Simple, Comforting Stew: Spinach, Carrots and Rice

I bypassed this recipe because, by nature, I tend to look for recipes that are intriguing and innovative (through the use of various combinations of ingredients and flavors), but I had to remind myself that this is what I need more of: simple, quick dinner ideas that highlight CSA veggies!

The recipe comes from Mark Bittman (the King of simple, straightforward recipes) and he indicates you can add some heft to the meal by adding some meat (leftover roast chicken, etc.) and enhance the seasonings to suit your taste (dill, cilantro, cumin, etc. would be tasty).


1/2 pound carrots, peeled and cut into 1/4-inch dice
1/2 cup long-grain rice, like Basmati
Salt and pepper
1 pound fresh spinach, thick stems removed, washed and roughly chopped
3 cloves minced garlic, optional
2 tablespoons butter, optional

1. Combine carrots with 6 cups of water (or broth) in a saucepan and turn heat to high. Bring to a boil, then stir in rice and a large pinch of salt. When the mixture returns to the boil, add spinach, then adjust heat so that it simmers gently.
2. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the rice and carrots are very tender, about 1/2 hour, and the mixture takes on the consistency of a thick stew. Stir in garlic or butter (if you're using either or both), and cook another 5 minutes. Taste and adjust seasoning and serve.

Chicken and Greens with Coriander

I haven't tried this dish yet, but it sounds delightfully simple! Served with a side of wheat berry pilaf it would make a complete meal.

Note: it seems like it calls for an awful lot of coriander; I would suggest starting out with 3 TEAspoons, in case it was a typo and go up from there.


Adapted from the Smithsonian Folklife Cookbook

1 large clove garlic, minced
¼ cup olive oil
1 whole chicken, boiled and removed from bone
2 cups chopped spinach, chard, beet greens, etc.
¼ cup lemon juice
1 Tbs salt
3 Tbs ground coriander
1 ½ cups water
1 tsp red pepper flakes (optional)

Saute garlic in olive oil. Add remaining ingredients and simmer for 30 minutes.

Bruschetta in a Bowl

What do you do when you are too lazy to slice and toast the bread for Bruschetta? Toss it in with the rest of the ingredients, warm it in the oven and Voila! Less messy for the kids, too!



While this version has quite a few ingredients (I was trying to use up little bits of everything I had in my fridge/pantry!), it can be as simple or varied as you like. Even just tomatoes and basil work, and I also recently saw a recipe for roasted beet bruschetta. Of course you can still serve this the traditional way as well, spooned onto sliced, toasted bread.

• 1 eggplant, diced
• 2 tomatoes, diced (or 1/2 can)
• 1 Tbs capers
• 1 leek (white part), sliced
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 cup fava beans
• 1/2 cup mixed olives
• 1 Tbs sun-dried tomatoes, chopped
• 1/2 tsp dried oregano
• 1 tsp dried parsley
• 1/2 tsp dried basil
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 2 Tbs balsamic vinegar
• Salt and Pepper to taste
• 2-3 slices crusty stale bread, broken into bite-sized pieces
• 1 cup cubed mozzarella cheese

Combine all ingredients except bread and cheese in oven-proof dish. Bake at 450 degrees F for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally, until eggplant is soft. Toss in bread and cheese and return to oven for 5-10 minutes, until heated through and cheese is melty.

Lamb with Lentils and Chard

Here's a delicious crock pot recipe for your CSA lamb, carrots, lentils and chard. You can use lamb stew meat, or shoulder roast or chops cut into 1" cubes.

The recipe is adapted out of The Healthy Slow Cooker by Judith Finlayson. I cut it in half - the original recipe serves 10.

2-4 TBSP olive oil
1 pound trimmed lamb stew, 1" chunks
1 onion, finely chopped
4 carrots, peeled and sliced
2 stalks celery, sliced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp herbs de Provence (I used rosemary, thyme, oregano, basil)
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp cracked black peppercorns
1 bay leaf
1 1/2 cups chicken or vegetable stock
16 oz can tomatoes, coarsely chopped, with juice
1 cup green or brown lentils, rinsed
4 cups Swiss chard, stemmed and chopped

Brown the lamb in a single layer in a hot skillet. Do this in 2-3 batches, adding oil as needed. Transfer the batches to the crock pot as they finish.

Cook the carrots, celery and onions in the skillet. Stir often and cook until the carrots start to soften (about 7 minutes). Add the garlic, herbs, salt and pepper to the other veggies, and stir for about a minute. Add the bay leaf, chicken broth and tomatoes and juice to the skillet and bring to a boil. Transfer to the crock pot. Add the lentils and stir.

Cook on low for 5-6 hours, until the lamb and lentils are tender. Add the chard in batches, stirring it in until it wilts, then adding more until it's all in the crock. Cover and cook on low for another 30 minutes or until the chard is tender.

Serve with crusty bread or on a bed of rice.

Vegetable Lentil Soup

Here's a delicious vegetarian recipe that will use up all the extra veggies in your crisper drawer.

