236: Curried Brussels Sprouts

This looks so freaking...festive. I used this recipe from Saveur, though my Brussels were so small (and only 1/3 of what the recipe called for) the recipe was more a guide. But this style of curry reminds me of ones I've done before so I knew the road map pretty well and just adjusted as I went.

I used a scallion instead of onion/garlic, as that was the most readily available thing I had. Most of the spices went down to pinches, and I kept the whole tomato because, you know, tomatoes are the best. I only wish I could remember where I'd put my hing, though it was lovely without it.

My only complaint was that I lost too much of that great roasted Brussels flavor- so next time I'd probably notch down on the spices a bit, or eat it night of. The curry-ness only gets stronger if you give it time in the fridge.

(Off Share) Apple Cranberry Jam

Cold weather means I want to stay inside by the oven all day. Or at least I don't mind. I had apples leftover from the freebie bag I got the other week, so I decided to make a tiny batch of jam with fresh cranberries, as those were on sale at Whole Foods this week.

I based this off this recipe from Food in Jars, subbing out some of the sugar with honey and adding a little fresh ginger. I would post the recipe, but while I'm completely confident it's acidic enough to not let botulism grow, I don't have a pH tester (yet?), and I don't want to, you know, kill anyone just in case I'm foiled by my own hubris.

The results are crazy vibrantly red- like "ok, this is probably all chemicals" red- and, as jam generally is for me, much much too sweet to eat on its own. But it'll be lovely in oatmeal.

235: Celeriac and Apple Slaw

A while ago I read a book called Spiced, wherein the author talks about having worked for Martha Stewart. She says they put out so many recipes that a decent amount of them are just variations on the other. So it's not surprising that this recipe exists, given the variations I've done with kohlrabi and turnips. My only sub was using apple cider vinegar instead of plain cider.

Of the three variations I like kohlrabi best, but celeriac definitely beats out turnip. My only complaint was I'd cut the matchsticks way too long, so actually eating the thing was a bit of a challenge. The texture of celeriac raw isn't great, either, but with this style of preparation it isn't too bad. Not sure I'd do it again though.

234: Arugula and Leek Scrambled Eggs

It's been a while for scrambled eggs- since September! This was a "tired, need quick dinner" situation, so I sliced up a leek I had in my fridge and used that entire baby bunch of arugula from the share. I sauteed/wilted the greens before adding the eggs, and took them off super quick so they were still on the soft side.

It was probably too much greens, but I don't mind, as it's just for me. Added a healthy dose of pepper, but no bread, as all I had was reserved for my veggie stew.

233: Italian Veggie Stew

Yes, I know I disappeared for a bit there. Weekendternship is almost over, but the shifts are getting a little more difficult for me. Thankfully Thanksgiving is approaching, meaning a few relaxing days, probably some cooking, and an excuse to use up the last of my shares. Dear family, I hope you like potatoes.

Mmmm. So honestly, this stew is at least 1/3 about the bread. Maybe more. Get good stuff. I followed this recipe from Bon Appetit- halving it- which still made a ridiculous amount of stew for one person.

I'm generally not a tomato soup- or at least tomato in soup that's not tomato soup- fan, but this gets a lovely earthy sweetness from the collards and kale. My only sub was to use mushroom broth instead of veggie, as that's what I had. Next time I'd probably even add mushrooms, as I think they'd work well here. 

232: Moroccan Beet and Squash Stew

I've been interested in Moroccan flavors for a bit- see way back to these recipes. They seen to use a lot of fruit, raisins, and other rich/sweet ingredients, and then an intense heat to balance. It's a pleasing thing now and then, but I'm not sure I could eat it every day. This recipe yielded a lot, though, so I guess I'll be testing that theory this week. 

The flavors of this dish interested me, but the reviews gave me a little pause. There seemed to be an issue with the cooking times of the various ingredients, the beets taking way longer than the squash. So I made some educated guesses! That generally worked! Yay!

I roasted all my beets while doing the beet ketchup. Then I added everything in the order called for in the recipe, except the only head start the beets got was until the water started to simmer. Then I added everything except the chickpeas, which were canned and didn't need a full 40 or whatever minutes to cook through as the recipe called for. 

