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Friday
Sep032010

Watermelon-Tomato Salad with Spearmint Vinaigrette

A big thank you to Harvest Astoria member Becky Henretta for this refreshing and delightful recipe!

For the salad

  • 1/2 lg. watermelon (yellow will look beautiful)
  • 5 sm. tomatoes (however many will be 50-50 with your watermelon)
  • several sprigs cilantro
  • salt
  • pepper

Use a melon baller to scoop balls out of the watermelon (or cube it). I picked out the seeds with a paring knife; alternatively, use a seedless watermelon. Slice the tomatoes into wedges or cubes and gently toss them with the melon balls using your hands. Tear the cilantro leaves and scatter them over the salad. Toss again if you like. Add salt and pepper to taste. Serve in individual bowls and spoon as much spearmint vinaigrette as desired over each serving.


For the vinaigrette
Yields about a cup so there will be leftovers (I loved it on the lettuce and radishes earlier in the summer)

  • 1 cup loosely packed spearmint leaves
  • 1 tbs Dijon mustard
  • 1 tbs honey (I like raw, but regular or agave nectar will work)
  • 3-4 tbs Trader Joe's orange muscat champagne vinegar (so good, but citrus juice or white wine vinegar are fine too)
  • 3/4 tsp cardamom (the secret ingredient, but you could try other mint-friendly spices like cumin or coriander)
  • 3/4 cup mild olive oil
  • salt + pepper to taste

Combine all ingredients in the food processor/blender and process until emulsified. If you don't have a processor, mince the spearmint super finely, combine everything in a jar and shake.

(Vary the vinegar/citrus juice according to how sweet or sour the ingredients are and whether you like your dressings less or more acidic. The TJ's vinegar and cardamom both have a gentle sweetness, so you may want to increase the sweetener if you're substituting.)

Thursday
Jul082010

Arugula Salad Pizza

Thanks to Harvest Astoria member, Maria Hubbard, for this delicious sounding pizza recipe!

This was AMAZING, easy to make, and used 3 of our share items! And since it's pizza you can easily modify it to your tastes.

1 store bought pizza crust
1 small pkg goat cheese, softened
1 oz roasted red peppers (jarred or roasted at home)
1 bunch arugula (from share)
1 bunch spring onions (from share), thinly sliced
1 bunch spring garlic (from share), thinly sliced
Olive oil, salt and pepper to taste

In a medium pan, saute onions and garlic in olive oil over low heat until softened and starting to brown. Set aside.

Preheat oven as instructed on the pizza crust package. Drizzle crust lightly with olive oil, then smear crust with goat cheese until thoroughly covered. Slice roasted red peppers into strips and lay flat on top of the goat cheese. Spread onion - garlic mixture on top of goat cheese and peppers. Bake per package instructions.

While pizza is cooking, toss arugula with olive oil, salt and pepper. When pizza is done top with arugula salad and serve.

Wednesday
Jun162010

Stir Fry with Pac Choi

This recipe is from Joe Caswell, a dear friend and a Harvest Astoria CSA member! It is delicious!
 
Serves 4

  • 1 head of pac choi (or two smaller ones), sliced into 1/2 inch pieces
  • 4 carrots, sliced
  • 10 shiitake (or other) mushrooms, sliced
  • 5 scallions, sliced
  • 1 head of Chinese cabbage, shredded

Sautee the above in olive oil mixed with a little bit of sesame oil. Put 2-3 cloves crushed garlic in oil before adding vegetables.
 
Then make a mixture of the following in small bowl:

  • 1 cup vegetable broth
  • 1 tablespoon sesame oil
  • 2 tablespoons of soy sauce
  • 1 teaspoon corn starch
  • 1/4 inch slice of ginger crushed in garlic press
  • 1 clove of garlic crushed in garlic press
  • Optional - crushed red pepper
  • Optional - sesame seed

Add to sauteed vegetables right before they are done.  Stir until the broth thickens and then it is done!
 
Serve over rice.

Wednesday
May052010

Asparagus Scallion Quiche

  • 1 pie crust
  • 1 full bunch (about 2 cups) chopped fresh asparagus
  • 1 bunch (about 1/2 cup) chopped fresh scallions
  • 1/2 c. cheese of your choice we used a 'garlic champignon' from Whole Foods
  • 4 medium eggs
  • ~2 tbl. olive oil
  • Salt & pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 350. 

