Recovery Cafe and Food Bank Growers
By Kate Nichols
adapted by Karen King
1-1-2023
(Above Left) Karen mixes the salad. (Above) Joy turns the potatoes while Mary checks the oven.
The Recovery Café is a great place for a warm lunch from Tuesday to Friday, 12-2:00 pm. The lunches use many donated ingredients from local farms and the Food Bank gardens. One favorite recipe that uses a wide variety of vegetables from the gardens is the Any Vegetable Tart. (below) It’s good one to make if you need to use some of those vegetables you aren’t quite sure what to do with.
Karen King is the Recovery Café staff member who manages the kitchen. She works to build strong teams of volunteers for each day. Some of the volunteers are regulars, some are more ad hoc. Karen and the teams plan menus weekly, based on the donated produce from the Food Bank gardens as well as other contributions that Karen acquires from a wide variety of sources.
One kitchen volunteer and professional baker, Carol, comes in on Mondays when the café is closed. She bakes bread, cookies, cupcakes, or muffins for the week’s meals. Often, as we cook a meal, we have brainstorm how to make a recipe taste even better, like adding ginger or more salt, or garlic, something to give it more zing. All the volunteers are talented and valued.
The recipe below shows you the original recipe, which was written to serve eight people, but at the café we often serve 45 to 50 meals, so Karen has included instructions for how to increase the recipe from the original eight servings to as many as fifty.
The Café is a program of the Dove House Advocacy Services. It is a full member of the Recovery Café Network, a nationwide model of recovery peer support. The Café welcomes anyone who is in recovery from something. Besides a meal there are Circles for members to join to get support, yoga, a monthly open mic and other community activities. Join us for a meal!
The recipe for Any Vegetable Tart follows:
by Melissa Clark of NYTimes
Adapted by Karen King, Recovery Café
Time; 1 hour, plus cooling
Perfect for causal eating, this rustic tart can be tailored to whatever vegetables you have on hand. The key here is to use either precooked vegetables, or quick-cooking raw vegetables that won’t release too much liquid, making the pastry soggy. So the crust tastes like a buttery cheese straw, an optional layer of grated Gruyere or cheddar is scattered onto the bottom of the baking pan before the dough is placed on top. The whole tart bakes up golden brown, savory and wonderfully crunchy. Serve this on the same day its baked for maximum flakiness.
Ingredients
This recipe is scaled up for 50 people from the original yield of 8 servings. The original yield of 8 is (in parentheses). It shows how the Recovery Cafe scales up recipes.
2 1/2 C (1/2 cup) Shredded Gruyere or Cheddar
8 eggs (1 large egg) at room temperature
10 Tbls (2 Tbls) grated Parmesan
10 tsp (1 tsp) finely grated lemon zest or finely chopped rosemary
10 cloves garlic (1 clove), finely grated or crushed to a paste (optional)
Kosher salt and black pepper to taste
3 C (3/4 C) crème fraiche or mascarpone (Greek yogurt)
All-purpose flour, for dusting the work surface.
4 + 1 Gluten free) (1 14 ounce) package puff pastry,
Preferably made with butter, thawed if frozen, but still cold
10-12 C sliced vegetables.
Preparation
Step 1
Put a rack in the center of the oven and heat oven to 425 degrees. Line a baking sheet with a silicone liner or parchment paper. If you like, you can sprinkle Gruyere or Cheddar on to the center of the liner or paper in an approximate 10 by 13-inch rectangle.
Step 2
In a medium bowl, whisk together egg, Parmesan, lemon zet or rosemary, garlic and a pinch of salt and pepper, until smooth. Beat in crème fraiche (yogurt) until smooth.
Step 3
On a lightly floured surface, roll out the puff pastry to form a 10-by-13-inch rectangle, about ¼ inch thick. Transfer the dough to prepared baking sheet. (Place directly on top of the grated cheese, if applicable) With a sharp knife, lightly score 3/4 inch border around the edges of the puff pastry, making sure not to cut the pastry all the way through. Using a fork, prick the pastry all over inside the border at 1-inch intervals.
Step 4
Spread Crème fraiche mixture evenly inside the scored border. Arrange vegetables in an even layer, using just enough to cover the surface in one layer. Scatter scallions and thyme or rosemary sprigs on top. Lightly drizzle with oil, and sprinkle with salt and pepper.
Step 5
Bake until the pastry is puffed and golden, and the vegetables are cooked through, about 25 to 35 minutes. Transfer pan to wire rack and cool for at least 15 minutes before serving. Serve topped with microgreens, herbs and accompanied by lemon or lime wedges for squeezing.
TIP: Quick-cooking vegetables include broccoli, broccolini, cut ½ inch florets; cherry tomatoes, halved and drained on paper towels; thinly sliced sugar snap peas; thin asparagus cut into 2-inlche lengths (on bias is nice); corn kernels. Or use precooked vegetables, such as roasted or grilled sliced onions, fennel, eggplant, zucchini or peppers; marinated artichokes; roasted roots like potatoes, sweet potatoes, parsnips or carrots; sauteed mushrooms or greens like spinach, chard, pea shoots, cabbage or kale.
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