Use Your Booty: Beet Carpaccio

This is one of the recipes (barely a recipe) that is great for summer - it's super fast, easily adaptable and is a nice, cooling addition to a meal. Carpaccio is traditionally a dish of very thinly sliced or pounded beef, garnished with olive oil, onion and capers. It's been adapted in recent years, to be a dish of thinly sliced something (scallops, zucchini, seared lamb, etc.).

Fresh beets are a great ingredient to highlight in this way. I thinly sliced two types of beet: Chioggia (those are the bullseye ones) and red beets. I laid the slices [in a somewhat slapdash manner, I'll admit] onto a plate with some thin slices of baby onion, drizzled them with chive vinegar, olive oil, salt & pepper and a few onion flowers.

That's it. I like to dress the vegetable carpaccio dishes a few minutes before we eat them, so the vegetables can soften up a little in the oil and vinegar.

This Summer, I am chronicling my first CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) experience. My CSA share is from Arrowhead Farm, a farm based in Newburyport, MA. Each week, I am posting about what was in my share and what I'm doing with it. By way of full disclosure, I won my share through a raffle and am not paying for it. However, Arrowhead did not know I was entered in the raffle, and I received no special consideration because of this blog. I paid for my livestock share.

CSA Booty - Week 6

Sorry for the delay in posting, this weekend has been nutso.

Week six's CSA share was:

• 1 bunch amaranth
• 1 head of lettuce
• a pint of peas (we were supposed to PYO, but there wasn't a whole lot out there to P)
• a bunch each of green (curly) and red kale
• 1 bunch of Swiss chard
• a bundle of bok choy (2 heads)
• 2 bunches of beets
• 1 bunch of spring onions
• I clipped some basil and parsley
• a dozen eggs (this was an add-on not included in the share)
  
• I also got more beets (Chioggia - also known as candy cane beets because they have concentric red and white circles in them when you cut 'em through), a cauliflower, a cabbage and some radishes from my neighbor at the farmers' market.

So here's what I think I'm doing with these items:

• An Indian-type dinner with Ceylonese-style amaranth (steamed with onion, coconut and turmeric), curried cauliflower and a quick radish pickle, all served over steamed rice.
• Bok choy stir fry with glass noodles
• Pea and pea greens (still have some from a few weeks back) risotto
• Beet "carpaccio" with the Chioggia and red beets
• Pickled chard stems (really looking forward to this one)
• I'm going to stuff the chard leaves with something and bake or steam them (not sure yet)
• Borscht (again, it's been on my list to make and keeps getting pushed out) with beet greens
• I think the kales will become a savory pie of some type - with herbs and garlic and cheese

So how'd I do with last week's haul? Here's what we ate (and what CSA items were used) last week:

• Chickpea, butternut squash and kale salad (kale)
• Steamed amaranth greens served over steamed amaranth grains (amaranth)
• Grilled romaine salad (romaine)
• Lettuce soup with peas (lettuce, peas)
• Sautéed mizuna served with a pork chop from my livestock share, brown rice, mozzarella and garlic scape pesto (mizuna)

This Summer, I am chronicling my first CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) experience. My CSA share is from Arrowhead Farm, a farm based in Newburyport, MA. Each week, I am posting about what was in my share and what I'm doing with it. By way of full disclosure, I won my share through a raffle and am not paying for it. However, Arrowhead did not know I was entered in the raffle, and I received no special consideration because of this blog. I paid for my livestock share.

Use Your Booty: Chickpea, Kale & Butternut Squash with Tahini Dressing

Ah kale, I do love it, but it certainly seems like kale and I are going to have to become good friends for me to survive this CSA. Fortunately, that's not really hard to do: First, my CSA is growing nine types of kale this season. Second, kale is pretty versatile - it can be used in so many different ways: bruschetta, a hearty soup, pesto, etc.

This salad's original recipe did not include kale, but since it's such a natural partner to chickpeas and butternut squash, I thought everyone would play nice together. The tahini dressing is nice on its own over roasted vegetables, lamb burgers, or as a dip for vegetables.

Chickpea, Kale and Butternut Squash Salad with Tahini Dressing

Serves 2-3 as an entrée salad, more as a side.

The original recipe, from Moro Restaurant, is here on Orangette, Molly Wizenberg's lovely blog. The recipe is super adaptable: make it work with what you have in the fridge. If you have leftover cooked squash or sweet potatoes, this is a great way to use it.

Enjoy this salad warm, as we did, or cold. If you're going to have it cold, add the dressing right before serving.

• olive oil
• 2 cups of cubed butternut squash or sweet potatoes
• 1 bunch kale, stripped off stiff stems and cut into bite-sized pieces or thin strips
• 2 cups cooked chickpeas (1 15 oz. can chickpeas, drained and rinsed)

Dressing

• 1 garlic clove, pressed or minced
• 3 tablespoons tahini (sesame paste)
• 3 tablespoons lemon juice
• 2 tablespoons water
• 2-4 tablespoons olive oil
• salt and pepper

Sauté the squash with a little olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Cook until the squash is tender. Add the kale to the pan and sauté until wilted, adding a little water to help it steam through. Cook until kale is wilted down, about 5-7 minutes. Add the chickpeas to the pan. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Make the dressing: Whisk together all the dressing ingredients except the oil and salt & pepper. Whisk until the dressing looks smooth and creamy. Add a little water if it seems too thick. Whisk in the smaller amount of olive oil. Taste the dressing: if it's too sour add more olive oil. Taste again and adjust salt and pepper to your liking. Whisk in a few drops of water if it still seems too thick; it should the consistency of heavy cream.

