June 30, 2011
comment 0

Garlic Scape Pesto

Garlic scapes weren’t a part of my vocabulary until I started receiving the CSA. We’ve been getting a bunch each week, and while cutting them up and adding them to pasta, meat and salads is great, it gets boring. I decided to expand their use and make a basil garlic scape pesto.

Here’s what you’ll need –

  • 3 – 4 garlic scapes, chopped roughly
  • 1/2 cup loosely packed basil leaves
  • 1/3 – 1/2 cup olive oil
  • 1/4 cup grated Romano cheese

In a food processor, blend the garlic scapes and basil together. Slowly add the olive oil in a thin stream while the processor is on. Add cheese. Serve on top of pasta, on rice, on a sandwich… the opportunities are endless.

June 26, 2011
comment 0

Blueberry Raspberry Muffins

Berries were on sale this week, and I couldn’t resist. It’s prime time for berry picking and they taste so much better in June than they do in October. Just a fact of life. So I had an abundance in my fridge and needed to do something with them before throwing most in the garbage.

Blueberry raspberry cinnamon muffins anyone?

  • 1 3/4 cup flour
  • 1/3 cup sugar
  • 2 tsp baking powder
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 1/4 – 1/2 tsp cinnamon (more if you like it, less if you want a hint of it)
  • 1 egg
  • 1 cup milk
  • 1/4 cup vegetable oil
  • 1 cup blueberries
  • 1/2 cup raspberries

Preheat your oven to 400. Combine the first five ingredients together and make a well. In a separate bowl, whisk the egg, milk and oil together. Pour into well and mix until ingredients are combined. Add blueberries and raspberries (they raspberries will break up a bit, this is okay).

Using an ice cream scoop, scoop out balls of dough and plop into a greased muffin pan. I made about 10, but you can make the batter stretch to 12.

Bake for 20 minutes.

Let cool for 5 minutes and then transfer to a wired rack.

June 25, 2011
comment 0

Bacon Makes Everything Better

We’ve had a lot of Swiss Chard lately. Why? Because it keeps coming in our CSA. And before we were experimenting and it was in season and at farmer’s markets. We are sick of Swiss chard, so we needed something that would make it… edible.

Bacon makes everything better. It really does. Here’s what you need:

  • 6 slices of bacon (reserve 3 for chicken burgers)
  • 1 bunch of swiss chard, washed and cut into one inch strips
  • 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • 1 clove of garlic, minced

Cook the bacon until crispy. Remove and place on a paper towel. In the hot bacon fat, throw in the Swiss chard and cook for a minute. Add in garlic and red pepper flakes. Cook for a few more minutes until entirely wilted. Crumble three pieces of bacon and toss into pan. Flavor with salt and pepper.

Serve with chicken bacon burgers. Here’s what you’ll need –

  • 1/2 pound ground chicken, split in half and formed into patties
  • 3 strips of bacon (from previous recipe)
  • 2 tbsp BBQ sauce
  • 2 buns, toasted
  • 2 pieces of cheddar cheese
  • Lettuce

Cook chicken burgers until no longer pink inside (approximately 5 – 6 minutes per side). Meanwhile, toast buns. When burgers are done, melt cheddar cheese on them. Transfer onto bun. Top with BBQ sauce, bacon and lettuce.

June 23, 2011
comment 0

Beet Pizza

Another bunch of beets came in this week’s CSA. I recently learned that I loved beets, but I also learned that I can’t continually make risotto with them. It takes too long, is very hot and requires a lot of stirring. So I went in search of new beet recipes. Not want to do a simple salad, I opted for beet pizza. Yes, beet pizza.

As James said “this isn’t quite real pizza but it’s still good!”

Here’s what you’ll need –

  • Pizza dough (I bought multi-grain from Whole Foods)
  • 4 ounces crumbled goat cheese
  • 3 small – medium beets, roasted
  • Beet greens (from beets you roasted), washed and chopped into one inch strips
  • 1 small onion, sliced
  • 2 tbsp olive oil, divided

Preheat your oven to 425 F. Meanwhile while, saute onions in a splash of olive oil over high heat until wilted. Add beet greens and heat for another 1 – 2 minutes.

Slice your roasted beets into thin pieces. Roll out pizza dough on a pizza stone. Drizzle the rest of the olive oil on the crust. Spread the greens and onions on the dough. Arrange beets on top.

Sprinkle on goat cheese and cook in oven for 15 minutes.

June 22, 2011
comment 0

CSA

CSA box didn’t come with basil as promised. So we scrapped our original plans and made a pasta with arugula, peas and garlic scapes. Seasoned lightly with olive oil and lemon juice.

June 15, 2011
comment 0

Cooking with our CSA

Today was our first CSA pickup. I’m not going to lie, I was shocked by the sheer volume of vegetables we received.

The box was filled to the brim. Overflowing as you can see. What was inside?

