Mushroom Tofu Chard Rolls

I had four large chard leaves saved for something special. My husband brought home a package of organic white mushrooms on sale because they were truly past their prime. That quick run to the co-op hadn't happened so the dinner project began with what I had on hand. This time I really made it up as I stood there, contemplating the colors, textures and possibilities. Black olives and white apple flesh, black mushrooms with white tofu crumbles, red sun dried tomatoes with the creamy garlic and farro and the vivid green of the chard... well it was just beautiful. A substantial dish, full of nutrition - fiber, protein, lots of trace elements and B vitamins - it offers a beautiful plate!

Mushroom Tofu Chard Rolls (Makes 4 full-sized)

4 large chard leaves
1/2 cup farro
4 ounces white mushrooms
8 dried shiitake mushrooms
7 ounces soft tofu
1/2 apple
6 sun dried tomatoes
5 large black Cerignola (or other) olives
2 large garlic cloves
3 scallions
1 cup boiling water to soak mushrooms
1.5 cups water to cook farro

for the sauce:
1/2 cup dry roasted no salt cashews
1/2 tsp agave syrup (or not)
1 Tblsp (or less) Tamari
1/2 cup mushroom soaking water

1. Preheat oven to 350F.  Soak dried mushrooms in 1 cup boiling water - this takes about half an hour, so about as long as the rest of construction time. Start farro in about 1.5 cups water. - this also takes about half an hour. Quick steam/water saute large leaves of chard and set aside -- do not overcook!


2. Prepare filling:  chop fresh mushrooms in small bits, mash together with tofu. Chop garlic fine, Chop sun dried tomatoes in strips and chop again in bits (not too small). Chop up apple in small 1/4" pieces. Cut up Cerignola black olives (I cut mine off the pit) into same size bits as apple bits. Chop scallions. When farro is nearly done, take soaked mushrooms out, SAVING liquid and putting 1/2 cup of this aside for the sauce. Cut the stems off, slice the mushrooms and chop across into medium small bits (these will be the chewy counterparts to the farro). Mix all this together with farro (which will still have a chew factor to it when it is "done").


3. Make sauce: chop cashews and put in a bowl, pour the 1/2 cup mushroom soaking water in, add the 1/2 tsp agave syrup and 1 tablespoon Tamari. Puree this but don't worry if there are still bits of cashew remaining in it.

4. Construct your rolls. I did this in the pan, placing the first chard leaf rib down near the edge of a 9X13 pan. plopping 1/4 of the filling along the rib, fold the inner edge up, and put the next leaf down, rib close to the 1st leaf. Fill that leaf and then fold in the top of the 1st leaf, fold in the sides, and roll it onto the folded side, so that the rib is on top. This way you can space the leaves -- and figure out how much filling to put in the remaining leaves. Put the third leaf in, plop in the filling, and then roll up the 2nd leaf, doing the same with the last leaf.  Don't worry if there's a little filling left -- taking a spoon, you can gently lift the end of the stem on each roll and squish in that last bit of filling!  Pour the sauce over the whole thing.

5. Bake at 350F covered for 20 minutes, uncovered for 10 minutes. Serve & Eat!

Nutrition Facts: Mushroom Tofu Chard Rolls  Serving Size: 1 chard roll (375g)

Amount Per Serving		% Daily Value*
Calories	285	14%
Total Fat	10g	16%
Saturated Fat	2g	10%
Trans Fat
Cholesterol		0%
Sodium	468mg	19%
Total Carbohydrate	39g	13%
Dietary Fiber	5g	21%
Sugars	7g	0%
Protein	12g	25%

Vitamin A	10%	•	Vitamin C	33%
Calcium	10%	•	Iron	21%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your calories needs. courtesy of cronometer.com using my data.

Millet with Sun Dried Tomatoes

One of the wonderful things about eating a whole grain, vegetable based diet, is that we are exploring more of the range that grains have. I had been thinking about making risotto, and building a meal idea around a grain with something savory or succulent in it. My husband read a recipe that involved millet and sun dried tomatoes, and this is what happened!