Divide the salad among plates and drizzle with dressing.

This Summer, I am chronicling my first CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) experience. My CSA share is from Arrowhead Farm, a farm based in Newburyport, MA. Each week, I am posting about what was in my share and what I'm doing with it. By way of full disclosure, I won my share through a raffle and am not paying for it. However, Arrowhead did not know I was entered in the raffle, and I received no special consideration because of this blog. I paid for my livestock share. A full set of all the photos I've taken of this share is here.

Use Your Booty: Amaranth x2

One thing that's been so great about this CSA is that I'm getting to cook with some ingredients that are new to me. A part of my pickup has been amaranth greens. I've sautéed them and made soup from them. This week I thought it would fun to pair sautéed amaranth greens with steamed amaranth grains. Here they are together in their uncooked state.

Cooking amaranth, the grain, is easy. Rinse the grain by swishing it in a bowl of water and then straining in a very fine strainer (I actually had to line mine with cheesecloth, because the holes on my strainer are so tiny). Then you bring the grain, water and a pinch of salt to simmer, cover and simmer over very low heat for 15 minutes. Turn off the heat and let the amaranth steam in the covered pot for another 10 minutes.

I used a 1 to 1.5 ratio of grain to water to cook my amaranth. (One cup grain to 1 1/2 cups water.) I ended up with a pot full of something that reminded me of polenta, but with the grains clearly defined and still pleasantly crunchy (just a little bit). If you've made amaranth grain before I'd love to hear how you cook it. Locally, you can find amaranth grain at The Natural Grocer on High Street in Newburyport. I've also seen it in Whole Foods Markets and other health food stores.

This Summer, I am chronicling my first CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) experience. My CSA share is from Arrowhead Farm, a farm based in Newburyport, MA. Each week, I am posting about what was in my share and what I'm doing with it. By way of full disclosure, I won my share through a raffle and am not paying for it. However, Arrowhead did not know I was entered in the raffle, and I received no special consideration because of this blog. I paid for my livestock share. A full set of all the photos I've taken of this share is here.

Use Your Booty: Grilled Romaine

Here's another public service post to help you use up your bountiful basket of lettuce. Did you know you can grill lettuce? Romaine is your best bet for grilling - the floppy looseleaf lettuces just get soggy and well, floppier. Use those in lettuce soup or salads.

The method is easy. If your romaine head is really large (too much for you and your dining partners to consume in one sitting), peel off the outer leaves, reserving them for salads or sandwiches or some such thing. Then cut the head in half through the core. If the head is large, cut it into quarters.

Drizzle the cut sides of the lettuce with olive oil or a vinaigrette of your choice. Grill, cut side down, over medium-high heat. When the lettuce has grill marks and is gently charred on the edges, it's done. This will take about 3-5 minutes depending on the heat of your grill, the amount of oil you use and the size of the lettuce heads.

Before serving, drizzle the lettuces with a little vinaigrette or just drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with salt and squeeze lemon over the top.

This is a great side dish for grilled dishes. We enjoy it with grilled meat or seafood and a grain salad on the side.

This Summer, I am chronicling my first CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) experience. My CSA share is from Arrowhead Farm, a farm based in Newburyport, MA. Each week, I am posting about what was in my share and what I'm doing with it. By way of full disclosure, I won my share through a raffle and am not paying for it. However, Arrowhead did not know I was entered in the raffle, and I received no special consideration because of this blog. I paid for my livestock share. A full set of all the photos I've taken of this share is here.

Use Your Booty: Lettuce Soup with Spring Peas

The idea of lettuce soup may make you cock your head to the side and go "huh?" but do give this soup a try. If you're in a CSA you'll probably be buried in lettuces shortly and this is a nice alternative to yet another green salad. I used all green lettuces because I think red lettuce might have turned this soup's color a little muddy.

I garnished the soup with steamed peas, a few pea tendrils and some mint and chives. I served our soup chilled; it was so insanely hot and humid today, the idea of hot soup was painful.

Lettuce Soup

Serves 2-3

A few thoughts on this recipe:

• Serve it in mugs for sipping - it was super splashy to eat out of a bowl
• Next time, I'm going to add a potato or two to the pot to provide a little more body to the soup. The version was refreshing but I think a little more richness would be nice.
• If you're serving this cold - make sure it's super cold: in the fridge overnight is great. I made it the day we ate it, so I poured the soup in to a ziploc bag and left it in the freezer for two hours.

• 1 onion, diced
• olive oil and/or butter
• 1 medium potato, optional (see above), cubed, peeled, if you wish
• 1-2 large heads of lettuce, ribs and leaves coarsely chopped (14-16 cups - that is NOT a typo) - I used a combination of lettuces: oak leaf, buttercrunch, green leaf and romaine
• 2 cups chicken broth or water
• salt and pepper
• garnishes: herbs of your choice (mint, chives and summer savory would be nice), cooked peas, cream, creme fraiche

Sweat the onion, over medium-low heat, in a stockpot in a little butter or olive oil until softened, about 5-10 minutes.

