The First Summer Corn

One evening this week, I realized I still had an ear of corn in the vegetable bin, and wanted to enjoy those fresh kernels of summer. However, with only one ear of it I also knew that would not be enough to be my entire dinner, so I improvised. I sliced the kernels off the corn cob and sauteed them with a little butter. When they were just a little tender and fragrant, I added in my chopped Tokyo Bekana, which is simply a lovely, slightly curly green. (I'm not too proud to admit that I also ate several spoonfuls of corn kernels at this point, as well.)

Corn and Tokyo Bekana

I also cooked up some little cheese ravioli to add a bit of protein to the plate. When the pasta was done cooking, and the greens were softening a bit, I added a few spoons of ricotta to the pan with the greens and corn. I then dumped in the pasta.

After about another minute of stirring it together, the ricotta began to soften and melt, making a sauce that held the greens and corn to the pasta, melding it into a plateful of light, summery scrumptiousness.

Ravioli with Ricotta, Corn and Tokyo Bekana

Feeling Hot, Hot, Hot!

Sometimes the best gifts come from unexpected places. I work with someone who has a LOT of pepper plants, and they're producing like mad right now! Imagine my surprise when I managed to come home from work one day with this beautiful haul!

Thai hot chiles.

Beautiful jalapeno pepper.

Cow horn pepper!

Summertime Squash!

The squash and zucchini, faithful summer vegetables, were sitting in my fridge, and just begging to be eaten. However, the awful heat makes me want to prepare things without heat. I've explored a couple recipes for a squash salad, and decided to test out the idea. I started with my beautiful yellow zucchini, and shaved it into thin slices with my mandoline (fingers intact!). I love the colors of the flesh in this beauty!

With all the shaved pieces in a bowl, I added salt, pepper, olive oil and some lemon juice and stirred, then added some crumbles of ricotta salata.

Once it had marinated just a bit, I dumped it on a plate and dug in - a delicious summer dinner, cool in the kitchen and cool on my plate. It was both aesthetically and flavorfully pleasing - just look at this!

This Week in the Bull Run Mountain CSA

This week was more fun, not only because I got more yummy, gorgeous produce, but also because I got several things I've never cooked with before - including one I've never even tried!

As with past weeks, the haul included more cucumbers, eggplant, squash and zucchini, all of which I am enjoying immensely. I also got more Thai and Italian basil. I've started freezing the basil, because I'm just getting too much of it, but I know I'll use it! Also included were more potatoes, and some teeny, tiny onions - the size of pearl onions. He pulled them early because the heat has done a number on their growth, but I can't wait to use them. There was also more garlic. This garlic is to die for...it's just so fantastic. I'm hoping to roast some this weekend (it should not be as hot, so having the oven on for an extended time is a more bearable concept) and making a garlicky compound butter.

Let's not forget the half dozen eggs...which are proliferating a bit. I need to do more baking, or more frittatas. Of course this week's fruit share was more peaches - if possible, these are even more gorgeous. I've been so lucky to be eating these peaches...I really am loving it!

New this week, and new in my kitchen (though not to my tastebuds) were mustard greens and tomatillos. I'm particularly interested to fiddle with the tomatillos!

And brand new in Amandaland this week - ground cherries! These are amazing little bits of goodness, wrapped in tissue-thin, papery skins that peel away to reveal golden fruits. The flavor is quite unique...a little pineapple, a little raisin, a little vanilla...almost intoxicating. I look forward to experimenting with them!

Some Like It Hot...Very Hot...

It's a record-breaking day for heat here in the mid-Atlantic, so I have not turned on the oven or stove at all.

What am I eating? Well, I'm lucky enough to be pulling in some gorgeous produce from my CSA that requires virtually no treatment at all to be delicious!

I'm eating some gorgeous peaches, fresh from the trees earlier in the week. These peaches are so succulent and sweet that they need NOTHING added to them. I shared some of last week's peaches with my sister-in-law and she asked what I'd put on them...the answer was nothing. If possible, this week's are even better. Perhaps it's the heat making them so delicious to me, but they're fabulous.

I've also been eating cucumbers. I had two - this week's and last week's - and sliced them into half-moons and prepared them a la David Tanis. His Vietnamese cucumbers (here's a newspaper's publication of a version of the recipe - I don't want to come afoul of copyright law) are right up my alley, and the heat of the chiles combined with the cool cucumbers seems all too perfect on a hot day like today.

I may cut into a block of cheese later, but maybe not. At this rate, I'll end the day having only eaten cucumbers and peaches, and that's perfectly fine with me.

CSA Summer

This week, my camera battery died, and it was such a busy week I've just gotten a new one. So while I do not have pics of all the wonderful produce from this week, I have wonderful produce all the same.

This week we got more garlic, a beautiful and vibrant yellow zucchini, some lovely broccoli (if all broccoli were like this, I think I'd love broccoli!), more tomatoes and cucumbers, potatoes, arugula, a new green called Tokyo Bekana, and more Thai and Italian basil.

