Dish 30: Baked lettuce wrap

This is going to have the most random ingredient list...ever. But it'll make sense eventually. Like, tomorrow. Maybe.

Using this recipe as a guide- a very loose guide- I set out to use up some lettuce leaves and some ingredient leftovers from other recipes.

Baked Lettuce Wraps:

- 12 or so leaves of broad lettuce (like Troicana, in this case)

- 1 medium onion

- 3 or 4 cloves of garlic

- 2/3 cup spinach stems, chopped

- 1 cup celery greens, chopped

- 2 cups spinach leaves, chopped

- The seeded inside parts of 3 summer squash (like what would be left over if you'd, say, peeled off the fleshy outer sections of three large squash for a salad? if you get what I'm sayin)

- Herbs and spices - rosemary, paprika, cumin and ancho

- 1/2 cup gruyere, grated

- Grated pecorino to taste 

- 1 cup cooked quinoa

Boil the lettuce leaves in salty water (2 tbs salt per 4 quarts of water) for a bit, until pliant, then remove, drain and cool)

Sautee the onions, garlic and spinach stems until soft, then add the squash innards. And rosemary. Once those are soft add the celery and spinach leaves. Once they wilt, taste, and add spices as you see fit. Cook a little longer til much of the water is gone from the pan.

Cool those and mix 1 cup of that filling with 1 cup cooked quinoa. Add the gruyere and mix.

Lay three leaves of lettuce down thusly. Scoop in a decent bit of the filling then wrap into little lettuce burrito wraps. Place in a dish with 1/4 of water. Top the wraps with some pecorino. Bake in a 400 degree oven about 10 minutes, then under the broiler for another 5 or so.

Ta da. More pecorino would've been more impressive.

Innards. Missing something.

There it is!

This dish wasn't bad. I have two leftover and look forward to eating them sometime this weekend. The flavors were good, the filling was just mushy. Looking at the recipe, I'm just going to turn this section into a giant

Notes for Improvement:
- Recipe called for an egg in the filling. It didn't necessarily need it- I didn't care if it fell apart a bit while eating- but hell, add it in there next time
- Recipe used rice- but only par cooked it and finished it off in the oven. I cut down on my bake time because my quinoa was already cooked, but having the grain be a little al dente may help with my texture issues
- Recipe used nuts and raisins - these would've held up during cooking, once again making some variation

That all being said, very valid way to use up lettuce at the very least. I left most of the stems on, and those had a nice texture to them. The lettuce was much milder than the escarole would've been, but I didn't mind. I think the big issue is that it involved turning on my oven. Let me see if there's a way I can just pan fry these.

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.

Dishes 27 & 28: Broiled Corn & Sauteed Kohlrabi

Side dishes for dinner.

Only the Kohlrabi is from the share- I was picking up a few additions for other dishes, and happened upon a deal of 6 ears of corn for $2. I picked up 3, not knowing how successfully I could cook them without heating up the entire apartment. I may pick up more after this.

I chopped up some rosemary and thyme, then mixed them with some butter and salt. With my hands. (What? The butter was cold and impossible to mix otherwise). Then I coated the corn with the butter. Also with my hands. (My hands were covered in butter, it made the most sense). There are no pics (see previous comment re: butterhands), but it did happen.

Cobs went into the oven under the broiler; I turned them once they started getting a little brown caramelized goodness. Turned off the broiler when they were done, but left them in the semi-warm oven as the greens finished up.

Was worried the broiler wouldn't cook them enough but they turned out well. Definitely cooler than heating the oven to 350 and cooking for a half hour (per another recipe).

 

Most of the herbs fell off during cooking, that's fine. When I cut the kernels off the other two cobs I added the toasty bits from the baking sheet to the storage container.

Notes for Improvement:

- Chop the herbs a little finer- or make the butter ahead of time so the flavors infuse a bit more.

- Do this again. A bunch. Nom.

On to Kohlrabi!

I cut the stems/leaves off two Kohlrabi, then sliced up the leaves (later chopped those up a bit more) and chopped the stems, onions, and garlic semi-fine. Ok maybe a semi-coarse. Don't have those knife skills yet.

Sauteed the onions and garlic for a bit, then on a whim tossed in some sunflower seeds and the kohlrabi stems. Once the stems got a little soft I tossed in the leaves.

At the very end I added a splash of soy sauce and sesame oil. Definitely made things awesome. The leaves were tougher than I'd like- not sure if they would've wilted down eventually or they're just Saving the rest for lunch tomorrow with Quinoa.

Notes for Improvement:

- Blanch the greens before sauteeing? Or just add them earlier so they cook longer

- Random seed additions turned out well. Do that more.

Delivery 4

Leftover from last week: one zucchini and a little purslane. 

This week's haul:

Tropicana Lettuce - 1 head 
Romaine Lettuce - 1 head

Encino Lettuce - 1 head

Escarole - 1 head

Summer Spinach - 1 bunch

Mint - 1 bunch

Garlic Scapes - 8

Kohlrabi - 1 bunch

Summer Squash - 2 pounds

Three new things! Still more of the same. Etc! Highlights:

Lettuce

I have not had nightmares about lettuce but I may start. A friend suggested juice. Or braising. Or soup. I found (my fav) a tart- bonus for also using zucchini, and being from Kayser. Tropicana Lettuce reminds me of my hair, but beyond that I can't find anything special about it.

