85: Cucumber Salad

Simple salad. I wanted to use up the last of my share ingredients before the next delivery. Most of these ingredients had been earmarked for a tabbouleh that couldn't happen after I caved and just ate those sungold tomatoes as is (no regrets on that btw). So I winged it a little with good results. 

Ingredients: 

1 slicing cucumber, deseeded

2 scallions, sliced reasonably thin

~1/3 cup chopped herbs (parsley, mint, lemon basil)

Toasted sesame oil, rice wine vinegar, salt and pepper

I chopped up the cucumber into manageable pieces then tossed with a teaspoon salt and let drain while I prepped the rest. 

Sliced the scallions, and chopped up the herbs. Mixed the sesame oil, vinegar and a little salt and pepper to make a simple vinaigrette. 

Rinced the cucumbers and tossed everything together. I had a little last night, it was nice and fresh, but left most in the fridge to meld overnight. Today it was pleasant- though I'd hoped the herbs would come through more. I tried separating part and adding a little red wine vinegar (the only kind I have at my desk), in case more tartness would help. It was still fine but not essential. Just depends on the kind of mood you're in.

Notes for Improvement:

- Needs a little more salt or more herbs (or keep salt and pepper at your desk)

- Wouldn't mind trying this with tomatoes

79: Middle Eastern Veggie Salad

One of these days I won't be consuming so much acidic food. Today is not that day. Made as close as I could to this simple salad using a ton of my CSA ingredients (scallions, cucumbers, tomatoes, parsley and basil FTW). I didn't have quite that many tomatoes so I scaled everything down a touch. I also couldn't dress this thing as heavily as the recipe is calling for (on principle), so I just made a lemon juice/oil vinaigrette that I thought tasted good. Also no feta.

Everything got mixed together (sorry for the gross night shots my phone takes) and sat in the fridge for about an hour as I went on a little bike ride in search of Pickle Crisp. Wasn't able to find it- though I do have a lead! More on that in another post.

Anyway, after that hour the flavors had nicely melded. Ate a bunch as in the first pic with a toasted pita (nom), and then a little later remembered I had some homemade (or classmade) mozzarella. That really made the dish for me.

Delivery 8

So much excitingness in this week's delivery.

Beets with Greens - 1 bunch

Walla Walla Sweet Summer Onions - 2

Heirloom Cucumbers (Boothby Blonde and Poona Kheera) - 2  (apparently these were pulled last minute. sadface)

Marketmore Slicing Cucumbers - 2

Orient Express Eggplant - 2 

Scallions - 1 bunch

Tomatoes - 2 

Lemon Basil - 1 bunch  

Flat Leaf Parsley - 1 bunch

Bell Peppers - 2

Sungold Cherry Tomatoes - 1 basket

Summer Squash - 2 pieces

Things I am in love with:

Tomatoes

Not gonna lie, may have screamed a little when I saw tomatoes on the list. I've been sooo obsessed with them this summer. Will resist the urge to eat (all of) them like handfruit. Especially when I have cucumbers and basil just begging to be combined for a salad. And it's hard to do something crazy with just two, you know? Or the little basket.
 

Beets

I have a beet post with off-share ingredients I'll put up soonish, but super excited to have these. I've always wanted to make a beet cake. I may have to do that this week- the idea is making my brain itch- even if it's hot and time consuming.

It's also nice to have leafy greens, will probably saute those with some mushrooms. Going way back for that idea.

Eggplant

I want to redo a recipe this week- even though Ratatoullie uses more of this week's delivery, I'll probably go with Baingan Bharta. Once I figure out how to make it the way I remember it will be the only thing I eat ever.

Parsley

Parsley isn't my favorite, but always happy for fresh herbage. A lot of sauces come to mind- like chimichurri- or an actual real salsa verde. I'm also liking the idea of tabbouleh (bonus for tomato, cucumber and scallion).

