Weekly CSA Share

• 6 pickling cucumbers - 3 add to pickle pot, cucumber salad
• 1 slicing cucumber - slice & eat
• 1 lb new potatoes - Grilled warm potato salad
• 1 bunch onions - sliced & grilled
• 4 zucchini/summer squash or 1 lb green beans - sauteed green beans w/ tomatoes & basil
• 1 half-pint sungold cherry tomatoes - eat out of hand
• 1 bunch beets - roast & toss w/ balsamic & blue cheese
• 1 bag basil
• 1 head garlic

mixed berry terrine - French Fridays w/ Dorie

It seems as though I got the weeks mixed up, but it worked very well with the hot weather we've been having here in the Northeast. I picked fresh blueberries on Monday, had time and a peach, so I decided to go rogue and break from the recipe in the book (how unlike me). The results were great. Don't be fooled by the sophisticated title, this is homemade jello, but it tastes so much better!

I had some passion fruit juice in my cupboard and lots of gelatin leftover from serving Knox Blox at a birthday party a couple of years ago. The first try at the recipe failed - I was doing my usual mental math - just halving the recipe, but was talking and used a package of gelatin and a whole cup of water when it should have been only a half cup. So that got washed down the drain and I started again with much better success. The juice gets mixed with the desolved gelatin and refrigerated until it is slightly thickened. I chilled it for the recommended time but my was pretty close to completely set, so I put it on the stove for a few to "melt" down. It was fine and I was able to add in the fruit, put it all in my new Pyrex loaf pan and it solidified in time for dessert.

I was able to get it to unmold after putting hot water on the outside of the pan and running a knife around the edges. I didn't want to take a chance with the blueberries, so I used a serrated knife. It worked quite well.

Weekly CSA Share

5 zucchini/summer squash - zucchini "pasta", grilled, zucchini bread

2 slicing cucumbers - slice & eat

4 pickling cucumbers - pickles

1 pint new potatoes - steamed w/ salt & butter

1 bunch beets - roasted

1 head lettuce - salad

1 bunch squash blossoms - Squash blossom quesadillas

1 pound green beans - freeze

1 bunch basil or cilantro

Cold melon soup w/ berries - French Fridays w/ Dorie

This was the fastest recipe of Dorie's I've had so far. I made it in about 15 minutes, before taking my daughter to camp this morning. I bought the melon the other day. The directions said "dead ripe" and it was that. I wish I could remember the name of the melon, but it was pretty much a cantaloupe.

I already had ginger and thought I had a lime, but luckily I had an unopened bottle of some brand of organic lime juice handy. I didn't see the need to keep the melon balls and puree separate for chilling, so put it all together.

I also was in too much of a rush so didn't read carefully enough and mixed the ginger and lime with the melon before chilling, rather than just before serving. I'm very curious if that made a big difference or not.

So for serving, I chopped up some very sweet strawberries and skipped the wine, since my daughter was going to have this and I didn't want to worry about keeping them separate. The other change I made, and it was a biggie, was to add some fresh basil. I know strawberries and basil are common flavors to have together, as are melon, prosciutto and basil, so I didn't think it would be that far of a stretch. It was a very heavy flavor though, so for the leftovers I'll try less or none. Probably none.

The big response from the family was that soup has such a strong connotation to be hot, that this shouldn't be called soup. The other thing we found was that none of us could eat / drink very much of it, certainly not at one time. Sipping seemed to be the most enjoyable. I probably won't make this again, at least not as is, but it was so beautiful, I want to try something similar. Very curious to hear what others thought of this. I can't figure out why it didn't go over better with all of us. I must have needed a better melon, less ginger? obviously no basil, and maybe even the lime wasn't enough.

