Zucchini pancakes

Great recipe shared from Langwater farm. Served it with a salad, Langwater romaine lettuce, cucumber, and carrots. Whole family helped make dinner too!

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Weekly CSA Share

• 5 zucchini
  zucchini patties (like pancakes), grilled zucchini w/ garlic oil
• 1 bunch carrots or turnips
  Gujarati Carrot and Peanut Salad
• 1 bunch beets
  Roasted beets and sauteed beet greens
• 1 bunch spring onions
  grilled spring onions
• 1 bunch kale
  greens & beans
• 1 bunch rainbow chard or bok choy
  stir-fry bok choy & snow peas w/ shrimp & scallops
• 1 head lettuce
• 1 bulb fennel
  cucumber, fennel salad
• 1 kohlrabi
  roasted w/ parmesan cheese

mozzarella, tomato and strawberry salad - french fridays w/dorie

When my daughter was three we thought it disgusting when she dipped her strawberries in ketchup. Then my husband tried it and thought she was a genius. I guess this salad wasn't too far away from that concept! I did some modifications, even though we had beautiful, sweet, tart, local strawberries. I loved the idea of using a balsamic glaze and, can you believe, I didn't have any fresh basil? I had to use frozen, but it was still good. I turned mine into an antipasto, to make a full meal our of it. I really didn't experience any wow factor with this one, but it was tasty and a nice alternative way to eat the strawberries that I can't help buying each week. I also think that the weather didn't cooperate - as we were eating it, we mentioned it would probably be much more enjoyable if it wasn't raining and chilly. On a hot summer day I'll certainly try it again!

CSA Share for the week

1 bag spinach
sauteed with garlic?

update: spinach salad w/ bacon, dijon dressing, soft boiled egg

1 head broccoli
Lemon Fettuccine with Broccoli and Pancetta "Croutons"

1 kohlrabi & 1 bunch kale
Sauteed Kale w/ Kohlrabi
update: kale chips

1 bunch beets
still have last weeks, so big roast beet salad w/ walnuts & bleu cheese

1 bunch garlic scapes
Grilled potatoes & garlic scapes (again!)

1 bunch rainbow carrots
these are so pretty, probably add to the ginger marinated turnips we still have in the fridge

3 zucchini
grilled

2 half-pints sugar snap peas
sauteed or just out of hand - lunch snack!

I actually made:

• thai bean noodles w/ shrimp, scallops, sugar snap peas, carrots, and bok choy
• spinach salad w/ bacon, dijon dressing, soft boiled egg
• kale chips

Roasted rhubarb - french fridays w/dorie

I'll post the photos later, but the best part about this one was the taste. I did make a special trip to a place that has local rhubarb because the last time I made it, I got it from the market and it was awful. It could have been the way I fixed it, but I don't think so.

Anyway, tonight's made up for it, but I really used the review as a cooking guide. I didn't want go too sweet and 1/2 cup sugar was more than I needed. I was going to make Dorie's seafood pot au feu, and that called for grated ginger. The honey with rhubarb sounded very good so I mixed some of the ginger with a couple tablespoons of a wonderful grapefruit honey I got in CA in March. I didn't add anything else, but followed the baking instructions.

It was really good and I liked this way of preparing the vegetable? We had it with vanilla ice cream and chocolate cake. My daughter's birthday party is tomorrow (today now), and there were scraps of cake that required eating. The sour, sweet, chocolate (bitter, maybe), and spicy, all tasted wonderful together. It was fun how the flavors would pop out at different times.

Here are the pictures:

You can see how much honey I used - not that much!

Didn't brown like I hoped it would, but the roasting made a very nice syrup.

CSA Shares

1 bunch beets
roast beets w/ balsamic vinegar & bleu cheese

2 bunches greens  (kale, chard, bok choy, or broccoli rabe)
stir-fried shrimp w/ bok choy & broccoli rabe

1 bunch turnips or radishes
More pickled ginger turnips

1 bunch spinach
bacon and eggs and spinach salad - Dorie

1 head broccoli
steamed

1 bunch spring onions
Spring Onion & Smoked Salmon Frittata

1 bunch garlic scapes
Barbequed Potato and Garlic Scape Packets

1 half-pint sugar snap peas
seafood pot-au-feu - Dorie

cola and jam spareribs - French Fridays w/ Dorie

Wow, the whole family loved these. I happened to have all the spices on hand and got some lovely ribs from the market. Though they weren't baby back, they were very meaty. The only thing I'd do differently is roast them in a smaller pan. The one I used had too much surface area and the glaze evaporated too quickly. This produced some very toasty ribs. The other flavors came through, but to me, the "burnt" taste overshadowed the more subtle citrus flavors.

