Spicy Black Bean Cakes and Grilled Cabbage Slaw

I really should have gotten out the food processor for dinner prep last night. I would have used it for 2 or 3 jobs and it would have made the food more enjoyable to eat. The slaw was flavorful, but I wasn’t able to shred it small enough by hand. It was big strips of cabbage that were too hard to eat. I love my food processor, but it’s got too many parts to clean, so getting it out has to be worth it.
I loved the method for these black bean cakes – your broil them, no frying. I’ll use it for all future black bean cakes.
Having said all this, dinner was yummy!

Meatless Monday Menu – Spicy Black Bean Cakes, Grilled Cabbage Slaw
Farm Share Produce – Sweet Potatoes, Cabbage

Spicy Black Bean Cakes
From “Everyday Food Great Food Fast”

Makes 8 black bean cakes.

2 T olive oil, divided
4 scallions, thinly sliced
1 ½ jalapenos, ribs and seed removed, diced
1 T ground cumin
2 cans (15 oz.) black beans, drained and rinsed
2 cups sweet potato, peeled and grated (food processor job #1)
1 large egg, lightly beaten
½ cup plain breadcrumbs
Lime Sour Cream (recipe follows)

Heat the broiler. In a skillet over medium heat, warm 1 T olive oil. Cook the scallion, 1 minute until softened. Add the garlic, jalapeno, and cumin and cook until fragrant 30 seconds – 1 minute. Transfer to a large bowl.

Add beans to the bowl and mash (possible job #2 for food processor, I used immersion blender with great success). Leave ¼ of beans whole. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Fold in sweet potato, egg and breadcrumbs. Divide into 8 equal portions and form portions into patties.

Brush baking sheet with 1 T olive oil. Place patties on baking sheet. Broil 4 inches from the heat 8 minutes. Turn cakes and broil an additional 2 minutes for the other side to crisp. Serve with lime sour cream.

Lime Sour Cream
½ cup sour cream
2 t lime juce
½ jalapeno, seeded and minced
Salt

Combine ingredients.

Grilled Cabbage Slaw
Adapted from http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Grilled-Red-and-Green-Cabbage-Slaw-242744

Olive oil, for brushing on vegetables
¼ cup white wine vinegar or tarragon vinegar
¼ cup sugar
¼ extra virgin olive oil
1 T Dijon mustard
1 t dried tarragon
½ head of cabbage, cut in half again (finish with what would be 2 quarters of a whole head)
3 scallions trimmed

Brush olive oil on all sides of the cabbage and on scallions. Place on George Foreman Grill or in Grill pan. 2-3 minutes per side for the scallions and 5-6 minutes per side for the cabbage.

While vegetables are grilling whisk together vinegar, sugar, extra virgin olive oil, mustard and tarragon in a large bowl.

When the vegetables are off the grill and cooled slightly run them through the food processor shredding function (job #3). Mix shredded vegetables with prepared dressing

New Englad Turkey Burgers, Sweet Potato Fries

More fall flavors for dinner tonight. I had some cranberry sauce I needed to use and we just love these burgers that show off the sauce. My second attempt at these Sweet Potato Fries turned out much better than my first. Tonight was a good dinner.

Thursday Menu – New England Turkey Burgers, Sweet Potato Fries
Farm Share Produce – Apples, Sweet Potatoes

New England Turkey Burgers
http://purplecook.blogspot.com/2010/02/actual-sunday-menu-new-england-turkey.html

Sweet Potato Fries
Here is the link to my first attempt.
http://purplecook.blogspot.com/2010/11/carrot-rice-and-baked-sweet-potato.html

Here is the link directly to the recipe I followed precisely.
http://simplyrecipes.com/recipes/oven_baked_sweet_potato_fries/

Two Potato and Beet Hash with Poached Egg and Greens

This was a great fall meal, especially the week after Thanksgiving. It had the flavors of fall – sweet potato, beet, and sage, but wasn’t a heavy meal (we had enough of those last week). If you are getting the same items I did in my CSA this week, it’s also a great meal. It used some of the beets, some of the sweet potatoes, some of the onion (you get the idea), but still left some for other recipes. This one is a keeper.

Tuesday Menu: Two Potato and Beet Hash with Poached Egg and Greens
Farm Share Produce: Onion, Potatoes, Sweet Potatoes, Beets

Two Potato and Beet Hash with Poached Egg and Greens
Adapted from http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=10000002012800

2 T olive oil, divided
1 cup finely chopped onion
¾ pound cubed, peeled potato
¾ pound cubed, peeled sweet potato
1 T chopped fresh sage, divided
3 cloves garlic, minced
¼ cup broth, chicken or vegetable
½ pound cubed, peeled beets (roast at 400 degrees for 35 minutes or boil while making hash)
Salt and pepper to taste
5 t red wine vinegar, divided
4 large eggs
½ t Dijon mustard
6 cups salad greens

Heat 1 T of oil in large skillet over medium-high heat. Add onion to pan and sauté until tender, 5 minutes. Add potatoes, sweet potatoes, 2 t sage, garlic, and broth to the pan. Cover and cook about 25 minutes until potatoes are tender, stirring occasionally. Add beets and salt and pepper to taste. Cook uncovered for 10 minutes to evaporate liquid and continue cooking the potatoes and beets.

