10 Vegetarian Chili Recipes !

How did Meatless Monday go? Did you take the pledge and stick to it? 

We love this free Chili Cookbook from the Meatless Monday Campaign featuring 10 recipes such as Cajun Chili Cups, Cozy Cashew Chili, and Sweet Potato Chili Over Cous Cous.

Monday Chili e-Cookbook:  : http://bit.ly/mondaychili

Farmers Market Recipe: Heart Healthy Pesto Baked Turbot

from Contributing Food Editor, Katheryne Phillips

In the spirit of love and Valentine's Day, this recipe is not only a great idea for a romantic dinner for two, but it's super heart healthy as well.

I’m super excited to share this recipe with all of you, because it includes one of my favorite fishes, Turbot. Most people don’t even know about this delicious flat fish. It's firm, yet delicate, with an extremely buttery taste. I would compare it to Sea bass in texture and taste, but it's less than ½ the price per pound. That makes this recipe not only good for your heart, but good for your wallet too. There are a lot of steps to this dinner, but they are easy steps, and so worth the outcome.

Pesto baked Turbot with leeks and roasted tomatoes, rainbow quinoa, and parmesan romanesco.

2 6-8oz fillets of turbot skin off

2/3 cup rainbow quinoa

1 1/3 organic chicken stock

6 crimini mushrooms chopped

2 leeks chopped and soaked clean

Handful of cherry or grape tomatoes

1 head of romanesco (about 1lb)

¼ cup good quality fresh cello grated parmesan

1 shallot diced

2 cloves of garlic (smashed and diced)

1 cup of fresh basil leaves

1 cup fresh spinach leaves

Zest of one lemon

Juice of one lemon

Teaspoon of dried oregano

Teaspoon paprika

Olive oil

1 sauce pan

Pot with lid

Tinfoil lined baking sheet.

Oven safe glass or casserole baking dish

First step is the quinoa because it will take the most amount of time.

Quinoa: Begin by toasted the quinoa in a hot pan. Toast over med-hi heat for about 3-4 minutes or until you can smell the grain actually toasting. To prevent burning the quinoa, consistently swirl the grain around the pan. Once it’s toasted, set it aside.

Heat your chicken broth in a small pot with a lid until its boiling. Add a pinch of salt, and then toss in your toasted quinoa. Put the lid on the pot, and simmer for about fifteen minutes at low heat.

Now add your chopped shallots to a hot pan and sauté with a tablespoon of olive oil until they start to soften, add your chopped mushrooms, (more oil if needed) garlic, dried oregano, and sauté for another 3 minutes. Add a pinch of salt and cook for another minute. Once all of your veggies look soft remove from the heat.

If the quinoa has absorbed all of the liquid in its pot, remove it from the heat, and mix in the mushrooms and shallot mixture. Lightly stir all together. If you’d like to keep the quinoa warm while the fish bakes, put all of it back into your pan, turn heat to lowest setting, cover with a lid and let sit until dinner is ready. You may want to add a bit more broth at the end of this step if it gets dry.

Fish: Pre-heat your oven to 375F.

Put all of your basil, spinach, chopped garlic, lemon juice and a 1/3 cup of olive oil in to a food processor and blend together. Add salt and pepper to taste.

In a small bowl toss your tomatoes with olive oil and salt.

Heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a large sauce pan. Add your chopped and cleaned leeks, and a pinch of salt.  Sweat over med high heat for about 8 minutes or until the leeks have softened and turned opaque in color. 

Once the leeks become soft cover the bottom of your baking dish with them, this will create a soft bed for the fish to bake in.

Next place your Turbot fillets in the baking dish. Top the turbot with a heaping pile of pesto, and arrange your small tomatoes around the fish. Bake at 375 for 20 minutes. The fish will be flaky in texture when it’s done. After 20 minutes, remove the fish from the oven and cover it with tin foil. Set it aside and turn your oven up to broil.

In a mixing bowl, toss 3 tablespoons of olive oil, paprika, lemon zest, parmesan and a pinch of salt and pepper. Take the romanesco florets off of its core by cutting around the stem in a circular motion.  Once they are all free toss them in the olive oil, parmesan mix and lay them on your tin foil lined baking sheet. Place them in to the broiler for 6-8 minutes. Keep an eye on the florets, making sure they don’t burn while they broil. They should get soft and somewhat browned on all of their edges. The toasted parmesan should give them a bit of a crunch.

