EatLocal365 » CSA

Cucurbit Risotto

Lindsay — Tue, 19 Aug 2014 00:24:01 +0000

Did you know there’s a name for the veggies overflowing your crisper/garden/CSA box right now? Cucurbitaceae! Zucchini, summer squash, cucumbers, melons…we’re kind of drowning in them over here. Well, not melons, so much, and our little muffin (9 months tomorrow!) devours zucchini and summer squash, so we don’t really have a problem with that, but all the cucumbers are in our refrigerator right now. ALL! So. Many. Cucumbers.

We’ve eaten summer salads for days. I’ve blended them into smoothies. I’ve even baked them into pancakes with questionable success. Pickles? Done. And I don’t even love pickles.

What do I love? Warm smooshy things in bowls that don’t take forever to make. Bonus points if The Muffin likes it. Extra bonus points if he can feed it to himself. Super extra bonus points if leftovers are still tasty. What fits the bill? Cucumber risotto. “EWWWWWWWWWWWWW!”, you say? “Delicious!”, I counter. “EWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!”, you still say. Well, everyone’s entitled to her opinion, but this risotto is sweet and subtle and creamy and lavender/green. If you still don’t trust me, substitute zucchini – I have and it’s great.

Apologies (once again) for the phone photos. We’ll figure out this technology thing, I promise!

Cucurbit Risotto

Adapted from Greene on Greens

Serves 4-6 as a main

Amount	Ingredient	Preparation	Notes
4 TBsp	Butter	Divided	Kate’s Homemade Butter
1 medium	Red onion		Farmer Dave’s CSA
2 cloves	Garlic	Minced	Farmer Dave’s CSA
1 cup	Arborio rice
Good pinch or two	Crushed red pepper flakes
About 4	Cucumbers (whatever size you have – use more if they’re tiny or fewer if they’re gigantic)	Peeled, seeded, and diced	Farmer Dave’s CSA
3 cups	Chicken stock		Homemade
To taste	Salt and pepper
Small handful	Fresh, soft herbs	Such as dill, basil, parsley, and fennel fronds	Chopped

Directions

Heat the chicken stock (on the stove or in the microwave). Prep your veggies. You don’t have to be too fussy with seeding and peeling the cucumbers. I think it’s easiest to seed cucumbers by cutting them in half the long way and scooping out the seedy middle with a spoon. (See picture above)

In a heavy skillet, melt half the butter (1 TBsp) over medium-low heat. Add the red onion and sweat (cook slowly without browning) for 2 minutes; add the garlic and cook for another minute.

Thoroughly stir the rice into the onion mixture, so that each grain is coated with butter.

Add the cucumbers and crushed red pepper flakes. Stir well, then use your spoon to smooth and level the rice mixture in the pan.

Gently pour a generous 1 cup of hot stock evenly over the rice mixture. Don’t stir. Just let the rice absorb the liquid, which should take about 15 minutes.

When all the liquid has been absorbed, stir and repeat with another generous cup of stock. Reduce the heat if the last batch was absorbed in less than 15 minutes.

Stir in the last 1/2 cup or so of stock. Keep your eye on the risotto this time. It’s done when the rice is tender, but not mushy. If it’s the right consistency, but there’s still liquid in the pan, raise the heat to boil it off. If the rice isn’t ready when all the liquid is gone, add a little hot water and keep cooking.

When the rice is perfect, stir in the remaining butter (1 TBsp) and salt, pepper, and herbs to taste.

How to Make Ratatouille: The Late Summer CSA Leftover Disposal

Erik — Wed, 28 Aug 2013 14:08:29 +0000

We’ve posted before about how a frittata is our go-to dish for getting vegetables out of the refrigerator. In the late summer we have a second play out of that same playbook to use up vegetables that, quite frankly, aren’t our favorites.

I’m talking about eggplants, summer squash, and those bitter purple peppers. We have good recipes for all of them (maybe not the purple peppers), but sometimes out CSA just drops too many on us at one time, and by the end of the week the squash are getting rubbery and the eggplant feels leathery… you get the picture. Take a look at the picture about to see all that this recipe used up!

