I've been gone on a family vacation to Alaska, which accounts for the lack of blogging. We went on a cruise and the food was pretty good, but I'm thrilled to be home and eating home cooked meals again. Last week a friend got my CSA and ate the food, so nothing went to waste, worry not!
This week we got zucchini, onions, tomatoes, corn, swiss chard, green peppers, and I think pepperoncinis.
I'm still too tired to go out on a a limb and do something creative and new so I just made marinated zucchini, corn, and garlic steak. We've seen all of these recipes before in this blog, but just in case:
Marinated Zucchini
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
2 cloves garlic, minced
pinch of salt and pepper
1 medium zucchini sliced about 1/4th inch on the bias
Marinate together for 15+ minutes and grill over high heat.
Corn
Boil for a couple minutes in water. Serve with butter, salt and pepper
Garlic Steak
2 steaks
2 cloves of garlic
1 tablespoon butter
1/4 tablespoon butter per steak
Allow steaks to come to room temperature. Heat skillet over high heat and add 1 tablespoon butter and allow the butter to melt and brown. Season the steaks with lots of salt and just a touch of pepper. Get a good crust on one side and turn. Add butter to the top of the steaks and add garlic. Cook until other side of steak is done and remove steak, trying to keep as much of the garlic on it as possible. Rest for a few minutes before serving.
The Results: Okay, I know it's simple, but it's really really good. We needed simple home cooked food after a week of heavy cruise food. The corn was possibly the best corn I've ever had in my life. Heavenly. I could have made a meal of a couple ears of corn. The zucchini was a little sour. I usually use white wine instead of balsamic vinegar and I support that decision, frankly. The vinegar was too strong for the zucchini. The steak was yummy and garlicy and buttery.
The Breakdown: The zucchini and corn was from my CSA. The steak was from the farmer's market. The garlic and butter was from the grocery and the balsamic vinegar was in my pantry. I give myself an A for this!
Perhaps when we are rested up I will get more creative!
Monday, July 26, 2010
Monday, July 12, 2010
Monday, Monday
I like Mondays. I am lucky enough to love my job and I like getting back into the swing of the week. I like routine and I like the happy feeling I get in my belly when I'm at work and I think about going home and pouring myself a glass of wine and cooking a nice meal. Sometimes I even cook in heels and a frilly apron. It wouldn't be nearly as funny if it weren't true...
This morning I had the rare presence of mind (and let's be honest, the time) to put together a marinade and chuck my chicken into it. This is a wonderful marinade that I could have sworn already made it onto the blog, but I didn't have time to go through all of my postings, so if you spot the duplicate you get a cookie. It's like the blogging version of Where's Waldo.
Caribbean Chicken
1 teaspoon allspice
1/4 cup red onion, chopped
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1/4 cup orange juice
zest from 1 lime
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons thyme leaves
1 medium jalapeno, seeded
2 teaspoons freshly grated or chopped ginger
1 clove garlic
4 chicken breasts, bone and skin on or other assortment of chicken parts, bone and skin on
Toss all of the ingredients except the chicken into a blender and blend until pretty smooth. Pour marinade into a plastic baggie with the chicken and marinate 4+ hours but not over 12 in the refrigerator. Grill on your grill. We've also made this with pork loin instead of chicken and it's really good that way too.
We put some corn in a foil packet with salt and pepper and butter and stuck those on the grill too.
Grilled Green Beans
2 handfuls of green beans
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 cloves garlic, crushed and diced
salt and pepper
1/4 onion, diced
Place all ingredients in a foil pouch and cook over medium high to high heat for at least 20 minutes, turning the packet at least once.
The Results: Delish of course. Marinaded and grilled chicken, corn and green beans? How could it possibly go wrong? I'm sure we could have gotten fancier, maybe added cayenne pepper and lime juice to the corn or lemon pepper to the green beans...but I really just like butter and salt and pepper on my corn and I love garlic saturated green beans. Why mess with the classics on a Monday? B+ meal.
The Breakdown: I used the last red onion, 1/4 of another onion, corn and green beans from the CSA. The chicken came from the farmer's market, and everything else came from the pantry or grocery store. So pretty darn local I think, I give myself a B+ on this too.
Sunday, July 11, 2010
CORN!
We got lots of corn for our CSA this week. This makes Linda a very happy girl. I do enjoy a nice ear of corn slathered with butter and salt, but I wanted to do something today that wasn't use straight corn-on-the-cob. On Sundays I usually try to make something that I can keep the leftovers for lunches this next week. This week I decided to make vegetarian fajitas.
Vegetarian Fajitas
3 ears of corn with the kernals shaved off
1 can black beans, rinsed
1 green pepper, chopped
2 cloves garlic, diced
1 small onion, sliced
1.5 tablespoons Mrs. Dash Chipotle seasoning (or other Mexican type seasoning)
1 handful cilantro, chopped
juice of 1 lime
salt
Saute onions and green peppers over medium high heat in some olive oil. When starting to soften add the corn and garlic. When the corn starts to have some dark brown spots on it add the black beans. After a few minutes and stirring often, add the lime juice, seasoning and salt. Remove from heat and toss in the cilantro. Serve with tortillas and your favorite toppings like cheese, salsa and hot sauce.
The Results: I actually would have liked more corn, since corn was supposed to be the star of this show. I think maybe two more ears would have been good. The black beans kind of overpowered things. Ultimately though this was darn good. It was a good use of the corn and it make enough for several lunches this week.
