CSA Week 12

This week we got: 8 ears corn, 2 lbs tomatoes, 2 Concho jalapenos, 2 lbs Austrian Crescent potatoes, 2 fresh sweet onions, 1 red onion, 1 head Spanish Roja garlic, 1 bunch Cylindra beets, 1 bunch carrots, 1.5 lb zucchini, 2 patty pan squash, 4 cucumbers, 1 lb green beans, 1 lettuce, 1 bunch flat leaf parsley, 1 bunch basil (I also picked up a couple eggplant)

They said everyone looks forward to the corn, but this is just getting ridiculous!

Here's what we did:

Ratatouille (again, but this time I cubed everything instead of sliced; worked better) with Israeli couscous (PomPom loves this stuff). After we ate our fill, I added some veggie stock and tomato paste, cooked it until everything was completely soft and blended it into a pasta sauce.  Froze that

Black bean, beef, and veggie chile (tomatoes, jalapenos, sweet onions, squash, carrots) with Jalapeno corn bread (used fresh jalapenos and fresh sweet corn in this; it was tasty but didn't hold together)

Roasted green beans with lemon zest and sliced almonds (made this before; brought it to a potluck)

Tomato-beet salad (recipe below) to go with bahn mi that my father in-law brought (yum, thanks!)

Grilled flank steak and corn on the cob and my aunt's potato salad

I've got to use up the bits and pieces to make a salad for lunch tomorrow, which will be perked up by the next box!

I'm grating and freezing carrots (for carrot muffins) and sauteeing cut carrots and freezing for quick side dishes

I'll cut and freeze the corn remaining

I shredded and froze zucchini for zucchini bread and fritters

Tomato-Beet Salad

1 lb scrubbed Cylindra beets

2 lbs tomatoes, preferably heirloom

1/4 cup crumbled feta (used chevre, which I think is probably better than salty feta)

1/4 cup flat leaf parsley, chopped fine

1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil (you want to go for the EVOO here; I used less than 1/4 cup, just drizzled to coat)

salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 400. Seal beets in a foil packet.  Roast on a rimmed baking sheet until tender, about 75 minutes.  Cool completely. Rub beets to remove skins; slice (once again, I cubed for ease of eating rather than slice for presentation). Slice/cube tomatoes (halve cherry tomatoes, if using).  Arrange slices or toss together cubes of tomato with beets.  Top slices or gently toss cubes with feta, parsley, and olive oil; season with salt and pepper.

Aunt Lana's Potato Salad

Potatoes, boiled and cubed

hardboiled eggs, chopped

radishes, chopped fine

celery, chopped fine,

onion, chopped fine

mayonaise (my aunt uses Lite, but I use full fat; you could also try subbing greek yogurt for some of the mayo)

seasoning blend (my aunt uses a seasoning salt, like Lowry's; I used a salt free seasoning blend from Costco and added salt)

lemon pepper

Use quantities to your taste and gently fold all ingredients together.  Chill and serve.

This is the only potato salad I like!

Note: If you've been paying attention, I haven't used ANY of the cucumbers the past few weeks.  Those things taste like poison to me and I can smell them across the room, so I've been giving all the cucumbers to a friend.  :)

CSA Week 11

Last week we got: 8 ears of corn, 2.5 lbs tomatoes, 1 bell pepper, 2 hot jalapenos, 3 anaheim peppers, 2 pounds purple sun potatoes, 2 fresh sweet onions, 1 red onion, 1 head garlic, 2 red & 1 chioggia beets, 1 bunch carrots, 1 lb zucchini, 4 patty pan squash, 2 cucumbers, 2 lb green beans, 1 lettuce, 1 bunch kale, 1 bunch sage, 1 bunch basil

Ummm, looks like I forgot to take a picture...or I don't remember which I device I used!

I feel like I lost a week somewhere, but the CSA week numbers work out.  So, the conclusion I have to draw is that I have lost my mind with all the preserving of food I've been doing just to keep up with all the produce coming into our house.  We've got the CSA, which is already a lot!  But we've got produce from our garden, my dad's garden, and from my sister in-law's orchard.  If I'm not doing one food preservation project every day I'm falling behind!  We've got canned applesauce, pickled beets, and jam.  Dried plums. And frozen everything else (vegetable stock, zucchini bread, carrot cupcakes, green beans).  It's not like I'm not busy normally, so the past few weeks have been exhausting!

