Grilled Chicken Winter Salad

Chicken and greens: simple and delicious.

1 large chicken breast
1 tablespoons grape seed oil or cooking oil
Small pinch fresh cut culinary herbs like rosemary, thyme or basil
1 bunch arugula
1 bunch mizuna
1 1/2 savoy or leafy cabbage
1/2 bunch spinach

Vinaigrette Dressing
2 tablespoons sherry vinegar
1 tablespoons fresh lime juice
1 tablespoons minced shallots
1 tablespoons chopped thyme
1 tablespoons chopped parsley
1 clove garlic, minced
1 teaspoon maple syrup
3/4 cup olive oil

Grill chicken in a skillet with salt. Cook until golden brown and well done. Toss in herbs last. Set aside to cool, then slice thinly into small strips.

Prepare greens by chopping them into bite-size pieces and submerging them into a filled sink of cold water. Gently move greens around to wash off any garden dirt. Then spin dry or lay greens on a kitchen towel to dry. Mix all ingredients for the vinaigrette dressing, drizzle on the greens and top with the chicken.

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Posted on May 9, 2014

Pan-Seared Halibut Steaks

Serves 2

2 tablespoons Nash’s soft white wheat flour
2 tablespoons herbes de provence
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 wild halibut steaks, 1/2 pound each
1 garlic clove, minced
1/4 to 1/2 cup fresh lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon sugar
Zest of 1/2 lemon (for garnish)

Mix flour, dried herbs, salt, and pepper in a small dish. Rub over all sides of the fish.

Heat oil over medium heat in large sauté pan. When pan is hot but not smoking, place the fish into the pan. Cook four minutes, flip and cook another three to four minutes on the other side, until the fish flakes open.

Remove fish from pan and quickly add garlic, cooking 30 seconds. Add lemon juice and sugar, whisking to bring up the browned bits from the bottom of the pan. Simmer one to two minutes to reduce the sauce. Drizzle over fish and garnish with lemon zest.

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Posted on May 9, 2014

Grilled Leeks

Grilling season is here! Try grilling your leeks, maybe with other assorted veggies or some Nash’s pork burgers.

12 medium leeks, trimmed to about 7 inches, split length-wise to within 1 1/2 inches of the root end
Olive oil for grilling

Vinaigrette
4 teaspoons Dijon-style mustard
3 tablespoons white-wine vinegar
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1/3 cup minced assorted fresh basil

Tie the leeks in 4 bundles with kitchen string, and place in a kettle of boiling salted water. Boil them for 6 minutes, or until they are just tender, and drain them in a colander. Refresh the leeks under cold water and discard the strings. Brush the leeks with the oil and grill them on an oiled rack set, 5 minutes on each side, or until they are golden.
Transfer the leeks as they are grilled to a platter and keep warm. In a separate bowl combine all the vinaigrette ingredients and season with salt and pepper. Drizzle the vinaigrette over the leeks.

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Posted on May 9, 2014

Nettle Soup

Try this basic nettle soup recipe, then get creative and find your own favorite version. What is your favorite addition? Let us know in the comments below!

1/2 of a 5-gallon bucket nettles
6 cups water or stock
Lots of garlic
Some onion
Salt, pepper, and tabasco to taste
Butter (optional)

Simmer all ingredients. After about 15 minutes, add garlic and onion, then simmer 5 minutes more. Pulse or puree in blender. Optional: add a blob of butter to the pot.

Infinitely variable to individual preference!

We thank Brenda for this recipe, which is her favorite nettle recipe.

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Posted on April 11, 2014

Wild Salad Greens

These nutritious greens are ones you might enjoy picking and tossing into raw salads: chickweed, miner’s lettuce, purslane, oxeye daisy, lambsquarters, sheep sorrel, field mustards, and hairy bittercress. Finding the herb and nibbling on a leaf will give you the best idea of how to incorporate it into salads, soups, stews, sandwich fillings, etc. Each one has in individual texture and taste that is unique to its being. The chickweed and miner’s lettuce are more delicate in flavor; the purslane and sheep sorrel tend towards the bitter side; the oxeye daisy, field mustards and hairy bittercress are more peppery and the lambsquarters has a deeper flavor. You can also use the young lambsquarters as you would nettles. It makes a delicious steamed veggie.

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Posted on April 11, 2014

Raab and Carrot Salad

Try different raabs, or a mixture of raabs, in this lovely salad, such as the sweet green cabbage raab (my favorite, at right) or Nash’s red kale raab (middle) to add vibrant color.

1 to 2 bunches raab (1 pound)
1 pound thin carrots
1 tablespoon sweet sherry or sweet vermouth
1 tablespoon cider vinegar or balsamic vinegar
1 1/2 tablespoon honey
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/8 to 1/4 teaspoon ground hot pepper
2 tablespoons peanut or corn oil
1 tablespoon Asian (dark) sesame oil

Lightly steam the raab until barely tender. Remove from pan and allow to drain and cool. Steam carrots whole until they lose their raw crunch but are not cooked through. Let cool.

