she has never steered me wrong

I am not a turnip fan. My first winter with Eatwell, I dutifully gave them a shot by roasting them in the oven...but I just couldn't get past the funky, turnipy smell.

All winter long, I gave them away to the French babysitter, who couldn't understand what I didn't like about them, but gladly took them and fed them to my daughter and the other kids.

Last week, Ruth sent me an email about making a soup out of the turnips. Even though she said they were 'out of this world', I was still dubious. However, I had to try it because A/ it was an Alice recipe and B/ the turnips don't have a second home as I no longer use the babysitter on a regular basis and C/ Ruth has NEVER been wrong about food. EVER.

I made the soup last night and had two bowls. And the kids ate it. And I brought it for lunch today. I think one could say that I have been converted!

2 lbs of small, fresh turnips with leaves
1 yellow onion, thinly sliced
1 clove garlic, thinly sliced
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp butter
1/2 tsp of fresh thyme, chopped
1 bay leaf (I had a fresh one from the farm! woohoo!)
1 piece of prosciutto or smoked bacon (I used pancetta)
8 cups stock...chicken, vegetable or even water (I used leftover turkey stock)

Thinly slice the onion and garlic and saute in a large, non-reactive pot with the oil and butter and a tablespoon of water. Cover and gently cook until the onions are transparent.

Meanwhile, thinly slice the turnips. Reserve the greens.

Add the turnips, cover and stew a little bit.
Add the herbs, pork product ;) and stock. Bring to a simmer and cook low for 1/2 hour.

Towards the end, add the reserved greens, that have been washed and cut into 1/2 slices. Cook until wilted. Season with salt and pepper. Add a few slices of shaved parmesan. The end ;)

-Miche

Super easy stovetop summer meal

It's the beginning of August - so most of you are sweltering somewhere.  Not me, but we are pretending that we are and made an easy stove-top dinner using this week's cherry tomatoes (all of them orange).  We saw Lydia make this a week or two ago and couldn't wait for our next batch of cherry tomatoes so that we could replicate it.  It's a perfect weeknight meal - it whizzes up in like 5 minutes.

Spaghetti and Pesto Trapanese

1.5 pints of cherry tomatoes

large handful of almonds, slightly toasted (I think walnuts would also be good?)

1 clove garlic

handful of basil leaves

salt

pepperoncino

olive oil

In a food processor - whizz all of these ingredients.  I like to put the garlic in first, to be sure it chops up fine.  On her show, she added the almonds before the tomatoes, but the recipe I use said to put the tomatoes in first.  I don't think it matters.  Add the olive oil last in a steady stream - to your taste.  Lydia always puts in way too much oil for me!

Toss with spaghetti.  Sprinkle with parmesan.  Done.

You could also get sneaky-mom and toss in other veg in here, I'm sure.  Zucchini?  Carrots?

Squeamish

We bought sardines for dinner tonight.  The current local salmon crisis has us rethinking our new source of omega-3 fatty acids :)   These babies come right out of the Monterey Bay.

So, guess who got to clean the @#$#% sardines?  Yeah. Me.  

Guess who was totally grossed out by it?

I thought the first one would be the worst part, but really, it didn't get better as I kept going.

I have a newfound respect for hunters and fishermen and butchers....

They sure were tasty!  It's a great weeknight meal - we just cooked them on the grill pan and finished with coarse salt and lemon juice.  

Weekly menu

I have been a major slacker in the 'weekly menu' category! It should be more like the 'quarterly menu' at the rate I post it. Sorry! Here is an idea of how we have been eating our wintry veg:

Roast chicken & veg (sweet potato fries, onions under the chicken, stuff like that)

Chicken soup - broth made from chicken - includes veg from CSA box
[Chicken salad for lunch - leftover roast chicken]

Roasted fish, salad, broccoli

Flank steak, sweet potato fries, spinach

Stir fry: stir fry mix (basically baby chard, baby collards and some chinese veg), tat soi, tofu


I think that stands out most from this is how simple everything is. The whole family gets home around 6 - so there is a real time crunch to get dinner ready and on the table by 7. We are able to do this every night by keeping things easy peasy! The roast chicken is a Sunday meal. There is nothing better than a/ smelling chicken stock boiling Sunday night and b/ eating the soup the next day!

What to do with: Cabbage

We have been getting cabbage every now and then - another thing that we would almost never buy in the store. Why? No really good reason other than it just wasn't one of those regular veg on our menu like broccoli was. This week we got a cute little wakefield cabbage, a change from the napa cabbage we usually get.

We usually put the cabbage into a stirfry or thinly sliced into a soup. For Thanksgiving, I was charged with bringing a salad, and I used a recipe that came in our weekly CSA box. It called for arugula, mandarin oranges, pomegranate seeds, goat cheese, and a lemon vinaigrette. It went over really well - but I had way too much vinaigrette. On a whim, I tossed it with some cabbage to make a slaw. And, voila - a fresh, wintry citrus slaw was born.

Citrus Slaw
1 small head of cabbage
2 scallions
1 lemon
2 clementines or mandarins
olive oil - about 1/3 of a cup or less
salt and pepper
pomegranate seeds (optional)

There is no real technique for the salad. I slice the cabbage and scallion. Peel one orange and tear it into two lobes, then slice each lobe in 4. Toss together with pomegranate seeds.

In a separate bowl, combine salt and pepper, juice of one lemon, juice of one clementine and olive oil. Shake or whisk to combine, and toss with cabbage, etc. I like to keep it in a ziploc bag - makes the marinating easy. The slaw should be made a few hours before eating. It's really good the next day.

i heart kale

I am in love with kale.

Sure, I've bought it in the store before - but it was usually turned into pureed baby food. Maybe once or twice a year I would seek it out and make it. But now....now I get it a few times a month from the farm and I am forced to eat it and I am swooning!!!

Kale with whole wheat pasta and some walnut pesto. MMM.
Kale and potato soup. Better than you think it'd be.
Throw it in stirfry!
Frittata!

It pairs so nicely with earthy or nutty things like mushrooms, as well as all starches (potatoes, polenta, pasta), and all pork products ;)

Eggstravagant!

Long vilified as cholesterol laden muck, eggs are actually a great, healthful source of protein and omega-3 fatty acids. Don't bother with the store bought kind if you have access to pasture raised eggs. Yes, we pay $6 a dozen. Worth every penny and we can never go back.

How do we fit this in to our weekly food budget? Supper, that quaint little tradition of eating a light evening meal. This is fast, fast food for those nights when the baby shrieks and clings to my leg and the 4 year-old has not yet burned his requisite 60,000 calories of boy energy and is in to more mischief than my weary bones can describe. Besides, they do it in France.

We make: omelets, frittatas, quiche, and hardboiled eggs in salad. And for the aforementioned mischief maker: two eggs, sunny-side up. I know you're never supposed to become a short-order cook for your child, but it's far too late for us to go back.

The cooked egg dishes are a lovely repository for left-over vegetables, even the slightly wilted variety. We may eat a side salad if we have lettuce, or maybe just some steamed veggies to go along side.