Healthful Soup and Salad Recipes on a Budget

Posted in Exhibitions, The Edible Garden on July 15 2010, by Plant Talk

Chef Inspired by Greenmarket; Gives More Cooking Demos this Weekend

Trish Sebben-Krupka is Corporate Chef for the Viking Culinary Center and Carl Schaedel and Co., and owner of Local Girl Makes Food, a culinary education and personal chef business. Her recipes appear in The Best of Vegan Cooking. She will present cooking demonstrations at The Edible Garden’s Conservatory Kitchen July 17 and August 14 at 1 and 3 p.m. Viking is a Supporting Sponsor of The Edible Garden.

I pulled into the Garden’s Mosholu gate last Wednesday, excited to return to the Greenmarket. With five basic pantry ingredients and $25, I planned to see how far we could stretch this budget into delicious, family-friendly meals. My pantry included salt, pepper, olive oil, red wine vinegar, and hot sauce, things that are ordinarily found in just about any home kitchen.

I wandered through the Greenmarket, accompanied by Adriana Pecunia, my friend and fellow chef. Our $25 was spent quickly, and we walked away with a bag brimming with fresh corn, tiny new potatoes, red onions, flat romano green beans, tomatoes, parsley, cilantro, purslane, gold ball squash, zucchini, basil, carrots, and a petite baguette. I also managed to talk one of the farmers into making a deal on two quarts of tart red cherries.

We then made our way to the Conservatory Kitchen, where people were seated awaiting our Cooking for Your Health demonstration despite the incredible midday heat. I was excited to see that the high school-aged participants in the Botanical Garden’s GardenWorks program had joined us, as I love to show young people new foods and cooking techniques. This program, in partnership with the Bronx Institute’s Gear Up program, introduces students to new experiences and career choices in botanical science, horticulture, and education.

Adriana and I got cooking right away, making a light and healthful vegetable soup with onions, carrots, potatoes, green beans, zucchini, and corn, along with some fresh herbs and my favorite ingredient of the day: tart, lemony, purslane. For the uninitiated, purslane is a fleshy, succulent green that often grows wild. There are poisonous plants that look similar, so check with an experienced forager if you plan to look for it anywhere other than your local farmers market. (For the vegetable soup recipe I made and more great ideas for summer produce, visit my blog). We then made a quick and beautiful panzanella (bread salad) stuffed into roasted gold ball squash (see recipe below).

After the demo, I spent time talking to the kids, encouraging them to taste some of the raw ingredients and to ask questions about plant-based cooking. I asked if anyone had tasted anything new during my demo and was excited to hear that many of them had tried things they had never eaten before. They took with them the leftover purslane to press, and several promised me they would go home and cook a healthful meal of fresh vegetables for their families.

I left the Garden with quite a few items still in my bag, which I used to create a basil pesto (perfect on pasta for a light summer meal), a green bean and potato salad, a generous plate of roasted zucchini with tomatoes and herbs, two small jars of tart red cherry preserves, and a crunchy raw vegetable salad using everything else I had left. I estimate that our $25 budget would make about three nutritious summer meals for a family of three or four, with some leftover soup to enjoy for lunch and the preserves as an extra bonus—one to eat now, and one to put away for winter, when visits to the Greenmarket are a distant memory and the taste of summer can brighten an otherwise dreary day.

I encourage you to visit the Garden this summer for The Edible Garden, especially on Saturday, July 17, when I’ll be highlighting fabulous summer squash recipes in the Conservatory Kitchen at 1 and 3 p.m. I hope to see you there!

Roasted Gold Ball Squash with Panzanella

Makes 4 servings

Ingredients
4 gold ball squash
Olive oil
Salt and pepper
½ of a small baguette, cut into small cubes
1 ear of fresh corn, shucked
2 ripe tomatoes, diced to ¼-inch
1 red onion, halved and thinly sliced
½ cup loosely packed basil leaves, torn or cut into chiffonade
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
A drop of your favorite hot sauce

Instructions

• Heat oven to 400°. Trim tops of squash, then use a melon-baller or a spoon to scoop out the insides, leaving a ½-inch around the inside of the shell. Place in a baking dish, drizzle with a teaspoon of olive oil, and season with salt and pepper. Set aside.
• Toss bread cubes in a bowl with a tablespoon of olive oil, season with salt and pepper, and place on a baking sheet. Place bread cubes on one rack in your oven, and squash on another. Cook both for about 10 minutes, until bread is nicely toasted and squash begins to soften (but is still firm).
• Meanwhile, place the ear of corn upright in a large, shallow bowl, and use a sharp knife to remove the corn kernels. To the kernels, add the tomatoes, red onion, vinegar, and hot sauce. Toss together and season with a little salt and pepper, and another tablespoon of olive oil. Add the warm bread cubes to this mixture along with basil. Toss and season one last time, then spoon the salad into the roasted squash and garnish each portion with a basil leaf. Serve immediately.