Now all you have to do is serve and enjoy the fruits or in this case fish of your labor.

This is a recipe by Katheryne Phillips of KatheryneCooks.com

Spiny Lobster Demo Pics & Recipe

from our Food Editor, Katheryne Phillips

Glutonous amounts of lobster meat, duck fat, matsutake mushrooms, locally grown greens, white wine and a charismatic chef that’s about to show me what to do with all of it.  That’s what went down this week at our Surfas Culver City demo. A Sustainable Kitchen teamed up with Kim Thompson from Seafood for the Future, Edible Westside, and Chef Ray Garcia of FIG, Hotel Fairmont, for a demo that highlighted the beautiful, and sustainable California native spiny lobster.

Chef Ray Garcia and his team did a great job of showing the huge audience how to break down and cook the somewhat intimidating, hence its name, spiny lobster.  The Chef executed an amazing salad combining elegant, fresh, and local ingredients to create a beautiful plate layered with bright colors and rich flavors. While constructing his masterpiece, Chef Ray Garcia explained everything he was doing step by step, all while taking questions from the audience. He was awesome!

Not only did the audience get a great cooking tutorial, a lavish meal with wine, but they also got a quick lesson on the California spiny lobster and sustainable fishing from Kim Thompson.

Did I mention that all of this was FREE!

If you’d like to try to remake this meal yourself most of the ingredients are available at Surfas Culver City, Santa Monica Farmers Market, and Santa Monica Seafood.

Chef Ray Garcia’s recipe is as follows

Grilled Lobster:

2 California spiny lobster

1 in of ginger

1 clove garlic minced

The juice of ½ lemon

4 tablespoons olive oil

To Prepare:

Bring a large pot to a boil. Drop lobsters into pot, cook for 3 full minutes. Using large tongs, remove lobsters from the pot. When cool enough to handle remove tails with a firm twist and then cut the underside of the tails down the center, lengthwise.

Lobster Salad

2 California spiny lobster tails seasoned, cooked and grilled

5 Matsutake mushrooms

1 tablespoon duck fat

1 teaspoon aged soy sauce

2 pink lady apples

3 celery stalks with leaves

2 oz extra virgin olive oil

1 oz fresh squeezed lemon juice

8 oz chestnuts

Slice mushrooms around 1/8 thick, rub lightly with oil and season with salt and pepper

To Prepare:

·       Slice mushrooms around 1/8 thick on a mandolin. Rub lightly with oil, season with salt and pepper and grill.

·       Remove from the grill and place in a shallow baking dish. Melt duck fat and add to dish with aged soy

·       Cover with foil and bake in a 300 degree oven until soft. Around 25 minutes

·       Once cooked, uncover and allow to cool to room temperature

·       Put chestnuts in a pressure cooker with just enough water to cover. Cook until soft. Once cool enough to handle puree with a little bit of cooking liquid. As the blender is running, drizzle in some olive oil, and then blend until smooth

·       Season with salt and pepper

·       Slice the apples to thin disks using mandolin. Cut assorted sizes of celery and pick the celery leaves from the stalks

·       Toss apples, celery, and leaves with EVOO, lemon, salt and pepper.

To assemble the salad, lay some chestnut puree on the plate or a bowl. Arrange apple and celery on a dish. Add Matsutake mushrooms and drizzle a bit of the cooking liquid around.     

Special thanks to Seafood for the Future, Edible Westside, and Surfas.

Curried Cauliflower & Scallops Recipe

Here's a quick, easy, and sustainable seafood recipe that's sure to please. 

Serves 2

Cooking Time: 20 minutes

Ingredients:
1 lb sea scallops
1 large shallot sliced
1 head of cauliflower cut into florets
2 Tbs butter
1 tsp tumeric
1 tsp curry powder
2 Tbs grapeseed oil
1/2 cup dry white wine



Heat 1 Tbs of oil and add your cauliflower. Saute until lightly browned, about 7 minutes adding the tumeric. Set aside.
Heat remaining oil until almost smoking and add your scallops, searing about 2 minutes per side. Set aside.
Swirl your butter around the pan and add the shallots, it should begin to brown and smell really delicious. Add 1/2 cup of wine and bring to a boil and then return the cauliflower to the mixture and add the curry powder. Cover the pan and continue cooking for about 7 minutes. Add the scallops and heat for about 1 minute. 
Enjoy !

