tofu in a wok with soy sauce and sesame oil. When the rice is ready, add the rice and eggs to the wok and stir vigorously to disperse the ingredients around. Add the seasonings. When the egg is fully cooked, add the bok choy and sautee for another 5 minutes.

So delicious and easy- I went back for seconds.

onion dip, arugula pesto

I don't think we mentioned this in our intro post, but Kenny & I both used to live in Philly before we moved out here. Since the Phillies are in the world series, we have been getting together with other former-Philadephians to watch the games. Here are two recipes I made to snack on while watching the Rays get trampled. GO PHILLIES!

Arugula pesto:
A variation on our previous arugula pesto recipe.


Ingredients:
2 bunches arugula
1 cup parmesan cheese
1/2 cup pine nuts
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
salt & pepper to taste

Blend in a food processor. Served with apple wedges.

Onion dip:
This recipe is based on Alton Brown's "Onion Dip from Scratch" recipe.

Ingredients:
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 1/2 cups onions, diced
1/4 tsp kosher salt
1 1/2 cups sour cream
3/4 cup Vegenaise (or mayonnaise)
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp white pepper
1 tsp salt

Heat the olive oil in a pan and caramelize the onion with a 1/4 teaspoon of salt to help them sweat. Remove them from the heat and set aside to cool. Mix together the remaining ingredients, then the cooled onions. Refrigerate and stir again before serving.

Served with Lancaster hard pretzels!

weekly delivery 10/22

1 bunch of arugula
5 Red Jonagold apples

1 head of Napa cabbage

1 butternut squash
1 bunch of dinosaur kale
3 Starkrimson pears

10 white button mushrooms (which Katie is excited for and Kenny is not!)

1 head of green leaf lettuce (which Bunny should be excited for, although I'm not sure turtles can actually get excited?)
4 red skin potatoes
3 heads of baby bok choy
1 bunch of cayenne hot peppers

butternut squash gnocchi

Kenny allowed me to channel my inner Italian once more. I was really intimidated to make gnocchi, but also excited since it's definitely a step up from my usual cooking repertoire. This recipe was adapted from Italian Cooking & Living.

Ingredients:
Gnocchi:
1 butternut squash, peeled and seeds removed, cubed
2 tsp extra virgin olive oil
2 cups all-purpose flour, plus extra for flouring counter and hands
1 cup parmesan cheese
2 egg yolks
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg

White wine butter sauce:
4 Tbsp butter
1 sprig rosemary
2 Tbsp chardonnay
salt & pepper

Preheat the oven to 350. Place the squash on a baking sheet, drizzle with the olive oil, and season with salt. Roast in the oven for about 35 minutes, turning once. Remove from the oven and set aside to cool. Transfer to a food processor and pulse. (*Note- The squash can be roasted a day or two in advance.)

In a bowl, combine the squash puree, flour, cheese, egg yolks and nutmeg and mix to form a uniform dough. Knead the dough and form into a ball. Rip a hunk of dough off the ball and roll it piece into a 1-inch thick rope. Replenishing the flour on your board and hands when necesary, continue to form ropes until you have used up the dough ball. Using a knife, cut each rope into 1-inch pieces.


Meanwhile, bring a pot of water to a boil.

Next, melt the butter in a pan over medium heat. Add the rosemary and wine, cook until the wine has boiled off, but do not allow the sauce to brown.

When the water is at a rolling boiling, add the gnocchi and boil until the gnocchi rise to the surface, about 3 minutes. Remove the gnocchi using a slotted spoon, holding them over the pot until they have thoroughly drained (you may have to do this in batches), then add them to the butter sauce. Season with salt and pepper and toss to coat with the sauce. Garnish with a bit more cheese and serve.

This makes enough gnocchi for 4 servings. Uncooked gnocchi will keep frozen for 3 months.