Category Archives: vegetables

Fall Farro Salad

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Here’s a delicious and nutritious salad for the fall.  Farro is an ancient grain in the wheat family.  Although it does contain gluten, it has less than modern varieties of wheat.  However, this recipe is easily adapted to a gluten free grain such as black rice.  Farro is very nutritious and an excellent source of fiber, iron, b vitamins, zinc, magnesium and protien.  This grain makes a chewy and satisfying salad when combined with roasted vegetables and fresh herbs.  I especially like this combination with it’s mix of sweet potatoes, sour apples, and savory onions.  Consider this more of a guide than an exact recipe.

Fall Farro Salad

1 cup farro (or other grain such as rice or quinoa)

1 large or 2 small sweet potatoes – cubed

1 granny smith apple – cubed

1/2 onion – chopped

1 garlic clove

1 bunch fresh parsley and other herbs such as basil, cilantro or mint

salt, pepper, extra virgin olive oil

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.  Place the cubed sweet potato, apple, and onion on a foil lined baking pan and toss with about 3 Tablespoons olive oil, salt and pepper.  Roast, stirring once, for about 20 minutes or until lightly browned and very soft.

Meanwhile, cook the farro according to package directions with 1/2 teaspoon salt and a whole clove of garlic in the water.  This grain will need to simmer for about 30 minutes.

Drain the farro and toss with cooked vegetables and chopped herbs.  Season to taste with salt and freshly ground black pepper and drizzle with olive oil.  Serve warm or at room temperature.

Lentil Salad

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Lentils range widely in size and color from yellow, red- oranges, greens, browns, and black.  The most common lentils in my local grocery stores are brown or red.  I have unpleasant memories of brown lentils from childhood.  My mother has always strived for good health and nutrition, and lentils are a superstar in the world of legumes.  Obviously mineral content wasn’t what I was looking for in my food at that time and I was very suspicious of the mushy little beans.  I now recognize that they are powerhouses of nutrition and can be prepared in a variety of ways.  They readily absorb flavors and can be used for soups, stews and salads.  Lentils are surprisingly high in folate, iron, magnesium, protein, and fiber.

There are two varieties that are less likely to get mushy and therefore good choices for salad.  French green lentils (du Puy) and Beluga black lentils are both small and remain firm when cooked.  I usually cook with French green lentils and they are pretty good, but I really wanted to try the small black ones named for looking like caviar.  I had a recipe from Jacques Pepin for Beluga Lentil Salad, but was not able to find Belugas until recently. 

This lentil salad is the best I’ve made.  I often leave out the mint in savory recipes even though it grows nearly year round right by my front door.  I absolutely loved the mint in this salad.  It is light and tasty, but also satisfying and filling; I was really surprised how much I enjoyed it.  The recipe and ingredients are simple and easy to keep on hand, so this will be a great lunchbox meal from now on.

Lentil Salad

recipe from Jacques Pepin

1 cup dry Beluga lentils

water

salt

1 bay leaf

1 large clove garlic

1/4 cup finely chopped shallots ( I substituted sweet vidalia onion)

1/4 cup chopped fresh mint

1/4 cup chopped Kalamata olives

1 Tablespoon white wine vinegar

3 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

Feta cheese for garnish

Begin by sifting through the lentils to check for stones.  You probably won’t find any, but this is good policy any time you cook with dry beans.  Rinse them under running water.

Soak the lentils in 4 cups water and 1 teaspoon salt for 1 hour.

Drain and cook in a saucepan with 3 or 4 cups water, 1 whole garlic clove, 1 bay leaf and 1/2 teaspoon salt.  Bring to boil, then reduce heat to simmer for about 20-25 minutes or until desired firmness.

Drain and discard the garlic and bay leaf.

For the dressing, combine the olive oil, white wine vinegar, olives, mint and shallot in a bowl with salt and pepper to taste.  A great tip when working with raw onions is to chop them, then rinse with cold water to remove some of the sharpness if you don’t want them to overpower the salad.

Add the warm lentils and toss to coat.  Serve warm or cold, topped with a little feta cheese.

Roasted Green Beans

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Why did I plant green beans if I don’t like to eat them?  Well, I dunno… they’re easy to grow and they’re really healthy right?  So now that they are growing, I have to pick them, snap them, cook them and eat them.  Maybe it will be character building for my son to help out.  Most vegetables are better roasted, so I tried it with my green beans.  There are a few tips and tricks to get the most flavor out of any roasted vegetable, and I used them all to make beans appetizing.  I consider this recipe a success.  I ate my beans, and I liked it.

Roasted Green Beans

-Fresh green beans

-Red Onion

-Lemon

-Sea salt, sugar, pepper, olive oil

Preheat the oven to 450 and if you have a convection option, use it.  Place your pan in the oven to preheat with it.  I like to line the pan with foil for easy clean up.

Trim and wash the beans, then let them dry thoroughly.  It is important to start with a DRY vegetable if you’re trying to get a crisp edge.  Any moisture will steam the vegetables.  Slice the red onion very thin and toss with the beans.  Add about 2 tablespoons of olive oil – more or less depending on the amount of beans you’re working with.  Season with sea salt and freshly ground pepper.  Here’s a little tip:  sugar will make anything brown better, so add just a pinch of sugar to get those tasty crunchy browned spots.

Spread the beans on the hot pan in a single layer.  Again, if your pan is crowded the vegetables will steam instead of getting crisp around the edges.  My pan was a little too crowded and the beans were borderline too soft.  I should have used two pans.  Roast until desired doneness.  I like my vegetables pretty well done which takes 10-15 minutes, but if you’re getting a good browning action, these beans would be good still  a little crunchy.  You can take the pan out and stir halfway through cooking.

Finally, remove the pan from the oven and zest your lemon over the hot beans – just a little zest.  Then squeeze about half the lemon juice over the beans and stir around before serving.  They’re really yummy from the onion and zing of the lemon – they hardly taste like green beans at all.