Kale Hummus

WOW! I finally learned how to make hummus. It's so easy! I'm so excited about making more with different ingredients: roasted red pepper, roasted garlic, roasted eggplant, and more! We had this hummus with toasted pita wedges.

This recipe comes from the blog 365 Days of Kale. I guess there are some kale MANIACS out there!

Ingredients:

1 cup cooked garbanzo beans, drained

2 tbsp tahini

1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

2 tbsp lemon juice

1/2 cup chiffonaded curly kale

Directions:

Put all ingredients in a food processor except the kale. Pulse until smooth.

Put kale in food processor with hummus-- pulse until kale is chopped into very small green flecks but still with enough texture that it is just slightly lumpy.

Easy Cod Ceviche

Willie is becoming a ceviche MASTER! For this ceviche, he used a combination of Meyer lemons and lime for the citrus and a combination of cod and shrimp for the seafood. Next time, he says he'll use just the cod (which we get individually frozen from Costco). We topped this ceviche with ripe avocado chunks, which provided a smooth and creamy contrast to the sharp and tangy citrus and onions. (Recipe from Claire Robinson, available on foodtv.com)

Ingredients:

2 lbs fresh sea bass or flounder fillets, cut into 1/2 inch pieces

1 cup freshly squeezed lime juice

1 cup chopped and seeded tomatoes

1 habanero pepper, seeded and finely minced

1 tsp salt

1/2 red onion, finely diced

Directions:

In a large glass bowl, combine all the ingredients, except the onion. Toss well and put the onion on top. Cover with plastic wrap and allow it to sit in the refrigerator for 1 1/2 hours, then stir to incorporate the onion. Let sit in the refrigerator for 1 hour and up to 3 hours.

Whole Meyer Lemon Tart

If you are like me and you don't like your desserts too sweet, this is a good recipe for you. It uses an entire Meyer lemon (skin, pith, fruit, and juice) and is very easy to make. The finished pie does have a slightly bitter finish at the back of the mouth, but it's not that bad. The recipe comes from smittenkitchen.com; here is the link.

Ingredients:
1 average-sized Meyer lemon (about 4 1/2 ounces), rinsed and dried. The blog author notes that Meyer lemons are the first choice here because they're milder and have thinner skin. (Adrienne's note: I actually did weigh the Meyer lemon on my husband's postage scale to see how much of them I'd need for 4 1/2 ounces. I needed 1 1/2 Meyer lemons)
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 stick unsalted butter, cut into chunks
4 large eggs
2 tbsp cornstarch
1/4 tsp table salt

Directions:
Adrienne's note: Instead of making my own pie crust according to this recipe, I used a pre-made pie dough blind-baked for half the time that the directions called for, then baked with the lemon filling in it.

Slice the lemon into thin wheels, remove any seeds, and toss the rounds-- lemon flesh and peel-- sugar and chunks of butter into the container of a food processor. Process, scraping down the sides of the container as needed, until the lemon is thoroughly pureed. Add the eggs, cornstarch and salt and pulse until the batter is smooth.

Pour into prepared tart shell. It will fill it completely but if due to slight variances in tart pans, egg sizes, lemon sizes, or crust thickness, you have too much, do not pour it past the top of your crust or it will become difficult to unmold later.

Bake for 35-40 minutes (Adrienne's note: mine was done ~ 28 minutes) or until the filling is set. You can test this by bumping the pan a little; it should only jiggle slightly. In my oven, I find that the point at which the filling is set is also when it starts to get very light brown on top.

Let cool on rack, unmold tart pan and serve. I actually prefer this tart completely chilled, which makes it a great dessert to make in advance of a dinner or party.

Adrienne's note: This pie is a little hard to cut and serve without messing up. Therefore, I use the "concealer" of the baking world-- confectioner's sugar-- to hide my little mess-ups.

Curried Hakurei Turnips

Hakurei turnips are very new to me, so I am still trying to get used to them. This recipe comes from The Veggie Project blog. It's good, but as a stand-alone dish, I wasn't too into it. It did inspire me to take the turnips one step further and incorporate them into a coconut curry chicken dish (recipe here).

