Early July Pad Thai- the result of a well-stocked pantry

This past week's farm share included bok choy, lettuce, kale, beets and beet greens, radishes, cucumber, zucchini, kohlrabi, herbs (I chose parsley), and cabbage. As I was contemplating the possibilities, I received a text from my son saying that the apartment he was moving into the next day did not have a working kitchen- it was in the middle of being remodeled. Good news-- renovated kitchen for most of his lease. Bad news-- no counters, cabinets or sink! He does have a fridge and a stove. So I offered to put my Personal Chef hat on again and make him some meals that he would just have to reheat through the week until the kitchen can be used. A peek into my pantry, freezer and fridge resulted in:

Pad Thai (enough for 3 or 4 meals)

Brined Pork Chops with Crispy Roasted Potatoes and Braised Kale 

Tilapia with Artichokes, Capers, Tomatoes and Kalamata Olives and Pasta

Really Humongous Bag of Salad 

Honey Mustard Vinaigrette

A lot of the share went into the Pad Thai and, of course, the salad. I used the bok choy, but could have used cabbage instead. The salad included cucumbers, kohlrabi, radishes, and grape tomatoes, and he can add cheese or canned tuna or beans for lunches.

It's been awhile since I did this- it was kinda fun! And I didn't have to go to the grocery store for anything-- it was all from my farm share, pantry, freezer and refrigerator. I love that.

Here's the recipe for the Pad Thai. Mung Bean sprouts are traditional, giving a little extra crunch. I cut the leafy part of the bok choy into strips and didn't actually cook them- just folded them into the hot noodles at the end. And I didn't have fish sauce (aka 'Nam Pla', found in the Asian section of the grocery store), so I used soy and Worcestershire sauce (Worcestershire sauce was originally developed to mimic fish sauce). If you have fish sauce, use 2 tablespoons of that instead. Tamarind Concentrate and Rice Noodles are also pretty easy to find in the Asian section of the grocer. If you can't find Tamarind, you can substitute ketchup; and you can use traditional pasta instead of the rice noodles.

Early July Pad Thai

Tofu or shrimp can be added to this dish—add to the wok before adding all the vegetables. Don’t have a wok? A big, heavy skillet will do the trick (but it’s not quite as much fun).

2 Tablespoons Tamarind Concentrate

3/4 cup boiling water

1 Tablespoon soy sauce

1 Tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

2 Tablespoons brown sugar

1 Tablespoon rice wine vinegar

1 Tablespoon chili garlic sauce OR 1 clove garlic and 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes

8 ounces rice noodles

hot water as needed

small head of bok choy

1 kohlrabi bulb

2 medium carrots

2 spring onions or 1/2 bunch scallions

1 medium zucchini

1-inch piece fresh ginger

1 Tablespoon vegetable oil

2 eggs

juice of one lime

garnish (optional): chopped peanuts and sliced scallions

1. Combine the tamarind, water, soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce, brown sugar, vinegar and chili garlic sauce (or garlic and chili flakes).

2. Pour hot water over the rice noodles and leave to soften for about 5 minutes. As soon as they are soft, rinse in cold water so they don’t get too mushy.

3. Peel the kohlrabi and carrots and cut into matchstick-sized pieces. Cut the green leaves off the bok choy and cut them into ribbon strips. Slice the bok choy stalks thinly. Thinly slice the zucchini. Peel and mince the ginger. Slice the onions or scallions.

4. Heat the oil in a wok and add the spring onions and ginger. Stir fry just until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add the carrots, kohlrabi and bok choy stems.and stir fry until just beginning to wilt. Add the zucchini and cook a few minutes more. Push the veggies to the sides of the wok, leaving a well in the middle. 

5. Lightly beat the eggs and pour into the well. When they begin to set, stir until cooked. Add the sauce and toss all together. 

6. Add the drained noodles and stir to combine. Add the bok choy leaves and stir through (the heat of the noodles will wilt the leaves just enough). Sprinkle on lime juice. Serve with peanuts and scallions, if desired.

And here's a recipe for the kale-- very basic.

Basic Braised Greens

This is a very, very basic recipe-- really just a foundation for whatever you are in the mood for. Add a handful of nuts or a little sweetener (honey, agave) for a nicely balanced dish.

