the coldest winter ....

you know how it goes.

it's been in the 50s and misty all week here. my muscles are even too cold to use capital letters, apparently. cold, fog & summer vegetables - they seemingly don't mix. thankfully the french have a solution for this!

Soupe au Pistou

1. Make yourself a batch of pesto, without the parmesan cheese (what makes it french).
2. Do you have some chicken stock made from your last roast chicken or butterflied chicken's back? Great. You'll need that.
3. Have a bunch of lovely vegetables from your CSA? Grab 1-2 each of those. Chop them small - about 1/2 inch dice.
4. Saute some onion and garlic, slowly.
5. Add the rest of your vegetables.
6. Add the warmed stock. Bring to a tiny simmer. Let it cook for a while - until the hardest veg in your soup is cooked.
7. Don't forget salt & pepper! (I never season my stock when I make it. I wait until I use it in a recipe.)
8. Serve in bowls, with the pistou on the side. Let people add as much/little as they wish.
9. Always better with parmesan, crusty bread and olive oil.

Veg I had around: red potatoes, green beans, carrots, zucchini, tomato.

-Michelle

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

gourd city

I counted 3 squash sitting on my counter by Friday.  One kabocha from two weeks ago, a butternut from last week and a fresh one from this week.

Supposedly, squash gets sweeter as it's left to mature...so, you know...that was all in the plan... ;)

I saw a recipe in Sunset magazine that seemed like a good way to use the squash somewhat in disguise.  My kids love a lot of fruits and vegetables, but squash unfortunately isn't one of them.  Having some time this Sunday afternoon, I made a batch of squash gnocchi.  Some for tonight and the rest for the freezer.  

The basic recipe is like this:

• Cook a butternut squash.  You can roast it, steam it or microwave it.  I did the latter - poke holes all over and put it in the microwave on high for 10 minutes.  (Mine needed a bit more cooking afterwards).
  
• Scoop out the flesh and mash.  You need 2 cups.
  
• Season: salt, pepper, nutmeg, sage/marjoram/thyme.  You could have fun and add Indian spices - that would be yum.
• Add flour, 1 cup at a time.  Now, I used King Arthur's white whole wheat flour.  The recipe calls for 3.5 cups + dusting.  My squash took at least all of that...maybe even a bit more!
• Roll out into 'snakes', cut into 1/2" pieces.  
• Boil in salted water just until they float - no longer.

That's it!  I tossed ours with melted butter, parsley and lemon juice and topped with parmesan.

Beware: the dough remains a bit sticky.  I tried to do the Italian nonna thing by rolling each little gnoccho down a fork to get the grooves.  It didn't work so well...I do not recommend.  Just leave them in their little pillow form and enjoy.

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?

Sorrel: Help me

Our (French) nanny has a lovely garden where she grows loads of herbs, and more recently, SORREL.   

She asked me if I wanted some, and of course I said yes!  It has probably been grown from seeds illegally imported from France, so it has to be good ;)  I came home yesterday to a huge bag that she had given my husband.  I seriously have about 3 lbs of sorrel!  HELP!  She told me to make a sauce with it (bechamel + wilted sorrel = good on fish).  But, I don't need/want that much sauce. (Which makes me realize, we Americans aren't so into sauce, like the French)  I tried making a sauce with it once before, unsuccessfully.  Sorrel behaves very weirdly once it hits the heat. Not only did it start to melt, it turned brown.  

  

The only other things I can come up with are soup and to throw in salad.  Maybe that's the extent of it?  Making a soup makes me a tad bit nervous...see the part in the wikipedia entry about it being a laxative.....!

Suggestions would be appreciated - thank you!  

Jamie Oliver Swoon

You were forewarned - I'm about to wax poetic about Jamie Oliver, aka the Naked Chef (which is such a dumb moniker, in my opinion).  Before you run away...have you seen his latest series on the Food Network? If you haven't, but he annoys you so you think you don't care, keep reading.

