Pho with seared tofu and kale

Ingredients
Serves 4 persons

4 table spoon of sesame oil
2 garlic gloves, thinly chopped
Approx. 1 inch of chopped fresh ginger root
4 stalks of chopped lemon grass (hard leaves removed, just the pale yellow tender part),
½ teaspoon of crushed chili pepper (optional)
2 X 32 once of chicken stock
Hoisin sauce, approx. 2 table spoon (or to taste)
Soy sauce, approx. 3 table spoon (or to taste)
Lime juice, approx. 3 table spoon (or to taste)
½ lb Pho rice noodles
12 once of tofu, cut into 1 inch cubes and seared in sesame oil with cilantro, garlic, red crushed chile pepper, salt and pepper until nice and gold
2 cups of kale, cut thinly and sauteed with crushed garlic in olive oil for 2-3 minutes or until just wilted.

Garnish with:
Fresh bean sprouts
Fresh Cilantro
Fresh Basil
Green Onions


Directions
Heat sesame oil under medium-low heat; add garlic, ginger, lemon grass and chili pepper. Reduce heat to low and sautéed for approx 10 minutes (you want to flavor the oil and not burn it, so keep the heat low after ingredients are added). Add chicken stock, season with hoisin sauce, soy sauce and lime juice. In a separate pot boil rice noodles according to package instructions or until tender. When noodles are cooked, cool them under cold water, add a little bit of sesame oil and stir so they don’t stick to each other. Set aside. To assemble the soup, place rice noodles in a large soup bowl, put tofu and kale on top, add flavored stock till ¾ full. Garnish with bean sprouts, cilantro, basil, green onions and a piece of lime.

Pate de Campagne

This pate is quite easy to do and it's a great fast lunch or a very fancy appetizer if served in very thin slices with a green salad and a dijon/shallot dressing, my favorite!


Ingredients
3/4 cup Cognac (or any other Brandy)
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 cup minced onion
2 1/2 pounds ground turkey
12 oz bacon (8 to 10 slices), finely chopped, plus 14 bacon slices (for lining pan - optional)
3 garlic cloves, pressed
2 1/2 teaspoons salt
2 1/2 teaspoons dried thyme
1 1/2 teaspoons allspice
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1/3 cup whipping cream
1 6-ounce piece turkey steak, cut crosswise into 1/4-inch-thick strips
½ cup whole pistachio
½ cup dried cranberries
Coarse sea salt

Preparation
Position grill at lowest position in oven and preheat to 350°F. Boil Cognac until reduced to 1/2 cup, about 1 1/2 minutes. Cool.
Melt butter in heavy medium skillet over medium heat. Add onion and sauté until soft and translucent but not brown, about 8 minutes.
Combine ground turkey and chopped bacon in large bowl. Using fork or fingertips, mix together until well blended. Add sautéed onion, garlic, 2 1/2 teaspoons salt, thyme, allspice, pistachios, cranberries and pepper to bowl with turkey mixture and stir until incorporated. Add eggs, cream, and reduced Cognac. Stir until well blended.
Line 9x5x3-inch metal loaf pan with bacon slices, arranging 8 slices across width of pan and 3 slices on each short side of pan and overlapping pan on all sides. Using hands, lightly and evenly press half of meat mixture (about 3 1/4 cups) onto bottom of pan atop bacon slices. Arrange turkey strips over in single layer. Top with remaining meat mixture.
Fold bacon slices over, covering pâté. Cover pan tightly with foil. Place pan in 13x9x2-inch metal baking pan and transfer to oven. Pour boiling water into baking pan to come halfway up sides of loaf pan. Bake pâté until a thermometer inserted through foil into center registers 155°F, about 2 hours 15 minutes.
Remove loaf pan from baking pan and transfer to rimmed baking sheet. Place heavy skillet or 2 to 3 heavy cans atop pâté to weigh down. Chill overnight.

Beet, Carrot and Kale salad

I ended up serving this dish like a wrap. I served 1/4 cup (more or less, depending of the size of the lettuce leave) of the salad in a Boston lettuce leave and ate it like a burrito. It was delicious!

