Taking a CSA Break But Still Cooking Organic!

Yesterday was the last basket of my current CSA share commitment. 14 weeks since the first basket arrived! It was my intention to switch our 'subscription' to an every OTHER week program to reduce the pressure of using all the produce in one week, be a bit more pragmatic with the expense, and still carry on our support of the CSA concept. Morning Song Farms disallows vacation skips when you go every other week and I have a lot of travel scheduled this month and through the end of the year. As such, I will use this time to reflect on the experience and make my decision as to whether or not we will continue when the dust settles. I hope to post a bit on a trip or two to a local farmer's market and compare the two organic experiences.

Despite the lack of posts, I think the others here are still going strong with their CSA boxes. Hopefully they will continue to share as well.

In the meantime, I still have lots of zucchini from Morning Song Farm! That's just fine with me as its always been a favorite. Several pieces went into this dish I made for a dinner party last weekend, Vegetable Tian. Its a great baked veggie dish that only uses a little gruyere so it remains a healthy oven dish for a buffet.

I've copied the recipe after the jump but you can get both this and other recipes, as well as a full report on the menu here.


Vegetable Tian:

Adapted from Ina Garten, "Barefoot in Paris".

Ingredients

* Good olive oil
* 2 large yellow onions, cut in half and sliced
* 2 garlic cloves, minced
* 3/4 pound yellow squas, yellow zucchini.
* 3/4 pound zucchini
* 1 1/4 pounds medium tomatoes
* 1 teaspoon kosher salt
* 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
* 1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves, plus extra sprigs
* 2 ounces Gruyere cheese, grated

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

Brush a 9 by 13 by 2-inch baking dish with olive oil. In a medium saute pan, heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil and cook the onions over medium-low heat for 8 to 10 minutes, until translucent. Add the garlic and cook for another minute. Spread the onion mixture on the bottom of the baking dish.

Slice the potatoes, zucchini, and tomatoes in 1/4-inch thick slices. Layer them alternately in the dish on top of the onions, fitting them tightly, making only 1 layer. Sprinkle with salt, pepper, thyme leaves, and thyme sprigs and drizzle with 1 more tablespoon of olive oil. Cover the dish with aluminum foil and bake for 35 to 40 minutes, until the potatoes are tender. Uncover the dish, remove the thyme sprigs, sprinkle the cheese on top, and bake for another 30 minutes until browned. Serve warm.

What is That? A French Breakfast Radish!

Another new item in the box this week: The French Breakfast Radish. How did I know that you might ask? My friend Cindy blogged about them not that long ago and how she had made Bon Appetit's Green Bean Salad with Radishes and Prosciutto.

I will definitely be making this before the weekend! I don't know if I'll get the ricotta salata as I have a lot of feta on hand. (Always.) Whole Foods is so close thought so I might break down and get it.

Swiss Chard That I Almost Put in the "Share Box"!

OMG! I almost gave up my Swiss Chard today into the share basket. But Trevor saved the day by telling me that it's good and I should keep it. So, I made this recipe and it was delicious! I especially liked the spiciness of the crushed red pepper. And I guess it didn't hurt that I smeared Smart Balance and salt on it in the end. He he he. I learned two things from this 1) maybe I don't want to discontinue my CSA subscription because I never would have bought swiss chard for myself and 2) fresher is definitely better when it comes to swiss chard.

P.S. I was thinking about not renewing due to financial circumstances (I'm a cheapskate!), however if I didn't have my box today, I might have just eaten a bowl of ice cream or cereal for dinner. Yikes!

FreshMint - Keep It That Way!

I absolutely love the smell of fresh mint and the way the velvety leaves feel between my fingers, almost like a nice scarf you could twirl and play with absentmindedly. However, I find it hard to keep my mint fresh and soft and velvety. I don’t have that many recipes that call for fresh mint, but just when I want to add a little mint to my fruit salad or top off a cloud of whipped cream, I find my once beautiful, fragrant mint has browned and shriveled in the bag or water bath in which I’d left it. Humph.

Recently I learned a couple of tips to keep the leaves fresh and flavorful for more than a day or so. It’s not very time consuming but these techniques go a long way for preservation.

Fresh Mint in the Fridge

1) Rinse your mint as soon as you get it home and lay it out on a towel to dry.
2) Separate the leaves.
3) With another towel or paper towel blot the mint to really get the excess water off the leaves.
4) Then pinch off the individual leaves and layer them in an airtight container. Store these in your refrigerator.