Let me first admit that I have always been a fan. I've been with him through all of his various incarnations, I have all of his cookbooks, I have let him hold my first-born (really! I have a photo to prove it). My admiration for him and his values was immediately validated the day he started trying to improve school lunches in the UK - and that was before his kids were even born. I know he's a superstar and everything, but I also think he's real and he means well.

That brings me to his latest series called Jamie at Home. It could also be called, Jamie Goes Hippy, Jamie Loses the Punk, Jamie has an Amazing Garden and Gardener. I don't care what it's called, I love it. I could watch these episodes over and over again. For starters, the setting is perfect. He could be outside, surrounded by his garden and next to his woodburning oven. Or he's inside what looks like a garden shed, or he's in his old-timey kitchen. Each one is quirky and kind of small in a British way. I feel immediately transported in an armchair traveler kind of way and just imagine myself getting cooking lessons in a locale just like that.

The whole theme of Jamie at Home is that he uses produce straight from his garden. Seasonal, fresh, what-do-I-do-with-this-again kind of thinking. The latest episode was squash. I was kind of bummed since we are now out of squash season, because man did he make that squash soup look GOOD. Did you know you don't need to peel a butternut squash? Either did I. He also made an amazing batch of squash muffins/cupcakes that are very kid friendly. I'm stashing this recipe for the fall when I will need to bring a snack to my daughter's preschool once a month .

I hope you give it a try! Saturdays @ 9:30 AM. Upcoming episodes are Pastry, Asparagus, Peppers & Chilies, Mushrooms, Eggs, Leeks.

Superbowl snack ideas - a day late

We had a beautiful little head of Wakefield cabbage in our box this week, and I still had half a head of Savoy left from last week holding up nicely! Cabbage plus fresh carrots = coleslaw time. I got a little carried away and have enough to last us for probably a week's worth of lunches. Oops.

We made a jaunt to the Marin farmer's market this morning to get a few supplies. In the pouring rain, we stopped by Prather Ranch and grabbed a package of beef ribs. Did you know how easy it is to make ribs? There is nothing better for a lazy Sunday afternoon.

1. Take ribs out of package and place in roasting pan.
2. Season well. We used a rub, but we couldn't even taste it after they were done. Weird.
3. Add some liquid. I have read people use apple juice - we just used water. Put enough in to just cover the bottom.
4. Wrap tightly with foil.
5. Put in a 250 oven for 3 hours.
6. After this, let them rest a little...then put them on a grill, under the broiler, or in a hot oven with your favorite barbeque sauce. Ours happens to be flown in fresh, c/o Mom, from here.

My coleslaw recipe is based on the one in the Gourmet cookbook:
1 lemon - half the rind (grated) and all of the juice
1/2 bunch of parsley, chopped
1 bunch of green onions, diced
3-4 tbsp mayonnaise (mix with sour cream or creme fraiche if you have it)
bit of water - 2-3 tbsp
sprinkling of sugar
salt & pepper
coarsely grated carrots (2)
sliced cabbage (1)

The kids were not big fans of the coleslaw. I can't wait to use Ruth's sneaky kale-vitamins-in-the-soup method tomorrow night!

Sneaking it in

I never thought I would find myself relying on a celebrity wife as a cooking guide. But, when I saw Jessica Seinfeld touting her book on Oprah - I couldn't resist. What part of adding extra vegetables to food isn't smart? All Moms do this in some way at some point! I liked the idea of having a guide as far as which vegetables to add in what. This wasn't just for my kids sake, but for their parents as well. Who couldn't use an extra hit of veg? I also thought it would be helpful to have a use for pureed butternut squash or sweet potatoes when we have a glut of them from the farm.

Last night I made a turkey chili that included pureed carrots and red pepper. Today's snack was applesauce muffins, which also included a hit of butternut squash. The chili was good and sweet - but a little bland as far as spice (not even cumin was listed in the ingredients). The muffins are delicious and you definitely cannot detect the 1/2 cup of squash. I think next time I would put even more squash in.

