118: Vegetarian Collards

After the bit of trepidation I expressed in my delivery post, I'm very happy I made these collards. It's a version I can get behind. I followed the recipe as written. The hour of simmering did seem like a very long time, but the flavor was completely transformed. The greens still have a little bite to them, but they're deeply sweet. The collar liquor was delicious, too, but once reduced down. Could've left it a little looser with a little more fat, but I resisted the urge to add some butter.

The only (minor) complaint- brace yourselves- is that it was a little too spicy. Yes, that is something I just said. I wouldn't omit the red pepper flake by any means, just maybe cut back a little next time. I wanted to enjoy that rich sweetness with a little less distraction.
I didn't add the lemon juice when serving, but still have some leftovers so I'll see what that does to the flavor.

Do this thing. Start it, then work on something else in the kitchen for that hour. Totally worth the time.

117: Sicilian Stuffed Tomatoes

Addicted to stuffing tomatoes? Probs.

A little white lie in my last post. I actually saw this stuffed tomato recipe from the NY Times first (I'm over my limit for the month, it's another feed of the same recipe), but thought "ew anchovies and olives" and moved on to something else. But then I saw anchovy paste in the supermarket, and, well, here we are. 

These were good, overall, but too liquidy. This recipe did not call for salting the insides of the tomatoes- not sure how big of a part that played. It most likely came from the filling itself, which either needed more breadcrumbs, less liquid, or a combination of both. It might be nice to do something with slightly larger chunks of bread, even.

Flavor-wise it was really nice, except when I ran into a piece of olive that I'd chopped on the large side (and even then it was rather good). The anchovy was not discernible- I actually went back and added a little more after an initial taste (the internet says ~1/2 tsp is equivalent to a filet).

Oh and I followed the recipe, scaling to two tomatoes, except once again used celery leaves instead of parsley and the shallot instead of a partial onion.

I'd say overall I liked the first stuffed tomato better? But I think if the filling had a better texture it would've given that one a run for its money.

116: Roasted Stuffed Tomatoes

Mmmm. This was a really good idea, guys. I'd never stuffed things before- it always seemed like more or a less just a vessel- but I guess I was thinking more of peppers, where there isn't already innards inside. Or innards you would keep So I was a bit intrigued when I saw this recipe from smitten kitchen. Scooping out the tomato bits to use as the base for the sauce? That I can get behind.

For once I followed a recipe. No wait, I added a bunch of extra pepper, and used celery leaves instead of parsley. And a shallot instead of onion. Pretty close for me, though. Additional herbage of basil. Huzzah for making a ton of extra breadcrumbs for that gratin so I had some for this.

I made two. The first was taken out at the allotted 30 minutes, but the rice wasn't quite there, so I threw the second back in for another 10 minutes. You can see how nice and wrinkly the skin got, and yeah, totally improved. So nice, simple and comforting. I love recipes that don't require a lot of fuss. And I still have two stuffable tomatoes to try something else!

115: Chard Gratin

Keeping food in the work fridge is never an ideal situation, thankfully the only semi-casualties were the cherry tomatoes (which weren't in the fridge, but as I said in the Delivery 12 post didn't make it home) and the chard. Being in the back meant it got a little icy.

I'm not sure what to do in that situation. My logic was that as long as it hadn't been thawed/refrozen it was still good, just not crisp in those. I thought it best to just use it all up asap on something where crispness didn't matter as much, and settled on one of the gratins. I used that recipe as a base and did my own thing:

Ingredients:

1 bunch swiss chard leaves roughly chopped, stems thinly sliced

1 onion, diced

2 gloves of garlic, grated

1 rounded tsp flour

1/3 cup milk

~ 1/3 cup breadcrumbs

~ butter/oil, salt pepper

I didn't do it in this order, but I'll write it the way I'd do it next time.

Preheat your oven to 350. I semi-toasted my breadcrumbs per the recipe but not well. Do better than me. 

Start some butter or oil in a large-ish pan, when melted add the onion, some salt, and let it sweat. Add the chard stems and continue to cook until they're tender but have a little bite. 

Add the greens, continue to saute, add a little more salt to taste and a bunch of pepper. 