If using the potato, add it to the pot with the chicken broth or water and simmer until the potato is softened. If you're not using the potato, add the broth or water to the pot.

Add the lettuce to the simmering liquid and cook for 5-10 minutes, until lettuce is wilted down and softened - adding a little water the lettuce needs it to cook down. Purée the soup in a blender in batches, let the blender run for a while to really break down the lettuce as it's more fibrous than you might think. Add cold water to the blender if needed to help the blending along. I strained the soup to get rid of some of the larger fibers that didn't break down. If you don't do that your soup will like be a little chunkier than mine was. It will still taste good though.

Check seasoning and add salt and pepper to taste.

If serving cold chill the soup down until it's super cold. Check the seasoning again and add more salt as needed.

The lettuce will have a little more bitterness than you might expect - add a pinch of sugar and/or a squeeze or lemon to counteract that if needed.

Serve in bowls or mugs and garnish with herbs, fresh peas and/or a drizzle of cream or creme fraiche.

This Summer, I am chronicling my first CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) experience. My CSA share is from Arrowhead Farm, a farm based in Newburyport, MA. Each week, I am posting about what was in my share and what I'm doing with it. By way of full disclosure, I won my share through a raffle and am not paying for it. However, Arrowhead did not know I was entered in the raffle, and I received no special consideration because of this blog. I paid for my livestock share. A full set of all the photos I've taken of this share is here.

CSA Booty - Week 5

Week five's CSA share was:

• 1 bunch amaranth
• 2 quarts of peas (pick your own) - I only got 1 quart because no time to pick and they took pity on me and handed me a pre-picked quart - I have to remember to make time for Pick Your Own when I go for my pickup so I can take advantage of this benefit.
• 1 head red lettuce
• 1 head green lettuce
• 1 bunch kale
• 1 bunch mizuna
• 1 bunch spring onions
• 1 bunch onion scapes
• 1 bunch red mustard
• I clipped some basil, Thai basil and parsley
• and my share also included that gorgeous pot of flowers ( I will not be eating that)
  

So here's what I think I'm doing with these items:

• Lettuce soup topped with fresh spring peas and pea tendrils (the tendrils are from last week's box). Yup soup made with lettuce. I have SO MUCH lettuce in the fridge that I have to find a method of mass utilization for the bushel of lettuce I have on hand (I also have lettuce from a few other farms too - LOTS of lettuce)
• Mustard greens tabouli
• Ceylonese-style amaranth (steamed with onion, coconut and turmeric) served over steamed amaranth grains (clever huh?) with a fresh onion chutney
• Butternut squash and chickpea salad with kale
• The mizuna will go into a quiche with some goat cheese and many herbs.

So how'd I do with last week's haul? Here's what we ate (and what CSA items were used) last week:

• I made this amazing dish with gnocchi and vegetables (pea tendrils)
• We had a wilted mustard green salad alongside some great grilled steak from my livestock share and topped my shoestring fries with parsley and thyme (mustard greens, beef, herbs)
• I used greens and onion scapes and mustard greens in a lunchtime rice noodle stir fry (greens, onion scapes, mustard greens, herbs)
• Bruschetta! With kale and white beans. (kale)
• I made my first callaloo soup. Yum. (amaranth)
• Prepared a really pink pasta dish with my beets. (beets and beet greens)

This Summer, I am chronicling my first CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) experience. My CSA share is from Arrowhead Farm, a farm based in Newburyport, MA. Each week, I am posting about what was in my share and what I'm doing with it. By way of full disclosure, I won my share through a raffle and am not paying for it. However, Arrowhead did not know I was entered in the raffle, and I received no special consideration because of this blog. I paid for my livestock share.

Use Your Booty: The Big Pink Pasta

There's a restaurant near my mom's house in New Jersey called The Big Pink Pasta. I am certain that this dish has never been on their menu. The orecchiette turns this gorgeous lurid pink from the cooked beets. I wanted to put pine nuts on this dish, but ended up using walnuts because my brand new very expensive bag of pine nuts was rancid. Gak.

Orecchiette with Beets

Serves 3-4

When I have nice fresh bunch of beets handy I like to use both the beetroot and the greens in same dish if I can. If you don't have beet greens, use spinach or Swiss chard. I use this method to cook my beets. I cut them into small cubes before cooking.

• 12 oz orecchiette pasta (shells make a good substitute)
• 6-8 cups beet greens, cut into strips
• 2 cups cooked, cubed beets
• 4 oz feta cheese
• olive oil
• 1/2 cup toasted walnuts (or pine nuts)

Boil the pasta in salted water. Put the cooked beets into a colander in the sink.

When the pasta is almost done, use a coffee mug to scoop out some of the starchy pasta water. Drop in the beet greens and they'll wilt down. Strain the pasta and greens into the colander (over the beet cubes - see you heat them up this way. Clever, ya?)

Dump the pasta and beets back into the cooking pot. Stir in the feta cheese and drizzle a little oil in to the pasta. Add a little cooking water and stir gently. If the pasta seems too dry add a little more water. Sprinkle in most of the nuts, reserving a few for garnish.