I also got my weekly egg share, and this week for fruit I got about a dozen beautiful and fragrant peaches. Again, they were so soft and tender they filled the car with the smell of nectar on the drive. Mmm....

Eggplant Krapow

There was so much good food from the CSA, I had to cook a vegetarian meal. I decided to utilize some of the eggplant , and use a preparation similar to the Drunken Noodles I made a few weeks ago! I started, as always, by cutting and chopping all the vegetables so they were ready to go.

The chiles and garlic, ready to go.

Once ready, I sauteed the chiles and garlic in some sesame oil. When softened and fragrant, I added some sauce, stirred for a minute, and then added in all the vegetables.

I stirred them into the mixture and flipped them in the pan a few times, then allowed them to cook through, stirring occasionally.

When the vegetables were softened and cooked, I added a smidgen of sugar, some kaffir lime leaves and some fish sauce. I stirred all of this together, allowing the sauce to thicken a little and coat all the vegetables.

Last, I added the Thai basil to the pan, stirring it into the hot mixture to wilt the leaves.

The mixture was fragrant and steamy, as I plated it. As I'd considered, I lessened the amount of sauce ingredients, as the saltiness was overpowering last time, and increased the garlic and chiles. This time, the plate was a perfect meld of tang, salt and heat.

Sunday Scramble

Confession: I watch cartoons on Sunday mornings. Knowing this, it should come as no surprise that I like making breakfast for these mornings. Since I’ve been getting these beautiful farm-fresh eggs…I had to have eggs for breakfast!

I started off with some bacon. After it was cooked and crisp (I like crispy bacon!), I spooned out some of the grease, and left some in the pan. I added a little butter, the scrambled eggs and some salt and fresh ground pepper.

After the eggs began to cook through, I added the crumbled bacon, some chopped arugula, and some grated parmesan cheese.

All told, this took about 20 minutes to prepare, most of which was time cooking the bacon! It was yummy...and perfect for my date with Skipper.

Moving to the Country, I'm Gonna Eat a Lot of Peaches

Those peaches I got...oh my. They're just swell. As cling peaches, I couldn't get quite all the fruit cut off, but I got plenty of juicy, peachy goodness. They're so sweet and succulent. I'll be eating them all weekend...and eagerly anticipating getting more next week!

The Italian Job

Some nights there is too much to do to spend much time on dinner. On such nights, the preparation work I've done earlier in the week comes in very handy! I quickly cooked some angel hair pasta, which only takes a few minutes. While the pasta cooked, I sliced a clove of garlic and cut up two tomatoes.

When the pasta was done, I drained it, leaving a little of the pasta water in the saucepan, and added a bit of olive oil. I added the tomatoes and garlic and sauteed them until they softened. Then I stirred in some of the pesto I had in the fridge.

I then added the pasta to the mixture, and stirred in two spoonfuls of ricotta cheese. As I stirred it together, the cheese melted into it and the pesto coated the pasta. It smelled great. I added a little salt and fresh ground pepper to season it, and then served it up!

While it was a quick dinner, it still tasted fresh, flavorful and filling. I'll have to use this combination again!

Just Peachy

This week, the CSA email that came was the most exciting in a while - FRUIT IS STARTING!!!

I arrived to a line of folks, all excited about the produce. It smelled wonderful. I wandered through, grabbing my eggplant, zucchini, yellow squash, cucumber, garlic, broccoli, Italian basil and Thai basil. Then, over to the van...to get some lovely little tomatoes, and of course, I am still getting those beautiful, farm fresh eggs.

Most exciting, I got two Summer Mac apples and 11 (yes, 11!) peaches. These fruits are not huge, but boy are they pungent. The relatively short drive home filled my car with the sweet scent of fresh peaches. When I unpacked the bag, some of the peaches were so soft and juicy their nectar had run onto the basil, which made me ponder peach and basil as a combination...there is probably a good sorbet, or cocktail, or maybe both, in there!

I can't wait to peel, cut open and indulge in those peaches!

Thank You, David Tanis

In my most recent CSA bounty, I got a beautiful cucumber. It’s still early for tomatoes, and thus my favorite use for those two bits of produce, gazpacho (I’m sure it’ll come soon enough!). Thus I went hunting through my cookbooks and cooking magazines (of which I am not lacking) for a good recipe using a cucumber. Sure, I could slice it and eat raw, or make cucumber water, but I wanted something different.

In paging through one of my more beautiful cookbooks, A Platter of Figs and Other Recipes, byDavid Tanis, I found a recipe for salmon with Vietnamese cucumbers. I was hooked, and had to try it. This book is gorgeous, but I also love it in concept, too. Tanis’ thesis is that the best meals are those that feature fresh, fabulous ingredients. With a past at Chez Panisse (which is on my list of must-eat-there-someday restaurants), Tanis has a knack for celebrating the best in food. If the ingredients are good, the preparation does not need to be elaborate to highlight the flavors.

