It's never easy to come back from vacation, especially after a week-long trip to the beach that involves multiple gourmet dinners. This year's features were steaks on the grill, lobster, breakfast for dinner, shrimp pasta, and the ever-popular pizza night. Cary and Brian outdid themselves yet again, with the traditional margherita, a spicy jalapeno and pepperoni pie, and an extra special clams casino pizza.
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| Jalapeno Pepperoni |
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| Clams Casino |
The back-to-reality blow was even harder this year since our house was still without air conditioning. I was hoping to score some burrata from River City Cellars to eat with fresh tomatoes and ease our pain a little bit, but, sadly, they were out of it. Instead I took home two other varieties of cheese and a new jar of spicy plum chutney, and we had another dinner with bread, cheese, Hungarian salame, and steamed edamame.
Sticking with the stove-free theme, I made a chickpea salad later in the week, minus the lettuce wraps. The poblano peppers from our share, which I diced and added at the last minute, added a little heat and extra crunch to the dish.
I put together another lettuce-free salad for lunch one day, inspired by this recipe for Mediterranean Chopped Salad from Serious Eats. Instead of onion, I added some garlic to the dressing, and was pleased with the results. I rarely think to add much besides oil and vinegar or lemon juice when I'm making dressing, but the presence of mustard makes a big difference.
One of my favorite annual events, the Hanover Firefighters Crab Feast, took place on Saturday. My parents made their second appearance, and Evan made the drive north to participate.
After the copious amounts of crab and beer, and even a few hot dogs, we relaxed, ordered a pizza, and munched on raw Dragon Tongue beans, which were sweet and crisp.
By Monday, Davy and I ended our oven moratorium. The weather was slightly cooler, and he put together an impressive pan of nachos with ground chicken, a few tomatoes, sweet peppers, salsa, lettuce, cilantro, and plenty of cheese. The oven was on at 450 degrees for fifteen minutes or so, and we barely suffered (only the cheese melted).
I'm officially in holycowit'smid-Julywhereisthesummergoing? mode. The last couple of weeks went by in a whirlwind of celebration, relaxation, and travel.
Our house guests were in Richmond through the 4th of July, which meant that the annual party benefited from Lyndsey's extreme chopping talent. She used some of her salvaged cabbage and carrots, and our CSA red onion, to compile a simple, pretty coleslaw. If you don't believe me, the proof is in the photo below; it looks like bagged slaw mix sliced by machine, but it was all done by a skilled hand.
In the meantime, I put together a haphazard pasta salad with roasted summer squash, mozzarella, and several basil leaves (pictured). The rest of the basil was made into pesto the following week.
I believe my contribution was eaten, but it wasn't very noteworthy compared to the slaw and several of the other dishes gracing Tex's air-conditioned kitchen.
We recovered from the holiday in Seabrook, SC, and our first dinner there was a group effort that incorporated components of our share from Week 9. Davy and I steamed the yellow and green beans, and made flank steak with chimichurri sauce, which was decent. Keith and Carrie's dish, however, outshone ours, and the cucumber and cherry tomatoes we brought added a lot to the roasted shrimp and orzo salad. At the end of the meal, we added the remaining steak and beans to the salad to keep it going for lunch the following day.
In an attempt to clean out our fridge a little before the next round of CSA produce, I repeated a Splendid Table recipe from the spring (Spring Vegetables and White Beans Scented with Fresh Bay). Instead of spinach, I used dandelion greens - courtesy of Lyndsey and Travis, chicken stock instead of vegetable broth, and added some freshly made pesto. The "stew," as Lyne Rosetto Kasper and Sally Swift call it, was light and garlicky, and had an earthy flavor from the greens and carrots.
By some miracle, I managed to make caramel for turtle brownies the same night. The bubbling corn syrup and sugar were mesmerizing, and made a delicious sweet topping for the fudgy brownies.
Davy and I whittled away at our cherry tomato and mesclun salad mix supply with a few green salads throughout the week, adding different ingredients depending on what we had and what was appealing at the time.