The breakdown: The corn and onion was from my CSA. The black beans, cilantro, lime, tortillas, and Mrs. Dash were from the grocery. I don't know what grade that gets. Maybe a B-?
Vegetarian Fajitas
3 ears of corn with the kernals shaved off
1 can black beans, rinsed
1 green pepper, chopped
2 cloves garlic, diced
1 small onion, sliced
1.5 tablespoons Mrs. Dash Chipotle seasoning (or other Mexican type seasoning)
1 handful cilantro, chopped
juice of 1 lime
salt
Saute onions and green peppers over medium high heat in some olive oil. When starting to soften add the corn and garlic. When the corn starts to have some dark brown spots on it add the black beans. After a few minutes and stirring often, add the lime juice, seasoning and salt. Remove from heat and toss in the cilantro. Serve with tortillas and your favorite toppings like cheese, salsa and hot sauce.
The Results: I actually would have liked more corn, since corn was supposed to be the star of this show. I think maybe two more ears would have been good. The black beans kind of overpowered things. Ultimately though this was darn good. It was a good use of the corn and it make enough for several lunches this week.
The breakdown: The corn and onion was from my CSA. The black beans, cilantro, lime, tortillas, and Mrs. Dash were from the grocery. I don't know what grade that gets. Maybe a B-?
Freeze it like you mean it
Sundays are my days to clean the house, sit around, and cook. I didn't clean today but I did get some excellent cooking in. I need to start the week strongly since last week I had a couple days where no CSA goods were used. For those of you keeping track, from last week's CSA I have collard greens, 1 zucchini , 1 yellow squash left, and a handful of green beans. This week we got LOTS of corn (like 8 ears), a few more zucchini and yellow squash, 2 small red onions, 2 small to medium sweet onions, and a bag of green beans.
This week at the farmer's market we got 6 sweet onions. We like sweet onions, okay?! Plus I forgot we would get some in our CSA this week, so we're overloaded with onions. What does that mean? It's French Onion soup time! We are also overloaded on zucchini and yellow squash and that means zucchini muffin time!
I use Tyler's Ultimate French Onion soup recipe from food network. I like it because it uses a half of a bottle of red wine...which means I drink the other half while I make the soup.
French Onion Soup
1/2 cup unsalted butter
4 onions, sliced
2 garlic cloves, chopped
2 bay leaves
2 fresh thyme sprigs
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 cup red wine, about 1/2 bottle
3 heaping tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 quarts beef broth
provolone cheese-optional
garlic bread-optional
I put half of the onions in a dutch oven and the other half in my biggest skillet. I halve the butter between the two and start the caramelization process. It simply takes too long to get the onions going in just my dutch oven. The key to french onion soup is...duh...the onions. It takes time to caramelize onions so take the time. Start them over medium heat and reduce the heat if the onions start to get dark brown spots on them. You want your onions to be uniformly deep golden brown. When you get to the medium golden brown stage you can combine your onions in the dutch oven and add the garlic, bay leaf, and thyme. After deep golden brown has been achieved, add the wine and simmer until the onions are almost dry. Sprinkle in the flour and reduce heat to low and cook, stirring often for 10 minutes. Add the beef stock and simmer for 10 minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste. To serve traditionally, top with a piece of garlic bread and top that with a slice of provolone cheese and place under the broiler until cheese is melty.
The real test here is cutting the onions. 4 farm-fresh onions. That will make even Mr. T cry...although Mr. T was kinda a cry baby, so I guess that isn't terribly hard. Maybe I should say it would make Hillary Clinton cry. Now THAT'S some strong onions! I chop onions with the vent fan on high and sunglasses on. It works for me and I look super cool.
This soup freezes beautifully. I usually keep a couple servings for lunches and the rest goes in the freezer.
Zucchini Muffins or Bread
3 eggs, beaten
3/4 cup butter, melted
1 1/3 cup dark brown sugar
2 t vanilla
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp salt
2 1/2 cups zucchini, shredded
1 tsp soda
2 tsp baking powder
2 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
Beat together eggs, butter, sugar, vanilla, and cinnamon. Stir in zucchini. In a separate bowl stir together flour, soda, salt and powder. Combine slowly until all ingredients are Incorporated. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Distribute mixture into 15 regular sized muffins and bake for 20 minutes.
15 muffins?! How annoying can you be?? So I have to wash an ENTIRE other muffin tin because you couldn't reduce this mixture down so it'd only make 12 muffins?! Ugh.
The Results: The soup is delicious. Savory, warm, inviting...something I'd like to eat on a crisp fall day. Except that it's like 90 out and mid-July. Well, it's a good thing I have a freezer! Actually the soup is just plain good, but I know it's going to be even better in late October. The muffins are really good. The perfect breakfast food year around. I froze 10 of them and left the other 5 out for breakfasts and snacks this week. I'll let you know how they unfreeze.
I used 3 zucchini (only 1 little zucchini left and 2 yellow squash) for the muffins and 6 onions for the soup (some of my onions were little).
This week at the farmer's market we got 6 sweet onions. We like sweet onions, okay?! Plus I forgot we would get some in our CSA this week, so we're overloaded with onions. What does that mean? It's French Onion soup time! We are also overloaded on zucchini and yellow squash and that means zucchini muffin time!
