CSA 2014 Week 3

Week 3 Bounty:

Image from Scotch Hill Farm, Broadhead, WI

Turnips 

Leeks

Cherry belle radishes

Oregano

Garlic scapes

Snow peas

Lettuce

Spicy greens

Bright lights chard

Meal #1: (snow peas, garlic, onion, lettuce)
Hash Browned Turnips, Radishes and Potatoes

Finely shredded turnips, radishes and potatoes and fried them up like hash browns.  Served with salt and pepper.
Lamb Chops with Wild Blueberry Marinade
4 lamb chops, depending on size
Salt and pepper
2 tbsp butter
2 tbsp olive oil
2 or 3 shallots, diced
2 or 3 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 cup red wine
1 cup fresh blueberries
4 tbsp balsamic vinegar
Season the chops on both sides with salt and pepper. Cook the lamb as you normally would to desired temperature (with lamb, I always recommend no more than medium to medium-well). While the lamb is cooking, make your sauce. In a medium saute pan, heat the butter and olive oil over medium heat. Saute the onions until translucent and soft, about five minutes. Add the garlic and cook for an additional 30 seconds, until fragrant but not brown. Deglaze the pan with the red wine, stir the pan around and simmer away until reduced by half, three to five minutes. Add the blueberries and balsamic vinegar, stirring again to combine, and simmer for about three minutes. Remove the pan from the heat and transfer to a food processor. Puree until smooth and sauce-like. The finished product will be a beautiful purple-blue sauce. Plate the lamb chops on top of something starchy that will soak up all the extra sauce (we used couscous, but pretty much anything will work nicely) and spoon the sauce on top. *Recipe from Per l'Amore del Cibo

Meal #2: (snow peas, garlic, onion, lettuce)
Salmon and Snow Pea Stir Fry
12 ounces skinless salmon fillet (wild is healthier than farm-raised)
1/2cup reduced sodium soy sauce
1/2 cup orange juice
2 garlic clove, minced
2 teaspoon sesame oil
nonstick cooking spray or peanut oil
2 small onion, halved and sliced
12 ounces snow peas
Cut salmon into 1 1/2 inch cubes and place in a resealable plastic bag. In a small bowl, combine soy sauce, juice, garlic and sesame oil; pour half the marinade into the plastic bag with salmon. Marinate the fish for 30 minutes in the fridge. Coat a nonstick frying pan or wok with nonstick spray. Remove salmon from bag; discard leftover marinade. Stir-fry salmon over medium-high heat, about five minutes. Turn salmon over gently so that all sides cook evenly. Be very careful with the salmon pieces so they stay intact - this was the hardest part for me; I didn't realize I'm quite the aggressive mad-woman stir-fryer! Remove salmon from wok and add sliced onion. Stir-fry onion until brown, about five minutes. Add snow peas and stir-fry until they turn bright green, about three minutes. Return salmon to pan and pour reserved marinade over fish and vegetables. Cook for 2-3 minutes or until sauce has thickened. Serve with 1/2 cup of brown rice for each plate, if desired. *Recipe from FLKeysJen on food.com
Salad

Other (chard, oregano)

We shared this dish at dinner with friends and it was gone quickly!
Lemon Garlic Rainbow Chard
3 bunches rainbow chard, trimmed and rinsed (we only made one third of the recipe)
6 tablespoons olive oil
6 cloves garlic, sliced, or to taste
1 pinch crushed red pepper flakes
1 tablespoon lemon juice
Separate the stems of the chard from the leaves. Cut the leaves into thin strips and set aside. Thinly slice the stems. Heat the olive oil in a large skillet or pot over medium heat. Stir in the sliced garlic, red pepper flakes, and chard stems, and cook for 3 minutes until the flavor of the garlic mellows and the stems begin to soften. Stir in the shredded chard leaves, cover, and cook 5 minutes over medium-low heat. Stir, recover, and continue cooking until the chard is tender. Toss with lemon juice to serve. *Recipe from isisillusion at allrecipes.com

Oregano - dried

CSA 2014 Week 2

Image from Scotch Hill Farm, Broadhead, WI

Week 2 Bounty:
Early onions
Endive
Red iceberg lettuce
Gold potatoes
Spicy greens mix
Asparagus
Lettuce mix
Hakurai turnips
Radishes
Goat cheese



