Creamy Tomato Fennel Sauce

An experiment that seems to have been successful. On the surface, this recipe seems a bit complex, but, in execution, it really goes rather smoothly. A good use for the roma tomatoes you may be getting at the market or in your CSA right about now (they aren't good for much else due to their firmness and frequent lack of flavor :( ) Anyway, here's a sauce I just made. A lot of it so that I can freeze some and use for the winter. This would make a hearty, earthy pasta sauce or may even be good in lasagna, I think.

For 6 meal-sized servings, you'll need:

• 2 T olive oil
• 1 medium sweet onion, diced
• the stalks and leaves from one fennel bulb (save the bulb and make braised fennel with it), diced
• 1 c vegetable broth
• 1/4 c sugar
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1-2 sweet peppers, diced (I had one huge one, so just used that)
• 2 T tahini
• 10-12 roma tomatoes, diced as small as you can
• 1 T good, aged balsamic
• 3 t crushed red pepper
• salt & pepper to taste

The steps

1. Heat olive oil in a medium saucepan and add diced onion, fennel stalks and leaves, minced garlic, 1/8c sugar, and enough vegetable broth to cover (1/4-1/2c). Cover and simmer on medium-low for 10 minutes.
2. After 5 minutes, add the diced peppers and cover again.
3. After 10 minutes, add the tahini and stir quickly until it lightly coats the other ingredients
4. Add the remaining broth and sugar, tomatoes, balsamic, and red pepper and stir to combine.
5. Cover and simmer for about 15-20 minutes more. Taste every so often and add salt or pepper as needed.

Summer Dinner

Just thought I'd share some photos of the delicious dinner I made tonight.  It consisted of steamed artichoke with spicy dipping sauce (recipe below), grilled golden beets with a balsamic reduction, kale with tahini sauce, maple marinaded tempeh, and a few slices of fresh baguette from the farmers' market (I swear I'll start making my own soon).  Fresh, delicious, seasonal.  A few things:

• The zesty dipping sauce I used for the artichoke leaves/petals** was:
• 2 T vegan mayo
• 1 T Sriracha
• 1/2 T dijon mustard
• 1 t curry powder
• I used golden beets in my grilled beets recipe.  These were even sweeter than the candy stripe variety.  I also reduced the balsamic marinade quickly on the stove while the beets were grilling on the cast iron.  Ended up with a sticky, sweet balsamic reduction that was to die for
• Based on a suggestion from Jeff, I cut out the water from the tahini sauce for kale.  Ended up with a thicker, more strongly flavored sauce, but I think I like thinner better.  The more delicate flower allows the kale to shine through.

I think the only thing that would have made this meal better would have been some grilled tomatoes.  Otherwise, this was just about perfect.  With some local blueberries for dessert.  Heaven indeed.  Enjoy the photos below (I also just got a new, tabletop tripod so I'm having a lot of fun taking photos).  Click to enlarge.

my plate.  From top left: baguette, tempeh, kale, beets

artichoke and dipping sauces, our plates, bowl for artichoke leaves

perfect

**Are the green parts you eat from an artichoke more technically leaves or petals?

Coming soon: I've asked Jeff to contribute his sushi expertise as a guest contributor.  He is hesitant to do so though I think he is doing a lovely job of making himself sushi for lunch (and dinners when I'm not home).  I took photos the other day when he made it, so we will see if we get anything posted about that.

kale with tahini sauce

Wow, this has become one of our favorite things to eat.  We get a lot of kale in our CSA and were looking for a really delicious way to eat it.  This works great and is easy.  The tahini sauce is good on a lot of veggies, but I think kale's nuttiness makes it the best candidate.

For 4 servings, you'll need:

• 1 bunch fresh dinosaur kale (you can use other kinds of kale, but I like this best)
• 1/4 c lemon juice
• 1/2 c flavorful olive oil
• 1/4 c liquid aminos
• 1/3 c tahini
• 1 T onion*
• 1 garlic clove, peeled*
• 1 T real maple syrup
• 1/4 c water

*If you have garlic scapes you need to use up, replace onions and garlic in this recipe with 2-3 stalks.

The steps:

• Roughly chop your kale, removing the rigid ribs.
• Place it in a steamer and let cook while you prepare the sauce
• In a food processor, combine the rest of the ingredients until smooth
• Once the kale is done (don't overcook it, just soften it a little), remove from steamer, place in a serving bowl, and pour sauce over top
• Let stand 5-10min to let the sauce soak in
• Enjoy it.  
• I'd recommend serving this with some bread because you'll want to soak up all of this yummy sauce