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Beyond "Sweets for the Sweet": Your Guide to a Savory Chocolate Valentine’s Day Feast!

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By John, CN Grocery Buyer

Anybody can give a lovely box of truffles to their sweetie on Valentine’s Day, but if you really want to impress your loved one, why not serve up that chocolate in a more intriguing fashion? Chocolate is a great ingredient in savory dishes, from obvious choices like mole sauce or steak rubs to much more surprising combos like the ones I’ll be sharing with you in this month’s column. Follow my instructions and you’ll be ready to prepare a huge meatless spread showcasing the less sweet tendencies of that dark chocolate deliciousness. After all, you’re sweet enough already, aren’t you?


JOHN’S FAMOUS  SWEET POTATO CHILI

Ingredients:

  • 28 oz can peeled tomatoes
  • 14 oz can black beans
  • 14 oz can kidney beans
  • 14 oz can garbanzo beans
  • 14 oz can pinto beans
  • 1 tbsp Navitas Raw Cacao Powder
  • 2 jalapeno peppers
  • 1 red bell pepper
  • 1 green bell pepper
  • 1 clove garlic
  • 1 yellow onion
  • 1/2 cup brown beer
  • 1 tsp Cambridge Naturals Bulk Cumin
  • 1/2 tsp Cambridge Naturals Bulk Chili Powder
  • 1/2 tsp Cambridge Naturals Bulk Oregano
  • 1 tsp Maldon Smoked Sea Salt
  • 1 tsp Alex's Ugly Cayano Hot Sauce
  • 1/2 tsp La Chinata Smoked Paprika
  • 2 sweet potatoes
  • 1 tsp Nutiva Coconut Oil


Instructions:

Combine tomatoes, beans, salt, and beer in a large pot over low heat. Stir occasionally. Peel sweet potatoes and cut into cubes. Add vegetable oil and sweet potatoes to a nonstick skillet and sautee for about 10 minutes on medium heat. Add in garlic, onion, hot sauce, and peppers and sautee for an additional 5-6 minutes. Empty contents of skillet into the chili pot and stir. Add cocoa powder, cumin, chili powder, oregano, and smoked paprika. Cook on low heat for as long as you possibly can, adding salt/cocoa/heat as desired. Use more beer if the chili seems too thick.


EGGPLANT CAPONATA

Ingredients:

  • 3 cups Canaan Fair Trade Nabali Tree olive oil
  • 2 lb. eggplant, cut into 1″ cubes
  • 1 large yellow onion, chopped
  • 1 rib celery, roughly chopped
  • Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
  • 3 tbsp. tomato paste, thinned with 1⁄4 cup water
  • 1 cup crushed canned tomatoes
  • 6 oz. Alive & Well Chalkidiki olives, pitted and roughly chopped
  • 1⁄2 cup Bragg's Apple Cider vinegar
  • 1⁄2 cup golden raisins
  • 1⁄4 cup salt-packed capers, rinsed and drained
  • 3 tbsp. Nutiva Coconut Sugar
  • 2 tbsp. Theo 70% Baking Chocolate (finely grated)
  • 1⁄2 cup finely shredded basil
  • 2 tbsp. Cambridge Naturals Raw Pine Nuts

Instructions:

Heat oil in a 12″ skillet over medium-high heat. Working in batches, add eggplant and fry, tossing occasionally, until browned, 3–4 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer eggplant to a large bowl; set aside. Pour off all but 1⁄4 cup oil, and reserve for another use. Return skillet to heat, add onions and celery, and season with salt and pepper; cook, stirring often, until beginning to brown, 10 minutes. Reduce heat to medium, and add tomato paste and cook, stirring, until caramelized and almost evaporated, 1–2 minutes. Add crushed tomatoes and continue cooking for 10 minutes. Stir in olives, vinegar, raisins, capers, sugar, and chocolate, and cook, stirring occasionally, until thickened, about 15 minutes. Transfer to bowl with eggplant, along with basil and pine nuts, and mix together. Season with salt and pepper, and let cool to room temperature before serving.

 

CHARRED CAULIFLOWER AND SHISHITO PEPPERS WITH PICATA SAUCE

Ingredients:

  • 1 head cauliflower, trimmed, halved, and cut into 1 1⁄2" wedges
  • 2 tbsp. plus 1 cup Canaan Fair Trade Nabali Tree olive oil
  • Cambridge Naturals bulk sea salt and black pepper, to taste
  • 8 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
  • 1 cup Nutiva coconut oil, for frying
  • 12 shishito peppers
  • 1⁄2 cup Will & Rose's Whole Sprouted Almonds, toasted and roughly chopped
  • 1 cup plus 1 tbsp. roughly chopped parsley
  • 1 tbsp. finely grated Theo 70% dark baking chocolate
  • 2 tsp. Bragg's Apple Cider Vinegar


Instructions:

Heat oven broiler. Arrange cauliflower in a single layer on a baking sheet. Brush both sides with 2 tbsp. olive oil and season with salt and pepper; broil, flipping once, until charred and tender, about 15 minutes. Meanwhile, heat remaining olive oil and the garlic in a 12" skillet over medium. Cook until garlic is golden, 4–6 minutes; transfer to a bowl and let cool. Wipe skillet clean and heat canola oil over medium-high; fry peppers until blistered and slightly crisp, 4–6 minutes. Transfer peppers to paper towels to drain; season with salt. Stir almonds, 1 cup parsley, the chocolate, vinegar, salt, and pepper into reserved garlic oil; spread onto a serving platter. Top with cauliflower; garnish with fried peppers and remaining parsley.

