It was that time of the week again yesterday, and we are absolutely overloaded with produce. I hate to admit this, but we actually had to toss a few items we had leftover from the last two weeks to make room in the fridge for the new produce we got this week Yet another reason why I should start composting. At least then I wouldn’t feel so obviously wasteful.

I know that I haven’t written as much in the last two weeks – things have been busy! Contrary to what you might think, I have actually been cooking a fair amount. I made some dip using leftover dill, I roasted A LOT of greens, braised some Belgian Endive, made cupcakes for work, and made a cake for Valentine’s day. Oh yeah, and we made two great batches of homemade salsa. Unfortunately, I’ve been doing all this cooking at night – hence no good pictures, which means no posts.

On top of that, I’m working on refinishing a table! It’s a really ugly table, though, so I’m not really sure why I’m spending so much time on it. I guess it’s a good practice project Maybe one day I’ll find some really nice furniture to refinish, and then I’ll know what I’m doing. Thus far I’ve learning three things:

1. Sanding the existing finish off of a table is really hard work, even if you use a power sander (but it’s a good workout)
2. Sanding anything is really messy business. Dust will cover EVERYTHING. You will have no idea how much dust can get stuck in your hair until you take a shower… (I’m such a girl…)
3. Our elderly neighbor Pat and her dog Bonnie think I’m pretty cool for using power tools in the driveway.

On that note, let me tell you about the interesting stuff we got in our CSA share this week!

• Belgian Endive – a nice big baggie
• Romanesco Cauliflower – this is perhaps the most gorgeous vegetable I’ve ever seen!!! See the photos below…
• Green Garlic
• Kale
• Kohlrabi – three big bulbs
• Lettuce Heads – 2 of them!
• Shungiku – edible chrysanthemum!
• Sourdough Bread
• Yukina Savoy -  sometimes known as “field mustard” or “turnip mustard” and apparently has a slight “mustard-y” bite and the pepperiness of a good turnip; from what I’ve been able to discover, the leaves can be cooked like spinach or added to stir fry.

So the weekly challenge starts again. Already tonight we each ate salad (using up some of our lettuce and two leftover watermelon radishes, along with some feta cheese, sunflower seeds, and olive oil and balsamic vinegar) and tuna. Exciting, right? I’m hoping the creativity kicks in this weekend.

Happy almost weekend! (and check out this amazing cauliflower! It’s almost a shame to eat it…)

Isn’t that Fibonacci sequence amazing?

It’s amazing. We only started participating in the CSA at the beginning of January, and I can’t believe how much the crops have already started to change in the past 4-6 weeks! I have to admit, I DO NOT miss having piles and piles of seemingly never ending greens (although I do have a lot of fennel fronds).

Instead I have a stockpile of fennel bulbs that I need to use up. We also have a couple of heads of broccoli, and some cauliflower (not to mention a giant head of cabbage, some turnips, carrots, and radishes. Oh yeah, I’m also overflowing with fresh dill…).

Kirk and I apparently need to take it up a notch. I feel like we’re eating a lot of veggies, but I think we can handle more. If we don’t want them to start going bad, we need to eat more veggies! That’s going to be my mantra through the weekend. Folks, this is going to vegetable weekend. We’re getting behind in using up all the produce, and pretty soon we’ll be out of room in the fridge. It’s time.

This week, we picked up the following in our share:

• Belgian Endive
• Broccoli
• Cauliflower
• Chioggia Beets
• Collard Greens
• Escarole
• Dill
• Fennel
• Red Lasoda Potatoes (from the freebie bin – not part of our “official” share)
• Peasant Bread

Although this is a lot of food, I do have some good idea for using some of it. I’m thinking of making a dill-based dip of some sort (this using up some dill), and then slicing leftover carrots and radishes for diping into said dip I also recently saw a recipe for braised Belgian Endive, which might be worth a try. On that some front, I saw another recipe the other day for fennel au gratin – could be tasty as well. Beets… hmm… instead of borscht I might try pickling them! Or I could just roast them, dice them, and have a nice side-dish for a piece of salmon or something.

Does anyone have any good ideas for how I could use up my fennel fronds? I’m thinking of trying a fennel frond pesto, and freezing some of it. What do you think?