  • Swiss chard
  • Turnips
  • Beets
  • Peas
  • Pea Shoots
  • Lettuce
  • Bok choy
  • Garlic Scapes

More food than I even know what to do with. Thankfully we went light on the greens grocery shopping this weekend in anticipation.

I had been feeling very uninspired to cook the last few days. This all changed as soon as I set my CSA box on the kitchen table and started digging. Turnips? Okay. I can do that. I’ve never cooked turnips before, so that took some research. And Swiss Chard and I have recently made friends. Paired with a bread crumb crusted pork chop? It’s a go!

Here’s what you need –

Turnips:

  • 3 – 5 small turnips, stems removed and cut into slices
  • 2 garlic scapes, chopped into 1/4 inch pieces
  • 1/4 tsp dill
  • 1 tbsp butter

Melt the butter in a frying pan. Add the turnips and start cooking with the lid on. Every few minutes stir. After 5 – 6 minutes add the garlic scapes and continue to cook for another 3 minutes or so, lid off. Add dill, stir, and remove from heat. Turnips should be soft.

Swiss Chard

  • 1/2 tsp olive oil
  • 1 bunch of swiss chard, stems removed and cut into strips
  • 1/2 tbsp apple cider vinegar

Heat a large pan. Add olive oil and let heat up. Throw in the Swiss chard and cook until its starts to wilt. Add the vinegar and continue to cook for another minute. Remove from the heat.

Chops

  • 2 thin sliced pork chops
  • Flour for dredging
  • 1 egg, beaten
  • 1/4 cup bread crumbs
  • 1 tsp paprika
  • 1 tsp oregano
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 1/4 tsp pepper

Cover pork chops in flour. Set aside. Mix together the bread crumbs, paprika, oregano, salt and pepper. In a bowl, beat the egg. Take floured chops and dip in the egg on both sides. Cover in bread crumb mixture on both sides. Heat olive oil in a pan and place the chops in. Cook about 4 minutes on each side until crispy.

June 12, 2011
comment 0

Butterflied Chicken

I am not a huge fan of eating meat off of bones. It makes eating animals all the more real, and was one of the reasons I was vegetarian for a few years. But I want to go to France eventually, and they eat a lot of meat and butter, and to fully enjoy this, I needed to drop the vegetarian thing. (Plus, I went to college and it was a lot easier to eat chicken. Also I like chicken burritos).

Anyway, I picked up Julia Child’s The Way To Cook this morning and read about butterflying a chicken. I decided to get over my fear of animals and bones and go for it. When Julia says “remove the back bone” she should have said “de-spine the chicken.” Yup. I de-spined an animal. It was horrifying and disgusting (we have a video to post, after we edit out some of the squeals of the process).

Anyway, here’s what you need –

  • 3 – 4 pound chicken, whole with innards removed
  • 2 tbsp butter, melted
  • 1 tbsp olive oil, melted
  • salt and pepper to taste

Preheat the broiler.

How to Butterfly a Chicken: With heavy shears or a cleaver, cut down close to the backbone on each side, and remove the bone. Spread the chicken open, skin side up, and pound on the breast with your fist to flatten the chicken. Cut off and discard the little nubbins at the wing elbows, and fold the wings akimbo. To hold the legs in place, make ½-inch slits in the skin on each side of the lower breast and tuck the drumstick ends through the slits (The Way to Cook).


After you’ve butterflied your chicken, combine the butter and oil together. Using a pastry brush, baste the chicken (skin side). Conserve about half of the butter mixture. Place the chicken skin side down in a baking dish and place into broiler for five minutes. Remove, and baste flesh side with remaining butter. Place back in the broiler for 5 minutes, remove, baste with the juice in the pan and replace for another 5 minutes.

 

After this 15 minutes of removing and basting, remove again, flip the chicken so it’s skin side up and baste the skin side. Place into broiler for 15 – 20 minutes until skin is crispy and meat is firm to the touch.


I served mine with steam broccoli and roasted root vegetables (hint – roast these while your chicken is roasting!).



June 8, 2011
comment 0

Avocado and Lime Soup

Boston is still hot. Even with AC, I don’t particularly want to turn the stove on. So I decided to try out a cold soup recipe tonight – Avocado and Lime.

Here’s what you’ll need –

  • 2 ripe avocados
  • 2/3 cup diced red onion
  • 2 garlic cloves, minced
  • 2 tbsp canned chile
  • 3/4 tsp salt
  • 1/2 tsp cumin
  • 2 1/2 cups plain non fat yogurt
  • 1/4 fresh cilantro
  • 1 1/2 tbsp lime juice

In a food processor, puree the avocado, onion, garlic, chile, salt and cumin. Add in non fat yogurt and cilantro and pulse until combined. Transfer to a bowl and add about 1/3 cup cold water and lime juice. Mixed until combined. Serve with salsa and tortilla chips.