Other than that, awesome. Husband was also able to take the rest of the soda to work, because we never have that in the house. Got the 2 liter because it was just as cheap as getting a small bottle! Didn't Michael Pollan have a chapter about that in The Omnivore's Dilemma?

The ribs lasted for a few meals, which is a great thing for a hot week. Was smart this time and made these way before the looming Friday deadline!

Spring's Bounty

Did a lot of cooking this week with our CSA share. Here are some highlights:

Beautiful rainbow chard made an excellent dinner the other night. My little helper tore the chard and chopped the mushrooms, which were sauteed with garlic, prosciutto, and a can of butter beans. We all loved it. But clearly we needed more chard! I knew it would cook down to almost nothing, but the ratio was way off for us.



I also picked up another quart of beautiful berries and added some into a salad and the rest just ate out of hand. Could have eaten the whole quart by myself, but wanted to share the sweetness with my sweeties!

CSA Shares

I know I'm going to want to remember what we got for the season, so I thought this would be a good way to keep track. Also for those who would be interested in getting a CSA, I hope a nice reference.

6/8/11 - Whole Share: 1 bunch radishes, 1 bunch hakurei turnips, 1 bunch garlic scapes, 1 bunch red russian kale or rainbow chard, 1 head lettuce, 1 bunch baby bok choy, 1 bunch broccoli raab

6/2/11 - Whole Share: 1 bunch Hakurei Turnips, 1 bunch Red Russian Kale, 1 head Lettuce, 1 bag Mesclun Mix, 1 bunch choice of kale or turnips
5/25/11 - Whole Share: 2 herb plants or bunch herbs, 2 bags arugula, 1 bag mesclun or arugula, 1 head lettuce, 1 bunch radishes

warm weather vegetable pot au feu - French Fridays w/ Dorie

As I was prepping the vegetables for this, I thought, "I'm getting pretty tired of asparagus", "these potatoes are far from round and full of pesticides", "Shara's going to hate all these vegetables", "this arugula is going to make this bitter", and on and on. I guess I was a little nervous making this since I couldn't get the season's best and most tender vegetables and with the vegetables being the star of the dish, though it was going to bomb. Then when the eggs and my finger hit the boiling water at close to my daughter's bedtime, and daughter refused to put out the vitamins (her job) and then decided that she wasn't going to eat dinner at all, I thought, "%$&@ this, let me get a couple of pictures and if anyone wants to eat, they can eat, I don't care."

Husband then talks down daughter and he puts out vitamins while she comes to the table to eat, I realize the eggs aren't hard-boiled and the bowl looks and smells wonderful. Then we start eating and we're all really impressed. Daughter tries everything, including the shiitaki (hates them), leeks, and spinach (really likes). I thought it was great the way the egg yolk made the broth into a rich sauce. I topped it with an arugula/basil mix and grated parmigiana. It was so good, and really looking forward to the leftovers, even though Dorie says it doesn't keep. I think it will be fine, but really needs the egg.

I wonder if anyone poached the eggs in the broth? I thought of trying that - always looking to cut down on the number of pots I use, but didn't want to chance it the first time making this. I'll be posting pictures tomorrow.

Beautiful new cookbook

cardamom rice pilaf - French Fridays w/ Dorie

As often happens with recipes from Around my French Table, this dish will become part of my everyday repertoire. It was easy to make and tasted great. I love basmati rice, but never dress it up. This rice really was good enough to stand on its own. I had picked up lovely wintered over carrots and beets at Langwater the other day and looked in the book to find another recipe I've made before - butter glazed spiced carrots, which used the same ingredients as the rice, so cooking them at the same time was quite simple.

The beets were originally going to be "honey lime beet salad", but turned into "honey lemon dijon beet salad" after I found out I didn't have any limes. Didn't matter, it was still very yummy. The beets and carrots were very sweet and flavorful. As suggested by Dorie, I put the beets over some of the arugula from our CSA order.

Very nice, light, meal to start the holiday weekend. I loved all the flavors together, as did Alan. Shara was in quite a mood, but first impression was a thumbs up for the rice and beets, down for the carrots. 

Arugula

Last night we finished the first bag of arugula. I made pizza dough in the morning and by the time it got shaped and topped, it was so late we didn't eat until 7:30 PM! However, it was really good. I made one with tomato sauce, prosciutto and cheese, and one with sliced tomatoes, prosciutto and a little mozzarella. As it was cooking I reduced some balsamic and mixed it with the arugula. Then that and shaved parmigiano reggiano topped the hot pizza. Even Shara liked it, but she wasn't in the mood for it so she had peanut butter and superfruit, but didn't eat the crusts.

