FARM SHARE 3!!

Alright, it seems that this blog doesn't want me to be able to type next to pictures this week. Well, poo. So to punish it, I am going to make it hold GIANT pictures of beautiful food. That'll teach it!

Take a gander, if you will, at this week's bounty!

Let's see, in the vegetable share we had lettuce, scallions, cabbage, kohlrabi and something called pea tendrils that I had not heard of before.

The fruit share was a quart and a pint of strawberries and a pint of cherries!

And it was a banner week for bread and cheese. We got a loaf of sourdough with garlic and a block of some amazing cheddar that felt like butter on my tongue.

You may notice some dents in the bread and cheese and a certain lack of fullness to the quart of berries. You know how sometimes the food doesn't last the day? Well, sometimes it doesn't even make the car ride home unscathed! I was like a jackal on a carcass with that bread. Just gnawing away. And the cheese was a bit of an embarrassment as well. Although I did have the self control not to bite chunks out. I did break off a piece delicately with my nearly clean fingers. The strawberries, I just jammed down my gullet and threw the hulls out the window like a horrible litterer. But vegetable matter doesn't count as litter. I looked it up. 

So what did I do to this food?

Well first I emasculated the kohlrabi.Just chopped his little tendrils off. And then I peeled him and cut him into sticks with an eye towards preparing kohlrabi home fries. I am not even sure if I am going to post the recipe. It was not pretty.

Okay, it doesn't look so bad right now, does it? Kind of apple-like. That potato peeler was completely useless against the tough skin of the beastie.

Then a dipping into a nice friendly bag of flour.

And a warm bath in some olive oil. For some reason, this is the last picture I took of them. After this I put them on some paper towels to absorb some of the grease and sprinkled them with cumin. Like the recipe suggested! They tasted like blocks of somewhat tender wood. Not my finest hour! I was going to force the family to try one, but even I am not that cruel!

Let us go, then, to the next recipe - Pea Tendrils with Crimini Mushrooms and Leeks. Or as I call it - Pea Tendrils with Regular Old White Mushrooms and some farm share scallions! Look at that garlic from last week's farm share! Still helpful! And if you look in the back corner you can see some of the bread and cheese which I could NOT STOP EATING!!!

Here are the scallions being cooked in some butter.

Have I mentioned my love for my Pampered Chef chopper thingy lately? It is so handy for the garlic.

And look how beautiful the pea tendrils are! They even have little flowers on them. Oh pea tendrils, would that I had just enjoyed you in your pretty flower bedecked state rather than trying to, well, cook you.

The tension builds as I add the garlic and mushrooms! Surely this must be a good idea.

The tendrils are placed ever so gently into the pan.

After the first stir.









And this is as far as the pictures go. After a minute or two it might as well have been spinach! I should have just put them on a salad or something. I just can't abide cooked greens. Even beautiful, flowry, tendrily cooked greens. Oh the humanity. I tried to eat them, but even the butter couldn't save them from just grossing me out. A little raspberry walnut balsamic vinegar on these babies raw and they would have been delicious. Alas, I cooked them and it was all for naught...

The cabbage and lettuce will be Aunt Ginger's delicious crunchy salad. I found a link here for something surprisingly similar. And yet they did not thank Aunt Ginger. Citations, people! Humble Bean's photos put mine to shame though. Very beautiful.

And here are the recipes for those of you who don't know a cautionary tale when you see one!

 

Kohlrabi Home Fries

Andrew Scrivani for The New York Times

By MARTHA ROSE SHULMAN

1 1/2 to 2 pounds kohlrabi

1 tablespoon rice flour, chickpea flour or semolina (more as needed) 

Salt to taste

2 to 4 tablespoons canola oil or grapeseed oil, as needed 

Chili powder, ground cumin, curry powder or paprika to taste

1. Peel the kohlrabi and cut into thick sticks, about 1/3 to 1/2 inch wide and about 2 inches long.

2. Heat the oil over medium-high heat in a heavy skillet (cast iron is good). Meanwhile, place the flour in a large bowl, season with salt if desired and quickly toss the kohlrabi sticks in the flour so that they are lightly coated.

