Bialas Farms CSA: Week 9

Sunday, August 24, 2014

This week was one of the more fun weeks to cook – not only because I got a fabulous box full of vegetables from our friends at Bialas Farms, but also because I received my first box of artisanal food products from Hatchery.

I’ve been wanting to test out the Hatchery subscription box for a while since I tend to fall hard for small-batch producers. My first box didn’t disappoint, a true compliment for the range of vegetables that I received from the farm, including:

Poblano Chiles
Yukon Gold Potatoes
Green Peppers
Red & Yellow Onions
Beets
Radishes
Eggplant
Cilantro
Zucchini
Cucumber
Lettuce

Cooking with this range of unique products has been fun.

Pictured: Lafaza Madagascar Bourbon Vanilla Bean, Bella Nut Sunflower Maca Cinnamon Honey Nut Butter, Not Ketchup Cherry Chipotle dipping sauce, Modern Gingham Preserves Coffee’d Tart Cherry jam, Fogg City Spice Co. Smokey BBQ Seasoning and extra virgin olive oil from the Other Brother Company.

Breakfast couldn’t wait; I immediately spooned some of the Coffee’d tart cherry jam onto Greek yogurt and topped with a handful of homemade granola. I could wake up to this every day.

As you may have seen on previous CSA posts, the majority of the recipes featured use my Bialas Farms produce. But in some cases, when I hit the farmer’s market to pick up my farm share box, I stop by the neighboring stands to gather some additional items – namely berries, stone fruit and melons.

I try to make these posts as inclusive as possible, recognizing that many people receive these types of fruits in their CSA boxes, and/or may be shopping for similar summer items at the farmer’s market. So please excuse me if I meander a little and share dishes that have been prepped with food that goes beyond my CSA box specifically.

I’ve been making ice pops all summer long with the berries that we’ve been buying in bulk. Before we headed up to the lake, I’d ordered a few different pop molds on Amazon, which I thought could be a fun activity for the kids. This week we tried a blackberry and vanilla bean combo which was a straight up disaster. I’m still not quite sure what happened to a few of the pops, but the two different sections froze separately and at different temps, making them really tough to unmold.

Which led to a lot of this…

8 comments

CSA

Bialas Farms CSA: Week 8

Monday, August 18, 2014

We were supposed to entertain a few families at the lake last weekend, but after an emergency call to 911 to report smoke billowing from the house, we prudently canceled. Turns out that it was a faulty boiler, no cause for alarm, but with our house full of steam and smelling like antifreeze, we made plans to host another weekend. Leaving us with a truckload of food, and nobody but ourselves to eat it. Which isn’t such a bad thing, but my husband has cried uncle on the amount of food that I’ve been serving lately and has been an eyelash-width from starting a juice cleanse.

On Saturday morning, I headed out first thing to the Ringwood Farmer’s Market to pick up my weekly Bialas CSA box. After last week’s episode, I was relieved to find out that they’d run out of ghost peppers, although my box was supplied with a healthy dose of jalapeno peppers. I’ve learned my lesson though – these will stay far out of the kids’ curious hands and have been buried in the farthest reaches of my cooler. Likely to never be seen again. If you don’t see a jalapeno recipe for the next few weeks, please remind me to dig them out before they develop more white fur than Santa Claus.

Here’s what we received in this week’s box:

1. Bok choy
2. Jalapeños
3. Fresh leeks
4. Green beans
5. Fairy tale eggplant
6. Parsley
7. Strawberries*
8. Broccoli*
9. Turnips with greens
10. New potatoes
11. Cilantro
12. Indigo rose tomatoes*
13. Swiss chard
*purchased from Bialas Farms separately

Once back from the market, we started our Saturday with one of my now famously rich meals – breakfast tacos, which I made with some leftover sliced strip steak, cilantro, tomatoes, and a lime crema. My timing was way off, with Rodney nowhere to be found when the tacos were done. Thinking maybe I’d disrespected his plea for lighter meals, I searched the house, but apparently he’d already left to take the kids to the park. Leaving me to eat two of these things by myself and ruining my appetite for the rest of the day but one does not let breakfast tacos get cold, wither and die.

To make the breakfast tacos:

Whether you’re grilling from scratch, or using leftovers, all you need are a few slices of sautéed strip steak per taco. First start by heating a large cast iron pan over medium heat and adding three flour tortillas (I use fajita size). When one side is starting to brown, flip, and add a dollop of sour cream that’s been mixed with some lime juice & zest. Add the steak to the top of the cream, add a few chopped tomatoes, a fried egg, and some cilantro sprigs over the top. If you like things spicier, add some hot sauce.

Given that I had a mound of food to cook through, I knew that I had to get cracking early and cook as much as I could in order to freeze some meals. With the mound of turnip greens, and the leafy green chard, I figured that a braised dish could use both at once, along with the ham hock that had been taking up space in my freezer.

I found a tasty Southern-inspired recipe on Epicurious, and made it pretty much to the letter, swapping kohlrabi for the carrots and adding the bunch of Swiss chard to fill out the greens.