Farmers Market Thanksgiving Recipe

from our Food Editor, Katheryne Phillips

Are you bored of the same mashed potatoes every year? Try mixing it up this Thanksgiving with creamy mashed potatoes with cauliflower and Parmesan. The cauliflower add a robust and almost meaty taste to the potatoes, and the cheese adds just the right amount of salty goodness. Your family will love it, and it's a great way to sneak some extra veggies into your kids' diet!

Recipe:
5-6  potatoes washed & peeled (I used creamy potatoes from Flora Bella Farms)
1 small head or about 1/2 lb of white cauliflower (I got my cauliflower from Weiser Farms)
2 tablespoons of butter
2 tablespoons of heavy cream
3/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
Chives for garnish (I use Humble Seed Chives from my own garden)
Potato masher or ricer
oven safe glass dish greased with butter or oil

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 400F
Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Heavily season the water with salt. Chop the potatoes and the cauliflower into 1 inch size pieces. Once the water is boiling add the potatoes and boil for 3 minutes, then add the cauliflower and boil for another 8 minutes or until the potatoes are fork tender. Once the veggies are all soft drain the water by pouring the pot into a strainer. Once the water is drained dump the veggies back into the pot and start mashing. Add the cream, butter, and Parmesan to the mix and whip it all together until creamy. Salt and pepper to taste.

Pour the creamy mixture into an greased oven safe dish and bake the dish for 12-14 minutes. The potatoes should be browned on the top, and a bit bubbly from the cheese. Remove from the heat, and garnish with chives. Allow to cool for a few minutes before serving. Then enjoy this hearty take on this classic dish.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!

One More Recipe ! Chili Infused Honey

Chili Infused Honey
-Mild flavored honey
-Dried chili of your choice (we will be using chipolte chilies for their smoky flavor)
You will need at least 2 whole chilies per 8 oz. of honey.

Warm honey in its original container in a water bath in a heavy bottom sauce pan so it is easy to pour. Put the honey and chilies in a heatproof glass measuring cup or beaker.
Return honey and chilies to the water bath and bring temperature to just under 180 degrees. Do not at any time let the temperature exceed 180 degrees. Warm the honey and chilies in the water bath for at least 20 minutes. Put two of the chilies into  each sterilized jar and pour the honey over them. Let cool.
Store infused honey at room temperature.

1 Syrup... 3 Chili Recipes from the Demo

Chili Infused Heavy Simple Syrup

-2 cups sugar 

-1 cup water 

-1 cup fresh chilies or hot peppers

Slice chilies/peppers in half. Put the sugar, water and chilies/peppers in a heavy bottom sauce pan. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 10-15 minutes. Remove from heat and let sit in the pan until cool. Strain the cooled syrup retaining the chilies/peppers for another use. Store the syrup in the refrigerator for up to three weeks.

Candied Chilies

-chilies from heavy simple syrup recipe 

-white sanding sugar (available on line at www.surfasonline.com )

Preheat oven to 250 degrees. After you have drained the syrup from the chilies, seed and stem them, then slice into strips. Roll the chili strips in sanding sugar until well coated. Place on a baking sheet lined with a silicon mat or parchment paper. Bake in the preheated oven for 20-30 minutes or until firm and dry. Can be stored in an airtight container for a month or more.

D.R. Diablo Cocktail

Per drink: 

-1⁄2 of the same type of chili used to infuse the heavy simple syrup

-1”x 1” piece of lime peel 

-1⁄2 oz.fresh lime juice 

-1⁄2 oz. chili infused heavy simple syrup 

-1oz. white port 

-ice 

-Tonic water

Muddle the port with fresh chili and lime peel in a cocktail shaker. Add lime juice and heavy simple. Fill halfway with ice and shake vigorously for 10 seconds. Strain into a stemmed cocktail glass and top off with the tonic. Garnish with a candied chili strip oe lime slice.

Chili Caramel

Follow standard caramel sauce technique, but substituting the chili infused heavy simple syrup for the sugar and water. Use 1⁄2 cup heavy cream for each cup of syrup.

Sustainable Seafood Recipe: Rockin Rockfish

Photo Credit: Darin Dines 

This has been a week of delicious (and sustainable) fish dinners. 
Monday: Black Cod Puttanesca @ Test Kitchen
Tuesday: Barramundi @ Le Grande Orange
Wednesday: It's time to eat at home, let's create a yummy, sustainable, and inexpensive fish dish. It might be the best one this week.