3. When the oil is rippling, carefully add the kohlrabi to the pan in batches so that the pan isn’t crowded. Cook on one side until browned, about 2 to 3 minutes. Then, using tongs, turn the pieces over to brown on the other side for another 2 to 3 minutes. The procedure should take only about 5 minutes if there is enough oil in the pan. Drain on paper towels, then sprinkle right away with the seasoning of your choice. Serve hot.

Yield: 4 to 6 servings.

Advance preparation: You can cut up the kohlrabi several hours before frying. Keep in the refrigerator.

Nutritional information per serving (based on lower range in ingredients, 4 servings): 117 calories; 7 grams fat; 1 gram saturated fat; 2 grams polyunsaturated fat; 4 grams monounsaturated fat; 0 milligrams cholesterol; 13 grams carbohydrates; 6 grams dietary fiber; 34 milligrams sodium (does not include salt to taste); 3 grams protein

Pea Tendrils with Crimini Mushrooms and Leeks

Makes 4 servings

    3 tablespoons butter

    1 cup thinly sliced leek (white and pale green parts only; about 1 medium)

    2 garlic cloves, minced

    8 ounces crimini mushrooms, sliced

    8 cups pea tendrils, left intact

 

Melt butter in large nonstick skillet over medium-low heat. Add leek; cover and cook until leek is soft but not brown, stirring often, about 7 minutes. Increase heat to medium-high; add garlic and mushrooms and sauté until mushrooms begin to brown, about 7 minutes. Add pea tendrils; cook until pea tendrils just begin to wilt, tossing often, about 3 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.

Farm Share Number Two!

Isn't it pretty?

So this week was the advent of the BREAD and CHEESE shares!!! Thanks to Corey McLaughlin for practically forcing me to buy them.

The bread was a very herb-y focaccia that didn't last the night. There were two cheeses - FETA, which everyone hates but me so hurrah, I get to eat it all! And some CHEVRE that was very popular on the bread and also didn't last the night. Because someone left it on the counter. Someone who will be shut out of the cheese share next time. And might be kicked out of the marital bed if he mistreats cheese like that again...

But enough about the cheese tragedy. Our fruit this week was strawberries, two beautiful quarts. They were picked away at for two days and the rest were frozen for smoothies.


Our veggies were splendid. There was only one that I hadn't cooked with before let's see if you can identify it!

• two pudgy, juicy tomatoes
• garlic
• scallinos
• fennel

If you guessed fennel, you win the prize! Which is the rest of the garlic, because I will never get around to using all of it...

Now here is the opening salvo in farm share eating. I cut some of the bread and topped it with a bit of feta and a strawberry half to eat while I cooked. Because self control is for the weak. The rest of my family ripped into it as well. I managed to cut a few slices and set them aside for later before the last crumbs were attacked.

These are some of the ingredients for Chicken Milanese with Tomato and Fennel Sauce, which was what I ended up making. So, the recipe calls for cherry tomatoes, I substituted one of my fresh ones. It also called for garlic and fennel - had them both! And it wanted mascarpone cheese, which is completely different from goat cheese, but it still came out delicious. (If not pretty...)

 Isn't it pretty when I chop things? The tomato is in the yellow bowl, looking like strawberries, the garlic is in the orange and the fennel is in the blue. 

You can also see the chicken tenders - not breasts as the recipe calls for because I have GONE ROGUE on this recipe. You can't contain me food network! I am off the rez! I breaded them and cooked them in a little olive oil. 

Now back to business...

 I cooked the fennel in the chicken scrapings and it smelled so good! I only used half the fennel and twice the garlic and while it was delicious, I am curious as to how it would have tasted if, well, anything I did resembled the actual recipe!