Ingredients

2 large carrots, shredded

1 small beat, shredded

1 cup of cherry tomatoes, sliced

1 leave of kale, chopped

1 avocado, cut in 1/4 inch cubes

1 hand full of fresh cilantro, chopped

1 small garlic clove, minced

1 inch of fresh ginger, minced

1 tsp of chipolte pepper

1/4 cup of olive oil

3 tbsp sesame oil

1 tbsp soy sauce

Juice of 1 lime

Sea salt and fresh cracked pepper for seasoning

Mix everything together in a large bowl, marinate a little and serve on Boston lettuce leaves to form wraps.

Spaghetti Zucchinis

This is a delicious raw salad. I made a huge bowl full and I couldn't stop eating it, I ate and ate until it was all gone...It's also a very quick recipe if you have a mandolin, if you don't, you should consider investing in one, it makes chopping so much faster.

Ingredients

2 small zucchinis, julienned

1/2 a big portabello mushrooms, julienned

1/2 can of a 15.5 oz organic cubed tomatoes

1 1/2 cup of kale, chopped in very thinly ribbons (like a chiffonnade)

1 medium garlic clove, minced

1 inch of fresh ginger root, minced

Dressing

1/2 cup of olive oil

3 tbsp of sesame oil

3 tbsp of soy sauce

Lime juice, to taste

1 tsp turmeric

Sea salt and fresh cracked pepper for seasonning

Mix all ingredients in a large bowl, marinate for 5 minutes and serve!

Buckwheat Pancakes

Quite fast and delicious week-end breakfast.

Makes 6-8 pancakes

Ingredients

3/4 cup buckwheat flour

2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 cup milk (I used soy milk)

1 large egg, lightly beaten

1 Tbsp melted butter

Directions

Mix flour and baking soda. Add milk, egg and melted butter, mix until well combined. Rest for approx. 30 minutes.

Heat a medium size skillet on med heat. Add just enough butter so the pancakes won't stick to the skillet (like 1 teaspoon - just once, for the first batch, it won't need it for the remaining). When butter is hot but not smoking pour just enough batter to form a 4-5 inch pancake, repeat the operation until the skillet is full. When the pancakes are starting to have little holes in them, they are ready to flip over. Once you flip the pancakes, it's really fast, like 30 seconds before they are ready. Lift one side and look under, when it's nice and gold they're ready. Repeat until there's no more batter. When all the pancakes are cooked, pour some of the berries on top with a nice maple syrup or wild honey.

For the berry sauce

2 cups frozen organic berries

In a medium size pot, cook the berries on medium-low heat for approximately 5-7 minutes. Set aside until pancakes are ready to serve.

Happy Sunday!

Beet and fig salad

This salad has a really nice combination of flavors as well as textures. Hot, sweet, sour, tender and crunchy is what you will find here. I'm thinking some nice goat cheese would have been a fabulous addition for the taste but also for the contrast of colors. Unfortunately, I was out, but if you have some in your fridge, go ahead and sprinkle a few crumbles...I'm sure it will be good. You can let me know...

Serves 2

Ingredients
1 big fresh beet, boiled until tender and cut into 1/2 inch cubes
3/4 cup, dried mission fig cut in half
1/2 cup pine nuts
1 hand full fresh flat parsley, chopped
2 tablespoon dark balsamic vinegar
4 tablespoons of sweet chile sauce
Salt

Directions
Mix everything together and transfer to a serving platter

p.s. you might need to adjust the proportion of balsamic vinegar and chile sauce to your likings. It might be a good idea to mix it in a separate bowl first, start with 2 balsamic for 4 chile sauce and adjust slowly.

Chick peas with collard greens and roasted tomatoes

If you roasted some tomatoes already, then this recipe is really quick to do. You can serve it as a side dish, eat it just like this or with an egg for breakfast.