Anyway, here's what we did this week:

Turkey burgers (with lettuce and tomato), grilled corn on the cob and sweet onions

BLTs with grilled squash and sweet onions

Meatloaf with garlic mashed potatoes and green salad (lettuce, squash, sweet onion, tomatoes)

Grilled salmon, sweet onions, and squash with kale and sweet corn salad

Shrimp stir fry (squash, sweet onions, beet greens, garlic, threw in celery and ginger, too) with white rice

Beet gnocchi with pecan sage brown butter (recipe below), Caprese salad (tomato, basil, mozarella)

Crookneck squash and sweet corn saute (made this twice and brought it to a couple Labor Day barbeques; it was yummy!)

I made up everything as I went along except the gnocchi and the squash saute, so we're sparse on actual recipes this week.  The beet recipe came from the weekly flyer, so here it is!

Beet Gnocchi with Pecan Sage Butter

2 lbs medium beets, scrubbed (you actually need less, which I'll mention below, but this is what the recipe calls for)

Oil for brushing the beets (I used grapeseed oil)

kosher salt

freshly ground black pepper

1 cup (aka 8 ounce tub) ricotta (I had mascarpone, and subbed it; worked fine)

1 large egg, lightly beaten

pinch of nutmeg, preferably freshly grated (makes a HUGE difference)

3/4 cup freshly grated Parmigiana-Reggiana cheese (3 ounces), plus more for serving

3 cups all purpose flour, plus more for dusting

1/2 cup coarsely chopped walnuts (I used pecans)

3/4 cup unsalted butter (stick and a half)

16 small sage leaves

1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

Preheat the oven to 375. In a 9-inch square baking dish, brush the beets with oil and season with salt and pepper. Add 1/4 cup of water to the baking dish and cover tightly with foil.  Bake the beets for about 1 hour, until tender. Uncover the dish and let the beets cool completely.

Peel the beets and cut them into 1-inch pieces. Transfer the beets to a food processor and puree.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle, combine 1 1/2 cups of the beet puree (reserve any remaining puree for another use;  yeah, that's what the recipe said. I had over a cup of puree left and I'm still not sure what to do with it...it seems the recipe author couldn't be bothered to actually get even close to the right amount of beets.  I'd say, you need closer to 1.25 lbs whole beets, but that's a rough estimate) with the ricotta, egg, nutmeg, the 3/4 cup of Parmigiana, 1 tablespoon of salt, and black pepper to taste and mix at low speed until combined.  Using a rubber spatula, scrape down the side of the bowl.  Sprinkle on the 3 cups of flour and mix at low speed until the dough just comes together, about 1 minute.

Scrape the dough onto a lightly floured work surface and knead gently just until smooth but still slightly sticky. Cover the dough with plastic wrap and let stand at room temperature for 30 minutes.

Line a baking sheet with wax paper and generously dust with flour.  Cut the gnocchi dough into 10 pieces and roll each into a 1/2-inch thick rope. Cut the ropes into 1/2 inch pieces and transfer the gnocchi to the prepared baking sheet.

Gnocchi in process.

Lightly oil another baking sheet.  In a large, deep skillet of simmering salted water, cook one-fourth of the gnocchi until they rise to the surface, then simmer for 1 minute longer, or until they are cooked through. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the gnocchi to the oiled baking sheet.  Repeat with the remaining uncooked gnocchi.

In a very large skillet, toast the chopped nuts over moderate heat, tossing, until golden and fragrant, 3-5 minutes.  Transfer to a plate and let cool.

Add the butter to the skillet and cook until golden brown, 2-3 minutes.  Add the sage leaves and cook for 20 seconds, then stir in the lemon juice.  Add the gnocchi and cook for 1 minute, tossing gently.  Season with salt and transfer the gnocchi to plates.  Sprinkle with toasted nuts and serve, passing Parmigiana at the table.