Millet with Sun Dried Tomatoes & Olives
1 cup millet
6 sun dried tomatoes chopped into fine bits
1/4 cup chopped olives
1 red onion, finely chopped
2 cups water
2 Tblsp Mirin
1 Tblsp fresh Rosemary (or 2 tsp dry)
1 Tblsp fresh Thyme (or 2 tsp dry)
1 Tblsp fresh Oregano (or 2 tsp dry)
Fresh pepper

1. Dry roast the millet in a pot until you smell the fragrance of the grain (about 3 minutes). Then add the chopped tomato bits with 2 cups of water, bring it to a boil, then turn it down, stir it, cover it and simmer for around 20 minutes until the grain absorbs all the water. Set this aside, leaving the cover on -- do not stir at this point.

2. In a small saucepan, put 1/2 cup water and the finely chopped onion, cooking a few minutes until they begin softening. Add in the herbs and the olives, turning the pan off, stirring.
3. Gently fold the onions/olives/herbs into the millet,
fluffing the grain and putting it into a serving dish.
Serve with fresh pepper!

Millet with Sun Dried Tomatoes & Olives Nutrition Facts Serving Size: 1 Serving (300g) Amount Per Serving % Daily Value* Calories 272 14% Total Fat 3g 5% Saturated Fat 1g 3% Trans Fat Cholesterol 0% Sodium 131mg 5% Total Carbohydrate 54g 18% Dietary Fiber 7g 26% Sugars 8g 0% Protein 8g 15% Vitamin A 0% • Vitamin C 12% Calcium 5% • Iron 15% * Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your calories needs. courtesy of cronometer.com with my data

Sun Dried Tomatoes & Polenta - Twice

It is wonderful to imagine a meal and then try to construct it. I had never made polenta from scratch before, and had a vision of a sun dried tomato concoction atop a platform of polenta. So I bought sun dried tomatoes from my food coop (www.foodcoop.com). They are imported from Italy and come dried with salt, not in olive oil. I began by soaking about 20 tomatoes, cut into long strips, in a wide saucepan with probably two cups of water. The water became pretty salty, but I added cremini mushrooms, (about 2.5 cups) to that, cut in quarters and simmered it for a while. This is when I added about a half a cup to 2/3 of a cup of plain organic canned chick peas.


The water turned into an amazing broth, and I poured a good bit of it off to save for later, adding more fresh water so that it wouldn't be so salty, but still had time to deepen the flavors.

Then I let that sit and made the polenta, boiling about 4 cups of lightly salted water and then slowing pouring in not quite a cup of coarse stone ground corn meal, whisking it as I poured. It took about 15 minutes of stirring and simmering for this to turn into a heavy glop, thickening and looking as though the corn meal had totally softened. I poured that out into a flat dish and let it cool. It was about 3/4 of an inch thick and maybe 9 inches square.


Then I boiled up the brussels sprouts until they were soft.

That's all the parts. Final construction was 10 minutes in a 400F oven for the polenta, then putting the Brussels sprouts over that in the oven for another 5 minutes so they got a little hotter and crisped up a bit. Finally I spread the tomato/mushroom/chick peas over the top with the juice from the pan. (I used the reserved broth in a mushroom soup the next day. Recipe to come on that.)

The second time I made this dish, I was cooking for 4 people instead of two. I made more polenta, 6 cups of water and 1.25 cup of corn meal so that it would be thicker (a full inch thick) and there would be leftover for the next day's lunch. I used a big pile of mushrooms, maybe 5 cups, and did not add in enough more sun dried tomatoes to have the same flavor impact. I'm going to try it a third time in another week or so and see if I can get the proportions right. My goodness it's good anyway!

Totally estimated nutrition facts: serving 325 g polenta & 250 g topping offers around 200 calories, 3 g fat, 186 g sodium, 37 g carbs, 9 g fiber, 13 g sugar, 14 g protein, 3% vita A, 126% C, 7% Calcium, 20% iron (RDAs) sourced through cronometer.com  Remember, the thickness of the polenta and the quantities of each ingredient will change these numbers. All in all, a great no meat, no dairy, no oil, whole grain, vegetable main dish!

And then there's the leftover recycled for Sunday lunch by adding regular sliced mushrooms, a couple more slivered sun dried tomatoes and what was left of a bag of organic frozen spinach.  Delicious. We even extended a bit of leftover salad with some chopped red leaf lettuce and the leftover lemon green beans!