Fresh Mint in your Freezer

Follow the same steps above up to step 3. Once you’ve blotted away the excess moisture, lay the springs of mint on one side of a paper towel and fold the other side over. Put the folded paper towel in a Ziplock and squeeze out the excess air. Fold the bag over and place it flat in the freezer. You will have fresh mint whenever you need it.

Basil Cherry Tomatoes

I started life as someone who did not like tomatoes and ended up quite the fan. I eat at least a pint of cherry tomatoes a week, mostly in my lunch salads. They are so convenient and when I add them to the salad I take for lunch to work every day I know they won't get all watery on my afternoon meal. When they are especially abundant I like to cook them up as a side dish for anything I might be grilling for the evening. My preferred method is a 'recipe' I picked up from my good friend Gary. Gary probably got it from the doyenne of roasting, Barbara Kafka and it became a staple in both our daily fares. Barbara has an easy method for roasting. No matter what it is, roast it at 500 degrees. Whether it is your Thanksgiving turkey, pork tenderloin or veggies, foat it at 500 degrees. Any less and you are just steaming your food and missing out on all that roasting has to offer.

Back to the cherry tomatoes:

2 pints cherry tomatoes or grape tomatoes
2 TBS Olive Oil
Garlic Salt
Salt
Pepper
2 TBS fresh basil, cut into a chiffonade

Put the cherry tomatoes in a heavy roasting pan with the olive oil and shake to cover tomatoes. Liberally season tomatoes with garlic salt, salt, and pepper and shake again to distribute. Put tomatoes in oven and keep an eye on them until they cook through and 'burst', about 10 minutes. if tomatoes start to brown, shake the pan until desired doneness is achieved. i like to pull them out JUST as they start to brown but if they go brown, they are still going to be quite tasty! Add basil and mix to distribute then serve.

Sugar-Free Virgin Mojito

This easy recipe yields a mighty refreshing guilt-free mojito on a warm summer day!!

• 1 can Diet Hansen's Tangerine Lime soda
• Fresh Mint Leaves (thanks CSA!!)
• Ice

Pour soda over ice and mint leaves. The longer it sets, the mintier it gets!! Mmmmm! But don't let it set too long or it will lose its fizz.

Maybe later tonight I'll add the white rum...:)

Hummus Recipe

After thinking we have nothing in the house to eat, I Googled hummus recipes. This is what I found out how to do; a very impressive hummus recipe sure to please guests. I didn't have a food processor, so I used my Vita-Mix machine. I am a big fan of Vita-Mix!!


Ingredients (add all to food processor):

1. 1 can garbonzo beans (or chick peas) (drain and rinse)


2. 1/4c to 1/2c of tahini (mix it in the jar before pouring out to merge the oil with the sesame)


3. 1/2c to 1/4c greek style plain lowfat yogurt (find at Wholesome Choice, Super Irvine, middle eastern food stores)


4. 3 or 4 mint leaves (I used the fresh mint leaves from my CSA basket. Thanks Farmer Donna!)


5. Juice of 1 lemon


6. 2 tsp ready to use minced garlic with 1/2 tsp. salt

Process all the above ingredients in your food processor or Vita-Mix. Use rubber spatula to check consistency. I saw that it was pretty think, so I added 2 tbsp of water and mixed again until smooth. At this point, you can add more lemon (in the form of citric acid - which I do not have). Just use 1/2 tsp.

Plate it!!! It looks fancier and more inviting to dipping chips in (see picture).
Spread on plate with spatula. Sprinkle chopped parsley (thanks CSA!!), sliced black olives, and paprika. Drizzle some extra virgin olive oil on it. I tasted it and decided it needed grounded Cayenne Pepper which I lightly dusted it with to give it some heat. Whala!! Perfecto delicious!!!

I might even make a veggie sandwich and use this hummus as the spread!! Or you can just dip chips or pita chips in it. Or dip veggies in it like broccoli, cherry tomatoes or cauliflower.

Fruit Smoothie

I love my daily fruit smoothie so much I had to share the recipe with you all.

Must include:
Sliced Apple (with peel on)
Peeled Kiwi
crushed ice
liquid (see below)

Any of the following:
scooped out passion fruit (no seeds)
Berries (blueberries, strawberries, and/or raspberries)

Must have some liquid:
Use water and lemon juice or squeeze an orange
Or use fresh (not frozen)grapes (best to use red and green grapes together) with orange juice

Put all ingredients in magic bullet and blend for 1-2 minutes until smooth. It tastes like a drinkable fancy apple sauce. Perfect to get your after lunch fiber fix!