I use Tyler's Ultimate French Onion soup recipe from food network. I like it because it uses a half of a bottle of red wine...which means I drink the other half while I make the soup.
French Onion Soup
1/2 cup unsalted butter
4 onions, sliced
2 garlic cloves, chopped
2 bay leaves
2 fresh thyme sprigs
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 cup red wine, about 1/2 bottle
3 heaping tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 quarts beef broth
provolone cheese-optional
garlic bread-optional
I put half of the onions in a dutch oven and the other half in my biggest skillet. I halve the butter between the two and start the caramelization process. It simply takes too long to get the onions going in just my dutch oven. The key to french onion soup is...duh...the onions. It takes time to caramelize onions so take the time. Start them over medium heat and reduce the heat if the onions start to get dark brown spots on them. You want your onions to be uniformly deep golden brown. When you get to the medium golden brown stage you can combine your onions in the dutch oven and add the garlic, bay leaf, and thyme. After deep golden brown has been achieved, add the wine and simmer until the onions are almost dry. Sprinkle in the flour and reduce heat to low and cook, stirring often for 10 minutes. Add the beef stock and simmer for 10 minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste. To serve traditionally, top with a piece of garlic bread and top that with a slice of provolone cheese and place under the broiler until cheese is melty.
The real test here is cutting the onions. 4 farm-fresh onions. That will make even Mr. T cry...although Mr. T was kinda a cry baby, so I guess that isn't terribly hard. Maybe I should say it would make Hillary Clinton cry. Now THAT'S some strong onions! I chop onions with the vent fan on high and sunglasses on. It works for me and I look super cool.
This soup freezes beautifully. I usually keep a couple servings for lunches and the rest goes in the freezer.
Zucchini Muffins or Bread
3 eggs, beaten
3/4 cup butter, melted
1 1/3 cup dark brown sugar
2 t vanilla
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp salt
2 1/2 cups zucchini, shredded
1 tsp soda
2 tsp baking powder
2 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
Beat together eggs, butter, sugar, vanilla, and cinnamon. Stir in zucchini. In a separate bowl stir together flour, soda, salt and powder. Combine slowly until all ingredients are Incorporated. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Distribute mixture into 15 regular sized muffins and bake for 20 minutes.
15 muffins?! How annoying can you be?? So I have to wash an ENTIRE other muffin tin because you couldn't reduce this mixture down so it'd only make 12 muffins?! Ugh.
The Results: The soup is delicious. Savory, warm, inviting...something I'd like to eat on a crisp fall day. Except that it's like 90 out and mid-July. Well, it's a good thing I have a freezer! Actually the soup is just plain good, but I know it's going to be even better in late October. The muffins are really good. The perfect breakfast food year around. I froze 10 of them and left the other 5 out for breakfasts and snacks this week. I'll let you know how they unfreeze.
I used 3 zucchini (only 1 little zucchini left and 2 yellow squash) for the muffins and 6 onions for the soup (some of my onions were little).
Saturday, July 10, 2010
Beet Update
Paul tried the first batch of beets and really liked them. I gave him permission to say they are terrible if they are with a guarantee it won't hurt my feelings. He says I should make more and sell them or barter them at the farmer's market. I'll take that as a sign of approval. I've since made another batch using apple cider vinegar and this week I used my beets in my CSA to make a third batch but this time with both red onion and chopped cabbage. I'll tell you how that turns out.
I think I might actually keep a jar of beets. I think some pickled beets might be good with cottage cheese. Something rich and creamy to balance out the earthiness of the beets. I'm going to give the rest to my mom and father-in-law- both pickled beet lovers.
By the way, my husband cooked dinner tonight. No CSA food in it. Don't blame me, blame him. Sometimes he is such a man. He thinks the two food groups are meat and starch. I won't complain, he's a very good cook and he eats every thing I cook- good, bad, or okay. He really only refuses to eat broccoli and I think everyone deserves a couple foods they just don't like or know. Now if only he loved to clean...
PS If you are keeping track, I have NOTHING left from last week and it was all used and none was wasted. This week I have 1 zucchini left, 1 yellow squash, a handful of green beans and one bunch of collard greens left. Perhaps it is time for some zucchini muffins...
Friday, July 9, 2010
Use it or lose it
I went out to dinner a couple days this week so I wanted to make a meal based on my CSA holdings to make sure I use the delicious veggies before they go bad. Plus sometimes it's fun to see how creative you can be using as many of the CSA offerings as possible. We made a Chicken in a ratatouille sauce and garlic green beans.
Pan Fried Chicken in a Ratatouille sauce
Bone in chicken
1 small zucchini, chopped
1/2 medium onion, chopped
1 can diced tomatoes
1 small bunch beet greens, stems and leaves separated and chopped
1/2 cup dry white wine
a couple pieces of bacon, diced
3 cloves garlic, diced
pinch red pepper flake
2 sprigs thyme
small handful oregano, chopped fine
Render bacon in a deep skillet and remove. Salt and pepper the chicken on both sides and pan sear in same skillet. Chicken should be nicely browned but not completely cooked. Remove chicken. Deglaze with 1/2 cup dry wine wine and reduce by half. Add onions and when starting to soften add garlic and zucchini. Saute for a few minutes. Drain the tomatoes and add to the pan along with the thyme, red pepper flake, and beet stems. Bring mixture to a simmer for five minutes. Add chicken back in. Spoon some of the mixture to cover the chicken and simmer until chicken is cooked through. In the last couple minutes add the beet greens and oregano.