Knowing a bit of his basic philosophy, I was excited to see if this was as simply and tasty as I hoped. I sliced the cucumbers into the half moons and mixed them with the dressing ingredients, which included (among other things) some chili pepper, ginger and fish sauce, then stuck the bowl in the fridge to marinate and meld. This took about 15 minutes, total, and I was not hurrying.

The next day, I pulled the cucumbers and a wild salmon filet (I always ask the fishmonger to skin it for me before it gets wrapped up – convenience!) out of the fridge. I decided to cook up some quinoa, which is a high-protein grain that cooks quickly, too. I cooked it only in water, knowing the cucumber liquid would season the entire plate. Then I quickly pan sautéed the salmon filet.

Not only was the plate beautiful, but it was delicious. The rich fish was nicely balanced by the tang and spice of the cucumbers. The quinoa acted as the perfect base, adding texture and serving as a vessel for the flavors. Though I had cucumbers left over after serving myself, I went back and ate them all. I can’t wait to make more of these cucumbers!

Mise en Place

It’s been so hot around here, I’m not even hungry every night. On days where I have a very late lunch, cooking doesn't always appeal. However, looking ahead to a busy few nights, I know I should at least make a few things…easier on myself for later in the week.

It’s a perfect time to chop, slice and process a few things…no cooking required!

My first stop – slicing up some veggies for use later in the week. I do not do this will ALL veggies, but some are just fine. In this instance, I took a few hot peppers and some garlic and sliced them, then chopped a few slices as well. This can be the basis of a dressing, or a spicy Thai-style dish, or generally anything I want to be spicy and pungent. If tomatoes magically appear in my world any time soon, this could go in my gazpacho too!

Next up, I had some lovely Italian basil, and some sprigs of Thai basil as well. While I can use Thai basil in those spicy dishes I mention, above, the Italian basil is begging to be made into pesto – especially since I finally found some pine nuts! I put the basil in the cuisinart mini-prep with some parmesan, some salt and freshly ground pepper, and some toasted pine nuts. This time, I toasted them in a skillet on the stovetop, but you can also toast them in the microwave too – they key, using either method, is to monitor them carefully to ensure they don’t burn.

After a few pulses of the cuisinart, I added a few glugs (yes, that’s a technical term) of olive oil, and whirred it again. I scraped it a few times, tasted, adjusted with salt and pepper, and added an additional dollop of oil. Voila…pesto!

I put it in a pyrex container with an airtight lid, topped with a little extra oil to maintain the freshness, and it’s in the fridge, waiting for use.

The last little adventure in not cooking was cucumber…in preparation for the next night’s dinner.

Feeding a Crowd

It was recently Family Day at work, and in my group we always do a pot-luck luncheon, as not everyone has family attending the event. Knowing we needed more hearty main dishes, I thought about what I could make (more or less) at home, ahead of time that transports well and that would be good to eat!

I started with some store-bought cheese tortellini, cooked and drained them. I mixed in a couple teaspoons of olive oil to prevent sticking. I then chopped tomatoes (fresh) and roasted red peppers (from a can). I also tore some arugula and basil leaves for inclusion in the pasta. Finally, I marinated some perline mozzarella (little balls of mozzarella) in balsamic vinegar, a little olive oil, salt and freshly ground pepper. I also planned to use the last of my pesto on the tortellini.

Perline mozzarella marinating in balsamic vinegar, oil and seasonings.

I packed it up separately, with the mozzarella in one container, the pasta with some tomatoes and peppers in another, and the rest of the peppers and tomatoes, with the arugula and basil on top of it, in a third container. They were all in the fridge overnight at home. After the drive to work, I put the pasta and mozzarella in the fridge at work, but left the tomatoes, peppers and greens container out.

The tortellini with pesto, tomatoes and roasted peppers.

When it came time to serve, I simply mixed it all together in a large bowl, using the marinade from the mozzarella to dress the salad. It tasted fresh and flavorful, and was a nice, lighter treat on a hot day. The leftovers kept well enough that I even ate the rest (over three more meals)!

The finished dish.

Vegetable Parade

Last Wednesday evening, I was supposed to be three different places at 5:30, one of which was picking up my vegetables. I wasn’t going to skip that. On my way to pick up my CSA vegetables, I must have been distracted by the other places I should be…I’ll also blame the intense heat for my absent-mindedness. I didn’t go the usual way to the pick-up point, and instead headed directly home from work. Knowing enough about the area that I could get there, even if in a round-about way, I headed up the highway. When I got there, I realized that way, while less scenic, was much quicker…apparently my brain was working at a higher level than I realized!

The haul for the sixth week of my CSA engagement presented the first real bag chock full of vegetables. I came home with small potatoes, more eggplant, some delicious garlic, additional Italian basil, a cucumber, a yellow squash and a zucchini! I can’t wait to get to eating these. They smell marvelous and, being so fresh and yummy, require little effort to be delicious.