Yipee! I have another successful soup recipe under my belt! I’m not a huge soup person – it’s never something I get cravings for. But I’m starting to think that maybe I just really like smooth, blended soups. I loved my Chioggia Beet Borscht, and now I love this Butternut Squash Bisque.

I had two butternut squash sitting on my counter for the last few weeks. I initially wanted to bake something with them (I was considering an old-fashioned butternut squash pie – like a pumpkin pie, but not), but then I decided that I should probably eat healthier Kirk and I have been eating a lot of greens the last few days, and when I got home from work tonight I just didn’t like the idea of having yet more greens for dinner. I looked over at the counter, saw the squash, and decided on soup.

I saw this recipe in a book I picked up a Bookmans last night, “Dishing Up Vermont” by Tracey Medeiros. It stuck in my mind, and is the main reason why I looked at my squash and decided on soup. The ingredients are simple, and together they create an incredibly flavorful soup. I couldn’t believe how creamy it was given that it doesn’t actually have that much cream in it. Overall, I am very pleased. Kirk didn’t want soup tonight (he took one for the team and sauteed more greens for his dinner), but I’m hoping he’ll try it tomorrow and like it

In other news, I have some other projects (in addition to cooking) that I am starting to get into. Once I’ve done a little more with them, I’ll definitely share more info. I will tell you this, though: it involves using my shiny new jigsaw!

Butternut Squash Bisque (modified from Dishing Up Vermont)

Ingredients

• 4 cups of Vegetable Broth
• 2lbs Butternut Squash (this could be one large squash, or two small squash. I had two small squash, and they actually weighed about 1.85lbs)
• 1/4 tsp Salt
• 3 Tbsp unsalted Butter
• 2 Tbsp minced fresh Ginger
• 2 Tbsp minced fresh Garlic
• 1/4 cup Heavy Cream
• 1/4 tsp Nutmeg
• Pepper (to taste)
• Minced Chives (to garnish)

Directions

• Slice the tops off the squash. Halve them lengthwise, ad scoop out and discard the seeds. Peel the squash with a vegetable peeler. Cut the peeled squash into 1-inch pieces.
• Place the squash, broth, salt, and 1 Tbsp butter in a soup-pot. Bring to a simmer over medium-high heat and cook until squash is fork tender, about 15 minutes. about 5 minutes before the squash is done, toss in the ginger and garlic.
• Working in batches (or using an immersion blender) puree the soup in a blender. If you use a blender, be careful to allow the steam to escape while blending – you don’t want to create a kitchen mess when the steam builds up and blows the top of the blender off
• Transfer the puree back to your pot. Add the remaining two Tbsp butter and cook over medium heat for about 5 minutes, stirring to combine the butter. Slowly whisk in the cream and nutmeg and heat through.
• Add pepper to taste, and garnish with chives (if you want to…).

We’re back! Yep, and it’s that time of the week again. We missed the CSA last week since we were in chilly Chicago. Compared to Tucson, it was crazy cold in Chicago. However, knowing what we know about winter in Chicago, it was actually a really beautiful and mild week (considering it was January….). We couldn’t have picked a better week to go back to Chicago in the winter – it was in the 30s everyday, and it only snowed on our last night there (it was really just a dusting). Our flights were on time, and my Tucson winter coat sufficed (although admittedly it was risky that it was all I brought with me…). I mean, it’s winter in Chicago, what was I thinking!?!?!? Clearly I have a sense for these things…

Here’s the trip in a nutshell – I like bullet-point lists:

• Great flight from Tucson to Chicago Midway (check!)
• Dealing with rental car agency in Chicago and navigating lame city traffic on I-290 (and a faulty railroad crossing on Harlem) on the way to Kirk’s parents house (boo…)
• Waking up super early to drive into the city and sit in hospital waiting rooms through an seemingly very long MRI (boo…)
• Getting the preliminary results from our neurosurgeon and radiation oncologist that Kirk is looking good post-surgery (and healing well – remaining tumor doesn’t appear to be growing!), and that we don’t have to come back for a follow-up MRI for a year (yay! check!)
• Enjoying eating an excessive amount of food at Portillo’s: Italian beef, cheesy fries, and chocolate cake (check!)
• Having fun and hanging with Kirk’s family (check!)
• Eating delicious homemade brunch – egg, sausage, and potato bake (check!)
• Going into the city to visit friends, and eating an AMAZING diner at the Purple Pig  while taking tons of touristy group pictures, even though none of us are tourists (check!)
• Relaxing and watching the Bernie Mac show while drinking Chai tea (check!)
• Driving back into the city for coffee with a mentor, and tea & champagne at the Peninsula with my best friend – who doesn’t love scones and tea sandwiches? Especially when they’re so fancy… (check!)
• Saying goodbye to best friend, again (boo….)
• Eating Kirk’s tasty homemade spaghetti with family (check!)
• Realizing I ate too way too much, and getting ill (boo…)
• Waking up at 6am, still ill, and having to get back to the airport to get on an airplane (boo…)
• Taking Dramamine so as not to get ill on airplane – that stuff is amazing! (check!)
• Sleeping through most of flight (check!)
• Getting back to Tucson, and stepping out of the airport into sunny, clear, 73-degree weather (check!)
• Arriving back at the house to see that the kitties survived (check!)
• Feeling happy to be back at our new home (check!)… but still missing friends and family (boo….).

(Above) With some of my Chicago ladies outside of the Purple Pig!

(Above) Fancy pants tea at the Peninsula. I have dreams about this tea service…

And that sums it up! We were gone Tuesday night – Saturday morning. in retrospect, it was a pretty quick trip. I’m glad I was able to see most of the people that I wanted to

Honestly, after getting back (and not feeling well) I didn’t do much cooking over the weekend (except to make toast). I spent Sunday afternoon in the backyard, gardening. I’m really getting into gardening – there’s something very calming about it. But it’s so confusing trying to keep track of the seasons here – what should be planted when? I have no idea. Since the weather is so strange, I feel like I really don’t know what I’m doing.

I’ve been doing some research on gardening in a desert climate (specifically in the Sonoran Desert), and there are a few local resources that offer gardening classes – some are focused on organic gardening more broadly, some are focused on homesteading, others on permaculture. Permaculture has always been kind of interesting to me, so I may explore that a little more.  Who knows? As I learn more, I’ll fill you in. For now, check out this and this. What do you think?

Back to the topic at hand, though. I love CSA night! Wednesdays are one of my favorite nights of the week for that reason! I love seeing what we’re going to get, and it’s exciting that it’s slightly different every week. It’s fun to see what’s coming into harvest at different points of time during the year. Maybe over time it will help me get a sense of my own gardening…

Today we got the following as part of our share:

• Lettuce – so delicate and sweet!
• Cabbage – please! I need some good cabbage recipes!
• 2 Bok Choi
• 3 Fennel
• 2 Broccoli
• 3 Purple Turnips – does anyone have any suggestions for what to do with these?
• 9-Grain Bread (I <3 this stuff – I’m so glad it’s in regular rotation)
• 2 huge bunches of Mustard Greens (I was actually supposed to get one bunch of greens, and two more daikon radishes. The daikon was HUGE this week, and we still have one left from a few weeks ago. I’m not really a big radish person, so I asked if I could trade the daikon for another bunch of mustard greens. Thus, I have two bunches of mustard greens!).

The entire top shelf of our fridge is, yet again, full of green things. In fact, green things are now starting to take over other parts of our fridge. I foresee lots of healthy meals in our future…

This is me, signing out. I hope to have some more fun stuff to post in the next few days. Happy February!

This past weekend our house was christened with it’s first official “local” guests! These were’t our first guests ever – my parents helped us move and stayed with us for a while, and Rebecca (my good friend from Chicago) came to stay with us for a few days just before the holidays. But on Friday night we had our first locals over to the house! It was exciting for us since we love to cook but for some reason we rarely entertain company.

Kirk is in a band (he’s clearly way more social than I am). He’s a drummer, and in the time since we moved here he already joined a band, just like that! Can you believe it? I don’t know really how the whole music/band thing works, but apparently it’s a good way to meet some pretty cool people. So, we had two of his band-mates over for dinner. As it turns out, they appreciate Chicago-style deep dish pizza, and that is something Kirk and I are actually pretty good at making. We’ve been working on recipes for the last several years, and we’ve got it down pretty good.

