Cilantro Lime Roasted Potatoes

I picked up the first summer farm share this week. (Whoo Hoo!!) In it included lettuce, spinach, kale, cilantro, and potatoes. A heavy on the greens, start to the season, but I am never going complain when it's heavy on the greens. I could eat greens, any greens, by the bucket full (and basically do). And there was pyo cilantro, which I wasn't expecting for a least a week or two so that was just fantastic because oh how I have missed fresh herbs. 

So greens went directly to my stomach without a chance, but the potatoes and cilantro I left so I could make something to share with the mr. Roasted potatoes because that's my favorite way to eat a tater and covered in lots and lots of cilantro because yes, and when you eat cilantro, you must eat a lot of it. Lime juice for good measure and you got yourself a dank little potato dish if I do say so myself. 

The stuff. Potatoes, cilantro, limes (you probably only need one), garlic, olive oil, and salt and pepper.

After washing your potatoes, dice them into mouth sized pieces and place them into a pot of cold water 

Dice potatoes go into pot and need a little boil. If you have a pinch of salt to toss into the water, well you should do that.

After boiling for a few minutes, give the poe test, if you can kind of pierce a potato with a fork, they are done.  You don't want to completely cook the potatoes, you just want them juuuust barely fork tender.. Once they get there, strain them.

Let the potatoes drain for a minutes or two to make sure all the water is gone. In the mean time, mince up the garlic.

Add the garlic with a big pinch of salt and pepper and a glug glug of olive oil back to the pot (you could use a new bowl, but why dirty another dish?)

Add in the drained potatoes and toss around until they are all evenly coated.

Dump potatoes onto a baking sheet (if you think of it, preheat the oven with the baking sheet in it... just make sure to be careful when handling hot pans)

Into the oven those taters go to roast and be great.

And sometime between putting the potatoes in the oven and taking them out, chop up the cilantro.

Once potatoes are all nice and golden roasted, remove from oven and drizzle and toss the juice of the lime all over. Place the potatoes back into the oven for a few minutes to let them crisp up again.

And then you toss all that chopped cilantro all over those potatoes.

And then eat them. Maybe serve with salsa and whipped avocado because that is what I did and I did good.

-C

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Cilantro Lime Roasted Potatoes 

Serves 2-4 peoples

• 2 1/2  pounds small yellow potatoes
• 1 bunch cilantro
• 4-6 cloves garlic 
• 1 juicy  lime
• 2-3 tablespoons olive oil
• salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 425 with the baking sheet preheating in the oven as well.

Wash potatoes well and chop into pieces about an inch or so big and place in a big pot of cold water. Once you got all the potatoes in the pot, add a pinch of table salt and bring the potatoes to a boil. Cook for 5-8 minutes or until the potatoes are just barely fork tender.. don't over boil them. Drain potatoes.

In either the empty pot (less dishes) or a bowl, combine 2 tablespoon oil with the garlic, a good pinch or two of pepper, and same with salt. Mix around then add in the potatoes. Toss to coat and if you feel that you might need little more oil, drizzle in a bit more. 

Dump coated potatoes onto a  preheated baking sheet and place in oven for about 40-50 minutes, giving the potatoes a good stir after 30. You want the potatoes to be a nice roasted brown. Once roasted, pull potatoes from oven and squeeze the juice of the lime all over the potatoes. Toss and place the potatoes back into the oven for a few minutes just to crisp up a bit. While the potatoes are crisping up, chop the cilantro. After the few minutes, pull the potatoes back out and toss with the cilantro. Season with more salt and pepper if needed and then just eat them. I like to serve with salsa and some avocado situation, but ketchup or naked works too.
 

Winter Roots Spring Rolls

Are you so excited that it is spring? I know I am.  But I am also realistic and know that even though it is "officially" spring, it is not going feel like spring here for a little while. There are still a few more weeks of potential snow storms and cold weather and then there is mud season before we really get to spring and things growing and green.  And plus there are still plenty of roots to finish up before we get into all the fresh spring veggies. You can't plant broccoli and pea into frozen snow covered soil. 

