Vegetable Curry with Basmati Rice

2 medium onions

6 cloves of Garlic 

4 Tablespoons of Vegetable Oil

Pinch of Red Chili Flake

4 Tablespoons Sweet Curry Powder

2 Cans of Full Fat Coconut Milk

1# Collard Greens

6 Small White Potatoes Cubed

2 Zucchini Cubed

2 Yellow Squash Cubed

4 Roma Tomatoes Cubed

1/2 # Snow Peas Cut on the Bias (reserve for last)

Peel and slice the onions and garlic.  Heat a large soup pot over a medium heat and add the oil, garlic, onions and chili flake.  Season with Salt and Pepper and cook until the onions soften but don't allow them to color.  

Add the Curry Powder and allow it to fry slightly with the vegetables for a few minutes.  Add the coconut milk and 2 cans of water.  Stir to incorporate and bring the mixture to a bare boil.  Add in all your vegetables, (with the exception of the snow peas) season again with Salt and Pepper and bring back to a bare boil. 

Once it looks like it's about to boil, turn the heat down to medium low and simmer the curry for about 1 to 1 1/2 hours.  Just before you're ready to serve the curry, add the snow peas.  Serve in a bowl over cooked Basmati Rice.

Peach Lassi

This Recipe really couldn't be simpler and it is wonderful for these incredibly hot days of summer.

 Serves 4

 6 ripe peaches (but not brown on the inside)

1 cup yogurt of your choice (whole, lowfat or nofat)

1 cup of milk (same choices apply here)

3 Tablespoons of Sugar or Honey

2 handfuls of ice

Blend everything in a blender till smooth, pour into a glass and enjoy.

For fancier flavoring; add a small pinch of Dried Cardamom or Cinnamon or both while blending.  Keep cool.  You can make this in a larger batch and store it in the refrigerator for about 2-3 days.

 

Southern Italian Style Greens

These Greens are completely vegetarian, but so packed with delicious flavors.  I have been told from very reliable sources that they make you want to:

"SMACK YOUR MAMA!"

I in no way advocate parental violence! :)

Serves 6-8

1# each Collard, Mustard, Swiss Chard & Kale or any other green of your choosing (tough stems stripped off and greens chopped up and washed in a sink of cold water)

2 Medium Yellow Onions

6 Cloves of Sliced Garlic

Red Chili Flake

Salt & Pepper

Balsamic Vinegar

Wash chopped greens thoroughly in a sink of cold water.  Drain the sink with the greens still in it, the residual water on your greens is all you'll need to braise them in your pot. 

In a pot 3 times larger than you'll need for the final product, heat approximately 3 Tablespoons of vegetable oil on a medium heat.  Cut your onions in half, peel them and slice them crossways.  Add the garlic to your pan and let it cook slightly for a few seconds, then add the chili flake and finally the onions.  Season these with a little salt and pepper and cook till the onions soften, but do not let them color or burn.  

Add your greens a little at a time and stir them through the onions and garlic, you'll see them shrink way down, when the volume goes down add more greens until you've got them all incorporated.  Once they're all in the pot, season the greens with salt and pepper and give them a good stir, turn your heat down to a medium low to low setting and let the greens braise for about 45 minutes to an hour.  Stir them frequently, they can burn.  If the greens look dry you can add about 1/4 cup of water to your pan.  

When you taste them for doneness they should be tender and not bitter, if they taste tough or stringy at all, they're not quite done.  Let them cook some more.  When they are finished, stir in about 1/4 cup or 2 ounces of Balsamic Vinegar, stir it through all the greens.  Keep warm and serve.  These greens are great on their own or incorporated into another dish like a frittata or quiche.

Carrot Ginger Soup

This recipe is brilliant either hot or cold.  So during these awfully scorching weeks, give it a try!

Serves 4

1# Carrots peeled and chopped into even pieces

3-1/4 inch sized pieces of fresh peeled Ginger

1 Tablespoon of Sugar

Salt and White Pepper to taste

Place all ingredients in a soup pot big enough to cover the contents with water by roughly 1 1/2 inches.  Bring to a bare boil then reduce to a simmer.  Cook the carrots until they are just tender but by no means mushy.  Puree soup in a blender till smooth.

Note:  Put the solids in the blender first then add the liquid in batches so you get the consistency you like and it doesn't end up all watery.

Either chill or keep warm.  Ladle into bowls, top with either creme fraiche or sour cream and enjoy!

Beef Brisket Smoky and Delicious!

Lamb Ribs Anyone????

So with the 4th of July bearing down on everyone and thoughts of long weekends and BBQ in full swing I'd just like to suggest to everyone out there that with the temperatures soaring into the 100's you could let ME do all the heavy lifting for you. 

I can shop for your event, prep it up, rub it down package everything and on the day of your BBQ all you have to do is man the grill or smoker like a champ and relax!  You'll look like an amazing hero and all of it will be totally stress free!

www.chefkellylehman.com
chefklehman@gmail.com

This Thursday I will be doing a Chef Demo for a Louisville local non-profit called New Roots.  This organizations focus is bringing fresh produce to lower income areas of the city areas that could very well be called "Food Deserts"  These are areas of town that may have a McDonalds on every other corner but no grocery store for up to 15 miles or more.  It is an area where not everyone has access to cars to drive halfway across the city to shop and often times the cost of food is more prohibitive than a Big Mac.

I am extremely proud to be contributing to this organization.  For as little as $12 a month a family can get a large box filled with produce delivered bi-monthly to a pick up point in their neighborhood.  I am there to give people creative and practical ideas on how to utilize that produce and keep them coming back for more.  Within a single share someone can expect to find the following:

Collards
Kale
Chard
Carrots (bunch of 12)
Green Onions (bunch of five the size of golf balls)
Broccoli: One head
Lemon Cucumbers: 5 in a bunch
Peachs: 1 lb
Lettuce: Red leaf Head
Lettuce: Loose Leaf
Radishes: Pink French and Red
Garlic Scapes
Snow Peas: 1/4 lb

That much produce every two weeks.  If you have a moment it's worth checking out:  www.newroots.org

These are the great flavor boosters of life.  If you're stumped as to how to add some zing to your meals, some brightness or some freshness of flavor.  Any of these herbs are absolute winners!  And here's the brilliant thing, they're almost impossible to kill if you grow them yourself!  Are you a lazy gardener? or even a non-existent one?  Plant a little Thyme or Rosemary or Mint in a pot with enough room for it to spread out a little and then, pretty much ignore it.  Time will pass, you'll forget it exists, winter will come you will be sure the things have gone to meet their relative makers.  Then spring will come, a warm day, a little rain, some sunshine, and the beasts will pop back up unannounced.  Fresh and Green and Vibrant.  You'll snip a little Thyme for a roast chicken, some Rosemary for Roasted potatoes.  I'm telling you, you cannot go wrong.  Flavor, Flavor, Flavor!  And you will have the satisfaction of looking out a window and seeing these beauties overflowing before you and you can say:  "Look what I did!"  Yeah .... Right!

Herb Boosted Salad

The next time you're staring a bowl of boring lettuces in the face, Boost them up by adding some fresh picked herbs to the mix.  A little bit of mint leaf, parsley leaves and dill sprig goes a long way when juxtaposed against a cold bit of Romaine or Green Leaf Lettuce.  It's just a small wake up to your senses.  The scent is fantastic and the flavor is powerful.  With a few vegetables and a small shaving of Parmesan or Pecorino Romano Cheese, all you need is good Olive Oil and Vinegar or Lemon Juice.  The flavor is already in the bowl.