I like the idea of this book. And, the design is totally cute! I plan on using it as a guide, and not a hardcore cookbook. The recipes often lack salt or spice, and I don't like that she uses margarine instead of butter. Hmph.

Turkey Chili w/ pureed Carrot & Red Pepper
-my version of the one that appears in Deceptively Delicious

1 lb ground turkey
1/2 onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
14 oz. can of chopped tomato (ideally you would have some canned from the summer!)
1/2 cup pureed carrot
1/2 cup pureed red pepper
2 cups chicken broth
1/4 cup of flaxseed meal
spices: salt, pepper, cumin, chili powder
beans: cannelini, kidney, or whatever you like
garnish: scallion, shredded cheese

In a saute pan or small dutch oven, saute diced onion in a bit of olive oil. Once it has softened, add the minced garlic and allow to cook for about 30-60 seconds. At this point - add the spices and allow them to cook for about 30 seconds to bring out their aroma. Add the turkey and cook until no longer pink. Throw in tomato, carrot, red pepper and chicken broth. Bring to a boil, add flaxseed meal - then simmer for 20-30 minutes. Towards the end of cooking, add the beans to warm them.

I ate this over quinoa. Not local or organic, but it is darn healthy ;)

What to do with: Swiss Chard

Swiss chard is one of those items in a CSA box that you are not always excited to see. The ratio of 'appearances in CSA box' to 'recipes for swiss chard' is kind of skewed to one side...

Normally - we just chop up some onion, chop up the stems, saute with some garlic and olive oil, then add the chopped leaves and a wee bit of acid (pomegranate vinegar is good, here!) or pine nuts & raisins. That gets old fast. And the chard often still ends up being too bitter for my tastes.

Last night I felt very French, because I literally whipped up a gratin in about a half hour. It is easy - I swear! Here's the recipe:

One bunch of chard
One medium onion
1 cup chicken broth
1/3 cup cream

Preheat oven to 400

Cut chard leaves from stems.
Roughly chop leaves, dice stems.
Dice onion.
Saute onion and stems in olive oil until soft - about 8 min.
Add s&p
Then add leaves until wilted (don't overdo it, since they are going in the oven).

While that is happening, make your bechamel and bread crumbs.

Bechamel:
Melt 2-3 tbsp butter on the stove.
While butter is melting - warm broth in microwave for 1.5 minutes.
Remove broth from micro, and add the cream - do not reheat - just let it sit.
Add 2-3 tbsp flour to melted butter.
Whisk.
Let cook a little bit, but don't let it get too brown.
Add broth/cream to butter/flour and whisk.
Let simmer a little until thick.
Add salt, pepper, and fresh grating of nutmeg

In a gratin dish, put the cooked chard, then pour the bechamel over it.
(You can top the chard with shredded cheese if you like! A Swiss-type is good, as is parmesan)

Bread crumbs:
In a bowl combine bread crumbs (I keep bread crumbs made from leftover bread ends in the freezer for times like this. Nigella trick ;)), chopped parsley & thyme, 1 clove of minced garlic, swirl of olive oil to combine

Put the bread crumbs on top and throw the gratin in the oven for 15-20 minutes.

Ok - writing this all down makes it seem more labor intensive than it was. But I assure you it wasn't!

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 ;)

Squash dish the kids will eat

I had a going-bad squash I had to roast off the other night, right after picking it up.  No fault of the farm - it's a delicata squash - so just as the name implies - it's fragile!

Slice the squash, seed it, brush w/ olive oil and season

Roast in a 400 oven until brownish

Cool

Cut into chunks or dice (more camoflauge-ready)

Store for future use

Future use #1:

Whole wheat pasta

Toasted walnuts

Roasted squash

Parmesan cheese

Toss. Done!

