First, I have to thank everyone who commented on my Week 1 post with suggestions on how to enjoy spring turnips. April, Carol, Allyson, Magpie, Amy, and Bard all weighed in with ideas! I was thrilled to get so many suggestions. Thank you.
This week I did my volunteer stint for the season, setting up the pick-up site and maintaining it for a couple of hours. Two local sites were combined into one large group this year, hosted by the Sustainability Committee at Pace University. Joan, another member, was also there to help out and she was good company (I’m glad she accidentally came early so we got to chat). We were responsible for organizing and labeling all those bins of veggies in the photo, and then moving empty bins out of the way and keeping the area neat as people pull their shares out of the containers.
We received 1 bunch of spring turnips, 1 pint of sugar snap peas, 1 bunch of rainbow chard, 1 yellow summer squash, 1 cucumber, 1 very heavy “mini” cabbage, 1 head of red leaf lettuce, a handful of broccoli rabe (leaves and stems), braising mix, salad mix, and a handful each of cilantro, parsley, basil, and arugula.
No garlic scapes! Boo! Last week I sauteed chopped scapes in olive oil, then added in chopped Russian kale and spinach (let the kale cook first, since it takes longer than the spinach). This is the easiest way to deal with greens in a tasty way. They’re so good for you but they are not my favorite. Still, tossed with pasta or potatoes, or as a side dish to a steak (the way we ate them last week) they are definitely palatable. I have also finely chopped braising greens and added them (raw) to ground beef or turkey to make meatballs. They don’t add much flavor but do bring a nutritional boost. I’m going to do that tomorrow.
Looking for something to do with a little bit of arugula? I love Pasta with Lentils, Tomatoes & Arugula. For a cold cabbage dish try Cashew Cabbage Slaw with Sesame Dressing; for something hot I loved Hungarian Beef & Cabbage Casserole. Let me know what you’re making with your CSA share — I am up for trying new recipes, just as soon as I get to those turnips…
June 16, 2010
Earlier in the week I tried my hand at baking Momofuku Milk Bar Compost Cookies. This is one of those recipes that lots of food bloggers seem to be trying, and although mine were tasty you couldn’t tell that they had unique ingredients (like potato chips!) in them.
Yesterday, I met my dear friend LP in the city and we based our day around getting the real deal cookie from Milk Bar. Their Compost Cookie was a disappointment — mine was soggy, and although I could taste the coffee grounds in it, there really wasn’t much of an identifiable flavor other than SWEET. It made me feel better about the cookies I’d baked — I thought their flavor was better even though mine spread way too much and weren’t attractive.
We did both enjoy the salty pistachio ice cream, though it is so rich that neither of us came close to finishing our servings. (And, over the hour or so that we lingered with our treats in the mezzanine of the Chambers Hotel mezzanine lounge, which is connected to the bakery, the ice cream did. not. melt. It softened slightly, but we were both puzzled by its staying power. And a little grossed out by it — could it have been thickened with food starch so it held its shape as it warmed up? We couldn’t figure it out.
I’m doing my volunteer stint at the Roxbury Farm share pick-up site this week, so if you’re also a member please say hi!
Monday: Leftover sauteed kale, spinach, and garlic scapes over pasta, Parmesan cheese
Tuesday: Spicy Hummus with farm share parsley with radishes, lettuce, and tomatoes, bagels, turnip salad (loosely based on Spring Turnip Salad)
Wednesday: Out to dinner
Thursday: Slow Cooker Italian-Style Turkey Meatballs, pasta, farm share veggies
Friday: Chicken soup (from the freezer) with noodles, challah, sugar snap peas
Saturday: Smoked Beef Ribs, baked potatoes, farm share veggies
Sunday: “Pasta Extravaganza” for Father’s Day, our family is coming here — still deciding what additional pasta dish to make along with Baked Ziti, garden salad, and garlic bread
For more menu planning ideas, check out Laura at Organizing Junkie, and Jenna, who sponsors Mindful Menus, a menu-planning meme that aims “to inspire health through real food” at Chive Talkin’.
June 13, 2010
There was no easing into the farm share this year! Kale, turnips, and bok choi in one week might have scared me away in 2007, but not now. I have gone back to check my archives multiples times because I just can’t believe this is the fourth year we’ve been members of the Roxbury Farm CSA. Yet, it is. And although the turnips don’t scare me, I still haven’t found a way to cook them that I really like.
