Spicy Sautéed Dandelion Greens

This recipe is adapted form Gourmet magazine. Finishing the dish with a sweet balsamic takes the edge off these delicious, but bitter greens.

Ingredients
4 large handfuls dandelion greens, tough stems removed, leaves chopped, well washed
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 large garlic cloves, chopped
1/4 red onion, cut into thin slivers.
1/4 teaspoon dried hot red pepper flakes
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 Tablespoon Aged Balsamic Vinegar

Method

  • Heat oil in a heavy skillet over moderate heat. Add onions and garlic, cook until onions are slightly tender.
  • Add greens, red pepper flakes, and salt and sauté, stirring, for about 4 minutes.
  • Drizzle with balsamic and serve.

Serves 4

Eat your weeds!

After college I lived in Richmond, Virginia in a section of town called Oregon Hill. My roommate Rebby and I planted a garden in the back of our row house. Neither Oregon Hill nor city backyard vegetable gardens were particularly fashionable at the time, but that didn’t matter to us.

Once, when weeding, Rebby pulled a weed, examined it, tasted it and declared that she thought it was sorrel. She pulled and tasted many so called weeds. In doing so, she had our garden rows looking very tidy and forever changed my perspective on weeds.

There are all kinds of weeds you can eat: dandelion, chicory, wild violets, purslane, plantain, stinging nettle, burdock root and, believe it or not, kudzu. I have not tried kudzu, but apparently you can eat the leaves like spinach and use the root, which is called Japanese arrowroot as a thickening agent. In true southern form, you can also batter and fry the leaves.

Kudzu is very invasive so it is often sprayed with herbicide. You’ll want to stay away from sprayed kudzu. Also be sure to stay away from that other ubiquitous highway weed, poison ivy.

In fact, when foraging for weeds, I mean, edible plants, there are many things to keep in mind. For one, not everyone loves weeds and loathes chemicals as much as I do so be careful where you gather. Pick a clean, herbicide and pet-free field. Second, not all weeds are edible plants. If you aren’t certain, skip them or check a guidebook.

An easy to identify weed is the much loved and much hated dandelion. Health wise, the list of the beneficial properties of dandelions is as long as my arm. Dandelion greens are rich in calcium, iron, vitamins A and C, and beta-carotene. They have antioxidants properties, aid with liver disorders, diabetes, urinary disorders, acne, jaundice, cancer and anemia. They are a diuretic and a good detoxifier. So eat up!

My husband and I recently went to a Cornell Cooperative Extension Office rain barrel workshop up in the mountains in Maplecrest. My friend Bridget said that it is now trendy to sport dandelions in your lawn. It shows the world that you are eschewing polluting the environment with chemicals. Up on the mountain they, thankfully, got that memo. It is full-blown dandelion season there. Lawn and fields alike are covered with the beautiful yellow flowers.

We pulled into a hiking trial parking lot, grabbed a bag and headed up the trail. We quickly filled our bag with a combo of dandelion leaves and flowers. We also bagged a few bugs, so I would recommend giving them a good rinse before you bring your haul inside.

We picked enough flowers for Andrew to give dandelion wine a try. I’ll let you know in a few months how it turns out!

Beets with Honey and Fennel Salad

BeetsThe honey brings out the sweetness of the beets and the fennel keeps the sweetness in check, a beautiful combination!

Ingredients
4 medium-sized beets
1/2 cup fresh fennel, thinly sliced
1/4 cup sweet onion, thinly sliced
2-3 tablespoons honey
3 tablespoons rice vinegar
1/4 cup olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste

Method:

  • Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Trim the top and stems off the beets.
  • Place the beets in a small baking dish and add 1/4 inch of water. Cover with foil and roast for 35 to 50 minutes, or until the beets are tender. If you are using large beets, this could take longer.
  • Remove and let cool. The skin should peel off easily. Peel, slice and set aside.
  • In a medium size bowl, whisk together honey, vinegar, olive oil and salt and pepper.
  • Add fennel, onions and beets and toss to coat. Salt and pepper to taste.

I like to let this sit for at least an hour.

Serves four.

Pasteli: Sesame Honey Candy

Warning, this delicious, chewy Greek candy is easy to make and rather addictive. It’s a great energy-packed snack, so don’t feel too bad if you eat more than a few.