I toasted the walnuts in one pan ... then added olive oil and sauteed the squash a little to reheat and carmelize a little more ... then added the pasta straight into the pan with a bit of pasta water so it wouldn't be too dry.  No herbs in this one,  but sage would be yum.

The kids eat it because they think the squash are tomatoes! LOL!

Pretty Darn Local Dinner Party

Well, maybe 'dinner party' is a bit of an exaggeration. We had dear friends over for dinner last night (newbies to California!), and I am proud of the menu that got whipped together...especially since I realized that so much of it was local! I didn't even do that on purpose. My pantry and refrigerator are just becoming more and more locally sourced as the months go on. Here's the menu with local products marked with an *. Some of things are unique to California, but I truly believe that similar could be done almost anywhere!

Appetizer:
Figs* & blue cheese* wrapped in prosciutto and broiled

Main:
Ribeye on the grill

Sides:
Potato* salad (made with a mustard vinaigrette. mustard from France ;))

Tomato*-Melon* salad made with a honey*/lemon verbena*/yogurt vinaigrette. The recipe was care of Eatwell Farm and I would like to reprint it here because it was really delicious!

Dessert:
Ollalieberry*/Rose Geranium* pie with creme fraiche*


Melon & Tomato Salad with Lemon Verbena

1/2 sm. melon, cut into 1 in pieces
3 sm tomatoes, cut into thin wedges
1/2 cucumber, peeled and diced
1 c. plain yogurt
1/3 c. finely minced lemon verbena
1 tbsp sherry vinegar
2 tsp honey
2 tsp lemon juice
salt
pepper

Combine melon, tomatoes, and cucumber in a large salad bowl (I used a platter so as not to disturb the produce by mixing it too much). Whisk the remaining ingredients in small bowl. Pour dressing over melon salad and gently toss. (Honestly, I still have half the dressing leftover. Half of the amount would have been plenty).

Ode to My Roots

Excuse my food blogginess for a post...but I did use products from our CSA delivery!

The 'ode to my roots' is not a nod to the French or Irish or English or German or any other genes in my blood that I am unaware of.  Nope - I'm talking about my geographical roots. 

Tonight I made salt potatoes.  You have probably never heard of them.  As far as I know, not only are they indigenous to central New York (Syracuse), they seem to not have made their way past that area.  You can read all about them here.

I found two recipes online.  One called for 1 lb of salt, 4 lbs of potatoes, water and butter.  That pretty much describes them!  The other wanted you to dump salt into the water until it was so salinated that no more could dissolve.  Believe it or not, that would also work.  After they are drained, the skin is coated with salt and deeeelicious.  

We had some cute little fingerling potatoes, and some purple/blue ones that were also on the small side.  I scrubbed them up (as you would, and should, with any potato.  There was no more work involved here even though the potatoes are covered with dirt) and put them in a pot of water.  I used about a pound of potatoes, tops.  Then, I grabbed the Morton's from the back of my closet (you could of course use sea salt) and dumped a lot in.  A.LOT.  Like, more than you would be comfortable with.  And that's the idea.  A container of Morton's is 1 lb., and I put in about 1/3 of the container.   

These are perfect in the summer as a side dish.  New potatoes are the classic type used - at least that's how they are sold.  Ideally they are a side dish accompanying something from the grill or a huge pot of steamed clams.  

Tomato Tart

A sweet friend was visiting from North Carolina, recently, and we were talking tomatoes.   She reminded me of  '...that beautiful tomato tart in Sunset magazine' and I knew exactly what she was referring to and knew I wanted to make it.

Tonight I threw it together after our pizza making session.  I'm thinking it will make a nice late-night snack for the husband returning from a week-long business trip; or a nice brunch item for tomorrow; or a great picnic item; or, or, or....   Did I really need a reason?  I don't know why the recipe didn't call for basil.  I totally put some on with the recommended thyme. 