Garlic Green Beans
2 handful green beans
3 cloves garlic, diced
In a large skillet heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil over medium heat and toss in the green beans. Cook for 5-10 minutes or until green beans start to soften. Add garlic, salt and pepper and toss. Cook about 5 more minutes, tossing often.
The Results: The chicken was good but the ratatouille was very sweet. The onions and tomatoes cooked down and sweetened so much it was a little too sweet for us, especially my husband. It was a good idea that I want to tweak to figure out how to up the savory quotient. I like the idea of a chunky vegetable based stew-sauce to spoon on chicken. Maybe I could deglaze with chicken stock instead of white wine for a start and use spinach instead of beet greens. The green beans were awesome, as always. Really, I can saute anything in olive oil and toss with garlic and I'll love it. Ice cream? Sure! Cake? Yum! This meal gets an C+.
By the way, you might have noticed that bacon never made it back into the pan. I decided the fat alone made this meal rich enough that we didn't need the bacon pieces in the sauce. I know that goes against everything I believe in. Don't throw that bacon house people, keep it and put in salads or sprinkle in a shot glass of maple syrup or dunk in hot chocolate. Bacon should never go to waste.
The Breakdown: The green beans, beet greens, beet stems and zucchini were from the CSA. The chicken, bacon, and onions were from the farmer's market and the herbs are from my garden. The wine and tomatoes were from the grocery store. I get an A for localness.
Pan Fried Chicken in a Ratatouille sauce
Bone in chicken
1 small zucchini, chopped
1/2 medium onion, chopped
1 can diced tomatoes
1 small bunch beet greens, stems and leaves separated and chopped
1/2 cup dry white wine
a couple pieces of bacon, diced
3 cloves garlic, diced
pinch red pepper flake
2 sprigs thyme
small handful oregano, chopped fine
Render bacon in a deep skillet and remove. Salt and pepper the chicken on both sides and pan sear in same skillet. Chicken should be nicely browned but not completely cooked. Remove chicken. Deglaze with 1/2 cup dry wine wine and reduce by half. Add onions and when starting to soften add garlic and zucchini. Saute for a few minutes. Drain the tomatoes and add to the pan along with the thyme, red pepper flake, and beet stems. Bring mixture to a simmer for five minutes. Add chicken back in. Spoon some of the mixture to cover the chicken and simmer until chicken is cooked through. In the last couple minutes add the beet greens and oregano.
Garlic Green Beans
2 handful green beans
3 cloves garlic, diced
In a large skillet heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil over medium heat and toss in the green beans. Cook for 5-10 minutes or until green beans start to soften. Add garlic, salt and pepper and toss. Cook about 5 more minutes, tossing often.
The Results: The chicken was good but the ratatouille was very sweet. The onions and tomatoes cooked down and sweetened so much it was a little too sweet for us, especially my husband. It was a good idea that I want to tweak to figure out how to up the savory quotient. I like the idea of a chunky vegetable based stew-sauce to spoon on chicken. Maybe I could deglaze with chicken stock instead of white wine for a start and use spinach instead of beet greens. The green beans were awesome, as always. Really, I can saute anything in olive oil and toss with garlic and I'll love it. Ice cream? Sure! Cake? Yum! This meal gets an C+.
By the way, you might have noticed that bacon never made it back into the pan. I decided the fat alone made this meal rich enough that we didn't need the bacon pieces in the sauce. I know that goes against everything I believe in. Don't throw that bacon house people, keep it and put in salads or sprinkle in a shot glass of maple syrup or dunk in hot chocolate. Bacon should never go to waste.
The Breakdown: The green beans, beet greens, beet stems and zucchini were from the CSA. The chicken, bacon, and onions were from the farmer's market and the herbs are from my garden. The wine and tomatoes were from the grocery store. I get an A for localness.
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
How to hide the greens
I love pasta. I never jumped on the Atkin's bandwagon. At the time the Atkin's diet was taking over the world and restaurants were adding new 'Atkin's friendly' sections, and pizza places were developing nasty cracker thin crusts to place pounds of meat on top, and entire Atkin's Diet grocery stores were being opened I was happily munching my pasta and bread, waiting out the storm. I worked at Starbucks at the time and the Atkin's disciples would order breve lattes. A breve is steamed half-and-half (or heavy cream if the coffee house had it...which Starbucks didn't) and espresso. I love half-and-half and heavy cream and there's nothing wrong with that but even a small latte is 8 ounces. That's a ton of milk fat! I can't imagine that being part of a weight loss program that is sustainable in any way. Any "diet" that pushes bacon and restricts broccoli is illogical.
I wanted pasta last night but I also wanted to use something from my CSA, namely the swiss chard which will stay fresh the least amount of time.
Tomato-Cream pasta
1 jar tomato-basil sauce
1 onion, sliced
1 green pepper, sliced
2 cloves garlic
1/2 cup white wine or 1/4 cup vodka
pinch red pepper flake
1/4 cup heavy cream
1 bunch swiss chard, removing the ribs and roughly chop
1 handful fresh basil, minced
1 pound pasta
Saute onion and pepper over medium high heat until starting to soften. Add garlic and saute for 5 more minutes. Add white wine or vodka and reduce by half (when adding alcohol to a pan always turn off the heat first...especially when using a gas top stove). Add tomato sauce, cream, and red pepper flake. Allow to simmer 10 minutes. Fold in swiss chard and allow to simmer 5 more minutes. Stir in basil just before serving over cooked pasta.