The pizza turned out pretty good – though our crust recipe oddly turned out really light and airy, which was kind of unexpected (could it have something to do with the elevation difference here in Tucson versus Chicago?). It was still good – just different than we expected it to be. The cheese carmelized nicely, and the sauce was tasty in all of it’s tomato goodness. But, I’m not here to talk about pizza – I think Kirk and I still have some work to do now that we’re living in a new environment. Bread recipes can be really finicky like that, and it seems like our crust might need a little re-working.

Because we did pizza for dinner, I decided to stick with the “Italian” theme as I thought about dessert. I knew I wouldn’t have much time after work on Friday to prepare anything, so I wanted to pick a dessert that I could make Thursday night that would survive in the fridge overnight. Ideas? Ideas? Have you been able to guess yet (I’m just ignoring the fact that the post title gives it away)

Panna Cotta!

What could be better, really? Quite simply, it’s a dessert made of gelatin, heavy cream, sugar, and vanilla. That’s all you need. It’s so insanely easy, I have no idea why more people don’t make it at home (except for the fact that they don’t want to feel like they’ve immediately gained 5lbs from eating it). Serve it in a beautiful glass, spoon some fresh fruit on it, and there you have it. It just might be one of the easiest desserts ever!

I should warn you that the cream is absolutely decadent. Panna Cotta is so incredibly delicious it’s addictive. This recipe makes enough for 8 servings. I’m not going to lie… we enjoyed the leftovers for the remainder of the weekend.

Yay!

Panna Cotta (courtesy of David Lebovitz)

Ingredients

• 4 cups heavy cream  - – - or half-and-half, if you’re trying to lighten it up, (although I have no idea why you would). If you’re going to do Panna Cotta, my recommendation is to just go all out
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 packets powdered gelatin (about 4 1/2 teaspoons)
• 6 Tbsp cold water
• Mixed fruit with sugar or honey, for serving

Directions

• Sprinkle the gelatin over the cold water in a medium-sized bowl and let for about 10 minutes.
• While the gelatin is absorbing the water, heat the heavy cream, sugar, and vanilla extract in a saucepan. Once the sugar is dissolved, remove from heat.
• Pour the very warm Panna Cotta cream mixture over the gelatin and stir until the gelatin is completely dissolved.
• Divide the Panna Cotta mixture into your serving cups (I used little vintage crystal tea cups), then chill them until firm, which will take at least two hours. If you’re going to chill them longer, cover them with plastic wrap once they’ve cooled down.
• If you want to create Panna Cotta molds, lightly grease the interiors of your selected molds (using a neutral tasting oil) before pouring the mixture in. Then, once it’s set, you should be able to run a sharp knife around the edge of the mold and drop the set Panna Cotta onto a plate or bowl.
• When you’re ready to serve your Panna Cotta, spoon some fresh fruit over it, and maybe a sprinkling of sugar or a dollop of honey (or whatever else you want to serve with it!)

I hope you enjoy it! If you’ve never tried Panna Cotta, maybe now is the time

Kirk and I are traveling to Chicago tomorrow, so I’m signing off until next weekend. I’ll be enjoying an evening with friends at the Purple Pig and an afternoon of tea and a fashion show at The Peninsula (if only I also had time for Ethiopian Diamond, Hot Chocolate, and Sweet Maple Cafe – - – I guess there’s always our next trip). I’ll tell you all about it when I’m back. I hope everyone has a great week!

Who knew? Going into it, I honestly had no idea how I would feel about borscht. Pureed beets and broth? Meh. However, since I had chioggia beets on hand from last week’s CSA share, I figured there was no better time like the present to give borscht a try. I won’t hold you in too much suspense – I actually really liked it! (As though you couldn’t figure it out already, given the title of this post).

I first heard about borscht when I was in college. My roommate, Lilly, was studying International Business with a focus on Russia, and as her study abroad time was approaching, she kept making cracks about how she’d have to eat borscht everyday (I had no idea what it was, but I could tell that she didn’t seem pleased about it). After she referred to it several times, I finally asked her what she was talking about, and she explained that it’s pureed beet soup – a specialty in Russia that she was certain she would have to eat all the time… (and from what I understand, she did end up eating a lot of borscht….).

Of course, as I’ve “matured” (ha!) and gained experience in a variety of international foods, I’ve come to realize that borscht is more broadly found in eastern and central Europe (not just Russia), and each country has it’s own unique recipe. Many traditional borscht recipes actually seem to include meat, but mine doesn’t. I’m not sure which country’s version mine is most like, but I tried to keep it simple and took inspiration from several recipes I found in my cookbooks.