To prepare poached egg fill a skillet 2/3 full of water. Bring to a boil; reduce heat, and simmer. Add 1 tablespoon vinegar. Break each egg into a custard cup, and pour gently into pan. Cook for 3 minutes or until desired degree of doneness.

In the 3 minutes the eggs are cooking prepare plates with the hash. Remove eggs from pan using a slotted spoon, allow to drain over the pan. Place egg on top of hash and sprinkle with remaining sage.

To prepare greens combine remaining 1 T olive oil, 2 t red wine vinegar, salt and pepper, and mustard in a large bowl, stirring with a whisk. Toss with salad greens. Add greens to plate with hash and eggs.

NOTE: It is worthwhile to check out the original recipe. The greens suggested are frisee. It calls for a nonstick pan (which I don’t have), this would allow the broth to be eliminated. It also gives some short cuts for the beets.
If you roast the beets wrap them in foil.

Pasta with Kale, Caramelized Onions, and Sweet Potatoes

This recipe originally included parsnips. Our CSA guesstimate for this week thought we might get parsnips, but they weren’t there. I had this on the menu, and as often happens with a CSA, I had to rethink because we didn’t get a guesstimated vegetable. That’s part of the fun. I originally thought I would substitute in carrots, but after consulting “The Flavor Bible” I discovered carrots were not on the list of what goes well with kale, but sweet potatoes were. I had a whole bunch of sweet potatoes that were about the size of my finger, they worked perfectly as I cut them up to mimic the size of the penne pasta. Oh, and…it was yummy, I’m looking forward to the leftovers at lunch today.

Thursday Menu – Pasta with Kale, Caramelized Onions, and Sweet Potatoes, Salad
Farm Share Produce – Kale, Onions, Garlic, Sweet Potatoes, Tomatoes

Pasta with Kale, Caramelized Onions, and Sweet Potatoes
Adapted from http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=10000002012801

2 T olive oil, dived
1 pound sweet potatoes, peeled and cut diagonally about the size of penne pasta
2 t butter
1 medium onion, sliced
1 T fresh thyme, or 3-4 sprigs
3 garlic cloves, chopped
1 cup chicken or vegetable stock
1 bunch kale, stems removed and roughly chopped
8 oz. penne pasta
½ cup Parmesan cheese
Salt and pepper

Heat 1 T of olive in oil and 2-3 T of water in a large skillet over medium heat. Add sweet potatoes, cover and cook 10-12 minutes. Set aside.

Cook pasta according to package directions. Drain and reserve ¾ cup of cooking liquid.

In skillet heat the remaining 1 T of oil and butter over medium-low heat. Add onion and caramelize. Stirring occasionally, until golden brown and starting to crisp. Stir in thyme and garlic, cook 2 minutes. Add broth and kale, cook 5 minutes covered. Then 4 minutes uncovered, or until kale is very tender. Stir occasionally.

Add pasta and reserved sweet potatoes to the kale mixture. Remove thyme sprig, if used. Stir in ¼ cup of parmesan cheese and salt and pepper to taste. Mix in reserved pasta water until satisfied with the consistency. Make sure the dish is heated through and serve with the remaining cheese.

Potato Egg Sandwich and Lime Cilantro Sweet Potatoes

Both of these dishes were winners. The sandwiches will show up again on a Meatless Monday. They would be great almost the whole CSA season, they have peppers, onions, and arugula or salad mix. The sweet potato recipe has been on my mind for a couple of weeks now. I love it - it had sweetness from the potato, a kick from the cayenne, saltiness, and the lime provided brightness – a really good dish.

Meatless Monday Menu – Potato Egg Sandwich, Lime Cilantro Sweet Potatoes
Farm Share Produce – Potato, Sweet Potatoes, Cilantro

Potato Egg Sandwich
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/food-network-kitchens/egg-and-potato-sandwiches-recipe/index.html

Lime Cilantro Sweet Potatoes
http://www.epicurious.com/tools/searchresults?search=sweet+potato+lime

Carrot Rice and Baked Sweet Potato Fries

Sunday Menu – Asian Turkey Meatballs, Carrot Rice, Baked Sweet Potato Fries
Farm Share Produce – Carrots, Sweet Potatoes

The Asian Turkey Meatballs with Carrot Rice recipe is in Everyday Food Issue 77. I highly recommend the whole meal.

Carrot Rice
From Everyday Food Issue 77

1 ½ cups water
Coarse salt
1 cup long-grain white rice
1 Carrot, shredded with the smallest shred on box grater so it mimics the size of the rice
1 T scallion greens

Add water and salt to a medium saucepan and bring to a boil. Add rice, stir, and return to boil. Cover, reduce heat to simmer and cook about 15 minutes, until rice is tender. Remove from heat and add Carrot to the top of the rice. Let stand covered 5 minutes, then fluff with fork to stir in the Carrot. Garnish with scallion greens.

Baked Sweet Potato Fries
http://simplyrecipes.com/recipes/oven_baked_sweet_potato_fries/

I love that the recipe gives a variety of spices that can be used to season the fries. I chose Chinese Five Spice because of the Asian flair to the rest of the menu. I like the suggestion to put the fries on a wire cooling rack in the pan to circulate the air. I also liked the suggestion of heating the pan in an oven up to 500 degrees. I got distracted and meant to return the heat to 450 degrees to bake the fries. They were a little crispy (burnt).