Chinese Green Beans

Week 10 (8/10 pick up): potatoes, chard, green beans, spinach, green onions, melon, corn, cherry tomatoes, tomatoes, garlic



Chinese Green Beans
Here's another one of my favorite veggie side dishes that my grandmother used to make. It's very quick and very easy. I like it sweet, but you can cut down on the sugar if it's not your taste.

INGREDIENTS:
1 pound green beans, ends cut off and cut it half
1 Tablespoon vegetable oil
1 Tablespoon soy sauce
1 Tablespoon sugar
1 Tablespoon water
1-2 cloves garlic, minced

DIRECTIONS:
Mix soy, sugar, water and garlic and set aside. Heat vegetable oil in large pan on med-high. Use the largest pan you have, so the green beans don't stack too much, otherwise they will not cook evenly. Add green beans and cook until almost tender, tossing the green beans frequently to get them to cook evenly on the outside. Then add sauce and cook another 1-2 minutes.

Fresh Corn and Potato Soup

Week 9 (8/3 pick up): carrots, beets, chard, green beans, tomatillo, onions, watermelon, corn, cherry tomatoes, basil



Fresh Corn and Potato Soup
If you are wondering what to do with all that corn that is stock piled in your fridge, here's a super easy recipe that you'll want to make again and again. It's amazingly creamy without any cream. The creamy texture comes from pureed corn. I first had this soup at a Cooking Club dinner. My friend Sarah made it and said that her mom found the recipe in a Gourmet Magazine from September 2000.

The batch it makes is pretty small. I would say that it serves only two people. So I would recommend at least doubling or tripling it if you want to serve more than a couple or want leftovers. I'm planning to freeze some toward the end of the summer - hoping to get that fresh summer corn taste into the fall/winter.

INGREDIENTS:
4 ears corn
2 red potatoes, peeled and diced
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
3/4 teaspoon corn starch
pinch of sugar
1/4 cup onion, finely chopped
2 T butter
1/3 cup water
2 tablespoons fresh chives, minced (optional for garnish)

DIRECTIONS:
Cut off corn kernels. I usually separate the best kernels (my first pass at cutting them off the cob) from the rest of the corn (subsequent passes on the cob to get the most corn off of it that I can). Puree 2 cups of kernels (the second pass kernels). Save the rest (the first pass kernels). Force the pureed corn through a fine sieve and discard the solids. Add starch, sugar and salt to remaining pureed corn.

Boil potatoes until tender and set aside. Cook onion in butter til soft, on low heat in a pot. Add reserved kernels, potatoes and water. Simmer briskly, covered, til corn is tender but still crisp, 4-5 minutes.

Stir corn puree into kernels and potatoes in pot. Bring to a boil, stirring. Simmer 2 minutes. Season with pepper, stir in chives. Thin with water if desired.

Fresh Veggie Stir Fry with Soba Noodles

Week 8 (7/27 pick up): potatoes, broccoli, zucchini, yellow squash, cucumber, green onions, watermelon radishes, corn, cherry tomatoes, basil



Fresh Veggie Stir Fry with Soba Noodles
I've been making lots of veggie stir fry dinners lately. It's a great way to get through your CSA. I keep the sauce simple and the same and let the veggies shine. Since we are getting different veggies in our farm share each week, the veggie variety keeps the stir fry dinners from getting boring. Here's what I made for dinner tonight. I loved the addition of the soba noodles. I'll definitely we doing that again. Enjoy!

INGREDIENTS:
2 cloves of garlic, minced
3 slices of ginger
4 green onions, sliced
1 zucchini, quartered lengthwise and sliced
1 head of broccoli, cut into bite sized florets
1 cup green beans, cut into 1 inch pieces
1/4 head of napa cabbage, thinly sliced

1 tablespoon vegetable oil
3 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoon sugar
drizzle of sesame oil

soba noodles
1 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon sesame oil
a shake of garlic powder
a shake of ginger powder

DIRECTIONS:
Cut up all veggies, so they are ready to go.

Boil soba noodles for 3 minutes. Pour out most of the water - leave enough so that you can add soy, sugar, sesame oil, garlic powder, ginger powder and put it back on the stove to cook for another 1 minute. Then drain and set aside.

Heat a large pan (or wok if you have one) on medium high heat with vegetable oil. Add garlic and ginger until the garlic just starts to brown, but be careful not to burn the garlic (it's a fine line). Add all of the veggies and soy sauce. Mix to get sauce on all the veggies. Add the sugar and mix well. When the veggies have almost reached your desired tenderness, add the noodles and mix well to get the stir fry flavors into the noodles. Cook for 1 more minute and then remove them from the heat. If there is any liquid left, it can be drained. Then drizzle with sesame oil, toss lightly and serve.

