Ellie's Real Good Food

that starts with veg and ends in table?

Well, you are in luck, because today, I'm gonna help you turn your veggie loather into a veggie lover.

It's all in the delivery, as you'll see in today's delicious lineup.

Broccoli pesto pizza, sloppy joes, raw brussel slaw, seasoned with the excitement of a very special field trip.

Cheers!

- [Group] Cheers.

(laughs) - That's all coming up now, right here on Ellie's Real Good Food.

(upbeat music) - [Speaker] Funding for this series has been provided by... (upbeat music) (gentle guitar music) - [Woman] Grapes from California, grown by families, for families.

- [Speaker] And by Regal Springs tilapia.

Ellie's kitchen is provided by Clarke, New England's sub-zero and wolf showroom and test kitchen.

- Hi, I'm Ellie Krieger.

Thanks for joining me here on Ellie's Real Good Food.

We all know someone who has it out for vegetables, but whether that person is an adult or a child, it is never too late!

You can still win them over, because there are more ways to serve a vegetable than there are colors in the rainbow.

And that's what I did with my flatbread pizza with broccoli pesto.

It is amazing, and it really does transform broccoli completely.

Basically, just have a couple cups of broccoli here that's cooked and chopped, and just put that into a food processor.

Some fresh basil, maybe 2/3 of a cup.

The smell of basil, I mean, when my daughter was two years old, she was on a city bus, and she says, "I smell basil!"

And we turn around, and there's a lady with a big pack of basil in her shopping bag, and I was like, "That's my girl."

You wanna raise a kid who knows what basil smells like.

Just getting some freshly grated Parmesan.

I'm gonna put some in the pesto and then save some for the flatbread pizza topping.

So I was testing this recipe, and my friend Juan comes by, and Juan says, "What's in this?"

And I tell him it's broccoli, and he literally was like, "I hate broccoli!"

But he loved the pizzas, so he was sort of astounded by it, and that's when I knew that this was one to turn around a veggie loather.

So in here, I'm just gonna put about 1/8 teaspoon of salt and some fresh pepper.

I'm just gonna give this a little whir first, and then I'm gonna add some olive oil.

(blender whirring) So while this is going, just add three tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil.

Drizzle it in.

Terrific on pasta, but it's really wonderful to put on pizza, as well.

It's nice to spread on toast.

I'm just gonna get a couple sun-dried tomatoes, and this just adds this kind of great umami flavor.

So I'm just going to slice these thinly, six of them, and then build the pizzas.

That's really all there is to it.

All right, pizza building time.

So this makes four pizzas, by the way, but I'm gonna do two now, and just spread some of the pesto onto each one, whole-grain flatbread, and you can use pocketless pita.

And I'm gonna be putting an egg in the center of each one, so it'll leave a little bit of a well in the center for the egg.

Okay, get those sun-dried tomatoes on there.

(upbeat music) Some cheese.

So I like to crack the egg into a small bowl first, because then, it gives me a little bit more control putting it on, and also, if I get a little shell in there, I can take it out more easily than messing with it once it's on the pizza.

Just put that right on.

And it's okay even if a little of the white dribbles off.

You kind of can't go wrong with this.

So when this bakes up, that egg is gonna cook perfectly so that the yolk is beautifully runny, but the white is set.

It just takes about 10 minutes in a 475 degree oven.

It's going in.

Yummy!

Pizza's up.

Look at those eggs!

Gorgeous.

So I take it out when the white is still a little bit translucent and let it sit for, like, two minutes, and then it continues cooking, and the yolk winds up being perfect after that.

So in the meantime, I'm gonna garnish them with some lovely little basil leaves, just torn on top.

Maybe a little more salt and pepper.

(cheerful music) Love some fresh ground pepper.

Which one should I do?

This one!

Gotta see what this looks like.

Mmm, definitely.

Flatbread pizza with broccoli pesto and sun-dried tomato and egg!

(upbeat music) One of the most effective ways to foster a love of vegetables is to grow them.

Just ask the kids at Phillip's Academy in Newark, New Jersey.