The original recipe has you blanch the greens first, I'd imagine to make the greens less unwieldy, but I just went in there with my tongs and did my best to handle. Had a lid on for a bit to help it along. 

Once the greens were almost there I added my flour, stirred to coat, then my milk. I recognized the semi-bechamel from my other gratin, and next time I might make it separately. It was hard to tell how thick the sauce actually got.

Towards the end I added my grated garlic. Why the end? I was still in the mood for that raw bite. Earlier if you're not a crazy person, or don't need to ward off vampires.

At the end I stirred in the grated gruyere and topped with the breadcrumbs. In the oven for ~20 minutes. Under the broiler a little longer to brown the crumbs. 

As I said I could've used more sauce, or thicker sauce. I'd imagine in addition to taming the greens, blanching would've helped them turn to a nice bubbly mass but this was still nice and comforting. Definitely a do again.

Delivery 12

Tomatoes - 4 plum, 4 slicers

Sungold Cherry Tomatoes - 1 basket

Peppers - 1 large bell

Bright Lights Swiss Chard - 1 bunch

Thyme - 1 bunch

Cabbage - 1 head

Collards - 1 bunch

Celery - 1 head

Shallots - 4

Hot Peppers - Serrano - 4

This is a tough one. Not so much the ingredients, but the fact that I was booked solid Tuesday after work so I took a late late lunch and picked it up myself as soon as they opened. It lived (as well it could) in the work fridge until I could take it home Wednesday. Hence the lateness.

Tomatoes

Someone once fortold I'd get tired of tomatoes. Clearly this person didn't know what they were talking about. I'd be happy eating them like handfruit, but as I'd like to push myself, here are some new things: roasty cherry, frittata, stuffed.


The cherries have been going bad very quickly (I actually remade that candied cherry tomato dish for the party, but ended up having to use tomatoes from the store, so haven't posted), so those were eaten up before I got them back to my place for pics.

Peppers

Ok, so the leftover pepper from 2 weeks ago was just a snack. I still have a few serranos from last week and a bell. Promise promise I'll try to make the jam this week. The vinegar certainly has had enough time by now to infuse.

Chard

Yay for some leafy. I guess I'm on a smitten recipe kick: white bean stew (bonus for shallots and thyme). Or that gratin all the kids are talking about. Or a different one.

Thyme  

Useful with tomato, and a few other dishes I have linked here. A little miffed as I'd actually bought thyme last week and still have some in my fridge. Womp womp.

Cabbage

It's been a bit, cabbage. Should I retry that curry? Or hey, there's an onion marmalade, pepper tart, or onion tart.

Collards

While the standard southern collard is tempting, as I've never made it, I know from experience I don't like it. Here's a veggie one, and one with farro. I think I'd like to try the first, as well as something that cooks it less, to get that flavor variation.

Celery

These are skinny, leafy celery. Pan cooked with tomatoes, risotto, braised with tomato and pancetta, chunky soup (and pesto!), simple braise, crunchy topped braise (bonus for thyme, shallot).
 
 

Shallots

Left these at work, whoops! Most likely will just integrate into other dishes (like the celery and tomato above). Not enough to do something super special. Or! scrambled eggs. Of course.

114: Sauteed Swiss Chard

Grand designs: after giving up a bit on the idea of a chard gratin, I thought I might actually attempt. Then I got sidetracked and did a saute. Lotsa onion, lotsa garlic. If anything it's like "caramelized onions and garlic with some swiss chard in it" but totally not complaining. It's nice and mellowly sweet.

Busy week = simple food, short posts

113: Baignan Bharta V5

This weeks baignan was all about whole spices. I liked how the last batch turned out so I decided to attempt with the coriander as I had with the cumin- putting the whole seeds in the beginning to fry a bit. I also (on a whim) added a "lipstick" pepper I'd had considered adding to my salsa. It was already charred, it needed to be put to use.

The end result, tasted good, just, again, not what I'm looking for in my Baignan Bharta. A little dissappointing after how close I was with V4. Overly salty and too... smoky? The cumin appears to have broken apart and dispersed, flavor-wise, but I'm not getting that bright coriander flavor.

Honestly I'd been so busy the last few days I'm happy I got around to using the eggplant at all. It was white, which again worried me that this would be too sweet, but I think the things I mention as being issues above actually took care of the sweetness well. Once I have a grain at home to mix I'll see how it is when a little less intense. It also seems to improve in the fridge after a day or two.