Taste for salt and pepper and adjust the seasoning to your taste. Spoon the pasta into soup plates and sprinkle the remaining nuts over the top.

This Summer, I am chronicling my first CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) experience. My CSA share is from Arrowhead Farm, a farm based in Newburyport, MA. Each week, I am posting about what was in my share and what I'm doing with it. By way of full disclosure, I won my share through a raffle and am not paying for it. However, Arrowhead did not know I was entered in the raffle, and I received no special consideration because of this blog. I paid for my livestock share.

Use Your Booty: [Far From Authentic] Callaloo

I'm slapping all my disclaimers up at the front of this post. I'm sure that if you have ever eaten callaloo, a Trinidadian/Jamaican/Caribbean stew of amaranth leaves you will tell me that my version is just wrong. And I'm sure you are right. I used several recipes I found online as guidelines for this soup and then just threw them all aside and put this together.

Callaloo is also another name for the amaranth plant, so don't get confused when you're poking around online or in your Caribbean cookery books. Amaranth is also a grain - it's the seeds of the plant. Amaranth (the grain) is a really nice side dish and you should seek it out in your local health food store.

Introductions and disclaimers aside, this soup was yummy, regardless of what it's called. If you don't have amaranth greens at hand, baby spinach or chard would be a good substitute.

[Not Quite] Callaloo

Serves 4 to 6, as a main dish if served with rice, as a starter if served solo

• olive oil
• 2 onions, chopped
• 2-3 cloves garlic, pressed or minced
• 2 sweet potatoes (about 1 pound) or the same amount of butternut squash, cut into small cubes
• 1 large bunch amaranth greens, about 1 pound - enough to yield 10-12 cups loosely packed leaves, leaves stripped from the stems
• 1 can (15 oz) coconut milk (NOT light coconut milk)
• 1 habanero pepper or 1-2 tablespoons of Caribbean-style hot sauce
• 2-3 sprigs thyme

Sauté the onions over medium-high hear with a little olive oil in a small soup pot or large saucepan until the onion is softened and starting to brown. Add the garlic and continue to sauté for a minute or so, until fragrant.

Add the sweet potatoes and greens to the pot. Pour over the coconut milk and 2 coconut milk cans of water. As the soup starts to simmer, stir the greens into the liquid, add the habanero pepper or hot sauce. Simmer the soup until the sweet potatoes are soft.

Remove the thyme sprigs and habanero (if using). Use an immersion blender to break up the greens and sweet potatoes - don't aim for a smooth purée, leave things a little chunky.

Check for salt and pepper (you'll need fair amount of salt, but add a little at a time to ensure you don't oversalt).

Serve over rice with a few wedges of lime and some hot sauce for folks who like things spicy!

This Summer, I am chronicling my first CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) experience. My CSA share is from Arrowhead Farm, a farm based in Newburyport, MA. Each week, I am posting about what was in my share and what I'm doing with it. By way of full disclosure, I won my share through a raffle and am not paying for it. However, Arrowhead did not know I was entered in the raffle, and I received no special consideration because of this blog. I paid for my livestock share.

Use Your Booty: Bruschetta with Kale & White Beans

Let's get one thing out the way right up front: broo-SKET-a, not brooshetta. Feel free to tell your waitress.

Ok then, that said, let's move on to the recipe.

Bruschetta is a great way to use up slightly stale rustic-style bread (like this kind of bread). Slice it thickish - I like between 1/2" - 3/4" thick. Grill or broil it, rub with garlic and drizzle with olive oil. Top with sautéed vegetables and eat like an open-faced sandwich. I like this version a lot. You might think beans and bread is a lot of starchiness, but the beans add a lovely creaminess to the dish without adding fat.

Kale & White Bean Bruschetta

Serves 2

This is easily doubled, tripled or quadrupled. We eat it for dinner, but if you cut the bread into smaller pieces it would be a nice first course or nibble for a summer party.

• 2 ounces pancetta, cubed or bacon, chopped (optional)
• olive oil
• 3-4 cloves garlic, sliced thin
• 1 big bunch kale, leaves removed from the stems and coarsely chopped or torn (you need a lot of kale - it really cooks down)
• 1 can white beans, drained and rinsed (about 1-1.5 cups cooked beans)
• 4 slices rustic-style crusty bread (you know what you'll eat, so the number of slices will depend on the size of your loaf)
• 1 clove garlic

In a large skillet, cook the pancetta or bacon (if using) until it's crisp and browned. Remove the pancetta from the pan and set aside. If the pan is too dry (or if you didn't use the meat, or if you don't want to cook in bacon fat) add enough olive oil to generously film the bottom of the pan.

When the oil is hot, add the garlic. When it just starts to color, add the kale to the pan (it will sputter - watch out for flying oil droplets!). Stir the kale as it wilts and softens. If it starts to stick add a little water to the pan. When the kale is wilted down and softened, add the beans and heat them through. Add salt and pepper to taste, remembering that if you're using pancetta or bacon they will add salt to the dish too.

