Been on a
bit of a blogging hiatus this summer.
Not that we haven't been eating well - far from it. A few new
restaurants around the city, but mostly old favorites. A couple weddings, trips
down the shore and some road trips have kept us moving about.
Been
enjoying the hell out of our CSA this summer and cooking up a storm at home. If
you're not in the know, CSA stands for Community Supported Agriculture. You
basically pre-buy a weekly share of fruits and veggies that are from local
farms. The traditional version of this is to buy a share from one farm, then
drive out every week to pick up your share of whatever is in season and
ripe. Farmers love this because they get
the cash in the beginning of the season and get a slightly higher price for
their produce than selling it wholesale to stores. Consumers like it because
you get to know who grows your food. I think there is an entry on
Stuff WhitePeople Like about this.
We get
our CSA from
Greensgrow, in Fishtown. No, they do not have acres of land that
they are growing produce on - can't imagine what the Kenzo's would do with
that. I can assume there would be ATV's involved though. They do grow some
stuff in their greenhouses and hydroponic setups, but most of the CSA share
comes from a collection of farms from around the Delaware valley. Every week
it's something different, and you are often challenged to figure out a.) what
to do with all these vegetables and b.) what to do with random veggies you
either didn't know existed or don't think you like.
Helpfully,
they send along a weekly email with a list of what you'll be getting in the
share along with handy dandy recipes utilizing most of the ingredients. We've
actually picked up a ton of new favorites dishes this way and learned to really
love things like beets, kale and bok choy. Don't worry - there's plenty of
normal stuff in there as well; beautiful locally grown tomatoes, blueberries,
peppers, basil, corn and potatoes were all in a recent share.
Eating
fresh and local is what it's all about and below is a sample of some of the
dishes we made out of our share. I've
included recipes where appropriate. Some from
Greensgrow, some out of
cookbooks, some I just made up on the fly. This really is one of the best parts
of summer, and it wouldn't be the same without our CSA. Yeah veggies!!
Included
in this share (clockwise): Sicilian eggplant, fresh basil, peaches, carrots,
dinosaur kale, corn, potatoes, tomatoes, Italian long hot peppers,
blueberries. We also got a block of tofu
that was not pictured. We used the tofu
and Sicilian eggplant to make a Thai green curry over rice.
The kale
got tossed in olive oil, salt, pepper & paprika then thrown into the oven
and baked into kale chips. If you haven't had a kale chip, you are missing some
seriously crispy deliciousness. It's like eating a healthy potato chip.
The corn
was roasted on the grill with some butter & salt, then sliced off the cob
to be used later in tacos. Yep, tacos.
And they were delicious. The carrots we saved for hummus dipping and a
moroccan salad a week later. The potatoes hung around in the fridge to be
turned into potato leek soup. More on all of these in the next post. The blueberries just came to work with me
every day for snacking.
A fresh
mozzarella ball, sliced up and plated under the deep red tomatoes, some of the
basil leaves, and a drizzle of olive oil & balsamic vinegar. This just
emotes summertime.
I grilled
the long hots on our new charcoal grill (yeah charcoal!) just to blister and
blacken the skin, then put them in a covered container to steam for a 10 mins.
Then you carefully peel off the skin leaving just the flesh. Chop off the tops and remove the seeds. Place into a sterilized mason jar and cover
with pickling liquid. These will be
ready for sandwiches in about 2 weeks but will last months in the fridge. They pack a punch.
Ever had
a bread salad? This is what the Italians
call panzanella, and it is crazy delicious. You basically grill up some bread
cubes in olive oil and salt (sounds good already, right?) then add in chopped
cucumbers, tomatoes, peppers, red onion, basil leaves & capers. Whisk up a vinaigrette of garlic, dijon,
white wine vinegar, olive oil, salt & pepper an then douse that bad
boy. Leave it set for 15-20 mins to meld
all the flavors together. We took this
for a orchestra picnic at the Mann and got some jealous onlookers. What can I
say, we're food porn exhibitionists.
As for
the rest of the small bush of basil we got, that was obviously meant to become
pesto. I found a basic pesto recipe in the Joy of Cooking that turned out
great. It's as simple as it gets with basil, pine nuts, olive oil and romano
cheese. Put it in the Vitamix and watch the magic happen. We boiled up some olive pasta we brought back
from Italy, tossed it with some pesto and a dash of pasta water, then a quick
hit of grated romano. A really satisfying plate of pasta that tastes like
something you'd pay for at a BYO.