 

ROASTED BABY CARROTS WITH BALSAMIC-CHOCOLATE SYRUP

Ingredients:

  • 3 pounds baby carrots (about finger-width thick), green tops trimmed to about 1 inch
  • 3 tablespoons Canaan Fair Trade Nabali Tree olive oil
  • 1½ teaspoons Celtic Light Grey Sea Salt
  • 5 or 6 (4-inch) sprigs fresh thyme
  • ½ cup Cadia organic balsamic vinegar
  • ½ ounce Theo 85 percent dark chocolate, chopped
  • ½ teaspoon Crystal's Own New York Wildflower honey


Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Put the carrots on a sheet pan, drizzle them with the olive oil, and spread them in a single layer. Sprinkle the salt evenly over the carrots, and lay the thyme sprigs on top. Roast until the carrots are tender and brown in spots, shaking the pan and turning once or twice, about 35 minutes total. While the carrots are cooking, make the syrup. Put the vinegar in the smallest saucepan you have and simmer over medium-low heat until reduced to 1⁄4 cup. Remove the pan from the heat and add the chocolate. Let the chocolate melt for 30 seconds, then use a small spatula to gently stir the syrup until the chocolate has melted completely and the syrup is smooth. Add the honey and salt and mix well. Cover the pan to keep the sauce warm until you’re ready to serve the carrots. To serve, discard the thyme and arrange the carrots on a serving dish. Drizzle them generously with the syrup, and serve immediately.

Herbstalk Plant of the Year: Rose

By Steph Zabel,
Herbalist, Ethnobotanist and Educator

How
Did the rose
Ever open its heart
And give to this world
All its
Beauty?
It felt the encouragement of light
Against its
Being,
Otherwise,
We all remain
Too
Frightened.
— Rose for the Heart / Hafiz

The Rose family (Rosaceae) is one of the most beloved group of plants —humans have had a deep love for Rose and her relations for thousands and thousands of years. Not only does this family produce beautiful flowering plants such as spirea, potentilla, lady’s mantle, agrimony and hawthorn, but also important fruit crops such as pears, peaches, plums, cherries, quinces, almonds, raspberries and strawberries.

What would our world be like without these delights?!

Of all these family members, Rose is the most well-known and sought-after. She is the true queen of flowers.

We all know Rose as the symbol of love and beauty but its use as an herbal remedy is less known. However, the gifts of this flower are plentiful.

Rose petals are cooling and astringent, which makes it useful in cases of heat or inflammation in the body. I like to mix rose petals (from pink or red flowering species) in tea blends to drink on hot summer days. Rose helps to cool heat that exists in the body, whether it manifests as hot, inflamed skin conditions or as internal heat in the gut, such as ulcers, colitis or Crohn’s. High in bioflavonoids, rose is also a wonderful cardiovascular tonic which helps to strengthen vascular function and support proper circulation in the body.

All roses will develop hips once their flowers fade, which are a delicious wild edible. They are nutritive and tart, and can be infused into a tea that is high in many vitamins, especially Vitamins A and C. Even though citrus fruits get all the glory for being a great source of Vitamin C, rosehips actually contain a higher concentration of this important vitamin and are in fact one of the richest botanical sources of it. This makes rosehips an excellent addition to fall and winter tea blends to help support the body in cold and flu season.

As an energetic remedy Rose works on opening the heart chakra (not surprisingly) and also acts as heart-settling nervine. It brings peace and strength to the body and spirit, and can help to lift anxiety and depression. Likewise, if one’s emotions are too hot or stuck — with frustration or anger — Rose comes to the rescue.

The gift of Rose is two-fold: it helps to soften and relax the heart space (and tense emotional states) while also offering strength and fierceness when needed. A rose is beautiful and vulnerable in flower but also sharp and fierce in thorns — it imparts these same qualities to us when we use it internally or as a flower essence.

There is so much more to learn about Rose — it is a multi-faceted and multi-purpose remedy. I believe it is also important for our modern day lives in that it helps us shift our orientation from being too much in our heads to being more in our hearts.

And this is exactly one of the reasons we chose Rose to be our Herbstalk Plant-of-the-Year for 2017!

Herbstalk is an annual event that takes place in early June at the Armory in Somerville. The Herbstalk Team also organizes the popular Wintergreen Holiday Market at the Armory in late November. More details can be found at: www.herbstalk.org. For more information on Steph's work (including classes and consultations) please visit: www.flowerfolkherbs.com.