As you can imagine, my kids, not having grown up with Southern influences aside from cornbread, didn’t want to even be in the same room as the braised turnips.

They were much more interested in this activity: a make-your-own pizza bar using some locally-purchased flatbreads. What I didn’t tell them is that pizza-making lets me use up just about every leftover in the fridge, so kids, thank you.

The best part of the pizza bar? Grilling the pizzas…(yes, one has a bite out of it already)

Please excuse the blurry shot – I was surrounded by smoke and had three little helpers standing by. This was a Ninja-quick mission to get in and get out, hopefully with crispy pizzas and body parts intact.

Lauren made Rodney’s pizza, which resulted in a tower of tomatoes. “Why so much tomato?” he asked me, not knowing that he was in fact eating a masterpiece. To which I gave him a sideways neck jolt towards the little chef. Silenced.

My own pizza was base on a pizza that I grew up eating in Toronto at a restaurant called Il Fornello. In the 80s it was the place to go for Canada’s best imitation of Wolfgang Puck’s California Pizza Kitchen. I ordered pizza #11 from the menu every time – pesto, chicken, goat cheese, and eggplant. I tried to replicate the dish exactly, except that I didn’t have eggplant. But it was still delicious.

11 comments

CSA

Bialas Farms CSA: Week 7

Monday, August 11, 2014

Our CSA box #7 arrived, all to be cooked, photographed, documented, and presented in a post that I almost considered calling “scenes from a family table”…or “the gluttons”. Having two short weeks of cooking due to travel, I sorely missed the feel of a chef knife in my hand and the sound of onions frying on the stove. There is no place where I feel more at peace and secure than in the kitchen.

We’ve had fun together this summer. I’d venture to say that we’ve had more fun than we’ve ever had. Living at the lake has been a bonding experience for the family, giving us the opportunity to sit together, share meals, relax, talk, and enjoy an occasional sunset.

With busy school schedules, babysitting help, and long work hours, it hasn’t always been possible for us to eat our meals together. This summer we’ve not only grown closer as a family, but my kids have also become better eaters. For better or for worse, I’ll tell you why in a minute.

But first, this week’s box:

1. Carrots
2. Cucumbers
3. Ghost peppers*
4. Celery
5. Garlic
6. New potatoes
7. Fairytale eggplant
8. Red radishes
9. Kirby cucumbers*
10. Red onion
11. Yellow onion
12. Broccoli
13. Dill
* purchased separately

When I saw the weekly Bialas newsletter come out, I was ecstatic that fairytale eggplants were going to be delivered. I remember them from last year – small and beautifully mottled, without the seeds typical of larger varieties. I served this dish – a Greek-inspired plate of sautéed eggplant, ground beef, and tzatziki – 10 minutes after I arrived home from the market.

To make the sautéed beef & eggplant:

Start by making the tzatziki by mixing an 8-oz container of Greek yogurt with a squeeze of lemon juice, 1 small cucumber shredded and squeezed dry, ½ clove of grated garlic, and a handful of chopped dill. Season to taste.

Next, season and sauté in a medium pan some minced onion and 1 lb. of grass-fed beef, breaking up the beef until the onion is translucent and the beef is no longer pink. Transfer the beef to a plate, leaving the fat in the pan. If you’re using grass-fed beef, there won’t be a lot of fat; if using a fattier grind, drain some of the fat off, leaving 2-3 tablespoons. Slice 6-8 fairytale (or other) eggplants lengthwise, and sauté them in the remaining fat on medium-high heat until golden. Season to taste.

On a platter, pile the eggplants, then the ground beef, and finally the tzatziki.

Back to that “for better or for worse comment”, the rest of the veggies were still lying out as we were finishing lunch, and while I eating my last few bites of eggplant, my three little mice disappeared to go sampling the vegetables from the new box. Which generally wouldn’t be an issue, but this week they went straight for the ghost peppers, which on the Scoville heat index, are twice as spicy as a habanero. 30 minutes, a bucketful of tears, one frantic call to Poison Control, and two bowls of ice cream later, Sam and Emma were playing anew, unchanged except for a newfound appreciation for chili peppers.

I had to get the peppers out of harm’s way; my first use was a ghost pepper and rosemary-infused vodka (which presumably they won’t drink, but at this point, I’m not entirely certain)…

The rest of the ghost peppers went into batch #2 of the sweet and spicy fridge pickles that I told you about last week.

12 comments

CSA

Bialas Farms CSA: Week 6 + an announcement

Monday, August 4, 2014

Given our travel to Alabama last week, it was a short cooking week last week, and another short week for this one as well. But I managed to sneak in a few good meals, which was especially important given that my Dad was visiting for a few days.

Our dog sitter was kind enough to pick up (and wash/bag) my farm share produce, God bless her, which this week was made up of every shade of green.

