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I’m trying very hard to eat as much local produce as possible. To do this, I canned a lot of things during the summer and signed up for a winter farm share. I was surprised at how much food I got, but after a few weeks, I started getting sick of roasted root vegetables. So I’m trying to find creative ways to make summer recipes with winter veggies. This bruschetta is one successful attempt.

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup roasted pine nuts
• 2 carrots
• 10 heads Brussels sprouts
• 1 small onion
• 2 cloves garlic
• 3 T olive oil
• 1/2 lemon
• 2 T fresh tarragon
• fresh bread
• 2-4 oz chevre

Directions

Chop the carrots, sprouts, and onions into big pieces while heating the olive oil over medium high heat. Saute veggies till tender and starting to brown. Add minced or crushed garlic and tarragon and stir.

Meanwhile, slice bread lengthwise and toast. If it’s fresh from the oven bread you don’t have to toast it. Spread some goat cheese on the bread.

When all the veggies are cooked through and the garlic is almost translucent, add the juice from the lemon. Add the pine nuts and then season with salt and fresh cracked pepper. Stir and then spread on top of the bread and cheese.

Years ago, when I was in New Orleans with a bunch of friends to watch the Gators in the Sugar Bowl, I had the pleasure of going to Mr. B’s Bistro. This restaurant is one in the pantheon of Brennan family fine and famous, New Orleans restaurants. One of their most famous dishes is BBQ shrimp, which is quite the misnomer since it doesn’t go anywhere near the BBQ. I love this dish and have made it many times since I tasted it at Mr. B’s, changing it quite a bit from the original recipe. So I immediately thought about this dish for an appetizer in my personal Iron Chef fennel challenge.

Ingredients

• 4 T butter
• 1/4 C diced fennel
• 3 cloves garlic, minced/crushed
• 1/4 C dry white wine
• 2 lemons, juiced
• 1/2 t dried rosemary
• 1/2 t dried thyme
• 1/2 t dried marjoram
• cayenne pepper to taste (I used about 1/2 t)
• 2 T Worcestershire sauce
• 1/2 pound shrimp, shelled and de-veined
• French bread, thinly sliced
• Grated three cheese blend (fontina, asiago, parmesan)

Directions

Heat butter in a saute pan over medium high heat. When the butter has melted add the fennel and stir regularly. When the fennel is starting to get translucent, add the garlic. Cook, stirring occasionally, for another minute or so, till the garlic starts to brown. Deglase the pan with the white wine and then add the lemon juice.

Turn off the heat and add the spices, the Worcestershire sauce, and salt to taste. Mix thoroughly and pour into an oven safe baking dish (10×10). You can make this part ahead of time and let marinate in the fridge. Or you can immediately make the shrimp.

Preheat the oven to 425 °F. Place the sliced bread on a baking sheet and cover each generously with the three cheese blend.

Place the shrimp in the baking dish with the sauce. The shrimp should all be in one layer. Sploosh the sauce around to cover the shrimp.

When the oven is ready put the shrimp and the crostini in the oven at the same time. They’re going to become intimately acquainted in your mouth, so give them this opportunity to warm up to each other.

After about 15 minutes, flip the shrimp over. They should be pink on the side that was down and now up. Put back in the oven and cook until the shrimp are completely pink and the crostini are starting to brown.

To serve, pour the shrimp and the sauce in a bowl. Serve with the crostini to mop up all the yummy sauce and scoop up some of the fennel.

Talk about fusion! This is a great mix of sea and land; Indian and Italian. This makes a great appetizer, although if served with a nice salad it could probably make a complete meal. It’s rather rich, so balance it with an intense wine, such as Viña Chocálan Carmenère.

Ingredients

• 1/4 C brown rice
• 1/2 C chicken stock
• 1/2 C white wine
• 1/2 t turmeric
• 1/2 t ground coriander
• cayenne pepper (to taste)
• 1/4  C grated Parmesan cheese
• 2 T semolina flour (or cornflour)
• 1 T ground cumin
• 6 sea scallops
• 2 T extra virgin olive oil
• 10-20 whole pink peppercorns

Directions

Put the brown rice in a sauce pan and add enough chicken stock and wine to cover. Turn the the heat to high until the liquid starts to bubble, then turn down to medium to medium high. Stir periodically and add more liquid as it starts to cook down. When you’ve added all the wine and stock, simply use water. It should take about 30 minutes for the rice to cook and there should be a little liquid left.

(Optional: instead of adding ground coriander in the next step you could substitute a 1/4 t of whole coriander, but roast it in the sauce pan before you add the rice and liquids.)

Add the turmeric, coriander, and cayenne pepper. Mix thoroughly. Then add the Parmesan cheese and stir well. Set this aside while you cook the scallops.

Mix the semolina flour and cumin powder on a plate. Roll the scallops in the mixture till covered.

Heat the olive oil over medium high heat until a drop of water dances on the surface. Place the scallops in the pan. Sear for 2 minutes on each side, then cook to your level of doneness.

While the scallops are cooking, make pillows out of the risotto with about a tablespoon. Place the cooked scallops on top of the pillows and between 5 – 10 pink peppercorns inbetween. Garnish with cilantro.

Serves two.

These pecans are so incredibly tasty I had a hard time keeping my paws off of them to snap a picture. Consider these extremely dangerous as they are very easy to make and quite addictive! The sweet, salty and spicy notes are in good balance and match up with each other nicely.

Ingredients

• 2 Tablespoons honey
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground chipotle
• 3/4 teaspoon cinnamon
• 2 cups pecan halves
• 2 Tablespoons sugar
• 3/4 teaspoon salt

Directions

Heat honey, chipotle and cinnamon in the microwave until honey is a thinner consistency. Add pecans and mix until all are coated by the honey/spice mixture. Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven on oiled foil for 10-15 minutes, until nuts are fragrant.

Remove nuts from oven and let cook for 1 min. Meanwhile, mix sugar and salt in a large bowl. Once nuts have cooled, add to the bowl and toss to coat. Spread on wax paper and let nuts dry completely.

Another recipe adapted from the City Gardener’s Cookbook. These quesadillas were great – spicy with good chile/cumin flavor. I ended up serving two for dinner along with a green salad and it was a filling dinner. A nice, light, fruity white wine goes wonderfully with the meal. This filling would also be excellent in tamales.

Ingredients

• 2 cups coarsely chopped kale, make sure it is not in long ribbons else you will pull pieces of kale out of the quesadilla when eating it
• 1/2 cup red onions, cut into 1/4-inch dice
• olive oil
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/4 teaspoon chili powder
• 2 fingerhot, serrano or jalapeño peppers, minced
• 7 cherry tomatoes, halved
• 2 Tablespoons cilantro, minced
• 4 flour tortillas
• 1/3 (8 oz) block cheddar cheese

Directions

Steam the kale until tender then set aside.

While kale is steaming heat 1 teaspoon oil in a medium skillet over medium heat. Add onions and sauté until translucent, 3-5 minutes. Add garlic, peppers, cumin and chili powder and sauté 1 minute more. Add tomatoes and kale and sauté another 3-5 minutes until you can squish the tomatoes easily with the back of a spoon. Put mixture in a bowl, add cilantro and mix.

Assemble the quesadillas. For each quesadilla, cover the lower half of each tortilla with 1/4 of the kale mixture. Lay thin slices of cheese over the kale mixture. Fold in half and set aside on a plate.

Wipe out the skillet and add 2 teaspoons oil. Heat the tortillas one at a time for 2-3 minutes on each side, or until browned. Add more oil, as needed.

Yield: 4 quesadillas