1 medium onion

2 Tablespoons oil (canola is fine, but you can use olive oil if you prefer)

1 fat clove garlic

1 large bunch greens

1/4 cup chicken broth or dry white wine

dash balsamic vinegar

1. Peel and slice the onion. Heat the oil over medium heat and add the onion. Cook, stirring frequently, until soft and fragrant.

2. Meanwhile, peel the garlic and mince. Strip the stems off the greens and cut into 1-inch pieces. Wash well, in several changes of water. Leave wet.

3. When the onion is just beginning to change color, add the garlic and the greens. Cook, stirring, for several minutes over low heat until the greens deepen in color. 

4. Add the broth or wine, cover and let cook for 8 to 10 minutes.

5. Remove to a platter and sprinkle on balsamic vinegar.

Have a great week!

Spring Harvest Spring Rolls

This week's share brought more lettuces- a peppery Asian mix and baby greens as well as deer tongue and leaf lettuce. There are also some spring onions and Hakurei turnips (very much like mild radishes). I had a barbeque to attend, and decided to bring some spring rolls to share as appetizers.
These spring rolls are made with rice wrappers. While I often go to the Oriental Food Market in Norwalk, CT to get my Asian ingredients, I found sesame oil and rice wrappers at the local Shop Rite in the Asian section. Very convenient!! These keep for days, and are a refreshing snack-- a really easy way to get those vegetables into your diet.
Knife skills are important here. If you have a mandolin, and are not a complete clutz with them, that's a great way to julienne your vegetables. Or you can cut them into planks and stack them in the feed tube of your food processor and use the slicing disc. OR you can get a really thin julienne of carrots by using a vegetable peeler and peeling wide strips and then stacking them and slicing them. Whichever works for you.
Some of the vegetables are stir-fried and chilled, and then I top them with the crisp, peppery Asian greens for more crunch. The sauce is also very easy, but if time is an issue, Ken's Asian Sesame Salad Dressing makes a great dipping sauce, too.

Spring Harvest Rolls

4 dried shitake mushrooms
2 cups boiling water
1 medium bunch bok choy, or 2 baby bok choy
2 carrots
2 spring onions
1-inch piece fresh ginger
1 fat clove garlic, or two medium cloves of garlic
4 cups water
1 Tablespoon vegetable oil
30 (approximately) leaves of Asian lettuce mix (or any mixed baby greens)
15 spring roll wrappers

2 Tablespoons oyster sauce
1 teaspoon soy sauce
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1/2 Tablespoon sherry or rice vinegar
2 Tablespoons cornstarch
1/2 cup water

1. Boil about 2 cups of water, pour over the mushrooms and let sit for about 30 minutes, until soft.
2. Cut the leafy tops off the bok choy (reserve for another recipe). Wash the stalks and cut into matchstick sized pieces. Peel the carrots and cut into matchstick sized pieces. Trim the bright green, woody stem of the onion and cut the white bulb and tender part of the stem into slivers.
3. When the mushrooms are ready, drain and cut off the woody stem. Cut the caps into slivers.
4. Grate the ginger on the smallest side of a box grater or with a zester. Mince the garlic.

5. Bring 4 cups of water to a boil in a pot and add the bok choy. Cook for  one minute, drain and rinse in cold water. Heat the oil in a wok and add the ginger and garlic. Cook for a minute or two- just until the mixture becomes fragrant. Add the onions and carrots and cook until they begin to wilt. Add the bok choy and mushrooms and cook for 3 or 4 more minutes. Chill.

6. Meanwhile make the sauce by combining the oyster sauce, soy sauce, sugar, sesame oil, sherry, cornstarch and cold water. 

7. Fill a wide, shallow dish, such as a pie pan, with warm water. Add a spring roll wrapper and let soak 20 to 30 seconds, until pliable. Remove from water and place about 2 Tablespoons of the vegetables in the center of the wrapper. Top with a few leaves of crisp, fresh lettuce. Fold the sides in, and then roll up the roll from the bottom as tightly as possible, as if it were a burrito. Repeat with remaining filling and rolls. Chill. Just before serving, cut each spring roll in half, on an angle, and serve with dipping sauce.