I love me some root veggies, they are some of my favorite, although like every year around this time I am starting to tire of them. But what are you going to do? Stop complaining and stuff them into a spring roll with some lighter veggies and enjoy while you can because once the roots are gone, they are gone (until the fall).  

These spring rolls are good, I mean really really good. The combination of the roasted roots with a fresh tangy mixture of crispy crunchy veggies and fresh ginger and soy and they are just really good. When I made these, it was still vey cold outside so I even went an extra step and baked the rolls to give them a little crispiness to the wrapper  because crispy warm food is kind of nice when its cold out. Because it is still cold out. 

Happy Spring!!!

The stuff. For roots we are using beet, celeriac, parsnip, and carrot. Then we need onion, kale, cabbage, garlic, fresh ginger and rice spring roll wrapper. Also some sesame seeds, soy or tamari, apple cider vinegar, and a little oil or avocado oil. 

First thing to do is get the roots roasting. Cut the roots into !/4 inch thick disks  and place right onto a lightly oiled baking sheet then stick into the oven to roast until browned and tender. 

As soon as the roots are in the oven, chop the kale nice and small. Thinly slice the onion and the cabbage and mince and grate the ginger and garlic. Cute the carrot into very thin matchsticks. 

Toss it all into a bowl and mix with the soy and the vinegar... (this mixture is so very very good.. might just be a salad here soon) 

Don't be gentle, toss with your hands. You can lick then after too. 

Roasted and cooled roots get a nice matchstick chop so they fit into the rolls. 

About time for assembly time. Damp wrapper with a pile of the  cabbage, kale, carrot, onion mixture and a few pieces of each of the roots topped with a sprinkle of sesame.  Oh so pretty all waiting to be wrapped up. 

Fold sides over, fold bottom up, and roll nice and tight. Easy peasy. 

Place the rolls on a lightly oiled baking sheet. Lightly brush each roll with a little oil as well and stick them into the oven. After 10 minutes, flip them over was bake for 8 or so minutes more until both sides are lightly crisp.

And the they be done. Eat right away and serve with extra soy sauce. 

See, we are still happy to eat our roots. And spring veggies will be here before you know it. 

-C

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Winter Root Spring Rolls

make 6-8 spring rolls

• 1 beet
• 1 parsnip
• a small bulb of celeriac (celery root)
• 1 carrot
• 1/4 head of cabbage
• 1 small red onion
• 2-3 kale leaves
• 1 tablespoon soy or tamari 
• 1 tablespoon fresh grated ginger
• 2 cloves garlic
•  2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
• tablespoon oil
• about 2tablespoons sesame seeds
• 6-8 rice spring roll wrappers 

Preheat oven to 400.

Slice the parsnip, celery root, and beet into 1/4 inch thick  disks and place on a lightly oiled baking sheet. Bake for 15 minutes, flip, then bake for 10 or so more minutes  or until the veggies are browned and tender.

When the roots are in the oven, thinly slice the cabbage and  onion and toss into a bowl. Chop the kale into small pieces and thinly slice the carrot into matchsticks about 2-3 inches long. Place it all into the  bowl with the grated ginger, minced garlic, vinegar and soy sauce. Toss it all around and let it sit while the other veggies are roasting.

Once the roots have cooked, remove form oven and let cool. Keep oven on. When they are cool enough to handle,  slice the disks into matchsticks 2-3 inches long.

Time to assemble. Grab all the veggies

Take a shallow dish that can hold a little water and is big enough for a wrapper to fit and add warm water to it.

Keep your baking sheet from the veggies close and lightly oil it again.

Place a wrapper in warm water then place on a wet surface. (keep surface slightly wet or the wrapper will stick)  Add a good pinch or so or the cabbage/kale/carrot veggie mix into the center of the wrapper then add a few of each of the matchstick roots on top. Sprinkle with sesame seeds and then roll. Once rolled, place on baking sheet. 

When all the rolls are made, lightly brush the tops with oil and  place into the oven and bake foe 10-15 minutes, flipping half way through

Remove from oven when each slide is lightly crispy and serve right away, preferably with more soy sauce to dip in. 