Ingredients
2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
2 medium size garlic cloves, minced
1/2 teaspoon red crushed chile pepper
1- 15.5 oz can chickpeas
1 teaspoon of herbes de provence (or others)
1 packed cup of collard green, roughly chopped (or spinach)
1 cup of roasted cherry tomatoes, roughly chopped (or regular size roasted tomatoes chopped in 1 inch cubes)
2 tablespoons of olive tapenade
Salt and pepper

Direction
In a heavy medium size skillet, heat up 2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil. When oil is hot but not smoking add garlic, chile pepper, chickpeas and herbes de provence. Cook on medium heat for about 2 minutes, add collard green. Cook for 1 minute or until wilted. Add
roasted tomatoes (see previous post for recipe) and olive tapenade. Season with salt and pepper and serve!

Roast them up!!

It's tomato season folks ye!! I am a huge tomato fan. There is two things that money can't buy and they are; love and home grown tomatoes (in my case they come from my local and favorite CSA farm). If you are like me and have a whole lot of tomatoes, I enthusiastically say; Roast them up people!! Tomatoes are all water so they will diminish quite a lot when you are done roasting them.

There is many reasons why you should roast your tomatoes;

• First, it's a great way to preserve them
• They are simply out of this world delicious and sweet with a nice piece of country bread and some goat cheese
• They make the best pasta dish you ever had in your life
• They make an extravagant breakfast if served with poached or fried eggs on a bed of spinach or other greens (see recipe below)
  

...and the list goes on and on... on salads, for quick anti-pastis platter, on a bruschetta with a piece of sopresseta, on a pizzas sprinkled with grated manchego and fresh basil..etc.

Here is how you do it:

Pre-heat your oven to 300F. Cut the tomatoes lengthwise in quarters and put them on a baking sheet in one layer. If you have a lot of tomatoes then use two baking sheets. Sprinkle your tomatoes with olive oil (about 2-3 tbl sp) and minced garlic. Season with salt, pepper and some herbes de provence or other herbs of your choice like basil and oregano. Bake in the oven for 2 hours or until slightly shrivelled at the edge and a bit dry. After they have cool down, transfer them to a Mason glass jar with all their juices and keep in your refrigerator.

If the skin bothers you, here is how you peel tomatoes. Boil a big pot of salted water. Using a sharp knife make a cross shape incision in the bottom of tomatoes. When water is boiling, insert 3-4 tomatoes at the time and boil for 15-20 seconds (not longer, you don't want the tomatoes to start cooking or they will be mushy). Remove them with a slotted spoon and immediately plunge them in an ice bath, just long enough so they cool down, but not too long so they absorb too much water. Now, all you have to do is peel them by pulling down the skin, starting where you did the incision.

Fried egg with chipolte pepper, herbes de provence, baby bella mushroom, dandelion and cherry tomatoes

I have to get ready for my cooking class but I'll tell you about this recipe tomorrow. Although, you can probaby figure it out.

Cous-Cous with kale, lemon basil, corn and toasted pine nuts

Serves 4

Ingredients

1 oz box of cous-cous, cooked according to directions

1 medium size garlic clove, chopped

1 scallion, sliced

1 packed cup kale, chopped

½ cup toasted pine nuts (or almonds)

1 cup corn kernels

½ cup lemon basil (or regular) chopped

Salt and pepper

Directions

Heat large skillet on medium heat. Add 2 tbl sp of extra virgin olive oil. Sautee garlic and scallion for 1 minute. Add kale and corn and cook for 2 minutes add pine nuts, cous-cous and lemon basil and season to taste.

Okras with cherry tomatoes and quenelle of ricotta and basil

Okra has been a revelation for me, really! I didn't think I liked okra but I was wrong, I just didn't know how to prepare them. Teaching for the CSA members forced me to research how to prepare okras in order to reduce it's main characteristic and reason why people don't care for them so much...and that is "the slime".

Of course deep frying them works quite well, but I rather not deep fry too often. Once in a while is fine, as a treat only...so for the rest of the time try this:

Wash and dry okras very well. When cutting them make sure your knife and chopping board are dry as well. Apparently, the contact with moisture will bring the slime out of the okras. When you cook them, place them in your skillet and let them be. Do not disturb them and most importantly do not over cook them. They only take 2-3 minutes that's all! One more thing, the smaller the better. They shouldn't be bigger then your little finger, for tenderness and sliminess..

They are excellent for your joints, espacially raw.