I'm not against trying the whole spices thing again, but it may be a dry toast/grind/then use situation as opposed to keeping them whole. Good to try though, just so I know it doesn't work.

112: Curry Chicken Sandwiches

This is the last of the party food I'm going to post about. There was a tart, but I wasn't in love with it and I didn't actually use share ingredients for it. This one is tenuous as best (tomatoes and hot peppers), but it was soooo good I just have to share.

Do I have a recipe? No. Should you still try and make it, of course!

Originally the plan was to fire up the grill on the roof and make burgers or something. The grill grate was disgusting, and I was too lazy to clean, so I decided to make Indian. 

Actually no. The second string idea was to make some kind of pulled pork/chicken in my crock pot, that could hang out on warm for whenever people were hungry. But BBQ-flavoring required a ton of extra ingredients, so I said eff that and just did Indian. The best choice over all. 

I followed my standard Baignan Bharta seasoning profile, though I added some actual curry powder to make my life a little easier. The powder is apparently Jamaican style curry, so this may be more of a roti filling than straight up Indian, but it's delicious nonetheless.

I started this off with the chicken in my dutch oven. Eight thighs total, done in two batches to get a good sear and render off some fat. I didn't brown them a ton, but I did get a lot of grease out of them. Removed the chicken, placed in a bowl to cool for a bit and removed the skins before adding them to my crock pot.

Back to the dutch oven! Added a decent amount of hing to the rendered fat, then my spices (curry powder, turmeric, cumin, coriander, salt, pepper, a little smoked paprika). Let those fry up then added my onions and some of the hot peppers. Once the onions got soft, added garlic and ginger, then the tomatoes. Added some lime. Adjusted the spices some more, then added everything to the crock pot.

I was worried the chicken would dry out/not be completely covered, so I added some turkey stock. It wasn't exactly necessary, not sure I'd do it again if/when I make this again.

Set the crock pot to low, went on a bike ride and did some shopping.

After a few hours came back, removed the chicken (which was falling off the bone, yay!), removed those bones, and put the (very thin) sauce back into my super wide dutch oven. Set it to a simmer and continued my party prep while it reduced to a significant degree. Added a little additional diced hot pepper, as the heat had mellowed considerably. Shredded my chicken, put that and the sauce back in the crock pot.

It was so good. Letting everything cook for a while liquified the tomatoes and onions. It was like pulled pork. Part of me was hoping the flavors would be a little brighter- next time I could probably add the ginger and lime to the pan during that final reduction, but it's not entirely necessary. I did what I could with the sandwich toppings: some tomato and cilantro.

I ate like three of these during the party, the perfect sloppy drunk food. And then this morning I did the best thing ever, cooked two eggs over easy and made myself an epic birthday breakfast sandwich. I would like all my meals to be this, please :).

111: Roasted Salsa

Yet another dip, yet another recipe from Martha. This one I followed pretty much as written, though I only used two jalapenos as mine were especially spicy.

There was a little confusion in my brain about whether to keep or discard the skins for the tomatoes and jalapenos, which can come off easily after roasting. I ended taking off the tomatoes' (especially easy to remove) and leaving on the jalapenos as I was lazy.

This was devoured fairly quickly. Next time I'll probably roast the ingredients a little longer, just to get a bit more char on 'em.

It was also the inaugural use of my food processor, which I got for my birthday. It's HUGE, like way too big for my NYC kitchen. Thankfully it comes with a mini-bowl, which was perfect for this amount of salsa. Also it's pink, which is not anywhere near my favorite color, but apparently that was the only one available on amazon. I won't be picky. It's going to get used a ton regardless.

110: Swiss Chard Tzatziki

So I don't have pictures for this, whoops. It went out for the party in a less than pretty container and I forgot before I tossed the (meager) leftovers at the end of the night. I do have an actual recipe for you instead :)


Smoky Swiss Chard Tzatziki
(Slightly) adapted from this recipe from Martha Stewart:

- 1 cup stemmed, finely chopped rainbow chard
- 1 cup greek yogurt
- 1 clove garlic, made into a paste with 1/4 tsp kosher salt
- 1 Tbsp olive oil
- 1/4 tsp smoked paprika
- 1 tsp lemon juice

Take the above and mix it all together. So simple. I added the lemon juice right before I put it out, just so it didn't overwhelm everything. Tasted really lovely with a veggie tray, like it should be terrible for you, but isn't, really. Would (and may) do it again!

