Week Seven -- not more beets!

Oh yes, more beets.

Cherry tomatoes
Corn (2)
green pepper
carrots
watercress
eggplant
celery
onions
cucumbers
zucchini

So pretty!

So the cherry tomatoes have been a wonderful nosh. This picture was taken after the ride home. Notice that it's not quite a full pint.


The beets became borscht. This is from Saved  by Soup

4 medium-size beets, greens cut off and reserved for another use, peeled and diced
1 medium-size onion, diced
5 cups cold water
Salt
Combine the beets, onion, water and salt to taste in a heavy 4-quart saucepan over medium-high heat. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat to medium-low, partially cover the saucepan, and simmer until the beets are tender when pierced with a sharp knife, about 30 minutes. Remove from the heat and allow to cool to room temperature.

Transfer the soup to a food processor or blender or use an immersion blender, and process until smooth. Refrigerate until thoroughly chilled. Season with more salt to taste if necessary. 

We had it in a glass with a dollop of sour cream mixed in. It wasn't bad!

The zucchini was larger than my forearm. Here's a picture: I put it next to a box of tissues for comparison. We ate it tonight. I grated it up (it filled the workbowl of my 14-cup food processor). I chopped up one of last week's onions and sauteed it for a little while, then added the grated zucchini. Added a little salt, pepper and dill, and sauteed it until it started getting brown. It was barely enough for 3 people.

The corn was great.

Weeks Five and Six

Week Five was great. We got:

Romanesco
Cauliflower
Kale

Cabbage
Basil
Carrots
Beets
Sugar Snap Peas
Spring Onions
Fennel
Lettuce

But we didn't get too inventive; it was too hot to think about cooking much. I made the same cauliflower recipe from Mark Bittman; roasted with a balsamic vinaigrette and served cool with raisins. The Romanesco is a very distinctive and beautiful head of cauliflower/brocolli-like stuff. I kind of braised it, nothing fancy. I ate the kale myself one night, in the kale and potato casserole recipe. The cabbage went into another bowl of slaw, which we are still enjoying. We ate the lettuce and fennel boringly in a salad, munched on the sugar snap peas and carrots raw. Tracy made pesto with the basil, the onions go in everything, and the beets combined with Week 6 beets went into a double recipe of the pasta & beets. All yummy.




Week 6
Mike picked it up and left it at my house, and when I got home at 10:45 pm I didn't feel like photographing the whole thing, just bagged it and put it in the frig.

The box contained:
Spring Onions
Celery
Beets
Carrots
Kale
Eggplant
1 Green Pepper
Parsley
2 Pickling Cucumbers
1 Zucchini

On Wednesday, I made the pasta & beets for dinner. Mike couldn't stop eating it, but luckily he did so we'll have some as a side dish tonight with turkey.

The celery was largely leaves, and the stalks were kind of hard and not too delicious. Or maybe this is good celery and I never had it before? Anyway, I washed it and dried it and put most of it into a large plastic bag in the freezer. I'll make vegetable stock one of these days.

I washed the carrots and we'll be eating those. Three were entwined in a sexy embrace.


I made some tabbouli with the parsley and the zucchini (zucchini isn't traditional but it's an acceptable alternative to cucumber). 

More fun with brassica

Brassica is the family of vegetables that includes cauliflower, cabbage and broccoli. I made a couple of Mark Bittman recipes from How to Cook Everything Vegetarian for July 4th.

First I spent about 45 minutes cleaning the cauliflower. There were lots of tiny bugs living inside it, probably because it was so pretty. I soaked it in about a million changes of water with some white vinegar in it, which encouraged the inhabitants to come out, but it took forever.

I made this recipe; it was nice but not thrilling. I used golden raisins and they didn't contrast enough with the gold cauliflower. They also all wanted to be on the bottom of the bowl.

Roasted Cauliflower with Raisins and Vinaigrette
1 large head cauliflower, cored, trimmed and separated into florets
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 Tbsp sherry vinegar or balsamic vinegar
1/2 cup raisins
1/2 cup chopped parsley leaves (I had no parsley, left it out)
1. Preheat the oven to 400. Put the cauliflower in a roasting pan, drizzle with 3Tbsp of oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and toss to distribute. Roast, turning once or twice, for 15 minutes or so, until the cauliflower just starts to soften.
2. Meanwhile, combine the remaining oil with the vinegar and a little salt and pepper, taste and adjust the seasoning. Remove the pan from the oven, drizzle the cauliflower with 2 Tbsp of the vinaigrette, and toss to coat. Roast again, turning once more, until a thin-bladed knife pierces a piece with little resistance, another 15 minutes. 
3. When you're ready to serve, put the cauliflower in a large salad bowl and add the raisins and parsley. Add the remaining dressing and toss. Taste and sprinkle with more salt if needed and lots of pepper, then serve hot, warm, or at room temperature.

I've made this Coleslaw many times. It's always good, and it lets the vegetables really shine. This gorgeous head of organic cabbage was particularly nice-tasting. It was so large that I doubled the recipe. It made 2 large bowlfuls.

Spicy No-Mayo Coleslaw
2 Tbsp Dijon mustard
2 Tbsp sherry vinegar, red wine vinegar or freshly squeezed lemon juice (I used lemon)
1 small clove garlic, minced
1 Tbsp minced fresh jalapeno chile (optional)
1/4 cup peanut or extra virgin olive oil
6 cups cored and shredded cabbage
1 large red pepper, shredded
1/3 cup diced scallion (I left this out)
salt and freshly ground black pepper
1/4 cup minced parsley leaves (we have already discovered that we don't have any, no big loss here)
1. Whisk the mustard, vinegar, garlic and chile together in a small bowl. Add the oil a little at a time, whisking all the while.
2. Combine the vegetables and toss with the dressing. Season with salt and pepper and refrigerate until ready to serve. It's best to let this rest for an hour or so before serving to allow the flavors to mellow. Just before serving, toss with the parsley. Toss it anyway, even if not adding parsley.

Week Four continued, mmmmm

Great dinner tonight. Salad (with the farmstand lettuce), salmon and roasted brocolli & garlic scapes. Mike came over, so he's participating as an eater, if not a cook.

Salmon, courtesy of Cousin Sheila, Stacey and Sharon:


2 lbs salmon (skinless would be best), cut into serving-sized pieces
4 Tbsp olive oil or melted butter
4 Tbsp honey
4 Tbsp dijon mustard
3/4 cup bread crumbs (approx)
3/4 cup chopped pecans (approx)


Mix together the oil, honey and mustard in a large-ish bowl. Mix together the bread crumbs and pecans in another large bowl or plate. Dip the salmon in the liquid to coat, then in the dry stuff to coat. Place in a baking pan, covered with parchment paper. Bake at 350 about 15-20 minutes, until the fish is done.


Roasted Brocolli and Garlic Scapes, courtesy of Rachael Ray's website
(garlic scapes were my addition, could use 2-3 chopped cloves of garlic)
1 head of brocolli, cut into nice pieces
12 garlic scapes, cut in half (or those chopped garlic cloves)
3 Tbsp oil
Salt & pepper to taste


Combine all above in a baking pan lined with parchment paper. Toss to distribute the seasonings. Bake at 350 for about 20 minutes until the brocolli gets a little brown on the ends.

The garlic scapes were kind of good this way. The brocolli definitely was good.