Tangy Nut Butter Noodles

We like to keep carrots and cabbage in the fridge because they take a long time to go bad; if stored well these can keep for many months! Because of this recipe, we always keep the other ingredients (soy curls, thai noodles, and nut butter) stocked in my pantry. During the before times, when we had guests over or have run out of food ideas we always had a back up meal already planned. We also loved feeding this to guests because it makes a lot and is fairly cheap. Plus, white people are often excited that it is not the usual ‘American’ fare. Now, we are happy this is a low effort meal that makes our bodies feel good that we can pull together if we aren’t feeling like putting in much effort.

A note on tamarind. We like to buy jarred tamarind paste and keep it in our fridge, as it is a great acid to add to many meals. If you can't find packaged tamarind paste, however, no worries -- dried tamarind pulp is available at many Asian and Latin American grocery stores, and you can use the pulp to make your own paste. Soak the brick of pulp in hot water until it's cool enough to touch, then break it down with your hands to incorporate the water and release the flavor. Run the thick paste through a sieve to strain out the pods, and keep in the fridge or freezer. You can simmer the resulting liquid until it is a thicker paste, but that is a question of personal preference.

Serves: 4

Time: 1 hr

Ingredients

2 large carrots (3/4 lb)

1 lb cabbage (4 cups, packed)

1 package pad thai noodles

5 tbsp neutral oil for frying vegetables and soy curls, divided

1/4 cup toasted peanuts or almonds, chopped

1/4 cup cilantro, chopped

for the soy curls:

4 oz soy curls

1 bouillon cube or 1 tsp Better than Bouillon paste

1 1/2 cups hot water

for the sauce:

1/4 cup peanut or almond butter

1 tsp lime zest

2 tbsp lime juice

1 tablespoon sesame oil

1 tsp sriracha

1 tsp tamarind

3 tbsp soy tamari (gluten-free soy sauce)

2 tbsp water

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Slice carrots into 2 inch long julienne and chop cabbage. Dissolve bouillon in hot water and soak the soy curls for 10-15 minutes. They will re-hydrate and should soak up all of the water that you put in. Heat 2 tbsp of neutral oil to medium heat in a pan. Add the veggies and fry until the carrots are starting to brown and the cabbage is starting to crisp. This takes about 10-15 min.

In the meantime put a pot of well salted water on to boil. The water should taste about as salty as sea water so that the noodles soak in the water and are perfectly salted when done. Don’t worry if these feels like a lot of salt; you will be draining the water. Once boiling, add the noodles into the water and cook until soft (check noodle package for instructions). Once you drain them, remember to rinse with lots of cool water to prevent clumping. Remove the veggies from the frying pan and set aside. Heat the veggie pan with 3 tbsp of oil and fry the soy curls until brown and crispy, about 15 minutes.

Whisk together nut butter, lime juice and zest, sesame oil, sriracha, tamarind, tamari, and water. If your nut butter is clumpy, we recommend stirring the lime juice into the nut butter first to work out the clumps before adding the rest of the ingredients. Also if your almond butter is very thick you may want to add some water to make the sauce thinner. This isn’t necessary, but makes stirring easier.

Toast the nuts in a dry pan until slightly darker in color. Chop the almonds or peanuts and cilantro. Toss the veggies, soy curls, and noodles with the sauce and serve warm, garnished with cilantro and toasted nuts. Enjoy!

Sheep Lover's Pie

This sheep lover’s pie is our take on a more traditional ‘shepherd’s pie’. The layering of peppered mushrooms, sweet carrots and cabbage, edamame, and fresh swiss chard makes a savory sensation you won’t want to miss! Topped off with our famous garlicky potatoes we always get excited when we have leftovers to eat day after day.

We love this dish because it is easy to use up whatever is in your fridge or whatever your farm has in stock. Speaking of farms, now is a great time to remember we still need to support our local farmers if we want to continue to have access to delicious local food!

If you live in the Portland area consider buying online from The Side Yard Farm https://www.thesideyardpdx.com/. If you live in the Seattle area, Kirsop Farm https://www.kirsopfarm.com/ has an online shopping option. If you live in Roxbury, Connecticut, Riverbank Farm has an online option with a pick up at the garage: https://www.riverbankfarm.com/.

We are great believers in the value of small local farms and farmer’s markets. Right now, many small farms are struggling because a large part of their revenue comes from farmers markets. Social distancing, and in some places closure of markets, means that farms can use any help they can get. Shopping directly from local farms is one way to help, another is to give to local funds that offer grants to farms who have lost revenue. A great way to figure out how to help is to check out your local farmer’s market website.

On the subject of giving back, many of us will have seen, or will soon see, stimulus checks in our bank accounts. As white settlers we are keenly aware that, due to systematic oppression, the pandemic is having disproportionate impact on black, indigenous, and people of color. For example, stimulus checks are being distributed widely, independent of level of need. This means that those continuing to work and seeing less impact receive as much as or more than the most impacted.

For those who have lost jobs or were already in a precarious place, the stimulus checks are a great boon, but Anne’s family looked at their situation and decided that the additional income is not as essential to them as it is could be to others who are bearing the brunt of this global pandemic. They chose to give their stimulus check to local organizations supporting those who are most impacted by the pandemic. We offer this thought: do you need your stimulus check? If you don’t, please consider giving to organizations in your area that are supporting those who do.