You couldn't go wrong with a couple ounces of pancetta browned up at the beginning or adding some chicken. Or, come to think about it, one of my zucchini chopped up and being sauteed with the onion and pepper would have been good too. Darn! Missed opportunities!
We served the sauce over Nicole Taylor's red pepper pasta. There was about half the sauce left over to freeze for another night.
The Results: This is the quick 'n dirty version of a longer Vodka Pasta. I really do like the longer version better, which involves canned tomatoes and chicken stock instead of the jarred sauce, but sometimes you just don't have the patience for a slow simmer sauce. That in mind, it's pretty darn good. I give it a solid B. I really liked the swiss chard in it which I wouldn't have thought about if I hadn't already had some to use from the CSA box.
The Breakdown: The swiss chard was from the CSA. Which, by the way, the chard was beautiful. We got a couple stalks of red, yellow, green...it was stunning to work with. I got the pasta from the farmer's market and the basil from my garden. The onion, green pepper, tomato sauce, and cream was from the grocery store. I give it a C for local ingredients. I was just really craving a good tomato-cream pasta dish.
Oh! I tried the tarragon vinegar pickled beets. Well, I can say they are the best beets I have ever had. Pretty darn edible, if I do say so myself. I'm still not going to eat them but I wouldn't cry if I were forced to! I actually really enjoy the taste of the pickling juice, I just don't like the underlying beet flavor that is still there. I think beet lovers will really love them.
I wanted pasta last night but I also wanted to use something from my CSA, namely the swiss chard which will stay fresh the least amount of time.
Tomato-Cream pasta
1 jar tomato-basil sauce
1 onion, sliced
1 green pepper, sliced
2 cloves garlic
1/2 cup white wine or 1/4 cup vodka
pinch red pepper flake
1/4 cup heavy cream
1 bunch swiss chard, removing the ribs and roughly chop
1 handful fresh basil, minced
1 pound pasta
Saute onion and pepper over medium high heat until starting to soften. Add garlic and saute for 5 more minutes. Add white wine or vodka and reduce by half (when adding alcohol to a pan always turn off the heat first...especially when using a gas top stove). Add tomato sauce, cream, and red pepper flake. Allow to simmer 10 minutes. Fold in swiss chard and allow to simmer 5 more minutes. Stir in basil just before serving over cooked pasta.
You couldn't go wrong with a couple ounces of pancetta browned up at the beginning or adding some chicken. Or, come to think about it, one of my zucchini chopped up and being sauteed with the onion and pepper would have been good too. Darn! Missed opportunities!
We served the sauce over Nicole Taylor's red pepper pasta. There was about half the sauce left over to freeze for another night.
The Results: This is the quick 'n dirty version of a longer Vodka Pasta. I really do like the longer version better, which involves canned tomatoes and chicken stock instead of the jarred sauce, but sometimes you just don't have the patience for a slow simmer sauce. That in mind, it's pretty darn good. I give it a solid B. I really liked the swiss chard in it which I wouldn't have thought about if I hadn't already had some to use from the CSA box.
The Breakdown: The swiss chard was from the CSA. Which, by the way, the chard was beautiful. We got a couple stalks of red, yellow, green...it was stunning to work with. I got the pasta from the farmer's market and the basil from my garden. The onion, green pepper, tomato sauce, and cream was from the grocery store. I give it a C for local ingredients. I was just really craving a good tomato-cream pasta dish.
Oh! I tried the tarragon vinegar pickled beets. Well, I can say they are the best beets I have ever had. Pretty darn edible, if I do say so myself. I'm still not going to eat them but I wouldn't cry if I were forced to! I actually really enjoy the taste of the pickling juice, I just don't like the underlying beet flavor that is still there. I think beet lovers will really love them.
Monday, July 5, 2010
New CSA box!
I know you've been waiting with baited breath- what is in this week's CSA box??? The wait is over! This week we have green beans, swiss chard, beets (bulbs and greens), collard greens, zucchini, and yellow squash. 
Usually I like to use the food in order of what will go bad first but I wanted to give myself a 24 hour long break from greens. If you are what you eat, right now I'm a big green leaf sauteed with garlic and olive oil. It's not a terrible thing to be, but variety is the spice of life.
Tonight we made grilled corn, grilled marinated zucchini and Chicago style marinated steak.
The corn we wrapped in foil with butter, salt and pepper and stuck it on the grill. The steak was marinated with a Chicago style marinade from the grocery.
Marinated Zucchini
2 small zucchini sliced about 1/4 inch thick on the bias (more surface area less chance of losing them in the grill)
1/4 cup white wine
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 sprig rosemary, chopped fine
salt and pepper
2 cloves garlic, diced
Combine all ingredients in a plastic baggie and marinate for 30+ minutes. Grill over high heat, turning once. It's best with lots of char.
The results: Pretty darn good. I mean, it's just good simple food on a lazy Monday. Everything done on the grill, simple flavors. I think I'll try vinegar- white wine or balsamic- instead of wine next time in the zucchini marinade, but it was still darn good. I give it a B+.
The Breakdown: The zucchini was from my CSA. The corn and the steak was from the farmer's market. I already had garlic, olive oil, and white wine. The Chicago-style marinade was from the grocery store. That's pretty darn good, so I'll give myself an A-.
