Christmas Eve Dinner for 8:

- Dungeness Crab Salad with Yuzu, Pink Peppercorns, Arugula

- Lobster Ravioli (lobster tail, bechmel, seasoning) in crab bisque concentrate) C/O KimPim (thank you you magical Christmas elves!)

- Filet Mignon with Mushroom Wine Reduction, kohlrabi & turnip puree, and creamed spinach (not pictured, since we’ve done it so many times before)

- Buche de Noel from Cafe Madeline in San Francisco

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New Year’s Eve Dinner for 10, C/O Joanne Ruggles, artist, mentor, chef & friend:

- Salad with Persimmons grown just outside the door, freshly roasted pecans and sweet vinaigrette

- Rack of Lamb with Mustard & Seasoning (recipe to follow soon)

- Roasted brussel sprouts & butternut squash

- Good company & Wine

Christmas Day Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls

Raw Vegan Chili with Vegan Ground Meat and Cashew Sour Cream

Meatless Sprouted Seed Vegan Raw Protein Patty Recipe
Makes about 10

1 cup raw sunflower seeds, soaked 4-6 hours or sprouted
1 cup raw pumpkin seeds, soaked 4-6 hours or sprouted
1/2 cup raw walnuts
Juice of one lemon
3 cloves garlic
2 T sweet and/or barley miso
Pulp (from juicing) of 6 carrots, 2 apples, 1 big bunch spinach (about 1/2-1lb)
1 tsp kosher salt
1 T mustard any kind
1 tsp fresh ground pepper
1T dry oregano or sub fresh herbs, chopped
2 T capers, rough chopped
1 red bell pepper, diced
1/2 sweet onion, diced

Puree soaked seeds and walnuts (can sub other nuts for the walnuts), lemon juice, garlic, miso, salt, mustard, pepper, herbs in a high powered blender. Mix resulting pate with vegetable pulp from juicing and remaining ingredients. Form into patties using a can with both ends cut out or a cookie cutter. Dehydrate on nonstick mats for 3 hours, then flip onto mesh screens and dehydrate 4-5 more hours. Eat warm or store in refrigerator for 5-7 days max. They freeze ok but defrost and then re-dehydrate.

You can break them up into wraps or on salads, into sauces, you can serve them whole like a burger with or without a bun, on cabbage, with sour cream, etc. In this instance break them up loosely in a bowl of raw chili, recipe below.

Raw Cashew Sour Cream
Makes about 1.5 cups

1 cup raw cashews, soaked in water 4 hours
1 cup water
juice of 1 lemon
1 clove garlic
1/2 tsp kosher salt

Puree all ingredients in a high speed blender. Chill to achieve thicker consistency. Can be used as a base for creamy dips and sauces. Good for about a week in a mason jar sealed tight.

Raw Vegan Chili
Makes about 6 servings
1 portabello mushroom, diced finely
1/2 red bell pepper, diced finely
1/2 sweet onion, diced finely
2 stalks celery, diced finely
1 cup raw almonds, soaked 24-36 hours
2 carrots, cut into 1/2 inch coins or so
1.5 C sundried tomatoes, soaked in water 5-12 hours
1.5 C fresh water or water from soaking tomatoes
2 T tamari, namu shoya, or soy sauce
2 tsp chili powder
1 tsp cayenne
1 tsp salt

Chop carrots and almonds in a food processor until chunky. Add to diced veggies.

Puree tomatoes, tomato juice or water, and all spices/seasonings in a high speed blender until smooth. Mix everything together and warm in dehydrator or let sit room temp for a few hours to soften. Serve warm (if possible) with cashew sour cream. If you made the meatless meat patties, tear one apart for each serving and mix into 1 cup of raw chili to make “meat.”

