Week 3

Yay week 3 and no traveling! This week Celine, Big L and I went to go pick up the harvest together. We got red leaf lettuce, sugar snap peas, radishes, kohlrabi, dill, escarole, spinach and I think some other type of lettuce (I REALLY need to start writing this down!). I stored the greens in the crisper this time and they seemed to keep much better. Although the radishes still got a little mushy quickly...

For dinner that night I stir fried some of the sugar snap peas, spinach, Vidalia onion with shrimp, soy sauce, white wine and sesame oil. Side salad of the red leaf lettuce with some oil, vinegar and salt - really delicious.

For 4th of July, Lori had a little roof deck party to watch the fireworks. Found a recipe for kohlrabi apple slaw - two peeled kohlrabi's grated, two granny smith apples grated, a splash of lemon juice, a blob of fat free mayo, (added some of the radishes so I could get rid of them and add some color), a bit of grain mustard and salt and pepper. It wasn't bad, although it needed a little something. I added a splash of vinegar but it still fell a little flat. Next time I might leave the skin on the apple for texture and a little more bite. Also, it was a little watery so maybe I'll let the apples drain a bit before I add them in. But everyone (WHO TASTED IT - Big L, looking at you) enjoyed it. (That's Erin's thumbs up). The fireworks were beyond awesome - we could see Jersey City's as well as Macy's in NY. I have to say, NY's were amazing, as usual, however Jersey City did a really good job as well. They seemed to go on forever! We had a terrific evening, I am so blessed with such great friends.

So right now I have the turnips from two weeks ago roasting with some oil, shallots, rosemary, garlic, salt and pepper. Will let you know how it turns out.

My next project is to figure out something to do with the dill. I was thinking about salmon or potatoes. Suggestions are welcome!

Week 2

So last week was a bit of a wash - with leaving for Boston Friday morning, there wasn't a lot of time to cook much. We got red leaf lettuce, broccoli greens, parsnips, English peas, bok choy, escarole, broccoli and potentially some things that I forgot...

Since I didn't have a lot of time, I gave a lot to Celine. I made a soup with the greens along with some garlic, beans and red pepper flakes. Straight to the freezer for a night that I don't feel like cooking. I still haven't used the parsnips, hopefully this weekend.

Since I wasn't able to cook, I'll give you a recap of the food this past weekend. Friday night we all went out to Midwest Grill in Cambridge, a Brazilian rodizio. Not terrible, not fabulous either. I know, I know, the non-ish meat eater going to rodizio but my dad has wanted to try it for a while now and this was a perfect opportunity. Oddly, the kielbasi was excellent. At a Brazilian place. Go figure.

Saturday we grabbed lunch at a small place near the USS Constitution. Delicious glass of wine, good calamari and a lobster roll. I normally love lobster rolls but this one underwhelmed a bit. LeSigh...

Dinner was terrific - the ENTIRE family met up at La Summa in the North End and had a great Italian dinner. Not only was the food delicious but it was really nice to see the whole family. I totally pigged out and had fettuccine alfredo (made with pappardelle, so I guess it was pappardelle alfredo...) and way too much wine.

Sunday was the baby shower and I was a little nervous because I had never eaten at Amhreins but thankfully the food was delicious and everyone seemed to have a good time. My veggie risotto was good but the cake was awesome. Kudos to Mike's sister on getting it - not only delicious but it looked adorable too.

Bringing you up to speed - first delivery last week!

This is my first attempt at blogging. Considering I love READING food blogs I thought I'd try writing one...So last Wednesday Celine and I received our first JC CSA delivery. It was a pretty big haul - red leaf lettuce, kale, garlic scapes, arugula, radishes, curly endive, english peas and mint. I was so excited, I couldn't contain myself - I bounced all over the garage during the whole pickup.
When we got our email the day before about what we would be getting I immediately ran to my cookbooks and asked myself, "What can I make with that?" Sadly, I was leaving for Chicago on Friday so I had a limited amount of time to create something with my half. Thankfully, Big L got me started off on the right foot by insisting that I try the peas raw. I, being a staunch anti-pea person, had my doubts. However, they were amazing. So sweet and so fresh, I now have a very specific exception on my no-pea rule. (This one was eaten the next day at my desk. Probably after a handful of candy, sadly).

I was really excited to try the kale, as I had never had it (I know, for someone who loves to eat and cook, kale seems like a pretty big basic but no dice). I decided to keep it simple because of the time constraint. I cooked some bacon in pot, took it out and sauteed the garlic in the fat, threw in the chopped kale, added some white beans and cooked pasta and the chopped up cooked bacon. And who doesn't love to celebrate the first harvest with a drink? Fresh mint? Mmmm, mojitos!

The next day, thanks to my sub-par storage technique, most of the rest of my greens had gone limp in the fridge. So I again kept it simple, just sauteed the radish tops, arugula and curly endive with garlic and oil, red pepper flakes then added 17 bean mix from Trader Joe's and chicken stock. Toasted some roasted garlic bread from Hudson Bakery (one of Big L's favorite things) with some shredded parm and then spread the garlic scape pesto I made on top of that. I don't know what it is but I can never get dried beans to rehydrate properly. Most of the beans came out ok but there were a few crunchy-ish ones in there. LeSigh. But other than that everything was really tasty. One miss of the delivery - the garlic scapes in an omelet. WAY too overpowering. However, maybe using a whole one in a small omelet was asking for trouble....

Here's the toast - so good!

I still have a few sprigs of mint that I've been using in tea, which has been good. There was one victim of the whole delivery - I came home to radishes that were completely shriveled. Live and learn...