CSA Brunch... or quick please eat this so I'll have room for more!

The bounty from the Lancaster Farm Fresh CSA has been great & plentiful!  So plentiful in fact that my fridge seems to be bursting at the seams each week.  The other week it was already coming up on the weekend and soon it would be Tuesday & time for another CSA box.  I needed help, quick!  I decided to throw a last minute brunch for a few friends for a nosh and a schmooze.

NOSH is literally a snack, but if you have ever been invited over for a nosh, you know that the amount of food well exceeds what many would consider a nosh.  If you are NOSHIE, it usually means you are hungry but just looking for a nibble.  To SCHMOOZE is to chat and make small talk.  Nothing is better than a nosh while schmoozing on a lazy Saturday.

Tomatoes and potatoes seemed to be multiplying on their own so I needed to tackle them first.  I found this recipe for Spicy Tomato Chutney.  It seemed full of everything I like so I started that simmering on stove.  It needs about an additional hour simmering to get to a good consistency than is stated in the recipe.

Next I brought out one of my newest toys - the mandoline.  I love this thing!  I sliced down potatoes, red & yellow tomatoes, and onions.  Along with some spices, herbs, and half-and-half (I didn't have cream), I made Spiced Tomato Gratin from 101cookbooks.  This is not a quick recipe, but soooo worth it!  Do not rush thru the caramelizing & spicing the onions step.  This is what makes it amazing!

In addition to the gratin, I also roasted some burgundy beans - which are actual MAGIC BEANS!  My first thought when I got these dark purple string bean was that it would be great to make with kids because when you cook them they turn green!  How cool is that!?  Little did I know how excited my friends would go over this little trick.  All I needed was a lovely assistant as I put the burgundy beans coated lightly with extra virgin olive oil and salt & pepper into the hot oven, only to remove *drum roll* GREEN BEANS!  It was shock & awe!

I rounded out the menu with some quickly whipped up hummus, a (store bought) baguette, a couple of NY Strip Steaks from my U.S. Wellness Meats prize box, and fresh cut cantaloupe - half of which I turned into aqua de melon.   This was very easy, even without a blender.

Hummus
1 cup cooked, cooled, drained chickpeas & reserved water from cooking
2-3 tablespoons of tahini
juice of one lemon
about 1/4 cup of olive oil
salt & pepper to taste

Put chickpeas, tahini, lemon juice, s&p in the work bowl of a food processor with a generous splash of olive oil.  Start food processor and drizzle in the rest of the olive oil slowly.  Let in run 1-2 minutes.  Scrape down the sides of the bowl and taste.  Add s&p as needed.  If consistency is too thick, start running the food processor again and slowly add the water from cooking the chickpeas (if you are using canned, use the water from the can) till you get the consistency you want.  Taste and adjust as needed.

Aqua de Melon
Half a cantaloupe cut into chunks
About 4 cups of water - divided
1/4 cup of sugar or to your taste

The cut up cantaloupe went into the food processor with about a cup of water and 1/4 cup sugar.  Let it whiz around till you have basically made cantaloupe juice concentrate.  Put it into a pitcher and add the rest of the water.  You can make it thicker or thinner depending on how much water you add.

We discovered that this aqua de melon makes an excellent replacement for orange juice in a mimosa thanks to one of my friends bringing a bottle of champagne.

Almost everything was gone by the end of brunching.  Everyone seemed very happy and full... and my fridge was empty (well, just not as full) and ready for the next week's CSA box of produce.  Looks like there maybe many brunches in my future.

Ess Eppis!

Week 7 Lancaster Farm Fresh CSA

Well it is week 7 and this is the moment I have been waiting for - the first tomatoes of the season!  They are big beautiful red & orange slicing tomatoes.  Oddly, we had 3 shareholders not pick up their share without a heads up... but lucky for me a got a few extra tomatoes & string beans out of it.  The rest of the box contained:

2 lemon cucumbers – certified organic – Elm Tree Organics
1 head green cabbage – certified organic – Green Valley Organics
4 green zucchini – certified organic – Bellview and Rolling Ridge Organics
1 bag red and yellow slicing tomatoes – certified organic – Green Valley Organics
1 bag pickling cucumbers – certified organic – Meadow Brook Organics
1 bag mini-white cucumbers – transitional – Liberty Branch Farm

I also  bought some mint to make some mint iced tea and this drink a friend posted a link to.