109: Chard and Basil Scrambled Eggs

This batch of eggs ended up being rather greens-heavy, but the end product turned out well.

Started a small onion (diced) in the pan with a little oil and salt. The heat was on a little too high so the onions browned kinda quickly. This pan isn't the best, so everything kept sticking. Still tasted fine, though.

Chopped up some chard and added that to the pan, once it wilted threw in some finely chopped basil, garlic and almost immediately after, the eggs. It was a nice change of pace, the garlic still had a lot of the raw bite, and with the decent grocery store brand "rustic" bread I picked up to make breadcrumbs (probably not happening), was getting a flavor flashback to the garlic bread we'd always buy at shoprite growing up.

A little lame but totally comforting. Lovely little breakfast.

108: Potato and Chard Stem Gratin

I made bechamel! Yay! Used this recipe from the NY Times. Despite being carb heavy it actually doesn't seem to be that bad for you. The plan was actually to make two gratins, one with the stems and one the greens, but I ended up being too lazy to do that. Or I forgot how much greens cook down, and most of the recipes I saw called for a few bunches of chard.

The most interesting part of this recipe was making the bechamel, which wasn't as hard as I thought it might be. Just a lot of whisking, and keeping an eye on it (a little hard for me being a crazy multitasker when I'm cooking). I was pleasantly surprised how the whole thing came together, though, so warm and comforting and delicious.

I ended up with a few extra servings, which I froze in small ramekins lined with plastic wrap to get the sizing right. Hopefully they reheat well, it'll be nice to have them once it gets a little cooler.

Next time I'd probably throw some greens in there, even if the recipe didn't necessarily call for them.

107: Caprese Sandwich and Salad

Technically the only thing on here from my share is the basil. The tomato was kindly given to me by a coworker from her garden, so that's just about as good, right? Picked up some mozz at the grocery store, as well as a little balsamic (which went on the sandwich later). I had a little left over, which I tossed with some spelt. Both super delicious.

I finally used up/spilled the last of the spelt- not that it wasn't great, the recipe I had somehow yielded a lot. No real notes for improvement, other than to eat all the tomatoes ever, please.

106: Curry Beet Burgers

Chomp! Ok, so. Still haven't worked out the patty cohesion situation (you can see it smushing there), but definitely improved in the flavor department.

While working on my prior beet burger experiement, the thought occurred to me to do an Indian one. Not sure what sparked it, other than my always craving good Indian food. So I did that thing, and attempted some of the changes I'd mentioned in my prior post to help keep it together. Those definitely didn't work. Anyway.

Ingredients (as always, approx. as always, I'm a little sorry):

Pinch of hing

~3/4 tsp curry powder

~1/8 tsp tumeric

~1/8 tsp cumin

~1/8 tsp coriander

Pinch cinnamon

Pinch smoked paprika

~ salt, pepper

1 beet, diced

1 smallish onion, diced fine

1 jalapeno (or some kind of spicy pepper), mostly deseeded and diced

2 garlic cloves, grated

~1/2 tbs ginger, grated

1/3 cup spelt

1/3 cup cannellini beans

Spoonful of flour

1/2 beaten egg

Paneer

Cilantro

Similarish methodology. I started my onions and pepper  in a pan until they got soft. Then I remembered the hing, so I took those onions out, heated a little more oil, then fried the hing and most of those spices above. Added the onions back in, then the ginger, garlic and beets. Let that go for a bit.

Mixed and mashed my spelt and beans, then in an attempt to dry those out, added them to the pan for a few minutes.

Put that mix in a bowl, let it cool, then added the egg portion and flour. Cooked them up in a pan and topped with paneer and cilantro. Had a few bites then remembered that rest of egg, so fried that up and added that to the burger, too. Nom!

These fell apart pretty quickly. I'm always hesitant adding flour, as I feel it'll make the burger bland, but these were spicy enough that they could've stood up to a bit more binding. I used high gluten flour, too, but it didn't help that much.