I checked every 10 minutes, and found that after 20 my squash was almost there, so I added the chickpeas. I let it go another 10 and had to take it off the heat, any longer and the squash would start to fall apart.

Leftovers with some cilantro. My phone doesn't like intense reds, this was really gorgeous IRL.

Next time I'd add the chickpeas at 10 mins, and take the whole thing off closer to 25. I'd also have the correct amount of radishes (I had 1/10th of a lb and went with it). I'm also curious to see how preserved lemon tastes with this- it's stirred in at the end, so I may make a Kalustyan's run this week.

231: Beet Ketchup

I have no idea what I'm going to use this for. I just saw the Saveur recipe and knew I had to make it. I followed the recipe as written- I probably could've used a longer puree (it's on the chunky side), but flavor-wise it's lovely. Were I to make it again, the only difference would be to go a little lighter on the cloves.

(Also! Just noticed it's by the lady behind Food in Jars! No wonder I loved it).

230: Smashed Celeriac

I can't help but be a fan of the difficult things. It probably says a lot about my character/particular brand of crazy that when someone says something is ugly or weird or hard I'm automatically disposed to like it that much more. I was always more of an Avid person than a Final Cut person, for one. 

I love Brussels sprouts and kohlrabi and I really want to like celeriac root- despite (because?) of its ugliness. A celery flavor without the annoying stringiness. I used this recipe from Jaime Oliver. Didn't let it go quite as long as I should've- right now I'm using pans with makeshift tin foil lids so it's hard to keep moisture in- but definitely an easy, warm, comforting dish.

Delivery 24

Potatoes - 2 pounds

Beets - 2 pounds

Carrots - 2 pound

Collards - 1 bunch

Turnips - 2

Garlic - 4 heads

Celeriac - 2 heads

Brussels Sprouts - 2 stalks

Kale - 1 bunch

Red Kernel Pop Corn - 2 cobs

Yellow Kernel Pop Corn - 2 cobs

Arugula - 1 bunch

Carrots

Carrot soup. Indian style carrots (mustardy). Root veggie stew (bonus for potatoes). Puffed carrot casserole.

Garlic

Celery Root

A few recipes via NPR. Remoulade with apples. Slaw with apples. Rotsi with potatoes.

Collards

Gratin. Italian veggie stew (bonus for kale, carrots, garlic). Collard and cheese pasties.

Popcorn

Arugula


Baby batch. Potato salad. Tartine with egg. Autumn panzanella!

Potatoes

Swedish hasbrowns (I know I have the wrong kind of potatoes, shhh), curry potato salad,

Beets

Smashed beets with goat cheese, soup!, beet and carrot latkes, beet and garlic tart, beets and eggs.

Turnips

Souffle, with tomatoes and yogurt, galette.

Brussels Sprouts

Yay! Chips with sweet chile sauce, sprouts and pecans, curried!

Kale

Salad with brussels sprouts, bread soup, gratin with sweet potatoes, with garlic and cranberries.

(Off Share) Apple Jam with Honey, Lemon and Ginger

My internship got a box of apples straight from a farm for use at a special dinner, and beyond that event had no use for them on the regular menu, so I offered to give them a good home. Once I'd figured out how to get them home on my bike. It was very awkward, but they made it! I'm not sure the varieties, but tasting as I went, I noticed three flavors. The more the merrier for this kind of application.

I went to my go-to canning blog, Food in Jars, and came across this recipe for Honey Lemon Apple Jam. I've done a number of her recipes, both on the site and from her book- the Apple Cranberry Jam last year as my big batch of the season- so I felt fine entrusting a decent number of breakfasts to another of her recipes. 

This is 12 cups of chopped apples. I'd chop them a little finer next time. Most break down, but what chunks were left were on the big side. Fun fact: I still have three apples left- not enough for canning but I'll find a use. 

The other ingredients: honey, sugar, lemon juice, and (my little addition) ginger. Now and then I'm struck by how amazing cooking is- especially canning. Writing that list up was one of those moments. What I made with just those things is going to keep for a YEAR. Think about it. Anyway-

I made the mistake of leaving the lid on my apples and lemon as they worked in that initial step. Not sure if it was a mistake- it's just that water is not ideal in jam. Or jam happens as the sugar rearranges itself as water cooks off, so trying to keep that liquid in makes little sense. To counteract, I let it simmer/boil a little longer than the recipe called for.