These kids, who are amazing, by the way, start tending their own dining room garden when they're just little sprouts, themselves.

- These are urban kids, so I started thinking about what ways we can connect them to growing.

And I explored this idea of alternative growing systems, vertical farms, etc., so aquaponics, And I was at a food conference with the founder of AeroFarms, and we immediately started talking, and within probably seven or eight days, their prototype, which is this machine, ended up at our school, and we started connecting it to our curriculum and bringing it into our lunch program.

- That's just amazing.

So it's been here a long time, and it's made a big difference in these children's lives.

- Huge.

Yes, absolutely.

- A lot of the times, you have no idea where your food really comes from.

You just eat it, and that's the end of it.

But now, we all get an understanding of how we plant our food and where it comes from, and now, instead of going and actually buying them from the supermarkets, we can make it at home.

- Pretty amazing.

This vertical aero garden, a tiny version of the AeroFarm, a commercial scale operation nearby, is a much less water-intensive variation on hydroponics, in which the plant's roots are merely sprayed with nutrient-rich water.

Like it's larger cousin, but on a much smaller scale, the school garden produces different greens throughout the year.

The kids are responsible for growing, tending, harvesting, and then preparing the produce.

As a result, they're invested in what they've grown, take pride in it, and that leads to, you got it, the desire to eat it!

That natural inclination is then stoked by the man behind the stove in the school dining room.

Rob Wallauer is a former restaurant chef.

- It's really great to see how the kids evolve when they're being exposed to the food in the classroom, so we follow through with that, serve them a healthy school lunch here in the dining room.

- That's amazing.

First of all, I love that you're calling it a dining room.

- We make everything intentional in that way.

So we serve our meals family style where the kids participate, and they serve themselves.

It's not a tray line program, typical of a school lunch program, which does make a big difference.

You see participation and ownership from the kids, then they're more open to new things.

- From being hands on with chef Rob in the kitchen, to setting up the dining room and serving each other, these kids have become attuned to the enjoyment of preparing and sharing good food.

So we are here at the Phillip's Academy with these amazing young chefs, Joshua, Rosalyn, and Yasmina.

And we're gonna make a great salad with the greens that you guys grew, arugula, and it smells so good.

I think we should just, like, grab a leaf and taste it now, don't you?

- [Student] Yes.

- Mmm, oh, my goodness.

It's delicious.

It's, like, kind of peppery, huh?

- Yeah.

- Delicious.

I love arugula.

It's one of my favorite greens.

I buy it all the time.

So we're making a perfect salad today.

One of my favorite dressings is the simplest dressing.

Olive oil and lemon juice.

We might add a little bit of honey, salt and pepper, also.

So we're gonna put some tomatoes in the salad.

So maybe Yasmina, if you wouldn't mind in half, because that's kind of a nice way to serve them.

And Rosalyn, I think it would be nice if you zested a lemon, and you guys all have amazing chef skills here.

And Joshua, I think you can juice those lemons, and then we'll all be on the right track.

Excellent.

And so you know when you're zesting the lemon, you don't get any of the white pip, because that's bitter.

You just get the yellow part, right?

Smells so good already.

- [Student] Yeah, lemon smells, like, so fresh.

- How's the tomato going?

Good?

Usually kind of easier to even have a serrated knife with that.

I think that's a good enough amount of zest.

So when I'm home, and I need just a quick lunch for myself, I'll take some arugula and some tomatoes, or maybe, if it's the winter, I'll take some fennel.

Ever have fennel?

- [Students] Yes.

So good, isn't it?

Yes.

- And I'll just put that with some tuna and lemon, and that is lunch.

It is amazingly delicious.

It's a really good combination.

I think that's enough.

Now, we'll just do the vinegarette.

So you're, Joshua, you're the vinegarette master, from what I understand.

- Yeah, I created my own vinegarette at the school, and everybody liked it.

- That's awesome!

So since you're the master of that, for sure, maybe you can put some olive oil in this bowl.

I think, what I usually like to do is start with, like, three tablespoons of olive oil, and do, like, a ratio of three to one.

So three olive oil and one to whatever acid you're using.