Wishing Stone Farm:8 Greenhouses, 3 Properties, and Bio-fuel

Biofuel tanks in Cucumber Greenhouse

Eggs. Honey. Salsa, pesto, scones, wholegrain bread, soups, dips, pickles. A backyard designed for children's programs. A chicken coop that looks like a caboose. And a really adorable dog named Baxter. Wishing Stone Farm in Little Compton, Rhode Island is incredibly diverse. Skip Paul has spent most of his adult life sharing his passion for sustainable farming, bringing his certified organic and IPM produce, eggs and honey to urban environments. Local CSA members pick up their share at the farm in the spacious 'pick-up' room, but most members use a credit system at four separate farmers markets throughout Rhode Island. He and his wife, Liz Peckham, also have a certified kitchen where they create and sell products under the label "Babette's Feast" (their Cilantro Lover's Salsa is really yummy!), and have designed an outdoor space for children's programs. They've been farming this land for over 30 years, recently installing greenhouse heaters that run on used car oil to reduce heating costs and recycle waste. Conscientious, innovative, welcoming and fun describe this successful family farm.

Here in Connecticut it is finally feeling like autumn! My share this week included leeks, lettuce, tomatoes, cubanelle and bell peppers, potatoes, corn, fennel and cucumbers. Today I'm making soup with the peppers, fennel, potatoes, and leeks. The house is filled with the aroma of roasting pepper and fennel, and I can't wait for dinner! 

Roasted Fennel, Leek and Pepper Soup

Roasting mellows the flavors of these vegetables, makng them less aggressive. Carrots and an apple  add a little sweetness.

4 cubanelle or other mildly hot peppers (about  4 ounces)

1 medium fennel bulb (about 8 ounces)

several small carrots (about 4 ounces)

1 medium leek

2 medium potatoes (about 12 ounces)

1 apple

canola or other mild vegetable oil

2 cups chicken broth or mild-flavored vegetable broth (you don’t want the veggies in the broth to compete with the flavors of these veggies)

salt and pepper to taste

2 Tablespoons chopped chives (optional)

1. Heat the oven to 350 degrees.

2. Wash all the vegetables and the apple. Trim the fronds off the fennel and cut it in half (reserve the fronds for garnish). Trim the carrots and the leek. Cut them into 2-inch pieces. Cut the apple in half. 

3. Place the vegetables in a baking dish and toss with a tablespoon of the oil. Add the apple to the pan. Cover the pan with foil, and place the pan with the veggies in the oven. Place the potatoes on the oven rack. Roast about an hour until tender.

4. Cut the potatoes in half and scoop out the flesh. Scoop the cooked apple off the peel. Chop the fennel, leek and carrots coarsely. Cut the peppers in half lengthwise and remove the seeds and veins. Chop coarsely. Put all in a soup pot. Add 2 cups chicken broth and a bay leaf. Simmer over low heat for 30 minutes. Puree with a hand blender or in a food processor or blender. Return to heat and taste, adding salt and pepper as needed. 

5. Garnish with chopped fennel fronds and chives. Serve with Stilton Crackers.

Stilton Cheese Crackers

If you don't like Stilton, you can substitute cheddar or swiss. These are great with cocktails, too.

2 cups all purpose flour

1/3 cup yellow cornmeal

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

4 ounces butter

6 ounces Stilton Cheese

2 tablespoons white vinegar

coarsely ground black pepper

1/2 cup cold water

1. Shred the cheese.

2. In a large bowl, mix the flour, cornmeal, baking soda, sugar and salt. Break the butter into small pieces the size of baby peas (you can use your fingers, a pastry blender or 2 knives for this). Stir in the cheese, vinegar and cold water, mixing only until the mixture forms a soft dough. Shape the dough into a ball; wrap with plastic wrap and refrigerate at least an hour or until dough is firm enough to handle (this can be done several days ahead of time).

3. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Cut the dough into 4 pieces and roll each piece as thin as you can get it—about a 10-inch square. Cut into squares or triangles, or use a cookie cutter (I have one shaped like a maple leaf that I like to use). 

4. Place on a baking sheet and sprinkle with coarsely ground black pepper. Bake about 10 minutes or until browned and crisp.

I'm really looking forward to autumn- I love this kind of weather, autumn vegetables, autumn colors, autumn clothes, autumn leaves... and cooking autumn soups and stews. 

Have a terrific week!

Tracie's Community Farm: The Magic is in the Details

Tracie Smith started growing vegetables and selling shares of the harvest while she was in college, and she’s never stopped. Now, Tracie’s Community Farm in Fitzwilliam, New Hampshire has hundreds of share members, enjoying the produce she grows for both summer and winter harvests. 