Things to do with Basil.

Basil is abundant now. We all know that means pesto time. Pesto is a cook's way of preserving the goodness of basil for use at a later time. As long as you have a food processor there is never a reason to let any pesto go to waste. Gillian and Caitie made pesto as did I when we were fortunate enough to get it in our CSA box. That very same week my good friend Cindy made pesto and blogged about it and kindly revealed her secret pesto ingredient, lemon juice. I scoffed at first because, like all cooks, I thought nobody could beat my pesto recipe but Cindy was right. In the blind taste test it was the addition of just a bit of lemon juice that took my recipe to a new height.

I was lucky enough to get two bundles with my CSA because somebody put a bunch in the exchange basket. I snapped it up! With most of it I made pesto (of course) because I needed a cup of it for a Pasta Pesto and Peas salad I had on the menu for a family picnic last weekend. Like most of my "secret recipes" this one was Ina Garten's first and it has become a 'go to' recipe for me for picnics and potlucks year after year. I had plenty of pesto left over so in addition to using it on some broiled tomatoes I used some for a pizza sauce when I had to find a way to use up the rest of last week's basket!

I don't think that there is anything that isn't made better with a little pesto on it. This past week pesto found its way onto grilled and roasted veggies, into a turkey sandwich, and even into a salad dressing. Fresh basil itself, however, is just as easy to use on its own. In fact, the many Persians I know eat it just as is, fresh, as a palatte cleanser with other fresh herbs like tarragon. Its actually quite good. I was at a party at my friend Meshia's house and look what she did with fresh basil: Mini caprese salads! They were so pretty on the platter that I had to take a picture of them.

Just thread the marinaided mozzarella balls on a toothpick with a basil leaf and a cherry tomato. Serve with a dipping sauce of olive oil and balsamic vinegar. How easy is that? Have a few sprigs left? I made a simple syrup with lemon zest and a handful of basil leaves for these lemon basil cakes. In fact, the syrup is now in my refridgerator begging to be used for some new invention. Any ideas?

Lemon Cakes with Lemon Basil Syrup:

For cakes:
1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, softened, plus 1 1/2 tablespoons, melted
3/4 cup matzo cake flour plus additional for dusting
2/3 cup plus 1/4 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 large eggs, separated, at room temperature for 30 minutes
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon finely grated lemon zest

For syrup:
1 1/4 cups sugar
1 1/2 cups water
1 (4- by 1-inch) strip fresh lemon zest
1/2 cup fresh lemon juice
8 large fresh basil sprigs For whipped cream
1 cup chilled heavy cream

Make cakes:Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 350°F. Lightly brush 8 muffin cups with some of melted butter and chill 2 minutes, then butter again and chill 1 minute more. Dust cups with matzo cake flour, knocking out excess.
Beat together softened butter, 2/3 cup sugar, and 1/8 teaspoon salt in a large bowl with an electric mixer at medium-high speed until pale and fluffy, then add egg yolks, 1 at a time, beating until well blended. Beat in lemon juice and 2 teaspoons zest until combined. Add flour and mix at low speed until just combined.

Beat whites with remaining 1/8 teaspoon salt in another bowl with cleaned beaters until they hold soft peaks. Add 2 tablespoons sugar, a little at a time, beating, then beat until whites just hold stiff peaks. Stir one fourth of whites into yolk mixture to lighten, then fold in remaining whites gently but thoroughly. Spoon batter into 8 prepared muffin cups.
Blend remaining 2 tablespoons sugar and 1 teaspoon zest with your fingertips and sprinkle over batter, then bake until cakes are puffed, edges are golden, and a wooden pick or skewer inserted in center of cake comes out clean, 20 to 25 minutes. Cool cakes in pan on a rack 15 minutes, then lift out cakes carefully (tops will break easily) and cool completely on rack.

Make syrup:Bring all syrup ingredients to a boil, covered, in a 3-quart heavy saucepan over moderate heat, stirring occasionally, then remove lid and boil 10 minutes. Pour syrup through a sieve into a bowl, pressing on and then discarding solids. Cool to room temperature. Syrup can be made ahead of time and stored in the refridgerator.

Assemble dessert:Beat cream in a bowl with cleaned beaters until it just holds stiff peaks.
Spoon 1/4 cup syrup into each of 8 shallow bowls and top with cakes. Spoon whipped cream on top of cakes.