Did you know that if you pick fresh thyme off the stem, you can freeze the leaves and use them whenever, just like fresh thyme?  I never thought of this, but it was a tip in our weekly csa newsletter.  Just passing it on.

Here's my crappy photo.  lol.  I have to figure out how to make them look better.  I can't wait for when Ruth is less busy and can start posting some of her own gorgeous pics.

Disappearing Zucchini

Following up on my last post about zucchini bread, which I am still enjoying, I must admit that I have found a few other uses for the zucchini that has been showing up in my weekly box. Let me insert here that the zucchini coming from Eatwell Farm is incredibly creamy! This is a pretty exciting discovery to me, who always found zucchini so borrrrring.


I finished reading Barbara Kingsolver's Animal, Vegetable, Miracle a month ago. Sigh. What a lovely read that was. I love the way it was educational without being preachy. If you don't know already, the 'year in food' chronicles the family's move from Tucson, AZ to a family farm in the Virginia's Appalachian mountains. Their aim was to live as sustainably as possible for one year, growing as much as possible and getting the rest from neighbors. Go out and read this if you haven't, yet!


You can visit their website for recipes that are printed in the book. One recipe that stuck with me is the Disappearing Zucchini Orzo. I have used this method to great success in various ways. It comes in handy when trying to feed a 2 and 4 yr old who are both opposed to most things green. Grated zucchini seems to disappear in just about anything. I've used it to make pasta sauce, bulgur salad, risotto and fried rice. The zucchini is totally camouflaged in the last two dishes as it is the same size and shape as rice. As for the pasta sauce - I sauteed some garlic and diced onion, then added the shredded zuccchini until softened. I then added some chopped tomato (I actually had some leftover heirlooms!) and basil and let them simmer. The sauce almost had a creamy consistency and was delicious AND nutritious :)

The Requisite Zucchini Bread Post

I had all these grand plans for zucchini this summer. It's not that I have a bumper crop from a garden to contend with, as they wouldn't grow well in my yard (too cold, foggy, windy and wet). I knew we'd be getting them repeatedly from the farm and was armed with ideas on how to tackle them. I had visions of making zucchini fritters, stuffed zucchini, ratatouille, zucchini soup (ew?), etc, etc. Anything to avoid zucchini bread. And for no good reason, because I *love* zucchini bread. It's just so, I don't know, uncreative? Obvious? Because no one else in my house eats it but me and so therefore it ends up on my hips?

Well, I broke down. I couldn't hold out any longer. At 10:30 PM the other night I adapted a recipe from Betty Crocker. There are so many variations on this theme out there, but for things like this, there is nothing wrong with using an old standby.

Zucchini Bread (adapted from Betty Crocker)

3 cups flour (white or whole wheat or a combination)
4 cups shredded zucchini (you read that right! I said 4 cups)
1 cup white sugar (this could be reduced, I'm sure)
1/2 cup brown sugar
4 eggs
2/3 cup oil (I used canola)
2 tsp vanilla
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
few good shakes of cinnamon
2 shakes of ground clove
a good grating of nutmeg

Preheat oven to 350. Grease two bread pans.
Mix zucchini, eggs, sugar and vanilla until well blended.
Add dry ingredients to the wet and mix until blended, but no more!
Divide into the bread pans and bake for about 45-60 min depending on your oven. Keep a close eye on them.
Lick the spoon. Salmonella, schalmonella.
Let cool in pans for 10 minutes before removing the loaves to cool on a rack.

For some weird reason, I like to have a slice with a little peanut butter for breakfast.

I'm No Remy...

Nor does it dazzle like this (shedoesnthavekidsyetshedoesnthavekidsyet), but it was damn tasty!

It occured to me that the release of Ratatouille was brilliantly timed with the onset of the nightshade vegetables in the dish. When I opened my CSA box on Wednesday and saw: eggplant! zucchini! tomato! well, es mus sien.

