Archive for January, 2010

Greetings!

Here’s what I got this week in my share (yours might be slightly different):

Spinach

Purple Mizuna (Ruby Streaks)

Dill

Detroit Red Beets

Easter Egg Radishes

Purple Top Turnips

Red La Soda Potatoes

Braising Mix

And here’s what I am planning to make with it (I’m altering theese recipes slightly, given what I have in my kitchen):

Spinach (for the salad greens): Chinese Chicken Salad (I halved the recipe)

Purple Mizuna (Ruby Streaks): Bacon Balsamic Pear Goat Cheese Sandwiches (stuffed with Purple Mizuna) on crusty bread <- that’s the recipe.  Read Mark Bittman’s Kitchen Express.  Lots of great recipes.  This is one of them - except I added the mizuna part.

Dill: Chopped on my Tuna Salad, Added to homemade ranch, mixed with mayo and lemon juice and zest for a baked “fries” dip.

Detroit Red Beets: Beet and Orange Salad - might not make this, the second I cook my beets, I just eat them all up - none for anyone else.  So, we’ll see how it goes this week.

Beet Greens: Used in place of kale in our Friday night pizza.  Might use Chris Bianco’s pizza dough recipe this week.

Easter Egg Radishes: Another sandwich.  Crusty bread + unsalted butter + thinly sliced radishes + coarse salt + closing your eyes = lunch in France

Purple Top Turnips: Homemade burgers and Mashed Sour Cream and Onion Turnips (I’ll probably mix in some potatoes too)

Red La Soda Potatoes: My dad’s hashbrowns. Scrub, don’t peel, slice into thin rounds.  Heat a non-stick pan with oil or butter or both and cook sliced potatoes with sliced onions until the potatoes are cooked and both are caramelized brown and gorgeous.  Eat with fried eggs and fruit.

Braising Mix: Masa crepes with greens chile and cilantro (subbing braising mix for the chard in the recipe - I’ll probably add the rest of the beet greens too, if I have any).  Saw this in the Deborah Madison cookbook Vegetarian Suppers.  Looks a little time consuming but divine.  I know that if The Splendid Table posted the recipe that it is well worth it.

That’s my plan folks.  Let me know your thoughts, ideas for your share!!

• RT@anthonyverga:@crookedskyfarms going thru our bounty today.Carrots as long as my forearm&radishes size of my head http://twitpic.com/y0hhd #
• RT @eatSlow: http://bit.ly/7OYAyJ London’s Unpackaged Grocery Shop: no packaging #

This looks delicious!  One of our Flagstaff CSA members (Dina Barnese) posted her recipe for this gorgeous soup.  You could absolutely sub any root vegetables for the squash and carrots.

http://flagcsarecipes.blogspot.com/2010/01/creamy-winter-squash-carrot-soup.html

Creamy Winter Squash & Carrot Soup

I used one of the large green squash from last week’s CSA. Was it a Kombucha?

First, I cooked the squash. I scrubbed the outside of it, then cut it in half and scraped the seeds out. I cut each half into four sections and laid them out onto two cookie sheets, skin side up. They overlapped a little bit. I covered the squash with foil and baked at 300 degrees for about an hour and a half. Halfway through, I moved the bottom cookie sheet to the top rack and the top one to the bottom rack. I baked the squash until it was tender when pressed (I used a potholder to press through the foil). I let the squash cool on the baking sheets, then scraped the squash out of the skin. I ended up with four 1-quart containers of cooked squash, which smelled and tasted like pumpkin. Two quarts went into the freezer for later use; two went into the fridge.

Here’s the recipe for the soup:

3 large carrots, sliced lengthwise into fourths, then cut into 1/2″ chunks
1/2 medium onion, chopped
3 large cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp dried thyme or two fresh thyme sprigs
olive oil
1 quart cooked winter squash
1 quart chicken stock
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground black pepper
2 tsp brown sugar
1 cup half and half
fresh nutmeg (ground is OK but fresh has stronger flavor)

Heat 2-3 TBSP olive oil over medium heat in a heavy-bottomed medium sauce pan. Add the carrots, onion, garlic and thyme and saute until the carrots start to get tender. Don’t let the garlic brown.

Stir in he squash and cook another couple minutes. It’s OK if the squash is chunky at this point. Add the chicken stock and turn the heat up until the mixture comes to a boil. Turn back down to medium and add cinnamon, salt, pepper and brown sugar. Simmer, covered, for 30 minutes or until the carrots are tender, stirring every 5 minutes or so.

Puree using a hand blender, or you can put it into a stand blender to smooth it out. Return to the pan and keep hot over low heat. Just before serving, stir in the half and half. Serve immediately and garnish with a sprinkling of fresh ground nutmeg.

Remove the pan from the heat after adding the half and half. This soup can be reheated on the stove over medium-low heat. Stir often while reheating and bring to steaming but not to a boil.

I hope my first meal plan was helpful to you.  Here I am with another set of great recipes to try with your weekly share.

This is what I got this week:

Purple Bok Choy

Cilantro

I-itoi Green Onions

Salad Mix

Rutabagas

Sweet Potatoes

Wheat Berries

Butternut Squash

Here’s what I plan to cook with this delicious share.

A double batch of Brownies (with my steamed pureed leftover greens from last week.)

My friend JJ’s awesome salsa (using the cilantro - reserving some for later dishes) - in a blender put one bunch cilantro, a cup of tomato puree, 1/4 cup of white onion, a pinch of dried crushed red pepper, pinch of salt.  Let ‘er rip and ta da, the best salsa!

Wheat Berry Pancakes

French Bistro Salad (using the salad greens and green onion)

Sweet Potato Hash with Poached Egg

Curried Turnips

Sweet Roasted Butternut Squash with Greens over Bowtie Past

Spicy Chicken Lettuce Wraps (using bok choy, cilantro, green onion and a leftover carrot - might omit the lettuce wrap part and use a tortilla - don’t have a head of lettuce in the fridge)

What do you plan to cook this week?