Transforming Colors

My mind must be somewhere else.  Dreaming up vacations, buried in books, bogged down in studying for midterms.  It's certainly nowhere near the kitchen.

Ridiculous things have transpired there, things that I know better than to do.  Like cooking red cabbage in a cast iron skillet.  I've been so into using mine for everything lately; for perfectly crusty grilled cheese, for big puffy german pancakes or a good deeply golden sauté of veggies, that I absentmindedly tossed some red cabbage in there without thinking.  Until about 30 seconds later when bits of blue started popping up. Fun if you're doing a science experiment, or fancy yourself a Dr. Seuss inspired meal, but I'm not too into eating unnaturally blue foods so I quickly grabbed the hot skillet and transfered it all over to a non-reactive cooking vessel.  Doh!

Then the other day I made some turnip and potato pancakes.  Just grated up the white starchy roots, mixed it with an egg, some flour and chopped green onions and got to frying (in my cast iron skillet, naturally).  But the batch was bigger than I anticipated and I just wanted to eat dinner so I only fried up about half and told myself to cook the rest up later.  Except, do you know what happens to raw grated potatoes when you just let them sit out?  They oxidize.  They turn black.  People, I know this.  I've fished out bits of oxidized grated potatoes from my drain before that look more like a hairball or something dead.  It's gross.  But set them aside I did, only to find an unappealing grey mixture left in the bowl.  These have not been my finest hours.

All things considered, a green smoothie doesn't seem so out of place then.  Except this was no accident.  And green smoothies/juices are everywhere these days.  This one is a particularly fine example with the addition of an orange and a frozen banana, and coconut water if you're into that sort of thing.  I packed in a bunch of spinach and a squeeze of lemon juice and let my (crappy) blender do the work.  It's bright and tasty and we pretty much drank it every day for a week until the giant bag of spinach I got from Mariquita Farms ran out.

Black potatoes?  Blue cabbage?  Whatever, I have my green smoothie to comfort me.

Greensicle Smoothie
Adapted from Puree Juice Bar via Tasting Table

I've given you the recipe using spinach, but kale (as it was originally written) and baby chard work just as well. I increased the amount of green from 1/2 cup to 3 - 4 cups because it seemed like so little, and putting more in hardly changes the flavor. If you use all spinach the banana and sweetness of the orange really come through. In the batch that I made with half spinach and half baby chard, I started to get hints of vegetable. Adjust according to taste.

2 (16oz) drinks
3 - 4 cups chopped spinach
1 tablespoon lemon juice
2 oranges, segmented and chopped
1 frozen banana, cut into chunks
1 cup coconut water

Put all ingredients into blender and blend until smooth.

Winter Colorful

So, yeah.

It's January.  2012.  Things have happened since November.  Things like finishing my first semester at SFSU, the holidays (Thanksgiving!  Christmas!  New Years!), taking advantage of a nice long break and heading back down to San Diego for 3 weeks.  It was swell.  Except that I packed warm clothes and I'm pretty sure there wasn't a day that it was below 75F.  Princess problems.

But now I'm back and the clouds have gathered and it's threatening to rain for the next 5 days and classes start on Monday and hellooooo reality.  Give me back my warm sunny beach days, please.

I had my first collard wrap at a farmers' market in San Diego a while back.  There was something about the pretty green bundle all neatly wrapped and perfectly packaged that I couldn't resist.  Inside it burst with colorful veggies and a creamy nut pate chock full of garlic and lemon.  Swoon.  It also happened to be raw and vegan.  Bonus I guess, if you're into that sort of thing.

Vegan.  Raw.  I could take it or leave it.  The flavors and textures and colors are what do it for me.  

So when my mystery box of veggies included a giant bunch of collard greens I knew precisely what I wanted to make.  It actually turned into a two night endeavor so I could experiment a bit (also, you've got to think ahead a bit as the nuts need to soak overnight to soften so you can whirl them into a creamy dreamy spread).  The first night I did the wraps with raw collard leaves, two overlapped slightly in the middle, stem sides facing opposite directions.  The next night I blanched them for 30 seconds to see if that would help with the ease of rolling.  Meh.  It didn't really, and the texture is better when they're fresh.  A crisp crunch that has structure, but - despite what you may be thinking - isn't all that tough.

Next all you've got to do is pile on the nut puree and the veggies and roll it up like a burrito.  {The explanation of the step-by-step makes it sound much more complicated than it really is.  Just bounce over here to Honest Fare and take a gander at Gabi's lovely process photos and you'll be golden.}  Don't be shy with the vegetables, mound them up.  Go for colorful, go for contrasting textures.  And if you've got any sense - add avocado.

It may not seems like particularly winter suited food, but just try and deny the welcoming and colorful burst of these collard wraps as you face months of greens and potatoes and roots.

Collard Wraps

Feel free to slice, chop and dice up whatever veggies you have on hand or are craving.  Cucumbers would be nice, and so would tomatoes in the right season.  If you've got sprouts, throw those in too!   The more colors, the more fun.   You can also use raw cashews instead of the walnuts, but I'm telling you, the nut pate is the delicious backbone of this wrap so don't leave it out or skimp on it.  And did I mention they're perfectly portable too?

4 wraps

Nut Pate:
1 cup raw walnuts
1 tablespoon minced onion
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon soy sauce
1 clove of garlic, chopped
salt

Wrap:
8 large collard greens leaves, stems removed and thick center vein shaved down
3 carrots, grated
1 1/2 cups shredded red cabbage
1 avocado, mashed or cut into thick slices
8 oz baked tofu, optional

The night before, cover the nuts in water by 1 inch or so, and let sit on the counter until the next morning.  When you're ready to make the pate, drain the nuts and add to the food processor along with the rest of the ingredients and process away until the mixture reaches a smooth-ish consistency, adding just a bit of water at a time to help get things going.  If not using right away, store in fridge.

Lay 2 collard leaves slightly overlapping in the center, facing opposite directions, on the counter.  Put 1/4 of the nut pate down the center, then evenly divide and pile veggies and tofu if using, on top.  Don't forget the avocado!  Bring the two end in towards the center and then roll it from the other direction, just like you would a wrap or burrito.  Eat and enjoy!