Monthly Archives: October 2022

Carrot Green Chimichurri

Vegetables

Hi all! Hope you’re enjoying your October and are enjoying the last little bits of produce from your gardens! We’ve been harvesting our carrots over the past couple of weeks and got quite the haul- which left me with the question of what to do with all the carrot greens (because I refuse to waste any food if I can help it!). I thought of making a few different sauces and was especially pleased with this chimichurri, so I wanted to share the recipe with you!

But first… what is chimichurri, anyway? It’s an Argentinian herb sauce, usually made with parsley. Conveniently, carrots (and therefore carrot greens) are in the same family as parsley and I find that they taste fairly similar, so I figured I could use them interchangeably. I’m happy to say that I was correct! Carrot greens are also often cheaper than parsley by function of carrots being cheaper than parsley, so that is a win with today’s grocery prices! Anyway, to the recipe!

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup carrot greens (just the fronds and smaller stems when possible- too many bigger stems can make the sauce feel gritty)
  • 1/4 cup red wine vinegar
  • 1 tbsp dried oregano
  • 4 cloves garlic
  • 1 tsp red pepper flakes
  • 1 tsp salt
  • ~1/2 cup olive oil

This recipe is pretty simple: pile all your ingredients except the olive oil into a food processor and blend until very finely chopped.

Scoop the herb paste into a bowl or a jar and pour the olive oil over it until the oil covers the paste.

Let the mixture sit for at least a couple of hours before using it so that the flavors can meld. After that, I recommend using it over grilled meat or veggies- it is especially delicious over steak. You could also make this recipe using the traditional parsley and it would taste very similar. Store it in the fridge, but let it sit at room temperature for a little while before using it. Happy eating!

Cinnamon Applesauce

Miscellaneous

Hi, all! Hope your October is off to a great start. We’ve come to my favorite time of year: harvest time! I love figuring out what to do with all the produce we get from our garden along with the produce from local farms. This post is for a fast and easy recipe for using up all those apples you picked that have gotten bruised or are starting to get really soft- cinnamon applesauce! The recipe is my Mom’s and it is a huge family favorite. Here are the ingredients:

  • 1/2 peck apples, ideally Macintosh or Cortland but you can use any variety you like
  • 1 cinnamon stick (or you can use powdered cinnamon at the end)
  • 2 tbsp white granulated sugar (or to taste)

Core and quarter the apples. No need to peel them unless you want to- the skins will give our applesauce a pretty pink color! Tip: you can just cut around the core for quicker chopping! Put all the apple pieces in a large stockpot with the cinnamon stick and fill the pot with water to almost cover the apples.

Bring the water to a boil, stirring occasionally, and let the apples cook until they are very soft- usually only about 15 minutes. Some will start to break down and become mush, and that is totally normal and fine!

Drain the water from the pot. At this point if you have a food mill, feel free to use it to mash the apples. I don’t have a food mill, so I just use a potato masher and mash the apples up that way.

If you used a food mill, discard the apple skins that didn’t make it through the mill. If you used a potato masher and don’t want apple peel in your applesauce, just pick out the peels by hand or with a fork. Once the peels are out, add the sugar to taste. I prefer to start light on the sugar and work my way up, but I usually end up only needing about 2 tablespoons. Add more cinnamon if needed by grating the cinnamon stick or using powdered cinnamon. You could also add ginger, nutmeg, or other spices if you felt like experimenting.

That’s it! Like I said, super fast and easy. This applesauce keeps well in the fridge for several days, but bets are that you’ll eat it long before then! It’s delicious cold, but I recommend trying it my favorite way: hot over vanilla ice cream. Happy cooking!