Since this is actually the first time I’ve tried borscht, I’m not even sure if it tastes the way that it should. It definitely wasn’t the deep red color I was expecting it to be, but that made sense as soon as I peeled my beets and saw that they were actually white and orange striped (I wish I’d taken a photo of them – just look up “Chioggia Beets” on Google and you’ll see what I mean). All I know is that I thought it tasted pretty good. I’m not a big soup person (especially when it’s pureed vegetables), but I had two bowls!

I should tell you, though, that Kirk won’t try it – he hates beets and won’t even entertain the idea of sampling it. That’s why I was sneaky and made it on a night when he was out at band practice (although he could smell it when he got home). Anyway, that’s just my warning to say that I don’t have a second opinion on this one, so I guess you’ll just have to trust me when I tell you that I thought it turned out pretty good, but sometimes I like things that are kind of weird Take all of this with a grain of salt (ha! grain of salt – what a nice play on words! I crack myself up sometimes).

I think the secret to the success of this recipe is that I kept it simple – that seemed to work well for me. Simplicity paid off!

Chioggia Beet Borscht 

Ingredients

• 3/4 lb fresh beets, cleaned with greens removed
• 3/4 Tbsp dried Thyme
• 3 Tbsp olive oil, divided
• salt and pepper
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 2 carrots, chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, chopped
• 6 cups vegetable stock
• 2 Tbsp Balsamic vinegar
• 1 Tbsp Honey
• Sour Cream, for garnish

Directions

• First, roast the beets
• Preheat oven to 400F. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil. Place the beets (they should still have about a 1 inch stem, and DON’T PEEL THEM YET! The skin helps retain color and keep them moist) in a large bowl and add 1 tablespoon of the olive oil then sprinkle salt and pepper. Make sure the beets are well coated in oil. Empty them onto the prepared baking pan and cover with aluminum foil.
• Roast the beets for about 1 hour or until they are fork tender. Allow to cool and then carefully peel of the skins off and cut into chunks (I actually roasted my beets the night before. So then the night I made the soup, I just had to peel the skin off and chop them).
• Heat the oil in a medium soup pot over medium heat. Add in the onions, carrots and the rest of the dried thyme and allow to soften for 8-10 minutes (until lightly browned) Add in the chopped garlic and cook for another 2-3 minutes, stirring occasionally.
• Add in the stock and the roasted beets, bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer for 20 minutes to allow everything to really soften up (this will make pureeing so much easier).
• After the soup has cooked, carefully transfer it to a blender and puree in batches (I did this in two batches. You don’t want to overfill the blender when you’re blending hot liquids – filling it halfway full is a good rule of thumb. Steam needs to escape, and you don’t want to get burned wen your soup explodes out of the blender). An immersion blender could work here as well.
• Return soup to the pot over a low heat and stir in the vinegar and honey, check for seasonings and add salt and pepper if necessary. If the soup seems too thick, add more vegetable stock. Serve warm with a dollop of sour cream!

Yum. I’m still in awe and pleasantly surprised. Why didn’t I make borscht sooner?

Woohoo! We’re at week 3 of the CSA, and still going strong! We still have some leftovers from last week (fennel, some greens, fresh dill, one daikon radish), and I’m yet again feeling overwhelmed (is this becoming a trend???). I thought we had gotten a lot of veggies the past two weeks. Well, this weeks tops it all (so far). See that photo up there? That produce is taking up just over half of our kitchen table. That’s a lot of produce.

Here’s what we picked up today:

• A nice big bunch of colorful Swiss Chard
• a HUGE head of cabbage (hmm… I’m not really a fan of cabbage… any suggestions?All I can think of is coleslaw).
• Tatsoi: I had no idea what this was until I got home and looked it up on the internet. Apparently it’s a dark green Asian salad green that “…has a spoon like shape, a pleasant and sweet aroma flavor tlike a mild mustard flavor, similar to bok choi. Tatsoi is generally eaten raw, but may be added to soups at the end of the cooking period. When tatsoi is mixed with other greens it enhances the flavor and nutritional value.” (food.com)
• Another bunch of Carrots (this one is significantly larger than the previous two – carrot cake anyone?)
• A big head of lettuce (yay salads!)
• Watermelon radishes (it’s all about beauty with these radishes – perhaps we’ll thinly slice them and make a nice dip for them…)
• Peasant Bread
• 2 Grapefruits (perhaps some of the most fragrant grapefruit I’ve ever come across – perhaps candied grapefruit peel is my future?)
• 8 Red Lasoda Potatoes

So, what do you think? Do I have enough stuff to get me through the rest of the week and this weekend? I think so. Kirk and I are traveling back to Chicago next week, so we’ll need to get through most of this by Monday night. I’m ready for the challenge – bring it on!

