Jen-

I have a squash problem, too. Having said that, I am lovin' the delicatas this year! I made that same recipe a few years ago for Thanksgiving and it didn't come out that well, but I attribute that to (a) it being a throwaway dish that I didn't focus on; and (b) by the time Thanksgiving rolled around, I was pretty sick of squash. Yours, however, look way more gorgeous than my did, so I will definitely have to give it another try.

Tonight, it's squash risotto. I'll post back . . .

P.S. Gorgeous pictures!

I'm swimming in squash. One way I've used it so far is to make squash risotto. My go-to recipe for squash risotto, believe it or not, comes from a Williams-Sonoma catalog. What I like about this recipe is, instead of dicing the squash and integrating it into a dish of fairly plain risotto, you puree the squash and mix it with the chicken stock to make a squash stock. Therefore, the dish has an assertive squash flavor. It's not the prettiest dish (I garnished mine with sage fried in brown butter), but it features the sweetness of winter squash.


Roasted Acorn Squash

Peeled, then puréed with a little stock in a blender:



Squash Stock


Sage, fried in brown butter

Risotto, finished with sage and brown butter:

Wendy,

That looks great, and I like the sound of the squash stock method. A question for you: does the dark color of your final risotto come from just the stock, or are there some brown spices/ somthing else added to make it so dark? The risotto looks much darker than the stock.

Making me hungry.

Kenny

Kennyz wrote:Wendy,

That looks great, and I like the sound of the squash stock method. A question for you: does the dark color of your final risotto come from just the stock, or are there some brown spices/ somthing else added to make it so dark? The risotto looks much darker than the stock.

Making me hungry.

Kenny

No -- I didn't add any spices. I did, however, caramelize onions for the risotto in the skillet I later made (stirred) the risotto in, so my guess is that the darker color is due to the stock deglazing the pan during that process. (More flavor, IMO.)

Wendy, that squash risotto looks great! I wish my family liked risotto more, that is such a great idea. Yum! Just looking at the color, it must have had an amazing flavor.

This week, in anticipation of the frost, I harvested green tomatoes.
Green Tomato Pickles from Quick Pickles: Easy Recipes for Big Flavor by Chris Schlesinger

"Baseball-sized tomatoes" sliced "thin" I found it somewhat annoying that the recipe does not specify how thin-- paper-thin? quarter-inch? Turns out it didn't matter.



Slices salted overnight, rinsed, drained, and combined with brine, peppers and onions, and pickling spices:


Jarred up and ready for the refrigerator. This is a "quick" pickle-- no fermentation, no canning.


These pickles are really tasty. The brine is sugary, as for sweet pickles. I added a bit of the Pickling Spice Mix from The Spice House for complexity. Very nice. I might have to start picking my tomatoes green just to make more.

Cheers, Jen

I'll get us started this season, although this wasn't exactly cooking even if it was quite Seasonal:


French breakfast radishes, chive butter, ciabatta:


The terrific radishes were from Green Acres, and they tasted relatively mild and sweet, with nice crunch and enough sharpness to let you know they were radishes. The remarkably delicious butter was made by Nordic Creamery (first of the year made from milk obtained from pastured cows), and the chives came from Kinnikinnick Farm (I've stopped bothering to check how to spell this). This was a very tasty Spring snack despite the crappy Bennison's bread.


Rest of today's haul:

Kennyz, your haul looks wonderful, especially the morels. Is anyone else still cooking from last year's CSA? Angelic Organics will start deliveries next week and a quick peek in my freezer shows frozen broccoli and a few packs of squash puree that still need to get used up! So it was cheddar-broccoli soup for lunch today and there will be squash muffins tomorrow (or else!).

Jen

Edited to add: There was an interesting recipe for garlic scape pesto mentioned on another site-- that will definitely come un useful when the CSA starts; I never know what to do with the scapes.
http://www.injennieskitchen.com/2010/05 ... twist.html

Strawberry shortcake--Recipe from Alice Waters Art of Simple Food cookbook (cream biscuits, strawberries with a little sugar, whipped cream) made with strawberries from my CSA (Genesis Growers)

Tonight, I picked up my first produce for the season. I now have sugar snap peas, spinach, mixed lettuce, bok choy, thyme, turnips, spinach, asian braising greens. chinese cabbage (not Napa, more like a lettuce) and garlic ramps. I love the idea of developing recipes around these ingredients. Any thoughts?
,

In anticipation of getting my first CSA box tomorrow, I started looking through this thread again. First, it is a perfect chronology of seasonality, as the main ingredients in our recipes evolved in step with the season. Second, what a display of amazing cooking. Bravo, everyone!

aschie30 wrote:In anticipation of getting my first CSA box tomorrow, I started looking through this thread again. First, it is a perfect chronology of seasonality, as the main ingredients in our recipes evolved in step with the season. Second, what a display of amazing cooking. Bravo, everyone!

aschie, thank you for starting this thread-- I agree, what an inspiration! We're getting our first CSA box tomorrow and I'm quite excited. The latest issue of Fine Cooking (#105, with the ribs on the front) has a great article on greens with some interesting recipes-- we particularly enjoyed the Tuscan Kale with Shallots and Crispy Salami:
http://www.finecooking.com/recipes/tusc ... alami.aspx
(warning, paid content)

I suspect it will be adaptable to many other greens, with changes in the par-boiling time. I can't wait to try it out on CSA greens instead of storebought!

