Recipes

Springtime Rhubarb Treat

This dessert is not too sweet (unless you want it to be) and brings out the best flavour of the fruit - a perfect springtime dish when the rhubarb is in from the field.

Ingredients:

Fruit Bottom

• 5 cups of diced rhubarb (approx 10 stalks)
• 3 apples (cored and sliced)
• 1 tbsp cane sugar
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 cup brown rice flour

Topping

• 1 cup rolled oats
• 1/2 cup ground walnuts (or pecans)
• 1/2 cup brown rice flour
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 4 tbs coconut oil 

Directions:

Cut the fruit and mix with the sugar, flour and cinnamon. 

Place in the bottom of a 2.8L baking dish or 9x13 pan. 

Mix the dry ingredients of the topping together. 

Mix the coconut oil into the dry ingredients with a fork, cutting it into small pieces throughout the topping. 

Pour the topping onto the fruit bottom. Bake at 375 degrees for 70 minutes.

Spaghetti Squash with Tomato Sauce

Looking for something to do with all that wonderful winter squash? How about a “pasta” dish without the carbs....as its name suggests, spaghetti squash makes a perfect base for a tomato base sauce.

Ingredients:

• 1 spaghetti squash
• 1/2 cup vegetable broth
• 2 cups chopped kale (approximately 5 kale leaves)
• 3-5 mushrooms
• 1/2 cup chopped onion
• Tomato sauce (1/2 jar bought or homemade sauce)
• 10 green olives
• 1/2 cup diced artichoke hearts

Directions:

Cut the squash in 2 and clean out the seeds. Place the squash cut side down in a casserole dish with enough water to cover the bottom. Cook at 375° C for 20-30 mins depending on the size of squash (can tell it is cooked when the top easily presses down). When cooked, let cool in order to handle it. Take a fork and pull the squash away from the skin so it comes off looking like pasta.

Meanwhile, heat the broth in a sauce pan, then add the kale, mushrooms and onion and sauté for 4-5 mins. Add the tomato sauce, olives (cut in half) and artichoke hearts. Dish out the sauce on the squash and enjoy

Special Spring Pesto Recipe

Garlic scapes are the garlicky-but-mild aboveground flower stalks of garlic bulbs that appear briefly each spring. Pea shoots (also called pea greens) are the young leaves of garden peas, and they’re bursting with fresh sweet pea flavor. In this nontraditional pesto recipe, the scapes and shoots take the place of fresh basil leaves and garlic cloves. Use your spring pesto as a pasta sauce, sandwich spread or flavor enhancer for soups and stews.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 pound garlic scapes or pea shoots, or a mixture (if using pea shoots only, add 2 cloves garlic to the recipe)
• 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
• 1/2 cup unsalted walnuts (You can substitute almost any other kind of nut, but walnuts and pecans are likely to be the freshest choice in spring, as they will have been harvested in the preceding few months. Or choose nuts that were roasted during their peak season.)
• 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
• Sea salt, to taste

Directions:

Pulse everything in a food processor, adding the ingredients one at a time in the order listed above. Pesto keeps well for a couple of weeks in the refrigerator, and freezes beautifully.

Garlic / Onion Scapes

The Garlic / Onion Scapes can be interchanged with scallions or chives in any recipe you like, including being sautéed. Many prefer their mild flavor. Below is one recipe:

Ingredients:

• 8 chicken thighs, preferaby organic. (You can use 4 leg quarters and divide them into thighs and drumsticks.)
• 4 cloves garlic.
• 2 preserved lemons
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 cup good extra virgin olive oil
• 15-20 scapes, depending on size.
• 10 green olives
• 1/2 cup diced artichoke hearts

Directions:

Use garlic, onion, or a mixture. Clean and cut into 1″ lengths.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Chop the garlic cloves. remove the pulp from the preserved lemons, rinse the rind, and chop it into pieces about the size of matchheads. Make a paste of the garlic, salt, and preserved lemon rind and rub it into the chicken.

In a 9x13″ roasting pan, toss the scapes with the olive oil, and set the seasoning-rubbed chicken thighs on top in a single layer and ad half a cup of water to the pan. Roast at 400 degrees until the thighs are cooked and beautifully bronzed on top, usually about 40 minutes. Test the chicken for doneness.

Serve with plain cooked bulgur, putting a thigh or two and a spoonful of scapes and juices on top of each serving of bulgur. Very easy and delicious, and healthy too. You can use rice, but a nutty grain (such as bulgar) tastes better with the preserved lemons.