This ratatouille uses them up in quantity and although it doesn’t look like much that you’d be dying to eat (I asked Lindsay “are you sure you want me to take pictures?”), it’s actually pretty delicious and incredibly healthy to boot. Did I mention that it’s also easy?

There are a million variations on ratatouille, since it’s a common peasant stew that everybody’s mother makes in France. This one is very stew-like, and because the veggies are cut in thin strips, they take on a noodly quality. Other variations call for cubes, etc. Use your imagination. You can also control how watery you make it by adding fewer or more tomatoes. They provide most of the juice.

Rataouille

Makes 4 servings as a main or more as as side

Amount	Ingredient	Preparation	Notes
1 clove	Garlic	Crushed into a paste	Red Fire Farm CSA
1	Onion	Diced or minced (your call for texture)	Red Fire Farm CSA
1 TBsp / 1 Sprig	Fresh thyme	We were out or thyme, so we used fresh Oregano (any aromatic herb will do)	Red Fire Farm CSA
1	Eggplant	Sliced thin	Red Fire Farm CSA
1-2	Summery squash or zucchini	Sliced thin	Red Fire Farm CSA
2-3	Peppers	Sliced thin (no seeds), whatever color you have	Red Fire Farm CSA
3-6	Tomatoes	Cut into chunks (~eighths)	Red Fire Farm CSA
3 TBsp	Olive oil
1 pinch	Sugar
To taste	Kosher Salt

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Mash the garlic into a paste if you like (it distributes better throughout the dish), or just mince it. I used a mortar and pestle so that I didn’t have to clean the food processor for a single clove. Chop the onion and slice the eggplant. For this dish we don’t peel anything in order to make it as easy as possible.
Heat 2 TBsp of olive oil in a pan over medium heat. Add the onion, garlic, and thyme. Once the onions are translucent, add the eggplant and cook for about 5-8 minutes until the eggplant has thoroughly changed color.
As the eggplant cooks in the pan, start slicing the rest of the vegetables. It’s OK if you have to turn off the burner and let the eggplant sit for a bit; it will be cooked more. I you like it watery, add more tomatoes. If you want it dryer, add fewer.
Add everything to a large roasting pan and mix around with 1 TBsp of olive oil. We usually use a big Pyrex (pictured), but it’s probably best to use something ceramic because at the end it needs to go under the broiler and Pyrex is not rated for that and could fracture. We always forge tab out the broiler with this one until it’s already almost done. Don’t be like us!
Cover the roasting pan with tented tin foil or a sheet of parchment paper. Try to prevent it from sitting directly on the vegetables. Bake for 1 hour.
Remove it from the oven. Turn on the broiler (to high, if your oven has the option). Remove the foil / parchment paper. Add the pinch of sugar and salt to your tasting. Stir thoroughly. Place it directly under the broiler, uncovered, for 5 minutes. After 5 minutes, check to see if the top is starting to singe. If so, you’re done. If not, put it back for 2 minutes at a time until the top is as caramelized as you can get it without burning.

What to do with your CSA: a Husband Alone

Erik — Wed, 10 Oct 2012 16:47:30 +0000

Lindsay was out of town for a few weeks for work. This has happened before. I can fend for myself just fine.

However, this has never happened during the peak harvest season when we have had a CSA. In the past, I could choose to go to the farmer’s market or not, buy however much or little I wanted to, stick to what I was comfortable with, and if all else fails, just order in. Not this time. I had a lot of food thrust upon me whether I liked it or not. If I didn’t cook and eat it, it would go to waste. Although I enjoy the way we eat, Lindsay is generally in the driver’s seat. I had to man up and take control. Lindsay is in charge of our menu planning. I often cook dinner without her help, but she still picks the recipes. Now it was up to me.

I decided that for one week I would track myself and take pictures and write a series of posts on it. Sure, we post a lot, but not every meal that we make, and it’s a lot harder to cook and post at the same time when there is only one person! I was up to the challenge.