Rockin Rockfish 
Time: 20 minutes
Serves: 2

Ingredients:

Leftover from Ceviche Recipe:
2 avocados
1/2 tomatillo diced
1 medium jalapeno minced
2 Tbs cilantro chopped
1 red onion sliced thin




2 tomatoes chopped
2 green peppers sliced
1 cup dry white wine
1/2 cup olives sliced
2 Tbs olive juice
2 Tbs olive oil
1 Tbs butter
1lb filet of Pacific Rockfish
Pinch of cayenne
Salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Season your rockfish fillet with cayenne and salt.
Over medium heat, saute onions in olive oil for 3 minutes then add the peppers, tomatoes, tomatillos, and white wine. Allow to reduce for about 6-8 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in the sliced olives and olive juice.

Heat an oven safe pan with the butter and then add your rockfish face-down for about 2 minutes. Flip the fish and bake in the oven for about 5 minutes. You can do this as the sauce is reducing. 

Put it all together adding sliced avocado and cilantro on top !

Farmers Market Recipe- Roasted Pumpkin Soup

ROASTED PUMPKIN SOUP WITH SMOKED PAPRIKA

4 cups roasted fresh organic pumpkin (any of the orange flesh squashes like acorn, butternut, 
etc. will work in combination or as a substitute for pumpkin)
1-2 medium roast organic shallot
4cups low sodium organic (or home made) chicken broth
2 cups of water
6-8 stems of fresh organic thyme
2T. of smoked paprika
salt to taste

To Roast Pumpkin/Squash and Shallots:
-preheat oven to 425 degrees
-peel and seed pumpkin and/or squash, peel shallot
-cut pumpkin/squash into pieces about one inch square
-toss with olive oil to coat well and place on sheet or roasting pan
-roast for 20 minutes or until tender and starting to caramelize (brown)

For Soup:
-place all ingredients except the smoked paprika in a medium pot
-place over medium heat and bring to a boil
-immediately reduce heat to a simmer
-add smoked paprika and simmer for 10-12 minutes            
-remove thyme stems
-blend until very smooth in the pot with an immersion blender or in batches in a regular blender 
and return to pot
-add more salt and paprika (if you like it smokey) if needed
-adjust thickness by adding a little more water if needed

Serves 8-10

October 6th Demo Recipe: Chili Infused Honey

RSVP here if you want to come and see the demo of this recipe and join Alex roasting peppers LIVE in Culver City !

Mild flavored honey
Dried chili of your choice (we will be using chipotle chilies for their smoky flavor)
You will need at least 2 whole chilies per 8 oz. of honey.

Warm honey in its original container in a water bath in a heavy bottom sauce pan so it is easy to pour.
Put the honey and chilies in a heatproof  glass measuring cup or beaker. Return honey and chilies to the water bath and bring temperature to just under 180 degrees. Do not at any time let the temperature exceed 180 degrees. Warm the honey and chilies in the water bath for at least 20 minutes. Put two of the chilies into each sterilized jar and pour the honey over them. Let cool.
Store infused honey at room temperature.

Is That A Penguin ?

YES IT IS!

Meet Newsome, the adorable ambassador for the Aquarium Of The Pacific, Long Beach. 

On September 13, 2012 we had the pleasure of participating in a press event with the Aquarium, Seafood For The Future, Saatchi & Saatchi, and the Surfrider Foundation. Newsome was there to greet all the press. We helped feed them....sustainably, of course.
The event was to introduce two new exhibits at the Aquarium, the very beautiful Ocean Armor (click this link for photos and more information) sponsored by the Surfrider Foundation and commissioned by Saatchi & Saatchi, and Oceans Motion, the new show in the Aquarium's Science Center. If you are planning to be in the Long Beach area, we highly recommend a stop at the Aquarium to see both.

Working with Seafood For The Future and one of their partners American Tuna, we made and served bruschetta.

