Our wonderful friend and chef Katie Aldworth shared these delicious recipes at our Open House for CSA members in May.
SALSA VERDE
1 bunch/packed cup basil leaves
1 bunch/packed cup parsley leaves
⅛ to ¼ cup red wine vinegar
½ to 1 ½ cups extra virgin olive oil (EVO)
1 Tbsp dijon mustard
4 cornichon (small cucumber pickles)
3 Tbsp capers
1 to 3 garlic cloves
2 anchovy filet
Salt and pepper to taste
Put leaves in a blender, chop. Add vinegar and olive oil and blend. Add other ingredients and blend until smooth.
This is a sauce that is so healthy and delicious on pretty much everything. Raw or blanched vegetables, sandwiches, eggs, nicoise salad, any fish or chicken. The quantities can be adjusted liberally for preference or availability. For instance, if you don’t have cornichons it will still be great. It will keep in the fridge for about a week (longer if you have fermented garlic to use).
KIMCHI PASTE
20 garlic cloves
2 inches ginger
½ cup korean chili powder (http://www.hmart.com/red-pepper-powder-fine-3-lbs-23270/)
¼ cup fish sauce (http://www.hmart.com/fish-sauce/) or vegan fish sauce
⅛ to ¼ cup soy sauce (preferably light)
2 tsp salted shrimp, optional (http://www.hmart.com/salted-shrimp/)
There are tons of recipes for kimchi. This one is based off of one of the momofuku recipes and is great for quick kimchi (like cucumbers delicious minutes after mixing) or longer ferments of napa cabbage, carrots, daikons, or whatever! The paste will keep just about forever in your fridge, so if you like kimchi you could make a big batch.
First take your vegetables. Think about the size of an average Napa cabbage--for that many vegetables cut to your preference (thinner will allow the paste to penetrate more quickly), toss with about 2 Tbsp salt. Let sit for a few hours or overnight. This pulls the water out of the vegetables. It is an essential step for making room for the paste to penetrate the vegetables, and also for making a crisp kimchi. Drain off the salt water.
Mix in as much paste as you like. You don’t need much for the fermentation process to happen (maybe ¼ to ½ cup) but can put as much as you like. I like to use my hands for this mixing, it is by far the easiest way to spread the paste. Cover, and at this point you can put it in the fridge and eat after 24 hours, it will be better after two weeks. Or, you can leave it on the counter for a couple days. If you leave it on the counter it is important that you gas it off every day or so, or your container top may pop off, aggressively.
VEGAN FISH SAUCE http://www.thekitchn.com/recipe-vegan-fish-sauce-130535
If you don’t have the mushroom soy sauce that is called for in this recipe you can use tamari or soy (preferably light) and mushroom stems (preferably shiitake)