Here are the various ingredients that I was given and the five recipes that I used to dig me out from under the CSA. It was like Iron Chef!:

The first thing that knew I had to do was to use up was the eggplant and okra. Neither is on my list of favorites, and both only get worse after a few days (in particular, the okra will get even slimier). My go-to, when left with this combo, is a curry. It makes everything more palatable. The CSA also provided the needed tomatoes and onions:
Eggplant and Okra Curry
Second, there was a large spaghetti squash left from the prior week that needed to be used, and I received fresh chili peppers in the CSA, so I found this online:
Roasted Squash with Chile Vinaigrette
Third, I received two new acorn squashes and found this appetizing recipe:
Acorn Squash with an Herbed Cider Glaze
Fourth, I had a few salads over the course of the week that used up the two heads of lettuce, some of the sweet bell peppers, the heirloom tomatoes (always best in a salad!) and the beets that I received:
A “Use-the-CSA Salad”
Finally, I was left with a mountain of sweet red bell peppers. For two weeks in a row the CSA gave me pounds of them, and although I used some in the salads I still had a mountain left. Over Skype Lindsay suggested that I make this recipe:
Spicy Seitan and Peppers

That’s it! I like the way this series came out, so I think I would like to make this a monthly thing during CSA season. Most people ask “what do you do with all that squash? Or eggplant? Or tomatoes? Or whatever… it keeps changing as the calendar marches forward. Maybe once each month we should do a snapshot like this to help others get inspired and avoid throwing away chunks of their CSA…

How to Make a Use-Your-CSA Salad

Erik — Sat, 29 Sep 2012 23:26:19 +0000

This salad normally wouldn’t be worth a post, but I’m posting it for two reasons. The first is that it’s a part of my “Husband Alone with the CSA” series and needs to be included to show how I used everything up (including the lettuces). The second reason is because of a fundamentally more important lesson: always pre-roast your beets!

I can’t emphasize that enough. When you’re making something quick that could benefit from roasted beets (and what doesn’t?), encountering raw beets in your fridge is a major drag. 95% of the time our use of beets calls for them to be foil-roasted anyway, so my M.O. is just to roast them as soon as possible, when you’re not hungry but you’ll be near the oven (at least in the living room) for 90 minutes. They’ll store for a few weeks and you can toss them into whatever you want.

I made this salad for lunch three times over the course of the week to use up the leftover tomatoes, sweet red peppers, and lettuces. It was delicious and quick and easy, but without the beets it would have been boring.

Big CSA Salad

Makes 1 big serving, 2 normal servings, or 4 sides

Amount	Ingredient	Preparation	Notes
Some	Lettuces	Torn into bite-sized pieces	Whatever you have, as much as you want (you can even through in some raw kale if you’re so inclined)
1	Ripe tomato	Chopped
1	Sweet pepper	Chopped	Red, yellow, orange, whatever… green in a pinch
1	Roasted beet	Sliced into 0.5 inch quarter-rounds	See below
1/3 part	Olive oil
1/3 part	Balsamic vinegar		Spring for the real stuff, not the chemical kind
1/3 part	Apple cider vinegar		We made our own, natch !
1 TBsp	Dijon mustard	I make it a very heaping TBsp
Some	Black pepper	Freshly ground
A pinch	Kosher salt

Directions

Roast your beets. DO THIS IN ADVANCE! Pre-heat the oven to 400 degrees. On each beet, chop off the base of the greens stalk, and chop off the tendril at the tip (if there is one). Scrub off any dirt. Wrap each beet individually in foil. Cover a sheet pan with foil. Place the foiled beets on the pan and bake.
If there are any small beets (~ golf balls) remove them after 60 minutes. For anything up to the size of a softball, bake for 90 minutes. For anything bigger, you’re on you own. Take it to a state fair.

Let the beets cool until you can handle the foil, then unwrap them. Let them cool completely and, with a paper towel in each hand, palm the opposing sides and twist the skin off. If they are cooked enough, the skin should come off easily (although maybe not all in one perfect shot). Store the peeled beets whole in a tupperware in the fridge until you are ready to use the.

Oh, be sure to wash your hands thoroughly before touching anything, and wash your hands between each beet if you want to make your hand-washing a little easier.

Prep (tear / chop) the rest of the vegetables, and slice the beets for the salad.

Mix the dressing, using about the same amount of each of the three liquids until you get to your desired amount of dressing. Add the dijon and mix / whisk / shake. I don’t measure. I use an old spice shaker, which nets me about enough dressing for two salads of the size pictured. Salt and pepper the salad, add the dressing, and toss. The beets juice and the dressing will mix into a nice sweet purple dressing with a kick, but one that stains badly, so eat carefully!