First CSA pickup

We got our first CSA pickup today from Langwater Farms (http://langwaterfarm.com/). For the time of year and the weather, it was a pretty good assortment. I was worried about the amount of arugula we were scheduled to get, but it was fine.

This was our first weeks selection:
Arugula, 2 bags - not bitter at all.
Mesclun, 1 bag - what an amazing variety and everything was so fresh and yummy.
Lettuce, took a head of the red leaf, which will become part of tomorrows lunch.
Radishes, 1 bunch and they are so mild and crunchy. From not liking radishes at all to looking forward to having them again
Herbs, took 2 seedlings, thyme and sage. Hopefully I won't kill them.
I also couldn't resist some carrots and a humongous beet!

So I made salad for dinner, which was very much like the last salad I made for FFWD. I even had some of the very same bacon left. I took some leftover hollandaise, warmed it a bit, added more lemon to thin, and tossed the arugula, mesclun, radishes, and leaf lettuce.
Shara had an egg sandwich with pie filling. No, not fruit from langwater, but strawberry and rhubarb from the farmers outlet.

No, we didn't eat it all, but I'm certainly not overwhelmed with the amount. If it starts getting to be too much with the greens, just have to saute them and they'll shrink down.

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Better with Bacon

Made the asparagus we got yesterday at the farmers market and good thing I peeled it because as our was, it was quite sandy. Tasite was great though. As was the hollandaise and salmon and pea shoots. And of course bacon crumbled over all!

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First farmers market today

Today was the first local farmers market and guess what I came home with? More asparagus, but local, organic! I also picked up some pea shoots, baby bok choy, and a couple of beautiful tomato plants. I hope they stay beautiful. My garden is so hit or miss, it's & good thing i decided to get a CSA share this year.

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bacon, egg & asparagus salad - French Fridays w/ Dorie

I love eggs, and bacon, and salads that taste better when you get little bites of everything together! My quest for local asparagus has yet to be fulfilled, but I got some really nice, big fresh stalks at the local market. Nicer than I've seen all season, and just in time for this weeks assignment. I asked my husband to look up what the dish was for this week and he kept saying, "bacon, egg & steak salad" wishful thinking, but he liked it, though he could, "do without the asparagus". I even peeled them and didn't over-cook them. I actually liked it much better room temperature than warm. Lately I've also been loving the taste of runny egg yolks and lettuce - last year I started making over easy egg sandwiches with lettuce, tomato, bacon & mayonnaise on homemade toast. So good! This was a hint of that, but a salad makes a nice light dinner. I think Dorie's suggestion of saying the little prayer of, "please don't let my eggs break" as they're going into the water is a good one, but with my sister's wonderful chicken eggs, I didn't need any extra help! If I only had her bacon, it would have been perfect, but without, it was still a nice meal. My daughter had a deconstructed version, tried and hated the asparagus, loved the bacon, had a little of the lettuce, and ate two eggs.

Spinach Pasta

    Sunday is a great day to make pasta. Saturday we stopped at Langwater Farm and picked up some fresh, organic vegetables, spinach being one. It was hard to decide how to prepare it, but I think this was a good decision!

I then had to figure out the sauce, and had a few pieces of cooked bacon left over from last week's quiche and had just gotten other vegetables from the market, so sauteed the vegetables, lots of garlic, and a tomato. Added some half & half, lemon zest and the bacon and voila, wonderful pasta!

Spinach & Bacon Quiche - french friday w/ Dorie

I love that this quiche only had a sprinkle of parm on the top, rather than filled with shredded cheese. I used a frozen pie shell from Whole Foods and my daughter actually said that was her favorite part, though she did like the filling too. If I make anything with bacon in my house, it's a hit!

This is a rare time that I didn't do that much tweaking. No surprise, but I used 1/2 and 1/2 instead of cream, and I had a huge container of Olivia's Organics spring greens I wanted to use up. I had no idea what it would be like, with such a mix of flavors, but it was great. The bacon was a strong flavor, but I could still taste the greens and parm cheese. And yes, the crust was truly excellent! It turned out to be a great meal for a weeknight.
[Photos taken by my almost 7 year old daughter!]

Follow-up, tourteau du cheve

Wow, no one could taste the goat cheese in the torte at all. I took the advice of others and drizzled with honey. This was grapefruit honey and was just perfect. It gave the torte the right amount of tart and sweet. The tart pastry crust stayed crispy too. Everyone was quite impressed and couldn't believe how easy it was to make. There were lots of desserts for so few of us, and I had to take forkfulls and feed people. They were all glad I did. Even my sister, who doesn't normally eat white sugar made an exception and now wants to make it herself

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