CSA Week 10

In our 10th CSA box we got: 1 tomato, 1 sweet pepper, 3 hot jalepenos, 2 eggplant, 2 lb Keuka Gold potatoes, 2 fresh sweet onions, 1 head Tocliavari garlic, 1 bunch beets, 1 bunch carrots, 2 lb zucchini, 3 patty pan squash, 1 zapalito squash, 3 cucumbers, 1 lb green beans, 1 lettuce, 1 head kale, 1 punch parsley, 1 bunch basil

The boxes keep getting heavier!

Even though we are getting more food in pounds, it's going toward fewer meals as I make more main courses out of the more substantial veggies.  Here's what we did this week:

A huge baked Ratatouille (garlic, parsley, eggplant, patty pan squash, sweet onion, bell pepper, tomatoes).  We ate this for days, and PomPom loved it

Zacchini linguini with garlic and basil. This was SOOO good, I'm posting the recipe below; it was on the flyer

Mashed potato and kale cakes. Frozen for lunches for PomPom

Roasted green beans with lemon zest and sliced almonds (chilled these and brought to a picnic!). No recipe, just how it sounds

Used the lettuce and beet greens with Costco's Chinese Chicken Salad kit.  Comes with two kits, so we'll have this again next week

Zucchini bread sub wholewheat flour and I used a mix of zucchini and zapalito (sliced and frozen for toasting and eating slice by slice!)

Carrot date cupcakes (freezing these)

I'm collecting my beets to make a big batch of fermented beets with ginger.  I'm coming up with more and more ways to preserve the summer bounty for some yummy winter eating

Zucchini Linguine

4 zucchini (about 2 pounds of any summer squash or a mix will work)

4 large cloves of garlic, roughly chopped

sea salt and cracked black pepper to taste

1/4 cup grated pecorino-romano cheese

3 TBSP pine nuts, toasted

2 TBSP oil (I used grapeseed oil)

10 leaves fresh basil, cut into chiffonade

Cut the zucchini into thin slices then stack and slice again into "linguine" (or use a mandolin, or use a spiralizer, which is what I did).

Coat a large pan with oil, on medium heat, saute garlic until fragrant (about  minute).  Add zucchini, salt, and pepper and cook, stirring occasionally until the zucchini renders it's liquid and is tender with a gentle bit (don't overcook or it will fall apart; timing depends on thickness of the squash, so just taste as you cook).

Remove from heat and toss with half the cheese, pine nuts, and basil. Saute for one more minute (cheese will melt).  Plate and top with remaining cheese, pine nuts, and basil.

Great served with grilled chicken sausage!

CSA Week 9

In our ninth CSA box we got: 1 head cabbage, 1 small head broccoli, 1 tomato, 1 green bell pepper, 2 conchos jalapeños, 1 small eggplant, 2 lb Red Norland potatoes, 2 fresh sweet onions, 1 bunch carrots, 2 lb zucchini, 3 patty pan squash, 1 zapalito squash, 2 cucumbers, 1.5 lb green beans, 2 heads green leaf lettuce, 1 bunch chard, 1 head garlic, 1 bunch curly parsley, 1 bunch basil

Isn't that a gorgeous spread?

Here's the plan:

Italian Pasta Salad (2 cups cooked macaroni, 3/4 cup chopped salami, 1/2 cup shredded Italian cheese like mozzarella, asiago, or blend, small head of broccoli chopped, 1 carrot chopped, learned handful of grape tomatoes quartered, 1/4-1/2 cup mayo, 1 Tbsp parsley chopped, to taste: garlic powder, red pepper flakes, salt, and pepper

Fried rice: 2 cups long grain rice, like Jasmine, cooked, 2 cups cooked and cubed Andouille sausage, 5 eggs, 2 carrots chopped, 1 bell pepper chopped, 1 sweet onion chopped , 3 cloves garlic minced, 1 jalapeño moved, 1 zapalito squash chopped, 3 scallions chopped, 1/2 bunch cilantro chopped, season liberally worth soy sauce, sesame oil, and Chile sauce (e.g. sriracha)

Garlic-parsley mashed potatoes, Parmesan-basil roasted green beans, baby back ribs

Chinese chicken salad with shredded chicken breast, shredded cabbage, scallions, pepitas, almonds, cilantro, jalapeño.  Similar to this, but doctored.  Poach the chicken in water seasoned with parsley, a few smashed garlic cloves, and salt

Pasta with chard, garlic, chevre; crab caught by Jeremy in the Puget Sound; grilled patty pan squash; side salad of lettuce, tomato, sweet onion, carrot

Zukanoush! I don't see the point of the chunks of zucchini on top, and I'll incorporate the eggplant in there too

Drowning in Lettuce!