By the way, I pickled more beets but this time with apple cider vinegar. I used my last green onion from last week during the roasting phase. I'll let you know if the apple cider or the tarragon vinegar is better.
Saturday, July 3, 2010
CSA week one, day six
I'm down to the bare bones. I'm scraping the bottom of the CSA box. I have a half bunch of swiss chard, a half a head of cabbage, a bunch of beet greens, and a single green onion.
The swiss chard is looking like a country music star's hair after the show-sad and flat-so I decided I better go ahead and just use it so I sauteed with with some olive oil and garlic and stuffed it inside a pita with some hummus for lunch. Pretty good. I believe it's always nice to add produce whenever possible even if it's hiding it in a pita with hummus. By the way, Trader Joe's Mediterranean Hummus is so EFFING good that I don't care if it was made in Tibet by 3 year olds who were only paid 6 cents an hour and it was trucked from the moon and back in Hummers and was responsible for the BP oil spill, I am still buying and eating it. Bye-bye swiss chard, say hello to my belly.
Tonight my husband and I had some friends over for dinner so we decided to make our pasta with beet greens. The original posting for this recipe can be found in July of 2009.
Chicken Rigatoni
1 large chicken breast
1/2 pound rigatoni pasta
1/3 cup dry white wine
1/3 cup chicken stock
1 pinch red pepper flake (or to taste)
2 cloves of garlic minced
1 large bunch beet greens with stems
1 medium onion sliced thinly
2 ounces pancetta diced small
parmigiana or Romano cheese for grating
Brown the pancetta and remove from the pan. Brown the chicken in the pancetta drippings (add olive oil if needed) and remove. Cook the onions until they start to soften and add the garlic and saute for a couple minutes more. Add the wine and reduce by half. Add the chicken stock, red pepper flake, and beet green stems and bring to a simmer. For a thicker sauce, sift in a tablespoon or two of flour and wisk well. Add chicken and pancetta back and simmer for a few minutes and then taste for seasoning. Allow to simmer for five to ten minutes. In the last couple minutes stir in the beet greens. Serve with plenty of cheese grated on top.
We tripled the above recipe tonight. We've also made it with swiss chard or spinach instead of beet greens but beet greens are my favorite because of the sweet stems.
We served this with a fresh green salad with apples and brie and garlic bread.
The Results: Fantastic as usual. This pasta is such a crowd pleaser. The flavors are familiar and accessible but just a touch exotic with the use of beet greens. This is one of my favorite meals so it gets an A+.
The Breakdown: The beet greens were from the CSA. I got the pasta from a local store Nicole Taylor's Pasta Market, so I'll count it as local since I'm supporting a local business. The chicken stock is homemade from local chickens, the apples and salad greens were from the farmer's market. I purchased the pancetta, chicken breasts, onions, brie, garlic, white wine, and bread from the grocery store. I get a C on this meal for buying local.
Just in case you aren't keeping track, I only have a single green onion and half a head of cabbage left. I pick up my next CSA box tomorrow. It's like my birthday but it happens every week.
The swiss chard is looking like a country music star's hair after the show-sad and flat-so I decided I better go ahead and just use it so I sauteed with with some olive oil and garlic and stuffed it inside a pita with some hummus for lunch. Pretty good. I believe it's always nice to add produce whenever possible even if it's hiding it in a pita with hummus. By the way, Trader Joe's Mediterranean Hummus is so EFFING good that I don't care if it was made in Tibet by 3 year olds who were only paid 6 cents an hour and it was trucked from the moon and back in Hummers and was responsible for the BP oil spill, I am still buying and eating it. Bye-bye swiss chard, say hello to my belly.
Tonight my husband and I had some friends over for dinner so we decided to make our pasta with beet greens. The original posting for this recipe can be found in July of 2009.
Chicken Rigatoni
1 large chicken breast
1/2 pound rigatoni pasta
1/3 cup dry white wine
1/3 cup chicken stock
1 pinch red pepper flake (or to taste)
2 cloves of garlic minced
1 large bunch beet greens with stems
1 medium onion sliced thinly
2 ounces pancetta diced small
parmigiana or Romano cheese for grating
Brown the pancetta and remove from the pan. Brown the chicken in the pancetta drippings (add olive oil if needed) and remove. Cook the onions until they start to soften and add the garlic and saute for a couple minutes more. Add the wine and reduce by half. Add the chicken stock, red pepper flake, and beet green stems and bring to a simmer. For a thicker sauce, sift in a tablespoon or two of flour and wisk well. Add chicken and pancetta back and simmer for a few minutes and then taste for seasoning. Allow to simmer for five to ten minutes. In the last couple minutes stir in the beet greens. Serve with plenty of cheese grated on top.
We tripled the above recipe tonight. We've also made it with swiss chard or spinach instead of beet greens but beet greens are my favorite because of the sweet stems.
We served this with a fresh green salad with apples and brie and garlic bread.
The Results: Fantastic as usual. This pasta is such a crowd pleaser. The flavors are familiar and accessible but just a touch exotic with the use of beet greens. This is one of my favorite meals so it gets an A+.
The Breakdown: The beet greens were from the CSA. I got the pasta from a local store Nicole Taylor's Pasta Market, so I'll count it as local since I'm supporting a local business. The chicken stock is homemade from local chickens, the apples and salad greens were from the farmer's market. I purchased the pancetta, chicken breasts, onions, brie, garlic, white wine, and bread from the grocery store. I get a C on this meal for buying local.
