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Potato Latkes

2.5 pounds russet potatoes, peeled
3 eggs or 1 egg and 2 whites, beaten
1 white onion, grated or chopped finely
Quarter cup flour, toasted bread crumbs, or cracker crumbs
Salt and fresh pepper
3 Tablespoons clarified butter, vegetable oil, or a mixture

Coarsely grate peeled potatoes into a bowl of water. When ready to cook drain the potatoes and squeeze out excess water with a towel. Add them back to the dry bowl with eggs, onion, flour, 2 teaspoons of salt, and pepper to taste. Mix into a batter.

Preheat the oven to 200. Heat a heavy skillet on medium-high heat with a film of butter/oil. When hot, drop in large spoonfuls of batter and cook over medium heat until browned, about 6 minutes. Turn over and cook until browned on the second side. Put the finished latkes on a plate in the warm oven while you prepare the rest. Serve with sour cream and apple sauce.

Rutabaga Fries

Preheat oven to 400. Peel rutabagas and slice into fries a quarter to a half and inch thick. Soak in water for 30 minutes, drain and towel dry Toss in vegetable or peanut oil to coat lightly along with a few pinches of salt. Spread them out on a sheet pan without the fries touching. Bake until golden and tender, turning occasionally. Toss them with a bit more salt and fresh pepper and enjoy.

Roasted Parsnips

2 Tablespoons butter or nutty oil

3 medium parsnips, washed and cut diagonally across the root
into 1 inch pieces

1 Tablespoon honey or maple

Pinch of cayenne or a dash of hot sauce

Salt and Pepper

Heat oven to 375. Melt butter in a medium saucepan or skillet that will also fit your cut parsnips.
Soak the parsnips in hot water to bring them up to room temp.
Once butter is melted, turn off the heat, add the honey and blend the two.
Drain the parsnips and empty them onto a dishtowel to remove the excess water.
Add the parsnips, cayenne, salt and pepper to the pan and turn it all over until everything is mixed and coats the parsnips.
Empty the contents into a baking dish and bake for 20 minutes.
Turn with a spatula and increase the oven temp to 400 degrees.
Turn again in ten minutes and cook for another 10. The parsnips should be browning around the edges and soft through.

Serve hot. Carrots can be added to this preparation with no changes.

Steamed Broccoli and Garlic Scapes

1 Tablespoon oil
2 garlic scapes, minced
½ pound broccoli, florets separated into ¾ inch pieces and stem chopped into ½ pieces
Dash of sea salt, fresh pepper and lemon

Heat oil in a small skillet over medium heat and once hot, add minced scapes. Sauté for 3-5 minutes and set aside.

Steam broccoli slowly, leaving the steamer lid slightly off. Remove from heat when bright green and starting to become tender. Toss with the oil and scapes, add salt pepper and lemon to taste.

Two Coleslaws

Creamy Coleslaw

1 pound of cabbage (about ½ to ¾ of a head)
Shredded or finely chopped (quarter first, then core and lay the quarter flat to chop)
2 carrots, grated and unpeeled
2 teaspoons kosher salt or 1 teaspoon table salt
½ small onion, minced
½ cup mayonnaise
2 Tablespoons rice wine vinegar
black pepper

Toss cabbage and carrots with salt and let sit in a colander over a medium bowl. Let sit at least an hour and up to 4. Dump cabbage and carrots into the bowl and rinse thoroughly with cold water. Place back into the colander and press them, but don’t squeeze, to drain. Pat dry with paper towel and set aside. (You can store this overnight in an airtight container in the fridge if you like).
Combine in the bowl cabbage, carrots, onion, mayo, and vinegar. Toss to coat everything and season with black pepper.

Sweet and Sour Coleslaw

1 pound of cabbage (about ½ to ¾ of a head)
Shredded or finely chopped (quarter first, then core and lay the quarter flat to chop)
2 carrots, grated and unpeeled
½ cup sugar
2 teaspoons kosher salt or 1 teaspoon table salt
¼ teaspoon celery seed or 1 teaspoon toasted cumin
6 Tablespoons sesame, peanut, or vegetable oil
¼ cup rice wine vinegar
black pepper

Toss cabbage and carrots with salt, sugar, and celery/cumin seed and let sit in a colander over a medium bowl. Let sit at least an hour and up to 4. Pour away the liquid in the bowl and add in the carrot/cabbage mixture. Pour in oil and vinegar and toss to coat. Add black pepper to taste. Can be refrigerated for up to 2 days.

Balsamic Vinaigrette

A basic and incredibly versatile Balsamic vinaigrette

Drizzle this on just about everything in the world of vegetables….the red wine vinegar cuts the sweetness of the balsamic

4 teaspoons balsamic vinegar (other fruit vinegars work well too)
2 teaspoons red wine vinegar
1 shallot finely diced (1 clove of garlic can work here too for those who like full flavor)
salt and fresh pepper

5 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

Combine vinegars, shallot, salt and pepper and let sit for at least 15 minutes. Whisk in olive oil. Drizzle on to greens, tomatoes, green beans, whatever.