About six months ago I switched to a new CSA/Farm Shipment service–Eatwell Farms. I’ve been fantastically happy with them, and lately I’ve given a few of their suggested recipes a try. Most CSA services give recipes with their products, which I’d assume is mostly to help those who have never eaten kohlrabi, or don’t know what to do with an eggplant. That said, the recipes from Eatwell have been especially tasty ideas and have been great at combining multiple things from the shipment into one dish.

This romesco recipe is adapted from one of their more recent blog entries.

1 head romanesco, green cauliflower, or cauliflower, chopped smartly and evenly
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp caraway seeds, lightly crushed
1 tsp Balti seasoning or a bit of garam masala; if you can’t get either, use more cumin and maybe a bit of paprika
1/2-1tsp kosher salt
1/2 C whole milk yogurt (I used the thin, Russian style Pavel’s)
2-3 tsp Turkish Seasoning or a mixture of oregano, garlic powder, black pepper, paprika, sumac and a pinch of cayenne
1/2 a pomegranate’s seeds (about 1/3rd cup)
2 T white truffle butter or 1 tsp truffle oil
olive oil

Heat a bit of olive oil in a large skillet to medium high. Add the romanesco or cauliflower and the salt. Cook until some brown bits occur and the cauliflower is mostly soft. Add the cumin, balti, and caraway seeds and toss. Add the truffle butter and turn off the heat, stirring to melt.

Transfer to an oven-safe serving dish and either keep warm for up to 1 hour or place immediately under the broiler for 1 minute to carmelize the top and make it crispy. Mix the Turkish seasoning with the yogurt and add salt to taste. Upon serving, pour the yogurt over the dish and add pomegranate seeds on top.

I like to share this one as an appetizer over wine and a block of good sheep or goat’s cheese.

Lavender Chicken on the Grill with Tangerine-dressed Raw Summer Vegetables
Serves 2-3

Chicken & Poultry Rub
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, pounded to 1/4 inch thick
2 tsp dry rosemary
2 tsp lavender
2 tsp oregano
1 tsp salt

Vegetables
1 medium zucchini
1 yellow patty pan squash
2 C baby kale (or other hearty salad green, or blanched mature chopped kale)
1/2 avocado

Dressing
Juice of 1/2 orange (about 2-4 Tbsp)
1 tsp olive oil
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 tsp salt

Chop your zucchini julienne (matchsticks) and use a mandolin on your patty pan squash to create discs. Set aside.

Grind all spices in a coffee grinder or with a mortar & pestle and dress your pounded chicken generously. Use olive oil spray to briefly coat each side, or alternatively, rub with olive oil prior to applying spice rub. Get your grill ready.

Whisk all dressing ingredients together and toss your kale in it, placing it in warmed salad bowls. In the remaining dressing, toss the summer squash and place 2/3rds of it on top of the kale, gently mixing in avocado slices.

When chicken is done cooking on the grill (or in a cast iron in a pan with a lid, or however you’d like to do it!), slice in 2 inch pieces and layer with remaining squash and avocado in bowls.

Quick, healthy, and delicious zucchini soup recipe. Works best with a high powered blender, but a stick blender or regular one will work too, with a little finesse. Can be served chilled as well.

Zucchini & Purslane Soup Recipe
Adapted from Food & Wine
Serves 2

1.5 lb of zucchini or mixed summer squash, washed, trimmed, and sliced evenly*
1/2 medium or large yellow onion, diced roughly
3 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
1.5 cups water
1/2 cup vegetable stock
1 bay leaf
1 tsp dried thyme or 1 tbsp fresh thyme
1 cup purslane (or microgreens, which can be tossed with a little lemon or orange zest as well)
Salt to taste

In a 3 quart pan or larger, warm your vegetable stock over medium heat. Add onions, cooking until almost transparent. Add garlic, thyme, bay leaf, and zucchini, cover and cook about 5 minutes at medium heat, stirring occasionally, until softened but still firm. Add the water and cover. Cook about 10 minutes, until soft.