Lemon Basil 

If you haven't had this herb before, it smells AMAZING. Ideas: Cookies, vinaigrette on zucchini pasta, or maybe just a pesto for once. It's a shame I haven't yet dabbled in soap or candlemaking, I want everything to smell like this.

Scallions:

CSA was all about fun colors this week. I'm not sure what the difference between the white and red are- one of the staff suggested it could be like the difference between white and red onions? I got a mixed batch just to see. I actually still have scallions from last week to use up...so, scrambled eggs?

Sweet Onions:

Onions are useful for everything- can throw them in the baingan bharta, or another batch of pickles. Not sure if I can use the green tops but I'd like to try.

Bell Peppers:

I've never seen purple peppers before. It's so cool! I got one of each color to see if they tasted different. Part of me wants to roast and (of course) pickle them- I even have a recipe lined up. Though I think I'd need more than two to fill a jar.

Cucumbers

I think I was the only one lamenting the lack of heirloom pickles this week. Part of me wants to wing a cucumber salad- and I don't think it would be that hard. The rest wants to pick up a thing or two and make this guy.

Summer Squash:

They were small this week for some reason. I picked based on prettiness. With no heirloom cucumbers these may sub in for my pickle canning redo I mentioned yesterday. The canning book I've been using says any cucumber recipe can be subbed out with zucchini, but recommends getting pickle crisp granules. I'm in NYC- so I'm sure I can find some- the question is just the least out of the way place.

EXTRAS!

Mushrooms:

Due to a generous/lazy person who did want to pick up their mushroom share, I got some creminis to take home. Of course I'd just bought crummy white button mushrooms earlier that day, but doubt I could ever turn these down. I'm going to use them up before I can find the perfect recipe- major mushroom cravings right now.

 

Stone Fruit:

Hooray for the lazy. Also got a bit of a fruit share to try. I'd debated ordering a fruit share- it's one of the few things I'm still always buying at the store- but it would've been way too much for just me. This is a weird mix of underripe nectarines, super ripe peaches, and middling plums. It's already macerating in the fridge for jam. 

I have a bit of a canning problem. If you didn't know that already, you will very soon.

74: Curry Pickles & A New Toy

This is my first batch of puttin' up pickles. I've done fridge pickles before, but with this CSA I already take up a ton of fridge space, so I wanted to give this a try. It takes a little more time, but these will be shelf stable for a while- according to the recipe I should wait at least six weeks to open the jar. Magic!

The recipe is from The Pickled Pantry from Andrea Chesman. I haven't had a chance to read through the whole book but skimming I came upon a section for recipes by the jar. These can be scaled, sure, but I seldom have the ingredients for more than a jar or two of jams/pickles/etc so it's great to have that option.

I followed the recipe as well as I could. Didn't have the raisins so just left them out. My cucumbers were on the (very very) large size. I didn't feel I could pack the cucumbers AND onions in without a lot of air gaps so while they were present for the initial soaking, the onions did not make it into the jar. I'm getting a few more heirloom cucumbers in today's delivery, so I'll focus on finding some longer/thinner guys for another batch.

I'll update once I actually open these guys up...but that won't be until at least September :)

Anyway- what excited me most about doing this was a reason to play with my new toy: a 4th burner pot! 

I first heard of this lovely pot via a post on food in jars. And while I've enjoyed experiments with small batch canning, the ball canning kit with its 21 quart pot is INSANE to use for just a few half-pints of jam. I tried an impromptu method with my currant jam but was less than happy with the process, so it's nice to have something a little simpler. It's three quarts and holds two regular half-pint jars (or a lone pint) very well. Expect to see a lot more of it in upcoming posts.

73: Cucumber Soup

Hey, I used a recipe I actually linked to in my delivery post to make this!

To be honest my process usually involves researching recipes like crazy Tuesday night- which is when I write those posts- then consolidating my ideas for a shopping trip Wednesday. Recipes are chosen based on feasibility, interest and extra costs.