This week we received: a head of (Bibb?) lettuce, loose lettuce mix, a bunch of radishes, a bunch of young turnips, 6 garlic scapes, a bunch of Russian kale, a head of bok choi, 1 large zucchini, a handful of cilantro, a handful of parsley, baby spinach, and a pint of sugar snap peas (they may be snow peas, actually).
A. has been tucking into the peas, and I did a quick stir fry with the zucchini, bok choi, and some garlic scapes. I will make hummus with the rest of them. The kale will mix with potatoes on Sunday for a rustic salad side dish. I like slicing the radishes into salads on cream cheese sandwiches. And there will be lots of salads. Please let me know if you can recommend a way to prepare those turnips — I have tried them roasted and mashed, and just find them blah.
June 11, 2010
I have been wanting to try making Momofuku Milk Bar’s Compost Cookies ever since Jodi mentioned it to me a month or so ago. The only trick was that the recipe requires a stand mixer, and I don’t have one. Thankfully I do have an awesome neighbor, so I borrowed Sharon’s KitchenAid.
I omitted the corn syrup (others did, too) and used a combination of potato chips and pretzels for the snack food, and a chopped Nestle Crunch bar and Goobers for the candy. I also used a smaller scoop for making the cookies than the recipe suggestion — mine fits a tablespoon of dough, which is definitely a large enough cookie for us. Even though I allowed the dough to sit in the fridge for more than an hour before baking, they spread a lot.
Verdict on the flavor: they are buttery, delicate, and there were none left over after a couple of days. But they had absolutely no hint of the wacky snack food ingredients to me. They were kind of generic tasting — a good chocolate chip cookie with a hint of peanuts (from the Goobers), but not something special to make again. Disappointing!
I also didn’t like the way they spread so thin. I double-checked the recipe to see if I’d done something wrong with the volume of flour, and in the process stumbled across several posts Anna at Cookie Madness had written earlier this year about these cookies: her first post, with lots of comments about problems readers had with the original recipe on the Regis & Kelly site; a second post, where she is thinking out loud about how the recipe might not have been written quite as intended; and a third post, where she bakes these cookies successfully.
I am not a baker, just someone who likes to bake. I am probably a little too fast and loose with measurements, and after reading Anna’s posts I am sure that there were several problems in the batch I made. First, I didn’t use enough flour. Second, the dough would have benefited from an overnight refrigeration. And finally, I think the Nestle Crunch bar was a poor choice, in that it probably made the cookies spread even more than a chocolate chip would have.
I don’t have any urge to try these cookies again and get them right. Both my boys were ambivalent about this cookie, and would have been much happier with a basic chocolate chip, or their favorite cookie, where I use M&Ms instead. Next time I have a Compost Cookie, it’s going to be an original from Milk Bar.
June 11, 2010
Our farm share starts Wednesday! The pick up is in a new location and there will be a lot more people picking up shares, so I hope it is still kid-friendly. The boys already told me they are looking forward to jumping off the stone wall when we pick up our veggies (it was along the driveway of our previous share pick-up spot) — they only know the old spot and keep forgetting we’ll be someplace new. Good thing they’re not driving there.
With the farm share starting my plan will have to be more flexible, changing based on what we receive. I am looking forward to this year’s share dragging me back into more inspired, vegetable-centric cooking. On that note, I’m linking up to Mindful Menus again this week, too.
Monday: Leftovers
Tuesday: Turkey meatballs in sauce with ziti, chopped salad (romaine, celery, carrots, grape tomatoes)
Wednesday: Slow Cooker Ratatouille (from the freezer), angel hair pasta, fresh mozzarella
Thursday: Panko-crusted baked chicken breasts, sauteed green beans, dinner rolls
Friday: Order in
Saturday: Breakfast for dinner: pancakes or eggs (scrambled with farm share veggies?)
Sunday: J.’s grilling, farm share veggies
For more menu planning ideas, check out Laura at Organizing Junkie.
June 7, 2010
Sharon has been giving me her copies of Cooking Light to read, and this recipe for Farmer’s Market Potato Salad is just one of many I bookmarked to try.
As much as I adore my dad’s traditional, mayo-dressed potato salad (it’s my grandpa’s recipe), J. and I tend to make vinaigrette-based salads instead, like Mustard Vinaigrette Potato Salad, which includes capers.
In this new Cooking Light recipe, the potatoes and corn kernels are roasted rather than boiled. I took it a step further and roasted the onions and zucchini as well, instead of caramelizing them separately in a saute pan (the oven was on anyway, I figured I may as well use both racks!). Although I didn’t cook the tomatoes, I did mix them into the roasted vegetables when they were just out of the oven, so the residual heat definitely wilted the tomatoes nicely.