After a quick search on the internets, I'm not sure if I did anything wrong, per se. I just need to toy around with it a little more. Suggestions: leaving it in the fridge overnight, cooking it in the oven- though I'd really like to not heat up my apartment every time. Using potato is an option I was considering, but I was running a bit short on time and didn't want to fuss too much with an extra step.

I had luck last time getting a good sear on the patties. A hot pan does wonders. These were in a low pan for a while, and it was obvious when flipped that they were only lightly browned, and already splitting a bit. a uniform patty shape would help, too.

Onto the good, though. They were DELICIOUS. Sweet and spicy (spices-wise) up front, then a nice building heat from the peppers. And oh how bloody and raw they looked. Definitely want to do this again in front of people, but not tell them they're veggie burgers and freak em out a bit. Unfortunately I'm out of beets. For now.

105: Balsamic Green Beans

It's only lately that I've gotten into Balsamic Vinegar. For ages I found it to be too strong and sweet, but with a few recipes this season it's grown on me a bit. I thought I could handle it as a glaze here (as I could with the carrots the other week). But...I didn't really like this. Which is always a bit of a shame, considering how delicious the raw beans were.

I followed this Simply Recipes recipe, though forgot to add the walnuts. Don't think it really mattered. The concept is sound- roast the beans and onions, mix your dressing, after a bit of time in the oven, coat the beans with the dressing and continue roasting until it's a nice glaze and the beans are all roasty and delicious.

The problem is the honey. It just pushes the sweetness a little too over the top for my tastes. My impromptu solution (as it often is) is sriracha. It works...well enough. Next time I'd either leave the honey out, and/or add a little red pepper flake to the dressing.

104: Kale, Spelt and Beet Salad

Just a few little additions made all the difference.

I started with the dish on the left. No wait, I started with some kale that was on it's last legs (stems?). Sauteed it up with some onions, garlic, salt pepper and smoked paprika. Tasted fine, a little bitter. Needed a little sweetness, but I wasn't about to add honey. Then I remembered the leftover roasted beets from my burgers- perfect! Added some spelt, too, because why not?

The end result was a nice hearty salad. If I had the full bunch of kale (it'd been picked over for polenta and thrown into some frozen chili and otherwise nibbled on), it would've made a decent meal or two. As it was, it was a nice side salad.

I think if I knew I were doing this from the outset, I would've diced the kale instead of chopping into ribbons, but didn't affect my enjoyment of the dish at all. And I still have one beet left.

Delivery 11

My birthday is Sunday, some people are coming over this weekend to hang out and see my new place. I don't usually do anything too special for my birthday, so I'm freaking out a little. While I should probably make meals for myself with these veggies, I'm keeping an eye out for party food.

Green Beans - 1 pound

Red Onions - 2

Peppers: 1 Bell, 1 Lipstick

Bright Lights Swiss Chard - 1 bunch

Eggplant - 1

Basil - 1 bunch

Tomatoes - 2 slicers and 4 plum tomatoes

Sungold Cherry Tomatoes - 1 basket

Serrano Hot Peppers - 4 if you like

My favorite part of this is the "if you like" for the hot peppers. There is a swap table, people.

Chard 

I'm feeling something warm and savory. Here are few gratins that look tasty. Though here are some dips that use chard: healthy and not so much. I could probably use chard in spinach dips as well.

Eggplant

Do you need to ask? Baignan Bharta! I wish these had been purple, the white ones are so sweet.

Tomatoes

I said I'd make more candied tomatoes for a party and I probably will, though I'll most likely need to buy more to get a reasonable amount for people. Bruchetta topping would work well again as finger foods...or maybe I can make a salsa? Here are some a few sources: Alton Brown, Martha, Macheesmo, The Kitchn (cooked), The Kitchn (pico).

Green Beans

I've never made a green bean caserole, is it bad that I really want to? Beyond that the trend seems to be to roast them: honey mustard glaze, balsamic glaze, lebanese, with parmesan, with onions and nuts, oh hey- a slaw!

My habit is to eat them raw, maybe with a little hummus. It's tempting to just use them in a crudite platter.