Meanwhile heat your grill or broiler. Brush the slices of bread with oil and grill or broil, turning once until browned and toasty (I like mine on the brown side of incinerated, whereas Dave prefers his a little more tan/blond). Rub the slices of bread with the other clove of garlic. Place the bread on dinner plates and drizzle with a little more oil. Top the bread slices with the kale & bean mixture and sprinkle the pancetta over the kale. Drizzle with a wee bit more oil (you don't want this plate dripping with oil, so use a teaspoon or two per drizzle).

Mangia!

This Summer, I am chronicling my first CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) experience. My CSA share is from Arrowhead Farm, a farm based in Newburyport, MA. Each week, I am posting about what was in my share and what I'm doing with it. By way of full disclosure, I won my share through a raffle and am not paying for it. However, Arrowhead did not know I was entered in the raffle, and I received no special consideration because of this blog. I paid for my livestock share.

Use Your Booty: Gnocchi with Pea Tendrils

Again, no recipe, sorry 'bout that. But I thought I'd walk you through how I put this dish together. The CSA provided me with a pot of pea tendrils, but I wasn't sure what I was going to do with them. Then I pulled a bag of gnocchi from the freezer and I remembered this salad and decided to use the same treatment on these gnocchi.

I pulled a container of chicken stock from the freezer and decided to reduce it for the sauce. Then to bulk up the dish, I picked up the one little kohlrabi a farmer at the market gave to me and put some carrots on the cutting board too.

So here's the dish: I reduced 2 cups of chicken stock to about 1/3 cup. I julienned the kohlrabi and 2 carrots and a little onion and sauteed them to soften them up. I transferred the vegetables to the chicken broth reduction and them seared off the gnocchi. When the gnocchi were browned I added 2 handfuls of pea tendrils, some mint, scallions, parsley and the kohlrabi leaves (cut into chiffonade). They wilted right down and I was ready to plate.

The plate: I put the vegetables into the bottom of a soup plate, and topped them with the gnocchi and herb mixture. I drizzled the chicken broth reduction around the gnocchi and then, and this really made the dish shine, I dropped a few drops of Banyuls vinegar over the top. The vinegar really brought the flavors together and took this dish from good to phenomenal.

Use Your Booty: Wilted Greens Salad

I had heard from many former and current CSAers that a major part of my share would be greens, both bitter and salad. Well this share is no different. Fortunately, I adore greens (chard, kale, collards, mustard, etc., etc.) and cook with them all the time. One atypical treatment I like, especially in the summer, is wilting.

I wilt greens with heat all the time, but this method just uses salad dressing. You know how when you dress a salad, it gets all soft and wilty if you let it sit? That's basically what you're doing here, except the stiffer greens like chard or mustard respond well to this treatment: they don't get all slimy like lettuce would.

For this salad, I took a bunch of mustard greens, stripped the leaves from the stems, rolled 'em up and cut them into a chiffonade (fine strips). Then I tossed the greens with too much dressing (a basic olive oil and lemon vinaigrette) and let them sit. After about 20 minutes, they're all wilty and soft, sort of like they'd been cooked. We ate this salad alongside some great beef from our Arrowhead livestock share and a big bundle of shoestring potatoes.

I left this version very simple, but this salad is very nice if you add (after wilting) julienned carrots, peppers or cucumber, scallions or other herbs. And it's really nice if you add toasted pine nuts or pistachios to provide a contrast to the soft, smooth greens.

The one problem with this method is that the greens will continue to wilt and release moisture, so just drain off any liquid if they release too much and everything seems soggy.

This Summer, I am chronicling my first CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) experience. My CSA share is from Arrowhead Farm, a farm based in Newburyport, MA. Each week, I am posting about what was in my share and what I'm doing with it. By way of full disclosure, I won my share through a raffle and am not paying for it. However, Arrowhead did not know I was entered in the raffle, and I received no special consideration because of this blog. I paid for my livestock share.

Drink of the Week: Pegu Club

A fun thing about classic cocktails is the history behind them. The Pegu Club was a watering hole in Rangoon, then the capital of Burma (now the city of Yangon in Myanmar). The house cockail was a blend of gin, orange curaçao, lime juice and bitterses (is that the plural of bitters?).

There's a lot of discussion about this recipe (check this thread at eGullet if you doubt me). I decided to follow David Wonderich's recipe. It results in what I'd call a "bracing" drink. It's a perfect quaff for Rangoon-hot summer day.

Pegu Club Cocktail

Combine in an iced shaker:

• 2 oz gin (I used Plymouth)
• 3/4 oz lime juice
• 3/4 oz orange curaçao (I used Grand Marnier)
• dash of Angostura bitters
• dash of orange bitters

Shake until well-chilled and the shaker is frosted over. Strain in to a cocktail glass. The mint leaf is a non-traditional garnish, but I thought it looked purty.

CSA Booty - Week 4

Week four's CSA share was:

• 1 bunch of amaranth
• 1 pot of pea shoots
• 1 bunch of onion scapes
• 1 bunch of mustard greens
• 2 bunches of beets
• 1 bunch of kale
• 1 bundle of rhubarb

So here's what I think I'm doing with these items:

• The amaranth is going into callaloo, a Trinidadian soup traditionally made with amaranth (callaloo) leaves, chilies and coconut milk
• The beets are for borscht, hot or cold, depending on the weather
• The rhubarb will become a chutney to be served with some pork chops (see below)
• The kale will go alongside those chops
• The mustard greens are getting sliced thin and are to be served as a salad
• Not sure yet on those pea shoots - maybe in a stirfry, maybe over some poached eggs ... hmmm. They're in a pot, so I can cut what I want and let the rest keep growing.

