Standfast's Roasted Ratatouille

I've been itching to do a recipe with eggplant, because the farmer's market has had some lovely eggplants.  It is also starting to get out of zucchini and summer squash season, so I opted to do a ratatouille.  For this one, though, instead of putting everything in a pot and letting it simmer to create that beautiful sauciness, I used the vitamix to make a slightly spicy tomato sauce and then roasted everything in the oven.  It came out great!  I would definitely make this again.

What you need:

• 1 onion, rough chopped
• 2 carrots, rough chopped
• 2 celery stalks, rough chopped
• 1 tbsp minced garlic
• 1 red bell pepper, de-seeded and roughly chopped
• 1 poblano pepper, de-seeded and roughly chopped
• 2 habanero peppers, de-seeded and roughly chopped
• 2 green tomatoes
• 1 pink tomato
• 1 tsp herbes de provence
• Basil leaves
• Salt & pepper to taste
• 2 Japanese eggplants, thinly sliced
• 5 roma tomatoes, thinly sliced
• 1 heirloom tomato, thinly sliced
• 2 zucchini, thinly sliced
• 2 yellow squash, thinly sliced
• 2-3 oz. Romano cheese

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

To start, make a puree of the first 12 ingredients (onion through salt & pepper).  Next, grease an 8 x 11 baking dish and pour about 3/4 of the puree into it.  

Now arrange your eggplant, tomatoes, zucchini, and squash in a spiral around the dish, like so:

Pour the remaining puree over the top, and grate the cheese over the top.

Cover and bake for an hour, then uncover and bake for an additional 20 minutes.  Enjoy!  It's actually way better the second time you eat it, so make sure to leave enough for leftovers!

Rainwood: Beet Chip & Kale Salad

Breathe properly.  Stay curious.  And eat your beets.

Tom Robbins, Jitterbug Perfume

Happy (belated) Earth Day!  To celebrate, I decided to make a salad using one of the most deliciously earthy vegetables out there: the beet.  I love beets in every form, and for this salad, I tried something I haven't done before.  I recently bought a vegetable spiralizer, so I decided to make roasted beet chips.  Mixed in with kale and candied walnuts, the salad was a perfect blend of earthiness and sweet, all topped with a sweet and spicy dressing.

What you need:

     For the salad:

• 3 medium-large beets, peeled and spiralized (or sliced VERY thin)
• 1 cup walnut halves
• 1 large bunch Lacinato Kale, stems removed and torn into bite-sized pieces
• 3 tbsp 100% pure dark amber maple syrup
• 1 tsp olive oil
• Salt & pepper to taste

     For the dressing:

• 1 tbsp stone-ground mustard
• 1 tsp balsamic vinegar
• 3 tbsp olive oil
• 3 tbsp apple cider vinegar
• 2 tbsp honey
• 1 tsp minced garlic

Heat the oven to 400.  After spiralizing the beets, toss them in the olive oil and then lay them out on a foiled and oiled baking sheet.  Let them cook for 20 minutes.

While they cook, put your walnuts into a skillet and cook on medium-high until they begin to brown.  Once they have started browning, add the maple syrup and stir until all walnuts are coated and the syrup is basically evaporated.  Remove from heat and pour the walnuts onto parchment paper to cool.

Next, mix together the ingredients for the dressing, and toss all of your torn kale into a large salad bowl.  I recommend massaging the kale a bit to soften it before adding the other ingredients.  When the walnuts have cooled and the beets are finished roasting, combine all of the ingredients, toss them in the dressing, and serve. 

Pretty Pig: Orange Dijon Pork Roast

Never try to teach a pig to sing; it wastes your time and it annoys the pig.

Robert Heinlein

Pork paired with wild rice

This is an exceedingly simple holiday roast, perfect for the person who would rather spend the holiday hanging with family and friends than slaving over the stove.  It's so easy in fact, that I only bothered to take photos of the final product.  The rest was just kind of boring.

What you need:

• Pork Roast, mine was 2.5 lb 
• ~1/2 bottle orange juice
• ~1/2 bottle Dijon mustard
• 1 sprig of thyme
• 1 sprig of rosemary
• 2 tbsp cumin
• 2 tbsp paprika

Grab your roast and toss it in a freezer bag.  Throw in enough orange juice to cover the bottom quarter of the roast, and then add in about a quarter of the bottle of mustard.  Add in the thyme, rosemary, 1 tbsp cumin, and 1 tbsp paprika, close the bag, making sure to get the air out, and rub everything into the roast to get it good and coated.  Refrigerate.  Our roast marinated for about 3 days, and we just made sure to flip it once a day.  On Christmas morning, we tossed it in the crock pot with the marinade, added in more orange juice to cover about half the roast, add another 1/4 bottle of mustard, 1 tbsp cumin, and 1 tbsp paprika.  Set the slow cooker to low and cook for about 8 hours, flipping the roast occasionally.  When it's cooked to falling apart delicious, serve!