The only thing I needed to buy for this was yogurt, which I like to have on hand for easy meals anyhow. My only adjustments were to eschew some of the garnishes (extra costs), cut the recipe in half and use a mix of slicing and heirloom cucumbers instead of European. 

It was a seriously gorgeous mix. As European are seedless I measured out a pound of deseeded cucumbers. These were chopped up and blended with yogurt in batches, then the rest of the ingredients thrown in. I prepped the soup before I went to a mozzarella making class (awesome, easy with practice, may attempt if I find an easy source of rennet), and ate it for dinner with a little amethyst basil. 

There had been a moment of worry as the recipe didn't specify whether or not to peel the cukes, but I noticed the flecks in the pic in the original recipe, so they were left on. Can you see them in the pic above? The variety of color really makes the soup gorgeous. Every time I went to eat I had to resist the urge to get my camera out and take more pictures.

I'm still digging yogurt in savory dishes, too. And (not pictured) this actually goes decently with the SCRATCH buckwheat sour.

Notes for Improvement: Keep up on the substitution methods used in this recipe- I'm happy I didn't just sub out one slicing cucumber for one European. Used my brain and hey, it worked out well!

70: Cucumber Limeaid

It's hot. Not as hot as it's been but ugh. In some ways I'm not upset I got nine cucumbers this week. It's hard to do a warm cucumber dish.

Found this recipe via the Huffington Post. I followed it fairly well- subbed in a big spoonful of honey for the sugar. Blended it up.

Honestly, as is it's a bit watery. They mention a medium mesh strainer- I'm not sure what that means- but maybe having more stuff in the mix would've given the flavor a little more oomph. I ended up adding the juice of another lime (so three total), which helped. But not significantly.

Notes for Improvement: Less water or more stuff.

68: Cucumber Avocado Salad

Does this look appetizing? It ended up surprisingly good. I followed this recipe from the internets via food52. Small adjustments- a little less lime juice and salt. Used a white onion instead of red. I realize now than when saying "cut into 1/2" pieces" they didn't mean what I did with the cucumber. So don't be like me and cut it smaller!

I let the flavors mingle in the fridge a little while working on other stuff, then ate some. It was good...but white onion is so much milder than red it wasn't coming through. So I cut up a scallion fine and tossed it in (done after the pic above). Definitely oomphed that flavor up and helped balance the dish overall.

Might make it again, not sure. It's always nice to have an excuse to buy avocados though.

Notes for Improvement: May more attention to the pictures in the recipe. Cut that cucumber smaller.

Delivery 7

I continue to feel like I'm getting the hang of this CSA thing. I've planned out about 80-90% of the things I want to do this week, and went on a little grocery trip already to pick up the extra ingredients. It's nice that things are coming together well.

Summer Spinach - 1 bunch

Summer Squash - 2 pcs

Heirloom Cucumbers (Boothby and Poona Kheera) - 6 pcs

Marketmore Cucumbers - 3 pcs

White Clara Eggplant - 1 pc
Scallions - 1 bunch

Fennel - 1

Amethyst Basil - 1 bunch

Leeks - 1 bunch

Oriental Eggplant - 2 pcs

Cucumbers!

Such a bounty. The CSA email said they thought last week would be the week for cucumbers, so yay? there were a ton on the swap table- understandable- but it's much better than lettuces. If only because I can eat them straight up (confession: I had half a marketmore left over from last week's. Just at it like a handfruit when I gote home). I'd still like to do something interesting with them though. No tzatziki this week- OD'd a little on it- but there are a surprising number of recipes for this. For example: limeade, cucumber avocado salad, bread salad (looks great but too many extra ingredients), easy sesame salad, or soup. 

Amethyst Basil

Not finding too much easily about this kind of basil- other than it's the standard "genovese" style, but just happens to be purple. It's really gorgeous- almost black. The CSA email said it was good to flavor vinegar with- which I could see as it would also dye it nicely- but can be used in lieu of standard basil.