Ingredients:

1 chopped onion

2 tbsp oil

5 or 6 hakurei, peeled and sliced thin 2 tsp curry powder

1 tsp salt

one lemon, cut into wedges

Directions: Saute the onion in the oil for a few minutes until translucent. Add the turnips, the curry powder and salt and cook until everything is tender. Squeeze some lemon juice over the dish before serving and serve with some extra lemon wedges.

Fennel, Apple, Celery Salad with Cilantro and (Meyer) Lemon

This recipe is delicious-- fresh, sweet, tangy, and herby all at the same time. The recipe comes from Food Network.

Ingredients:

1/4 cup plus 2 tbsp lemon juice

1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

coarse grained salt and cracked black pepper

2 large apples, julienned

1 medium head fennel, cored and thinly sliced

3 large ribs celery, sliced (about 1 cup)

1/2 cup cilantro leaves, roughly chopped or more to taste

Directions: In a large, non-reactive bowl, combine the lemon juice, olive oil, salt and pepper. Add the apples, fennel, celery and cilantro. Toss until well combined. Taste and adjust seasonings.

So far, this recipe utilizes the most (four) MA`O Farms CSA produce yet: Meyer lemons, cilantro, fennel, and celery. All of the produce was crisp and juicy!

The finished salad.

The Green Goddess!

The recipe for this dressing is Ina Garten's take on the classic Green Goddess recipe, from the Palace Hotel in San Francisco. I've never had green goddess dressing before. I've seen organic varieties in the supermarket, with an earth-mama image on the bottle, so I assumed it was some gentle, herbacious, hippy dressing. Was I wrong! This is no peace-and-love dressing. This mother will punch you in the mouth!

Ingredients:

1 cup good mayonnaise

1 cup chopped scallions, white and green parts

1 cup chopped fresh basil leaves

1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice

2 teaspoons chopped garlic

2 teaspoons anchovy paste

2 teaspoons kosher salt

1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1 cup sour cream

Directions:

Place the mayonnaise, scallions, basil, lemon juice, garlic, anchovy paste, salt and pepper in a blender and blend until smooth. Add the sour cream and process just until blended. (If not using immediately, refrigerate the dressing until ready to serve).

Adrienne's Note:

Ina Garten serves hers with Bibb lettuce and tomato wedges. I would agree that that's a firm and juicy enough lettuce to stand up to the dressing. We tossed some cole slaw in the dressing, and it slapped the hot dog (lower left) around a little.

Ginger-Scallion-Cilantro Pesto

This recipe comes from Grouprecipes.com.

Ingredients and Directions:

(all of these ingredients get thrown into a food processor and pulsed until done):

3/4 to 1 cup macadamia nut oil (I used Oils of Aloha);

1/2 cup chopped scallions;

1 cup loosely packed cilantro;

1/2 cup unsalted macadamia nuts;

3 tbsp chopped garlic;

1 tbsp chopped garlic;

the juice and the zest of 1 lemon;

salt and pepper to taste.

Adrienne's Notes: This would taste good on a grilled white and flaky fish like monchong or mahimahi. I was going to pair it with some roast duck we got (kind of like a cold ginger chicken sauce), but the taste is not like that. The grittiness of the ginger bits pairs well with the crunch of the macadamia nuts.

Rainbow chard leaf pesto

Look at these rainbow chard! Nice, huh? I had a grand plan this week. I was going to make a rainbow chard lasagne using the leaves and stems in different ways. The leaves would be pulsed into a green pesto. The stems would be sauted in olive oil and garlic. The stems would be further cooked in the leaf-pesto-cream sauce before being layered with ricotta and mozzarella in a vegetable lasagne.

