Merrimack Valley Magazine

CSA – Merrimack Valley

August 13, 2018 by Doug Sparks Leave a Comment

Pan Seared Hake With Apricot Cherry Chutney, Garbanzo Beans and Asparagus

Serves 2

Ingredients:
2 fresh apricots (medium dice)
1 cup fresh cherries (pitted and cut in half)
1/4 cup red onion (small dice)
2 cloves of garlic (minced)
1 cup fresh garbanzo beans
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/4 cup white wine
4 leaves fresh lemon balm
1 bunch of thin asparagus
1 pound of fresh hake
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Fill a small sauce pot with water and add 1 teaspoon of salt. Bring water to a boil, then add garbanzo beans. Boil for 3 minutes, then transfer into a container of ice water to blanch.

2. When you are ready to plate, add 1 teaspoon of butter and 1 clove of minced garlic to a saucepan. Saute for 1 minute on medium heat. Add garbanzo beans and cook until they are warmed up — approximately 3 minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste.

3. In a small saucepan, add 1 teaspoon of olive oil and turn heat to medium. Add onion and garlic. Saute until translucent and slightly golden brown. Add diced apricots and cook for 5 minutes on medium heat. Deglaze the pan with 1/4 cup of white wine —always cook with wine you would drink. Add cherries, cayenne and lemon balm. Cook for 15 minutes. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Set aside until ready to use.

4. Turn on the grill. Coat the asparagus in olive oil, salt and pepper. Place asparagus on the grill and cook for 4 minutes or until tender.

5. Clean hake, removing the skin and any bones. Ask your local fish person to clean the fish for you if you are not familiar with the task. With a saucepan or cast-iron skillet, turn the heat on medium-high. Add 1 teaspoon of vegetable oil. This will produce less smoke because it has a higher smoking point than butter. Once the pan is hot, add the fish away from you to reduce oil splatter. Let the fish cook for 2 minutes until you start to see golden brown around the edges. Add 1 tablespoon of butter and 2 springs of thyme. Baste the fish with the butter for 3 minutes. The hake should ideally be served medium-rare.

6. Place cooked asparagus on the plate and top with garbanzo beans. Add the hake on the side and scoop a few spoonfuls of the chutney onto the fish and the plate. Garnish with edible microgreens or flowers.

About the Farm-Fresh Ingredients

Garbanzo beans, also known as chickpeas, are actually green when fresh! If you’re lucky enough to get some in your CSA share, you’ll know that they taste much better than the canned or dried yellow version. If you can’t find them in your farm share or grocery store, consider asking local farmers.

Lemon balm is used for many medicinal purposes. It has been used for centuries in tea, essential oils, extracts and aromatherapy. It also has a great flavor, with subtle citrus notes. Its texture is similar to mint.

Angelina Jacobs

Chef Angelina Jacobs is the executive chef at Cabonnay in Manchester, N.H. She comes from a long line of fishermen and clammers and has always been in touch with nature, working on farms and in gardens since childhood. She has close relationships with many farmers and fishermen, and is inspired by farm-to-table cuisine. As a creative chef, Jacobs is comfortable cooking classic dishes, as well as producing innovative new menus and invigorating plates. She recently traveled to Thailand to take cooking classes and learn about the nation’s cuisine.

CSA: Merrimack Valley – Swiss Chard Baby Rolls

June 4, 2018 by Doug Sparks Leave a Comment

Welcome to CSA: Merrimack Valley, where area chefs offer recipes that will help you make the most of your CSA farm share. We’ll introduce you to some of the less common items in your basket and hope that you’ll be inspired to eat fresh, healthy and local.

Maria Natera shares her recipe for Swiss chard baby rolls. Natera is the healthy living programs manager at Groundwork Lawrence, a nonprofit organization that promotes urban environmental and social well-being. ( Editor’s note: The article was originally published in the May/June ’18 issue of MVM. ) She teaches cooking classes on how to eat healthy on a budget and manages three summer farmers markets and one winter market.

At Groundwork Lawrence, Chef Maria Natera teaches healthy living workshops and strives to strengthen the growing community gardener network. She is also a volunteer at Lawrence CommunityWorks and serves on its board. Her Swiss chard recipe is colorful, kid-friendly and great to make when you’re tired of the same old salads. Photos by Adrien Bisson.

Swiss Chard Baby Rolls
Servings: 8 to 10

Ingredients:
2 bunches Swiss chard, stems trimmed
4 differently colored peppers (green, red, yellow and orange), julienned
2 carrots, julienned 1 small zucchini, julienned
1 small summer squash, julienned 1 cup cilantro, chopped
1 cup spinach, chopped 1 cup scallions, chopped
1 white onion, diced 2 tablespoons salt
2 tablespoons olive oil 2 garlic cloves, minced
3 tablespoons butter 3 cups cream
2 cups Romano cheese 2 cups Parmesan cheese
4 cups mozzarella cheese
2 cups rice, or preferred grain, cooked

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 F.

