Market Recipe: Spicy chilled noodles

Ingredients:

vermicelli/rice noodles

One small cucumber (or ½ a large cucumber) (B5 farm or Flintrock Hill Farm)

Handful cherry tomatoes (Bernhardt’s Farm or Hohn’s Acres)

Handful broccoli (you can also sub zucchini or squash) (Emadi Acres or f-stop farm)

One spring onion/green onion (Munkebo Farm or f-stop farm)

Arugula or greens of choice (Animal Farm or Bouldin Food Forest)

½ cup cashews, chopped or whole

1 tbsp Sesame oil

Spicy sauce:

3 tbsp tamari

2 tbsp rice vinegar

1 tbsp chili garlic sauce

Cashew Tamari Dressing:

3 tbsp tamari

2 tbsp sesame oil

1/2 cup cashews

1 garlic clove

Black pepper to taste

Directions:

Cook vermicelli noodles – add to a pot with ½ cup water and tbsp sesame oil, cover and let sit for a few minutes, stir and cover again for a few minutes until soft. Add noodles to a bowl and let chill while you prepare the sauces and chop up the cucumber, tomatoes, and onions. For spicy sauce, add ingredients to a bowl and mix together. For dressing, add ingredients to a blender or food processor and blend until smooth.

Add all ingredients to the bowl of noodles, top with dressing and spicy sauce, and enjoy!

Did you know that food waste makes up over 30% of all human waste? This Earth Month, Texas Farmers’ Market is making strides towards our goal of creating a zero waste market and community. One way you can cut down your food waste is by composting it through our FREE community composting program (currently available at Lakeline, but we are fundraising to bring it back to Mueller this summer!). There are also lots of great ways to use parts of your produce in your meals that you may not normally think of! Read on for some of our favorite zero waste food tips.

Celery Leaves can be used in a variety of different dishes, or as a substitute for parsley! We love using them to make this easy Celery Leaf Chimichurri that makes a delicious topping for soups, pastas, or your protein of choice. You can also juice them!

Carrot tops are another ingredient that can be used to make chimichurri, and they also make an amazingly fresh Carrot Top Pesto! We love making this pesto and dipping the carrots in it, it is also delicious on sandwiches, with pasta, or as a salad dressing.

Beet greens are not only beautiful but they are one of the healthiest greens you can eat! They contain even more nutrients and antioxidants than the beets themselves, so instead of tossing them out, try using them in your next stir fry or salad, like this Zero Waste Beet Greens Salad packed with other spring produce. You can also cook with radish and turnip greens!

Green Onions can be found all over the market this time of year! Stick the bottoms in a jar with a little bit of water, place them on a windowsill, and watch as they continue to grow!

Did you know that you can dehydrate mushrooms and grind them into a powder that makes an amazing topping on salads, pasta, stir fries, and more? Our Operations Manager made us some and it adds an amazing umami flavor to almost any dish! A great way to use your excess mushrooms that have been sitting in the fridge all week and give them new life.

This tip came from Ryan at f-stop farm – Cilantro Root can be used to flavor soups and stocks, and is commonly used in Thai cuisine! Ryan brought whole cilantro plants to the market recently and we grabbed one to give it a try – it adds such a delicious flavor to soups like Tom Yum.

Last but not least, one of our favorite ways to use veggie scraps is to make a stock! Just toss any scraps that you want to use – things like onions, greens, carrots, garlic are perfect – into a container in your freezer. To make a stock you can follow a recipe like this one for vegetable stock. If you aren’t vegan, lots of people also like to use bones in their stock!

Ingredients:

Tops from 2-3 bunches of carrots, depending on size; enough to fill a small bowl (Fruitful Hill Farm, Emadi Acres Farm)

2 lemons

2-3 garlic cloves (Fruitful Hill Farm)

2 cups green onion (Bernhardt’s Farm)

¼ cup pine nuts

2 tbsp olive oil (TX Hill Country Olive Co)

Salt & pepper to taste

Optional: Handful of fresh basil leaves or spinach (we didn’t have either on hand and it was still delicious!)

Directions:

Add all ingredients to a blender or food processor. Add additional lemon juice or olive oil if needed to reach desired consistency. Delicious as a dip for veggies or crackers, on sandwiches, or as a sauce!

Zero Waste Spring Salad with Beet Greens & Carrot Top Pesto Dressing

Ingredients:

1 bunch beet tops (Emadi Acres Farm)

1 large carrot, peeled and sliced (Emadi Acres Farm)

1-2 turnips, thinly sliced (Fruitful Hill Farm)

1-2 radishes, thinly sliced (Fruitful Hill Farm)

Add-ins: Whatever else you have on hand! We used leftover pine nuts from the carrot top pesto we made, green onion, and pecan parm.

Directions:

Don’t toss out those beet greens! They’re one of the most beneficial greens you can eat, and are packed with even more nutrients and antioxidants than the beets themselves.  Wash them well and toss together with the remaining ingredients. For the dressing, we used our carrot top pesto and it was delicious!

Soup Ingredients:

2 tbs olive oil (TX Hill Country Olive Oil)
1/2 yellow onion, diced
2-3 garlic cloves, minced
6-8 tomatoes, depending on size, diced (B5 Farm)
1 cup vegetable stock
1/2 cup water
1 tbs salt
Add ons of choosing: fresh basil, thyme, oregano, crushed red pepper

Sandwich Ingredients:

1 tbs butter
2 slices sourdough bread (Easy Tiger)
Cheese of choosing (Lira Rossa, Pure Luck, or Nut Monkey)

Directions:

Add olive oil, onion, and garlic to sauce pan on medium heat. Cook down until onions are soft/translucent. Add tomatoes, vegetable stock, and water and let simmer, stirring occasionally, for about 20 minutes. Add salt and additional herbs/seasonings to taste.

While soup is cooking, spread butter on outsides of sourdough bread and fill with cheese of choosing. Place in pan and flip so each side is nice and toasted.

Blend soup to a creamy consistency, and serve in a bowl or mug. Dip the grilled cheese in the soup and enjoy!