Saute asparagus and scallions in olive oil til tender
Then add eggs and cheese
Stir vigorously til evenly coated, then pour into pie crust
Bake for 30 minutes or until you can pierce in the middle cleanly with a fork.

Thanks to Amy Litt & Acacia Graddy-Gamel for this one!

Friday
Oct022009

Asian Inspired Buckwheat Noodle Soup

I've been posting a lot of recipes that use our HA veggies on my food blog, www.violincyn.wordpress.com so please check that out! Here's what I made for dinner last night with some things from this week's share.

This made enough soup to easily serve 4 as a meal

  • 1 32 oz. container mushroom stock, or other vegetable stock
  • 8 baby bella mushrooms
  • 1 head bok choy
  • 1/4 large head of cabbage
  • 1/2 onion, chopped
  • 1 large garlic clove, chopped
  • 1 tsp asian chili sauce
  • 3 servings buckwheat noodles
  • 1 package of tofu, cubed
  • 4 hardboiled eggs

 

1. Saute the onion in the bottom of your soup pot, add the garlic after a couple of minutes and cook for another couple of minutes.

2. Add the mushrooms and let brown.

3. Add the cabbage and bok choy, salt and pepper, a splash of soy sauce, and the chili sauce. Allow the greens to cook down over medium heat, about 8 minutes.

4. Add the stock and tofu and bring to a boil.

5. Add the noodles and cook another 5 minutes until the noodles are done.

6. Garnish with sliced hard boiled eggs.

Wednesday
Jul152009

Garlic scape pesto

Garlic scapes keep coming and they're fantastic!  One great use for them is to make a garlic scape pesto.

If you have a favorite pesto recipe, you can basically substitute scapes for some or all of the basil.  If you need a starting place, the recipe below will get you started.  Note that it can be easily halved or quartered depending on how many scapes you have avaiable:

  • ~1lb. fresh garlic scapes
  • 1 cup grated parmesan or romano cheese
  • 1/2 to 1 cup olive oil
  • 1/3 cup pine nuts, walnuts, or almonds
  • salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Chop the garlic scapes into pieces about 1/2-inch long, then put into blender or food processor with the cheese, nuts, and about half the olive oil. (If you're using whole walnuts or almonds, you'll want to run them in the processor first to break them up.) Blend everything up until the well mixed and then slowly add in the rest of the olive oil, stopping when you reach a consistency you like.  For smaller batches of pesto, a blender may not be effective, but a heavy duty mortar and pestle would also do the trick.  Add salt and pepper at the end. Some folks substitute a little broth to reduce how much olive oil is in the pesto, and other will add in a little parsley, basil, or cilantro when first blending the mixture together.  Experimentation leads to new loves!

Pesto is good with almost anything, from fresh bread to pasta to salads to eggs.  If you put it in an airtight container, it will even keep for several days in the fridge and can be frozen for a couple of months!

Saturday
Jun062009

Spinach & Strawberries Salad

INGREDIENTS

  • 1 to 2 bags baby (or a big bunch of fresh CSA) spinach
  • 1 pint strawberries, sliced
  • 1 bag slivered almonds
  • shredded cheddar cheese, optional
  • ½ cup sugar
  • 2 tablespoons sesame seeds
  • 1 tablespoon poppy seeds
  • 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
  • ¼ teaspoon paprika
  • ¼ cup cider vinegar
  • ½ cup olive oil
  • 1 tablespoon minced onion, optional

Get a bag or two depending on how many people you need to feed of baby spinach
1 pint of strawberrys ( slice them up)
Get a bag of slivered almonds
Some fancy shredded cheddar cheese ( you can skip the cheese, I am from the midwest, we thrive on cheese)


For dressing, mix together: 
Vinegar, olive oil, sugar, sesame seeds, poppy seeds, Worcestershire sauce, and paprika.

Right before you want to have the salad, toss the spinach in the dressing ( dress to taste) toss with cheese and almonds then top with strawberriies. Make sure you get some of the dressing on the strawberries.

OPTIONAL:  cheese. this salad is great and healthier without cheese, but this recipe often recommends it so...try shredded cheddar (midwesterners), a little crumbled blue, or my personal fave, some creamy goat cheese.  YUM!