If you've participated in a CSA, you have almost definitely cursed the volume of lettuce that you get through the season. It's great at the beginning, because you're not getting a whole bunch of anything else, and after winter you're delighted by the delicate greens. Anything green, really. As the season wears on and you continually receive a couple heads of lettuce every week, you have probably despaired. Even the most dedicated can't eat that much salad and stay interested. Especially after the rate and volume of other produce ramps up in your box.  Not to worry, I've got some solutions for you! 

Early in the season we had two HUGE heads of lettuce every week.  I thought that would peter out, but we're still getting weekly lettuce into August.

We already posted about Petits Pois a la Francaise, a delicate dish of cooked lettuce and shelled peas.

Try lettuces blended into healthy green smoothies, wilted into fried rice and udon soup, or as a condiment: 

Pickled, as in Shalotta, or

blended, as in Aji Sauce

1/4 head of lettuce, torn into pieces (iceberg is fine, romaine is better) 

3 jalapeno chiles, seeds and veins removed (leave some seeds if you like spice) 

1/4 cup mayonaise 

5 green onions 

1/2 bunch of cilantro leaves (try to avoid the stems) 

1/4 cup roasted, shelled pumpkin seeds (aka pepitas)

juice of one lime

1 tsp salt 

1 tsp black pepper 

1 tsp garlic powder (I sustituted with about 6-8 cloves of garlic- yea a lot) 

Whiz up everything until smooth, in a food processor. Put on everything. 

Use as wraps in place of tortillas for a healthy, gluten free lunch or for amazing roasted pork a la Momofuku's bo ssam.

Sturdier lettuce, like romaine, can even be grilled! Drizzle with your favorite high-heat oil (we use grapeseed oil) and toss on the grill with the rest of your meal and dress with Caesar dressing for quite a fancy side Caesar salad.

Think outside of the CSA box and tell me your creative lettuce recipes!

CSA Week 8

We're two weeks late on this one, but hopefully you'll forgive us. Two weeks ago I was busy making a sales goal (not something I thought I'd ever say, but something I'll share about soon!), then we went to the lake, then drove to the Washington State Peninsula for a week long visit! 

In our eighth CSA box we got: 1.5 lb Carola potatoes, 2 "red of Tropea" onions, 2 sweet onions, 1 bunch carrots, 3 beets, 1.5 lb zucchini, 3 patty pan squash, 2 zapalito squash, 1 cucumber, 1/2 lb green beans, 1 red leaf lettuce, 1 butter lettuce, 1 bunch kale, 1 head garlic, 1 bunch thyme, 1 bunch basil (also picked up some peaches, blueberries, and huckleberries, and have some beets, green onions, and peas from my dad's garden). 

Here's what we're did:

Not very summery, but beef stew (ground beef from Wild Aspen Ranch, carrots, red onion, garlic, green beans, thyme), topped with Colcannon (mashed potatoes with cooked greens; we did arugula from our garden). I didn't use a recipe, just made these with my natural talent. No recipes because I don't think I can remember even approximate quantities at this point. ;)

Beet and beet green risotto with horseradish (recipe from the Tolstoy flyer this week; copied below)

Chile-lime summer squash saute (recipe asleep from the flyer; see below), grilled chicken (marinated in lemon juice, honey, garlic, salt and pepper) and sweet onions

Petits pois a la Francais (peas, green onions, and butter lettuce, sauteed), roasted green onions (this was a side dish to grilled steak at the lake)

Zucchini bread (I subbed sprouted whole wheat flour)

Caprese salad (basil, mozzarella, tomatoes, with balsamic vinaigrette)

Planned but did not happen because we went to the lake:

Chicken lettuce wraps with banh mi veg (pickled daikon and carrot) and rice

Udon soup with carrot, wilted lettuce, sauteed sweet onion, and grilled Salmon

Pickled beets, basil-arugula pesto (I've been making and freezing pesto like it's my job; I guess it is), kale chips, veggie stock with all the trimmings and wilted bits

Ended up leaving lettuce and kale or at the lake along with the cucumber for others to use. 