Serves 2

Ingredients
5-6 tblsp extra virgin olive oil, or enough to cover bottom of your skillet
10 medium size garlic cloves, chopped roughly
10 cherry tomatoes, crushed with your fingers
10 small okras, cut in 2 lengthwise
4 tblsp of fresh parsley, chopped
splash of lime juice
Salt and Pepper

Directions
Heat olive in a medium size skillet, when oil is hot but not smoking add garlic. Turn heat to low and roast garlic for 5 minutes so the oil gets infused with the garlic taste. Add the tomates and continue cooking on low for another 5 minutes. Add okras and cook for 3 minutes (okras are a bit like sponges and they will absorb the nice garlic infused olive oil and the tomato juices). Add fresh parsley, splash of lime, salt and pepper to taste.

For the quenelle
Mix 1/4 cup ricotta cheese, 2 tblsp chopped fresh basil, 1 minced medium size garlic clove, salt and pepper to taste. Using a table spoon form an egg shape ball and place on top of okra dish.
The ricotta quenelle is a really nice addition of flavor and texture to this dish.

Serve as a side dish, on pasta or just as is.

Frisee salad with heirloom tomatoes

This is quite a nice summer salad. Fresh, colorful, crispy and light. Serve it with your favorite raw milk cheeses, nice salami and a crispy country bread for the perfect summer lunch/brunch.

Serves 2

Ingredients
1/2 bunch frisee salad, cleaned and chopped bite size
1/2 medium size yellow, purple and orange heirloom tomatoes, chop in 1/2 inch cubes
1/2 cup of olive oil
1 medium size garlic clove, minced
3 tblsp fresh basil, chopped
1/2 tsp red crushed chile pepper
Salt and pepper

Preparation
In mixing bowl combine; olive oil, lemon juice, garlic, basil, red crushed chile pepper, salt and pepper. Add tomatoes and marinate a little while (10-15 minutes). Transfer frisee to serving platter & top with the tomatoe salad with all the dressing, don't leave any behind, the best part is to soak your bread in the yummie tomates juices.

Grilled vegetable gazpacho with kale

There is nothing better in the summer time then a nice chilled gazpacho! I will be posting the recipe for this great gazpacho very shortly, the reason I can't do it right now is because I'm on my way to my cooking class. Tonight I am going to teach how to make great veggie burgers..
So, come back soon for the gazpacho recipe...Great trick to keep you coming back to my web site hi! hi!

As promised...here is the recipe:

Ingredients

1 cucumber, halved and seeded, (don’t peel it) 1 red bell pepper, cored and seeded 1 yellow bell pepper, cored and seeded
4 medium size tomatoes
1 red onion 1 whole garlic head, cut 1/3 from the top
1 cup of kale, chopped

3 cups tomato juice

1/4 cup white wine vinegar

1/4 cup good olive oil

Salt and pepper to taste

Directions
Roughly chop the cucumber, transfer to food processor and pulse a few time until coarsely chopped.
Cut peppers, tomatoes, onions and garlic roughly. Transfer to baking sheet, sprinkle with salt, pepper and fresh thyme and roast at 425 degree for 35-40 minutes or until soft and caramelized. Remove from oven and cool. Puree in small batches in food processor. Transfer to big mixing bowl with cucumber and kale and add all remaining ingredients. Chill and serve with a garlic crouton on top.

Poached egg with smoke salmon and collard greens

This recipe is a real feast. Perfect for a sunny Sunday brunch! Of course the collard greens can be replaced by any greens of your choice like; spinach, kale, mustard green etc..

Serves 2

Ingredients
2 - 1/2 thick slices of pumpernickle bread (or other kind of bread)
2 tbl spoon of butter
1 medium garlic clove, minced
1 tbl spoon of fresh parsley, chopped
1/2 medium onion, chopped
2 packed cups of collard greens, chopped bite size
2 thin slices of smoke salmon
2 eggs
2 tbl spoon of white vinegar
2 slices of provolone, (or other kind of cheese)