It was a long hot day at the CSA pick up site.  I enjoyed the moments I had in the big walk-in fridge.  Today in Philly we hit 102 degrees Fahrenheit.  The whole day I was dreading schlepping all my stuff home from the market.  By time I got home I was schvitzing so bad I was dripping.  It doesn't help matters that I am having air conditioning issues the last couple days.

Today's Yiddish lesson is a two-fer - SCHLEPPING & SCHVITZING.  Schlepping is to lug or carry something, usually heavy, awkward, and/or laborious.  Schvitzing is sweating.  You can also go for a schvitz in a steam room.

Tomorrow I'll be putting up more pickles!  I've got lots and lots of pickles pickling.  In the couple weeks I'll have reports on all the different pickles I am making.  I am experiment with lots of different herbs, spices, and peppers.  Good thing I found those canning jars on sale this holiday weekend when I was shopping with my mom.  I am going to fill them up fast and may need more soon.

Ess Eppis!

Week 6 Lancaster Farm Fresh CSA

Sorry for slacking... here is last week CSA goodies:

1 bag red-gold potatoes – certified organic – Millwood Springs Organics – 2 lbs
2 green slicing cucumbers – certified organic – Elm Tree Organics
1 bunch cippolini onions – transitional – Liberty Branch Farm
1 bunch Detroit red beets – certified organic – Farmdale Organics
2 yellow straight-neck squash – certified organic – Goshen View Organics
1 bunch spring onions – certified organic – Healthy Harvest
2 hearts Romaine lettuce – certified organic – Riverview Organics

June 26th, Hillside Organics hosted the first of many picnics for the CSA share holders.  It's a really great time to head out to the country, meet the farmers & their families, see where our food is coming from, & eat LOTS of great food.  The picnics are always a potluck.  All the CSA members bring something homemade and yummy.  You could easily tell that delivery everyone received the week of the picnic contained generous amounts of potatoes & kale.

I took a family friend's kid with me to the farm.  We had a sleep over the night before and made a batch of homemade granola bars with raisins, cashews, & almonds for the picnic.  The recipe is adapted from Smitten Kitchen's Thick Chewy Granola Bars.

Picnic Granola Bars

2 cups rolled oats - not instant - 1/3 cup reserved.
1/2 cup raw or turbinado sugar
1/2 teaspoon Kosher salt
1/8 teaspoon cinnamon - I am not a big cinnamon person, if you prefer more go for it.
15 ounces mixed dried fruit & nuts - rough chop nuts and larger dried fruit like apricots or dates
1/3 cup unsalted butter
1/4 cup raw honey - locally produced from the farmer's market
2 tablespoons maple syrup - I have a bottle of locally made organic labeled "dark amber grade A".
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 tablespoon water

Preheat oven to 350°F.  Using parchment paper, line an 8x8 cake pan so it goes across the bottom and up on only 2 sides - leaving two sides uncovered.  Leave the ends of the paper longer than the edge of the pan so you can use it to lift the finished granola out.  Give the pan and the paper a quick spray of non-stick baking spray.
Put the reserved 1/3 cup of rolled oats into a food processor and process till flour-like, approximately 1 minute.  Add to the remaining oats in a large mixing bowl.  Add  sugar, salt, cinnamon, and fruit & nuts to mixing bowl.
Melt butter & raw honey slowly over low heat - do not let it bubble.  Remove from heat and add maple syrup, vanilla, & water.  Whisk together and then pour over oat mixture.  Stir together well so that all the oats and other dry ingredients are are coated with the butter/honey mixture.
Pour mixture into the prepared pan.  Using another piece of parchment paper or wax paper on top of the granola, press down firmly.  Press it down evenly across the whole pan and be sure to make sure it is nice and compacted down.
Bake for 30 minutes or until the edges brown.  Let it cool in the pan for one hour, then use the parchment paper to lift the granola bar onto a wire rack to continue to cool for at least 5-6 hours before cutting.

