The Suburban Farmhouse: May 2017

Bok Choi, Bone Broth, chinese greens, Corn free, dairy free, Diabetic friendly, from scratch, pork, slow food, soup, Spring, Stock, Wonton Soup

Wonton Soup and DIY "Chinese Stock"

7:30 AM

I've always had a soup fascination, and so I guess this is just the next logical permutation of that, but I was thinking: I pretty much am permanently craving takeout chinese soup. It's something I've never been able to replicate at home... so they must be using a stock base that I haven't tried out yet. Lo and Behold: The answer is pork. PORK!

I put together a version of Wonton Soup a week or so ago that rivals my favorite restaurant's version. And now I have leftovers in the freezer for whenever the need arises. I have a long way to go in learning to shape proper wontons, and I definitely cheated and got store-bought wrappers... next time it'll be 100% homemade and, I'm sure, perfectly put together. HAHA!

Chinese Pork Stock

1 1/2 lbs pork hocks (or spareribs... but hocks are better)

1 chicken carcass (or 1lb of chicken pieces)

8 cups (2 quarts) water

1 large chunk of unpeeled fresh ginger root... cut up into 2 or 3 pieces

4 tbsp dry sherry

4 scallions tied into knots (b/c it's fun)

Salt to taste

Put all the ingredients into a pot. Simmer 2-3 hours. Strain... and it's ready to go. Freezes well, too.

Wonton Soup to End All Takeouts

Serves 4

1 cup ground pork

about 6 minced raw shelled shrimp

1 tbsp dry white wine

1 tsp brown sugar

1 tbsp tamari

1 tsp minced scallions

1 tsp fresh ginger root, minced

24 wonton wrappers

4 cups Chinese Pork Stock

1 handful of chopped baby bok choi (optional)

(more) soy sauce to taste

(more) chopped scallions to garnish

In a bowl, mix pork and shrimp with sugar, wine, tamari, scallions, and ginger. Set aside and let the flavors combine for 30 minutes.

Place 1 tbsp of pork mixture in the center of each wonton wrapper. Wet the edges of the wrappers and press them together with your fingers to seal. Fold over each wonton into a "wonton shape" (I'm still not so good at that).

To cook: bring stock to a rolling boil in a large sauce pot, add the wontons and bok choi and boil for 5 minutes. Season with Tamari and garnish with scallions.

Transfer to bowls and enjoy.

cooking for a crowd, Corn free, dairy free, Diabetic friendly, eggplant, from scratch, ground beef, slow food, whole food

Moussaka, My Way

6:40 AM

Ok, so you know when you're meaning to do something... and really really have tried to sit down and do it multiple times and it still doesn't happen? That's what has happened with blogging about this recipe. Moussaka is magical. Moussaka single handedly disposes (deliciously) of 5 large eggplants and 3 lbs of ground beef ALL AT ONCE. Moussaka, in our house, took 2 adults an entire Sunday afternoon to make. It's big, it's time consuming, and it's a labor of love. You should definitely make sure you have some wine on hand to pass the time. It's also very tasty and worth it for the MASSIVE quantity of leftovers it creates. Oh, and it freezes really well. I'd almost have to say it tastes better for having been frozen and reheated.

Moussaka, My Way

5 large eggplants

salt

10 tbsp olive oil

3lbs ground beef

2 large onions, chopped

2 tablespoons tomato paste

1/2 cup chopped parsley

1/2 cup red wine

Salt and pepper to taste

1/2 cup water

1/8 tsp ground cinnamon

3/4 cup nutritional yeast

1/2 cup panko breakcrumbs

8 tbsp all purpose flour

4 cups warm unsweetened cashew milk

1/2 tsp salt

1/8 tsp pepper

1/4 tsp ground nutmeg

3 eggs, lightly beaten

olive oil for brushing eggplant

1 bottle of your favorite wine

Peel eggplants lengthwise and cut into 1/2 inch rounds. Sprinkle with salt and let stand in a colander under a heavy pile of plates for 30 minutes. Rinse and dry eggplant and set aside.

Pour yourself a glass of wine. NOT the cooking wine.

Pour 4 tbsp olive oil and salt to taste in a saucepan and saute' the ground beef and onion until brown. Add tomato paste, parsley, red cooking wine, salt, pepper and water. Simmer until liquid is absorbed and then pull it off the heat and let it cool.

Drink wine.

Stir cinnamon, 1/3 cup nutritional yeast flakes, and 1/4 cup breadcrumbs into the ground beef mixture. Set aside.

Drink wine.

Prepare the sauce!!

Pour 6 tbsp olive oil in a saucepan over low heat. Add flour and stir until well blended. Remove from heat and gradually stir in cashew milk. Return to heat and stir until the sauce thickens and becomes very smooth. Add salt, pepper, and nutmeg.

Combine eggs with a small amount of hot sauce to temper, then stir egg mixture into sauce VERY SLOWLY and simmer over low heat for about 2 minutes, stirring constantly.

Preheat broiler.

Drink wine. Have a snack too.

Lightly brush eggplant slices with oil on both sides. Place on an ungreased cookie sheet and broil until lightly browned. Set aside to cool.

Play with your kids/answer a text message/look at facebook.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Sprinkle bottom of a large casserole dish with remaining breadcrumbs. Place a layer of eggplant slices on the breadcrumbs, then spread meat mixture over the eggplant slices. Cover meat with remaining eggplant slices. Spoon sauce over eggplant; sprinkle with remaining nutritional yeast. Bake for 40 minutes, or until golden brown. Cool for 10 minutes before serving.

