Dish 29: Tropicana Lettuce, Purslane & Corn Scrambled Eggs

Maybe I should stop posting about my various scrambled eggs...but then like half of my share consumption would be undocumented :)

Sliced up a few leaves of tropicana lettuce- at this point I realize I should just throw a few leaves in everything I make- it's not really going to change the flavor of the dish much, but it'll help me work through it faster haha. Chopped up the rest of my purslane and threw those in a skillet. In the future I'd put the purslane in there a minute or two before the lettuce as it needs more time to cook, but no harm. Also threw in a handful of corn for good measure.

Added the eggs. Scrambled. Etc.

Nommy end result. The corn was nicely sweet. I didn't have a great deal of purslane left so I didn't get much tartness from it, but now and then it came through. The lettuce added a bit of texture, but again was generally unessential.

And yes, eventually I did add sriracha, but I wanted to get more of the subtle flavors before drowning it in spicy.

Dish 24: Tomato Purslane Egg Poach & Summer Pizza

I don't think I can ever get sick of tomatoes. Last week's tomato and purslane soup was lovely, so I thought I'd try something similar for breakfast- poaching some eggs in the tomatoes. A lot of cultures do this- see eggs in purgatory or shakshuka- and it's just lovely.

I used another home-canned jar or tomatoes- added rosemary, a little thyme, a bay leaf and some cumin again. Chopped up my purslane a little more than last time and let it simmer a bit in a pan before adding my eggs. Put a cover on, occasionally basting the eggs with the liquid.

Ideally I wanted runny yolks. These were on a little too long- was multitasking with the summer pizza- see below- but it was still delicious.

Topped with a little gruyere. Nommy.

Notes for improvement: Don't overcook those eggs!

To go with my tomatoes: pizza! I don't tend to buy pizza unless it's something really special- like anything from SCRATCHbread or Two Boots. Beyond that it's more fun (and cheaper) to make your own dough and top it how you wish. Favorites: eggs (obviously) and/or leftover Indian.

I'll have a more detailed post once I work this method out, but for now I'll say the dough I use is from Macheesmo and summer is way too hot to cook pizza in an oven.

I had this idea to par-bake the crust in a dry pan after sprinkling a little cornmeal on either side, then topping and finishing off under the broiler in the oven. It worked relatively well, but needs tweaking.

I sliced some summer squash and garlic scapes, tossed with olive oil, salt, pepper, and fresh rosemary. Broiled the untopped dough for a little while (til it got some color), then flipped, topped, and put it back under the broiler until the veggies had cooked a bit. Thought a little cheese might be nice, so once it was almost there added that and put it back in for another minute.

The crust got some nice char but the center was undercooked and unpleasantly doughy. I don't like white pies- I think the cheese was a little too rich without something acidic to cut it.

Overall though the method will totally work for the hot months, just needs tweaking as I said.

Notes for improvement:
- Thinner crust or longer pan-cooking
- Rich pizzas + summer = itis
- Pre-cook the toppings, the broiler doesn't cook them through as much as I'd like

Delivery 3

A few awesome parts to this new delivery. Also starting to build a backlog in the fridge. Maybe I'll start blanching and freezing.

Here's the list this week:

Red Sails Leaf Lettuce - 1 head**
(Green Towers) Romaine Lettuce - 1 head
(Butter Head) Buttercruch Lettuce - 1 head
Encino Lettuce - 1 head
Summer Spinach - 1 bunch
(Bright Lights) Swiss Chard - 1 bunch
Garlic Scapes - 6 scapes
Golden Purslane - 1 bunch
Kohlrabi - 1 bunch
Summer Squash - 2 pcs

** I couldn't deal with four different types of lettuce this week. Red Leaf has been my least favorite of the bunch, so I took advantage of the swap table and got a second bunch of the Swiss Chard. To be honest I've never had chard before but it looked so damn pretty.

Here are my highlights:

Summer Squash: I may not have been the best CSA-mate and selected two of the biggest of the crate to take...I'll be better in the future. But I'm just so excited for a non-leafy. I have a squash soup I love to make, but it's been super hot here lately. Maybe pickles? Or just a saute in some butter...

Spinach: This makes me happy like kale. I've had quiche on the brain lately. And then I see the butter and cream AND cream cheese in that recipe and am thinking more of a tart? I have a removable bottom tart pan that needs to get used.

Kohlrabi: Related to broccoli and cabbage. From the CSA email:

The variety is Kossak which yields a larger Kohlrabi. They look like they should be a root crop but really grow on top of the soil on a short stalk. They can be eaten raw or cooked. They taste a bit like broccoli stems. Peel them, slice and add to a salad. Or cube and roast. The greens are edible as well. Wash, slice and boil.   

Reading around a little online, people are comparing the crisp texture to a water chestnut or granny smith apple- under that very tough peel. So raw with a little salt? Though there are neat looking salads, pickles, or use it in spring rolls!

Encino Lettuce: Frilly Lettuce. Is it bad that when I google this I just get a bunch of lists from the farm that does my CSA for this week's delivery? I'm running out of ideas for lettuce is what I'm saying, and I wish the internet would understand and help me out here.

Purslane: It's a succulent, which is exciting. There's some good inspiration here, oh hey a chilled zucchini soup. I'm generally happy I have an excuse to buy and eat tomatoes here as well with a salad. Apparently you can sub it for spinach in tarts and whatnot. There may be another ingredient fight.

There's a spiffy bit on wikipedia about it:

At night its leaves trap carbon dioxide, which is converted into malic acid (the souring principle of apples), and, in the day, the malic acid is converted into glucose. When harvested in the early morning, the leaves have ten times the malic acid content as when harvested in the late afternoon, and thus have a significantly more tangy taste.

Mine are not that tangy, but this seems to happen more in dry times- and it's been pretty wet here. Ah well.

Swiss Chard: Taken in by the lovely colors. I asked the volunteer if there was a difference between the flavors stems based on color (they ranged from a light yellow to deep purply red), she said she thought the redder ones had a mild beet flavor, so I was all over it. Pickling the stems, sauteing the greens. This may be the week of tarts and here's one with zucchini, too.