Directions
Mix butter, garlic and fresh parsley and spread over the slices of bread. Grill under the broil until nice and brown, approximately 1 minute. Remove bread from oven and set aside. Boil some water in a medium size pot filled to 1/2 it's capacity. When the water is boiling, reduce heat to medium-low so it barely simmers, add vinegar, then the eggs and simmer for 4 minutes. The white will be set but the yolk will still be runny. Remove from water with a slotted spoon and set aside. Add 2 tbl spoon of olive oil to a medium size skillet and sautee onion on medium heat for 2 minutes or until transparent. Add collard greens and sautee for an additional 3-4 minutes or until wilted. Remove from skillet and set aside. To assemble: place the slices of bread on a baking sheet, add on each slice, in this order, collard greens, smoke salmon, poached egg and cheese. Grill under the broil for 2 minutes or until the cheese is nice and brown.

I seasoned the tomatoes with some fresh basil, drizzled with olive oil, balsamic vinegar and a dash of salt and pepper.

Tofu sautee in a garlic infused oil with a tomato and fresh herb pistou

Tofu is like mushrooms or eggplants. They are very spongy and kind of tasteless. I like that because you can give them practically any taste that you want and if you add a little salsa, relish or pistou then you could end up with a pretty explosive mouthful.

This low method of cooking the tofu infuses the oil in which the tofu cooks and gives it a nice Mediterranean flavor with the cumin, the sweet roasted garlic and the smoky pepper. The pistou complements the dish perfectly bringing all the flavors together.

Serves 2

For the tofu:

Ingredients

4 - 1/2 inch slices of tofu
Olive oil, enough to cover bottom of a medium size skillet
10 medium size garlic cloves, chopped roughly
2 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp chipolte pepper
4 tblsp fresh cilantro
Salt

Directions
Heat up medium size skillet on med-low heat. Add olive oil. When oil is hot (but not smoking) add garlic. Reduce heat to low and cook for 1 minute. Add tofu. Sprinkle tofu with half cumin seeds, half chipolte pepper, half the cilantro and a bit of salt. Cook on low heat for 10 minutes. Turn tofu, sprinkle with the other half of cumin, chipolte pepper, cilantro and give it a final dash of salt. Cook for another 10 minutes always on low heat. Raise up the heat to medium and continue cooking tofu for an additional 2 minutes on each side to give it a nice golden, crispy crust.
Transfer to plates, drizzle with the infused olive oil from the pan - don't forget any of the crunchy pieces of sweet garlic, they are delicious-. Serve with a green salad, a wedge of lime and spoonful of pistou (recipe follows)

For the Pistou:

Ingredients
1 loose cup of fresh parsley
1/2 loose cup fresh basil
1/2 pint of cherry tomatoes
1/2 cup olive oil
Juice of 1/2 lime (or to taste)
Salt and pepper

Directions
Place all ingredients in food processor and pulse 2-3 times until almost pureed but not quite. I like to keep it a bit chunky.

Ratatouille

In August we are getting all the right vegetables for the best ratatouille ever. Serve it on rice, or on noodles. My favoite way to eat it is as a side dish with a quiche!

Serves 4

Ingredients
1 eggplant
1 zucchini
1 yellow squash
1 red bell pepper
1 green bell pepper
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 onion, chopped
2 medium tomato, chopped roughly (about 1 cup)
2 teaspoons minced garlic
3 tablespoons finely chopped fresh parsley leaves
2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh basil leaves
1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh thyme leaves

Directions:
Cut eggplant, zucchini, yellow squash, and bell peppers into 1/2-inch dice. In a large heavy skillet cook onion in 1 tablespoon olive oil over moderate heat, stirring, until tender. Add zucchinis, squash, and bell peppers and cook for 3-5 minutes. Stir in tomatoes, garlic, herbs, salt and pepper to taste and cook for an additional 10 minutes. If the tomatoes are evaporating too fast you can always add a bit of chicken or vegetable stock to keep the ratatouille nice and moist.

Collard Green Vichyssoise

I did this recipe last Monday in my cooking class, it was good but a bit too thick. So the next day I added a bit more almond milk to make it thinner and I adjusted the seasoning and it was a lot better.

I revised the recipe and changed the 1/2 cup almond milk to 1 cup.