Red Onions

A few recipes I have so far use red onions. I'm generally not a fan, as they have such a strong flavor, but I think cooking the hell out of them helps. We'll see.

Peppers 

I still have a pepper left from last week- gonna make that jam, I promise. Also still haven't used up those hot peppers from last week, so anything not put in a salsa will most likely be sprinkled throughout recipes for heat.

Basil

I say this every week, but pesto. Promise. I'm storing it better, so hopefully it'll last longer, too.

103: Balsamic Beet Burgers

So bloody! Completely veggie. Vegan, even, though if I remake them they probably won't be. I based my recipe off this one from Macheesmo. A lot was adapted. Had the beets, obviously, but had cannellini beans on hand instead of black, and no rice so I used spelt. (What? I'd been meaning to try it). This weeks' herb is basil, so I went with that, and continued the trend with balsamic instead of cider vinegar.

Ingredients (approx, and you'll want to adjust per my little discussion below):
1 beet, roasted and diced fine
Half an onion diced fine
~1/4 jalapeno diced fine, seeded
1/3 cup spelt
1/3 cup white beans
5-6 leaves basil, diced fine
1/2 tbs balsamic vinegar
~ salt, pepper, olive oil
~ flour

My beet was already roasted, so I started the jalapenos and onion in a pan with some olive oil and salt. Once those started to brown (low heat, took a bit) I added my garlic then beets and cooked a bit longer. Added the basil towards the end, then the balsamic vinegar. Tasted and adjusted spices. 

Cooked up the spelt like rice in this write up from the kitchn. I really like this stuff. People always say brown rice has a nutty flavor...I never taste it. This has an actual nutty flavor. It wasn't essential for this recipe (and may have hurt things a little), but super glad I cooked it up.

Put the pre cooked beans and spelt in a bowl, mashed a bit. Added the beet mixture and mixed. Tasted and adjusted spices a bit. Then added flour until I felt it would hold together. Two to three big spoonfuls. My ingredients were wet.

Cooked these up in a pan (they held together yay) and ate on some scratch focaccia, topped with a little pecorino cheese. 

I liked these overall, but if/when I make them again, I'm going to change a lot. The flavors were mild, next time I'll add a lot more basil, or maybe a range of spices instead of the one. I've been wary about those jalapenos after that one batch of baignan bharta was crazy spicy, but this definitely needed more heat.

I heart this bread but it wasn't a great choice. The burger held together but was still very soft, much softer than the bread. Regular burger buns would help, or maybe a English muffin if I'm feeling fancy. 

Speaking of the texture, the mix was way too wet. The spelt was still a bit al dente so it didn't mush to help keep things together, next time I'll cook the grains a little longer (and maybe actually use rice or quinoa), or omit them in lieu of more beans. I was debating using an egg instead of flour as a binder, except I didn't have any. Womp womp.

Honestly though, the next time I do this (I have another beet in the fridge, so it may be tonight!), part of me wants to do a very different flavor profile. Something a little smokier, or maybe curry.

Reflections 2

Over two months in, overdue for another round of reflection.

Looking back at my previous reflections post, I've mostly succeeded in following my lessons. A whole share seems lot more manageable when I plan ahead- it helps to have less lettuce as well :). Charting out recipes means that (overall) I've been spending less, or at least making less last minute trips to the grocery store.

I'm being less precious- though it's still a struggle now and then. There was a minor internal debate about using up all of my tomatoes on the baignan bharta and peperonata last week, and all of those leeks on the fritters, but I didn't end up regretting it. If anything it's a bit of a relief given how much I have left in my fridge with a new delivery today.

The only thing I'm still lacking in is research. But I'm going to let that lofty ideal go. The histories or genealogies of produce aren't important at this stage. I just want to look up recipes and find uses for these things, and I'm definitely doing that. Delving deep will come later.

This past month has had more repetition, too, which I'm happy about. My continuing baignan bharta trials are progressing, and I'm looking forward to the eggplant in my next delivery. It's something I may continue to buy and do even when my CSA stops sending them.


Least Favorites/Lessons Learned:

Cabbage Curry: This was a lesson I kind of learned last month, too- when doing something very new, follow the recipe as closely as you can. Or at least know what the final dish should taste like before going all out.