I ended up with five pints, and just enough for the little toast samples you see above. It's very sweet, but the lemon and ginger give it a tart/spice balance. Definitely oatmeal worthy...when I cycle through to this. Check back in a few months.

229: Collard Curry

I saw this recipe from Saveur (need to check this site out more often- some really good stuff) and it fit a category I've been meaning to try: creamy curry. I tend to avoid these when I eat out- maybe I associate creamy with sweet, and I want light and spicy (and generally but not always tomato based)?

A few firsts in here: this initial super flavorful chili/ginger paste (which turned my food processor blade a healthy shade of turmeric, ha), first use of lemongrass.

The collards got nicely soft and sweet, the coconut milk adds a weight...but more hearty than heavy, if that makes sense. And that flavorful paste is so wonderfully spicy it balances everything out. I had to scale back due to my limited collard supply, but I made a full batch of paste, so I'll have to try it out with another veggie.

I ate a small batch when I first made it but always want leftovers- these things just get better with a day in the fridge.

Off-putting color combo, pairing with a mix of red and white quinoa. If you squint it looks a little like raw meat. Delicious though!

Revisit 74 & 81: Curry Pickles

Do these look familiar? You may remember them from my little pickling experiments back over the summer. Two batches, about a week apart, basically the same recipe. The recipe recommended waiting at least six weeks before opening, to give the flavors time to meld. It seemed fitting to open them together. 

How did they turn out? Well...I don't really like them. 

On the right is cucumber (first batch), the left squash (second). I improved on technique and my ability to get all the ingredients in the jar on my second batch, but if I had to pick of the two I liked the cucumber better. I wasn't able to fit the raisins in that jar, so it was much less sweet, and, well not as raisin-y as the squash. The texture was also better- the cucumbers were sliced thicker and held their crunch more.

It's not to say the recipe was bad, just my preference is for more vinegary bite. Anyone want to take the rest off my hands?

228: Kohlrabi Carrot Soup

Not a pretty soup, but a sweet and tasty one. I sort of used this recipe from Eat, Love and Be Happy! When skimming it seemed fine, but upon the reread I was generally confused as to what I was supposed to do, so I did my own thing.

Ingredients:

2 kohlrabi
3 carrots
1 head garlic
1 onion, diced
2 ribs celery, diced
~ sage, thyme, parsley
~ chiken stock
~ salt, pepper, olive oil

I peeled, cut into chunks, and roasted the kohlrabi and carrots until soft and browned. I also chopped the top of the garlic off the head, drizzled a little olive oil and wrapped in foil. That was also roasted until soft.

Meanwhile, I diced my onions and celery and started those in a pot with a little olive oil and salt. Once they got soft, and the onions started to brown, I added in the rest of the ingredients. The chicken stock was added until it just covered (I like my soups full of "stuff", not super brothy), and I let that simmer for a while, until the flavors had a chance to mingle and the herbs had some time to do their thing. Tasting, adjusting seasoning as necessary.

Roasting the kohlrabi and carrots brought out their sweetness, which extended out into the soup. Last night it seemed unpleasantly sweet, but I dug it a lot more for lunch. Next time I'd probably add roasted potatoes, but I totally forgot until it was too late to prep them.

227: Savory Radish Toast

I'm always up for trying something new and possibly weird, so I was intrigued when I saw this recipe from Bon Appetit. I'm not sure I get the whole radish on toast concept- maybe my ratios are off or something, because the only time it's worked (somewhat) for me was with pate on very very thing bread. Beyond that the radish gets lost.

This dish provided no insight. It was meh, but an excuse to buy tasty bread and more yogurt, so I'm not exactly complaining.

226: Herb Butter Roasted Potatoes

Sometimes it's really good to just cook something, like potatoes, that you don't have a recipe in mind for. While I was roasting (off share) sweet potatoes, I threw a few potatoes on the other rack. I figured at worst they could hang out in the fridge until a day I was too lazy/busy to cook. And that's what happened. 

After getting my hair cut and doing my weekly extra ingredient shopping trip (an expensive one, though a good $10 was stock alone) I got home with just enough energy to eat a bowl of yogurt and whip this up. 