Meal 1:  (asparagus, potatoes)
Skillet Asparagus
2 lbs. asparagus
2 tbsp. unsalted butter
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Rinse asparagus in cold water and trim off tough ends of stalks. Put butter in a heavy skillet with a tight-fitting lid and heat until butter is foaming. Lay asparagus in the pan and shake from side to side to coat asparagus gently with melted butter; cover tightly and cook over medium heat for 3 minutes. Check asparagus and turn as needed to make sure the stalks cook evenly and don't burn. Continue cooking 5 minutes longer, or until asparagus is tender but still crisp and bright green. Season to taste with salt and pepper and serve hot. * Recipe from saveur.com

Baked Potato Chips
1 1/2 pounds unpeeled potatoes, cut into 1-inch chunks
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 teaspoon dried thyme leaves
Preheat an oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).
Place the potatoes into a mixing bowl, and drizzle with olive oil. Sprinkle with kosher salt, black pepper, Parmesan cheese, and thyme leaves. Toss to evenly coat, and transfer to a 9x13-inch baking dish.
Bake in the preheated oven until the potatoes are golden brown on the edges and tender when pierced with a fork, about 1 hour. Serve hot or at room temperature.

Cheddar Wurst


Meal #2: (endive, tomato, garlic)
One pizza was more kid-friendly, as they don't care for goat cheese, and the other was something new for us. We used pesto and added tomato sauce for the pancetta pizza. It was fabulous! Both were great! We prepared them both the same, just a few different ingredients.

Pizza with Endive and Pancetta
Pizza with Endive and Goat Cheese

1 unbaked pizza crust (we love Trader Joe's whole wheat)
6 tablespoons prepared pesto sauce3 roma tomatoes, thinly sliced
1 (8 ounce) package seasoned goat cheese (we seasoned our own)
2 cloves garlic, peeled and thinly sliced
1 cup fresh arugula (or endive)
1 teaspoon olive oil
Preheat oven according to pizza package instructions. Dab pesto onto the center of the pizza base, and spread toward the outer edges. Cut the goat cheese into thin coins, and spread or crumble across the pizza. Arrange tomato slices over goat cheese. Sprinkle with garlic. Brush the crust edges lightly with olive oil. Place pizza directly on preheated oven rack. Bake for 5 to 10 minutes, or until the crust edges are golden. After taking pizza out of the oven, allow to cool for a few minutes so that the cheese has time to set. After a couple of minutes, cover the pizza with a few handfuls of arugula/endive. Cut, serve, and enjoy! * Recipe from collmarie at allrecipes.com

Meal #3 (sweet potatoes, early onions, lettuce)
Sweet Potato Latkes
1 lb sweet potatoes, peeled and coarsely grated
2 scallions, finely chopped
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
3/4 cup vegetable oil
Stir together potatoes, scallions, flour, eggs, salt, and pepper.
Heat oil in a deep 12-inch nonstick skillet over moderately high heat until hot but not smoking. Working in batches of 4, spoon 1/8 cup potato mixture per latke into oil and flatten to 3-inch diameter with a slotted spatula. Reduce heat to moderate and cook until golden, about 1 1/2 minutes on each side. Transfer latkes with spatula to paper towels to drain. * Recipe from gourmet via epicurious.com

Hamburgers

Salad
Meal #4 (turnips, radishes, leek)
This was supposed to be a daikon omelette.  I used all of the turnips and radishes from the share and finely grated them.  
Turnip Omelette1/3 of a medium-size daikon, peeled, then finely grated or thinly sliced (refer to photo for size); 1 green onion, finely diced
1 egg, lightly whisked; salt and white pepper
Add some oil to the pan and when oil is heated, add in green onions and daikon and fry briskly. Allow the daikon to cook (about 5-8 mins) in the pan, moving them around in the pan, to prevent strips from sticking together. Add about 2 pinch of salt and dash of white pepper to the daikon and fry well in the pan. When daikon strips start browning in the pan, add in the whisked egg evenly around the pan, to form a round omelette shape. (Note: If you have a non-stick pan, it is easier to get a perfect round omelette shape without much control of the heat. If you are using a stainless-steel wok like me, it is ok, just don't move the omelette so much and make sure the heat of the pan is maintained at medium, NOT low). Wait till the underside of the egg is slightly browned, then flip the egg over, or break the omelette into several big pieces in the pan to get the other sides get cooked evenly and thoroughly. * Recipe from teczcape.blogspot.com
Pork Sausages (that we picked up at Scotch Hill Farm)

