Recipe: Baked Chickpea Polenta + Ramp Arugula Pesto

We had so much fun at the Blog Pantry event last night, held at Kitchen in the Market. Thanks for coming out and seeing our new space! Here are the recipes from our demo. All ingredients were purchased at Midtown Global market!

Baked Chickpea Polenta
adapted from Robin Asbell’s cookbook, New Vegetarian, Roman Chickpea Gnocchi
Ingredients

2 tablespoons butter
3 cups whole milk
2 cups garbanzo flour (or sub 1 C for 1C coarse corn meal)
1 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
1 cup Parmesan cheese
1/4 cup parsley, minced

Preheat oven to 425°F. Line a half-size baking sheet with parchment and grease with 1T butter
-Place flours in a large stainless steel bowl and fit over a pan filled with 2” water (forming a double boiler)
-Gradually whisk in milk until smooth
-Bring water to a simmer, place bowl on top, add 1T butter and salt
-Stir occassionaly until thickened (about 5-8 minutes)
-Remove from heat. Whisk in eggs, Parmesan, and parsley
-pour into baking sheet; let cool 30 minutes to 1 hr
-Pre-heat oven to 425˚
-Bake polenta for 20 minutes or until firm, and golden
-allow to cool slightly
-invert and cut desired shapes
-serve warm or cold

Ramp + Arugula Pesto
makes approx 1 1/2C

4 ramps (wild leeks), root end trimmed
2C arugula
1/2C parsley
juice of 1 lemon
1C grated parmesan cheese
1/4C sunflower seeds
salt
olive oil

-place all greens + herbs in bowl of food processor; pulse to chop
-add lemon juice, sunflower seeds + parmesan; pulse to incorporate
-with processor running, gradually add olive oil to desired consistency
-season with salt

Recipe: Strawberry + Cucumber Quinoa Salad

Thanks, KARE 11, for having me on yesterday to talk eco-friendly dishes! Kitchen in the Market will have cooking demos from 1-3PM this Saturday, April 16th in conjunction with Midtown Global Market's Earth Day Celebration. Here's the recipe....

Cucumber + Strawberry Quinoa Salad

serves 6
1 box quinoa, cooked according to directions + cooled
1 pint organic strawberries
1 large cucumber
1/4C feta cheese, crumbled
1/4C fresh mint, chopped + extra for garnish
olive oil
salt + pepper
-rinse strawberries, hull (remove stem) and cut into 1/4s
-peel cucumber + cut in half horizontally; remove seeds + cut into cubes
-combine fruit in a large bowl with mint + feta
-drizzle with olive oil until moist, season with salt + pepper to taste
-serve fruit over quinoa, garnish with fresh mint

Recipe: Savory Cherry Crostatas

Thanks, Fox9, for having me on Saturday morning! We made Savory Cherry Crostatas...and they're really good! The recipe looks long + complicated, but it's really not. I prefer to make my pie crust, but the grocery store kind works just as well!

In the Kitchen: Cherry Crostatas: MyFoxTWINCITIES.com

Savory Cherry Crostatas
Servings: 24 appetizers
Pie Crust
Ingredients:

• 4-5 Tbsp. ice water, plus more as needed
• ¾ tsp. apple cider vinegar
• 1 ½ cups unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1 Tbsp. sugar
• ¾ tsp. salt
• 9 Tbsp. (4 ½ oz.) cold unsalted butter, cut into cubes

Recommended equipment:
food processor

Procedure:

1. Combine the flour, sugar, and salt and pulse to blend. Add the butter, and pulse until the mixture resembles a coarse meal; there should be no pieces of butter bigger than a large pea.
    
2. With the motor running on dough setting, slowly add the water-vinegar mixture, processing just until the dough forms a ball.
    
3. Turn the dough out onto a wooden board or clean countertop, and gather it, massaging and pressing, until it just holds together. Shape it into a ball, and press it into a disk about 1 ½ inches thick. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap, and then press it a bit more. Refrigerate the wrapped dough for at least 2 hours
   
   Note: Dough can be kept in the refrigerator for up to 4 days or frozen for up to 1 month. Thaw it in refrigerator overnight before using.
    
4. Before rolling it out, allow the dough to soften slightly at room temperature.

Filling - Cherry Balsamic Reduction
Ingredients:

• 1 cup dried, pitted sour cherries
• ½ cup water
• ½ cup balsamic vinegar

Procedure:

1. Place all 3 ingredients in a small saucepan over med-high heat
    
2. Bring to a boil, reduce to low and simmer until liquid is reduced to a few tablespoons

Caramelized Onions
Ingredients:

• 1 small sweet onion, thinly sliced
• olive oil
• salt
• pepper
• 1 T fresh thyme, finely chopped
• 1 T fresh parsley, finely chopped
• 6 oz quark (German-style cream cheese) or fresh goat cheese

Procedure:

1. In a large sauté pan, coat bottom with olive oil and heat over med-high heat.
    
2. Add onions, and coat in oil
    
3. Reduce heat to medium, cover and cook until soft and translucent, stirring occasionally
    
4. Remove cover, and increase heat to med-high
    
5. Cook until liquid has evaporated and onions are browning
    
6. Season with salt, pepper and the fresh herbs

To Assemble Crostatas:

1. Roll out pie dough and cut into 4” circles or desired size with cookie cutter.
    
2. Place 2 teaspoons of cheese in middle of circle
    
3. Add small amount of onion and cherry balsamic reduction directly on top of cheese and press lightly
    
4. Fold edges of dough circle up and just over the edge of the filling, overlapping as needed
    
5. Drizzle with olive oil
    
6. Bake at 400°F for about 15-20 minutes or until crust is golden brown

Food Find: Kitchen in the Market

And, wow. It has been 3 whole months since my last blog post. Well, it hasn't been an idle 3 months, that's for sure! During my break from blogging, we had a busy catering season, built out a brand new kitchen and started a cooking school. Seriously. And, to toot our own horn, it's really awesome!

Check out Kitchen in the Market. It is a shared commercial kitchen space for caterers, food manufacturers and food trucks. We provide affordable commercial kitchen space, so they can run their delicious businesses. And then we bring some of that deliciousness to you with a grab + go counter, commercial grade kitchen small wares and LOTS of wonderful cooking classes.

So, check us out...and often! There's always something new coming out of our Kitchen (even if we don't always get around to writing about it)!