Hearty Vegetable Chowder

This hearty chowder is a meal unto itself.  It warms you from the inside out on a cool day.

Prep time:  15 minutes
Cook time:  30 minutes
Serves: 6-8

INGREDIENTS

6-8 cups vegetable or chicken stock
2 cups carrots, 1/4 inch slices
2 cups potatoes, 1/2 inch pieces

4 tablespoons olive oil

1 onion, 1/4 inch dice

2 cloves garlic, crushed

2 cups coarsely chopped kale

1 1/2 cups coarsely chopped escarole

1 1/2 cups coarsely chopped radicchio
Salt to taste
Pepper to taste

DIRECTIONS
Heat the stock in a stock pot over medium high heat.  When broth comes to a low boil, add the carrots and potatoes.  Reduce heat to medium and cook, stirring occasionally, until vegetables are tender enough to easily pierce with a fork.

While carrots are cooking, heat the oil in a large skillet or saute pan over medium low heat, and sauté the onion, garlic, kale, escarole, and radicchio for 10 minutes, stirring.  When greens are tender, remove from heat.

When carrots and potatoes are just tender, add the greens from the skillet to the stock pot.  Heat for a minute, the turn off the heat, and distribute chowder to serving bowls, seasoning to taste with salt and pepper.

Photo and Recipe by Tod Dimmick

Salad Martini

Want to serve gorgeous fresh salad vegetables in a new way? Make that salad something to toast! Obviously this is more about presentation than recipe, but isn't fun part of the objective?

Prep time: 10 Minutes
Serves: 8+ (depending on the size of your glasses!)

INGREDIENTS
1/2 of a small head fresh green cabbage (about 2 cups, shredded)
2 apples, cored and roughly sliced
5-6 radicchio leaves
2-3 carrots, scrubbed (peeled if necessary)
1 small sweet onion (about 1/2 cup when shredded
Vinaigrette (your favorite)

DIRECTIONS
Run all these ingredients through a food processor using the thin slice wheel. Toss with vinaigrette and serve as a toast to farm fresh produce.

Variations: Wow - limited only by your choice of processor-friendly vegetables. Or add chopped chicken, hard boiled egg, and/or bacon can call it a meal.

Photo & Recipe by Tod Dimmick

Radicchio Minestrone

Photo and Recipe by Tod Dimmick










In this simple soup, sweet tomato pairs with bitter radicchio for flavor fireworks.

Prep time:  10 minutes
Cook time:  20 minutes
Serves:  4

INGREDIENTS
3 strips bacon
1 small onion, 1/4 inch dice
1 jalapeno or other hot pepper, cleaned of membrane and seeds, minced
4 cups chicken or vegetable stock
3-4 cups coarsely chopped radicchio
1 large tomato, chopped
1 cup marinara sauce
2 tsp. Italian Seasoning
1-2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
Shredded Parmesan for garnish

DIRECTIONS
Cook the bacon to your liking in the bottom of a stock pot over medium heat.  Remove bacon to drain, and pour off most of the bacon fat.  Add a little olive oil, and cook the onion and jalapeno for 5 minutes, stirring, or until onion is tender and turning tan.  Reduce heat to medium-low, add the stock, radicchio, tomato, marinara, Italian seasoning, salt and pepper, and cook for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Distribute to serving bowls, sprinkling with crumbled bacon and Parmesan.

Variation:  If you're using vegetable stock, just omit the bacon for a vegetarian dish.  And in the other, non-vegetarian direction, the addition of cooked Italian sausage instead of, or even in addition to, the bacon adds flavor and richness.