Escarole

Escarole looks like lettuce but it isn't- it's a broad-leafed endive. The internet is telling me it's less bitter than other varieties of endive- but apparently the leaf I tried hadn't heard that fact. It's a decently sized head, and beyond the standard saute with onions and garlic, I'm not sure what to do with all of it.

There's a simple braise, I'm not sure what to call this rich bready goodness but I want it, or maybe stuffed with rice. I could do that last one with any of my lettuces, too.

Or green harissa (bonus for mint). I've been meaning to try out this condiment. The only thing is now that I'm no longer in Spanish Harlem, grocery stores don't just automatically have all the varieties of peppers this calls for. A field trip is in order.

Mint 

Always very excited for fresh herbs. Not terribly long ago in my mind mint was just for desserts (though honestly I don't like mint ice cream) or toothpaste. But with a gentle touch I've liked it in more savory things lately. Would be nice and cooling for summer.

Beyond the harissa above, I have a small backlog of herbs from my last few weeks of cooking. May whip up a variation on salsa verde.

Summer Squash

I have a BBQ on the 4th, would love to make this zucchini salad. May even have enough leftover for that tart above. Or just sauteed/broiled in a little butter.

Dish 26: Breakfast for Dinner & A New Shiny

Sunday's normal breakfast was coopted by tomatoes and pizza, so I was jonesing for scrambled eggs. These were somewhat kitchen sink to clear out more room in advance of today's delivery, too. 

Chopped up garlic scapes and started those in a pan some oil. Once those had sizzled a bit added the remains of my Swiss Chard and some Romaine. After those had wilted added the eggs. You know how to scramble them.

I served it with some nommy SCRATCH sourdough and some sliced Kohlrabi, which I'd topped with a little salt and some olive oil- the salt enhances the flavor and fat helps deliver it.

MORE IMPORTANTLY, however, I bought a fancy Japanese knife :)

On the one hand, yes, I spent a lot on it...and the sharpening stone, and the case. But this thing will last forever as long as I take care of it. Quality over something easy and cheap. Part of my attempt to be an "Adult" and also "take this cooking thing seriously." I'll believe those things enough someday to not have them in quotes.

And! I signed up for a knife skills class at 3rd Ward, so hopefully I'll learn to not chop off my fingers. It's sooo sharp. Just need to think of a name.

Dish 25: Spring Rolls / Salad

I had a little more variety in this delivery so I thought it would be a good idea to revisit spring rolls.

Ingredients: vermicelli (again with toasted sesame oil), carrots, zucchini, kohlrabi, and buttercrunch lettuce. 

They were assembled as before. I still haven't gotten the right taut-ness down in the wrappers. 

It wasn't entirely successful. The ingredients had more texture than before which was nice, but none had a particularly strong flavor. I also prepped way too much of everything- dinner was already leftovers from my tart and the tomato, purslane and egg deliciousness.

I ended up prepping way too much of everything, so I used the leftovers in a salad. 

It was very similar- I think I used a little romaine as well. Again too many bland flavors- the dressing was a simple vinaigrette, and with the grated carrots it for reminded me of KFC cole slaw. I'm not sure what that means: watery and vaguely sweet?

Note for improvement: stronger flavors- either with ingredients, marinates, or dips. Maybe roast/broil some of the veggies?

Kimchi Trials

From left to right: Attempt 2, Attempt 1, Store Bought

In hindsight it was more than a little ridiculous to make not one but two batches of kimchi having eaten it like once a few years ago. I have never been one for sensical decisions though. See: Taking on an entire CSA share by my lonesome.

But onto taste. 

The best- unsurprisingly- was the store bought. It was the mildest flavor-wise. Definitely the least spicy- which isn't necessarily the best for me. It's the one I could see myself eating the most. 

2nd favorite was Attempt 2. A bit more heat, a decent bit more fishy. I liked the carrots. The Chinese cabbage variety I used gave a bit more bitterness than the store bought's. 

Least favorite: Attempt 1. Way too strong. The red pepper powder was essentially a paste. Very salty and fishy. Hate to say it but couldn't actually swallow it. 

So where did mine go wrong? 

• The fish sauce was too strong. It's a very distinct flavor, and if you're not used to it, off-putting. 
• I didn't have a scale. You can wing a recipe you know to a degree, but being this blind is just asking for disaster.
• The store bought was wetter? I'm not sure if the cabbage variety made that difference, but I could see more moisture being an asset here.
• Store bought had more sweetness- ingredients like apples and pears

I'm happy I improved between Attempts 1 and 2. Not sure I'll get another head of Chinese Cabbage, and if I did I doubt I'd try this yet again. But I'm happy I tried it once. Well, twice. I may even pick up an apple and tweak Attempt 2 to make it more palatable.