CSA Week 12

In the box:

Kale

Bok choy

Potatoes

Kabocha squash

Tomatoes 

Brussels sprouts

Spaghetti squash

Eggplant

Peppers

Onions

Extras: 

Cabbage (2)

Pepper

Hot peppers

Recipes:

Smothered cabbage soup

Potato, cabbage, kielbasa soup

Warm lentil salad with roasted acorn squash 

Pasta alla Norma (America's Test Kitchen)

Roasted Brussels sprouts (repeat from Week 10)

Wasabi salmon with bok choy and cabbage

Masamba (African greens and potatoes)

Wasabi salmon. I had salmon burgers in the freezer and a deep desire to not go to the store on Friday, so salmon burgers it was. I also could not find shitaki mushrooms, so I used baby bellas. This was very good - the veggies were light and the wasabi mayo was a nice way to cut the richness of the salmon.

Here are a few dishes that don't have all that much color but the flavor....yum. This is a recipe I saw on Food Network, a warm lentil salad with roasted acorn squash. The dressing is somewhat like a green goddess - lots of fresh herbs in a vinegarette then add in yogurt, perfect. The recipe made a lot and I thought I would be sick of it but I've eaten it every day for lunch and am still happy for it.

Another not so colorful soup. This is smothered cabbage soup with rice. So simple and yet the flavor is rich and delicious. You add butter and cheese at the end, just perfect for a cold fall day.

Kielbasa, potato and cabbage soup. If you haven't guessed, I had a lot of cabbage to use up. The recipe called for lager beer but all I had was Guinness (yes, still from St Patty's), so I was a little concerned that it might not turn out that well, but I didn't have to worry. I did add in the whole bottle of beer (it called for room temp beer and only 1 cup, ummm no, that's all going into the pot). Also it called for 2cups of passata (a fresh tomato puree popular in English cooking) but the jar I had was 3 cups, so in it all went. In all, it was pretty quick and would make a pretty quick weeknight dinner.

Pasta alla Norma. A recipe from America's Test Kitchen. They do an interesting trick where they par cook the eggplant in the microwave. I think it worked pretty well (I usually don't mess with the ATK recipes, they test them 100s of times, why mess with all that work?). Although I didn't have anchovy so I used bacon fat....probably not the most direct comparison, but it was pretty tasty!

On the docket this week is finish the recipes out with the brussel sprouts and the kale/potato side dish. Will probably get to it Wednesday or so. I keeping the winter squash around for a few weeks - the box will be ending in about 7 weeks, so I think I can keep these around and use the veggies that will spoil faster first. 

Update:

The roasted Brussels sprouts with garlic aioli surfaces again. I am not ashamed to admit that this was my breakfast on Saturday :)

Masamba- African potatoes and greens (in this case, kale). It's amazing that you can make such a complex sauce with salsa and peanut butter. Really good. Of course, I couldn't resist putting fried eggs on top for breakfast this morning.

CSA Week 10

Sorry for the late post. It's been pretty busy around my house since I just got back from my major test and a much needed vacation. Most of the recipes were for my veggie box friend's going away party. So for the next boxes I will be on my own. **tear**

Here's what's in the box this week:

Zucchini

Cabbage

Onions

Potatoes

Acorn squash

Butternut squash

Spaghetti squash

Brussels sprouts

Bell pepper

Eggplant

Recipes:
Pumpkin Pie Bars
Pan roasted potatoes
Zucchini bread with whipped feta
Parmesan Zucchini
Roasted Eggplant dip
Brussel sprout Colcannon cups
Pesto Spaghetti Squash Crostini
Crispy Brussel Sprouts with Garlic Aioli

I used the butternut squash instead of the canned pumpkin. I first roasted it until it was tender. With the canned squash, it is pretty much like a dump cake - you dump all the ingredients into the pan and cook. Tastes just like an upside down pumpkin pie and super easy.

yum, yum, yum

These were a quick weekend breakfast. I took a page from America's Test Kitchen and precooked the potatoes in the microwave. I then put them in the hot pan and didn't disturb them (that's my biggest problem, I can't leave them alone!) Add some fried eggs and a delicious breakfast was had.

America's Test Kitchen zucchini bread...again. this really is the best recipe - they featured it on their radio show recently, so I think you can find the recipe on their website. www.atkradio.com 

I decided to pair the sweet bread with the salty whipped feta cheese dip. The mix was sooo delicious. This dip is really good - veggies and crackers alike are wonderful with this on it. 

Now I wish I had more zucchini - this was so good. Even at room temp, it was perfect. Not sure how it would be reheated, but I don't think we had that problem!

The roasted eggplant dip comes out again. This time I had a red pepper, so it's a different color than last time, just as good. 

The brussel sprout colcannon just sounded delicious. It was a recipe from Gourmet originally and you can tell - way too fussy. Peel the potatoes? Not happening. Whip the potatoes with a mixer? Not happening. Pipe the potato mixture into the brussel sprout leaves? Not happening. Even with all that taken out, it was still really good. I did add in some cheese - what is colcannon without cheese? It was a hit at the party.

This seemed like an interesting use for spaghetti squash and since I was doing all appetizers, it worked out well. I didn't make the pesto as in the recipe, but used my premade pesto. Yummy, but kinda hard to eat. 

Crispy brussel sprouts with garlic aioli. Yum! These were totally gone and that aioli is a keeper.  

Homemade Hot Sauce

Apparently I am turning into a fermento. That's a person that preserves food by the use of fermentation (think sauerkraut). Also, if I have an excess of something, like peppers, my first thought is to pickle them! My CSA has been overflowing with peppers and I'm not really someone that loves peppers in everything, so hot sauce seemed like something fun to try. I used a recipe from the Joy of Cooking, with a modification - I added an air lock to my jar so that I wouldn't have to stir the mash every day (mainly since I was going to be out of town) but also I didn't want to deal with mold.

The first thing you do is you weigh out your peppers to figure out what would be a 2% by weight salt brine.

Then you cut up the peppers and put in a jar. Add your salt and top with a sweet wine. As you can see, I added an air lock to my jar. I found this set up looking for recipes - it is a recap top, a #6 stopper with a drilled hole and then the air lock. The recap tops can be made to fit either wide mouth or regular mouth jars. Pretty nifty.

After about a month, the peppers look about the same - although my cool green heritage jar might not be helping with trying to see a difference.

I then put the peppers and brine in the blender and poured the mash through a strainer. I was thinking about saving the strained mash, but there are too many seeds.

Once the mash has been strained you measure what you have and add in half as vinegar. I used rice wine vinegar. In all, it's pretty liquidy, and hot, of course. More of a Tabasco-style sauce.

I got more peppers, so I'm going for a thicker sauce now. See you in a month, sauce.