I was visiting family in Harrisburg over the weekend, and we brought a big cucumber and tomato salad over to my grandma's for dinner on Sunday night. There were sungolds, slicing tomatoes, sweet peppers, and cucumbers from my share, and different types of herbs, tomatoes and cucumbers from my parents' CSA and garden. My mom and I worked on the salad together, and dressed it with a little olive oil, red wine vinegar, and sugar.
Despite the fact that it feels like summer is already slipping away, I know that there are many more meals and memories to be made over the next couple of months.
Last week reinforced my love for the CSA, and I was so grateful to have our share back that I even decided to try eggplant again. Since Davy and I both didn't hate last year's fish-fragrant eggplant, I decided to try it again. There was also a small amount of okra that I hadn't really planned anything for, and it made sense to throw them in with the eggplant.
The okra worked very well with this preparation. It retained its texture without being slimy, and the seeds popped pleasantly when I bit down on them. It's not the prettiest dish, or at least it wasn't when I made it, so I didn't take any pictures of the final product. Our main course that night was Asian turkey burger sliders which didn't photograph well but were flavorful and moist. We topped them with sauteed onions and a delicious carrot habanero hot sauce from our friend Travis.
Our yellow wax beans were crunchy and made a refreshing accompaniment to takeout from 8 1/2 (pizza, spaghetti carbonara and an arugula/mozzarella/prosciutto hero). Similarly, I blanched and sauteed the broccoli rabe to have alongside a leftover sandwich from Secco. Lunch at Secco is just as delectable as dinner, and the prices are just as reasonable. I even threw in the remaining fried chickpeas with the broccoli rabe, and they added a lovely saltiness and contrasting texture to the greens.
On Tuesday we had a large dinner salad with romaine, grilled chicken, feta, tomato, sweet peppers, and cucumber dressed with lemon juice and olive oil. It was simple but extremely fresh and satisfying, especially as we grasp at the end of summer vegetables.
Davy used the other sweet pepper and some of the basil to make me an omelet with lots of feta. Again, it was nice to taste summery flavors even though the temperatures are cooling off.
This is one of my favorite times of the year because I'm excited about so many types of food - the last of light, summer meals as well as the more comforting dishes that suggest autumn and colder weather. I feel fortunate to have the CSA as an excuse to take advantage of it all.
If I can help it, I like to make one pot meals, or at least use multiple types of vegetables in one dish. Surprisingly, Davy and I don't eat a lot of salads, even though they lend themselves to using a variety of ingredients.
Soup, on the other hand, is one of my favorite things to make and to eat, even in hot weather. Last Wednesday I used the garlic scallions, kale, and broccoli rabe from our to make a vegetable soup. Sauteed carrot and celery, along with the scallions, formed the base. Once they were cooked through, I added a little wine, then homemade chicken stock, and petite diced tomatoes.
I blanched the broccoli rabe separately from the soup pot, fearing that the bitter flavor would leach out into the broth. The contents got a good hour or so to simmer together before I added the greens (broccoli rabe and kale) and a can of cannellini beans.
I flavored the soup with some rosemary sprigs and parmesan rinds, but it still needed salt, pepper, grated parmesan, and oil to make it really tasty.
Thursday was the exception to the rare salad rule. I was on my own for dinner, and decided to make use of the nice lettuce mix. Pistachios, a hard-boiled egg, feta, and a sliced radish made the salad more interesting and substantial.
I blanched the remaining greens, which consisted mustard greens, mizuna and a few other Asian varieties. I froze about a quarter of them, and used the rest to lighten up a big bowl of sesame noodles (my uncle's recipe), along with frozen edamame.
The turnips from Fertile Crescent Farm have been large and gorgeous this spring. Normally I don't get excited about turnips, but I was intrigued when I realized I could mash them and then make them into cakes to pan fry.
As you can see, the cakes weren't overly sturdy, and I didn't do a great job of flipping them, but they were very tasty. Despite the fact that they were cooked in butter, I still felt healthy eating them alongside of a salad.
We're left with some nice-looking radishes and some salad mix, but considering all of the extras Adam and Darbi have been giving us, I feel good about how many vegetables we ate in a week. One dish dinners are a convenient and easy way to consume a lot of produce, even if you have to resort to a salad to do so.