I thickly sliced the cooked and cooked potatoes, then sauteed them for a bit in herb butter. I meant to post about the herb butter but never got around to it- to the best of my recollection it had parsley, thyme, dill, mint, maybe some basil and cilantro. I added a bit of pepper and way too much salt, so I'm forced to use it sparingly. 

The results were perfect for a cold day, and a more than good reason to just throw something extra into the oven whenever it's on.

225: Spicy Indian Carrot Soup

So Tuesday it snowed. It didn't stick, but they were decently fat flakes, accompanied by wind and a general desire to stay in bed- or at the very least get hot chocolate. I'd been wanting soup for a while now, but that set me over the edge. I settled on a carrot soup, and this recipe, because ginger. The only thing I didn't have was heavy cream...and I'm in a healthy-as-possible mindset, so I didn't feel right about buying any.

Searching the interwebs, a few people suggested yogurt, though with the caveat they'd only really used it in Indian dishes...and then the lightbulb went off.

I followed the recipe better than I tend to, adding about 1/8-1/4 tsp of coriander, cumin and turmeric. I also halved a jalapeno, removed the seeds, and tossed that in towards the beginning. Oh and I tossed in a few garlic cloves, roughly chopped, assuming that once everything got buzzed with the immersion blender it wouldn't really matter.

After I took the soup off the heat I swirled in a little yogurt, which looks super pretty in addition to amping up the creaminess. Let's pretend that parsley leaf is cilantro, ok? And that I'd actually wiped down that bowl properly.

Were I to do it again I'd take the jalapeno out sooner and add a bit more Indian flavor- it was very high on the spicy but low on the spices. And I'd also start off with a little hing. But I'm really loving this soup, and would definitely do it again. Any excuse to play with Indian flavors.

224: Beets and Goat Cheese

Beet islands. 

I'm not entirely sure what that means but that's the random thing I wrote when I put these pictures here to start this post, right before I went to bed, so I'll keep it. Tired Kelly is tired.

Anyway- I had an influx of chioggia beets, and really wanted to do a prep that kept their color. The (semi-failed) beet chips didn't really work, so I tried another option suggested by the internets: steaming. This would've been more successful if I had a mandolin...but I'm hesitant to buy one, after that time I cut off part of my thumb slicing squash. A year later I am still missing a part of my thumb print. Fun facts!

Anyway, my slices were on the thicker side so I had to keep them on the heat longer than I would've liked, and as you can see above they faded during the cooking process. A few days in the fridge made them pinker again (as you can see in the first and last pic), but it's still not that same awesome color I was hoping to preserve.

I was inspired by the flavors (and leftovers!) of that kale and beet salad from the other day, and ate these simply: topped with a little goat cheese, scallions, and black pepper. I ended up sprinkling a little lemon juice on some, which tasted good, but they were fine without.

I'm never sure if some of these presentations I do are nice or dated, but at the very least this was the simplest way to have all the things I wanted to eat together stuck together, so I'm cool with it. The islands above were a bit difficult to eat (though I made less of a mess than I thought I would). Overall I was rather rushed putting these together, so while I ended up with a few pretty looking ones, the vast majority were a mess:

Behind the scenes in my kitchen. Now you know.

Delivery 23

Potatoes - 2 pounds

Orange Carrots - 1 pound

Yellow Carrots - 1 pound
Kohlrabi - 2

Sage - 1 bunch

Garlic - 2 heads

Celeriac - 1 head

Collards - 1 bunch

Beets - 2 pounds

Radish - 1 bunch

Collards

Lots of extras but here's a curry. A soup with grits. Creamed. Not sure I'd follow the filling but I could use the leaves for a wrap.

Carrots

A few soup ideas: with ginger or a little more plain.

Celeriac

Aka celery root. Smashed, gratin with potatoes, salad with parsley, root veggie slaw.

Potatoes

I can't even...

Beets

Moroccan stew (bonus for radish and excuses to buy squash), beet and radish slaw, or another round of picked beets. Beet ketchup. Borscht.

Radishes

These guys are tiny. White bean and radish salad. Roasted. Savory toast (with yogurt?!).

Garlic

Garlic confit. Honey lemon garlic tea (I'd throw ginger in there, too). Turkish poached eggs with yogurt and spicy sage butter (!!!).