In my instructional kitchen at Masuk High in Connecticut, I have a sign on the wall: The Magic is in the Details. Tracie pays attention to the details. The rows on her farm are straight and weed-free; her field tomatoes carefully trellised and standing straight and strong. She and her staff carefully trim the vegetables as they pick them, taking back buckets of beautifully prepped vegetables to the barn for inclusion in the CSA baskets. Her members have lots of choices, all carefully weighed and bagged and tucked into quaint farm baskets. Add-ons include mesclun, kale, herbs, and chard. Eggs, bread, cut flowers, and some dairy products are also available in the barn. Half of her shares are delivered to the member-- just one example of her focus on making sure her members are treated with care. The magic is in the details.

Back in Connecticut, I just picked up my share from Stone Gardens Farm this morning: eggplant, zucchini, corn, kale, potatoes, onion, garlic, yellow grape tomatoes, tomatoes. I also picked up a half-bushel of tomatoes for canning sauce. 

Most of the time those grape tomatoes don't make it to the dinner table- they're perfect for snacking! But if you do have a hankering to cook some, here's a simple recipe:

Hot Herbed Tomatoes

From Kathy’s recipe box

2 pints cherry or grape tomatoes

3/4 cup soft breadcrumbs

1/4 cup plus 2 Tablespoons minced onion

1/4 cup plus 2 Tablespoons minced parsely

1 large clove garlic, minced

3/4 teaspoon dried thyme leaves

1/4 teaspoon pepper

1/4 cup plus 2 Tablespoons olive oil

Heat oven to 400 degrees. Place tomatoes in a single layer in a 9x13-inch pan. Combine remaining ingredients except olive oil and sprinkle over tomatoes. Drizzle olive oil over all. Bake 6 to 8 minutes.

And a simple way to make zucchini look fancy:

Zucchini "Pasta"

2 medium zucchini

2 medium carrots

1 medium onion

1-2 Tablespoons olive oil

salt and pepper to taste

Using a vegetable peeler, peel the zucchini and carrots all the way through, turning the vegetable as you do so to make long peels. Toss the carrot peels and zucchini peels together. Cut the onion in half and then cut it into strips. Heat the olive oil in a heavy skillet until hot and add the onion. Lower the heat and cook until soft and beginning to brown. Add in the carrots and zucchini and toss well. Continue to cook, stirring, until the vegetables are tender but not mushy, about 8 to 10 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.

Cheers!

The Humbled Chef

CSA shares can be humbling. Every week I lose a little bit of control. While I've embraced the fact that I'm just not going to be choosing my produce each week, and that until I know what will be harvested, I don't know what I'm going to be cooking. . .I can't plan-- and a lot of what I do for a living is plan what is going to get cooked. As all of us who have chosen to cook seasonally, the challenge is to be flexible and creative with the food. Because, truly, there's only so much zucchini sauteed with garlic you can eat. And sometimes I feel overwhelmed and humbled by the zucchini.

Last week we got corn, potatoes, zucchini, garlic, tomatoes, beets and tomatoes.
This week, we are going to enjoy (I swear) more zucchini, carrots, cucumbers, tomatoes, garlic, cherry peppers, onion, kale and a dozen farm fresh eggs (have I mentioned how much I love fresh eggs?). And I bought a pint of grape tomatoes and some Brazilian eggplant at the farm stand with my farm credit.
This week's menus will include:

I. Crab Cakes (using the eggs, onion, garlic)

Coleslaw with Creamy Feta Dressing

Zucchini Cheese Biscuits

II. Oven Fried Chicken 

Corn Pudding

Simple Chopped Salad (Tomatoes, Cucumbers, Carrots, Zucchini)

III. Appetizer Night:

Pierogies (Cabbage, Zucchini, Onion)

BBQ Chicken Wings

Deviled Eggs 3-Ways

Bruschetta (Tomatoes, Garlic, Peppers)

Caprese Salad (Tomatoes, fresh Basil)

IV. Grilled Burgers or Steak

Zucchini Pickles

Corn on the Cob

I canned a batch of Zucchini Corn Relish today. At some point in the winter it will be a great reminder of summer flavors. Next canning session will be herb jellies.

Tomorrow I head up to New Hampshire to visit farms. When I come back, all of these recipes will be posted.

Happy Zucchini!