Enjoy!

cooking for a crowd, Corn free, dairy free, Diabetic friendly, fish, from scratch, Spring, whole food

Pollock Plaki

9:29 AM

I've started looking in a few new directions for inspiration. Admittedly, I know very little about authentic Greek cooking but I'm glad I finally cracked open the book that's been sitting on my shelf, staring at me, for the last 10 years! I'm learning plenty as I'm going though The Complete Book of Greek Cooking: The recipe club of saint paul's greek orthodox cathedral , but I think the biggest take away has been the joy of cooking for a crowd. Filling a grocery cart with a TON of produce and using entire "family sized" packages of meat and fish has been fun and the leftovers have been amazing.

As with everything, I've modified certain parts of each original recipe to suit everyone's dietary needs and I'm beginning to see that it's not only very easy to do this with Greek dishes, it's almost assumed that you're going to switch up ingredients to use what's on hand. My kind of cooking! So, without further ado, here's my take on Greek Fish Plaki.

"Plaki" is a method of cooking that includes the use of onions, tomatoes, parsley, and olive oil and it usually uses fish or seafood as a protein. It is noted, however, that Plaki can also be made of beans or vegetables.

Pollock Plaki

serves 6 (large servings)

2 large onions, sliced thin

1/2 cup olive oil

2 cups coarsely chopped flat leaf parsley

2 stalks celery coarsely chopped

3 scallions, coarsely chopped

3 fresh tomatoes, sliced

2 cloves garlic, finely minced

3 bay leaves

2 lbs Pollock Fillets

2 tbsp fresh oregano, chopped

Salt and pepper to taste

2 whole lemons, sliced into thin rings

1/2 cup white wine

the juice of 2 fresh lemons

1/2 cup panko crumbs

Preheat oven to 350f.

Saute onions in olive oil until soft. Add celery, scallions, parsley, tomatoes, garlic, and bay leaves. Simmer until the liquid is visibly reduced to about 1/2. Place fish in a greased baking pan and sprinkle with oregano, salt, and pepper. Cover fish with cooked vegetables and decorate with lemon slices. Add wine and lemon juice and top with breadcrumbs. Bake for 45 minutes, or until fish flakes easily.

Serve and enjoy!!

Asparagus, Corn free, dairy free, Diabetic friendly, Festival/Special Occasion Menu, soup, Spring, Vegan

Creamy Asparagus Soup

5:00 AM

It's asparagus season and I wanted to really dig in to using a big amount of this ingredient. This soup calls for 2 lbs of seasonally delicious asparagus and is pureed with creamy cashew milk. The tips (the BEST PART) are left whole and serve to highlight the entire experience. This is a really quick and relatively easy recipe that I was able to pull off on a weeknight.

Creamy Vegan Asparagus Soup

2 lbs fresh asparagus (chopped into 2 inch pieces, tips reserved)

2tbsp olive oil

1 medium leek, sliced

3 scallions, sliced

3 tbsp a.p. flour (or tapioca starch)

6 cups vegetable stock

1/2 cup cashew milk

1 tbsp chopped fresh tarragon

Salt and black pepper to taste

Blanch asparagus tips in brine for approximately 5 minutes and then set aside. Heat oil in a heavy pot and add leeks and scallions. Simmer until soft. Stir in chopped asparagus stalks, cover and cook until the asparagus stalks are tender. Add the flour and stir well to blend. Add the stock and bring to a boil, stirring frequently. Lower the heat and allow to simmer for about 30 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Puree the soup in a blender. Return pureed soup to the pot and add the cashew milk and asparagus tips. Stir to combine. Serve and enjoy.

Corn-Free, Daikon, dairy free, Diabetic friendly, from scratch, macrobiotic, Raw food, Spring, Vegan

Macrobiotic Chickpea and Leek salad

7:42 AM

This was a perfect addition along side grilled anything (burgers, hot dogs, ribs... anything picnic really) or it can go over a green salad.

Macrobiotic Chickpea and Leek Salad

1 can (8 oz) chickpeas drained and rinsed

1/2 diakon, peeled and sliced

2 small carrots, scrubbed and sliced

2 leeks, cleaned and julienned

1/4c fresh flatleaf parsley, minced

Dressing

3 tbsp lemon juice

1 tbsp garlic powder

3 tbsp olive oil

2 pinches salt

Combine all the salad ingredients in a bowl. Whisk together dressing ingredients. Pour dressing over salad ingredients and toss. Serve and enjoy. This salad has a tiny bite to it due to 100% raw ingredients. The adults in our house found it refreshing, but the kids preferred it the next day after it had mellowed in the refrigerator overnight.

Enjoy!

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Older Posts

Wonton Soup and DIY "Chinese Stock"

Moussaka, My Way

Pollock Plaki

Creamy Asparagus Soup

Macrobiotic Chickpea and Leek salad

The Sourest Pickle, my second book, is on Amazon!

Modified is available on Amazon!

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Wonton Soup and DIY "Chinese Stock"

Moussaka, My Way

Pollock Plaki

Creamy Asparagus Soup

Macrobiotic Chickpea and Leek salad

The Sourest Pickle, my second book, is on Amazon!

Modified is available on Amazon!

Subscribe and Follow

By Dietary Preference

By Season

From The Farmhouse

recent posts

Popular Posts

About me

ads

Like us on Facebook

Blog Archive

The Suburban Farmhouse