Ingredients
4 cups collard greens, chopped roughly
3 leeks, chopped
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 lb potatoes, cut into ½ inch cubes
1 teaspoon chopped garlic
3 cups vegetable broth
1 bay leaf
1/2 teaspoon packed fresh thyme leaves
1 cup chilled almond milk
Salt and pepper

Directions
Cook leeks in butter in a heavy pot over moderate heat, stirring occasionally, until softened, about 5 minutes. Add potatoes and garlic cook 1 minute. Add broth, bay leaf, and thyme and simmer, uncovered, until potatoes are tender, about 10 minutes.
Add chopped collard and simmer, uncovered, until collard is tender, about 4 minutes.
Puree soup in batches in a blender (or with a hand mixer) until very smooth.

Vegetables of the week!

I couldn't wait to get some eggplant, so I was sooo happy when I got my box to see that finally the time had come to work with eggplants again ye! We have red peppers too and leeks..I already have tons of ideas of what I'm going to do with them...I'm thinking roasted eggplant and pepper dip, ratatouille, stuffed thin slices of eggplants with ricotta cheese and a nice little tomatoes sauce...babaganough will also be on my list and many more...

Lobster Salad

One thing I really miss about working on yachts (for the ones who don't already know...well yes, I used to work on yachts as a private Chef...seems like centuries ago) is spending the summers in New England and eating fresh lobsters and juicy sweet clams on a bed of linguinis with my dear friend Debby...all fresh from the ocean, I am feeling soooo nostalgic right now..snif.. remembering these good old days...but it only last a few seconds before other memories come rushing through my mind of long, exausting days of work and all of a sudden the nostalgia is gone and I'm quite happy where I am with my freshly caught lobsters from.. well....Sam's..
But hey! all the other ingredients are from our lovely organic farm.

For the Salad:
You can certainly use the vegetables of your choice. Mine had:
2 avocados, sliced
1 cucumbers, cut into ribbons with a potato peeler
2 hard boiled eggs, cut in half
1 cup of cherry tomatoes, cut in half

1/2 zucchini, cut in half and sliced thinly

1 bunch of fresh basil

2 cups of lettuce, cut bite size

Dressing (my favorite ever)

In your food processor, puree:

1 whole shallot

1 tbl sp of Dijon mustard

1/2 cup olive oil

Fresh lemon juice to taste (about 1 part of lemon to 3 parts of oil)

Dash of red crush Chile pepper

Salt and Pepper

Sautee of swiss chard, lots of whole basil leaves,fresh corn, zucchinis and cherry tomatoes

Basil is wonderful but it doesn't last very long. I have done a lot of pestos but recently I have used it not only as a herb but as a green..I sautee the whole leaves, and quite a big bunch of them at once, and add it to other vegetables or just eat it by itself with a bit of minced garlic, crushed chile pepper, lemon zest and soy sauce, it's yummie as a side dish or with jasmine rice. I thought it might be too strong at first but it isn't...it makes the dish very fragrant and flavorful!!

Ingredients
2 scallions, sliced
4 cups of chard, chopped bite size
1 cup of fresh corn kernels
1cup of zucchinis, cut in strings of 3 inches long
1 cup of cherry tomatoes, sliced to 1/4 inch
2 packed cups of whole basil leaves
3 tbl sp of dark balsamic vinegar
2 tbls sp of olive oil
Salt and Pepper

Directions
Heat medium size skillet on medium heat. Add scallions cook until transparent, about 1-2 minutes. Add chard, corn and zucchinis, cook for an additional 2 minutes or until tender. Add tomatoes, whole basil leaves, balsamic vinegar, olive oil, salt and fresh cracked pepper.
Enjoy!

Warm salad of kale with roasted peppers, goat cheese and pain de campagne

I always like to clean my salad plate by wiping a piece of bread on the left over dressing. A piece of bread soaked in balsamic vinegar and olive oil is simply delicious no? That's is what inspired me for this salad.

I used a piece of pain de campagne (I don't know what it is in english..farmer's bread, country bread?) that I had for 2-3 days. It was starting to get a bit hard, that's mainly the reason why I decided to include it in this dish.

Perfect for recycling a piece of bread that's getting a bit tough!!