Garlic Scape Pesto

Week 5 (7/6 pick up): swiss chard, radishes, snap peas, baby lettuce mix, head of lettuce, broccoli, zucchini, yellow squash, pickling cucumber, garlic scapes, green onions

What's for dinner tonight?
We got a ton of garlic scapes this week and had some leftover from last week, so I tried my hand at making garlic scape pesto. Most of the recipes I found were pretty similar to basil pesto. I cut the scapes (6.75 oz) into 1-2 inch pieces and put them in the blender with a bunch of basil I had leftover from last week. I added a 1/4 teaspoon of sea salt and olive oil. With the olive oil, I add it gradually and in total included just enough, so that there is enough liquid to enable the pesto to blend in the blender. I would have added pine nuts, but my husband is allergic.

Garlic Scape Pesto Pasta with Broccoli and Yellow Squash
Now what to do with the pesto? Once I tasted it, I thought it would be great spread on bread and baked like garlic bread mmmm... But I didn't have any bread and didn't want to go to the store. It would also have made a great sauce for a veggie pizza, but I didn't have any pizza dough handy either. So I settled on elbow pasta with broccoli and yellow squash. I sauteed the broccoli and summer squash in olive oil until tender and lightly browned. Then mixed it with the pasta and pesto, and tossed with parmesan cheese. Yum.

INGREDIENTS:
garlic scapes - 6.75 oz
1 bunch of basil (add more if you like, that's all I had)
pine nuts, if desired
1/4 teaspoon of sea salt
olive oil - not sure how much I used
1 head of broccoli, chopped
2 small yellow squash, cut in half lengthwise and then sliced
1/2 pound dried pasta

Maple Roasted Turnips and Carrots

Week 2 (6/15/10 pick up): radishes, carrots, turnips, spinach, baby lettuce mix, head of lettuce, beets with greens

I added radishes to this batch. That's what the pink and purple ones are.

Quick and Easy Roasted Root Veggies (VT style)

1) turnips and carrots - peel and cut into bit sized pieces
2) drizzle with maple syrup and olive oil
3) add salt to taste and toss veggies until evenly coated
4) roast at 400 degrees until tender - about 30-45 minutes
5) I turn the veggies every 10-15 minutes to keep them evenly coated, cooked and carmelized while roasting

That's it! Let me know if you try it and what you think.

Pint of Pickled Radishes

A New Season Begins!

Week 1 (6/8/10 pick up): radishes, carrots, turnips, spinach, baby lettuce mix

First Attempt at Pickling

I love the pot of pickles side dish at Bluebird Tavern, and it inspired me to try to make my own. I started with a recipe I found online and make some adjustments based on my personal preferences and what I had on hand. The first thing I did was cut the recipe down. I only had one bunch of radishes, which actually ended up being the perfect amount to try this out without making too much. I also used locally made apple cider vinegar that I had purchased in the Fall from a nearby apple orchard instead of the champagne vinegar called for in the original recipe.

Results

Overall I was very pleased with the results. It came out a bit strong, so I cut down the vinegar and added water to the recipe for next time - might also try apple cider/juice to dilute the vinegar instead of water. From what I have read, champagne vinegar is a much lighter vinegar, so I might pick some up and try that as well. I think pearl onions would also make a fine addition if desired. Try it out and let me know what you think and if you make any changes of your own. I'm always looking for new ideas and inspiration. Happy pickling!

Pint of Pickled Radishes

INGREDIENTS:
1 bunch radishes
2 carrots

PICKLING MIX:
3/4 cup apple cider vinegar

1/4 cup water
1/3 cup sugar
1 Tablespoon pickling spices
1/2 clove smashed garlic
1/2 stem of fresh wild fennel (optional if you don't have it, or use 1 1/2 teaspoons dried fennel seed)

DIRECTIONS:
Wash the radishes and carrots and cut them into bit sized pieces. Place them in a heatproof bowl (I used a glass pint jar). In a small pot, combine the pickling ingredients and bring to a boil. Remove from heat and pour the boiling mix over the radishes and carrots. Cover tightly with plastic wrap immediately and set aside. Once cooled to room temperature, strain and serve.

Adapted from a recipe by Tyler Florence found on foodnetwork.com

Celeriac Leek Soup

I had been meaning to do something with the celeriac I was stock piling in the fridge from our farmshare. Tonight, I decided to make potato leek soup with celeriac in place of some of the potatoes (and minus the pancetta to try making it a bit healthier). I can't believe how great it turned out. I was quite pleasantly surprised. Here's the recipe.

INGREDIENTS:
2 tablespoons canola oil
3 tablespoons butter
1 onion, chopped
2 large leeks, chopped
1/4 cup white wine
1 quart chicken broth
3 cups celeriac, peeled and chopped
1 cup potatoes, peeled and chopped
1 teaspoon salt

DIRECTIONS:
Using a 6 quart stock pot, cook the onion and leeks in the canola oil on low heat until soft. Add wine and cook until evaporated. Add chicken broth, celeriac, potatoes and salt. Bring to a boil, then turn heat down and simmer for about 15 minutes, until the celeriac and potatoes are soft. Transfer to a blender to make it smooth.

Makes 6 servings