Week 3

Week three brought us

rainbow beets

raspberries

cabbage

 rhubarb

squash

onions

peas

 

Kale Two Ways

This is Tuscan Kale.  I think I've seen that it can be called Dinosaur Kale, too.  I kinda prefer to call it Dinosaur Kale.  

The Dinosaur Kale gets sliced thinly.

Then tossed with a viniagrette made with lemon juice, pecorino cheese, olive oil, salt and pepper, and topped with Macadamia nuts.  Then it goes in my belly.

The curly kale that Phil's mom brought us was put in a pot with homemade chicken broth, some CSA turnips, a can of beans, and a carrot.  

Shrooms and Raspberries

My first instinct with all this fruit I'm getting is to freeze it all.  A few hours after I put a tray of raspberries in the freezer, I decided to make these muffins with some of the freshly-frozen raspberries and a handful of blueberries that were left over from blueberry pancakes last week. It's a super simple recipe from a Pillsbury cookbook filled with recipes for muffins and quick breads.

One of us loooooves mushrooms and the other can barely tolerate mushrooms.  The one of us who orders the CSA veggies thought her husband would really appreciate some local portabellos.  If you haven't guessed, I'm the mushroom-intolerant person.  I found a pretty delicious mushroom stuffing on foodtv.com.  Phil and I are unfortunately very into the stupid show called "Next Food Network Star" or somthing, so I combined recipes from two of the Famous Celebrity Chefs from that show.  Giada's contribution to this meal was the stuffing: equal parts bread crumbs and pecorino-romano cheese, a bit of fresh parsley, a clove of garlic, some salt and pepper, then add olive oil till it's all moistened.  Bobby Flay provided the cooking time for a stuffed portabello- grill 10 minutes on medium heat.  Alton didn't directly contribute to this meal, but I wouldn't take Giada's advice if she wasn't on a show with him, so he was indirectly involved, I guess.

Even as a mushroom skeptic, I have to say these grilled portabellos were very, very good.  We had some grilled kohlrabi for this dinner, too.  This meal put Phil into a total food high.

Weeks 1 and 2, 2012

CSA season is upon us once again, and this year things are working a little differently with our farm.  We had the option this year to get fruit with our share, so that's something we're looking forward to this summer.  Also, our farm has started an online ordering system.  They have a recommended dollar amount for each week, and they fill a virtual grocery cart with veggies to reach that amount.  The awesome thing- I can go to the online store and remove items or add items to the cart as the mood strikes.  It's pretty incredible.  So far I've edited my online cart several times each week, because as more veggies become ready to pick, they get added to the store.  I made a last minute switch the first week for some Tuscan kale and kohlrabi.  It's been fun.  

The other thing we're loving about this year is the pick up location.  We no longer have to go to the busy, crowded Broad Ripple Farmers Market each Saturday morning.  They offer an alternate pick up in the Broad Ripple area, so we get to go to this cute little coffee shop on the Monon Trail, then walk over to our favorite European-style bakery to get breakfast.  Today we had scones.

I didn't photograph the food we prepared the first week, but I'll try to start up with that this week.  An added surprise to last week's share- Phil's mom and stepdad came to visit from Georgia and brought a bunch of fresh veggies they'd grown in their garden, so in addition to our CSA  haul of two lettuces, Tuscan kale, sorrel, strawberries, kohlrabi, and white salad turnips we had homegrown curly kale, a HUGE zucchini, broccoli, spinach and salad mix.  It was good eatin' in our house last week!

I'd say one of the most interesting things we've ever made was sorrel soup.  Sorrel kinda looks like arugula, but it tastes like sour strawberries, mostly.  It's a strong taste that made me shout, 'oh my god!' the first time I tasted it.  We used a recipe from the New Basics cookbook, and wow, is that one flavorful soup!

Our veggies this week: arugula, broccoli, portobellos, spinach, red leaf lettuce, onions, and a big thing of raspberries.  We're very stoked about the raspberries.

Plans include grilling mushrooms and broccoli (grilled broccoli is one of the best things in the world), saag paneer, and raspberries in muffins, on yogurt, and everywhere possible.

Two recipes to remember

Radicchio Pasta in Gorgonzola Sauce

melt 5 oz cubed dolce gorgonzola with 1 T butter over low heat. Set aside, keeping warm.

saute one chopped radicchio with a couple cloves of garlic in 2-3 T olive oil for several minutes, till radicchio wilts and browns.

Boil 2 servings (about 8 oz) short pasta. As soon as pasta is done, use a wire-mesh skimmer to remove pasta and place in skillet with radicchio. Add a bit of S and P, also 1-2 t dried thyme, stir. Add cheese sauce, stir, serve.


Dijon Brussel Sprouts

bring to boil: 1/2 c water, 2-3 T butter, 1/2 t salt, 1 lb halved brussel sprouts.
reduce heat to medium, cover, and steam the sprouts for 5-10 minutes.
remove the lid and let some steam escape for a few minutes, then remove sprouts to a serving bowl.
Add 2 T dijon mustard to cooking liquid, stir to combine, then combine dijon sauce with sprouts to serve.

Week eleven- I'm down with O.P.V.

I did get beans this week, but I also made a trip up to Fort Wayne. My CSA beans were parboiled then pickled in the quick pickle recipe I posted earlier this summer. The beans I got from my mom's paired wonderfully with the fresh corn I got from my blog buddy MSG. I love green beans prepared pretty much any way, but this is a really, really good way.

Make some bacon, parboil some beans, dice a couple of potatoes. Cook the potatoes in some of the bacon grease, when they are almost done add the beans. Put a lid on it, let it steam and cook, add the bacon back in and use whatever seasoning you like. I used to use part of a packet of Good Seasoning Italian salad dressing mix, I've used Greek seasoning, but this time I think I just used salt and pepper.

Week eleven- pizza

I walked into my Dad's house one evening and an incredible aroma threw it's arms around me. My step-mom was making pizza sauce, and I refused to leave that night without the recipe. Like a year and a half passed, and I finally made the sauce.

The sauce works best with roma tomatoes... I've made it a couple times lately and had to add a little tomato paste at the end when I used other-than-roma tomatoes.

Combine 2 lbs quartered tomatoes with 1/2 c. chopped onion (in this case CSA shallots), 2-3 cloves garlic, 1 t. salt, 1/2 t. crushed red pepper, 1/2 t. sugar. Mix it up with 1/4 c. olive oil and bake at 450 for 40 minutes.

This smells a-mazing! Add 1/4 c. fresh basil and puree using a stick blender or old-fashioned blender, and it smells even better.

Put it on a pizza and freeze the leftovers.

We use a 450 degree oven, Trader Joe's pizza crust, and a pizza stone. In about 15 minutes, we have dinner!