I am well overdue for a post, but I am finally mentally ready to re-devote myself to The Crunchy Radish. For the past 6 months I have been immersed in the clinical rotations of my dietetic internship. Now that I have finally completed that phase, I am moving forward and will soon take the RD exam and, fingers crossed, find a job. In the meantime, I hope to continue to be able to offer some nutritive tips and recipe ideas. Post internship, I am even more versed on nutrition and overall wellness, and ideally can serve as a unique and intelligible source of nutrition information and cooking basics. So, thank you to those who continue to follow my updates despite my recent lapse.
Read moreEggplant Napoleon- The Little Tower that Could
Slow roasting tomatoes requires minimal effort yet yields great reward. By roasting sliced tomatoes at 250 degrees for around 2 hours with olive oil, salt, and pepper, the flavor concentrates 10 fold and you are left with slivers of robust, sweetly dense lobes that can contribute their delectableness to just about anything. In my case I used them in my Eggplant Napoleon. Originally, I had planned on making a rolantini, but time was not on my side so I came up with another way to utilize my ingredients in a more time-friendly fashion.
Read moreTaco, Taco Night, I Love it When, its Taco Night
Sprouted corn tortillas, seared wild grouper, vegenaise crema, salted cabbage, pico de gallo, guac, and organic broccoli sprouts
Read moreNot Your Muddah's Casserole
On my most recent venture to the Union Square Farmer’s Market, I found myself constantly fighting to focus on procuring useful ingredients. I get so distracted by the beauty and bounty of fresh produce, that I loose track of what I need to aquire for my next meal. That day was definitely one of those occasions. I arrived home with a plethora of gorgeous fresh and somewhat unique produce and I wanted to delineate a little from my normal grilled corn or zucchini and tomato salad. To step out of my comfort zone, I flipped through my handy Moosewood cookbook and found an intriguing recipe for carrot and mushroom "loaf", which was perfect since I had snagged a bunch of carrots and a bag of cremini mushrooms. I also gathered some sweet potato greens, pimento padrao peppers, and what is a trip to the summer green market without corn, tomatoes and fuzy peaches.
Read moreGoodnight Irene
Irene came and went and caused most of us to hibernate in our houses for most of the weekend. To our great disappointment, a member of The Crunchy Radish had their birthday festivities put on hold due to the storm. To make the best of things, we made a birthday dinner with some goods that we loaded up on the day before at the farmers’ market.
Read moreSimple Summer Supper
Heirloom lettuce salad with chickpeas, celery, local cherry tomatoes and white balsamic dressing, fresh New Jersey summer tomato sauce with yellow and red tomatoes, garlic, chili pepper, olive oil, and basil with Ezekiel Sprouted Grain Pasta, toasted sourdough with earth balance spread, diced garlic and basil. Raw cows milk Landoff cheese.
Keeping it simple is sometimes the best…especially when you have a three month pup on your hands! Please welcome the newest member of The Crunchy Radish, Henry Pepper!
Aubergine is that you?
Despite the time consuming steps of this dish, eggplant rollatini provides a just reward for the patient cook. This dish might seem a little on the heavy side for summer, but the local Jersey eggplant was calling my name and I could not resist. Being a purist, I had to make my tomato sauce from scratch, but it you wanted to cut a corner or two, you could use a good quality jarred sauce.
Here Fishy Fishy
This was certainly not your typical "run of the mill" fish dinner. Our friendly fishmonger generously supplied us with some incredible silky, smooth black cod and not one but two types of caviar! This was an exceptional and special meal and we deeply appreciated having “friends with benefits."
Read moreEasy Peasy Pesto
Buckwheat pasta with spinach basil pesto, oven roasted tomatoes, broccoli and peas
Gazpacho
After consulting with the family chef about proper tomato usage for this summery soup, San Marzano puree was used over fresh tomatoes or tomato juice. Unless the tomatoes are extremely ripe, high quality canned is recommended. At first, I felt like I was cheating, since this soup was intended to encapsulate summer, but once chilled, the gazpacho was the pure essence of tomatoey, cucumbery, and garlicky peppery goodness.
Besides swapping the tomato juice for canned, I relied on my trusty
for guidance for the Gazpacho. A cucumber, red bell pepper, small yellow onion, garlic, parsley, scallions, lemon and lime juice, basil, cumin, and cayenne pepper were gently pureed with the tomatoes, white vinegar, olive oil, salt and pepper and chilled.
For a spin on another summery favorite, I pulverized a box of organic spinach, basil, parsley, four garlic cloves, two tablespoons toasted walnuts and a little drizzling of olive oil to create a pesto. I found that spinach has a high level of water content, so you really only need a little olive oil to meld the sauce together. I mixed in parmesan cheese, salt and pepper to finish. To bolster up the buckwheat pasta, I added roasted cherry tomatoes and organic broccoli and peas (both frozen). The cherry tomatoes were oven roasted with oregano, basil, canola oil, garlic and onion powder, salt and pepper. This created a nice slightly charred and sweet tomato that burst with flavor.
The buckwheat pasta not only had a lovely hue, but also added a nutty quality and provided added fiber. The pasta was also loaded with vegetables from the spinach; which is packed with folate, beta-carotene, vitamin K, fiber, magnesium and calcium, the broccoli; which also has beta-carotene, fiber and calcium, along with iron and vitamins A, C and D, and peas, which are a good source of protein. Walnuts provided omega-3 and antioxidants.
This was a lovely summery meal that left plenty of leftovers…. too bad my fridge is broken.
Who Needs Bologna?
Toasted multigrain bread with Dijon mustard, McClure’s spicy pickles, hard boiled eggs, hummus, red onion, and tomatoes.