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.

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.

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.

Delivery 10

Beets - 1 bunch

Walla Walla Onions - 2

Sweet Peppers - 3

Red Russian Kale - 1 bunch

Eggplant - 1

Thai Basil - 1 bunch

Tomatoes - 6

Sun Gold Cherry Tomatoes - 1 basket

Leeks - 1 bunch

Hot Peppers - 4

Beets

No greens. Boo. Trying to be ok with that, but it's hard. Anyway, cake was fun the other week, but I don't think I'll make that again, even if there are recipe variations I can try. Still in the mood for something weird though- how about a burger? There are recipes from the NY Times or Macheesmo. OR, to use up a few ingredients, a salad with tomato.

Thai Basil

So much with the basil. I think I've used up more of the Genovese than I tend to, but still, man, I wish it weren't so tough for me to use up that much herbage. Thai basil will be a little tough, as it's got an anise-y flavor that, well, you remember fennel. Not the biggest fan.

Here's a recipe with kale and tofu. Oooh and basil pepper jelly (using sweet and hot peppers)- here's the same recipe on a site that'll scale for me (yay for no math). It's a shame they want me to steep the basil for two weeks in vinegar- maybe I'll do a batch after a week and (fingers crossed) if I get more peppers I'll try another at full strength. here's hoping I like it.

 

Red Russian Kale

In addition to the above: risotto with beans, bread pudding (the pic is KILLING me), or do something new (to me): kale chips. Busy week this week- going camping over the weekend- so maybe keep it simple and do another salad, or just cook it up with some spelt I bought on a whim.

Leeks

I loved the things I did with leeks the last time I got them, but definitely want to try something new. This would require a good bit of extra shopping but I am missing brussels sprouts. Leek fritters, modeled off the zucchini ones I loved from smitten kitchen. Leek confit, nom. Roasting with cheese if I want to turn on the oven.

Eggplant

Earmarked for baignan bharta. I made the trip to Kalustyan's and, well, it's surprising they didn't have to drag me out. So much variety. Pretty much any spice you can imagine, and a million things I had no idea existed. I opted out of buying their garam masala, will make my own mix, but I did pick up some hing. I also made the mistake of deeply inhaling some hing. Don't do that, btw.

Peppers

The basil jelly above will probably use up a bell pepper, and I'll most likely whip up a batch of peperonata tonight with the rest. I need to repeat recipes a little more to refine those skills. Any hot peppers not used up in the jelly will most likely be interspersed among other recipes, not enough to do anything crazy.

Tomatoes

Roma/plums already have homes in the peperonata and baignan bharta. Cherries (so proud of myself for bringing tupperware) may just get eaten as is, or that beet salad above.

90: Candied Sungold Tomatoes

My inspiration for this (and the recipe for the tomatoes) came from this recipe on food52. I haven't done a lot of sweet things with tomatoes, so this was a nice change of pace. Only had about 6 oz of sungold tomatoes, which meant cutting the given amounts in half. No worries on that front.

The initial goal was to make the baked ricotta as well, but when I stopped at my local cheesemonger (I have one of those now, I'm turning so Brooklyn), they didn't have any appropriate goat cheese. So I just bought a giant thing of ricotta and settled on this alteration.

I also didn't have light brown sugar, so I used a little dark brown and honey (why not?). No marjoram either, so I used savory. Just kept adding it bit by bit until it was a nice background flavor. The bread is more foccacia from SCRATCH. Honestly I ate the Bruchetta for dinner and this for dessert. Crazyperson. Carbfiend. So full.

My only complaint was that it was a little too sweet. The best bite I had was one where a tomato hadn't completely given up its juice, and that extra pop of tartness was amazing. Next time I'll either try to keep the tomatoes more whole or just add less sugar. This time I added a few drops of lemon juice to the leftovers. This recipe is something I'll definitely do again, maybe for a potluck. It's just seems really classy.

Delivery 9

Two months done! I'm due for another recappy post. Once I have time (tomorrow? maybe?).

Carrots with Greens - 1 bunch

Walla Walla Sweet Onions - 2

Peppers - 2

Summer Savory - 1 bunch

Orient Eggplant - 2

Genovese Basil - 1 bunch

Tomatoes - 6

Sun Gold Cherry Tomatoes - 1 basket

White Russian Kale - 1 bunch

Bell Eggplant - 1

Tomatoes

So wonderful. Six roma/plum tomatoes (top), six cocktail tomatoes (bottom), and a container of sungold cherry tomatoes. I ended up eating my last batch of cherries as is. Really have to refrain from doing that with these. No promises. 

I'm thinking of using most of the plum on a new batch of Baignan Bharta. As for the others...we'll see. I do have basil.

My dad sent me a link to an awesome farmer's market/CSA recipe generator. There are a few good ideas for tomatoes, but most require lots of extra ingredients.

Carrots:

I've done dilly carrots before. Looking for something a bit new. Carrots lend themselves to a lot, and with a few other ingredients I have this delivery I could maybe make a soup? Anyway, I'm excited for carrot tops, here are a few recipes for those.

Kale

Yesss. Honestly a little in love with kale. Lots of options: Beans and smoked paprika, cornbread, with wheat berries, nommy salads. This one isn't as frilly as I'm used to, but it has that awesome bitterness. Having greens with stems also makes me happy, as they're just great to dip in hummus.

Savory

I haven't cooked with savory before- and it's proving a little hard to find recipes- but once I smelled it I immediately recognized it. It's used in a lot of things. With the carrots it's just begging to be a soup. I'd also like to buy chicken this week- either livers again, or thighs- and this would work very well with that. Bruchetta, beans, mushroom pate. The kitchn has a little roundup too- the simplest one would work well.

 

Walla Walla Onions

Honestly, while cutting these last week I was eating pieces raw. They are so sweet and delicious.

Googling these came up with a website - with recipes - dedicated to them. I guess there's a big Walla Walla lobby to combat the Vidalia onion lobby.  Oh, and the internet wants me to make bruchetta this week.

Peppers

Debating doing another jar of pickled peppers- hesitant as I'm not sure how that one turned out at all. I'll probably do something different. It's been a while since I've made a pizza. Peperonata look amazing. Here's a great recipe roundup from the NY Times.
 

Basil

I'm making a pesto this week. I have to. I always have so much herbage left over that just goes bad in my fridge, and it's making me sad. I'm determined to use this up.

Eggplant 

Baignan Bharta is a given. Part of me just wants to make that with all of this- though most likely I'll use the bell on it, and then use the smaller orient on other recipes.