Kohlrabi

Love these guys! "Ceviche" with radishes and carrots. Lots of extras, but crostini with mozz. Pickled with carrots. Nommy looking soup with carrots, potatoes, herbs I have kicking around.

Sage

Carrot and sage soup.

223: Wilted Parsley and Mint on Toast

My favorite and least favorite part of the CSA is the herbs. On the one hand, it's something I generally never use, and am happy to have it forced upon me so I get some experience. On the other...how much thyme and sage can a person really go through in a week or two? Sure you can make pestos, salsa verde, or herb butters, but seriously. It can get a little ridiculous now and then. 

So I'm happy when I stumble across a recipe like wilted parsley and eggs on toast. It cuts a bunch down to a single dish, and in a way that's not entirely overpowering. My issue is that I don't love parsley. It can be a little harsh on its own, so when I thought of doing it again (here's the first time) I wanted another herb to help round it out. 

I chose mint, cooking it exactly as I did the parsley. Next time I probably wouldn't blanch the herbs- or maybe not the mint- as I feel I lost a lot of the flavor in the blanching water (or ended up with an odd tea). But what there was did the job wonderfully, adding a bit off sweetness, balancing out the assertiveness of the parsley.

Another change from the prior iteration was to continue on my roasted garlic kick, spreading a clove or two on each slice of Breads Bakery sourdough (it's solid version with a fine crumb and decent sturdiness- though I wish I'd thought to thaw the SCRATCH I had in the freezer). 

Topped (eventually, took me three tries to not break the yolk) with a runny egg. I could eat this most days and not get tired of it. 

222: Leftover Squash and Sage Quinoa

I had some acorn squash kicking around my fridge, leftover from making that soup (which, by the way, got a little bitter as it sat around in the fridge), and was in need of a quick lunch. I boiled up some quinoa, throwing a few (maybe 4 or 5?) sage leaves in with the grains, and let it work while I took a shower. I considered throwing some of the squash in there, but knew that I wasn't going to be using it all up this on the one lunch, and wanted there to be as much flexibility for the meal component as I could.

When it was done I mixed some with the pieces of squash- being somewhat careful about my stirring, as I didn't want to completely mash up the squash pieces. Topped with a healthy bit of black pepper and a little more salt. Simple and comforting.

221: Mashed Carrots with Orange and Ginger

So this was the dish I mentioned the other day, that I used up my pound of carrots on. It was one of those rare occurrences- I follow a number of food blogs, but they never seem to have recipes I can actually use with my share. So I pounced on this recipe posted by The Bitten Word, boiling carrots then mixing with mint and orange zest. I omitted the hot sauce in that initial butter melt, just to see what the final results would be like. It wasn't unpleasant, though a little too orange-y for my tastes. It reminded me of that cauliflower cous cous. 

With the hot sauce though? Mmm. Really lovely on the first really cold day of the season. Next time I'd probably roast (of course), to bring a little more depth and caramelization to the party, but this was still lovely.

220: Apple and Turnip Slaw

I was originally going to do this recipe, which used turnips, carrots and parsley from my share, but of course cooked all my carrots for another dish (to be posted soon), and had to improvise. The mystery dish also featured mint, which is a minor love of mine, so I decided to go for something as cool, tart, and refreshing as I could.

I'm getting a little ahead of myself. When I realized I'd just (seriously, just) cooked all of my carrots, I decided to go on as well as I could with what I had- the turnip and apple. I was reminded of the kohlrabi and apple slaw I made a while back, and thought that a simple prep would be best. The carrots would've added some sweetness to the party, but I remembered my beet and kale salad and knew I could add a little more acid to smooth down any bitterness.

I cut my turnips and apples into little matchsticks, mixed them up with lemon juice, olive oil, mint and a little parsley. Made myself a batch that night with some salt, but the rest I put in the fridge without, to keep it from getting watery.

I rather liked it, though now and then I wasn't sure I liked that addition of parsley. And then now and then the bitterness of the turnip came through. So this morning I tossed in a little apple cider vinegar, drained out what liquid was at the bottom of the container, and brought it in for lunch, waiting to salt until I was almost ready to take lunch. It was good- a little better fresh- maybe an hour or so before kind of thing to give enough time for the flavors to meld.