Will we get any more basil this week?

Keeping It Simple: Grapefruit

I had forgotten how good a grapefruit can be. Perhaps it was because the last I had from the grocery store were too bitter or perhaps my brain just hasn't been thinking about simple cooking the last few months. The last two weeks baskets had grapefruit that was just amazing. While grapefruit makes a great ingredient in salad dressings and you won't get any argument from me on how great citrus for cooking with fish, but to my way of thinking there are only two things to do with a fresh, sweet, juicy grapefruit like these:

The first, of course, is to slice, segment, and eat it for breakfast. Grapefruit is served "classic style" when it is eaten with a slice of toast and coffee. But if the work day is complete or you are otherwise enjoying a Sunday afternoon. and have a juicy grapefruit available, make a Greyhound!

It is a criminal waste of vodka to make a greyhound with canned or bottled grapefruit juice so I only enjoy this classic cocktail when I have a grapefruit on hand. Fill a highball to the rim with ice. Add 2 oz. vodka (or your preference) and then add the juice of one grapefruit (including just enough pulp to your own taste. ) Pour contents of glass into shaker and back into the glass to mix well. Garnish with lime. This is one of the most refreshing drinks there is. (If you salt the rim of the glass and you have a "salty dog". Get it?)

Beautiful Basil

When our CSA boxes came last week, I had a hard time extracting my nose from the sweet, pungent basil bouquet we received. It was big enough to cradle like an armful of beauty pageant roses, and cradle it I did...briefly. Then I got to work on making some delicious pesto with both basil and arugula.

Basil Arugula Pesto

I like to do all of this in my Cuisinart in the interest of time. All the pesto can be done to taste, depending on what you want to pair it with. A dipping sauce might be a little lighter whereas the pesto I like to use for my pasta and chicken has a bit of heat from the garlic and arugula.

2 cloves of garlic
1 tsp sea salt
1 cup lightly packed basil leaves plus 5-6 arugula leaves
¼ cup + lightly toasted pine nuts
¼ cup + freshly grated Parmesan-Reggiano
½ cup good tasting olive oil

Combine garlic and salt in a food processor until finely chopped. Add the basil and pine nuts and pulse until finely minced, then add the parmesan and do the same. Use your spatula and scrape all the goodies off the side of the bowl before adding the olive oil. While the blade is moving, slowly pour in the olive oil and just run the food processor until the pesto is to your desired consistency.

Pesto Pasta

Prepare your pasta to al dente and reserve some of your pasta water (a ½ cup or so). Put your strained pasta back in the pot and pour in your reserved pasta water. This will keep the noodles from sticking. Add in ¾ c to a cup of your fresh pesto and toss the pasta.

I grilled chicken breasts, cut them up and then finished them on the stove with a little pesto as well.


I topped the fettuccini and pesto chicken with some of those beautiful little tomatoes from our CSA shares. Voila!

What Do I Do with All This *%&$#@ Zucchini?

If it is summer, it is zucchini time. It wouldn't really make a difference if I were in a CSA or not, when it is summer, there is a constant stream of zucchini coming into our house. It seems that everyone plants this in their summer gardens and everyone gets a bumper crop. My favorite way to eat zucchini is to just grate it and saute it quickly with some shallots or just salt and pepper. On Sunday I still had last week's CSA zucchini (still quite fresh) and this week's. Six was just enough to make one of my favorite recipes Mom used to make when she had her bumper crop of zucchini: Stuffed Zucchini (she used to call it "Zucchini Boats" thinking that would make vegetables sound more exciting to kids I think.) Anyway, these are great with hamburgers or any grilled meat and especially good for Sunday bbq's because they can be made ahead of time and popped into the oven while you are getting everything else readys

Zucchini Boats

• 6 zucchini (medium sized)
• 1/3 mayonaise, low fat will work.
• 1/3 cup parmesan cheese
• 1/2 tomato, peeded, diced, and drained. (I never peel 'em really. . . )
• 1/2 onion, diced.
• Salt and pepper to taste

Parboil in salted water the zucchini until barely tender, 7 minutes. Let cool a minute or two ands slice them lengthwise. Scoop out the center with a small spoon, reserving the pulp. Remove water from pulp by draining over sieve, cheesecloth, or even blotting with paper towel.

Chop pulp and stir in remaining ingredients. Fill shells and place in shallow pan. Salt and pepper to taste nd bake at 425 until filling mixture begins to puff and turn golden. About 20-25 minutes.