Because these granola bars do not use any corn syrup (I just couldn't bring myself to add something so overly processed like corn syrup into something homemade & healthy), they will be more crumbly than bars made with it.  I originally made these with "regular" honey, but the raw honey seems to help the bars stick together and they are less crumbly - although both ways tasted great so if you don't have raw honey on hand, don't let that stop you from making these.  They make a great nosh to keep in the house.

Yiddish lesson #2, NOSH.  A nosh is a snack or something to nibble on, but not a full meal.  If someone says they are noshy, it means they are hungry but just for a little (or bissell) of food.

Ess Eppis!

Week 4 Lancaster Farm Fresh CSA

Click to go to Flickr & roll over photo for details

1 head broccoli – certified organic – Farmdale Organics
1 bunch red beets – certified organic – Farmdale Organics
1 head Napa cabbage – certified organic – Bellview Organics
1 pc summer ball squash – certified organic – Hillside Organics
1 bunch spring onions – certified organic – Healthy Harvest
1 head green butter head (bib) lettuce – certified organic – Goshen View Organics
1 head red leave lettuce – certified organic – Railroad Organics
1 bag cress – certified organic – Back 40 Ranch

And a happy accident landed me a flower share this week.  It is a huge bunch of mixed flowers & greenery.  Some of it looks & smells like mint, but I am going to double check with the farm before trying it just to be safe.

I have never been a fan of broccoli.  I always thought it smells & tastes like farts (well what I imagine what a fart would taste like).  I found a recipe called Blasted Broccoli that quick roasts the broccoli at a high heat with olive oil, garlic, and red pepper flakes.  I have never had broccoli roasted and always roast my other veggies like Brussels Sprouts and asparagus, so maybe this will be the thing that finally brings me around to broccoli.

Tomorrow I'm going to pick up some ground meat so I can use my Napa Cabbage to make a batch of stuffed cabbage.  It's perfect for the crock pot & freezes well so I'll have some for the future.  I am also looking forward to trying a new and exciting recipe for a flourless cupcake using the the sweetness of the beets to keep the sugar added to a minimum.

Tomorrow will be a fun day of baking & cooking in the Ess Eppis kitchen!

Week 3 Lancaster Farm Fresh CSA

Click to go to Flickr & roll over photo for details

This weeks CSA share was a another bumper crop of greens:

1 bag snow peas – certified organic – White Swan Acres
1 bunch radishes – certified organic – Friends Road Organics
1 bunch garlic scapes – certified organic – Orchard View Organics
1 bunch green shallots – certified organic – Shady Brook Organics
1 bunch dandelion greens – certified organic – Hillside Organics
1 head endive – certified organic – Meadow Valley Organics
1 head red leaf lettuce – certified organic – Green Valley Organics
2 heads red oak leaf lettuce – certified organic – Back 40 Ranch
1/2 head of Napa Cabbage shared from the other site host's full share

The photo is of my half share AFTER giving half the dandelion greens, half the endive, 1 head of read leaf lettuce, and 1 head of red oak leaf lettuce to Catlyn when she came over for a dinner of BBQ shredded beef over lettuce.  Nearly everything I have been eating has been on a bed of lettuce.  Luckily, it's all really good lettuce!  The BBQ shredded beef from my winning of U.S. Wellness Meats was GREAT!  I loved it so much, I wish I had more.  I am tempted to order more knowing the quality of the food and way it is raised, but I do know I can find quality like this with a local farmer.  If I was closer to network of farms that this impressive cooperative or did not live in an area with access to exceptional farmers, I would not hesistate to regularly order from them.

