Enchiladas and Dancing Babies

I kind of feel like I'm drowning in produce..my fridge is ridiculous, my counter is covered with onions and garlic and I have crates of zucchini and summer squash on the floor...sigh.  My plan is to bring some of it to NH this weekend and make a big family feast with the folks, but in the meantime I've been slowly working my way through a few items.

We received a large bag of braising greens again last week. 

As I've mentioned before...I really don't enjoy eating these.  They are extremely bitter and stringy but the thought of tossing them or letting them just wilt into mush makes me sick to my stomach, so I wracked my brain and decided that I would make enchiladas.  Strange thing to concoct with braising greens, I know, but I have made enchiladas with sauteed spinach before so I figured it'd be kind of similar.

On Sunday afternoon, I started by preparing the greens by washing, chopping and sauteing them with some onions, garlic (all from the CSA), and a good dose of ground chipotle pepper.  I let that cool and put it in the fridge for later.  I then diced up a summer squash and just simply sauteed in olive oil, let it cool and stored it for assembly.

After going to the grocery store and picking up the rest of my ingredients, I started got to work.  First I shredded one pre-cooked chicken breast and put that in a bowl with the greens and squash.  I added a good dose of sour cream, 1/2 cup of shredded Mexicans cheese blend and some homemade tomatillo, tomato and peach salsa.

Ingredients for tomatillo, tomato, peach salsa

I then filled large, whole wheat flour tortillas with the mixture, rolled them up and placed them into glass baking dishes.  I poured some premade enchilada sauce and more salsa over the top and sprinkled a generous amount of cheese over everything.  This went into the oven at 375 degrees for about a half hour until browned and bubbly.   SOOOOOOO YUMMY!  A bit spicy, but creamy, and slightly sweet from the onions and peach salsa which really helped cut the bitterness of the greens.  I'd make this again in a heartbeat.

Also, check out the fun eggplant that we received in our share this week.  We've been affectionately calling it the dancing baby!

I'm Back!--Processing Food

Hihi! I'm back! Sorry for the hiatus....I've been feeling less than inspired to write about my food adventures.  Don't get me wrong, I have been cookin' away, making yummy things like Panzanella Salad, and Potato Leek Pizza, but I just haven't been feeling like blogging about it.  However, after this weekend, I have LOTS to write about.

On Sunday, I ventured up to Lake Placid to visit my brother.  He currently works at the North Country School as a Farm Intern--soon to be Farm Education Coordinator (or something like that).  The North Country School is a very cool boarding school/summer camp set at the base of Pitchoff and Cascade Mountains in the heart of the Adirondacks.  The school has an impressive farm which supplies the kitchen  with all kinds of veggies, poultry, pigs, eggs and maple syrup.  They also work to integrate the farm into the school curriculum.  Think of a social studies class discussing regional/cultural cuisine and using food from the farm to prepare a meal, or a science class using the annual pre-Thanksgiving turkey slaughter as a lab.  Pleasant thought I know.

When I arrived on Sunday afternoon, most of the farm staff was busy "processing food."  By this I mean, they were pickling and canning fresh cucumbers, beans and beets for storage.  This is all done for their own personal use, as the kitchen isn't allowed to serve canned veggies to the kids for health code reasons.  I had never seen canning in action before, but it is a very cool process and inspired me to try it!

I was allowed free reign to take whatever I wanted from the farm, and boy, did I.  My eyes might have been a bit bigger than my fridge, but I left with a pretty impressive haul of basil, tomatoes, zucchini, summer squash, cauliflower, broccoli, cabbage, beans, beets, sage, and thyme.

Now that I am back on a fairly normal work schedule, I decided to use my free time after work yesterday to start "processing" my loot from the previous day.  My goal was to start by making pickles!  Before you start canning, you have to wash and sanitize the jars.  This can easily be done in the dishwasher, but because mine decided it was no longer going to work last night, I did this by hand.  I washed the jars and then sanitized them in a big pot of boiling water.  Heating the jars also helps prevent the glass from breaking when the hot brine is added later in the process.

The lids and rings must also be heated to soften the seal and sanitize--but be sure not to bring these to a boil, just a simmer.

While all of this was working on the stove, I made zucchini bread.  My hope was to use up a massive zucchini, but I was able to get the two required cups of grated zucchini from just about half of the veggie.  This recipe made a very large loaf, which I actually cooked in a bunt pan.  Recipe note--I halved the amount of sugar.  It called for 3 CUPS but because it's from Paula Dean, I guess I shouldn't be surprised.