THE RECIPE

AMERICAN TUNA ALBACORE, WEISER FIRE-ROASTED CHILIE BRUSCHETTA WITH MAGGIES FARMS WILD ARUGULA

- 6 oz. America Tuna albacore, drained

-1/4 cup finely diced sweet red onion

-1/3 cup diced fire-roasted piquillo  peppers (sweet red pepper can be substituted)

-1/3 cup diced fire-roasted Anahiem chili

- 4 T. good quality extra virgin olive oil

-2 T. fresh lemon juice

-1 tsp. fresh lemon zest

1/8 tsp. fresh ground black pepper

- salt to taste

-1/2 cup chopped wild arugula

- 3/8 -1/2 inch thick slices of crusty baguette, brushed with olive oil and toasted until golden brown


In a bowl, gently mix the first ten ingredients until well combined but flakes of tuna are visible.
Place mounded spoonfuls of the tuna mixture on the prepared baguette slices and serve.


(Note: At our next event on Saturday, October 6, Alex Weiser will be fire-roasting chilies)

Top Chef/Top Fish, A Sustainable Seafood Recipe

I love Top Chef.
I love fish.
I'm not alone in this and when I stumbled across Kim's post on Facebook about the Top Fish Competition I knew I had to submit my Green Ceviche recipe. And now I want to share it with you.

It's hot, the last thing you want to do is turn on the oven or slave over the stove.
This recipe is no-cook and no hassle with delicious results.

Here's what you need, hopefully you are growing these in your backyard or have really nice neighbors who share with you.

Green Ceviche
Prep time: 30 minutes
Cook Time: 0
Serves 2-4

Ingredients:
1lb Pacific Halibut
3 Tbsp Lime Juice
2 Avocados
1/4 cup finely chopped onion
1/3 cup diced tomatillos
1/2 cup sliced green olives
1 jalapeno seeded and minced
Salt
Pepper
Chips !

Cube your halibut into 1/2" pieces and combine with the lime juice. It needs to marinate for about 30 minutes, you'll see the edges turn opaque. Seed and dice your avocados and add the remaining ingredients to the bowl. Serve with your favorite chips and a refreshing margarita.

Farmers Market Frittata Recipe

From our food editor, Katheryne Phillips.

This week at the Santa Monica farmers market it seemed there was a pepper party! 

The Weiser Family Farms had tables covered with piles of peppers.  There were so many colors and sizes, some I had never seen before. As I walk up to their table my eyes get lost in a sea of awesome bright colors. With so many types, from so many places, how could I pick just one…or even two? I couldn’t, so I left the Weiser Farms table with three bags full of fresh, locally grown handpicked peppers. 

After my peppery frenzy, I grabbed my other produce goodies, and headed home to create breakfast. I needed to throw something together quick, but I really wanted to use all of the fresh veggies that I had just bought. I decided on a tomato pepper frittata with shredded arugula.

This is how I threw it together

Farmers Market Frittata

Ingredients:

5 organic large eggs

½ cup shredded Colby-jack cheese

2 tablespoons of organic ½ and ½ (because that’s what I had, but heavy cream will also work)

1 small sweet purple pepper

1 small sweet yellow

1 red shishito pepper (Weiser Family Farms)

1 small sweet onion (Weiser Family Farms)

1 small handful of wild arugula leaves (The best arugula I’ve ever tasted is from Flora Bella Farms, that’s what I used in this dish)

1 maglia rosa tomato (Milliken Farms)

¼ teaspoon garlic powder

¼ teaspoon Spanish paprika powder

Pinch salt

Fresh cracked pepper

8 in Glass Pie baking dish (greased)

Directions:

Pre-heat your oven to 350F.

Slice your tomato into nine slices. Shred your arugula.

Chop and seed all of your peppers, then chop your onion as well. Next, in a small pan sauté your onions and peppers until they are soft then set them aside for later.

In a large bowl whip your five eggs with a whisk. The more you whip your eggs, the fluffier the frittata will be, so whisk, whisk, whisk! Add in your cream or ½ and ½ and keep whipping. Whip for at least two minutes then add in your cooked peppers, onions, shredded cheese, arugula and spices. Give it a couple more stirs and then pour the entire egg mix into the greased pie dish.

Pop your frittata into the oven and bake at 350F for 10 minutes. After ten minutes, pull the frittata out of the oven, and make a tomato border around the edge of your pie with eight tomatoes. Then place the ninth tomato slice right in the middle of the frittata. Put the frittata back into the oven for two-four more minutes then remove and allow the pie to cool and set. Cut into eight slices and serve with salsa or sour cream. I had mine with twice cooked potatoes, herbs from my Humble Seed garden, and a creamy piquillo pepper puree.
This is a recipe from Katheryne Cooks