Es-SCAPE from reality

Garlic scapes are good.
Garlic scapes are great.
I love the flavor that they gave to the food that we ate.

Lame poem for a delicious (and pretty) vegetable. Last night I chopped them up like scallions and used them in the following recipes...




Spinach and Kale w/ scapes: Simple - spinach and kale sauteed in olive oil with red pepper flakes, nutmeg and the aforementioned scapes. Verdict: I really liked the delicate garlic flavor the scapes added to the dish. Toddler: ate a good five or six handfuls before she looked at me with fear in her eyes as if to say "Dear God woman... are these vegetables??? I certainly can't be caught enjoying something green or I will lose all my street cred at daycare!" at which point she promptly threw the green mass in her hand on the floor and spit on it. Husband: declined to even try any. His loss, and it gave me a nice big batch of leftovers for lunch today.


My version of a Panzanella (Tuscan bread salad): This was supposed to be grilled pizza margherita, but I messed up and put too little flour on my pizza peel and then let the dough sit on it for so long that it actually became one with the wood. When I tried to slide the pizza onto the grill it became a crazy messed up dough log that I immediately christened "crazy messed up dough log." (Many points for originality, ehh?) So I took the ingredients that were supposed to go on top of the pizza (fresh basil, fresh mozzy balls, grape tomatoes and chopped scapes) and mixed them in a bowl with some basil oil and balsamic. The when the crazy messed up dough log was scraped from the grill, I chopped it up in to small pieces and tossed it with the other stuff while it was still hot. Made for a nice, kind of melty but not too melty, salad. Verdict: Toddler was unable to overcome the fact that she was NOT getting pizza after all and threw every handful on the floor, saying "No pizza mommy" in a voice dripping with disdain for my grilling abilities. She did suck down about 15 tomatoes though. Husband: Commented that it was "freakin good" and "deceptively simple." I thought it was quite good and it was great as leftovers today. I would totally make it again for company... could be a full meal with a protein (grilled chix or shrimp maybe?) in there.

Jilly's Famous Wings

This recipe gets posted b/c I used the scallions from the C.S.A. box to top these puppies when I took them out of the oven. (Of course I was crazed at that point to get them out on the table so I spaced at taking a picture once the scallions were on there.)

Jilly's Famous Wings

I adpated this recipe from one I found on allrecipes.com... I use different proportions of the ingredients depending on what's in the house and how many wings I am making. I have used this with drumsticks and thighs too and it is always good.

I used 10 pounds of frozen wings for Syd's party this weekend. So here's the proportions I used:

2 bottles Catalina Salad Dressing
3 packages Onion Soup Mix
3 Bottles Apricot Preserves

I let the wings defrost in the fridge over night to get some of the liquid out. Then I just mixed all of the ingredients together and poured it over the wings right in their pans (I had them in three disposable foil pans.) I cook them in a low oven, @ 250- 275, for 3 hours. I check them whenever I think about it and turn them and reglaze them.

Then I liberally doused the top with chopped scallions before I put them out.

Verdict: Always a hit, although 10 pounds may have been too much. Mario "sticky fingers" Aurora was pleased to have leftovers though and has been eating them constantly since Saturday. Even Sydney likes these if we rip the meat off the bones for her.

This week's take - 6/20/07

A little late in posting this week's C.S.A. bounty, since things have been crazy with Syd's birthday party planning, preparations and the actual event.

Anyway... here's our share of what we got this week:

Lettuce
Turnips
Scallions
Kale
Spinach
Garlic Scapes
Strawberries (which were eaten in their entirety pre-picture by a toddler screaming "one strawberry!" before she popped each one in her mouth.)

What's been cookin'

So for father's day I made Mario's favorite beer can chicken... which I make pretty much according to the recipe, although I use one of these in addition to the can and I put it on an old cookie sheet covered in tin foil instead of right on the grill. Sometimes I add a bunch of garlic cloves to the beer and stuff half of a lemon in the neck. This time I used smoked paprika, garlic powder, brown sugar, cumin, salt and pepper for the rub and it was delish.

I used our veggies in the following side dishes... (I meant to take pictures but the kid was screaming for food so we needed to eat quickly... not to mention the fact that the dishes were less than pretty.)

1. Napa Cabbage Salad which was basically an asian cole slaw with toasted ramen noodles and almond slivers. I also added some Mandarin oranges. VERDICT: Mario and I loved it... Sydney ate out the toasted ramen noodles and oranges and spurned all other ingredients. I did catch her dipping some chicken in the dressing though.
   
   
2. Celariac and Sweet Potato Rosti - I kind of made this up based on some recipes I saw online when I was trying to figure out what the heck to do with celariac. A rosti is basically a big hash brown pancakey kind of thing. I sauteed some pancetta and then added shredded sweet potato, celariac and onion to the pan, seasoned with salt, pepper and garlic powder and then let it get crisp. VERDICT: Delicious. The celeriac added a nice bite to the sweet potato. Adults enjoyed... toddler would not even allow it to pass her lips.
   

Strawberries!

Went strawberry picking today... these aren't technically from the C.S.A., but they are fresh and organic produce so I figured I'd pop them up here. Yum. Strawberry salad for dinner!

First pick-up!

Our first pick-up today consisted of the following:

Chinese cabbage
Lettuce
Broccoli
Radishes
Scallions
Swiss Chard
Celariac

Pictured above is our 1/2 of the take... tonight I used some of the scallions as a topper for some zucchini and pepper enchiladas that my mom made for us. The adults enjoyed them... toddler wouldn't even taste them... but she's coming off of a monster fever and sinus infection so nothing has crossed her lips but yo baby and apple juice (and chalk) for the past 3 days.

I am curious about the celariac... it smelled just like celery when I cut it in half to give my friends their share, but seems to have the consistency of more like a kholrabi maybe? I'll have to do some research into how to enjoy it!

Why join a C.S.A.?

When I was growing up my parents had an amazing garden and of course I turned my nose up at pretty much everything they grew. What kid wants to eat a dinner that consists of only "stuff from the garden" while nursing sore fingers and arms from "frenching" the greenbeans? ( I know that sounds hot but it is SO not what you think.)

Now 32, I've been able to overcome my early exposure to such horrors as vegetable pie, blanch-water soup and (gasp) PEAR SAUCE. I realize that I would pretty much kill for meals like that now. Living in a city, our small patch of lawn is composed of 1 part dirt to 3 parts broken glass and assorted metal pieces and rocks, so gardening is pretty much out. Plus my thumb is basically brown instead of the requisite green needed to nurture a tasty harvest.

So we joined a C.S.A. - Denison Farms - splitting a share with our close friends the Joyce family. We're looking forward to a season's worth of fruits and veggies from the good folks over at the farm. I plan on blogging the whole experience... including pics of each weeks bounty, what I cook with it and whether or not my family will eat it!

First pick-up delayed

< :(
Apparently our farmer has appendicitis, so our first pick-up will be postponed until next week. I am very frowny that I must put off my foray into organic fruit and vegetable eating for another week, but I wish Brian a speedy recovery!
Oh well... bring on the processed junk food for a final week of debauchery!