Once the zucchini bread was in the oven, I cleaned and sliced up four large cucumbers.  I placed them in the sanitized jars and added dill seed, a glove of garlic, a slice of jalapeno pepper and some whole pepper corns.  To that I added the hot brine which consisted of water, white vinegar (at a ratio of 2-1) and salt.  It helps if you have a funnel to control spillage.  I placed the lids and rings on the four jars and then put them into a large pot of water to process for 20 minutes.  The "processing" time starts once the water has come to a boil.

While that was working, I made two large batches of pesto, which went into the freezer, and a massive amount of salsa.

Once the jars had processed, I took them out of the water and set them on the counter to cool over night.  The heating and cooling process ensures a tight seal on the lid, which will allow the food to stay preserved for up to a year.  Pretty neat, huh!

Canning is actually pretty easy, despite being a bit time and dish consuming.  The clean up was a bit daunting....

My goal tonight is to turn green beans into Dilly Beans and the 7 lbs of cabbage into sauerkraut!

For more information on the how tos of canning, jarring and pickling check out this website : http://www.freshpreserving.com/getting-started.aspx.

Week 6: Tomatoes!

This week we got our first tomatoes! We only got two, but this is very exciting because it means we are turning the corner, the bright colors will keep coming from this point on.  We did still get quiet a few leafy greens but the variety is slowly increasing.

In this week's share we received: romaine, braising greens, one fennel bulb, sweet onions, two tomatoes, cucumbers, zucchini, summer squash, chives and two pints of blueberries!

Last night was blazing hot, so I stuck to a cold, refreshing dinner before I had to head back into work.

Earlier in the week, I made a yummy salad, comprised of a variety of items from our share. 

I started with a mix of grains: bulgar, Israeli couscous, wild rice and lentils.  I had picked up a "Wild Grains" mix from Trader Joe's last month which included the Israeli couscous, rice and lentils and I had some left over bulgar in my cabinet that I figured I'd just use up.

I started by bringing about 2 cups of chicken stock to a boil and then added in the grains (probably close to 2 cups--no measuring remember), turned off the heat and let the liquid absorb.  This took about 20 minutes.

I then chopped up four radishes, one zucchini, one summer squash, one cucumber, some frozen peas and a big bunch of basil (all from the share!--aside from the peas, of course) and put that in a big bowl.  I then crumbled about a 1/3 of a cup of feta over the top.  Once the bulgar, couscous mixture was ready I added that to the bowl, along with a 1/3 cup of olive oil, 1/4 cup of red wine vinegar, salt and pepper.  I mixed it all together and dug in! 

Last night I ate what was left of this cold salad, over a bed of romaine from the share and a side of sliced tomato.  This is the perfect summer meal.  It was followed by blueberries, a Popsicle and more blueberries...just perfect on a steamy evening!

Stay cool!

Mags, desperately trying to stay cool by snacking on an ice cube.

Week 6: Feeling "Reinspired"

So, I've been on a bit of a blogging hiatus, and I apologize for that.  It's partially because work/life has been busy but also because I had been feeling less than inspired by the weekly goodies in the CSA.  I know I know, it's too early in the season to be throwing in the towel--but trust me, I'm not.  I was just feeling bored with collards, kale, lettuce, spinach.  Those leafy greens would just stare me down every time I opened the fridge, only to be left to wilt.  Shame on me, I know.

But this week, I'm feeling reengergized.  Our share was awesome--the mid summer bounty has begun, along with our fruit share, which is a wonderful addition.  This week's box included lettuce, green beans, sugar snap peas, tons of cukes, tons of zucchini and summer squash, radishes, carrots, a bit of basil and our fruit was two pints of gigantic blueberries! Yay!

I will hold off on sharing what I made last night to recap the one recipe that I did manage to pull together last Saturday.  Several of us attended the Ballet Gala at SPAC on Saturday evening.  This annual event is an interesting mix of "high and low."  People get all dolled up, and then lug in tables, chairs, food and beverages, and set up on the lawn for an evening of ballet, picnicking, fireworks and dancing.  Our group put together a yummy smorgashbord of items and I decided to make one of my FAVORITE recipes--Smitten Kitchen's Zucchini and Ricotta Galette.

Our beautiful spread at the Ballet Gala

It sounds super fancy, but it's actually fairly simple to make, and everyone agreed it's completely delish, mostly because it's a rich combo of various cheeses and zucchini.