In a small dish, mix sherry, vinegar, honey, salt and hot pepper to taste, stirring to blend. Add peanut and sesame oils.

Line up the raab on a cutting board. Slice at a sharp angle to form long oblongs, 1/8 inch thick; add to dish. Cut carrots the same way and add to dish. Toss with dressing. Season to taste and chill.

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Posted on April 10, 2014

Six Tips for Cooking Dried Beans

Don’t shy away from any great legume just because it’s dried. Here are some preparation suggestions, thanks to The Kitchn.

Need some inspiration for your bean dishes? Try diana fava beans, the smaller and rounder sibling to the more typical lima bean-shaped windsor fava bean. They’re super tasty!

1. Use as little water as possible. Don’t let the beans get soggy or ultra-soft, because that dilutes their rich pot liquor, the incredibly flavorful liquid that comes off as they cook. Cook them slowly over low heat, only adding water if they start to dry up. Add enough water to just cover the beans, bring them to a boil, then reduce the heat and cook, uncovered, as low as you can.

2. Don’t mess with the beans. Some people add bacon, ham or garlic. However, well-grown heirloom beans have incredible ranges of flavor, nothing like canned beans. Try a couple pots of beans with just salt and pepper. You’ll be surprised at what you taste.

3. Don’t forget the salt! Beans need some salt. They have immense natural flavor, but they need some salt to bring it out, and they absorb quite a bit before it starts show through. Add a teaspoon of salt to the cooking water and more to taste in the last half hour of cooking.

4. Soak the beans. Rinsing dried beans then soaking them overnight in clean water will reduce the cooking time for most beans, although good fresh dried beans are less in need of a soak.

5. Cook dried beans for the right amount of time. Cooking time depends on the bean, but usually you’re looking at about 2-4 hours. Cover with water and simmer on an evening when you’re doing other things. Refrigerate and eat over the next several days.

6. Fresh beans need less cooking time. Freshly hulled beans will cook in about 45 minutes or less.

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Posted on March 29, 2014

No-Guilt Bean Dip

Nash’s grows kidney beans? That’s right! Get kidneys along with a variety of other legumes and grains at the store or our farmer’s markets.

Makes about 5 cups

1 teaspoon olive oil
1 onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1-2 cups cooked Nash’s dried corn, cooked until very soft
1 32-ounce can chopped tomatoes, drained and chopped
1 tablespoon chili powder
2 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon coriander
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1-3 tablespoons salt (to taste)
6 cups cooked kidney beans, cooked until mushy

In a large Dutch oven or sauce pan, heat oil on medium heat. Add onions and cook until softened and just turning golden. Add garlic and cook until fragrant. Add corn and tomatoes and cook until excess liquid from tomatoes has simmered away. Stir in spices, brown sugar, and one tablespoon salt.

Stir in beans, using the bowl of your spoon to smash the beans against the bottom and sides of the pan. Continue stirring and smashing until the beans are as mashed as you like. Leave some of the beans still whole for the texture if you like. Taste and add salt and other seasonings as needed. Serve with thinly sliced pieces of toast, vegetable sticks, pita chips, or tortilla chips.

We thank The Kitchn for this great recipe.

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Posted on March 29, 2014

About Cabbage Raab

We get pretty excited about raabs, especially cabbage raab, at this time of year.

In the spring, we are all getting just a little tired of root vegetables, even if they are delicious. Just in time, the brassicae send up their flowering heads and they are sweet and oh, so tender. We call these shoots “raab,” not to be confused with broccoli rabe, which is actually a variety of broccoli in and of itself.

One of the sweeter raabs that we have at Nash’s is from green cabbage. Other raabs come from various kales, Brussels sprouts, arugula, mizuna and collards. But the cabbage raab seems to put all its natural sugars into its growth in the spring.

Brassicae raabs are thought to detoxify carcinogens and are useful in many forms. Almost all parts (stems, roots, flowers, leaves and seeds) can be used as food. They are crunchy and much sweeter than you would imagine.

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Posted on March 28, 2014

Pork and Cabbage Raab Stirfry

Cabbage raab is as beautiful to the eye as it is to the taste.

Several slices bacon or pork belly
4 cloves garlic, chopped
2 bunches cabbage raab (or other raab), bottom ends trimmed
Dash olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste
Cayenne to taste (optional)
Brown rice or cooked whole grains

Cut several slices of bacon or pork belly into small pieces and sauté with garlic in a frying pan until the bacon starts to brown. Remove and set aside.

Wash raab and trim off the bottom ends. Cut the rest—stalk, leaves, florets and all—into 1-inch pieces. Add a little olive oil to the pork drippings and sauté the raab until it starts to wilt. Cover and let it cook for a few minutes more until tender.

Remove from heat and stir in pork and garlic. Add salt and pepper to taste, and a little cayenne if you like a bit of a kick. This tastes great on a bed of brown rice, or on cooked whole grain, like triticale or rye berries.

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Posted on March 28, 2014