I also added the special surprise guest, dried thyme! Which I have in my newly and beautifully organized spice cabinet. Stay tuned, someday I will post on that and it will knock your socks RIGHT OFF!!

Then I stirred this and stirred this and it smelled delicious and yet others in my family chose to eat this.

Which I call stupid white food plate. Plain chicken with brown rice and a piece of bread. How dull, how bland, how much less like a crime scene looking than what I actually ate.

Yes, I understand that this looks much like what many a cat has left on many a carpet. But it was delicious! Now if you look at the picture from the online recipe, you will note that they placed the chicken ON TOP of the sauce. That is a really good idea and one that I should have taken into consideration. 

I put my bread down, topped it with chicken and then ladled the cat sick, I mean sauce, over top. But I ate it bravely and it was delicious. And the bread was actually too much. It wasn't necessary. The sauce was a lot denser and more veggie friendly than it seemed. And I only used half the cheese that was called for because I am not selfish.


In a perfect world, it would have looked more like this. Pretty yummy looking, isn't it?

I will now add the recipe that I completely bastardized for this meal and leave you to your own devices. Enjoy!

[I just reread the recipe and it clearly says, "Transfer the chicken to a serving platter and spoon the sauce over the top before serving." This is clearly a ploy to make sure that theirs is the prettiest!]

 

Chicken Milanese with Tomato and Fennel Sauce

Recipe courtesy Giada De Laurentiis

Total Time: 43 min Prep 15 min Cook 28 min

Yield:  4 to 6 servings

 

Ingredients

Chicken: 

1/3 cup all-purpose flour

2 eggs, beaten

1 1/4 cups plain bread crumbs

2/3 cup grated Parmesan

2 teaspoons dried basil

1 teaspoon dried thyme

4 (6 to 8-ounce) boneless and skinless chicken breasts, tenderloins removed

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

1/3 cup vegetable oil

Saucee:

1 tablespoon olive oil

2 fennel bulbs, trimmed and thinly sliced

2 1/2 cups (12 ounces) cherry tomatoes, halved

1/4 teaspoon kosher salt, plus more for seasoning

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, plus more for seasoning

1 clove garlic, minced

1 teaspoon dried thyme or 1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme leaves

1/2 cup mascarpone cheese, at room temperature

Directions

For the chicken: Put an oven rack in the center of the oven. Preheat the oven to 150 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with a wire rack.

Using 3 wide shallow bowls, add the flour to 1, the eggs to another and to the third bowl combine the bread crumbs, Parmesan cheese, basil, and thyme.

On a work surface, put the chicken between 2 pieces of plastic wrap. Using a meat mallet, lightly pound the chicken until approximately 1/4 to 1/2-inch thick. Season the chicken with salt and pepper. Dredge the chicken pieces in the flour to coat lightly, then dip into the beaten eggs, allowing the excess egg to drip off. Coat the chicken with the bread crumb mixture, pressing gently to adhere.

In a large, nonstick saute pan, heat the vegetable oil over medium heat. Add 2 pieces of the breaded chicken into the oil and cook until light golden brown, about 3 to 4 minutes on each side. Transfer the chicken to the prepared baking sheet and keep warm in the oven. Repeat with the remaining chicken. Reserve the cooking juices in the saute pan.

For the sauce: Using the same saute pan, add the olive oil to the reserved cooking juices and heat over medium heat. Add the fennel and cook, stirring frequently, until softened, about 5 to 6 minutes. Stir in the cherry tomatoes, 1/4 teaspoon salt, 1/4 teaspoon pepper, garlic and thyme. Cook for 5 to 6 minutes until the tomatoes are tender. Remove the pan from the heat. Add the mascarpone cheese and stir until the mixture is creamy. Season with salt and pepper, to taste.

Transfer the chicken to a serving platter and spoon the sauce over the top before serving.

FARM SHARE #1!!!!!