This weekend I am making a dish for a Paleo potluck.  I do not follow a Paleo diet, but want to participate in the potluck with Catlyn & her CrossFit group.  The idea of swearing off potatoes, beans, and grains makes me shake in my boots - I think my love of those foods is imprinted on my Eastern European DNA.  I have narrowed it down to two possible dishes:

Almond Date Balls Drizzled with Dark Chocolate
Cucumber & Radish Rounds Topped with Garlic Mint Aioli

I just have to decide if I want to go sweet or savory.  Either way, I am sure there will be lots of goodies and new people to meet this weekend.  Only once I figure out what I am making, I then have to figure out what to wear!  Will the decisions never end?!  I think I should mull all this over while a make a cake.

Veggies, Veggies, & More Veggies

Week 2 of the Lancaster Farm Fresh CSA.

Click to go to Flickr and roll over photo for description of the produce.

2 bunches spring onions – certified organic – Bellview and Plum Hill Organics

1 bunch garlic scapes – certified organic – Life Enhancing Acres

1 pkg white mushrooms – certified organic – Mother Earth Organics

1 bunch Lacinato kale – certified organic – Goshen View Organics

1 bag baby lettuce mix – certified organic – Farmdale Organics

1 bag wrinkle-crinkle – certified organic – Back 40 Ranch

2 heads green oak leaf lettuce – certified organic – Back 40 Ranch

& some Snow Peas that came with the full share that the other hosts of the site shared with me.

I really love being part of a CSA and have written about it in past post.  Being a site host, I get a share for free.  I opted for a half share and the fruit share that starts later in the season.  Even with a half share, I find myself not getting thru all the weekly goodies before they start to waste in my fridge.  This year I am determined not to waste any part of my weekly half share.  The first thing I did was to wash all the produce this week and package it all up so it is all ready to go in my fridge.  To wash lettuce & other leafy stuff I fill the sink with cold water and gently place in the lettuce.  I swish and swirl it around gently.  The lettuce and leafy goods will float while all the soil that may still be on it will sink to the bottom.  I gently scoop out the greens and dry them in a salad spinner, then lay them out on paper towels to get any left over moisture.  Then I package them in ziplock style bags or the reusable containers my take out Chinese comes in.

The best part if a CSA is that you end up with produce you have never tried or even heard of.  This week I got something called wrinkle-crinkle.  It's a cress that looks like slightly sickly parsley, but is very peppery.  I discovered this after tasting a leaf while cleaning all the greens.  Unsure of exactly how to use it, I decided to treat it more like an herb than a lettuce.  I chopped it up and added it to some pasta, tomato, garlic, and Parmesan cheese.

The bag of mixed baby lettuce has provided a nice addition to nearly every meal.  I made a quick and simple vinaigrette by whisking together a splash of apple cider vinegar, a squirt of Dijon mustard, and s&p to taste.  I keep whisking as I drizzle in some olive oil - about twice as much as I have acids.  Some canned tuna on top of some dressed greens with an extra drizzle over the tuna and I had a meal!  A left over cupcake from the weekend baking rounded it out to complete the meal.

While cleaning the produce I decided to also clean and blanch it so I could keep it in the fridge to snack on.  It never made it to the fridge.  After cleaning - pulling that fibrous string along the edge, I dropped them into salted boiling water for just a minute.  They turned bright green and stayed crunching after dropping them in ice water to quickly cool them.  After testing one, I ended up eating the whole container of the sweet crunchy snack.  They were so good I think I am going to go back to The Fair Food Farmstand at Reading Terminal Market and pick up some more.

Tonight I plan on making Kale chips.  I am going to try experimenting with some flavored salts that I won from goodLife{eats} give-a-way.  I have lavender rosemary & cherry pistachio Secret Stash Salts, in addition to my standard Kosher salt.  Maybe I'll try some different spices too.  I think the smoked paprika might work nice to give a bbq chip taste, but healthier than potato chips.  I'll post how they come out soon.