Ingredients

2-3 cups of kale, chopped

2 shallots, quartered

1 1/2 cup of good stale bread, cut into 1 inch cubes

2 roasted peppers (red, orange or yellow, your choice), each sliced in 8 pieces

1/2 cup goat cheese, crumbled

5 tbl sp of olive oil

3 tbl sp of dark balsamic vinegar

salt and pepper

Directions

Heat medium size skillet on medium heat. Add 2 tbl sp of olive oil, when oil is hot add onions, sautee 2 minutes or until transparent. Add kale and cook 2-3 minutes or until tender. Add the roasted peppers, balsamic vinegar and remaining 3 tbls sp. olive oil, add bread and toss to coat with the olive oil and the balsamic vinegar, add salt and pepper. Remove from heat. Transfer to serving platter or plates, sprinkle with goat cheese and serve.

Spaghettinis with kale, black olives, capers, roasted garlic and toasted pine nuts

You can substitute the kale with any other greens. However, the collard green might need to cook a little more.

Ingredients
1 lb of spaghettinis (or pastas of you choice)
4 tblsp spoon of olive oil
6-7 big garlic cloves, roughly chopped (it sounds like a lot but when the garlic is nicely roasted it becomes quite mild and sweet)
½ cup of pine nuts
¾ cups of black olives (more or less depending of your preferences)
¼ cup of capers
2 -14 ounces cans of tomatoes, pureed in the food processor
2 full cups of kale, chopped

Directions
In a large skillet, heat olive oil on med-low heat. Add garlic, reduce heat to low. Roast garlic for 10 minutes. Remove garlic – keeping as much as the garlic infused oil as possible - from skillet and set aside to cool. Return skillet to burner and toast pine nuts on medium heat, in the garlic infused olive oil, until nice and brown. Add black olives and capers and sauté 2-3 minutes. While black olives and capers are dancing in the skillet mash the garlic with the side of your knife’s blade until it’s reduced to a puree and add to black olives and capers. Add the tomatoes and cook for approximately 10 minutes, still on medium heat. Add kale and cook 2 minutes. Serve on pastas of your choice. You could also add some zucchinis to this recipe since we have some really nice organic ones from the farm.

Hope you like it!

Kale Dip

Kale dip

4 cups kale leaves
1 large avocado
½ tbs. lemon juice
½ tsp. salt
1 garlic clove, peeled
¼ tsp. curry powder
½ tsp. minced fresh ginger
Dash cayenne pepper
Dash chili powder
Dash cumin

Blend all ingredients in food processor until smooth, and serve.

Scrambled eggs with kale, feta cheese, capers and fresh oregano

This recipe may sound strange to you but if you are a caper and feta cheese lover you have to try this out, it is delicious! For real.... Do not add any salt though, remember the feta cheese and the capers are salty already.

Serves 2-4

Ingredients
2 tbls of extra virgin olive oil
6 egss
2 cups of kale, chopped
2 greed onions, sliced
¼ cup of capers
¼ cups of feta cheese
2 tblsp of fresh oregano or thyme.

Direction
Place a skillet over medium heat. Add 2 tbls of extra virgin olive oil. When oil is hot add the green onions. Cook for 1 minute. Add the capers and cook for 1 minute. Add the kale and cook for an additional 2 minutes. Transfer to plate. Scramble the eggs. When eggs are set add the kale mixture, the feta cheese and the fresh oregano. Serve hot.

Coleslaw with yellow zucchinis, toasted pine nuts, Cherry tomatoes and tons of yummie Cilantro

Who said coleslaw has to be boring???

Serves 4

Ingredients
2 cups of cabbage, cut thinly and in 3-4 inches strips
½ medium size yellow zucchini, cut into ½ inch cubes
½ cup pine nuts, toasted in skillet until nice and brown
1 cup of cherry tomatoes, cut in half lengthwise
1 hand full of fresh cilantro, chopped
1 small garlic clove, chopped
½ cup extra virgin olive oil
Juice of one lime
Salt and pepper

Directions
Mix 5 first ingredients together in a large bowl. Just before serving add the extra virgin olive oil, the lime juice and season to taste with salt and pepper.