Other (greens)

Salad with leftovers

Greens - rinsed, removed stems, steamed with a bit of water, pureed and frozen into cubes

CSA 2014 Week 1

Image from Scotch Hill Farm, Broadhead, WI

Week 1 Bounty:
Nancy butterhead bibb lettuce
Spinach
Norland Red potatoes
Curly cress
Leeks
Spicy greens mix
Oregano
Leaf lettuce mix
Romaine lettuce
Bok choi
Pink beauty radishes


A new season of vegetables!  They are all so beautiful.  When we bring home our bag of vegetables I love to have my kids help inspect them and prepare them for the fridge.  We talk about what we will eat first, what might not last long and what we are really excited to eat.  This week I was most excited about all of the gorgeous salad greens.

We usually embrace many Italian traditions that we learned while living in Italia.  One of these is eating the salad at the end of the meal.  It is supposed to be very good for digestion.  I never have any problem with this, as my family thinks that I am part rabbit, and will grab a handful of lettuce and eat it as is.  However, by the end of the meal the kids usually tell us they are too full for salad.  So we have started serving the salad at the beginning and found a dressing/topping that each likes and guess what?  They actually eat their salads!  It is ridiculously exciting!

The stir fry actually got an "mmmmm" from Greysen.  This kid is so picky that I have actually often wondered why I put so much effort into good food for my family.  But I keep on trying, so these victories, though not frequent, are so important to me.

The other big surprise of the week was the radish dip.  We had to throw something together quite quickly for a dance recital reception and I found with this recipe.  Allen raced to the store for cream cheese and a very delicious vegetable and cracker dip was made.  It was so good that I cannot wait to make it again!


Meal #1: lettuce, cress, sweet potatoes
Pan-fried Sweet Potatoes
Dice potatoes and fry in pan on medium low heat with olive oil until crisp. We add salt and seasonings (sometimes clove, sometimes tarragon or an Italian spice mix).
Hot Dogs
Salad
We use Newman's Own salad dressings.  My favorite is just oil and vinegar, but my family also thinks that I am part rabbit because I will just eat raw lettuce with nothing on it.  We usually have some nuts, seeds or sesame sticks, cress and other toppings available for each of us to create our own salad.  I found that when I make a single kind of salad inevitably someone will not like it.

Meal #2: spinach, lettuce
This slow cooker recipe was an organic creation of Allen's, so I apologize that there are no specific directions.  He just threw things in the crockpot and turned it on.  This would only end in disaster for me, but he can make it work.
  
Slow Cooker Fish, Mushroom and Quinoa
Butter
Prosecco
White fish
Salt
Pepper
Garlic
Mushrooms
Spinach
Truffle oil
Onion
Quinoa
Seasoning salt
Salad (see notes above)

Meal #3: bok choi
Stir-Fried  Bok Choi with Ginger and Garlic
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger
8 cups chopped fresh bok choy
2 tablespoons reduced-sodium soy sauce
Salt and ground black pepper
Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add garlic and ginger and cook 1 minute. Add bok choy and soy sauce cook 3 to 5 minutes, until greens are wilted and stalks are crisp-tender. Season, to taste, with salt and black pepper.  Served with pan cooked pieces of chicken, brown rice and cashews.  * Recipe from Robin Miller at foodnetwork.com

Meal #4: lettuce
Risotto Tartufo
This is risotto with black truffles, a favorite of ours from Italia.  This is a cheat - a delicious box we found at Costco that is the closest we've gotten here to the real thing!
Salsiccia
Northern Italian sausage (with no fennel).  We have them specially made at the local meat market.  I like them best grilled the way our friends did in Italia, butterflied.  So delicious!
Salad (see notes above)

Side: radishes, garlic, spinach 
Radish Dip
4 cloves garlic, peeled
6 radishes, quartered (just used whole bunch from share)

Handful of spinach
2 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened

Creole spice blend

Salt to taste
Place garlic in the container of a food processor, and pulse until finely minced. Add radishes and spinach and mince. Add cream cheese, and mix until well blended. Add spices to taste. Transfer to a serving dish, and chill until serving. * Recipe adapted from kgonier at allrecipes.com

Other: radish greens, spicy greens, oregano, potatoes
radish greens - steamed, pureed and frozen (to use later in sauces, eggs, smoothies, etc)
spicy greens - steamed, pureed and frozen 
oregano - hung to dry
potatoes - leftover