I haven't made ratatouille since I gave up vegetarianism over 10 years ago. To be honest, I never really liked this dish. How, you ask in horror? This is how: you're from the Midwest and your version, like all your food, is drowning in cheese and tomato sauce.

There was something about the seasoning, too... the basil stewing with the pepper... so imagine my relief when I opened Mastering the Art and found the recipe was seasoned only with salt, pepper and parsley. (Parsley. If that isn't in season now, nothing is.) She also has you cook off almost all the tomato juice. Exactly.

And well, I like ratatouille sans sog, sans basil, with a mere smattering of cheese.

Better yet, I get it. I feel like we've travelled so far from where food comes from that the obviousness of combinations in traditional dishes is no longer obvious. I don't know whether to be more embarrassed of being outsmarted by a little rat or the marketing executives at Pixar, but here's to many more mid-summer ratatouilles to come.

7.12.07

Better late than never...I get to our plan for our CSA contents this week.

In my box were:
cabbage, onions, plums, swiss chard, garlic, zucchini (why does Eatwell insist on calling this summer squash instead of zucchini? is it a regional thing? all summer squash that is not yellow is, to me, zucchini), green beans, yellow finn potatoes, heirloom cherry tomatoes, 2 big heirloom tomatoes (yellow & red). I was really bummed there was no corn! Hopefully Ruth got some to make up for the week when it was in my box and not hers.

I pick up my box on Thursday. It is now Monday, and all of our plums and cherry tomatoes are long gone!

For the two heirloom tomatoes, red onion from last week and the garlic, I am going to make a panzanella for my lunches.

Last night, I made a lemon slaw with the cabbage. Gist of the recipe is this:
4 cups cabbage
3 carrots
1 cup (bunch) scallion
4 tbsp mayonnaise (or 2 tbsp mayo + 2 tbsp sour cream)
1/2 tsp lemon zest
4 tsp lemon juice
s & p

It was so delicious - and I am not a big slaw person. Ruth has been talking it up for a few months - I should have listened a few months ago!

Tonight we are having chicken tikka masala and will add zucchini, green beans and maybe even some potatoes. The prepared curry is admittedly A/ not local B/ not organic and C/ REALLY GOOD.

Tomorrow night will be sauteed chard next to some potatoes and fish or steak.

Wednesday is my birthday and we were talking of having....lobster ;) Hey, it's only once a year! I'll be making up for it by eating totally local Friday night at this restaurant.

Basil Dressing

As I lamented (yeah. poor me.) about in a previous post, I had a lot of basil on my hands this week since I foolishly bought some before getting a nice bunch from the farm on Thursday. I often find myself getting bogged down by ingredients, feeling like I have to do something extra-creative with them. This is why I wasn't going to make pesto. Been there, done that. I know this is silly, but half the fun of having the CSA is being forced to experiment with ingredients that are either new or in abundance. After slicing up the pretty tomato (yes, that's singular. one tomato. they're not quite ready, yet!) and sprinkling some basil on top to let it marinate before dinner (this makes a big difference, in my opinion. for bruschetta topping, as well. let those flavors marry before eating!) - I realized I had to make lunch to bring to work. One of my favorite things to do with extra herbs or veg I have is to chop it all up and add it to bulgur for a salad. My 'recipe' for this will come in another post. The bulgur always needs a dressing. Knowing this recipe isn't THAT creative, I am still sharing it because it was tasty and pretty enough to post here...not to mention a good way to use up basil.

Basil Dressing
In a blender put:
2 cloves garlic
huge tablespoon of dijon
couple glugs of vinegar (i have been using an orange/champagne/muscat from Trader Joe's that is fun)
equal amount of olive oil (i like it vinegary)
a bunch of basil leaves - to taste (i used about 25 smallish leaves)
salt and pepper

WHIZ on high in your blender until emulsified. Dressing made this way will not break, and will keep well for at least 4-5 days. Would also make a good dip for veg, spread on panini, marinade for poultry/fish, and probably 5 other ways I haven't come up with ;)