Hon Tsai Tai, Sunchokes and Veggie Storage Tips

Okay, so my Chinese friend was interested in helping me a little more with my hon tsai tai. He suggested another way to prepare it using bacon. His advice was to chop bacon into small pieces and cook bacon with a little bit of stir fry oil. Then, remove the bacon, and cook chopped hon tsai tai in the remaining oil. Add back the bacon and mix it all up, and voila! One more way to serve this beautiful veggie! He said in China they have a kind of smoked meat that we don't have here, and that bacon is probably our closest equivalent.

I tried his advice, along with some Sunchoke and Potato American Fries. I could kinda feel my arteries clogging as I ate all that bacon (maybe I'd use less next time?), but it was pretty good for a once-in-a-while kinda meal. I should also say that I did add a handful of spinach and some of my leftover green garlic puree to the stir fry too.

A coupla tips for the sunchokes - boil a few along with some potatoes ahead of time, then keep 'em in the fridge. It seems you can add sunchokes almost anywhere you'd use a potato. I've been adding a bit of my chopped pre-cooked sunchokes and potatoes to some eggs in the morning for breakfast. Yum! Another great use for sunchokes is this A-M-A-Z-I-N-G sunchoke dip. It's something akin to hummus and you can use up the whole batch of sunchokes in one batch if you want. I made mine without the chiles since I wanted it to be friendly for my four-year-old.

And lastly, one thing this city girl struggles with when I get a new box of veggies is how to best store 'em. Occasionally our Harmony Valley Farm newsletter will have some advice such as 'wrap in a damp paper towel and store in the crisper'...but not always. So imagine my delight when I stumbled upon a site with great info on how to store nearly any veggie. And of course I'm gonna share it with you! Enjoy!

Vegetable Storage Guidelines (courtesy of Angelic Organics)

What a Way to Use Those Parsnips!

Parsnips are one of those things in the box that this City Girl actually LOVES. So no difficulty using these up. But once again I decided to get creative with those lovable roots. I was inspired by a combination of Pizza Luce's Baked Potato Pizza, Harmony Valley Farm's Whipped Parsnips recipe, and the most recent Harmony Valley Farm blog entry detailing the creation of some spring veggie pizzas, especially the part about using green garlic to create a 'sauce' for the pizza. I came up with Loaded Parsnip Pizza.

Here's what I did.

1) Prepare pizza crust from scratch (or you can take the easy way out and buy one). This pizza crust recipe from 1,000 Low Fat Recipes is City Girl's favorite. AND to top it off it's pretty healthy! It makes enough for two large pizzas so be prepared to make a second or else freeze the rest for a later date.

Pizza Dough
1 package active dry yeast
1 1/2 c warm water
1 t sugar
3 1/2 to 4 1/2 c unbleached, all purpose white flour
1 t salt
1 t olive oil

Combine the yeast, water, and sugar in a bowl. Once the yeast begins to foam, mix in the oil, salt, and 1 c of the flour. Gradually add the rest of the flour until a ball of dough forms. Stir in the flour until it is too stiff to use a spoon, then knead the dough on a floured surface until it is smooth and springy.

Place the dough in an oiled bowl, or on a piece of waxed paper, cover with a damp towel, and allow to rise for as long as desired, but at least 30 minutes (45 for softer crust).

Punch down the dough and divide it into 2 balls (or 4 for small pizzas). Let rest 5 to 10 minutes, then roll or stretch each ball into a pizza pie shape. Dough can be frozen tightly wrapped, for about 2 months. Defrost it in the refrigerator (this can take 12 hours or more), then bring it to room temperature, allow to rise 30 minutes or longer before using.

2) Make Whipped Parsnips recipe on HVF website.

3) Cook 10-12 strips of bacon (more or less to your desire) and dice. Finely chop 6-8 chives.

4) Green Garlic Paste: Dice 3 green garlics, stems and bulbs, and puree in food processor with up to 1/4 c olive oil. The goal is to get this to a pesto-like consistency so add olive oil a bit at a time until it seems right.

5) Assembly time!! Assemble in this order:
green garlic paste (I used about half of what was made, and ended up wishing I used it all so don't skimp!)
whipped parsnips spread evenly over the top
grated cheese (I'd recommend cheddar or a marble-jack rather than mozzarella), and sprinkle top with bacon and chives. I went light on the bacon and wished I'd used more so don't skimp on that either!

