Happy 2013 -  I am going to try and make a concentrated effort to blog more frequently this year.  There are a couple of things I have been experimenting with from the garden.  First, as usual for January, I find a surplus of daikon radish.  I really like the Japanese style pickles so I thought I would try to pickle some daikon's and carrots.  Since I had some leftover pickling juice I also cut up some beets and pickled them too.  They look so pretty in the jars and they taste wonderful.  It is also a pretty guilt free snack after all the excesses from the holidays.  Adding the coriander and mustard seeds was a tip from my fellow Green Corn Borad member Carla.

Easy Pickled Daikon and Carrot

1 cup water
1/2 cup Japanese rice vinegar or 
1 tsp five spice powder
2½ tsp sea salt
5 tbsp sugar
½ tsp peppercorns
1 bay leaf

3/4 cup distilled white vinegar
1 tsp coriander seeds
1 tsp mustard seeds


Carrots - cut into 2-3 inch large julieanne sticks -  use the french fry sliced if you have a mandoline
Daikon Rafish -  cut same size as carrots
1 fresh chilli sliced

Heat the first set of ingredients until the salt and sugar is disolved.

Add the peppers, carrots and daikon into a large jar and cover with the pickling liquid..  If you have a large mason jar with a lid this works.  I reuse jars so I just grab some .  Depending on how many jars and carrots and daikon you have you can adjust how much liquid you will need to pickle.    The amounts here are enough for one large jar.  I just store the jar in the refrigerator and it should be good for 2 weeks.  Pickles are ready after 2 days.

Picture is what is left of our daikon crop in this years garden

I recently went to a potluck and wanted to bring a side that would be good for vegetarians so I went out to the garden to see what i could find. Its the winter garden so we have carrots, broccoli and daikon radishes. I also happened to have some white miso paste so I came up with this recipe.

Miso Vegetable and Farro Salad

1/2 cup farro rinsed

3/4 cup of vegetable or chicken stock (water will also work)

1 cup grated carrot

1 cup grated daikon

1 small broccoli head

1/3 cup sliced green onions

1/4 cup White miso paste

2 tbs mirin

2 tbs  rice wine vinegar

2 tsp grated orange peel

Juice of 1 orange

1 tbsp sesame oil

salt to taste

Combine Farro and stock and bring to a boil.  Once boiling cover, reduce heat to low and cook for 10 minutes.  Let cool.

Blanche the broccoli in boiling salted water for about 2 minutes. Chop into small pieces.

Combine farro and the vegetable in large dish.

Combine the Miso paste thru salt in a jar and shake until combined. Add to farro and Vegetables and mix to coat.  Season as necessary.

Carrots

Well it is March already and John just harvested about 17 pound of carrots. That is alot of carrots. So what to do???

Here is a recipe for Carrot Soup that I put together as one solution.

Carrot Leek Soup

1 large Leek - sliced
5-6 large carrots - peeled and sliced
2-3 tablespoons olive or cocunut oil
1 tsp grated ginger
1 tsp chopped garlic
1 tsp powered ginger
1 tsp garan masala
4 cups chicken or vegetable broth
1/2 cup cream (optional)

Heat the oil in a large pot using med high heat. Add the leeks and carrots and cooks for about 5 minutes, add the ginger and garlic and other spices and cook a few minutes more. Add the broth and simmer until vegetable are VERY tender about 30 -45 minutes. Using an imersion blender if you have one puree the soup. If you do not have one just use a blender and puree in batches. You can add 1/2 of cream if you want a creamier version or eat as is.


Carrot Daikon vegetables with Miso

4 cups grated carrots
2 cups grated daikon radish
2-3 tables red miso paste (look in you refrigerator section)
2-3 tablespoons black sesame sees
1-2 tablespoons coconut oil or olive oil.

Heat the oil in large saute pan. Add the rest of the ingredients and saute until tender about 10 minutes.