Braised Black Lentils

Sent in by CSA member Paloma Soledad

INGREDIENTS

• 1 tablespoon butter 

• 1 tablespoon olive oil

• ½ cup diced onion

• 2 clove garlic

• ½ cup diced carrot

• ½ cup diced yellow zucchini

• small tomato

• 1 diced jalapeño

• 1 pinch salt to taste

• 1/2 teaspoon thyme

• 1 pinch ground black pepper to taste

• 1 cup beluga black lentils

• 3 cups chicken stock

• 1 tablespoon vinegar

• 2 tablespoons chopped Italian parsley

• Parmesan cheese

INSTRUCTIONS

• Melt butter in olive oil over medium heat in a saucepan. Cook and stir onion, carrot, zucchini, jalapeño, and salt until vegetables are softened and onion is translucent, about 10 minutes. add tomato and cook for a second.

• Reduce heat to low and add thyme  and pepper. Stir in lentils until well coated. Add chicken stock and bring to a gentle simmer.

• Reduce heat to low, cover and cook, checking occasionally, until the lentils are tender and have absorbed all the liquid, about 35 minutes. Remove from heat. Stir in vinegar and parsley. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Parmesan cheese.

Carrot Ginger Soup

CSA Member Pooja cooked up a storm last week, making vegetable gyoza, spinach salad and tofu. She was kind enough to share a recipe for a super healthy soup that uses tons of CSA veggies:

This soup contains carrot, ginger and I added bell peppers & tomato from last week...all measurements are approximates

INGREDIENTS:

Carrots chopped up, 1 1/2 bunches

Bell peppers sliced up (cored & seeded), 2 large orange

Tomatoes diced, 1 large

About 1 and a half onions diced, i used both red & white

Garlic minced, 2 pods

Ginger minced, tablespoon

Lemon zest, 1.5 tsp

Lemon juice, 1/2 half lemon

Vegetable broth (entire box - 6 cups?)

EVOO

Salt & Pepper

Soaked cashews - I have no idea how many - maybe about 1.5 cups? (usually I do overnight, but in a pinch, I soak in hot water w/ a dash of lemon juice)

DIRECTIONS:

Medium heat

Sautee onions in a dutch oven w/ the olive oil for about 5 min

Add garlic and ginger, another min or two

Then add the veggies, another min or two 

Add broth

Simmer covered for about 20 min until all veggies are cooked through

Add the lemon zest about halfway through cooking

In a blender (I have a vitamix), blend up the soft cashews with some of the soak water until it's a creamy consistency, add to pot

Remove from heat. Stir in lemon juice. 

Once cooled down, use an immersion blender and blend until smooth. 
Add salt & pepper to taste.

Top w/ finely chopped ginger and scallions

Note: I have tried adding soaked cashews directly to the pot, but they never seem to get smooth enough, so I prefer to blend them up separately.

Avocado, corn, & tomato salad with cilantro vinaigrette

This week's recipe is from CSA Member Jeremy:

Here's a recipe I got from my friend's mom - she made this for us at a barbecue and we loved it so much that we knew we had to be with it forever. She says she thinks it was a Martha Stewart recipe from the 80's but we copied (took an iPhone pic) from her cookbook.

This quickly became a go-to side dish. Pairs super well with barbecue chicken.

2 cups tomatoes (either halved grapes, or cubed)

1 ripe avocado, diced

2 ears corn

2 tbsp chopped cilantro

For the dressing- whisk together:

Juice of 1 lime

2 tbsp vegetable oil

1 tbsp evoo

1 tbsp honey

s+p to taste

I prefer to do the corn on the grill, husk on. Once cooked, shuck and cut the kernels off the cob into a large mixing bowl. Scrape the cobs with a spoon to get all the juices.

Add the tomatoes, cilantro, and avocado, and dressing, and mix delicately with a wooden spoon or spatula. You don't want to break the avocado up too much. Once everything's mixed I'll usually add some more lime juice and salt and pepper till it reaches my desired level of tanginess. 

If you want to prepare ahead of time, best to wait till you're ready to serve to add the avocado.