Category Archives: Vegetable Recipes

Heirloom Fruits and Veggies, Interesting Food, Miscellaneous, Vegetable Recipes

Romanesco – A Fractal Food

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Whole Romanesco
Whole Romanesco

One of the great things about belonging to a food co-op is the wide variety of fruits and vegetables we get to try.  

With the latest offering through www.bountifulbaskets.org we had the opportunity to try a few new items, one was an heirloom vegetable from the 16thcentury called Romanesco, sometimes referred to as Romanesco Broccoli or Romanesco Cauliflower. 

This member of the cauliflower family is commonly served in Italy and has a very mild cauliflower taste with a hint of broccoli. 

Romanesco lends itself well to broccoli and cauliflower recipes and is very easy to prep for cooking because of the broccoli like stems on the florets.  Romanesco is high in vitamin C, fiber and carotenoids.  Served raw this vegetable makes a healthy and delicious finger food (as well as a great conversation piece). 

Chopped Romanesco

My family and I added it to our dinner vegetable tray with the usual dips.  It was a big hit with the entire group, everyone raved about the mild flavor and interesting shape. 

The shape is very unique, several people at the co-op pick-up site commented on how it looked like something from the old TV show Star Trek.  Each piece is a duplicate of the whole, repeating the pattern several times.  This creates a fractal pattern making it somewhat of an anomaly and popular among the math minded.

I would love to see any Romanesco recipes you may have. 

Thanks for sharing and I wish you adventurous and happy eating!

Kathy

 

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Vegetable Recipes

Frosted Cauliflower

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I get compliments on this dish every time I serve it.  It’s easy, delicious and a little different.

 

Yields:  5 to 6 servings

 

Ingredients:

1 head cauliflower (about 1.5 pounds)

½ cup of mayonnaise

1 ½ teaspoons prepared mustard

1 cup shredded cheddar or jack/Colby cheese

 

Directions:

  1. Remove leaves and woody stem from cauliflower and wash thoroughly, leave whole.  Cook covered in a small amount of boiling salted water till tender, approximately 20 minutes.  Drain well.
  2. Place cauliflower in 8x8x2 inch baking pan.  Stir together mayonnaise and mustard.  Spread over cauliflower.  Top with shredded cheese.
  3. Bake in a 375 degree oven for about 5 minutes or until cheese melts.

 

 

 

Meat Dishes, Sauces, Vegetable Recipes

Apple-Curry Sauce

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This is one of my favorite curry sauces, it’s easy and you can serve it over rice just like it is, or add chicken or pork for a terrific meat dish.

 

2 teaspoons of your favorite curry powder

2 tablespoons butter

2 medium apples, peeled, cored, and chopped (approximately 2 cups)

½ cup finely chopped onions

2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

3 teaspoons of sugar (optional – if you like a sweeter curry add the sugar)

2 ½ cups whole milk or light cream

 

Sauté curry powder in butter for 1 minute.  Stir in apples and onion.  Cook covered till apples and onion are tender.  Stir in flour.  Add milk mixture all at once.  Add sugar.  Stir and cook over medium heat till thickened and bubbling.  Continue stirring and cook for 1 to 2 minutes more.  Season with salt and pepper.

 

 

 

 

Meat Dishes, Soups & Stews, Vegetable Recipes

Comfort (Hamburger) Stew

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Sometimes when I’m feeling a little stressed and want to make something easy but delicious we make what we call Hamburger Stew.  This stew satisfies our craving for something warm and nutritious as well as giving us the flexibility to use what we have on hand from the Co-op.  Every time we make Hamburger Stew it turns out a little different, here are some of our favorite ingredients.

 

Main Ingredients:

1 lb of ground beef (browned with onions and garlic)

4 cups of beef stock

Spice to taste (any fresh or dried spices you would normally put in your favorite stew)

 

Optional Ingredients (pick and choose as many or few as you like or add your own):

Potatoes                    Onions                      Broccoli                    Cauliflower

Carrots                       Garlic                        Peas                         Celery

Tomatoes                   Squash                    Green Beans            Peppers

Corn                            Rice                          Barley                        Noodles

 

Directions:

1.      Brown ground beef in large stew pot.  Spice to your taste
         and add chopped onions and garlic (again, to taste),
         sauté until tender.

2.      Add beef stock and choice of vegetables (add vegetables
         according to their cooking times – longer cooking
         vegetables first and so on).  Simmer until vegetables are
         cooked through.

3.      Add rice, grain, or noodles.  Cook an additional 20 – 30
         minutes or until done.

4.      Serve with your favorite sliced or grated cheese (cheddar,
         Colby, or jack) and fresh rolls or garlic toast.