Also this week I picked up my livestock share. This is a one time pickup and as it is a "mixed" share, I got beef, lamb and pork cuts. For those who are curious, my share totaled 13.5 pounds and contained:

• a huge rib steak (ribeye-ish)
• a beef short rib section (1 3/4 lbs.)
• pork chops
• pork kebabs
• bacon
• ground beef
• ground lamb
• bulk pork sausage
• breakfast sausage
• lamb sausage

So how'd I do with last week's haul? Here's what we ate (and what CSA items were used) last week:

• I made kale pesto (kale)
• I stuffed squid tubes with mustard greens and chickpeas (mustard, onions)
• We dined on a luxurious Swiss chard gratin (chard, beet greens)
• I quick pickled the beets and sautéed the amaranth and used them on a Niçoise-style salad (beets, amaranth, chive blossoms, lettuce)
• The herbs and chive blossoms were sprinkled over salads and dishes as garnishes.
• The lettuces went into a lot of green salads.

This Summer, I am chronicling my first CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) experience. My CSA share is from Arrowhead Farm, a farm based in Newburyport, MA. Each week, I am posting about what was in my share and what I'm doing with it. By way of full disclosure, I won my share through a raffle and am not paying for it. However, Arrowhead did not know I was entered in the raffle, and I received no special consideration because of this blog. I paid for my livestock share.

Use Your Booty: Star [Shell]Fish

After a week of CSA cooking I had only a bunch of mustard greens left in the fridge. The original plan was to toss them in a pasta sauce. Then, on a whim, I went to Eastman Fish Market up in Seabrook, NH. Eastman's is run by the Carolyn and Ed Eastman. Ed's a fisherman and he is out on the boats while Carolyn runs the shop and CSF. I forgot my camera so I don't have a pictures for you of their cute seafood market ... soon, I promise.

In addition to all the gorgeous fish in the case, Carolyn was also stocking fresh squid from off Cape Cod. So I picked up some to make for dinner. I have to confess that I wasn't 100% thrilled with the stuffing I made for them, but I like the idea so I wanted to share it with you anyway.

I stuffed the tubes with a mixture of the squid tentacles, chickpeas, mustard greens and lemon zest. Next time I'll try adding some chopped olives or capers - the dish needed a little more zip.

What you've really got to try is the polenta business that's underneath the squid tubes. Take soft polenta, top it with kale pesto and some crispy onions (made with my CSA onions). The contrast between the creamy polenta, the kale and the crispy onions was addicting (in fact I had the leftovers for breakfast this morning).

For crispy onions, slice your onions (or shallots perhaps) super thin. Toss with Wondra flour and then fry in 3/4" of hot oil until brown and, well, crispy. I tossed in a few parsley leaves right at the end (there will be a lot of sputtering). Drain and toss with a sprinkle of salt.

Use Your Booty: Swiss Chard Gratin

Menu and meal planning is a great habit to develop. There's something very freeing about knowing what's being made for dinner; it take a lot of pressure off. That said, there are nights when I don't want to be handcuffed to my menu plan. So I always give myself permission to cheat and go of plan.

The other night's plan was for an Indian-inspired dinner of chard and chickpeas, rice and chutneys. The night was drizzly and cold and I wanted us to have something creamy and decadent. I put the call out on Twitter for ideas for a decadent and luxe Swiss chard option. In less than 10 minutes, I had enough inspiration to pull together this meal. I had a block of smoked cheddar cheese from West River Creamery and it was a great addition, not too smoky and just rich and creamy enough.

Swiss Chard Gratin

Serves 2-3 as an entrée, 4-6 as a side dish.

We ate this gratin as a main course, but it would make a great side dish. For a lighter option, use chicken or vegetable broth for some or all of the milk and/or cream.

• 1 large bunch Swiss chard, leaves cut off the stems, stems reserved
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1 tablespoon flour
• 1 cup of milk
• 1/2 cup cream (or use milk)
• 1/2 cup cheese or your choice, grated (I used parmesan and smoked cheddar)
• 1/2 cup breadcrumbs (panko or fresh homemade - don't use the fine ones you buy in tubes at the supermarket)
• olive oil

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

Cut the chard leaves into bite-sized pieces. Chop the stems crosswise into 1/2" pieces. Over medium-high heat, sauté the stems and the onion in a little olive oil in a skillet. when the stems and onion have softened, about 8-10 minutes, add the chard leaves and continue to sauté, stirring occasionally, until the chard leaves are wilted and soft. Set aside.

Make a white sauce: Melt the butter in a small saucepan, and stir in the flour. Cook, over medium heat, stirring for a minute or so, until the roux starts to color - it should turn light tan. Splash in about 1/4 cup of milk, stirring to smooth the sauce out. Add the rest of the milk and the cream, stirring after each addition to smooth out the sauce.

Bring sauce to a simmer and let simmer until the sauce is the consistency of light cream. Taste for seasoning and add salt and pepper to taste. (Hold back a little on the salt as you'll be adding salty cheese.)