Just in case you aren't keeping track, I only have a single green onion and half a head of cabbage left. I pick up my next CSA box tomorrow. It's like my birthday but it happens every week.
Friday, July 2, 2010
CSA week one, day five
Whew, I'm in the home stretch of the week. I only have the beets, 2 green onions, beet greens, kohlrabi leaves, and half of the swiss chard left to go. My CSA box is almost empty.
I asked my friend Paul how he likes his beets and he said his favorite way to eat beets is when they are pickled. He said that if I pickled some beets he would eat them gratefully. I'm taking Paul on his word and next Wednesday when we meet for dinner he is getting a gift of two bell jars of pickled beets. I got the recipe off of food network and it is by Alton Brown.
Pickled Beets
Roasted Beets, recipe follows
1 large red onion, frenched
1 cup tarragon wine vinegar
1 1/2 teaspoons Kosher salt
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup water
Roasted Beets
3 medium to large beets
2 gloves garlic
1 green onion sliced in half
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 sprig rosemary
Heat your oven to 400 degrees. Place all of the roasted beets ingredients in a foil pouch and roast for 30-45 minutes or until a knife can insert into the beet with a small amount of resistance. It should feel a little less done than a baked potato. Alton said you can rub the beet in a towel and the peel should come right off. LIAR!!!! Not so for me AND I ruined a towel with beet juice stains trying it. I had to let them cool and then peel them. Then slice the beets thinly.
Bring vinegar, sugar, salt, and water to a boil and then turn off the heat. Layer the red onion and sliced beets in 2 bell jars. Distribute the liquid between the jars. Seal the jars and refrigerate and allow the beets to sit for at least 3 days. Alton says the beets will keep in the refrigerator for a month and the juice can be used in marinades, mixed into mayo for a dipping sauce, or made into salad dressings. I'll be sure to let Paul know of all of these useful functions for his pickled beets. I will admit though that the beets are very pretty.
Dinner tonight!
While I was pickling the beets I also had the thought that it would be a good day to try some slow cooked southern style greens. I read that the kohlrabi greens were much like collard greens and can be cooked in the same way so I bought a ham hock and decided to give it a go.
Southern Style Kohlrabi Greens
1 large bunch kohlrabi greens
3 quarts water
a couple big pinches of salt
a big pinch of red pepper flake
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 medium to large ham hock
Bring water to a boil and add the ham hock, salt, red pepper flake and garlic powder. Reduce to a heavy simmer for 1 hour. Remove the ribs of the greens and roughly chop. Add the greens and simmer for 45 minutes to an hour stirring occasionally. To serve remove the ham hock and pull the greens out with a slotted spoon so most of the liquid remains in the pot. I ate this with a pinch of salt and some green Tabasco sauce.
We served this with simple garlic steak.
Simple Garlic Steak
2 cheap steaks- like eye of round or scotch tender
1 teaspoon butter cut into four pieces
2 cloves of garlic, minced
salt and pepper to season the steaks
Season the steaks with salt and pepper on both sides. Heat a skillet over high heat and if you've had the time, hopefully you've let the steaks come to room temperature. Drop two of the pieces of butter in the pan and let the butter get a little brown and drop the steaks in. Turn when the bottom side has a nice crust forming. Place the two remaining pieces of butter on the steaks along with the garlic. The steam and heat from the steak, along with the melting butter, cooks the garlic just a little bit. Remove steaks when the second side is cooked as well.
The Results: The steak was delish and the greens were wonderful as well. I've never cooked southern greens before so I was rather proud of myself. It was really easy and made me feel soulful, like I should start singing Billie Holiday or something. It was an A meal.
I have no idea how the pickled beets are going to turn out. I will let you know Wednesday!
The Breakdown: I used my beets, one green onion, and the kohlrabi greens from my CSA. The rosemary was from my herb garden. I purchased the tarragon wine vinegar, red onion, steaks, and ham hock from the grocery store. Everything else I already had on hand. Boo and hiss for getting meat from the grocery but the market is tomorrow and I'll stock up then. I give myself a B- for this meal because I got meat from the grocery.
I only have half of my swiss chard left, the beet greens, and a single green onion. I'm. Almost. There!
I asked my friend Paul how he likes his beets and he said his favorite way to eat beets is when they are pickled. He said that if I pickled some beets he would eat them gratefully. I'm taking Paul on his word and next Wednesday when we meet for dinner he is getting a gift of two bell jars of pickled beets. I got the recipe off of food network and it is by Alton Brown.
Pickled Beets
Roasted Beets, recipe follows
1 large red onion, frenched
1 cup tarragon wine vinegar
1 1/2 teaspoons Kosher salt
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup water
Roasted Beets
3 medium to large beets
2 gloves garlic
1 green onion sliced in half
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 sprig rosemary
Heat your oven to 400 degrees. Place all of the roasted beets ingredients in a foil pouch and roast for 30-45 minutes or until a knife can insert into the beet with a small amount of resistance. It should feel a little less done than a baked potato. Alton said you can rub the beet in a towel and the peel should come right off. LIAR!!!! Not so for me AND I ruined a towel with beet juice stains trying it. I had to let them cool and then peel them. Then slice the beets thinly.