How to Make Acorn Squash with an Herbed Cider Glaze

Erik — Thu, 27 Sep 2012 00:21:22 +0000

This is part of the continuing series in which I alone have to deal with our CSA for a week, including planning, cooking, and eating. This is a recipe that I found to deal with the two acorn squash that I had been dealt by Red Fire Farm. We often stuff them, but I just didn’t feel like doing so. This recipe turned out to be a preferable alternative for me. It’s so tasty! And, after some real trial and error, once I learned how to peel these suckers, it wasn’t really difficult.

Acorn Squash with an Herbed Cider Glaze

Makes 3-4 servings

Amount	Ingredient	Preparation	Notes
2	Acorn squash	Cut into chunks (see below)	You will need two medium to large acorn squash, or one of a larger variety, such as butternut
2-3 TBsp	Unsalted butter
1/4 cup	Fresh sage	Finely chopped	Dried sage will not impart nearly the same flavor
2 TBsp	Fresh thyme	Finely chopped	Ditto on fresh thyme; don’t substitute dried
1.5 cups	Cider	I used hard cider
1 cup	Water
2 tsp	Sherry vinegar
A pinch	Kosher salt

Directions

This is an extremely easy recipe except for one part:

Changing two of these…

… into this:

Luckily for you I tested of ways of tackling this trick task, one A LOT easier than the other!

Remove the seeds from the square, peel it, and cut it into cubes. Easier said than done.
- Technique 1 (don’t bother, in fact, just skip to “Technique 2″. But, for the curious…): cut the squash in half from pole to pole. Use a large spoon to scoop the seeds out of each half and scrape the hole until you have clean flesh. Remove the stem by cutting a notch out around it. Then put the flat side on the cutting board, and using a sharp chef’s knife, peel the squash. Carefully work around the ridges, with the goal of removing as little of the flesh as possible and only removing the skin.
  It helps to cut down the slopes of each ridge from the peak to the valley. It really helps to have patience and a steady hand. Once the half-squash is peeled, cut it in to wedges along its ridges, then chop the wedges into approximately one-inch cubes.
- Technique 2 (preferred): cut the squash in half from pole to pole. Use a large spoon to scoop the seeds out of each half and scrape the hole until you have clean flesh. Remove the stem by cutting a notch out around it. Then put the flat side on the cutting board. NOW cut it into wedges BEFORE peeling. Then peel each wedge with a vegetable peeler. Once the wedges are peeled, chop them into approximately one-inch cubes.
  
  If you’re extraordinarily unlucky and have a squash that is so large and/or thick-skinned that the peeler won’t work, rever to technique #1.
Chop the herbs and melt the butter in a large skillet (preferably one with a cover) over low heat. Once the butter has started to melt, add the herbs and cook, stirring, for about 5 minutes, until the butter starts to turn golden brown. Don’t be tempted into increasing the temperature to speed things up. This part needs to be taken slowly in order to not burn the butter or brown the herbs.
Add the squash, the apple cider, the water, the sherry vinegar, and a generous pinch of kosher salt. Stir. It will start out as a very wet mixture, almost like a soup. Raise the heat to medium (6 out of 10) and bring it to a boil. You can speed this by covering it temporarily, if your pot has a cover.
Once you’ve reached a boil, remove the cover and find the level of heat that maintains a low boil. You want large bubbles, not just a simmer (small bubbles), but you want to maintain that boil on the lowest heat possible. Leaving the cover off is important because you need to moisture to evaporate out to reduce it to a glaze (I once made the mistake of leaving the cover on and wondering what was wrong).

Now you can set a timer for 5 minutes and walk away (but don’t go far). Keep checking on it every five minutes to make sure it’s not boiling over. After 30 minutes, it should be finished. The squash should be tender, and the liquid should be reduced to a glaze. My test is to run my wooden spoon across the botton of the pan to part the liquid. If it takes a few seconds to ooze back and cover the bottom, you’re done.
Season with pepper and additional salt to taste (if necessary). Serve over rice.