Recipes below. Get cooking!
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Ingredients
1 head kale, washed
and thoroughly dried
2 tablespoons olive
oil
Sea salt, for
sprinkling
Directions
Preheat the oven to
275 degrees F.
Remove the ribs from
the kale and cut into 1 1/2-inch pieces. Lay on a baking sheet and toss with
the olive oil and salt. Bake until crisp, turning the leaves halfway through,
about 20 minutes. Serve as finger food.
Peppers
have a skin that turns REALLY tough when you can the peppers, so you've got to
remove the skin before canning. Fortunately, there is an easy trick to
remove the skins. It's called "blistering". .
Place
peppers on a charcoal or gas grill about 5 to 6 inches above glowing coals;
using tongs carefully turn peppers frequently (skin side down if they are cut
up), exposing all surfaces to the heat source until skin blisters evenly on all
sides.
Allow the peppers to
cool by placing them in a tight fitting tupperware container. This will make
peeling the peppers easier. Then pull the blistered skin off the rest of the
pepper with a gentle tug and an occasional rinse with water. In areas of the pepper
where the blistering was not complete, just scrape the skin off with a knife or
vegetable peeler.
In
a saucepan, combine:
- 5 cups
vinegar (5%)
- 1 cup water
- 4 tsp kosher
salt
- 2 tbsp sugar
- 2 cloves
garlic
Fill sterilized
mason jars, leaving 1/2-inch of headspace. Flatten whole peppers. You may add
1/2 teaspoon of salt to each pint jar, if desired for taste (it is not a
preservative). Fill jars loosely with peppers. Use a ladle or pyrex measuring
cup to carefully fill each packed jar with the vinegar solution.
At this point you
can either can them in a boiling hot water bath for 10 mins, or just put them
in the fridge.
Yields about 1 cup
If
you are dealing with a large pile of basil, pick the leaves, figure out how
much you have with a 1-cup measure, and scale up the other ingredients
accordingly. For shopping purposes, the amount of basil leaves pictured above
(gathered from two full-grown plants) required me to make 6 batches of this
recipe.
Combine
in a food processor and process to a rough paste:
2 cups loosely packed basil leaves
1⁄2 cup grated Parmesan
1⁄3 cup pine nuts, hazelnuts, almonds, or a
combination
2 medium garlic cloves, peeled
With
the machine running, slowly add:
1⁄2 cup olive oil, or as needed
If
the pesto seems dry (it should be a thick paste), add a little more olive oil.
Season to taste with:
Salt and black pepper
Use
immediately, or pour a very thin film of olive oil over the top, cover, and
refrigerate for up to 1 week. Or, as discussed above, freeze in an ice cube
tray, covered. Knock out for storing into a zip-top bag and freeze for up to 3
months. Doubling the recipe will fill up an ice cube tray.
Summer Panzanella
3 tablespoons good olive oil
1 small French bread or boule, cut into 1-inch cubes
(6 cups)
1 teaspoon kosher salt
2 large ripe tomatoes, cut into 1-inch cubes
1 hothouse cucumber, unpeeled, seeded, and sliced 1/2
inch thick
2 bell peppers, seeded and cut into 1-inch cubes (I
like to use a combination of purple or yellow or orange, to nicely colorize the
dish)
1/2 red onion, cut in half and thinly sliced
20 large basil leaves, coarsely chopped
3 tablespoons capers, drained
For the vinaigrette
1 teaspoon finely minced garlic
1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard
3 tablespoons champagne vinegar
1/3 cup good olive oil
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1. Heat the oil in a large saute pan. Add the bread
and salt; cook over low to medium heat, tossing frequently, for 10 minutes, or
until nicely browned. Add more oil as needed.
2. For the vinaigrette, whisk together the
ingredients.
3. In a large bowl, mix the tomatoes, cucumber, red
pepper, yellow pepper, red onion, basil, and capers. Add the bread cubes and
toss with the vinaigrette. Season liberally with salt and pepper.
4. Serve immediately, or allow the salad to sit for
about half an hour for the flavors to blend.