Cheers, Jen

aschie30 and Pie-love,

Where are you getting your CSA from? I'm getting my first box today as well and was wondering if it's from the same farm. Mine is coming from Grassroots Farm in WI.

Based on the newsletter, I'll be getting green garlic, thyme, beets, kale, baby turnips, rhubarb, arugula, and spinach.

viaChgo wrote:aschie30 and Pie-love,

Where are you getting your CSA from? I'm getting my first box today as well and was wondering if it's from the same farm. Mine is coming from Grassroots Farm in WI.

Based on the newsletter, I'll be getting green garlic, thyme, beets, kale, baby turnips, rhubarb, arugula, and spinach.

Angelic Organics. I should be getting spinach, choi, lettuce, chard, oregano, cilantro, zucchini or summer squash, scallions, garlic scapes, and broccoli.

aschie30 wrote:

viaChgo wrote:aschie30 and Pie-love,

Where are you getting your CSA from? I'm getting my first box today as well and was wondering if it's from the same farm. Mine is coming from Grassroots Farm in WI.

Based on the newsletter, I'll be getting green garlic, thyme, beets, kale, baby turnips, rhubarb, arugula, and spinach.

Angelic Organics. I should be getting spinach, choi, lettuce, chard, oregano, cilantro, zucchini or summer squash, scallions, garlic scapes, and broccoli.

We're Angelic Organics too, pickup in Logan Square. I haven't gotten the newsletter yet, so I didn't know what we were getting-- sounds great!

Pie-love wrote:

aschie30 wrote:

viaChgo wrote:aschie30 and Pie-love,

Where are you getting your CSA from? I'm getting my first box today as well and was wondering if it's from the same farm. Mine is coming from Grassroots Farm in WI.

Based on the newsletter, I'll be getting green garlic, thyme, beets, kale, baby turnips, rhubarb, arugula, and spinach.

Angelic Organics. I should be getting spinach, choi, lettuce, chard, oregano, cilantro, zucchini or summer squash, scallions, garlic scapes, and broccoli.

We're Angelic Organics too, pickup in Logan Square. I haven't gotten the newsletter yet, so I didn't know what we were getting-- sounds great!

It's here, linkable via their website. (It's a little-known secret that they post the box content the day before delivery.)

today's haul from the GCM:


mint, peas, favas, cherry tomatoes, cherries, carrots, blueberries, black raspberries and tons of lemon verbena.

Rough weekend menu planning includes:
- caprese salad with buffalo mozzarella
- fava and garlic scape puree on crostini
- favas with chopped hard boiled eggs and olive oil
- risi e bisi with the last of some fantastic housemade bacon that was gifted by a friend last week,
- pan roasted Copper River salmon with buttered carrots and a sauce from pureed carrot tops
- lemon verbena ice cream with fresh berries

Hopefully there'll be time to post some pictures and recipes...

For the past two weeks, I have gotten two quarts of local, small sweet strawberries.

So, today, I made a smoky spicy pectin free strawberry jam.

6 Cups Fresh Strawberries
4 Tbsp Organic Wildflower Honey
1 tbsp reduced concentrated balsamic vinegar
1/2 cu sugar
1/8 tsp dried chipotle pepper.

Cook it all down for about 45 minutes until is thickens.

I served it on the side with a wood roasted venison loin. It was a nice combination of sweet and hot. I think that it would work better with something like blackberries.

Pan-roasted Copper River Salmon with Carrot Top broth:


Salmon is simply seasoned with salt and pepper and seared skin-side down first 'til crisp and medium rare. Broth is made from carrot tops, lemon juice, touch of sugar and stock (made from blanching lots of peas in batches, saving liquid, adding carrot tops and simmering awhile), pureed in a blender, strained and returned to stove for a few tbs of butter to be whisked in. Not pictured but served on the side: butter-braised carrots.

Garlic scapes with so much bite I sweatin' to the oldies. Pesto. Fresh linguine. Lousy pic.

tatterdemalion wrote:Garlic scapes with so much bite I sweatin' to the oldies. Pesto. Fresh linguine. Lousy pic.

Pic may not win a photography award, but with your description it's plenty good to convey a crave-worthy, delicious sounding dish.

Here is my first-week haul from our Angelic Organics CSA:

As my 5-year old said, "It's greeeeen, it's greeen!"

My strategy with the CSA is to start by cooking whatever is taking up the most space in my refrigerator (or whatever is most perishable). So I started with the giant bag of spinach, which handily cooked down to about 3 servings.

Spicy spinach with garlic and crispy sopressata:


This was a slight adaptation of a Fine Cooking recipe:
http://www.finecooking.com/recipes/tusc ... alami.aspx
{warning, possible paid content}

This is one recipe from a really good greens article in the recent issue of Fine Cooking (#105)-- the dandelion and goat cheese gratin from that article is superb, as is the ginger-garlic bok choi.