Now I just need to make room in the fridge…

Do you ever feel like there are just too many things that you want to try cooking and/or baking? I know that in the world of foodies out there, I can’t be alone. I feel like my recipe “to-do” list is never-ending, and it doesn’t help that I keep buying more and more cookbooks. It has really become an obsession! I thought it was bad when we lived in Chicago, but since we moved to Tucson I think it’s gotten worse.

Over these past few weekends we’ve been doing a lot of thrift store shopping. Kirk and I are on the lookout for a coffee table and/or some side-tables that we could refinish. You know, it would be nice if we didn’t have to keep putting our drinks on the floor when we’re in the living room. It would also be nice if we didn’t have to use our wood bar stools as bedside tables!

Anyway, I think we have been to almost every Goodwill resale store in Tucson. Although we haven’t had any luck on the furniture front, I’ve brought home about 5 cookbooks over the course of these adventures (and don’t even ask me about kitchenware… I may have picked up a few stray pieces of colorful china, some glassware, and a fabulous orange enameled cast iron roasting pan from 60′s era Denmark). It’s amazing what you can find at a thrift store for just a few dollars! How can you turn down a beautiful Limoges plate (in perfect condition) for 99 cents?

Back to my point. Browsing through my insane cookbook collection I find myself feeling overwhelmed by the sheer number of recipes and ideas that I want to try. I’m starting to notice that my natural inclination is to want to only cook sweets and baked goods, although I do force myself to venture into the realm of healthy savory dishes since that’s what I actually should be making on a more regular basis. I would like to think that I could live off of flour, butter, cream, sugar, and chocolate… but there’s a reason why we signed up for a CSA.

Yesterday I ignored that fact. Veggies? Meh. I had leftover Green Tart to snack on, and that was good enough for me. On a whim I decided that I wanted to make use of the glassware I picked up over the weekend. Match that with leftover mascarpone and a recipe for creamsicles that I saw in one of my new cookbooks. What do you think we get?

Tiramisu popsicles!

Above all other deserts, Tiramisu is the one I crave most often. If an Italian restaurant has it on their menu, I always try it. What can I say? It’s just my thing. After all, this is the second post related to Tiramisu that I’ve written in the last couple of weeks.

I have seen some recipes out there for Tiramisu ice cream, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen one for a popsicle (though this popsicle is really just shapped ice cream on a stick). Could it get better? I don’t know. Maybe. Anything can be improved on. But for a recipe that I just tossed together with absolutely no guidance except my knowledge of what Tiramisu should taste like, I think it turned out pretty good. And it looks so pretty. Doesn’t it? It was hard for me to leave these alone in the freezer all afternoon. I kept looking at them, wanting to just yank them out and eat them immediately.

I used 4oz cordial glasses, and only filled them about 3/4 full (liquids expand as they freeze). I think these would be fun if they were made in tall shot glasses, or whatever other glass you might have that could be a good general shape for a popsicle (or, you know, you could use a real popsicle mold).

After we tried them last night, Kirk suggested that I could have just used this recipe to make straight-up ice cream. I agree that this could be a great traditional ice cream. But I just really liked how pretty they looked as fancy popsicles! But this is to say that if you don’t have the patience to pour the mixture into little glasses, and then monitor them as they freeze so that you can insert the stick at the right moment during the freezing process, then I would just process this recipe in an ice cream machine and store it in a covered dish in the freezer.

Tiramisu Popsicles

Ingredients

• 4oz Mascarpone Cheese (room temperature)
• 1 cup Heavy Whipping Cream
• 2 Tbsp White Sugar
• 3/4 tsp Vanilla Bean Paste
• 1/4 cup Espresso
• 1/4 Cup Kahlua
• 2oz Shaved Dark Chocolate (I had a piece of solid chocolate that I shaved using my microplane).