2. In a pan heated to medium-high, add the oil and half of the minced garlic. Cook for 1 minute, then add the peppers, zucchini and squash.

3. Mix cilantro, scallions and spinach with the rice or grain of preference. Fold in the cooked vegetables.

4. Fill a cooking pot with water and bring to a boil. Turn off the heat and soak the Swiss chard in the hot water for 5 to 10 minutes. This will soften the leaves and make them easier to roll.

5. Put a scoop of the vegetable and rice mixture into each Swiss chard leaf and roll them up. Fold in the edges and place the rolls into a baking or casserole dish. Set aside.

6. In a hot skillet, add butter, onion and the remaining minced garlic. Cook for 5 minutes. Add the cream, Romano and Parmesan cheese and stir. When the sauce is thick, it is ready. Top the Swiss chard rolls with the sauce and leftover cheese.

7. Cook at 375 F for 15 to 20 minutes or until done. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Preserving the Summer Harvest

September 9, 2015 by Suzanne DeWitt

Help! I’m Trapped Under a Mountain of Zucchini! During this season of plenty, the “News from Lake Wobegone” warns that if you leave your car door unlocked, you’ll probably end up with a bag of zucchini on the seat. Too much of a good thing wasn’t a problem in the past. In our great-grandmother’s day, it merely meant spending an afternoon at the stove “putting up” a few extra jars. What do we do with the remaining bounty of tomatoes, zucchini and all the other fresh and lovely things that our Valley gardens have produced?

Dick Chase of Newburyport’s Arrowhead Family Farm suggests trying some old-time preservation methods, saying, “Go for it! Enjoy doing it; enjoy eating it.”

If you are new to food preservation, Francey Slater, founding co-director of Lowell’s Mill City Grows, recommends starting with herbs. “Fresh herbs are always abundant during the growing season, and add so much flavor to food. Simply chop herbs, put in ice cube tray cells, and cover with olive oil. Vary the amount you put in each cell based on how much you would normally use in a recipe. These cubes are great to use in soup, stews, casseroles, even breads [allow to thaw first],” Slater says.

Robert Perocchi from Farmer Dave’s in Dracut suggests simply throwing whole berries into a pot with sugar (1/2 cup per cup of fruit), heating till bubbling, and then adding a cornstarch slurry to thicken. Once the jam cools, fill jars and pop them in the fridge or freezer.

If you’ve got a countertop covered in tomatoes, Slater describes an unfussy tomato sauce made in a slow-cooker: “You can blanch tomatoes and remove skins and seeds, but personally I use the whole tomatoes. Start by rough chopping and cooking them down in a big pot. Once they have broken down, transfer to the [slow-cooker] and cook overnight, or longer. Add onions, garlic, herbs and whatever else you like to put in your sauce, and cook until the flavor and consistency is good. Use an immersion blender to puree. Then freeze the sauce in Ziploc freezer bags. Quick, easy, delicious and versatile.”

The idea of canning can be intimidating, but Chase offers practical wisdom. “For heaven’s sake, stop worrying about it,” he says. “You can make things a hell of a lot safer than ‘big ag’ does it. It’s time-tested. Just follow the recipe.”

Slater suggests that novice canners start with pickles. “I love dilly beans [pickled green beans with dill, garlic and hot pepper],” she says. “Not a lot of chopping because you use the whole green bean.”

And what about all that zucchini? Slater says, “Dried zucchini is actually delicious and a great addition to soups, pasta, pizza. I like to dehydrate and then store in olive oil, like sun-dried tomatoes.”

What about that fair-haired vegetable child: kale? Rose Dobosz, a Community Supported Agriculture member at Arrowhead Family Farm, says she takes all sorts of greens home and immediately washes and cuts them up, spins them dry, and then throws them into bags for the freezer. She ends up with a supply that lasts through the winter to add to soups and stir-fries.

Once the pumpkins and hard squashes arrive, Chase suggests storing them about 6 inches apart under your bed. He says the location offers perfect light and temperature conditions. (Plus they give the cat something to thunk around.)

Which preservation method should You choose?

Freezing produce is easy, and food textures are well preserved. While some items freeze better after being blanched, many foods only need to be washed and trimmed before being chucked into labeled freezer containers. The downside is that you have to pay for the electricity to keep your bounty frozen.

Good foods for freezing include: hardy greens (kale, beet, chard), corn, broccoli, green beans, tree fruits and melons (other than watermelon).