Weekly CSA Share

5 zucchini/summer squash + 2 from last week:
stuffed pattypan & globe
grilled yellow in minestrone x
zucchini fritatta x
yellow & green zucchini ribbons sauteed in garlic butter w/ parm. cheese & basil x

1 bunch turnips:
roasted x

1 bunch beets + 1 from last week:
roasted x
roasted x

1 head lettuce:
garden salad x
salad or sandwich w/ bacon & soft boiled egg, lettuce & tomatoes

Choose 2: bok choy, fennel
kale, sauteed  w/ garlic & chicken x
Chinese cabbage: minestrone, x

1 bunch spring onions:
grilled x

3 pickling cucumbers
sliced & eaten x
mixed with garlic & yogurt x

1 bunch cilantro or basil x

shopping list
bacon
eggs
tomato - 2

Surprisingly good dinner

I don't know why I don't think I like fennel because I really do. For dinner we had a wonderful double fennel chicken. I modified the recipe by adding turnips and spring onions with the fennel. Then at the end of cooking the fennel, I added in the turnip greens and skipped the parsley.

Date Night - Russell's Tavern

http://www.yelp.com/biz/russell-house-tavern-cambridge#hrid:HtblqxnZn3PDHymh45FL4QLast week we went to Russell's Tavern in Harvard Square and enjoyed a very nice, and not very expensive (rather cheap, really) meal. Review on Yelp.

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Salmon and Tomatoes En Papillote - French Fridays w/ Dorie

We had fun making these tonight. I got all the ingredients prepped and then Shara came over and we put on the toppings together. I stuck to the recipe exactly because it sounded so good without modifying. I like the idea of making this with a Greek twist, as jemangepdx's did. I have always enjoyed the swordfish, kalamata olives, oranges, and tomato combo, and until reading her post, hadn't considered cooking it en papillote, but how easy would that be? I loved baking the fish and love even better serving this for a dinner party, since it can be prepped far in advanced.

I used wild, Alaskan salmon, grape tomatoes and one special Sun Gold from the garden. The herbs were grown at home too, the spring onions came from the CSA, but alas, the lemon was from the market. We voted and kept the fish in the foil, but I'd certainly use parchment if I was making this for company. On the side we had a mix of snap peas, snow peas and green beans, with bok choy, turnip, ginger and garlic, also roasted in the oven, and a nice grainy ciabatta.

Farm Dinner

Wonderful meal, pasta, leftover lamb, beet & turnip greens, broccoli, peas & beans from our garden, herbs, chicken stock and parm cheese. Then on the side was grilled zucchini and spring onions.

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Weekly CSA Share

6 zucchini (x x x x x x)
baked zucchini fries
baked, stuffed zucchini - mushrooms, black olives, onions, shredded zucchini, bread crumbs

1 bunch turnips (1/2x 1/2x)

sauteed in garlic oil w/ kale & broccoli

add to pickles

1 bunch beets
Dorie's lime beet salad

2 heads lettuce (x x)
Salads - romaine; caesar, leaf; dinner salad w/ grilled shrimp

1 bunch kale (x)
sauteed in garlic oil w/ turnips & broccoli

1 bunch chard (x)
greens & beans

1 bunch bok choy (x)
brushed with sesame oil & grilled w/ spring onions

1 head fennel (x)
chicken breasts sauteed w/ fennel
served with sauteed turnips & greens

1 bunch spring onions (x)
grilled w/ bok choy

chunky beets and icy red onions - french fridays w/dorie

Well I'm not sure if anyone's posting this week, but I made the scheduled beets and we all really liked them. Another dish I was happy to make, since I could use some of my CSA booty. Earlier in the week I made Dorie's other beet salad, beets w/ honey lime dressing. That was more to my liking because the flavors were more intense. The next day the lime taste really came through. Back to the red onion salad, my onions weren't red until after them were tossed with the beets, however I'm not sure it really made a difference.

I'm curious to see how thinly others sliced their onions. I sliced them without reading clearly that they should be very thin, then I went back and tried to make them thinner after they had soaked for the day in the cold water in the fridge and they do get crispy - which made them rather difficult to slice and not break. I don't think any of it made a difference. The salad was very good and refreshing and basic. Another great weeknight, or any night, recipe.