Monday, June 27, 2011

Swiss Chard Pie


Chard grows so well here in Burien. Leave it to Martha Stewart to come up with a good way to use it up!

This vegetarian pie is great to have on hand -- it can go straight from the freezer to the oven. To bake it without freezing, reduce the baking time to 40 to 45 minutes.
Ingredients

For the Olive Oil Dough:
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 cup cold water
3/4 teaspoon coarse salt

For the Swiss Chard Pie Filling:
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 medium red onion, cut into small dice
4 garlic cloves, minced
2 1/2 pounds Swiss chard, stems cut into small dice and leaves torn
3/4 teaspoon red-pepper flakes
Coarse salt and ground pepper
1/2 cup grated Parmesan
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
Grated zest of 1 large lemon, plus 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1 large egg yolk

Directions

Make the Olive Oil Dough

In a bowl, combine all-purpose flour, extra-virgin olive oil, cold water, and coarse salt. Stir with a fork to combine, then turn out onto a work surface and knead 1 minute. Cover dough with plastic wrap and let rest at room temperature, 30 minutes.
Make the Swiss Chard Pie

In a large pot, heat oil over medium-high. Add onion and garlic; cook until onion begins to soften, about 2 minutes. Add chard stems and red-pepper flakes; cook until stems begin to soften, about 2 minutes.

Pack chard leaves into pot; season with salt and pepper. Reduce heat to medium, cover, and cook until chard leaves wilt, about 4 minutes. Uncover and cook, stirring occasionally, until chard is soft, about 4 minutes. Drain, pressing out as much liquid as possible. Place chard mixture in a large bowl and toss with Parmesan, flour, lemon zest and juice. Season with salt and pepper.

Roll two-thirds the dough to a 12 1/2-inch round; fit into an 8-inch round cake pan (2 inches deep). Fill bottom crust with chard mixture. Roll remaining dough to a 9 1/2-inch round; place over filling. Pinch edges of dough together and tuck in to seal; cut several vents into center of pie. Combine yolk with 1 teaspoon water and brush over dough, avoiding edge of pan. Freeze pie (see below).

To serve, preheat oven to 400, with rack in lowest position. Bake frozen pie until crust is deep golden brown, about 1 1/2 hours. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Saturday, June 25, 2011

Plant Garlic

Best time to plant - November! I just harvested mine

Nice to know folks at Burpee's Seeds agree. The cool thing is you can plant the cloves you buy from the store! Plus I have successfully planted garlic in a 5 gallon bucket (self watering planter)

Sunday, June 19, 2011

Make a Salad Bowl

Another great way to garden on your deck or balcony

Wednesday, June 15, 2011

How to grow Vegetables on your Balcony


Want to grow some produce? Don't have a yard or a plot in a community garden?
The price of produce is going up with everything else, and if you have a sunny balcony, you can grow some of your own delicious vegetables. Besides harvesting healthy foods, having pots of growing food on your balcony is a wonderful, inexpensive way to decorate it.
Read more here

Tuesday, June 7, 2011

Veggie Kabobs


A quick, easy and tasty way to eat your veggies- grill in minutes

VEGGIE KABOBS
Assorted vegetables, cut bite size (I like to use mushrooms, tomatoes squash and onion- this is good dish for cherry tomatoes)
Skewers
Marinade*
Let vegetables marinate in a shallow dish between 30 minutes to an hour. Then piece by piece, shove them on skewers- (You may want to soak skewers in a shallow bowl or pan in some water- helps keep them from burning)Place them on a hot grill or BBQ- cook for about two minutes and turn over. Should have nice grill marks. Serve and enjoy!
Tip- brush the grill with a light brush of Olive oil before grilling- adds good falver and helps to keep veggies from sticking to the grill.

*Asian Vegetable Marinade
2 tablespoons light soy sauce
2 tablespoons seasoned rice wine vinegar
2 teaspoons minced fresh ginger
1 teaspoon sesame oil

mix the marinade up and let your vegetables marinate in a shallow dish from between 30 minutes to an hour before grilling.