I won't rehash the recipe--you can find it here.  I stuck pretty much to the game plan--but I made the dough in the food processor which made it super easy and I eliminated the basil on top, mostly because I didn't have any fresh basil to use.  I've also found that the suggested cooking time is never enough. Maybe it's just my oven, but I always leave the galette in for close to 50 minutes.  ALSO, the egg wash is super important because without it the crust just won't turn that lovely golden color.  My egg wash wasn't very even, so as you can see it browned in some places and not in others.

Letting the zucchini release some of the moisture before assembling.

 I could eat this galette for every meal.  The crust is really flaky and light, and the combo of ricotta, mozzarella and Parmesan makes it really rich and so tasty.  This gets two thumbs up!!

Week 4- Kohlrabi and Giagantic Collards

Hi Friends! Sorry for the lack of posting over the past week.  I honestly haven't been cookin' up much of anything.  On Friday I headed home to New Hampshire to visit my folks and do some car shopping. I'm very happy to report that I can now officially retire my 1997 Saab! Wahoooo! I have all but driven that thing into the ground, in fact a dealer told me he'd give me $200 bucks for it...so sad. 

Anyways, I brought home a few goodies from last week's CSA for my parents (romaine and fennel) which we incorporated into a massive salad for lunch on Sunday, but otherwise that's about all the food prep I'd done, until yesterday.

Week 4's share arrived with some fairly standard goods and one new and bizarre vegetable.  We got more romaine, cilantro, broccoli, cucumbers, peas, collard greens, ONE zucchini (which I found odd) and kohlrabi.  We are still getting a lot of green veggies.  I'm really ready to see the bright reds of heirloom tomatoes, the oranges and yellows of sweet peppers, and the purple of eggplant, but I guess we'll just have to wait a little bit longer.

What, you may be asking, is kohlrabi??? Well of the top of my head, I have no idea.  We did not get this particular veg last year.  But here's a little info for you:

KOHLRABI   These little sputnik-shaped vegetables come in green or purple, can be eaten raw or cooked, and taste a lot like broccoli stems. The word kohlrabi is German for cabbage turnip (kohl as in cole-slaw, and rübe for turnip) though kohlrabi is more related to cabbage and cauliflower than to root vegetables. Eat them raw, just peeled, sliced and added to a salad, but they are also delicious cooked!  (simplyrecipes.com)

The Kohlrabi

Denison Farm sent along a couple of recipes for Kohlrabi including Kohlrabi with Honey Butter and Fruity Kohl-Slaw (clever, right?).  I'm going to think on these...

Last night I decided to use up the remainder of a dozen farmer's market eggs and create a quiche of sorts.  It wasn't a real quiche because I didn't make a crust, so perhaps it was more of a frittata or a baked omelette??? Either way it was cheesy, gooey, yumminess.

I started (as always, it seems) by sauteing one onion and two gloves of garlic in olive oil.  I then added half of a zucchini, very thinly sliced, followed by three gigantic collard greens, chopped into large pieces and salt and pepper.

These collards completely covered my cutting board!

Once the collards were wilted down, I turned of the heat and let all the veggies cool.  The last thing you want to do is make scrambled eggs by adding hot veggies to cold eggs.

In a large bowl I whisked 6 jumbo eggs with a couple of tablespoons of milk.  You could use cream here to make this very rich, or just water if you don't have any dairy on hand. 

Seriously jumbo eggs.

I then added an ounce of herbed goat cheese crumbled and about a half of a cup of shredded sharp cheddar cheese and of course salt and pepper.

Once the veggies were cool I added them to a well greased glass pie dish and poured the egg/cheese mixture over the top. I also added some grated Parmesan cheese for good measure on the top.  I put this into a 425 degree oven for about half an hour, until it was puffed and golden brown.

This was very very cheesy and yummy! I enjoyed the collards, but I really like any wilted green with garlic and olive oil.

I ate my "quiche" with roasted beets from last week's share.

If you don't hear from me before the weekend, have a fabulous 4th of July!  I'll be working...booo but I hope you all get some beach, pool, and sun time!

How gorgeous are these hydrangeas. I saw them on my early morning walk with Maggie today.  The rainbow of blues, purples, and pinks is just stunning!

Week Three--The Everything but the Kitchen Sink Pizza!