So maybe that'll be, in your case, vinegar, but here, we're gonna use some lemon juice.

Excellent.

And then one tablespoon of lemon juice.

Well done, well done.

And so we can do a little, a pinch each of salt and pepper, maybe you wanna do that, Rosalyn?

This here, and Yasmina, you wanna whisk that up?

And then, we'll do is taste it, and you guys can say, maybe it needs a little more lemon, a little more salt and pepper.

If it meets everyone's approval, we'll toss it with some of the leaves.

I like to taste things by dipping the leaf in.

Ready?

I could just do this all day.

Mmm.

I think, maybe, a little tiny bit of honey.

- Yeah.

- But it's good.

You can always add more, but you can't take away.

So it's good to go a little at a time.

A little more, maybe one more drip, I think.

All right, cool.

We'll start with just a few greens.

You want to pour that on top, then?

You can put all the tomatoes in.

It can all happen at once.

You can pour that on.

Now, that's looking nice.

Beautiful.

Toss this.

Make sure it's all coated beautifully.

And then, we get to eat.

(laughs) Wanna put, like, maybe one tomato on top, just for beauty?

- [Student] Garnish.

- There you go.

All right.

Lovely.

Well, thank you, chefs!

Should we do a little cheers with our plates?

- [Students] Yes!

Cheers!

Cheers.

(laughs) - It tastes real good.

- I taste the lemon.

- Beautiful balance.

You guys did a great job.

(gentle guitar music) What an amazing school!

Now, you can achieve a similar effect for the veggie loather in your own life with your own version of a garden, whether it's some potted herbs and greens on your windowsill indoors, out on the terrace, or in a larger garden outside, just grow something!

Anything!

(upbeat music) Beef and mushroom sloppy joes.

Now, everybody loves sloppy joes.

Everybody.

And so if you get some veggies in there, then you get veggie haters to love vegetables, right?

That's the angle.

So I'm gonna start off with just some ground beef.

Lean ground beef.

I always look for a 90% lean or higher.

Just breaking that up, letting that brown.

While that's going, I'm gonna chop up these vegetables.

I've got some onion going here, dicing it.

So there's usually onion in a sloppy joe, right?

That's not news.

The news is mushrooms.

Putting mushrooms in here.

And what happens with the mushrooms is when you chop them finely, and then you sauté them, they blend in with the meat.

They have such a meaty texture, and that kind of meaty umami flavor, that they really kind of blend in seamlessly.

Okay, this is ready.

I'm gonna pull this off, and I'll put the vegetables in here.

First, get this pepper going.

So I'm adding another vegetable, and that's a red bell pepper, because this also will blend in seamlessly.

It really softens nicely with the onion.

And the red pepper adds a hint of sweetness, which is nice.

A tablespoon of oil.

And then, just put the onions and peppers right in there.

Start getting those cooking.

Softening three to five minutes, I'd say.

Finish up with these mushrooms.

Now, it's funny.

Mushrooms, as a vegetable, they're not high in your typical things that you think about a vegetable being rich in.

So they don't have much vitamin C or vitamin A, but they actually have a lot of B vitamins, which is amazing.

They have a lot of potassium.

So different vegetables offer different things.

So the more that you get, the more variety that you get, the better.

That's looking good.

Just add some garlic cloves and some heat through that.

And then, the mushrooms.

And it looks like a lot, but it's gonna cook down.

And this is a really critical part, I think, of cooking mushrooms, especially since I like them browned is to just let them cook for a while.

They're gonna release their water, and then they're gonna start to brown and get some color.

It takes about five minutes.

All right, these are ready.

They're beautifully brown.

Smells so good.

I'm gonna add the beef back in, and you see how it kind of comes together, but the sauce really is what makes it come together.

Chop this meat up a little more.

One of the things I love about sloppy joes, besides that they're just fun and crowd pleasing, is that it's really a one-skillet meal.

Now, for that wonderful, sweet, spicy sauce.

So a tablespoon of chili powder, a teaspoon of mustard powder, because I love that tanginess, sometimes I even stir, like, just brown mustard in there.

A can of no salt added tomato sauce.

