Cook With What You Have

Wondering what to do with all that kohlrabi from your CSA or the late summer bumper crop of zucchini from your garden?  Below you’ll find a message from our friend Katherine Deumling about a wonderful new service she is providing to our community.

Cook With What You Have has just launched its Seasonal Recipe Collection! Now you can cook even more, eat better, and never waste any of those precious vegetables you buy or wished you bought but didn’t because you weren’t sure what to do with them.

The collection is 500 + recipes, organized alphabetically by vegetable, from the common to the lesser known. For $25/year you have access to tips and techniques and recipes for the bounty we have at our fingertips, with new features every week.

I have been cooking with our local produce for years while writing recipes for CSA farmers and their members. I have come to love the garlic scapes and fava beans, the giant purple mustard greens, the cauliflower and winter greens as well as the more common peppers, tomatoes, green beans, snap peas and corn and so much more.

I feel fortunate to live in a climate that allows year-round cultivation and even more fortunate to have skilled and dedicated farmers who provide a staggering bounty of vegetables, herbs and fruits and make the most of each month of the year. Learn more about my background and approach to making the most of our bounty.

So what do you do with the lesser known items or when you’re in a rut and want new ideas for your favorite vegetable or a way to preserve it, pickle it, stretch it or move through a mountain of it? Let me help you! Join the Cook With What You Have family and my collection of 500+ recipes will become your recipes.

RECIPE

Fennel Frond and Garlic Scape Yogurt Sauce

Try this sauce with grilled vegetables or seafood.  I served this recently with grilled fennel and garlic scapes and grilled salmon.

Makes about 3/4 cup sauce

Ingredients

½ cup (or more) finely chopped fennel fronds

1 garlic scape, minced or 2 cloves new/green garlic with some of the stalk, if attached and tender, minced

Generous ½ cup Greek yogurt (full fat preferably)

Zest of 1 lemon

Juice of ½ a lemon (or more to taste)

1 tablespoon good olive oil

Sea salt and freshly ground pepper

Directions

Mix all the ingredients together in a bowl. Taste and adjust seasoning. It should be good and lemony and a bit spicy from the garlic.

ABOUT KATHERINE

Katherine Deumling is the owner and operator of Cook With What You Have – a small business devoted to making cooking a regular, delicious, and creative part of people’s lives. She partners with area farmers markets to promote local produce and works with non-profits, public agencies, and businesses to empower people to create healthy, delicious meals.

Katherine is the chair emeritus of the Board of Directors of Slow Food USA. She previously served as a Slow Food chapter leader in Portland, OR. Katherine is a Sister on the Planet Ambassador for Oxfam America. She was the recipient of a Thomas J. Watson Fellowship that allowed her to study food and culture in rural Mexico and Italy for a year in 1996. Katherine is active in the food community in Portland and is an avid gardener and cyclist.