Bring vinegar, sugar, salt, and water to a boil and then turn off the heat. Layer the red onion and sliced beets in 2 bell jars. Distribute the liquid between the jars. Seal the jars and refrigerate and allow the beets to sit for at least 3 days. Alton says the beets will keep in the refrigerator for a month and the juice can be used in marinades, mixed into mayo for a dipping sauce, or made into salad dressings. I'll be sure to let Paul know of all of these useful functions for his pickled beets. I will admit though that the beets are very pretty.
Dinner tonight!
While I was pickling the beets I also had the thought that it would be a good day to try some slow cooked southern style greens. I read that the kohlrabi greens were much like collard greens and can be cooked in the same way so I bought a ham hock and decided to give it a go.
Southern Style Kohlrabi Greens
1 large bunch kohlrabi greens
3 quarts water
a couple big pinches of salt
a big pinch of red pepper flake
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 medium to large ham hock
Bring water to a boil and add the ham hock, salt, red pepper flake and garlic powder. Reduce to a heavy simmer for 1 hour. Remove the ribs of the greens and roughly chop. Add the greens and simmer for 45 minutes to an hour stirring occasionally. To serve remove the ham hock and pull the greens out with a slotted spoon so most of the liquid remains in the pot. I ate this with a pinch of salt and some green Tabasco sauce.
We served this with simple garlic steak.
Simple Garlic Steak
2 cheap steaks- like eye of round or scotch tender
1 teaspoon butter cut into four pieces
2 cloves of garlic, minced
salt and pepper to season the steaks
Season the steaks with salt and pepper on both sides. Heat a skillet over high heat and if you've had the time, hopefully you've let the steaks come to room temperature. Drop two of the pieces of butter in the pan and let the butter get a little brown and drop the steaks in. Turn when the bottom side has a nice crust forming. Place the two remaining pieces of butter on the steaks along with the garlic. The steam and heat from the steak, along with the melting butter, cooks the garlic just a little bit. Remove steaks when the second side is cooked as well.
The Results: The steak was delish and the greens were wonderful as well. I've never cooked southern greens before so I was rather proud of myself. It was really easy and made me feel soulful, like I should start singing Billie Holiday or something. It was an A meal.
I have no idea how the pickled beets are going to turn out. I will let you know Wednesday!
The Breakdown: I used my beets, one green onion, and the kohlrabi greens from my CSA. The rosemary was from my herb garden. I purchased the tarragon wine vinegar, red onion, steaks, and ham hock from the grocery store. Everything else I already had on hand. Boo and hiss for getting meat from the grocery but the market is tomorrow and I'll stock up then. I give myself a B- for this meal because I got meat from the grocery.
I only have half of my swiss chard left, the beet greens, and a single green onion. I'm. Almost. There!
Thursday, July 1, 2010
CSA week one, day four
Bahh bahh black sheep have you any wool? No? Okay, I'll take your MEAT! 
BUWAHAHAHAHA! Okay, I love lamb. Lamb is one of the reasons why I could never live on a farm. Sheep are so cute and fuzzy...but so tasty too. I appease my flinching inner child by buying as much local humanely raised and slaughtered meat as possible. I routinely beat my inner vegetarian into submission with the wonderful scent of bacon... mmmm bacon! Lamb is something that no soy product could ever mimic. The farmer's market has a man who sells lamb kabobs for $8 a pound, which is pretty affordable. Tonight, we have lamb!
BUWAHAHAHAHA! Okay, I love lamb. Lamb is one of the reasons why I could never live on a farm. Sheep are so cute and fuzzy...but so tasty too. I appease my flinching inner child by buying as much local humanely raised and slaughtered meat as possible. I routinely beat my inner vegetarian into submission with the wonderful scent of bacon... mmmm bacon! Lamb is something that no soy product could ever mimic. The farmer's market has a man who sells lamb kabobs for $8 a pound, which is pretty affordable. Tonight, we have lamb!Super Simple Lamb
1 pound lamb kabobs (which is just lamb meat cut into chunks)
flat leaf parsley, chopped
rosemary, chopped
1 teaspoon olive oil
salt and pepper
Toss the lamb in a bowl with the oil, salt, pepper, rosemary, and parsley and grill over high heat turning the meat so each chunk gets brown on all sides until medium.
My CSA people send out an email every week with what we can expect in our boxes and also a recipe or two. I decided to give one of their recipes a try this week.
Kale with garlic and dried cranberries
1 bunch kale
3 cloves garlic
1/2 cup dried cranberries (their recipe called for dried cherries, which I am sure would be good too but I had dried cranberries on hand. I'm sure any dried berry would be good.)
1 tablespoon olive oil
salt and pepper
Put a large pot of water on to boil. Remove the ribs from the kale and chop. Dunk kale in boiling water for 30 seconds to 1.5 minutes. Remove kale from water, drain, and pat dry. Heat oil in a medium large to large skillet over medium high heat and add garlic. Allow the garlic to saute for about 2 minutes and add the kale and the berries, salt and pepper and toss to combine. It looks like Christmas, so pretty dark red and green! Saute for 5-10 minutes until desired level of doneness.
The Results: You can serve the lamb with pitas, feta cheese, red onion slices, and a yogurt sauce if you wish, or you can just serve as is. We ate it as is. The lamb and the kale were very good together. The lamb was nice with the sweetness of the berries with the bitterness of the kale. I give myself an A for this meal.
The breakdown: The kale was out of the CSA. The lamb was from the farmer's market. Everything else was either from the pantry or my herb garden. A+!
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