 

Saturday
Jun062009

Garlic Sautéed Braising Greens

Welcome to SUMMER! It is the beginning of what I like to call "Food Heaven." So many wonderful vegetables come into season, really opening the door to some wonderful flavors. Summer is simple and fresh! This, our first delivery week, will include a smathering of different braising greens. This greens may include, kale, mustard, escarole, chards, etc.. These hearty greens can be cooked any number of ways. These greens are referred to as braising greens because many cooks choose to braise (slow cook with liquid) these greens to wilt them and help cut some of their bitterness. One of my favorite ways to cook these greens is with a ton of garlic. :) Here is one of my favorite quick recipes for cooking these greens. Simple, Simple..

Ingredients

  • 2 TBsp of Olive Oil
  • 2 Bunches of Braising Greens, washed, and roughly chopped (You may choose to chop the stem and add if you like
  • 2-3 Cloves of fresh garlic, Spring garlic is available now, all the flavor of garlic, slightly milder
  • 1/8 of a cup of broth or water, I use vegetable or chicken broth
  • Enough course salt to taste. I use kosher salt, none of that iodized stuff...
  • A few drops of sesame oil to bring out a nice flavor

Directions

This is so easy! Enjoy

  1. Heat a medium sized saute pan over med-high heat. Add the garlic and saute until tender, about 1 minute.
  2. Add the greens a handful at a time, stirring for a minute or two while the leaves begin to wilt.
  3. Add the stock or water, allow everything to steam together until the greens are tender
  4. Season with salt to taste, and add a few drops of sesame oil

This will feed 4, half the recipe for 2.. This is great, serve with some nice BBQ Pork Tenderloin and some rice. Welcome to "Food Heaven!!!"

Saturday
Jun062009

Dill Pickles

From www.wisebread.com:

I’m a dill pickle addict. Once that seal has been popped on my jar of Claussen dills, I usually take care of that jar within 24 hours. Pickles aren’t cheap, however, so I went for a DIY remedy that tastes pretty darn good (and you won’t need any canning abilities to make these homemade pickles.)

Pickle-making isn’t sexy, and it won’t get you any special perks beyond the joys of eating your own pickles. But it’s cheap, quick, and gives you a sense of accomplishment that you won’t get from throwing an overpriced jar into your grocery cart. Here’s a recipe that that will take care of your pickle cravings with little money and even less time:

Grab your cukes. Pickle connoisseurs will try to tell you that you can’t use the overgrown ones to make pickles. You can, it just won’t be quite the same. If you don’t mind eating pickled seeds (I happen to love them), there is no reason you can’t use up some of those giant, longer-than-your-arm cucumbers in your pickling recipe. If you don’t like the mushy insides, you can always cut the cukes in half lengthwise and scrape out the seedy pulp with a spoon. No hard feelings. (Note: Be sure to wash the cukes and scrub them well or rinse them in a veggie wash – you will be leaving the skins on for flavor and texture.)

Cut them. This isn’t rocket science. You can slice them in any manner you choose. (I prefer short, stubby pickles for snacking, but you can slice them thin or in hamburger sized slices, as well.) If the cucumbers are small enough, you can leave them whole (but pickling time will be longer.)

Prepare your brine. Simply boil 3 cups water (bottled is preferred), 1/8 cup kosher or sea (not iodized) salt, and 1 tablespoon white vinegar. Once it has come to a full boil, remove from heat and allow it to cool to room temperature (you don’t want to boil your cucumbers.)

Add your seasonings. While the liquid is boiling, you can begin packing the jar as full of sliced cucumbers as you can fit (with room at the top). Then add your seasonings, which includes 1/4 cup chopped fresh dill (you can use less, if desired), ¼ tsp mustard seed, 1/2 tsp black pepper (whole peppercorns work well), and finely chopped garlic cloves (5 or more, depending on how strong you want them.) I also add a teaspoon of red pepper flakes and will occasionally throw in a small jalapeno pepper for extra kick!

Fill and seal. Now that your brine has cooled, pour it over the pickles until the jar is full.Screw on your lid (if you’re using a recycled spaghetti sauce jar) or your canning lid and ring (no need to pressure seal.) Now just stick these guys in the fridge for a minimum of 5 days for awesome pickle flavor! They’ll keep in the fridge for weeks (although they are usually gone within days.)

Any questions? (This recipe is an adaptation from several old recipes I found, and one really great one on Recipezaar. Feel free to throw in veggies and spices of your choosing, including onions, carrots, and peppers.)