Directions

• Using a whisk, mix all of the ingredients together in a bowl (don’t over-whisk or you’ll end up with whipped cream). If you want heavier coffee and/or Kahlua flavor, go ahead and add a little more
• Pour the mixture into something with a spout (I poured it into my large measuring cup). This will make pouring it into small glasses soooo much easier.
• Fill your glasses about 3/4 full.
• If you’re using glasses like I did, you’ll want to put the glasses in the freezer (without their sticks) for a few hours until the cream starts to harden. The point here is that you want to make sure that when you insert the sticks, they don’t lean, fall over, or sink all the way to the bottom of the glass. The cream should be firm enough to hold the stick in place, but not to hard that you need to use heavy pressure to insert it.
• Once the sticks are inserted, let them freeze for several more hours until you’re ready to eat them!
• Pull them out of the freezer about 5 minutes before serving. The cream that is in contact with the glass will need to melt slightly so you can pull them out.

Side note: I don’t know why, but I had a really hard time finding wood popsicle sticks at my local grocery store. They didn’t sell them! Seriously! The only items they sold related to popsicles were: 1) actual popsicles or 2) flimsy plastic popsicle molds.  So, I had to go to Michaels and find the popsicle sticks in the kid’s craft isle. This is just a heads up for any of you that decide to try this…

So, who wants spinach and fennel fronds for dinner?

What, no takers? Spinach and fennel fronds don’t sound like dinner to you?

Come on… it’s better than you think. Veggies are good for us! Especially those green ones – at least, that’s what I’m hearing these days

So as everyone is probably now painfully aware, our new “thing” is making our way through obscene amounts of produce – it’s the challenge we now face every week, and each week is full of new possibilities. I’m starting to make things I never imagined I would.

Because I refuse to let ANYTHING we get in our CSA share go to waste, I couldn’t bear to think about throwing away the beautiful fennel fronds that, of course, came with our farm-fresh fennel this week. So I didn’t throw them away. I saved them. They’d been sitting in the fridge in a grocery bag since Wednesday night, just waiting for their time to come. The subtle anise scent they gave off was just too tempting, and I had spent most of the weekend thinking about them.

When I first made the decision to save them, I thought maybe I’d be traditional and use them as a garnish for something (maybe a nice piece of salmon?). That just seemed to easy – come on fennel fronds, bring it on! I knew I could do something more fun with them.

I spent much of this past weekend thinking it over (as I seem to do these days re: using up our veggies), and finally this morning it dawned on me – why not try making a tart with some of these leftover greens? I started browsing some of my favorite recipe blogs, looking for a good basic spinach (or other “greens”) tart to use as a base for my own take on a green tart. I finally settled on modifying Heidi Swanson’s (101 Cookbooks) recipe for a Turnip Green Tart.

You know what? I can’t lie. I was skeptical about eating a “Green Tart”. How good could it really be? Fennel fronds and a handful of spinach… really? Well, now I know NEVER to throw away my fennel fronds again. They have such an amazing and unique flavor, why don’t more people use them??? I really couldn’t be happier with how my Green Tart turned out. I can actually imagine using this as a base recipe for the future when I have greens I need to use up. Yay for new discoveries!

Although I used fennel fronds and spinach in this recipe, I suspect any mixture of greens could work and add a new twist to the flavor. Also, next time I might slice up a fresh tomato and lay it on top of the greens just before putting the tart in the oven. Who knows? It could be nice when tomatoes come back into season. I hope you give this a try! And remember, greens are good for you

Green Tart (makes one 9-inch tart)

Ingredients

Cornmeal Tart Shell:

• 1 1/2 Cups All-Purpose Flour
• 1/2 Cup medium corn meal
• Scant 1/2 tsp fine grain sea salt
• 10 Tbsp unsalted butter, cut in cubes
• 1 large egg yolk
• Just under 1/4 cup cold water

Green Filling:

• 5 oz greens of your choice (I used 4oz Fennel Fronds, and 1oz Fresh Spinach)
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 2 large eggs
• 3/4 cup vegetable broth
• 1/4 cup heavy cream
• Scant 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 Tbsp Dijon-style mustard
• 1 1/2 tsp Italian Herbs
• Cheese of your choice (I used Swiss) & a bit of crushed red pepper flakes, for topping

Directions

Start by making the tart dough.