Essential ingredients:

1/2 large yellow onion
3-5 carrots (about 1.5 cups chopped)
4 celery stalks (about 1.5 cups chopped)
4-6 cloves garlic
1 TBSP thyme leaves
1 tsp oregano
2 bay leaves
2 16 oz cans tomatoes plus juice
1 cup green or brown lentils, rinsed
1.5-2 liters stock (I used mushroom but chicken or beef would work as well as a non-vegetarian option)
Olive oil

Optional ingredients - use whatever you have on hand and would like in the soup. This is what I had:

1 red bell pepper
3/4 c. flat-leafed parsley
1/4 c. freshly shelled peas
6 i'itoi (green) onions, white and green parts
2 cups chopped greens - I used mizuna but kale or chard would work nicely too

Chop the veggies ahead of time and keep in separate piles.

Put about 2 TBSP olive oil into a large soup pot. Heat until the oil starts to shimmer, then add the onion, carrot and celery to the oil. Cook on medium heat until the carrots start to soften; about 7 minutes. Stir often. The vegetables should sweat, not brown.

Add the garlic, thyme, oregano and optional veggies (minus greens) to the pot. Cook, stirring often, for about three minutes, until you can smell the garlic cooking.

Add the stock and lentils to the pot. Chop the tomatoes and add them and the juice from both cans*. Stir it all together and add the bay leaves. Poke them down into the liquid.

Cover and bring the soup to a boil and reduce heat to simmer. Cook for 45 minutes, then check the lentils for tenderness. Cook longer if needed. Once the lentils are tender, season the soup to taste with salt** and cracked pepper. Fish out the bay leaves and discard them. Add the greens to the pot. Cover and cook for another 20 minutes.

*This is very much a tomato-based soup. If you don't want such strong tomato flavor, reduce to one can and add two more cups stock to the recipe.
**Add salt at the very end. If it is added earlier in cooking, the lentils will be tough.

Serve with a salad and hot bread with butter. YUM.

What else would work well in this soup? Turnips, added with the greens. Kohlrabi, added with the 2nd batch of veggies. Spinach, added about five minutes before serving. 1/4 c. wheat berries, added with the lentils.

It's a versatile recipe! Enjoy!

Bubble & Squeak, Colcannon, Rumbledethumps, Stamppot...Call it what you like, we call it comfort food!

I have been making some variation of these traditional European dishes for quite some time now, but never really knew how similar they were to one another. The dish can be SOOOOO easy to prepare; quick, simple, warm and comforting. It can be a meal in itself, or it can be served with any number of meat side dishes; corned beef, sausage or ham is common, and frequently is mixed right into the hash, but a fried or poached egg is delicious as well.

Traditionally, these hashed potato and cabbage (or kale) dishes were a way to use up vegetables leftover from a Sunday roast dinner. Most frequently, the potato and cabbage are the only vegetables, but you can use carrots, turnips, sweet potatoes, or any other veggie that suits your taste. Adding some chopped dark greens helps liven up the color contrast a bit as well. If it suits your taste, you can also mix in diced or shredded cheese (strong Irish cheddar.

In addition, you can prepare the dish in any number of ways, from a simple hashed/mashed version, to fried patties of hash. We have also prepared a version of this dish as more of a soup/stew to which I add egg noodles when I add the cabbage. The proportions listed below are flexible and forgiving. I usually use about a 1:1 ration of potatoes to cabbage, but it very easily accommodates more cabbage or more potatoes depending on your preference. One item to note, if you opt for doubling the cabbage, you might need to add an egg to hold it together for frying into patties.

1 lb potatoes, cubed (we usually leave the skins on, but this is up to you)
1 lb cabbage, chopped roughly
2-3 cups water or broth*
2 scallions (or I'Itoi onions), chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
Salt and pepper to taste
2 Tbs butter or olive oil (optional)

Place water or broth in large pot with potatoes and garlic. Bring to a boil; reduce heat to medium and cook 10-15 minutes or until almost cooked through (this will depend on how big your chunks are). Add cabbage and return to a boil. Cook until cabbage is tender, about 5-10 minutes. Remove from heat, add onions, salt and pepper, butter or oil (if using) and mash coarsely with a potato masher. At this point, you can serve the dish as-is (or dressed up to your liking), or you can opt to fry the mix into patties. Heat a heavy skillet over medium-high heat with a few tablespoons of oil. Scoop mixture about 1/2 cup at a time into skillet; flatten to 1-inch thick patties with a spatula. Cook about 3-5 minutes on each side until browned and slightly crispy, adding more oil as needed. They are tricky to flip because there's not much holding them together, which is why I prefer to skip this step; you could possibly try coating the patties in breadcrumbs first, but I personally haven't tried this to know how it would work. Serve the patties or hash topped with sour cream or yogurt if desired.

*You can use more water, as if for boiling the potatoes and cabbage completely submersed, but you will have to drain it off and add the cooking liquid (or milk) back in if you are mashing the mixture. Also, if you opt to include egg noodles as mentioned in the headnotes you may need more water, or you can cook them separately and add them to the vegetables when they're finished cooking. When adding noodles, there is no need to mash the vegetables, just toss it all together with plenty of butter, salt and pepper!