This week’s post is for those new to Freshness Farms and Four Cooking Together (FCT for short), and anyone else searching for recipes on our website. If you didn’t already know, Four Cooking Together is a newsletter written with the weekly delivery in mind. We’re Freshness Farms‘ recipe resource, but even though we’re related, Four Cooking Together exists as a standalone website, and we’re available to anyone interested in cooking fresh food whether you are a Freshness Farms participant, or not. So welcome—whatever your reason for joining us. Let’s start digging for recipes…
Freshness Farms participants and others who subscribe to FCT are notified of new postings on the website via an email notification. Click on the link in the email to read the article (also known as a journal entry) on the website. You’ll find ideas and clickable recipe links within the text, designed to spark your inspiration in the kitchen. Links are colored blue, so they are easy to spot (like the one you just passed, for Kale and Romaine Caesar Salad, pictured above), and when you click on the blue word or phrase, you’ll be taken to a recipe that utilizes one or more of the items included in the week’s delivery. At FCT we develop most of the recipes we feature, though we look to favorite cookbooks, friends, family and especially, our readers for inspiration as well.
Besides finding recipe links imbedded in the article text, you’ll see them highlighted in a section titled Recipes for the Week. A Quick Tips section is often included at the end of articles as well. Scroll down through this article to see how these sections look, and try clicking on the blue recipe links.
Lemon Quinoa Salad with Celery
If you’re ready to explore recipes on your own, beyond those mentioned in the article, there are two methods at FCT. An easy place to start is our Recipe Index. To find the index go to the recipe or journal home page. You can do this by clicking on either recipes or journal on the black, horizontal menu bar underneath the masthead photograph. The recipe home page takes you to all of the recipes published, with the most recent one listed first. The journal home page works similarly. Try linking to the recipe home page by following this link or scrolling up, and clicking on recipes.
White Beans with Orange and Celery
Once you’re on the home page you’ll find the Recipe Index on the right-hand side of the page—scroll down until you spot it. The index is organized like an old-fashioned recipe box, with blue, clickable tabs listing ingredients and other categories. Click on celery for instance, and you’ll see a list of all recipes that include celery as an ingredient. Click on this link to see how that looks. If you scroll down the list of entries you’ll notice that the most recent ones are shown first. When you get to the bottom of the list, click on older posts to be taken to less recent entries. As you explore the list you’ll notice that one paragraph of text and a photo is displayed for each recipe. To read the full text of any recipe click on the link labeled, continue reading.
Israeli Couscous Salad with Lemon and Spinach
Another way to dig for recipes is to use the search box located at the top, right-hand corner of any page (scroll all the way up now, to take a peek). The search tool supports custom queries. For instance if you enter “carrot soup”, a list of journal and/or recipe entries is returned that contain the words “carrot” and “soup” (entries are sorted by relevance). The search box is useful if you’re looking for something specific, such as a pasta dish with spinach. Enter “spinach pasta” in the search box and the query returns a list that looks like this. The results list contains a title and few summary lines for each entry. Click on continue reading to view the full text of any journal or recipe entry.
That’s all there is to it—you’re ready to explore the 200+ recipes on Four Cooking Together. Have fun digging around. And do let us know if you have lingering questions…or a recipe you’d like to share.
Recipes for the Week:
Lemon Quinoa Salad with Celery
Kale Salad with Oranges and Tahini Dressing (substitute romaine for the kale and skip the massage)
Israeli Couscous with Lemon, Spinach and Carrots
White Bean Spread with Spinach
Quick Tips:
Roast cubes of cauliflower (dressed in enough olive oil to coat), wedges of a large onion and minced garlic until fork tender. Dump everything in a large soup pot, add enough stock to cover fully and simmer until soft (20 minutes or so). Add salt to taste. Purée with a handheld immersion blender, or a food processor (cool a bit first). Add a touch of cream or half-and-half and a sprinkling of chopped herbs (cilantro, parsley or chives) for garnish.
Cut romaine into quarters or sixths. Generously brush grill rack or grill pan with oil to prevent sticking, then place the lettuce cut-side down on the grill. Cook until the greens are marked with dark brown spots. Turn to the other cut side and repeat. Place on a platter and drizzle with a creamy dressing like buttermilk ranch, parmesan peppercorn or blue cheese and sprinkle with toasted walnuts. Might be nice to make room for a few onion wedges on the grill as well.
Roast a pint of cherry tomatoes with a few cloves of minced garlic (everything lightly coated with olive oil) at 375 until the tomatoes begin to wilt or burst (about 30-40 minutes). Chop clean spinach leaves and add to the pan after it comes out of the oven, stirring until leaves wilt. Toss in a few crumbled strips of cooked bacon, if you like. Toss with cooked orzo pasta (the one that resembles rice grains) and grated parmesan cheese.
Shred peeled carrots with a vegetable peeler and toss with chopped cilantro (or arugula) and a mustardy vinaigrette.
Roast carrots (coated with olive oil) until tender. Drizzle with a bit of pomegranate molasses (found at Whole Foods or a Middle Eastern grocery) or maple syrup and a pinch of garam masala and return to the oven for one minute. Add some chopped cilantro before serving.
Add turnips to the roasting pan, or shave into a green salad. Cut into cubes and stir into Minestrone Soup or mash with potatoes for a different twist on the usual.