If it worked right, the finished lasagne would be an explosion of color: the light green of the pesto cream and the bright yellows and fuschias of the chard bits. Well, it totally did NOT work out as I planned. The leaf pesto came out fine, so I am including that recipe here, below. The stems, on the other hand, turned black! I had sauteed the stems ahead of time and refrigerated them, hoping to just combine the lasagne layers the next day. I cooked the lasagne anyhow, including the black chard bits, and it was a total FAIL! Oh, well, lesson learned. We will try to cook the chard into the lasagne on the same day next time.

In the meantime, here's the rainbow chard leaf pesto recipe from Pantry Eats:

Ingredients:

2 cups lightly packed chard, torn and ribs removed

1/4 cup toasted walnuts

2 tsp fresh lemon zest

2 tbsp fresh lemon juice

1/4 to 1/3 cup olive oil

1/8 to 1/4 tsp salt

1/8 tsp pepper

1/3 cup fresh shredded parmesan cheese

Directions: Process chard, walnuts, lemon zest, and lemon juice until paste starts to form. Gradually add oil and blend until creamy. Stir in parmesan cheese and salt and pepper.

Fennel Frond Pesto

What can you do with all the fennel fronds? Make pesto! It will have a bright lemon flavor and slight anise flavor, which I thought would pair well with fish. Here's the pesto recipe, from Recipe, interrupted:

Ingredients:

1/3 cup pistachios, toasted

1-2 cloves garlic, peeled and roughly chopped

1 oz (about 1/2 cup) freshly grated parmesan

1 tsp salt

ground black pepper, to taste

2 cups lightly packed fennel fronds (usually from about 2 fennel bulbs with a good amount of fronds on them)

optional: 4-5 mint leaves, torn

1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

juice of half a lemon (or to taste)

Directions:

1. Put the pistachios, cheese, garlic, salt and pepper in a food processor. Pulse a few times to grind slightly.

2. Add fennel and mint, if using, to the food processor. With the motor running, drizzle in the olive oil until the mixture is reduced to a paste and has a spreadable, but not greasy, consistency. Taste and add salt if necessary. Squeeze in a little bit of lemon juice to taste.

Adrienne's note: We had this over sauteed salmon. To cook the salmon, salt and pepper the fleshy side of it. In a saute pan over medium heat, heat up about 1-2 tbsp of olive oil. Place the fish flesh-side down for about 6-7 minutes (this was a big slab). Watch the cooking process as the fish flesh turns from dark to light pink. When the fish is cooked midway through, flip it over so that the skin-side is in the pan. Cook for another 6-7 minutes so that the skin becomes crispy. Top with fennel frond pesto.

Shrimp Ceviche

Willie made a delicious ceviche a month ago (see "Cod and Clam Ceviche," adapted from "Red Snapper Ceviche," recipe here). This time around, we experimented with a fine, fine dice on all of the ingredients. The result is a delicate ceviche that can be eaten with tortilla chips as if it were a salsa-- a chunky, protein-filled salsa. Here is the recipe we adapted, from simplyrecipes.com:

Ingredients:

1 lb medium-small shrimp, peeled and deveined

2 tbsp salt

3/4 cup lime juice (juice from 4-6 limes)

3/4 cup lemon juice (juice from 2-3 lemons)

1 cup finely chopped red onion

1 serrano chile, ribs and seeds removed, minced

1 cup chopped cilantro

1 cucumber, peeled and finely diced

1 avocado, peeled, seed removed, and finely diced

Directions:

1. In a large pot, bring to a boil 4 quarts of water, salted with 2 tbsp salt. Add the shrimp and cook for 1 minute to 2 minutes max, depending on size of shrimp. (Overcooking the shrimp will turn it rubbery). Remove shrimp with a slotted spoon and place into a bowl of ice water to stop the cooking.

2. Drain the shrimp. Cut each piece of shrimp in half or into inch-long pieces (Adrienne's note: even on the shrimp, we did a fine dice-- about 1/4 inch). Place shrimp in a glass or ceramic bowl. Mix in the lime and lemon juice. Cover and refrigerate for a half hour.

3. Mix in the chopped red onion and serrano chile. Refrigerate an additional half hour.

4. Right before serving, add the cilantro, cucumber, and avocado.

Serves 4-6.