I found a few recipes that call it out specifically: tomato/brie/balsamic sandwiches or biscuits (I keep finding biscuit recipes so it's going to happen one day). But there are a few standards I could do- like cucumber/tomato/basil/feta salad. Or just make crazy-colored pesto.

Eggplant 

White Clara and Oriental varities. The white one has wicked spines on the stem, and I've read it's apparently sweeter than the standard. I'm not finding a ton of recipes for it specifically though, so I'll most likely use it as a standard eggplant.

This veggie was never something I felt super strongly about, but I do rather like it now. Somehow I'd forgotten my favorite Indian dish was an eggplant dish, so I may have to attempt that this week. Baba is also super tasty- but not sure I want to use the food pro more than is absolutely necessary. 

A few other options: eggplant and pickled beet sammies or ratatouille (bonus for squash! and I also love that movie...).

Leeks

I love leeks. True story. I'd always heard they were fussy- required a decent amount of cleaning- so I hadn't tried them until about a year ago. Then, one day, stumbled on them frozen at Trader Joe's. Does any other store have these on a regular basis? They were my go to in scrambled eggs before I started this CSA project. Apparently you can grow them from scraps in a container of water- I may try that.

I want to take advantage of their melty-oniony-garlicky-ness (yep). Example recipes: easy/uses spinach and extra garlicy.
 

Fennel 

I'm not the hugest fan of fennel seeds- or anise flavor. I've grown used to it in certain circumstances (and small amounts), but I'm a little nervous about using it. The recipes I see for it are so varied, though. It seems to go well with the standard savory onion/garlic profile, but there are a ton of recipes with blood orange in particular. A few that stand out for me (mostly for lack of extra ingredients): tarts, dip, simple salad, and nommy caramelized.

59: Cool Barley Cucumber Salad with a Dilly Yogurt Dressing

Really good for a day like today. Not sure I can take too much more of this heat.

This cool barley salad is based on a Bittman recipe. Very few adjustments though.

I used hulled barley instead of pearled. Cooked up a decent sized batch of that last night and used a little more than two cups for this. The cucumber was one of my marketmore slicing cucumbers, and I did the de-seed and salt thing. I used a little less lemon juice and olive oil than he called for, and a little less dill, only because I ran out.

On the one hand I'm proud at myself for not stopping at the farmer's market on my morning bike ride- there was no way I would've made it out of there with just mint. But, you know, would've been nice. Regardless, super tasty salad. Looking forward to how it holds up as leftovers!

Oh! And I used a little less of the dressing than the recipe called for. Wanted a yogurt snack.

I'm enjoying using yogurt in dressings and sauces. It's something I hadn't tried before, and I feel so much better with it than if I'd used mayo or sour cream or something. I guess it pairs well with the herbs I've been getting.

Notes for Improvement: Try it with a little mint :)

Dish 55: Cucumber Sandwiches

So I went a little crazy with these. Excuses to buy cheese and nommy bread. It's presumably based on the standard cucumber tea sandwiches, though I used this as my guide.

The bread is rye from Black Rooster. It's not widely distributed but it's AMAZING. A little dense, so slice it thin. It's wonderfully fruity and complex. I got lost at Fairway in Kips Bay looking for it, bought both varieties (one plain, one with dried fruit and nuts) and plan on freezing most of it for later consumption. That was the plan, we'll see how fast I eat it. I'm like halfway through two days in. Whoops.

Cucumbers are either Boothby Blonde or Poona Kheera- not sure. Sliced them up with Sweetness. Giving my knife skills some practice.

Cheese...well I tried three varieties of cheese (left to right): Brie, Blue, and Tallegio. Blue was by far the best, the Talleg came in a distant second. Brie a close third to that.

I also cut up a little dill, which helped with the weaker cheeses but was largely unnecessary. Do I need to explain how to assemble? Thin rye, a little cheese, a cucumber. Face. Rich cheeses are not the best choice for a hot day tho.