Zucchini Dip: Happy I tried it, but definitely not something I'll be making again. Lesson for this might be to make less of something so new.
 
Cucumber Limeaid: Drinks/Juicing aren't and shouldn't be a priority for me.

Carrot Top Scrambled Eggs: given how often I make scrambled eggs this should've been a lock, but instead I learned a lesson about not making assumptions when trying a new ingredient, or at least tasting throughout the cooking process.


A Few Highlights (That I haven't already mentioned a million times):

Salad: Escarole, Peach & Feta & Kale, Beet & Feta on the leafy side, the Barley Cucumber salad for grain based. I've shied away from salads lately (it hasn't been so insanely hot the past few weeks), but they may be making a comeback.

Tzatziki: New cuisine, and something I've loved when getting takeout. Another reminder of how easy it can be to make food yourself. (Side note- as much as I loved this went a little overboard on the amount I made- gotta cut back when possible).

Candied Cherry Tomatoes: I love trying something new, and sweet tomatoes was a nice change of pace. At the same time it very much fell into my experience with making jam, and my love of tart/sweet. Not something I'll make a lot (though I may make it again very soon), but I'd like to find more recipes like this.


The last delivery for this CSA is November 19th- so there's still a long ways to go. I'm glad I signed up for it, and I've started poking around the internet for one that delivers through the winter. It's been a great experience so far, and I'd like to continue structuring my meals around food that's organic and in season. I'm not sure if I'm going to become one of those hardcore slow food people, but I like the idea of eating local and fresh, and am starting to see how crazy giant corporations can be in any area, but especially food.

There are a lot of ...out there plans running through my head lately. We'll see if they come to fruition.

102: Beet and Tomato Salad

I had some cherry tomatoes that desperately needed using. And roasted beets that will not be used on another project I'll post as soon as I can make it. So I'm happy I'd come across this recipe from Martha for inspiration.

Did a few things differently- no cilantro, so I used thai basil. Only had the cherry tomatoes so I boosted the acidity a bit with a little rice wine vinegar. And I made the mistake of stirring everything together. Well, not a mistake, but it makes for less pretty of a picture. Those beets do bleed all over the place.

The Thai basil was getting to me a bit, didn't realize how strong my aversion to anise has gotten- at least in a raw form. This could've used a little more acid, too, either more tomatoes or vinegar. But while it's not something I'll be clamoring to make again, it's a good idea for those times I have these ingredients around. I don't think I've tried beets and tomatoes together before.

101: Leek Fritters

Mmmm. Weekends are the best for breakfast. Didn't have any thawed bread somehow, so whipped up some leek fritters- using this recipe as inspiration. And by whipped up I mean it took a bit of time to slice and boil etc but totally worth it. I didn't have scallions, so these were: Four leeks (one decent sized, three kinda small), flour, a bit of egg, a sprinkle of baking powder, and pinches of smoked paprika, ancho chile powder, ginger, salt and pepper.

Boiled the leeks until they softened, then pressed out as much water as I felt like at the time (next time will get more out, or just saute) and mixed with the rest of the above until the mixture felt like it could keep together. Fried them up then kept them in a low oven until the eggs were done.

Next time I'll caramelize the sides a little more, or maybe turn up the oven a bit, but they were still super delicious. I'm a little obsessed with smoked paprika (as you may have noticed), especially when it creeps up on the back end of a bite of food.

Definitely similar to the zucchini fritters (which the recipe I used for inspiration used for inspiration), but not as...fluffy? That may have been due to how wet they were, or maybe I'd needed more baking powder. I'll be frittering more veggies/grains when I get the chance, so there will be time to experiment.

100: Baignan Bharta V4

Ok. So. Don't want to jinx it, but I'm nearly there. This smells spot on and it tastes very close. Looking at more and more recipes I've been noticing the general shape of baignan bharta, which ingredients are common and which aren't, so this time I didn't so much use a particular recipe as my favorites from each.

Things that still need adjusting:

- correct eggplant type: got a white eggplant from my csa, sweeter/lighter than the regular purple

- spice level: used just one small chili I'd picked up at Kalustyan's. No seeds. Still a little on the spicy side. Kamal's has a nice slow burn, may move back to jalapenos next time.