If you want some ideas of organizations check out: https://www.sharemycheck.org/

Serves: 4

Time: 2 hours (1 hour active time)

Ingredients

4-6 red potatoes (1 1/3 lb), quartered with skin on

3 tbsp salt, divided

1 head garlic 

3/4 cup raw cashews and water to soak

1/2 cup water

1/4 cup nutritional yeast

1 cup olive oil, divided

3 cups sliced cremini (1/2 lb), sliced

1/2 tsp pepper

1 medium onion (1 1/2 cups), chopped

2 medium carrots (1/3 lb), cubed

1/2 lb cabbage, chopped

1 cup frozen peas

1 cup frozen edamame

5 leaves of chard, de-stemmed and chopped

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Preheat the oven to 375 F. Cover the cashews with water and put them in the fridge until you make the mashed potatoes. Roast the garlic. You can do this a number of ways and our two favorite are to use a garlic roaster or a small cast iron pan. If you are using a garlic roaster chop the tops off the garlic, drizzle a bit of oil into the garlic cloves, put this into the garlic roaster and roast in the oven for about 45 minutes. To use a small cast iron pan, peel the garlic and place cloves in the cast iron pan with a small amount of olive oil. Roast this in the oven for about 20 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes. Either way, the garlic should look golden brown and be very soft. With the cast iron method, it is easier to burn the garlic so make sure to check on it.

Quarter and boil the potatoes in very salty water until tender. The water should taste about as salty as sea water so that the potatoes soak in the water and are perfectly salted when done. Don’t worry if these feels like a lot of salt; you will be draining the water. Drain the potatoes when they are fork tender.

Saute mushrooms in 1 tbsp olive oil until tender and starting to brown, about 20 minutes.  When they are soft, add the pepper. Layer the mushrooms on the bottom of a baking dish (we use an 8.5” casserole or a 12” cast iron pan).  Layer the peas on top of the mushrooms. It’s okay if they are still frozen.

Saute the onion and carrot about 10 minutes on medium high heat until the onions are translucent and the carrots are starting to brown, stirring regularly.  Add the cabbage and cook about 7 minutes longer, stirring regularly, until the cabbage has wilted and released some of its liquid.  

Drain the soaked cashews and add them to a blender (we like the Vitamix) with 1/2 cup water until smooth. You can test for smoothness by rubbing some between two fingers. If it feels at all gritty, keep blending. Mash the cooked potatoes with the roasted garlic, cashew cream, 1/4 cup olive oil, and nutritional yeast together. Taste and add salt if needed. There will be salt added to the top of the potatoes once the dish is fully assembled, so be careful not to over salt. Layer the onion cabbage mixture into the baking dish.  Salt this layer with 1 tsp of salt. De-stem the chard and chop or thinly slice. Add the edamame and chard before topping the whole dish with the garlicky potatoes.  Rough up the top of the potatoes with a fork and drizzle with olive oil. Sprinkle with salt and rough them up again. 

Bake about one hour until the top of the potatoes have some crispy, browned sections. Enjoy!

Quick Stir Fry

We all have nights when we have not planned for dinner and have not shopped for a particular meal. One of the benefits of cooking regularly is that there are often some veggies or a block of tofu in the fridge. This recipe was cooked on such a night and used various left-over veggies. For this reason, any of the ingredients can be subbed out for whatever is in your refrigerator.

Serves: 4

Time: 30min

Ingredients

1 cup rice

1 block tofu

1/4 cup corn starch

1 tsp salt, divided

1/2 onion, sliced

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 inch ginger, minced

1 bell pepper, sliced

3 carrots, thick julienned

1/4 purple cabbage, sliced

1 small head broccoli and stem, broken into florets and slice the stem

5 tbsp, divided neutral oil like avocado, sunflower, or canola

1 tbsp tamari (gluten-free soy sauce) or coconut aminos

For the sauce:

2 tbsp tamari (gluten-free soy sauce) or coconut aminos

1/2 tsp hot sauce

1 tsp agave

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Cook rice with 1 tsp of salt, for a more flavorful rice, add 1 tsp veggie bouillon to the water. While rice is cooking, put the cornstarch and 1 tsp salt in a small bowl.

Cut your block of tofu in half so that you have two, one inch thick rectangles. Press tofu between two kitchen towels, placing a cast iron pan, or something heavy on them to remove some of the liquid. This process can be done with a tofu press. Slice the tofu into cubes or thick sticks. Toss tofu in cornstarch salt mixture. Heat 2 tbsp of neutral oil in a frying pan. Once hot, fry the tofu on med-high making sure it gets golden brown on all sides.

To make the sauce, mix tamari (gluten-free soy sauce), hot sauce, and agave in a small bowl. When the tofu looks done, pour this sauce over the tofu and toss until coated and then remove from heat and set tofu aside.

In the same pan, add 1 tbsp of oil and sautee the onion for 2 minutes. Add garlic and ginger, and sautee for another minute. Add bell peppers. Cook until onions are soft and starting to caramelize and the peppers are tender with some color. Set aside.

In the same pan (or you can use 2 pans and do this at the same time as the onions) fry the carrot, cabbage, and broccoli at a med-low heat with 2 tbsp of oil. Cook until carrots and broccoli are bright and cabbage is soft, stirring frequently. Combine all the vegetables and stir in the last 1 tbsp of tamari (gluten-free soy sauce) and serve over rice with tofu.