• Combine flour, cornmeal, and salt in a food processor.
• Add in the butter and process until the mixture resembles sandy pebbles.
• Add the egg yolk and drizzle in the water. Add more water if needed, just until dough comes together.
• Turn out onto a floured counter top and gather into a ball. Press  it into a 1/2-inch thick disk, and wrap in plastic. Chill for about an hour.
• Preheat the oven to 350F. Place a rack in the middle of the oven.
• When you’re ready to line the tart pan with dough, place your dough disks on a lightly floured surface and roll out until the dough is large enough to line your tart pan.
• Transfer the dough to the pan. Ease the dough into place, taking care not to stretch it too thin or rip it (though if you do, you can always patch it up. I had to…). Press the dough along the bottom of the pan, out to the walls, and against the sides. Trim away the excess dough.
• So you don’t end up with a soggy mess, you want to partially bake the tart shell before filling it.
• Using a fork, make small holes along the bottom of the tart shell. Line the shell with parchment paper and fill to the rim with pie weights (or dried beans), and bake it in your preheated oven  for about 25 minutes.
• At the 25 minute mark, remove the pie weights and put the shell back in the oven for another 5 minutes, or until the crust is dry and just barely starting to brown.
• Remove from oven and let cool.

To make the filling:

• Chop the greens and toss them into a blender. Add the garlic cloves, eggs, broth, cream, salt, mustard, and herbs. Blend it all together until it’s smooth.
• When you’re ready to bake, fill the tart shell with the filling and bake for 30-40 minutes or so, or until the center is set, and has firmed up to the touch.
• About 2/3 of the way through I followed Heidi’s lead and sprinkles the tart with a bit of cheese (swiss) and crushed red pepper. Yum!
• Let it sit for a few minutes (5-10) before serving. As it cools slightly it will further firm up.

Pickles are strangely addictive. I don’t know why more foods aren’t pickled (nor why I don’t make pickles more often). This particular recipe is for refrigerator pickles (i.e. they aren’t processed and sealed, thus they should last about a month in the fridge) and are sweeter rather than salty. In fact the flavor is somewhat reminiscent of bread and butter pickles, which was noted by many other sites as I was searching for a good recipe. Thus, I feel like I must have done these right!

I came across this recipe via the NY Times and tweaked it slightly. It all started when I was researching recipes that that use Daikon Radishes (which came in this week’s CSA share). If you can’t tell, I try think outside of the box (a little) when it comes to using up my fruits and veggies. It was like it was meant to be when I found this recipe! In this week’s CSA share we had also gotten beautiful little carrots, so how could I not give these a try? I already had all of the ingredients on hand, and the recipe looked pretty straightforward.

This pickle is actually traditionally called “Do Chua”, and is a common Vietnamese pickle that’s typically stuffed into banh mi sandwiches (ever had one? They’re incredibly tasty). I don’t know if I’ll go so far as to make my own banh mi sandwich – (although I’m tempted) but we’ll probably end up using these pickles as a topping for salads… or just for general snacking (as I said, I tend to get addicted to pickles!). I think they’re pretty good, and I’m happy that I found a tasty way to use the Daikon!

So what are you doing? Get into your kitchen make some pickles!

Pickled Daikon & Carrots (Do Chua) – adapted from the NY Times

Ingredients (Yields about 3 cups)

• 1/2 lb carrots, peeled and cut into thick matchsticks
• 1 lb daikon radishes, peeled and cut into thick matchsticks
• 1 Tbsp salt
• 2 Tbsp plus 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 1/4 cups white vinegar.

Directions

• Place carrots and daikon in a bowl and sprinkle with salt and 2 Tbsp sugar. Knead vegetables for about 3 minutes, this will help them expel their water.
• Stop kneading when vegetables have lost about 1/4 of their volume. Drain in a colander and rinse under cold running water, then press gently to expel extra water.
• Transfer to a glass container for longer storage (I used a large jar as I knew I’d want to store the pickles in the fridge).
• In a bowl or large measuring cup (for ease of pouring), combine 1/2 cup sugar, the vinegar and 1 cup lukewarm water, and stir to dissolve sugar.
• Pour the sweet brine over the vegetables. Let marinate at least 1 hour before eating, or refrigerate for up to 4 weeks.