J. grilled rib eyes Sunday night (I know, they are missing from this picture — there wasn’t room on the plate!). Thankfully we had family over to help us chip away at our farm share from the past week or so — without much cooking going on this past week, it’s been piling up. I had 10 ears of corn and I just wasn’t ready to start putting stuff up in my freezer yet.
Along with the steaks, I made a beet salad with the CSA beets from this week and last. I boiled them and then slipped off the skins Saturday night, quartering most of them to make bite-sized pieces. Then the day-of I created a dressing with about 1/4 c. orange juice, 1/4 c. red wine vinegar, a teaspoon of ginger (I used ground, from a jar), and a half teaspoon of crushed garlic (about 1 clove). Salt to taste. My in-laws loved this preparation, but to me and J. it was not better than our usual.
We also threw all the corn on the grill, and I had to ask J. if he’d added any sugar to it while it cooked. I couldn’t think of why he’d do that, but it was so incredibly sweet it seemed possible. Of course, he had not. The corn is just really that sweet. Even the boys ate some.
Finally, I made a quick salad out of the red and yellow tomatoes and cucumber from our farm share. I also minced some onion, and then tossed it with a little salt, rice wine vinegar, and olive oil. In retrospect, I think the oil was unnecessary.
Every bite of veggie was happily consumed at this meal, and after Renee took home some yellow tomatoes and a couple of peppers, I had a manageable amount of produce to take me through until Wednesday. Is it silly that it’s such a relief to use up the share? It feels like a bit of a contest each week.
Sarah sent me the idea for these grilled steak fries this week, and I knew immediately that I’d have to use it for our weekend barbecue. It’s so easy: just cut a couple of Idaho potatoes into long wedges — about 6 per potato. Boil them in salted water for 5 or 6 minutes (they should still be quite firm, not floppy), then drain and let cool a bit. Toss them with canola oil and your favorite seasonings (I used Dizzy Dust, which is an all-purpose barbecue rub that we like). Let them sit for a couple of hours in the fridge. When you’re ready to eat, grill them over high heat for 10 minutes or so, turning them once, until they’re nicely charred and cooked all the way through. Delicious! J. was really pleased with the way they turned out. Thanks, Sarah!
A couple of weeks ago, J. tried smoking a brisket on our gas grill for the first time. He’s always been good at grilling in general, but the smoking was a first-time experiment that turned out deliciously. And of course, our minds started turning over all the other wonderful foods we could hit with some smoke. I knew I wanted him to try beef ribs right away. He usually makes them, par-boiled and then grilled, once a summer and they’re delicious. I knew they’d be even better smoked. (more…)
Borscht-making is J.’s job, and this is his grandpa’s recipe. I have a copy of an email Poppy sent me in 2002, passing this recipe on to us. I love that we have this email from him preserved as part of our cooking and family history.
The problem with making borscht is that it can be very, very messy. We were lucky this time — nothing dropped, splattered, or otherwise altered our very white kitchen from its natural state. We also use the recipe just as a guide: we wanted to use up all the beets from our farm share, which was probably about double what the recipe called for (I had two almost melon-sized beets from a couple of weeks ago, plus this week’s share). With that quantity of beets, three fresh lemons provided the right amount of zing.
We served this soup tonight with pumpernickel bread my parents brought from Rockland Bakery, plus boiled potatoes from our farm share and plenty of sour cream. It was delicious, as always. We’re freezing the rest to serve at our Hanukkah party later this month.
Poppy’s Borscht
Attributed to Mama Grossinger of the Borscht Belt
10 large beets, peeled and grated
2½ quarts water
1 onion, minced
2½ tsp. salt
2 Tbsp. sugar
1/4 c. lemon juice
2 eggs
boiled potatoes and sour cream (optional, to serve with it)
Combine the beets, water, onion, and salt in a large pot. Bring to a boil and cook, uncovered, over low heat for about an hour. Using an immersion blender, puree beet mixture until almost smooth. Add sugar and lemon juice. Cook an additional 10 minutes and adjust seasoning.
Beat eggs in a small bowl, and temper with the hot borscht to prevent curdling. Then add egg mixture to the pot of borscht, stirring constantly. Turn off heat and allow soup to cool. Chill thoroughly before serving (overnight is best).
I'm Dara, the Chick in the Kitchen. Living in the suburbs of Manhattan with my two school-aged boys and husband. Feeding my family something more diverse than a different shape of pasta each night. Read more about me and CITK, and keep in touch:
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Cheesy Kale Crisps: We rarely eat kale now that our farm share is over, and I want to fix that. I've wanted to try using nutritional yeast, and this recipe looks like a tasty way to do it.
I'm Dara, the Chick in the Kitchen. Living in the suburbs of Manhattan with my two school-aged boys and husband. Feeding my family something more diverse than a different shape of pasta each night. Read more 
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