Notes for Improvement: I wasn't terribly blown away by the sandwich to be honest, doubt I'll make it again. The blue cheese went really well with the rye though, but as I said it's a little too hot.

Sauces 5 and 6: Tzatziki & Herb Butter

Too hot to do much cooking, decided on a few sauces/spreads/etc to use and use up some ingredients. 

Tzatziki

I ended up using this recipe instead of the one in my original delivery post. It seemed more manageable. My interpretation was a little loose. 

1/2 cucumber, seeded and peeled

3 pinches each salt & pepper (or, you know, to taste)

7 oz yogurt

1/4 cup dill

1 clove garlic

I did a (lazy) dice instead of grating the cucumber. Chop up that dill pretty finely, mince your ginger. If you think ahead you can make a paste with the salt so it incorporates even more, but if not it's fine. Everything just gets mixed in a bowl. Easy.

It's a little chunky but good. I wish I'd had good mint- the bunch I picked up at the grocery store was unpleasantly bitter so I didn't use it- but it's still delicious on a pita.When I eat it as part of a dish I'll probably squeeze a little lemon on, but I'm hesitant it'll overpower if originally added to the mix.

Herb Butter

I had a little cinnamon basil that wasn't looking so great, decided to try a little herb butter. Super simple.

1/4 cup herb

1/2 cup butter (i.e. 1 stick)

Salt pepp

Slice the herbs as small as you're comfortable. Soften the butter. Mix. Add salt and pepper to taste. Garlic (powder, roasted) would be super amazing in this. Will probably just use it on toast or freeze for another occasion. Definitely tasty on a pita.

Notes for Improvement:

- Grate the cucumber next time for a smoother sauce (Tzatziki)
- Buy mint at the farmer's market next time (Tzatziki)
- Add more herbs and/or garlic (Butter)

Delivery 6

Delivery 6! By far the smallest of the bunch- though I guess the greens the past few weeks added a ton of volume. Super excited for everything I have though! 

Bright Lights Swiss Chard - 1 bunch

Summer Squash - 2 
Marketmore Slicing Cucumbers - 2
Eggplant - 1
Scallions - 1 bunch
Caraflex Cabbage - 1 head **these were crazy tiny so I used the swap table to get another container of currants
Currants - 1 box
Dill - 1 bunch
Boothby Blonde/Poona Kheera Cucumbers - 2

Cucumbers

Debating just eating all of these guys raw, or maybe in a little salad with basil and tomato. There are a few recipes for some of the heirloom pickles- this sandwich with the poona kheera looks lovely. There are (of course) also pickles. I do want to try lacto-fermentation of these days. Bittman has a recipe.

I guess the Marketmores are for salads/slicing/etc, while the poona kheera/boothby (not sure which I got) are more pickle-ready.

Dill

Obviously, pickles come to mind, but if I don't mind turning on the oven, there are biscuits. (It is a heat wave now. I do kind of mind turning on that oven. But, you know, biscuits...). Another zucchini dip, though I still have a bunch of the last one in the fridge. May use the flavors of this recipe with quinoa or barley. Ooh tzatziki  or this (actual) barley salad- also bonus for cucumbers. Also grilled carrots, have a bunch of those in the fridge from other recipes. 

 

Currant

Super excited about having a fruit in this veg share- especially fresh currants. If I want to be all clever and resourceful I could use zucchini too and make mini-breads or muffins. I've made jams and curd in the past if I feel like getting out my canning kit (here's a scalable recipe).

There's also this recipe for a salad that uses green onions, zucchini, currants AND dill. So, kinda tempting. Even if I could really go for some shortbread and curd right about now.

Eggplant

Skinny japanese eggplant. May do another Moroccan stew- with more zucchini this time- with amped up spices. I think I still have a jar of tomatoes. Or just roasted with some kind of dip/sauce. I'm feeling simple cooking this week.

Chard

Chard + Dill: crepes or frittata. Or just sauteed. I don't have a lot of greens this week so will try and stretch these.