Oh dear readers, my plans for using up last week's CSA did not go as - ehem - planned.  No pickles, no kale chips, but I did create my version of an Asian Chicken Salad, and I think I may have overdosed on cabbage.  I ate a head of it in one day...yikes!

Despite not making all the recipes I had planned, I did manage to use up pretty much all of last week's share and was in need of a fridge replenishment.  This week's share included the following: romaine, mesclun salad mix, scallions, fennel, beets, sage and lavender.  Casey and I split things pretty much down the middle, but I took the entire bunch of lavender to dry and make into sachets or something.  Here's my half:

Shadowy photo...sorry

Lots of lavender

For dinner last night, I decided that a pizza was in order because I had dough hanging out in my fridge from our recent Trader Joe's excursion.  I may have gone a bit overboard with ingredients but it resulted in something fabulous.

I started by sauteing 1 thinly sliced vidalia onion over medium heat  for about 5 minutes to really bring out the sweetness.  To the pan I added sliced crimini mushrooms and let those brown. 

I then added the rest of the baby zucchini (chopped), some chopped broccolini and the beet greens from this week's share.  I let this all come together for about 5-7 minutes.

During that time I rolled out the dough on a floured surface and transferred it to an oiled pan.  I spread garlic scape pesto, that I still have from two weeks ago, on the dough and topped with half of a 4 oz "log" (so I guess, 2 oz) of herbed goat cheese.  I then spread the sauteed veggie mixture almost to the edges and topped with a sprinkle of Parmesan cheese.

Almost perfect, except for that one wonky corner....

The pizza cooked for about 20 minutes in a 450 degree oven.  Towards the end, I decided to add a few capers for even more flavor.  This was one of the best pizzas I've made.  It was garlicky, sweet, salty, crunchy and creamy.  I'm so looking forward to leftovers for lunch!

Rumor has it that Casey made a beet and fennel salad and sage polenta last night.  Maybe she'll guest blog about her adventures in polenta!??  Hint, hint...

Good friends, good food.

There is nothing like a weekend on the Cape to leave you feeling rested, slightly sunburned and totally stuffed.  I want to take moment to thank my wonderful friend Jenny for hosting a few of us this past weekend.  We had a great time lounging by the pool, eating massive amounts of seafood and singing at the top of our lungs at the Woodshed. 

I'm not sure there is such a thing as eating too much seafood, but we might have gotten close.  We ate fried calamari, oysters, scallops, lobster rolls and fried clams this weekend and it was all delish.  Check out this massive lobster roll.

Jenny also made the most AMAZING grilled corn I have ever had.  It was basted in a mixture of butter, mayo, lime and few other things and then sprinkled with crumbly feta cheese, and man oh man, it was simply divine.  I may attempt to replicate when corn starts arriving in our share, but I have a feeling my version will never compare.

Needless to say, after this past weekend, I've been trying to get my eating back on track by consuming massive amounts of vegetables and whole grains.  Last night, following what seemed like the longest yoga class ever (because I was STARVING), I made my version of Denison Farm's Asian Chicken Salad, using up napa cabbage from last week's share and cilantro from two weeks ago, which was amazingly, still, in really good shape.

I left out the chicken, so I guess this was just an Asian Salad/Slaw.

For the salad I used:
-One small head of napa cabbage, sliced.
-About a cup of pea shoots.
-About a cup of sugar snap peas.
-6-8 sliced baby zucchini.
- 1/2 an avocado.
-1/2 a vidali onion, very thinly sliced.
-Handful of cilantro, chopped.

For the dressing, I combined:
-1/4 cup of olive oil (I keep meaning to buy sesame oil--I would sub that next time)
- 1/4 cup of rice wine vinegar.
- Tablespoon of honey.
- Tablespoon of crunchy, unsalted peanut butter.
- 2 tablespoons of soy sauce.
- 1-2 tablespoons of lime juice.

Please know, all of these measurements are estimates....you know me, I tend to eye ball everything.

They look like regular size zucchini....

but they are mini!

This salad/slaw, while a departure from the original recipe, was very refreshing.  I liked the addition of the avocado, which added a creamy texture to all the crunchy vegetables.  The dressing was sweet, sour, salty and just lightly coated the salad. 

And, I think that pea shoots are my new obsession!

I would equate them with sprouts, but sweeter.  These ones were purchased from Trader Joe's, along with the baby zucchini and sugar snap peas, on our way home from the Cape.  Please, please bring Trader Joe's to the Capital District!  This was Casey's first trip to a TJ's and I had a hard time getting her out of the store ;-).