The fresh tarragon is an integral component of the flavor of this dish. I’d never chopped fresh tarragon before, so I was surprised it had a slightly sweet, licorice scent. Before you recoil, thinking you don’t want your potato salad tasting like a black jelly bean, I have to assure you that the licorice flavor is distinct, but more as a very refreshing and clean flavor than tasting like its candy counterpart.
This potato salad will definitely go into our rotation for summer barbecues. It’s a beautiful dish, too, so it would present well if you brought it to a party. A vegetarian guest could also feel satisfied eating it as a main dish. All around, a keeper recipe for the summer.
June 7, 2010
My friend Susanna brought this Fig & Carrot Slaw to our house last summer, and I remembered it as an unusual but delicious side dish for a barbecue.
This was the first time I’d tried my hand at the recipe, and it turned out well. Next time I’d either shred the carrots in a food processor or create ribbons with a vegetable peeler — I actually cut them into a julienne (technically they were more like an allumette) by hand, and they were a little thicker than I’d have liked. At Susanna’s recommendation I added a small splash of olive oil to the recipe, but otherwise followed it as written. The cayenne and cumin are front and center, and are a well-match counterpoint to the sweetness of the figs and the sugar in the dressing.
Especially if you cut your carrots into matchsticks, the salad benefits from sitting at room temperature, where the dressing can really soak into the carrots to flavor and soften them. A side dish like this would work well into the fall, too — I can see it as a perfect addition to a Rosh Hashana or Thanksgiving meal.
June 7, 2010
Over the winter we watched all the Star Wars movies with the boys, and since then rarely a day goes by without a lightsaber duel or someone breathing loudly like Darth Vader in my ear. Although I am not much for rolled cookies, I knew the boys would adore this set of Star Wars cookie cutters from Williams-Sonoma. The store sells icing and decorating sets, too, but I thought the detail of the cutters themselves would be enough without frosting them black or green.
There are four cookie cutters: Darth Vader, Yoda, Boba Fett, and a stormtrooper. I know. Boba Fett? Really? What a waste of a cookie. There is a sugar cookie recipe included in the set, and I used that one because several reviews on the Williams-Sonoma site said using store-bought refrigerated dough spread too much during baking. It has a simple, straightforward flavor — not too sweet and also buttery without being greasy. I made a full batch of dough, but only rolled out half of it this afternoon — I thought I would pass out if I kept the oven on any longer in this mid-summer type of weather. G. (who is 4) made the cookies with me, and he had no trouble using the cookie cutters by himself. We stuck to just good ol’ Darth and Yoda today, but perhaps we’ll roll out a sheet of stormtroopers tomorrow.
June 3, 2010
Another week, another plan.
Monday: Eat out
Tuesday: Dijon Egg Salad, bagels, tomatoes, & lettuce (from my dad’s garden!)
Wednesday: Chicken with Cauliflower and Parsley, egg noodles
Thursday: Baked Ziti, garden salad, dinner rolls
Friday: Chicken soup (from my freezer) with noodles, edamame, challah
Saturday: Eat out
Sunday: Leftovers — we’re have friends here for lunch and I hope J. will smoke something for us
For more menu planning ideas, check out Laura at Organizing Junkie.
June 1, 2010
I have been slammed the last couple of weeks, and this is my last intense week of preparation leading up to the 3rd Annual Briarcliff Has Heart Memorial Day 5K Run/2 Mile Walk. This event raises money for my community library, and I am in charge of graphics. That loosely translates into fliers, signs, the race t-shirts (more than 650 of them!), updating a web site, and more. It is a job that I enjoy, and I certainly the positive feedback is a lot more concrete than the praise I get for my “real” job of being a mom. But I will look forward to a break after the race on Monday!
The Momofuku Milk Bar’s Compost Cookies I mentioned last week will have to wait until after Memorial Day.
Monday: Baked chicken, peas, challah
Tuesday: Leftover chicken, pan-fried gnocchi & Brussels sprouts
Wednesday: Boboli pizzas, carrots & celery
Thursday: Martha’s Slow-Cooked Tex-Mex Chicken & Beans, green salad, tortilla chips
Friday: Eating out
Saturday: Eating out
Sunday: Grilled rib eyes, salad, garlic bread
For more menu planning ideas, check out Laura at Organizing Junkie.
May 24, 2010
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I'm Dara, the Chick in the Kitchen. Living in the suburbs of Manhattan with my two boys, ages 4 and 6, and husband. Trying to feed my family something more diverse than a different shape of pasta each night. Read more 