Drying preserves nutrients and fiber better than methods involving extreme heat, and flavors are intensified as moisture is removed. Another advantage is saving space. Twenty pounds of tomatoes results in 11 quarts when canned, but drying the same amount results in a single pound of fruit. The downside to drying is that produce must be reconstituted for use in cooking.

Good foods for drying include: almost anything! Some items need to be spritzed with lemon juice to retain color (apples, pears) or deliver better results when pre-steamed (broccoli, potatoes, beets).

Canning results in ready-to-use products. Everything from jams to salsas to pickles may be canned. Downsides include hot, steamy kitchens and the need for ample pantry space. On the other hand, you get to admire the gleaming jewel-toned jars as they disappear in a countdown to spring.

Good foods for canning neophytes include: acidic foods such as fruits, tomatoes and pickles.

Worried about trying to preserve your own food? With this simple recipe you’ll be able to enjoy summer’s harvest long into the fall and winter.

MILL CITY GROWS KALE PESTO

Ingredients:
2 tablespoons salt (for cooking water)
1 pound kale (or any hardy leafy green) coarsely chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup olive oil
1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional)
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
1. Bring large pot with 1 gallon of water and salt to a boil. Add kale. Cook kale until tender, about 10 minutes. Drain. Toast the chopped nuts in a dry cast-iron skillet over high heat, stirring constantly, until they start to brown in spots and become fragrant. (Be careful not to over-toast them, as they will burn very quickly once they are toasted.) Immediately transfer nuts to a dish to cool for a few minutes. Put garlic, walnuts and kale into a food processor; pulse until well combined. With the food processor running, slowly pour in olive oil in a steady, smooth stream. When ingredients are thoroughly combined, transfer to a bowl. Stir in the Parmesan cheese, and season with salt and pepper to taste.
2. To freeze, package 1/2- or 1/4-cup portions in freezer bags or plastic containers with tight-fitting lids. Label packages with date and contents. Makes 2 cups.

Mill City Grows
Lowell, Mass.
(978) 455-3208
MillCityGrows.org

Food styling by Chef Sam Putnam
Shot on location at Café UTEC Lowell, Mass.

Six Steps Toward Wellness

February 25, 2015 by Will Courtney Leave a Comment

Local experts offer some easy steps to start feeling healthier and happier each day

1. Increase your water intake.
Drinking enough water is the No. 1 thing to consider when trying to improve your health, says Christy LeMire, a nutrition and wellness coach in Newburyport. Many of us are chronically dehydrated. Thirst can be mistaken for hunger and lead to excess cravings. Upping your intake of water will improve hydration, improve digestion, help balance appetite, and promote a healthy weight. Let a large glass of water be the first thing to hit your lips each morning. Drink the majority of your water between meals for optimal digestion.

2. Try a yoga class.
Many people turn to yoga for the physical benefits, and wind up staying for the mental perks. But all yoga is not the same, says Shavon Schwartz, manager of Dahn Yoga in Andover, where a less intense, more energy-focused style is taught. If you have a bad experience at one yoga studio, trying another style might help you. A first class is typically just $10 to $20.

3. Consider your stress level.
Chronic stress directly affects our hormones, immune system and weight, and can lead to cravings, trouble sleeping, depression and illness. LeMire says to reduce and manage stress, get more sleep, move your body daily with activities such as walking and yoga, and schedule time for yourself to do things that restore your energy, such as taking a bath or reading. You also can try adding a tablespoon of chia seeds to your diet daily. The omega-3s will help with your stress.

2013-07-17-farmer-dave-051 — Photo by Adrien Bisson

4. Use gentle sweets.
Eating fresh fruits and sweet vegetables such as yams, carrots and beets can help crowd out the damaging effects of refined sugars and artificial sweeteners, LeMire says. Opt to naturally sweeten your meals in moderation with alternatives such as enzyme-rich raw honey, pure maple syrup and stevia.

5. Eat dark green leafy vegetables.
Greens are our best source of alkaline minerals, fiber and chlorophyll, LeMire says. They are full of vitamins and nutrients and great for improving circulation, blood purification, strengthening the immune system and lifting spirits. Broccoli, collards, kale, arugula, romaine, chard, dandelion greens, spinach and bok choy are some of the many to choose from. Change it up often.

6. Invest in a CSA farm share.
Rather than spend money on the latest diet craze, invest in a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) farm share at your local farm, says Katherine Tucker, a professor of nutritional epidemiology at UMass Lowell. It’s a little more expensive, but you know the food is grown locally and is packed with vitamins and nutrients.

Main photo by Harkins Photography.

CSA – Merrimack Valley

CSA: Merrimack Valley – Swiss Chard Baby Rolls

Preserving the Summer Harvest

Which preservation method should You choose?

Six Steps Toward Wellness

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