Shallots
Swiss chard
Kirby cucumbers
Mariachi peppers
Green beans
Zucchini
Green peppers
Fresh basil
Romaine lettuce
Sweet corn

Since we got in on Sunday night and my Dad was set to arrive on Monday afternoon, I didn’t have much shopping or prep time, so most of what I cooked during his visit was from the share and a good scrounge through the refrigerator.

After a travel snafu that got my Dad in a few hours later than planned, we decompressed on the dock with a bottle of rosé and a big platter of deconstructed wedge salad. I’ve seen the Smitten Kitchen version in Deb’s cookbook, and this one comes pretty close with layers of iceberg lettuce stacked and coated in a lemony buttermilk dressing. Although the iceberg lettuce wasn’t from my CSA box, I’d picked it up on a whim at the store thinking that it would be a perfect match for the smoky local bacon from the Ringwood farmer’s market each weekend.

To make the lemony buttermilk iceberg wedge:

Make a 1lb package of bacon using your favorite method. Set aside to cool. While the bacon is cooling, make the lemony buttermilk dressing by mixing 1/3 cup of buttermilk with the juice of a half lemon. Add 2 tablespoons of Greek yogurt for body, season with salt and pepper, and then gradually whisk in 1/3 cup of olive oil to emulsify. Set aside.

Cut the iceberg lettuce into quarters, removing the tougher core, and separating the lettuce into large leaves. Prep the rest of the salad ingredients: Break the bacon into crumbles; dice ½ pint of cherry tomatoes; crumble ¼ lb of blue cheese, slice 2-3 green onions crosswise.

To assemble the salad, layer 1/3 of the iceberg lettuce, and 1/3 of the remaining ingredients on top, ending with the dressing. Complete two more layers like this, ending with the dressing (reserving a few green onions for the top). Sprinkle the salad with the remaining green onions, and give the whole thing a big grinding of black pepper and a pinch of smoked Maldon salt.

My dad always seems to be on a diet so I backed off of the bacon-studded waffle plan and kept him on a steady breakfast/lunch feed of tomatoes and avocados with a squeeze of lime.

But at a certain point, I have to cave and cook real food. I can only see someone consume so much prune juice and Special K.

Starved for a little substance, I made one hell of a dinner with the corn and potatoes from our share, along with one of my favorite dishes of all time: pomegranate chicken, which is lacquered with homemade pomegranate molasses just before serving. If you want the recipe, be sure to track it down in this post.

My old neighborhood butcher in Chelsea recommended this preparation for potatoes and I’ve used it a few times since – it’s foolproof, and the best way to get them to that ethereal place where soft and crispy come together in one perfect bite.

8 comments

CSA

Bialas Farms CSA: Week 5

Sunday, July 27, 2014

Although I only had a few days to cook before we left on our family trip to Alabama to see relatives, I felt like I had to make the most of this week’s box. Nothing makes me more sad than having to toss beautiful produce, so I tried to use up as much as I could – by either eating, freezing, or preserving.

The good news is that I got through most of it.

And there was a lot to get through – here is what we received in this week’s box:

Kirby cucumbers
Radishes*
Tomatoes*
Buttercrunch lettuce
Green beans
Fresh garlic
Parsley
Garlic scapes
Yellow onions
Basil
Broccoli
Kale
Zucchini
Carrots

I just had to take this shot of Action Jackson working his way around the vegetables – our boy is never too far out of reach from our food. Even this guy will eat his greens…

I did have some help this week – at the beginning of the week I received an incredible set of cheeses from my friends at the Vermont Creamery. My fridge was packed with crème fraiche, mascarpone, aged goat cheese in all kinds of shapes, sizes and maturities. When you start with great ingredients, it’s almost hard not to cook delicious meals.

One of the first things that I made with my new cheese stash was a whipped rosemary goat cheese spread, which is perfect as a light meal on toasted bread and fresh tomatoes.

To make the whipped goat cheese spread:

Soften a 4-oz package of goat cheese, and then whip with a handheld mixer until crumbly. Add a few tablespoons of heavy cream, and continue to whip until light and fluffy. Add a tablespoon or two of chopped rosemary, and serve alongside toast, grilled bread, or even on top of grilled fruit. Fabulous especially on peaches with a drizzle of honey.

And with a few logs of crumbly goat cheese, I knew that I’d be making tartines for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

This one has some of the leftover pesto from Week 3’s box (click here for the recipe), and is topped with some goat cheese crumbles and pickled chard stems that are still kicking it in my fridge, courtesy of Week 1’s box (click here for the recipe).

A few weeks ago I’d picked up some smoked trout at the grocery store. Fresh fish is hard to come by in our area, but smoked salmon and smoked trout are readily available and delicious, so I’ve been trying to use them where I can. The crème fraiche from Vermont Creamery had smoked trout spread written all over it. Don’t judge before you try it – it’s wonderful. My husband quickly changed his opinion from “I’ll probably pass on that” to “damn this is delicious” once he’d taken his first bite. It’s not at all fishy- just creamy, smoky and a little salty. Perfect as a dip for my fresh, super crunchy CSA vegetables.