Stir the white sauce into the cooked chard. Stir in the cheese. Taste for seasoning again, adding salt and pepper as needed. Pour the chard mixture into a gratin dish (I used a 9" gratin dish).

In a skillet, toast the breadcrumbs in a little olive oil until just browned. Top the gratin with the toasted crumbs.

Heat the gratin the oven until bubbling, about 20 minutes.

Enjoy!

This Summer, I am chronicling my first CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) experience. My CSA share is from Arrowhead Farm, a farm based in Newburyport, MA. Each week, I am posting about what was in my share and what I'm doing with it. By way of full disclosure, I won my share through a raffle and am not paying for it. However, Arrowhead did not know I was entered in the raffle, and I received no special consideration because of this blog.

Use Your Booty: Kale Pesto

This week's CSA pickup included a smallish bunch of kale. I knew when it cooked down it wouldn't be enough for side dish on its own and I already had soup on the menu. So I thought a pesto would be nice thing to try. I found a few kale pesto recipes on the internet and most of them asked for the kale to be boiled for 10 minutes or so to soften and tame it. That seemed like overkill to me so I decided to just do a quick blanch with a boiling water rinse instead.

So, this picture above doesn't really really do this pesto justice. You can eat it on crostini, stir it into pasta (with a few spoonfuls of pasta cooking water) or a fritatta or use it as a sandwich spread or dip (thinned with some yogurt perhaps). Or you can use it in a totally swellegant presentation like that one, over there ---> and dazzle your friends and family.

Kale Pesto

Yields about 1 1/2 cups

You can use other nuts (I think pistachios would be great), but I liked the flavor of the walnuts against the kale. I didn't add any cheese to mine, but if you wanted to enrich this pesto with it, I would add a few tablespoons of grated pecorino romano.

This would probably work with collards too, but I wouldn't use chard or spinach - the leaves are too soft for this treatment.

• 1 small bunch kale (to yield 4-6 cups loosely packed leaves)
• 1 clove garlic
• handful of walnuts (about 1/4 cup)
• salt and pepper
• red wine vinegar or lemon juice
• olive oil

Strip the leaves from the kale stems and them in a colander or large strainer (if the leaves are large you can tear them into smaller pieces so they fit into the colander). Bring a quart of water to a boil. Pour the water over the kale leaves.

You'll see their color turn nice and bright and their volume will diminish a lot.

Press the kale to make sure it's not super soggy - a little moisture is okay. Put the kale into your food processor with the garlic and walnuts (leave out the cheese if you're using any). Pulse to form a paste - you might need to add a little water back in to keep things moving.

When the pesto looks nice and pesto-ish taste it and add salt, pepper and vinegar to taste. You can also add cheese now if you're using any. Give the pesto a glug of olive oil to enrich it a little. Pulse and taste again - the pesto will probably need more salt and acid than you might think.

This Summer, I am chronicling my first CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) experience. My CSA share is from Arrowhead Farm, a farm based in Newburyport, MA. Each week, I am posting about what was in my share and what I'm doing with it. By way of full disclosure, I won my share through a raffle and am not paying for it. However, Arrowhead did not know I was entered in the raffle, and I received no special consideration because of this blog.

CSA Booty - Week 3

Week three's CSA share was:

• 1 bunch of beets
• 1 bunch of kale
• 1 wee bunch o' onions
• 2 heads of heads of lettuce: romaine and green leaf
• 1 bunch of amaranth (woo hoo!)
• 2 bunches of chard
• 1 bunch of mustard greens

I am super-excited to see the amaranth. That's it over there <--- . If you're familiar with amaranth at all, it's probably the grain. The flowers of amaranth produce little, little, little seeds that can be cooked like quinoa: steamed is traditional. The greens can be eaten be raw but are best treated as a cooked green - think spinach. It's not a vegetable we ever see in supermarkets and rarely at farmers' market [in this neck of the woods anyway].

So here's what I think I'm doing with these items:

• I'm going to use the amaranth on its own, in a simple sauté, to make sure we can appreciate the flavor of it.
• I'm going to cook the chard leaves and beet greens with chickpeas and Indian spices. We'll eat it with rice and a fresh onion (from the wee bunch o') chutney.
• The beets will be steamed and served with hard boiled eggs, olives, chunks of Mrs. Wheelbarrow's home-preserved tuna and lettuce in a Niçoise-esque salad
• The mustard will be stir-fried with some smoky bacon, garlic and ginger and served with brown rice.
• I'm going to make white bean and chard stem soup that will be topped with a kale & parsley pesto.
• The lettuce wil be salads, yet again - still not tired of fresh salad.

So how'd I do with last week's haul? Here's what we ate (and what CSA items were used) last week:

• Orzo pasta with arugula and chive blossoms (arugula, chive blossoms)
• Panzanella verde (bok choy, lettuce, baby shallots)
• Kimchi (Chinese cabbage)
• Iron skillet pizza (from this great recipe at Food52) topped with arugula and sausage (arugula)
• Pork sandwich with broccoli rabe (broccoli rabe)
• The herbs and chive blossoms were sprinkled over salads and dishes as garnishes.
• The lettuces went into a lot of green salads.