Bake at 450 for 15-20 minutes or until cheese is lightly brown. Ta da!! There ya have it - Loaded Parsnip Pizza! AMAZINGLY GOOD!!! Enjoy!

Hon Tsai Tai, Pea Vine, and other Veggie Delights

Wow. I am so enjoying the bounty of our latest box of goodies from Harmony Valley Farm. So far, we have made from our box:

Pea Vine, Hon Tsai Tai Stir Fry
Orange Pea Vine Salad

Roasted Rhubarb and Apples

Rhubarb Bundt Cake

And I have to say that the stir fry was hands-down the BEST stir fry I have ever made! I am so far psyched with the green garlic, hon tsai tai and pea vines. My four-year-old still says 'eeeew....I don't like that....' at most dishes featuring these new veggies but the veggies shall not be defeated! I read somewhere that a child needs to be introduced to a new food some umpteen number of times before they will decide to like it. So if he has to eat peanut butter and jelly all summer (the old stand-by once he's tried a few bites of the prepared dinner) until he finally gives in that's fine by me! I have faith that he will come around because these dinners have been some of the best this city girl has cooked up in a LONG time!

And yes, you read right, that was ROASTED rhubarb on my list!! This was definitely a recipe for those who like the more natural tart taste of rhubarb. I think next time I will add more sugar or throw some splenda into the mix. The original recipe came from The Wednesday Chef but of course City Girl had to make a few modifications based on what was on hand:

Roasted Rhubarb

7 ounces rhubarb
1 large apple, peeled and sliced
1 lemon
1 teaspoon of pure vanilla extract
1/4 c brown sugar (or more to taste)
whipping cream (optional)

1. Preheat the oven to 300 degrees. Remove the rhubarb strings by using a knife to cut under the top of the string just a bit and then peel it off, down the length of the rhubarb, with your fingers. Cut the rhubarb into 2-to-2 1/2-inch pieces and place in a medium bowl with the apples.
2. Grate the zest of half the lemon into a small bowl and then squeeze the juice of the whole lemon into the bowl. Add the vanilla extract and sugar and stir to combine. Pour over rhubarb and apples and toss to coat.
3. Pour the rhubarb and apple mixture into a baking dish and arrange the pieces so that they lie flat. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes. Serve with fresh whipped cream.

*Some feel that de-stringing the rhubarb is not necessary. I have read that it's better to do so and so gave it a try this time around. It was actually kind of fun to do and the little strings of rhubarb curled up when peeled off and made a pretty little pile on my cutting board.

And last but definitely NOT least, here are the other amazing delectables we cooked up over the past few days.

Pea Vine, Hon Tsai Tai Stir Fry

2 cups of loosely packed pea vines - woody stalks removed, softer stalks and leaves chopped into bite sized pieces
1/2 c chopped hon tsai tai - chopped, purple thick stalks separated from the rest
1 green garlic - stalk only, thinly sliced, reserve the garlic head for another use
2 green onions - sliced
1-2 T stir fry oil
Soy Sauce

Cook the chopped purple pieces of hon tsai tai in stir fry oil over medium heat for 5-10 minutes until they begin to soften, stirring often. This part of the hon tsai tai is much 'woodier' than the rest and will require longer cooking time. Once they are beginning to soften, add the green garlic and green onions and cook for 1 minute. Then add the pea vines. The woody stalks of pea vines can be quite tough too, which is why I removed the bottoms of mine. The top half and the leafy parts seemed tender enough. When the pea vines are beginning to soften, add soy sauce to taste. The green garlic and hon tsai tai in this dish lend an AMAZING flavor to the stir fried greens!

You can add any meat you like to this, by stir-frying the meat first until almost done. We stir-fried some chicken separately so that our four year old could have some plain old meat with his rice.

Orange Pea Vine Salad
(City Girl's new fave summer salad!)

3 c spring salad mix, loosely packed
3 c spinach, loosely packed
1 c pea vines, loosely packed
1 sunchoke, cut into thin matchstick pieces
1 orange, peeled and diced

Dresssing:
1/4 c orange juice
1/4 c olive oil
1/4 c apple cider vinegar
1 T sesame oil
Few dashes of soy sauce
1 T sugar

Mix the salad ingredients first in a large bowl. In a separate dish mix the dressing. Pour desired amount of dressing over the salad and toss. The dressing will make enough for a few salads, so you can store the rest in the fridge for later use. This salad is a refreshing spring treat, and the splash of orange flavor with sesame oil gives it a bit of Asian flare! Enjoy!!