Ingredients
2 cups sesame seeds, toasted*
1 cup pumpkin seeds (raw or toasted)
1 tablespoon flax seeds, ground
1 cup honey
1/2 teaspoon sea salt

Method

  • Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and lightly grease it with oil or butter.
  • Place honey in a small saucepan and heat over a medium heat until it starts to bubble and forms a mass.
  • Add sesame seeds, pumpkin seed, ground flax seeds and salt to the pan and mix well.
  • Continue to cook over medium-low heat, stirring until the mixture is a rich golden-brown color, about 10 minutes.
  • Scrape mixture onto the prepared baking sheet and spread it to about 1/4 inch thick. You can do this with a spatula or by placing a slightly oiled piece of parchment paper over the mixture and using a rolling pin to thin it.
  • Cool completely.
  • Transfer the candy to a cutting board (keep it on the parchment paper). Using a knife, pizza cutter or kitchen shears, cut into small pieces (rectangle, triangle, your choice).
  • Place in an airtight container.

Yield: Approximately 50 pieces.

* Note: Toasted sesame seeds: Heat seeds in a dry skillet over medium heat, shaking the pan frequently. Heat until lightly browned (about 5 minutes). Watch carefully; they burn quickly!

Honey, Honey!

My friend Douglas recently took up beekeeping. Last Saturday, he made a trip up to Greenwich to Betterbee, which apparently is a big beekeeping mecca. He spent a pleasant hour in line, chatting with other beekeepers, and picked up his pre-ordered honey bees — all 20,000 of them.

After waiting for a calm day (the wind would blow the little workers away), he gingerly placed them into their new homes (two hives). He must be a gentle mover or maybe a bee whisperer, because he completed the task with a mere three bee stings. The bees he chose are know for their mild disposition, so that may have been a factor as well.

If all goes well, Douglas will have honey by July. I plan to just happen to be in the neighborhood about that time.

Honey is a truly incredible thing. You can eat it, use it as a topical antiseptic or pat it on your face as a hydrating beauty mask (which is best done in a bubble bath because, as you know, honey is rather sticky).

Stored in an airtight container, honey will keep forever, or there about. It was found, still edible, in the tombs of ancient Egyptian pharaohs. I wondered about the person who decided to give the 1,000-year-old honey a try. Do you think they spread it on a biscuit?

Unlike refined white sugar, honey contains small amounts of vitamins and minerals. Raw honey is purported to boost immunity with its impressive levels of disease-fighting antioxidants. It may help reduce high cholesterol, promote better blood sugar control and even cure a hangover. Honey is a soothing, effective cough suppressant. It’s also considered to be anti-bacterial, anti-viral and anti-fungal. To accomplish all of that, it’s no wonder those little worker bees keep so busy.

Children younger than the age of 1 need to stay away from honey altogether. Along with all the good stuff comes spores that their growing immune systems aren’t equipped to handle.

The color and flavor of honey differs depending on what the bees have been buzzing around. Clover is the light-colored honey that you most often see. Keep your eye out for interesting variations like alfalfa (mild and light), blueberry (light amber) and buckwheat (dark and full-bodied).

My husband and I have been swapping out honey for refined sugar, so you may have noticed that if I’m making a recipe that requires sweetening, I’ve been using honey. Getting my husband to switch from refined sugar to honey wasn’t too hard; I wonder how hard it will be to convince him that we need 20,000 bees in our backyard.

Tequila Lime Carne Asada with Spring Salsa

My husband and I tag teamed on this one. He came up with the Tequila Lime Marinade and I came up with the Spring Salsa.

Tequila Lime Marinade

Ingredients
3 green onions
2 cloves garlic
1/3 to 1/2 of a jalapeno
1/2 cup cilantro
1/2 cup tequila (plus extra for the cook)
Juice of one lime
1 tablespoon honey
1 teaspoon chili powder
Salt and pepper

1 pound grass-fed hanger steak (substitute flank steak or skirt steak)

Method

  • Pulse all ingredients (except steak!) in food processor until finely chopped.
  • Place steak in a non-reactive dish to marinate.
  • Slather steak with olive oil, salt and pepper generously and cover with marinade.
  • Cover and place in refrigerator for two to 12 hours.
  • Remove steak from the refrigerator about 30 minutes before cooking. It will cook more evenly if it is at room temperature.
  • Preheat oven to 375º F.
  • Heat an oven-proof frying pan to medium-high heat. A cast iron pan works great. Coat pan with thin layer of olive oil and add steak. Reserve marinade.
  • Sear both sides, about one minutes each side.
  • Add marinade to pan and place in pre-heated oven. Cook for five to 10 minutes, depending on how you like your steak done. If using a meat thermometer, see chart above.
  • Transfer the steak to a cutting board and let it rest for five to 10 minutes. Use a sharp knife and slice into thin strips.

Serve on warm corn tortillas and top with Fresh Spring Salsa.
Serves four.

Fresh Spring Salsa

I didn’t miss the tomatoes in this one bit. Experiment with any veggies you see at the farmers’ market.