This Summer, I am chronicling my first CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) experience. My CSA share is from Arrowhead Farm, a farm based in Newburyport, MA. Each week, I am posting about what was in my share and what I'm doing with it. By way of full disclosure, I won my share through a raffle and am not paying for it. However, Arrowhead did not know I was entered in the raffle, and I received no special consideration because of this blog.

Use Your Booty: Panzanella Verde

Panzanella means "little swamp". Most traditionally it's made with tomatoes and fresh mid-summer vegetables (like this one I made a few years ago), but it's nice to play with that tradition and use spring vegetables to make a green version.

This time I used a large portion of lettuces, boy choy, baby shallots and marinated feta from West River Creamery. I made a lemon dressing (heavy on the mustard) and used some thick slices of no-knead bread.

Last Tuesday's Panzanella Verde

2-3 generous servings (two of us ate all of this in one sitting)

• 3-4 thick slices of hearty bread
• 2 heads bok choy, cut in half lengthwise
• 1 bunch baby shallots or 1 bunch scallions
• 4 cups torn lettuce leaves
• 2 ounces cheese, cubed or shredded
• handful of herbs: parsley, basil, thyme, chives, chive blossoms, etc.
• 1/4 - 1/2 cup salad dressing of your choice

Heat the grill. Drizzle the bok choy, shallots and bread with a little olive oil. Grill the vegetables until they are charred and just starting to soften. Grill the bread on both sides until it is browned to your taste (I like mine pretty toasty).

Cut the shallots and bok choy into bite-sized pieces. Cut the bread in to large croutons. Toss the bread, vegetables, lettuce, herbs and cheese together. Drizzle with dressing and toss to combine. Use a generous amount of dressing - you want to moisten the bread cubes with it.

This Summer, I am chronicling my first CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) experience. My CSA share is from Arrowhead Farm, a farm based in Newburyport, MA. Each week, I am posting about what was in my share and what I'm doing with it. By way of full disclosure, I won my share through a raffle and am not paying for it. However, Arrowhead did not know I was entered in the raffle, and I received no special consideration because of this blog.

Use Your Booty: Cabbage-Chive Kimchi

I really have grown to love kimchi. For those not familiar with it: kimchi is a Korean fermented pickle of cabbage (usually napa cabbage), flavored with onion, garlic and CHILIES. Think of it as a spicy Korean sauerkraut. Out here in the hinterlands, it's close to impossible to find kimchi in any local market, so you've gotta make your own. Fortunately, kimchi is very easy to make and when I saw Chinese cabbage in my last CSA pickup I knew it was destined to become kimchi.

The only special ingredient you need for kimchi is Korean red pepper powder (gochugaru - you'll note that it's not technically a powder, it's more flaky).

You can find it in Korean markets like Hmart or order it online. It's not very expensive and a one-pound bag will last you through many batches of kimchi. If you can't find it Aleppo pepper makes a hotter, more expensive kimchi. Or use paprika for color and cayenne for heat (this is 100% non-traditional of course).

This is a basic recipe, based on the great recipe and How2Heroes video by Alex Lewin. I've modified it down to yield a smaller quantity and I used chives instead of scallions. Try different vegetables and feel free to adjust the heat level (this makes a moderately spicy kimchi) and the amount of garlic and ginger to match your taste.

Basic Kimchi

Yields about 1 pint

• 1 pound Chinese cabbage
• 1 cup water
• 1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons kosher salt
• 1 tennis ball-sized onion
• 4 cloves garlic
• 1" piece of ginger, peeled and roughly chopped
• 1/4 cup Korean hot pepper powder
• 2 teaspoons sugar
• 1 bunch chives, cut into 1" pieces

Cut the cabbage into strips and then bite-sized pieces. Dissolve the salt into the water and add the cabbage pieces. Let the cabbage rest in the brine for 4-8 hours (overnight is ok).

When the cabbage has finished brining (it will have lost most of its volume), drain the brine off, rinse the cabbage in cold water and squeeze it dry. Put the cabbage into a bowl while you make the pickling paste.

Puree the onion, garlic and ginger in a food processor, adding enough water to make a paste. Add in the sugar and pepper powder and puree. Scrape the paste out the processor and into the bowl with the cabbage. Add the chives. Stir the paste and the cabbage together until they are well combined. Pack firmly into a glass jar and cover loosely with a lid (the cabbage will start to ferment and you want the gases to be able to escape). Alternatively, use a plastic container and cover the surface of the kimchi with a piece of parchment or waxed paper.

Let the kimchi ferment on the counter for 12-24 hours. When it tastes right to you (I like about 16 hours of room-temperature fermentation), but the kimchi into the fridge. Keep it loosely covered as it will continue to ferment.

As the kimchi ages (over several weeks) it will get funkier and more sour. Use the "fresh" kimchi as a condiment on sandwiches or a side dish with grilled meats. The sourer product is great in soups and stirfries. I love using just a little kimchi, finely chopped, in cole slaws.

This Summer, I am chronicling my first CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) experience. My CSA share is from Arrowhead Farm, a farm based in Newburyport, MA. Each week, I am posting about what was in my share and what I'm doing with it. By way of full disclosure, I won my share through a raffle and am not paying for it. However, Arrowhead did not know I was entered in the raffle, and I received no special consideration because of this blog.