Beet and beet green risotto

1 small onion
1 lb red beets with greens (~3 medium)
4 cups water (I used homemade veggie stock)
1 cup Arborio or long grain rice
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan
1 Tbsp bottled horseradish

Finely chop onion and trim seems close to tops of beets.  Cut greens into 1/4 inch slices and chop stems. Peel beets and cut into fine dice. In a small saucepan bring water/stock to a simmer and keep at a bare simmer.
In a 3-quart heavy saucepan cook onion in butter over moderate heat until softened. Add beets and stems and cook, stirring occasionally, 5 minutes. Stir in rice and cook, stirring constantly,  1 minute. Stir in 1 cup simmering liquid and cook, stirring constantly and keeping at a strong simmer, until absorbed. Continue cooking at a strong simmer, adding liquid, about 1/2 cup at a time, stirring constantly and letting each addition absorb before adding next. After 10 minutes, stir in greens and continue cooking and adding liquid in the same manner until rice is tender and creamy-looking but still al dente, about 8 minutes more. (There may be liquid left over.)
Remove pan from heat and stir in Parmesan.
Serve risotto topped with horseradish.

Chile-lime summer squash saute

2 lb summer squash and/or zucchini, cut into matchsticks
1 tsp kosher salt, plus more
1/4 cup toasted pepitas
2 Tbsp vegetable oil (grapeseed, olive, etc)
2 garlic cloves, sliced
1 copied jalapeño
1/4 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
freshly ground black pepper

Place squash in a colander in the sink or over a large bowl and toss with 1 teaspoon salt. Let squash stand 10 minutes, then squeeze well to remove as much excess moisture as possible (do not rinse).
Heat oil in skillet over medium heat. Add garlic, jalapeño, and red pepper flakes and cool, stirring often, until fragrant, but not browned, about 2 minutes. Add squash and cook, tossing occasionally, until crisp-tender, about 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper and fold in pepitas.

CSA Week 7

In our seventh CSA box we got: 1.5 lb Austrian crescent fingerling potatoes, 2 "red of Tropea" onions, 2 fresh sweet onions, 1 bunch carrots, 3 beets, 1 lb zucchini, 1 patty pan squash, 1 zapalito squash, 1 cucumber, 1 green bell pepper, 2 mild jalapenos, 2 lb fava beans, 2 heads green leaf lettuce, 1 bunch chard, 1 bunch Italian parsley, 1 bunch basil

Yay for summer squash!

So much food it makes me tired to think about preparing (so we went out tonight, ha!), but here's the plan:

Fava beans braised with salt pork (recipe called for pancetta, but have salt pork in the freezer, we'll use some parsley here too); lemon-garlic fingerling potato salad

Grilled chicken; grilled sweet onion and bell pepper; quinoa with garlic, red onion, tomato

Borscht (including beet greens; I'm following this recipe but with my friend's edits) and green salad

Steak; grilled summer squash (zucchini, patty pan, zapalito) with parsley; buttered egg noodles with garlic, parsley, and bread crumbs

Chard-basil-garlic pesto (add juice of half a lemon to this recipe; double or triple this and freeze in dinner portions for a taste of summer in the winter!) with zucchini "pasta", peas, sauteed sweet onion, sausage; green salad with carrots and sweet onions  (Note:  I've got a spiralizer and we got another big zucchini free, so we're going to whirl it into noodles!)

Spicy (jalapeno) shrimp and avocado salad on a bed of lettuce

That's six dinners and we went out the first night, so we'll have to be diligent to make this happen! 

We're also having salads for lunch, I'm making veggie stock with all our snippets and wilted bits (it'll go in the borscht), and I'm making rice vinegar pickled carrots, daikon, and jalapeno for banh mi.