Using your preferred blending method, puree the soup until smooth. Taste and season with salt, or salt at the table. To serve, do so immediately warm, reheat later with a little more vegetable broth, or add several ice cubes to the fresh puree to bring the temperature down, then store in the fridge up to two days and serve chilled. Garnish with generous purslane and raw zucchini strips.

*Make some thin strips for garnish if you like, before chopping it all up

I’ve made Tutto Mare (for my man’s parents while they visited for three weeks in my house–another reason I’ve been absent), eggplant parmasean (without frying the eggplant but with a stick of butter in the sauce), flank steak with chimichurri sauce (for which I already owe you a recipe–noted!), cookies, Chinese desserts involving potatoes and ginger, pesto, and a million other things. Between the house guests and my day job and my latest quest to drink only disgusting green purees of things, there’s not much time to write or much worth writing about.

Now about generous friends. Usually when I post to Red Blossom Tea I’m talking about P. This time I’m talking about his sister Alice–I owe her big time. Every time I drop into the shop she seems to have some treat to share with me, we talk cheese, we talk travel, we talk food and wine. I took the visiting pseudo-in-laws to the shop and came home with a gigantic bag of washed, ready to use, beautiful mature arugula which I’ve put to several uses over the last two weeks–yes, it’s lasted two weeks and still looks gorgeous!

I’ve made arugula pesto, added it to one of my disgusting green smoothies, mixed it into bruschetta, blanched it and served it with eggs poached in tomato sauce, and even used it in this thai cucumber salad recipe. Thanks Alice!

This is why I haven’t been posting. While writing this enry, I drank this green smoothie of apples, carrots, spinach and a dash of whole lemon and tried really hard to pretend it was baked french toast with mascarpone cream.

Thai Cucumber Salad
Serves 4-6 with possible leftovers as a side

2 medium cucumbers, preferably unwaxed persians
1/4 red onion
1 large watermelon radish or other radish totaling the size of a small peach
1/2 C arugula, chopped
2 tsp sesame seeds, toasted
1/4 C seasoned rice vinegar
1 T sugar
1 tsp salt

Mix the vinegar, sugar, and salt and microwave for 30 seconds, stir to combine. Set aside.

Prepare your cucumber- if waxed/thick skinned, trim the ends, and peel most of the skin off leaving bright green behind, cut in half and remove the seeds with a spoon from each side. If using edible peel, simply remove ends and cut in half, removing seeds.  Using a mandolin or a very patient hand, slice into 1/8th inch thick slices. Place in a serving bowl. Next, slice 1/8th or thinner slices of red onion using the mandolin. Peel off any tough outer layers before doing so. Add to cucumber bowl. Peel the watermelon radish (no need to peel other types), cut in half, and slice thinly with the mandolin.

Toss everything with the vinegar mixture, add sesame seeds and arugula at the end. Serve immediately or refrigerate up to two weeks, so long as everything is coated in vinegar. Makes a quick refrigerator pickle that is tasty right away or later on. You can also store in jars with more vinegar up to a couple months if refrigerated.

Green Garlic and Fava Bean Goat Cheese Spread Recipe
makes about 2 cups

1.5-2 C shelled and blanched fava beans
1 head green garlic, peeled of any extra tough leaves, stems chopped
2 oz chevre/fresh goat cheese
1/4-1/2 C olive oil
1 T tasty light-colored vinegar of your choice
zest and juice of 1 lemon
salt & pepper to taste

Combine all ingredients in a food process or or blender. Add oil as needed to blend smoothly. Delicious as a sandwich spread as well.

Home-made Sparkling Limeade Recipe
Method using a Vita-Mix or other high powered blender
Makes about two large drinks

2 whole limes, peeled and chopped in quarters
1 T honey or agave nectar
1/2 C water
sparkling water

Combine all but sparkling water in blender. Puree until very smooth. Can reserve up to two days in refrigerator. Add sparkling water to serve, as strong or mild as you like. Consider adding fresh strawberries and ice for a strawberry-lime sparkling smoothie, or adding iced tea for a home-made lime arnold palmer.