Ingredients

2 tablespoons lime juice
1/2 to 1 tablespoon honey
1/4 cup sweet onions, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1 teaspoon jalapeno, chopped
3 medium-sized carrots, julienne (or cut to match stick size)
4 to 5 medium-sized radishes, sliced
1/4 cup cilantro, chopped
Salt and pepper to taste

Method

  • In a medium-sized bowl, add lime juice and honey. Mix until well blended.
  • Add onions, garlic and jalapenos to mixture and let sit for 10 minutes.
  • Add carrots, radishes and cilantro and mix well. Salt and pepper to taste.

Serves four. Keeps refrigerated for three days.

Grass-fed Beef

Full disclosure, I no longer buy conventionally raised meat. I’m mainly talking about beef from Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFO). Let’s just say that it ain’t pretty … nor is it healthy for the animals, for the people who eat it or for the environment. Read The Omnivore’s Dilemma or watch Food, Inc. for full, gory details.

The biggest obstacle to overcome when switching from conventionally raised meat to grass-fed is the price. It is true that factory farmed beef is cheaper. My thinking on meat is to buy local, grass-fed beef and just eat less of it. Your overall meat costs will be close to the same and you’ll be healthier for it, especially if you use the extra room on your plate for vegetables.

In my search for local meat, I came across Jimmy Bulich of Pathfinder Farms in Catskill. He gave my husband and me a tour of his farm.

Jimmy has a small herd of Hereford and Black Baldies beef cattle. Here’s how his farm works: Jimmy uses an electric fence to section off his pasture into football field-sized quadrants, plenty of space for his 14-cow herd. The cows stay in an area for about a day and they eat the grass. Once they have given that area a nice mow, they are moved to another area.

Cows, of course, leave behind manure. This does a few things. First, it is an excellent fertilizer. Jimmy never needs to add chemicals to his fields. Second, it provides food for wildlife. Wild turkeys and birds come in and eat the bugs that are attracted to the manure. The wildlife does its part by spreading the manure when digging for the protein-rich bugs.

In the winter, Jimmy feeds the cows hay (a.k.a. dried grass) grown on a nearby farm.

I love the simplicity of the process. Grass and cows form a beautiful symbiotic relationship. Cows eat the grass and, in turn, feed the grass with what they leave behind. How can you not love that?

The cows on Jimmy’s farm look healthy and happy. We ate his delicious nitrate-free hot dogs twice last week. Normally I would feel like a hot dog dinner is skimpy in the health department, but I think ones made from grass-fed beef are down right healthy for you.

Meat from cows raised on grass has more omega-3s, more vitamin E and more CLA (Conjugated Linoleic Acids) than meat from animals fed conventional diets. CLA is purported to lower risk of cancer and heart disease and improve immune systems. Omega-3 fatty acids reduce inflammation and are excellent “brain” food. Vitamin E has strong antioxidant properties. All of this sounds good to me!

Grass-fed beef is leaner and requires less cooking time than conventional meat. Kinderhook Farms has great tips for cooking grass-fed beef on its Web site, http://www.kinderhookfarm.com/recipes/recipes_tipsforcooking.html.

They recommended these cooking temperatures: 120 degrees, rare; 125 degrees, medium rare; 130 degrees, medium; 135 degrees, medium well; and 140 degrees, well.

I found this list of Columbia and Greene county grass-fed farms on www.eatwild.com. If I missed your farm, please let me know.

Pathfinder Farms, 2433 Old Kings Road, Catskill, 12414. 518-943-7096. E-mail: pathfinder@mhcable.com. Web site: http://www.pathfinderfarms.com.

Kinderhook Farm, 1958 County Route 21, Ghent [mailing address: 1958 County Route 21, Valatie, 12184]. 518-929-3076. E-mail: info@kinderhookfarm.com. Web site: http://www.kinderhookfarm.com.

Gansvoort Farm, 1830 Route 9, Germantown, 12526. 518-537-4668. E-mail: gansvoort@gmail.com.

Fox Hill Farm, 887 E. Ancram Road, Ancramdale, 12503. 518-329-2405. E-mail: Lampman1@taconic.net. Web site: http://www.foxhillfarmgrassfedbeef.com/.

Grazin’ Angus Acres, Route 66 (between Hudson and Chatham) on Bartel Road in Ghent, New York. (518) 392-3620. Web site:

http://www.grazinangusacres.com/

Heather Ridge Farm, 989 Broome Center Road, Preston Hollow, 12469. 518-239-6045. E-mail: HeatherRidgeFarm@aol.com. Web site: http://www.heather-ridge-farm.com.

Herondale Farm, 90 Wiltsie Bridge Road, Ancramdale, 12503. 518-329-3769. E-mail: info@herondalefarm.com. Web site: ttp://www.herondalefarm.com