This week's share is one of the best we've ever gotten:
- broccoli- spinach
- lettuce
- curly endive (frisee)
- bok choy
- kohlrabi- cucumber
- summer squash
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
CSA Meals - Week 2
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.
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.
Homemade Bacon
My dad is a fantastic cook, and often has creative ideas involving food. His latest ambition was to cure his own bacon, and he was generous enough to give me a piece of the pork belly at the beginning of the process.
The initial step is to rub the pork belly with brown sugar and salt (a specific kind, with nitrates, to prevent the meat from turning gray) and place it in the fridge in a plastic bag. For seven days, you're supposed to drain any liquid that's accumulated and add more of the rub.
After the week is up, the meat needs to be rinsed and then dried completely so that you can smoke it. We left it in the fridge, uncovered, for about 48 hours, and then Davy prepared the grill.
We used hickory chips to smoke the pork belly, and monitored the charcoal so that it generated a very small amount of heat. Davy and I kept tabs on the grill for about three hours, and took the smoked meat inside. I sliced the skin off of the top, which was surprisingly easy to do, and then we left it alone to cool.
When we couldn't take it anymore, we cut a few slices to try for ourselves.
This bacon has a great smoky flavor, although it's saltier than we would prefer. We loved eating it since we'd made it ourselves, and I'm trying to decide if it would be best to combine it with another ingredient, or just eat it plain.
My dad is looking into ways to reduce the saltiness, and once we've gone through our bacon, I'm sure he'll be ready for all of us to try again.
The initial step is to rub the pork belly with brown sugar and salt (a specific kind, with nitrates, to prevent the meat from turning gray) and place it in the fridge in a plastic bag. For seven days, you're supposed to drain any liquid that's accumulated and add more of the rub.
After the week is up, the meat needs to be rinsed and then dried completely so that you can smoke it. We left it in the fridge, uncovered, for about 48 hours, and then Davy prepared the grill.
We used hickory chips to smoke the pork belly, and monitored the charcoal so that it generated a very small amount of heat. Davy and I kept tabs on the grill for about three hours, and took the smoked meat inside. I sliced the skin off of the top, which was surprisingly easy to do, and then we left it alone to cool.
When we couldn't take it anymore, we cut a few slices to try for ourselves.
This bacon has a great smoky flavor, although it's saltier than we would prefer. We loved eating it since we'd made it ourselves, and I'm trying to decide if it would be best to combine it with another ingredient, or just eat it plain.
My dad is looking into ways to reduce the saltiness, and once we've gone through our bacon, I'm sure he'll be ready for all of us to try again.
Summer is here...
...but the greens we received are still beautiful and bountiful. This week we received:
- strawberries
- curly kale
- rainbow chard
- Japanese turnips
- salad mix
- beets
- red Russian kale (this bunch of kale and the beets all went to Josh and Caitlin; we split everything in half else except for the curly kale)
I also picked up a dozen eggs from the stand next to Darbi and Adam's, and I can't wait to use them!
- strawberries
- curly kale
- rainbow chard
- Japanese turnips
- salad mix
- beets
- red Russian kale (this bunch of kale and the beets all went to Josh and Caitlin; we split everything in half else except for the curly kale)
I also picked up a dozen eggs from the stand next to Darbi and Adam's, and I can't wait to use them!
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