And I'm gonna put salt in, but I like to be in control of how much.

A tablespoon of tomato paste, and now some salt.

Just 1/2 a teaspoon to start, and then, you can always add more to taste later.

So some molasses.

And this is where instead of buying, like, a can of mix, of this sloppy joe mix, this is one of the things that makes a huge difference, is using molasses is actually an unrefined sweetener that actually adds some nutrition, some and I love that flavor, that really deep molasses flavor.

And then a little bit of vinegar, two teaspoons of the apple cider vinegar.

So it gives it a punch of brightness that balances the sweetness.

Some black pepper.

I'm just gonna let this simmer for a bit, and I'm gonna serve it with this fabulous brussel sprout slaw, which I'm gonna whip up while this simmers away.

So with my beef and mushroom sloppy joes, I'm making this incredible slaw with brussel sprouts.

And this is one of my tricks, really, when it comes to vegetables, is that you might not like them prepared one way, and you might love them prepared another way.

So maybe you don't like cooked brussel sprouts.

But the point is is that if you don't like them cooked, you might love them raw.

Sometimes, when you cook a vegetable, it brings out more of the sulfurous notes in it, but raw, it's more mellow, more mild.

And that, I would say, is the case with brussel sprouts.

They work beautifully in a slaw just raw.

And this is another thing that you can do, either by hand, or you can do in the food processor.

So I need about three cups altogether.

And both of these dishes are great for making ahead.

So one of the great things about the brussel sprout slaw, or really, any coleslaw, is that it sits well in the fridge.

Okay, I'm just gonna get these into my bowl.

I'm gonna put some grated carrot in there.

I think carrot's another classic example of if you don't like them cooked, you might like them raw, and vice versa, because the taste changes completely.

Some thinly sliced red onion.

Just give that a quick toss.

And I'm gonna make the most delicious and simple buttermilk dressing.

I do it all right here in this jar.

So there's 1/3 of a cup of buttermilk in there, 1/4 cup of mayonnaise, the juice of one lime.

So I have a great trick for getting juice out of a lime.

You just put it in the microwave for, like, 20 seconds, and it's amazing how much more juice comes out of it.

How is that sloppy joe looking?

Looking good to me.

I kind of need a little stir.

Oh, yeah.

This is gonna be so good with the slaw.

Okay, so we got buttermilk, mayo, lime, a little bit of honey, because you want that kind of sweet tangy here, too.

Just a tablespoon.

Some salt and pepper.

Just give it a shake.

That's 1/2 a teaspoon of salt.

Woo-hoo!

Gorgeous.

Pour it right over.

Just mix that all together.

You have a gorgeous creamy dressing, and then I like to add some toasted sunflower seeds for a little crunch.

And this is gonna look fabulous and taste fabulous with the sloppy joes, which I'm gonna plate up right now.

Just a regular kind of whole-grain bun, and I like to pile it really high, because I like my sloppy joes to be genuinely sloppy.

No neat sloppy joes for me.

About 3/4 of a cup loaded up on there, piled high.

When I eat this, I want all that meat and the mushrooms to squish out.

Now, that's what I call a sloppy joe.

I'll put some slaw on there.

How amazing does that look?

All right, I have to get in.

Have to get in, sloppy or not.

Ah!

Mmm, so good.

Beef and mushroom sloppy joes, brussel sprout slaw.

There's a way to do vegetables that definitely hit the sweet spot where delicious and healthy meet.

(upbeat piano music) (playfully) Flatbread!

(laughs) When I was a kid, I had a old cow named Elsie, and it was really weird, because I lived in Queens.

So with my beef and mushroom, ah, I'm back, I'm back, woo-hoo!

(upbeat music) - [Speaker] For these recipes and much more, go to ElliesRealGoodFood.com.

Also, connect with Ellie on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest.

Funding for this series has been provided by... (upbeat music) And by... (gentle guitar music) - [Woman] Grapes from California, grown by families, for families.

(upbeat music) - [Speaker] And by Regal Springs tilapia.

Ellie's kitchen is provided by Clarke, New England's sub-zero and wolf showroom and test kitchen.