Jen

tatterdemalion wrote:Garlic scapes with so much bite I sweatin' to the oldies. Pesto. Fresh linguine. Lousy pic.

Sounds superb! I gave my garlic scapes to the folks I share the box with-- it is their first year on a CSA and it should build character trying to figure out what to do with them.

Jen

It's been an awfully good seasonal cooking weekend. First the salmon with carrot top broth, then...

Risi e Bisi

Italian "rice and peas" is simplicity at its best, and should only be made when local peas are at their prime. First you make a pea stock with the empty pods. Since I bought my peas shelled, I had no pods. This was easily handled though, since I had bought enough to freeze for winter I had a ton of blanching to do. An hour of blanching peas in batches left plenty of pea flavor in the water, to which I then added an onion and some carrot tops to make a stock.

After that, it was time to use the last of one of the world's best birthday gifts, housemade bacon from Mado:

Mado's housemade bacon:


smoky, salty, and deliciously porky. This is some wonderful stuff.



Risi e Bisi ingredients:

Mick Klug peas, pea and carrot top stock, Mado bacon, Vialone Nano rice, young local garlic


Bacon and garlic sautéing:



Rice added and toasted 'til coated with bacon fat:



Few ladles of stock added one at a time, then the peas about halfway thru the cooking process:



Butter and cheese added when rice is done:


Note that this looks much looser/ more liquidy than risotto, which is exactly how risi e bisi should be, in my opinion. It's a homey, creamy dish that's eaten with a spoon.

I gave my garlic scapes to the folks I share the box with-- it is their first year on a CSA and it should build character trying to figure out what to do with them.

I use my scapes for flower arrangements - I have an interesting, somewhat-ikebana-esque composition on top of a bookcase right next to me comprised of one stem of rue flowers and nearly a dozen serpentine scapes. Like tulips, they change shape after being cut, and appear to grow (!). Two big pluses here: 1) the scapes last a long time in arrangements, and the flower buds are still suitable for culinary purposes, and 2) they are dead cheap - the dozen long-stemmed lovelies I have, from Green Acres Farm at the Evanston market, set me back a measly $2. Gotta love the allium family.

I grilled my scapes and chopped them up for a chimichurri to serve with steak. During the chopping process, I decided not to mince it up too finely, figuring it would be nice to have more texture. So maybe it's more of a salad? It's chopped scapes with parsley, chives, lemon juice, vinegar, salt, pepper, olive oil.

The flavor of the cooked scapes was very mild compared to a raw scape. Maybe next time I'll just use them in raw-form for a chimichurri. It was still a nice accompaniment to the steak.

I used this buttermilk-scape dressing from MAG's Little Locavores blog to dress heartier greens (such as spinach) in a salad (scroll down for recipe). The dressing takes two seconds to throw together and the scapes add a nice garlicky kick to the salad.

viaChgo wrote:...flavor of the cooked scapes was very mild compared to a raw scape. Maybe next time I'll just use them in raw-form for a chimichurri

As I'm sure you know, raw scapes are usually quite tough, so if you do use them raw I'd suggest a fine mince or (even better, imo) a good pounding in a mortar...

Garlic Scape and Fava Bean Puree:


Pounded with a little lemon juice, olive oil, salt and pepper. Then served on crostini with thin slices of aged Pecorino. Favas and Pecorino are match made in heaven.



While we're at it, here are the rest of the weekend's seasonal dishes...


Salad of leftover cooked salmon, favas, boiled eggs and arugula:




First caprese of the year:


Buffalo mozzarella, home-grown basil, ground-grown local tomatoes.

Kenny, good call on the mortar & pestle. I love the fava & garlic scape puree idea. If I'm not able to pick up any favas, I may give it try with edamame.

Kennyz wrote:Pic may not win a photography award, but with your description it's plenty good to convey a crave-worthy, delicious sounding dish.

I had to cut it with some lemon jus to take the edge off, but as I understand it kenny, you are quite fond of ... the edge.

Pie-love wrote:Sounds superb! I gave my garlic scapes to the folks I share the box with-- it is their first year on a CSA and it should build character trying to figure out what to do with them.

Thanks. Tonight's dinner, brought to you by Kermit the frog, scrambled some eggs with a big ol' scoop of pesto and added in the last of the scapes. If scapes are as good for you as garlic, I just ate enough to rid the state of Alabama of heart disease.

BTW, great looking grub Pie-love and kennyz.

Green eggs and greens.

Summer Squash Gratin from 101 Cookbooks

Not the most photogenic dish (that's an oregano/parsley pesto dotted on top), but delicious and an easy way to use 1.5 lbs of overabundant zucchini/summer squash. (The zucchini I just received in my CSA box is the size of baseball bats.)

It's a fairly hearty dish: thin, mandoline-sliced squash are tossed with an olive-oil laden oregano and parsley pesto (I added a garlic scape to the food processor in lieu of the garlic clove the recipe called for) and cheese. Instead of potato, I used kohlrabi (which cooks slightly faster). Bread crumbs are tossed in a few tablespoons of browned butter and after 50 minutes or so in the oven, the squash is moistened with the aromatic herbs and olive oil.