Carrot Soup

This is a basic soup that can be complemented with several flavors to keep everyone interested. Try the following additions: Sautéed, shaved ginger
Roasted peanuts
Caramelized onion
Roasted red pepper

2 Tablespoons butter, olive oil, or a mixture
1 Onion, sliced thin
1 lb. Carrots, sliced thin
1 Bay leaf
2 Tablespoons chopped parsley
3 Tablespoons white rice
1 Teaspoon paprika
1 Teaspoon cumin
Half teaspoon coriander
Salt and fresh pepper
7 Cups water or vegetable stock

Heat butter/oil over medium heat in soup pot. Add onion, carrots, bay leaf, parsley, and rice cook until onion softens, about 5 minutes. Add spices, half teaspoon salt, and a pinch of pepper. Cook for five more minutes. Add the water/stock and bring to a boil. Lower the heat and simmer, partially covered for about 25 minutes.

Remove the bay leaf. Take 2 cups of soup and puree until very smooth and set aside. Puree the remainder of the soup, leaving some “texture”. Put the two portions together and add salt/pepper as desired or other additional complementary ingredients.

Homemade Chicken Broth

It’s easy to make your own broth to use in cooking or as the basis for soups. It’s healthier, too, than buying canned broth, since you can control the amount of salt you add and can remove fat from the stock after cooking.
Use stewing chickens, chicken backs, or the leftover carcass from a roast chicken. Place the chicken in a large stockpot with yellow onions with the skins on (to add color), celery ribs, carrots, bay leaves, whole peppercorns, thyme, and salt.
Cover the ingredients with water and bring to a boil. Remove any debris that floats to the top, reduce to a simmer, and cover.
Once done, strain the liquid to remove the vegetables, bones, and any meat pieces. Let the stock cool completely and refrigerate. Remove any fat that congeals at the top.

Cooking time: three to four hours.

Freezing Tomatoes

First, think about how you would like to use your tomatoes over the winter and how much room you have to keep them in the freezer. This will guide you in the best way to freeze them.

• Freezing whole toms gives you the most options as they can be used one at a time to make chunky style soups or sauces. The downside is whole tomatoes take up a lot of freezer space.
• Making a sauce or puree is space efficient when freezer space is limited but doesn’t allow for much in the way of “texture”. You are also forced to thaw a whole ziplock at a time.

Freezing whole:

Boil 2 quarts of water. Core tomatoes and cut a small ‘X’ on the bottom of each one, just piercing the skin. Plunge the toms in the boiling water a few at a time for 1 minute. Pull them out and run them under cold water or place them in an ice-water bath until all the heat has left them. Starting at the ‘X,’ use a fingernail or a butter knife to peel back the skin.

Place tomatoes on a cooking sheet so that they are not touching and freeze. Pull them out in a few hours and pack them in ziplocks. Use them one by one all winter.

Freezing sauce/puree:

Boil 2 quarts of water. Core tomatoes and cut a small ‘X’ on the bottom of each one, just piercing the skin. Plunge the toms in the boiling water a few at a time for 1 minute. Pull them out and run them under cold water or place them in an ice-water bath until all the heat has left them. Starting at the ‘X’, use a fingernail or a butter knife to peel back the skin.

After the skins are gone you can roast them in the oven -6 hours at 200 with the seeds removed, or cook them down on the stove starting with onions, garlic, etc.

Seeding and pureeing them is also an easy option that provides a good base for lots of stuff.

To freeze, fill your ziplock, jar or tub no more than ¾ in from the top of the container, this will allow room for the contents to expand a bit. Try to place bags on a flat surface in the freezer. This makes the ziplocks more modular for moving around with your other frozen stuff.

Butter Braised Rutabagas

1 rutabaga, peeled and cubed into half inch pieces
Salt and fresh pepper
3 tablespoons butter or sunflower oil (more for the big honker rutabagas)
1 tablespoon chopped parsley
1 tablespoon thyme
2 tablespoons chopped chives
1-2 garlic cloves, minced
about a half cup bread crumbs browned in butter or oil

Boil the rutabagas until beginning to soften but not soft, about 20 minutes. Drain and set aside. Melt butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat. When the butter foams, add the rutabaga and stir until brown. Toss with herbs and garlic. Add salt and pepper to taste. Top with bread crumbs.

This is a great preparation for turnips too!

Peel the squash (optional), cut off the ends and halve. Cut into slices about a third of an inch thick. Heat the oil in a wide skillet and add the squash, frying over medium heat until beginning to brown (7-8 minutes). Turn and cook on the second side until tender. Add salt, pepper, parsley and cumin and toss to coat.