One benefit to this method is I more or less kept track of my ingredients. I'm listing them a bit weirdly, as the spices are especially iffy, but I think you can still follow along at home if you'd like.

Ingredients:

- 1 eggplant, roasted and mashed

- juice of one lime

- 3-4 Roma tomatoes, diced

- 2 medium onions, diced (one sweet, one regular)

- 2 cloves garlic, minced

- 1 green chili, minced

- 2" knob of ginger, grated

- 2 tbs cilantro, chopped

 Spices:

- pinch of hing

- 3/4 tsp cumin seeds

- 3/4 tsp coriander

- 1/2 tsp black pepper

- 3/4 tsp turmeric

- pinch of cinnamon (needed?)

- pinch of red pepper flake (needed?)

- salt to taste

Here's the game changer, people: Hing (so much easier to spell than asafoetida, and less threatening, too)

This is how I need to store hing. It's in its plastic container (from india, it looks pretty cool), in a plastic bag, in a mason jar on top of my fridge. No enclosed shelf spaces for this guy- I had it just in the plastic bag in my cupboard and overnight it was reeking up the place.

It's a very subtle but important flavor, very happy I picked it up the other day. Not sure how much importance to give it- as my last attempt was too spicy to really discern the flavors- but I don't think I'll try baignan bharta again without it.

Begin by roasting the eggplant under the broiler until the skin's nicely charred and the eggplant is soft. I usually cut mine in half and place it cut side down, then piece it all over with a fork. Once it's soft I put it in a pyrex tupperware container to steam and cool. Remove the skin (I find it easiest to lay it skin side down then scrape/scoop the contents out with a spoon) and mash with the lime juice. I'm thinking of cutting back on the lime juice next time- it mixed in with the rest of the flavors eventually but was very strong for a bit.

Sometimes I do the eggplant a day (or two) before, grouping it with another thing that needs to happen in my oven, but this time it was the same day. I don't think that makes a difference.

I started a little oil in a pan, added my cumin seeds and a little sprinkle of hing (you pierce a hole in the container and sprinkle the contents out, no measuring here). Let those sizzle a bit then added my onions.

Once those got soft/translucent added the garlic and chili, as well as the grated ginger. Next time I'll wait a little on the ginger, it can burn/stick pretty quickly. 

Then added the tomatoes and spices. Speaking of spices those are, at best, iffy amounts. A lot of the 3/4 tsp levels started at 1/2 tsp then I added (without measuring) to nudge the taste a bit one way or another.

I'm undecided if it needs the cinnamon. There was a flavor level missing, which it hit, but last night it smelled so strongly of it. I think it mellowed out with a night in the fridge, maybe cut that back a touch. It's best when you don't really know its there.

The red pepper flake, too, may not be necessary, given how hot those chilis are. Or maybe I could try just using the red pepper flake with no physical chili?

Anyway, after the tomatoes have been going for a bit (recipes usually say to wait until the oil separates- I've seen that once making this, maybe I'm not adding enough oil ha), I added the eggplant mixture, and let that go for a while as I did dishes, stirring occasionally so it didn't burn.

Turned off the heat, stirred in my cilantro and served on a little quinoa.

I'm really excited about this.

Too excited? Maybe. But given how much work I've put into this dish it's great to see it coming together.

99: Peperonata

Is there a way to photograph this so it looks as lovely as it tastes? Not sure. Would help if it weren't blurry.

I followed the same method as the last time I'd made peperonata. Or actually, let the peppers go with the onions for a bit before adding the tomato. But that didn't seem to make much of a difference. My sweet onions were a little smaller so used a whole one instead of half. Probably a little less tomato, but I have to split up my romas between this and another dish I'll post about tomorrow.

Kept the peppers on the al dente side, per my note for improvement last time, but I think they're actually better a bit softer. As these peppers were a little riper than the last set (noted by how nice and green they are), the whole dish ended up on the sweet side. A little extra pepper and red pepper flake fixed that nicely.

Used the last of my genovese basil and parsley on this as well.

I think next time I'd like to try slicing the peppers a bit thinner, and maybe cutting the tomatoes into wedges like the other ingredients instead of the dice, just to see how that works. I also need to remember to do this in a larger pan, as the peppers kept wanting to escape their delicious fate every time I stirred (aka made a mess).