Farro with Balsamic Roasted Mushrooms Onions and Spinach

I made the decision to not go grocery shopping for the rest of the week so I can completely empty out and unplug the fridge while we are on our adventures. Why? Well if I unplug it, I won't have to de-ice it when we get back and that would be great. Plus why use electricity when were are not here to enjoy it? But yesterday I realized, we don't really keep a lot of food in the fridge. No that's not true. When I go grocery shopping, I buy a shit ton of veggies. like 5 lbs of greens 10 lbs of carrots, and 5 lbs more of other veggies... and it's gone within 4 to 5 days.  So yesterday when I opened the fridge, it was basically already empty besides the few condiments that I keep in there like mustard, soy sauce and pickle juice (all of which can be left out of the fridge when we are gone). What I did have were a few mushrooms. and a little bit of spinach. It was really sad. So I went grocery shopping. A big, fill the fridge with tons of veggies shop. And I will probably will have to do it one more time before we leave so I am going to stop worrying about emptying the fridge. It empties out pretty fast already.

What can I say, I like me some veggies.

Putting the grocery hall away, the last of the mushrooms and the spinach came out first to be consumed. I have a bunch of onions that I need actually do need to be eaten before we leave and it close to dinner time.. So I grab that stuff and some farro. Yup, farro, a kinda hardy wheat grain that all the cool kids are eating right now. I figured that I should be a cool kid too and make a farro bowl with those veggies. Roasted stuff tossed with balsamic vinegar and cooked farro, served in a pretty bowl. So good. so cool.

What do you think of farro?  I am curious because I am totally into it (me being a cool kid) But the mr, not so much.  I though for sure he would love it, but no. He said it was too chewy and too seedy and just not great. I think that maybe if he wasn't a cranker butt last night that he might have actually liked it, but whatever. You win some you lose some. I consider this a win cause I get to eat it all myself. Like all the cool kids.

The stuff. A onion, a bunch of crimini mushrooms, and a few handfuls of baby spinach. And we also have some farro, balsamic vinegar, water salt, pepper, ans a bit of olive oil.

Get the farro going by dumping it into a pot with water ans a pinch of salt and bring it to a boil. Once boiling, stick a lid on it and turn heat down to low and let it simmer.

Now chop up the onion and mushrooms and toss in to a oven safe skillet or baking sheet with a drizzle of olive oil and some salt ans pepper

Stick into the oven to roast.

After a good 20-25minutes of so, the mushroom onion mixture is all nice and roasted. Remove from the oven for a sec, dump in some balsamic vinegar, mix to coast everything and stick the skillet back into the oven for few more minutes until all the liquid has absorbed and the vinegar starts to caramelized. (but not burn)

Remove it again from the oven and now toss in the spinach.

And the farro should be done by now too(It should be soft but still a bit chewy.) If there is any extra liquid left in the pot, just strain it out.

Then mix he cooked farro into the roasted stuff.

Serve into a bow with a little more vinegar if you want and pepper. Lots of cracker pepper.

Now eat it and serve some to your boyfriend who says he doesn't like it, then eat his too!

Happy day to you

-C

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Farro with Balsamic Roasted Mushrooms Onions and Spinach

serves 2

• 1 cup dried farro
• 2 1/2 cups water
• 1 medium onion
• 6-7 crimini mushrooms
• 2 big handfuls of baby spinach
• 4-5 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
• salt and pepper
• olive oil

Preheat oven to 400

Combine the water ans farro into a pot, sprinkle in a pinch of salt and place on the stove top on high heat. Bring to a boil then place a lid on pot ans turn heat to low. Let farro simmer for about 30 minutes or until tender but still slightly chewy.

Once you have the farro on the stove, chop the onion into 1/2 inch chunks and dice the mushrooms into smaller sized pieces. Place on a baking sheet or cast iron skillet, toss with a drizzle of olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Place into oven and roast for about 20 minutes or until the mushrooms and onion are nicely browned and yummy looking. Remove from oven and mix in the balsamic vinegar. Place back into over for another 6-8 minutes or until all the vinegar has been absorbed. Take back out of oven and mix together with the spinach and the cooked farro.(If farro is cooked but there is still liquid left, just strain it out.)

Serve with a cracked pepper and a splash more of vinegar if your feelin it.

Also tastes great at room temperature of cold out of the fridge.