 Well here is the treat I have been waiting for! The FIRST FARM SHARE!
This week we got

• a head of tender lettuce
• a head of broccoli
• a bunch of hakurei turnips
• a bunch of scallions
• a bunch of rhubarb
• a quart plus a pint of the most delicious strawberries

Everyone said, "Don't be disappointed at the first share, it is always the smallest..." I was NOT disappointed. It was all beautiful!
As soon as I got home I looked for some recipes to make the most of this bounty!

The strawberries were easy. I washed them and put them in a bowl and they barely made it through the afternoon. They were beautiful and sweet and reminded me of Aunt Rosie's garden from way back.

I made an incredible salad with the turnips and lettuce that had a spicy homemade dressing and candied pecans.

We are going to pretend that the rhubarb pork chop casserole that I made looked like this picture from the internet rather than the slightly charred mess it ended up being. I forgot to take a picture before we dug in, but it was pretty ugly so no great loss. It was surprisingly delicious, though.

The only thing left after dinner were the scallions and the broccoli. I will be steaming the broccoli at some point this weekend and the scallions will go over salads and maybe a frittata. Oh, don't you worry, they will get eaten!

So my stats for the summer are good. Of the 2 weird* farm share items (turnips and rhubarb) I used them both within 24 hours.

Hurrah for me!

Hurrah for farm share!

*  "Weird" is defined as a specific term that refers to a vegetable I have never cooked or perhaps even eaten in my life. A noob, if you will...

Hakurei Turnip Salad

from JulieIrene at SparkRecipes

This salad makes use of the Hakurei Turnip (also called Asian Salad Turnips or Japanese Turnips), which are generally a fall plant. The dressing can be modified to taste and used on any salad, so enjoy!

Minutes to Prepare: 30

Number of Servings: 4

Salad Ingredients:

    4 cups greens of choice (I used the turnip greens from the turnips)

    4 small Asian salad turnips, diced

    2 apples, diced

    4 Tblsp candied pecans

    8 Tblsp dressing

Candied Pecans:

    dash Salt

    1/2 cup sugar

    1/4 tsp cinnamon

    3 Tbsp nonfat milk

    1/2 cup pecan pieces

    1/2 Tbsp vanilla

Dressing

    3 garlic cloves

    dash salt

    1 1/2 Tbsp dijon mustard

    2 Tbsp Cider Vinegar

    1 Tbsp Olive Oil

    dash ground pepper

Directions

Candied Pecans:

1. Mix salt, sugar, cinnamon & milk in saucepan & bring to boil.

2. Remove from heat.

3. Add vanilla & pecans. Stir until coated & crystallized.

4. Pour on to wax paper or foil & separate with fork to cool.

Dressing:

1. Mash garlic cloves in bowl with fork.

2. Add salt, mustard & vinegar. Whisk well.

3. Whisk in oil & dash of pepper.

This salad recipe makes 4 servings. In each salad bowl, place 1 cup greens & toss with dressing. Add on top of each salad one diced turnip, 1/2 of a diced apple, and 2 Tbsp of candied pecans.

 

-->

Pork Chop Rhubarb Casserole

From The Rhubarb Compendium

Ingredients:

4 pork chops

3 C. rhubarb -- cut up

1 Tbsp. cooking oil

1/2 C. brown sugar

1 Tsp. cinnamon

2 1/2 to 3 c. bread crumbs

1/4 C. flour

Salt and pepper to taste

Procedure:

In skillet, brown pork chops in oil; add salt and pepper. Remove to platter. Mix 1/4 cup pan drippings with bread crumbs. Reserve 1/2 cup. Sprinkle remaining crumbs into 9x13 inch baking dish. Combine rhubarb, sugar, flour and cinnamon. Spoon half over the bread crumbs. Arrange pork chops on top. Spoon remaining rhubarb mixture over chops. Cover with foil and bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes. Remove foil, sprinkle remaining crumbs. Bake 15 minutes longer.

 Once I am home for the summer I will start uploading nutritional information and maybe even Weight Watchers points, but for now, you will just have to trust that it might be healthy and is certainly delicious, unless stated otherwise.