Weeks 4, 5 and 6: The Craziness Continues

Wow!  I am way behind.  I feel so guilty when I don't get around to writing my blog.  The good news is it doesn't mean I am not cooking.  And I do have some pretty good excuses for not posting.  First, my kitchen was kind of out of commission for a while as we painted the cabinets.  Second, our computer hasn't been set up so my posts have to be written on my phone--which is ok but a little slow.  But on to the food!  I have a lot to cover!

From the previous weeks, I still had a ton of chives and rhubarb left.

CHIVES

We had the largest bunch of chives I have ever seen and I was a little overwhelmed with using it.  Luckily, my friend gets the same CSA as us and found a fabulous Chive Pesto recipe I could use.  It was quite delicious but I did triple the garlic...because you can never have too much. The first day I used a lot of it mixed in with goat cheese to make a pasta sauce with shrimp, bell pepper, and asparagus. I also put it on my bagels for lunch with cream cheese and finished it up on crackers.  Very versatile!

http://www.agardenforthehouse.com/2013/05/chive-pesto/

Pretty chives with flowers!

Everything ready in the food processor.

Finished product!

RHUBARB

Conveniently, my mother-in-law had just sent me a recipe for a rhubarb bread!  Perfect for breakfast or dessert.  The first loaf I ate at home each morning while the second I brought to a work function.  I received a lot of compliments for it.  Next time I think I may replace some, if not all, of the oil for apple sauce.  A bread like this is perfect for it!

 RHUBARB BREAD
                   Makes 2 Breads
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
2/3 cup vegetable oil
1 egg
1 cup buttermilk (1T.vinegar & reg.
   milk to make 1 cup)
1 tsp. vanilla
2 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1 1/2 cups diced rhubarb, used 2 cups
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
Combine brown sugar, oil, add egg, add milk & vanilla.
Mix together flour, baking soda & salt.  Add to above - add rhubarb and nuts.  Pour into 2 well-geased & floured bread pans (4 1/2" x 8 1/2" size) Sprinkle with topping made of 1/2 cup sugar, dash flour, 1 Tbsp. melted butter & 3/4 tsp. cinnamon.
Bake 325 degrees for 50 minutes.
Cool 10 min. and invert to wire rack 

To make this easier, I'm going to just list all of the last couple weeks photos and then the foods.  Since I the weeks mind of ran together.

Week 4: Napa cabbage, baby turnips, radishes, kohlrabi and sugar snap peas

Week 5: Sugar snap peas, lettuce, napa cabbage, chives, basil and beet greens

Week 6: Green onions, kohlrabi, cucumber, basil, zucchini, napa cabbage and lettuce

BABY TURNIPS

I finally got to make my favorite recipe!...and share it with my husband and our friend.  Both raved about it!  And now my husband is constantly asking me to hunt down turnips so I can make it again.  Ahhh...the joy of braised baby turnips!

http://www.sassyradish.com/2008/06/braised-baby-turnips/

BOK CHOY and NAPA CABBAGE

Just realized I had some bok choy from previous weeks to talk about as well as the Napa Cabbage. B and I have been obsessed with grilling lettuce lately.  Usually we do a head of romaine and make a salad, but we decided to translate this to bok choy and napa cabbage is well.  We love the extra flavor and depth the char adds.  Once off the grill, I add a little of everything that is Asian on my cupboard; mirin, sea same oil, rice vinegar and soy sauce.  So far, this has been fairly fool proof.

RADISHES, NAPA CABBAGE and CILANTRO

All three of these items make awesome taco, quesadilla, enchilada and burrito toppings!  Mexican is probably my favorite genre of food and it is my go-to when I am lost with what to make.  I love all of the fresh toppings, spicy salsa and, I must confess, I really LOVE sour cream.  Radishes, napa cabbage and cilantro are all traditional taco toppings in Mexico.  I highly recommend breaking from the typical gringo food and trying it!  

 Traditional tacos with Queso fresco

 One of my go-to quick dinners, cheese quesadilla!

LETTUCES

Obviously, with all of the lettuce we have been getting, I have been eating a lot of salads.  I still have a lot of lettuce in the fridge but luckily it keeps pretty well.  I have discovered that as long as I have some good cheese, like blue or goat, I am pretty content with eating salads all day!

One of the side salads I made. Love the colors!

KOHLRABI

I'm still not in love with kohlrabi like some people are but I do really enjoy it in the slaw I made.  Crunchy and sweet green apple with kohlrabi and a fresh taste if lemon.  I like that the base for the dressing is whipping cream instead of mayo. It makes it feel less heavy and more refreshing!

KOHLRABI SLAW

Yield: Serves 8

Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.
Ingredients
1/2 cup heavy cream
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon coarse-grained mustard
3 tablespoons finely chopped fresh parsley leaves
1/2 teaspoon sugar
2 bunches kohlrabi (about 2 pounds), bulbs peeled and cut into julienne strips, stems discarded, and the leaves reserved for another use
1 Granny Smith apple

Preparation

In a bowl whisk the cream until it holds soft peaks and whisk in the lemon juice, the mustard, the parsley, the sugar, and salt and pepper to taste. Stir in the kohlrabi strips and the apple, peeled, cored, and diced, and combine the salad well.

Gourmet, October 1992

Finally we are at the two easiest ways to use up a lot of veggies...

1. Sauté or grill a bunch of them for an amazing side dish.  A little olive oil, salt and pepper always do the trick. This time we used asparagus, baby turnips, bell pepper, and zucchini.  I topped it off with some crumbles of goat cheese and basil.  Num!

  Before putting the veggies on the grill

Ready to eat!

2. Sauté veggies and eat with pasta.  So easy and good.  You can use any sauce, red, Alfredo, pesto.  For this one, I melted goat cheese and added a little balsamic to make the sauce.  The veggies we used were tomatoes from my garden, beet greens, chives and zucchini...and, of course, garlic.  I served it over gnocchi since I had some in my cupboard and I think is great for handling the rich sauce I made.

Ok!  I think that wraps it all up for the last 3 weeks.  I still have napa cabbage and green onions from last week to use up.  I am hoping to find some time this week to make egg rolls for that.  Num!

A few other notes.  Last week I went to this AWESOME drink mixing class put on by the FairShare coalition.  They partner with Death's Door distillery, a few local farmers and a local mixologist to teach people, like me, how to make fresh seasonal drinks.  It was a ton of fun and if you leave in the Madison area, I would highly recommend looking into it.  They have 3 more classes left this summer on the first Thursday of the month.  During mine we made a drink with white whiskey and dill and one with mulled zucchini and vodka.

http://deathsdoorspirits.com/pages/events/events.php

Finally, I am very excited to announce we got our first salmon share this week. As we cook it up, I will add our recipes to the blog! Enjoy your weekend! And get out to your local farmers markets! They are stocked full with great stuff this time of year.