Winter Comfort Food

What a great day! This is the first Blog Post for the new informative, creative, wonderful Garden Cafe blog entitled "Kale Power News from the Garden Cafe". The blog will contain news and information regarding The Garden Cafe on the Green in Woodstock, vegan food and lifestyle, recipes, entries from guest bloggers, and more....Here's our first rendering. Enjoy!


 Winter Comfort Food

The Garden Café on the Green offers delicious, seasonally based meals all year long. Pam Brown, chef owner of the Café changes the menu with each season. This is a perfect way to make use of the produce offered by a wonderful array of local organic farms. There are many obvious reasons why we should be eating local organic food. Among these are our personal health and the health of our beautiful environment. Pam pays close attention to these concerns by using organic local foods at the Cafe.

I am delighted to go to any Farmer’s Market any time. I love the visuals, how nature’s bounty fits together to make a dazzling array of color, shape, and texture. It is like a gorgeous 3D painting. And I love that it changes each week, depending on what has just been picked! I love seeing my neighbors and friends and I love talking with the Farmer’s who seem to love eating and cooking as much as they love growing food.

So it is confounding to me that several well educated, politically aware and health conscious people I know do not shop at our local Farmer’s Markets. Their reason is even more confounding. They say it is too expensive. But we all know that in the long term, it is much less costly to our health, the environment and our local economy to eat and shop locally.

When I try to come up with a new idea for a good meal, I always think about what is in season.  Living in the Northeast during the Winter presents a challenge to our desire to eat locally. If we turn our thoughts toward the root cellar( if we had one), it would be chock full of a lovely array of root vegetables and squashes. The Fall harvest might include a variety of white and sweet potatoes, rutabaga, turnips, carrots as well as all sorts of squash. At first glance, this may seem like a sad sparse array of choices. But these hearty veggies can be creatively combined with beans, greens and grains to satisfy and delight any palate. 

Just take a look at the 2 recipes below to get a "flavor" of what the possibilities are.
The first is a hearty and delish "meal in itself" soup that is served at the Cafe in the colder months. Very warming. Very yummy.

WILD RICE AND VEGETABLE SOUP

½ cup wild rice, rinsed

3 cups water

Pinch of salt

Bring the water and salt to a rapid boil.  Add the rice, bring back to a boil then turn the  heat to medium low, cover and cook for about 30 minutes or until all the water has been absorbed. Remove from heat and fluff with a fork

¼ cup canola oil

1 medium onion, diced small

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 cups diced carrots

1 small butternut squash, peeled and diced medium

3 stalks celery, diced small

3 cups russet potatoes, peeled and diced medium

½ teaspoon salt

6 cups water or stock

Warm oil in a medium pot.  Add the onions and garlic and sauté for 5 minutes on medium high heat.  Stir in the remaining vegetables and salt.  Cover and turn the heat down to low.  Simmer for about 10 minutes stirring frequently.  Add the water, bring to a boil and cook until the vegetables are tender

Cooked wild rice

¼ cup tamari

4 fresh sage leaves, minced or 1 teaspoon dried

¼ teaspoon black pepper

Add the wild rice to the pot and mix well.  Pour in the tamari, sage and black pepper.  Simmer for another 5 minutes and taste for seasoning. Serves 6 to 8

One such seasonal dish I love is an adaption of a dish that was served at “Jane’s”. Once located on Wall Street in Kingston, NY,  Jane’s served healthy lunches as well as making and serving their famously delicious Jane’s Ice Cream.  This healthy dish is made in a loaf pan and layered with kasha (buckwheat groats), sweet potatoes and topped with freshly steamed kale. Topped with a simple mushroom sauce, it's gooood. Don't be discouraged by all the steps. It is really simple, nutritious and delicious.

Inspired by the wonderfully sweet organic Japanese yams I had, I decided to replicate this straightforward dish. 

Jane's Health Loaf with Simple Mushroom Sauce

1 cup kasha (buckwheat groats)
2 cups veg stock or water
Canola oil 
Spray Canola (or other veg oil)
1 medium onion, chopped.
10-12 Cremini mushrooms, sliced.
2 medium sweet potatoes
1- 1-1/2 tbs Earth Balance, to taste
1 bunch kale

Bake the sweet potatoes for 45 minutes on 375. When done, remove skins
when cool enough to handle. Mash sweet potatoes with earth balance and
salt and pepper to taste.

Prepare the kasha. Rinse kasha and drain well. Heat canola oil in medium
saucepan. Carefully add kasha and stir, coating kasha with oil until it
produces a nutty aroma. Carefully ad 2 cups water, cover bring to a boil.
Reduce heat and cover. Cook on low for 20 minutes.

Meanwhile add 1 Tbs canola oil to saute pan. Add onions and saute for a
few minutes, then add the sliced mushrooms. Saute all till soft and add to
cooked kasha. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Wash, remove stems and chop kale into medium sized pieces. Place in steamer and
steam for only a few minutes. Rinse in cold water immediately to retain crispness
and lovely green color. Squeeze out extra water.

Spray a loaf pan with organic canola oil spray. Gently press kasha mixture into
loaf pan, filling it to almost half. Then gently press the sweet potato mixture into
the loaf pan. Top with steamed kale.

Cover with aluminum foil. Bake in 350 oven for about 1/2 an hour till heated through.
Cut loaf into slices and remove carefully. Top with simple mushroom sauce.

Simple Mushroom Sauce
10-12 Cremini mushrooms
2 Tbs Earth Balance
1 tbs flour or corn starch
1 cup vegetable stock

Saute cremini mushrooms in 1 tbs Earth Balance until soft.
Melt the other 1 tbs of Earth balance and mix with flour
to make a roux.
Add the roux to the mushrooms.
Add the vegetable stock and stir till thickened.

Enjoy this healthy colorful dish!

I think of it as a fun challenge to come up with a meal based on 1 or 2 seasonal veggies. One day I had a craving for mashed potatoes. I thought of Shepherd's pie. A seasoned blend of lentils with carrots and other veggies could be the bottom layer topped by creamy mashed potatoes. But use your imagination. There are endless possibilities. Let the given season inspire you. Eat seasonal, eat healthy, and definitely  eat at the Garden Cafe to see what it's all about.

Your comments, ideas and feedback always welcome.