Radish Leaf Soup

Don't throw out those radish leaves, make this fantastic soup instead!  From epicurious.com

Radish Leaf Soup

1 tablespoon butter
1 large chopped onion
Leaves from 10-15 radishes, washed
5 medium potatoes (about 1.5 pounds), peeled and chopped into 1 inch pieces
3 cups of water or broth
2/3 cup milk

Melt butter in saucepan then add onions and saute until translucent.   Add radish leaves and saute until wilted.  Add potatoes and water.  Bring to a boil, then turn heat down and simmer until potatoes are tender, about 20 minutes.  Use an immersion blender to puree the soup.  Alternatively a blender can be used.  Season soup with salt and pepper to taste.  Garnish with a splash of cream (optional).

Radish Hors d'oeuvres

I don't often make hors d'oeuvres, but I had about 15 radishes and I didn't know what else to do with them, so I made some snacks for the Steeler's game.

Chive Cream Cheese Stuffed Radishes

10-15 radishes

1 teaspoon chopped chives

3 tablespoons cream cheese

splash of milk

Chop off the ends of the radishes so they can stand up.  Reserve the greens for radish green soup (recipe in next post).  Use a melon baller or a small knife to core the radishes.  Reserve the cores for radish deviled eggs (for recipe see below).  Mix the chives, cream cheese and milk together so you get a frosting-like texture.  Use a pastry bag or a plastic baggie with the corner cut to deliver the cream cheese to the cored radishes.

Radish Deviled Eggs

8 hard boiled eggs
2 tablespoons mayonnaise
1 teaspoon dijon mustard
2 tablespoons diced radish
2 teaspoons diced chives
Salt and pepper to taste

Remove shell from eggs and cut in half.  Remove yolks and put in a bowl and mix with mayonnaise, mustard, radishes, chives, salt and pepper.  Spoon out mixture into hard boiled egg whites.

Garlic Lentil Soup

Garlic Lentil Soup

4 cloves of garlic, chopped
4 cups water
1 cup french lentils
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1/2 tablespoon dried thyme
1 tablespoon fresh parsley (use less if dried)

Add water, garlic, lentils, and oil to a stockpot.  Bring to a boil and simmer until lentils are tender, about 30 minutes.  Use an immersion blender to blend the soup.  Then stir in thyme and parsley.  Add salt and pepper to taste.

Potato Kohlrabi Salad

Potato Kohlrabi Salad

2 Kohlrabi cut into little pieces

12 medium sized potatoes, peeled and boiled

2 hard boiled eggs, cut into small pieces

Handful of dill (diced)

Handful of parsley (diced)

1 1/2 cups of homemade mayonnaise (see Local Lunch post for the recipe)

Mix and enjoy!

Local Lunch

For lunch I made egg salad sandwiches with onions and radishes with homemade mayonnaise on homemade multi-grain bread.  It was my best batch of homemade mayonnaise yet!  Here's the recipe:

Mayonnaise

1 garlic clove

1 whole fresh egg

1/2 tsp cayenne pepper

2 tsp powdered mustard

1 tsp lemon juice

3/4 cup olive oil

Add the garlic, egg, cayenne, mustard  and lemon juice to a cup.  Then slowly layer on the olive oil.  Use a hand blender to quickly mix the ingredients.  (Warning: using raw eggs does come with the risk of salmonella).

Kohlrabi is back

When I get ingredients that I'm not sure what to do with, I like to serve them on pasta.  Here's the kohlrabi pasta recipe I tried:

Vegetarian Kohlrabi and Mushroom Pasta
Servings: 4
Total time required: 25 minutes

1 tbsp. butter (or olive oil)
2 kohlrabi peeled and cut into quartered slices
10 mushrooms sliced
6 small green onions diced
3 garlic scapes cut into little pieces (regular garlic could substitute)
Herbs (I used oregano from the garden)
1/2 cup white wine
1/3 cup cream
4 servings of pasta
Sprinkling of fresh grated Parmesan or Romano cheese

Bring a stockpot of water to boil, then add sliced kohlrabi and cook for a total of 12 minutes (cook pasta in the same pot, so add it in before the 12 minutes is done, so the pasta and kohlrabi will be done at the same time).  While kohlrabi is cooking, saute mushrooms and onions in butter for a few minutes, then add scapes and herbs.  Saute for a few more minutes then add white wine.  When white wine reduces, add cream and simmer.  When pasta and kohlrabi are finished, drain water and add to a large bowl and put sauce on top.  Mix well and sprinkle with Parmesan or Romano cheese.

Local Salad

Here's a salad I made with local lettuce, spinach, raspberries, snap peas, goat cheese (that I made), and non-local walnuts.  

First 100% Local Meal

This was my first 100% local meal (I'm a few days late in posting it- I made it on 6/6/10).  It was an omlette with spinach, onion, mushrooms, and cheddar cheese.  It was super tasty, and it felt great knowing that all of the ingredients were from nearby farmers!