Tantre farm share, week 9

I say I want to make sauerkraut and the cabbage gods respond! Two small heads of cabbage appeared in this week's Tantre Farm Share:

Vaguely left to right: parsley, carrots, beets, two heads of garlic, yellow zucchini, leeks, 4 cucumbers, basil, 2 quarts of green beans, bag of broccoli, curly kale, 2 quarts of new potatoes, 2 small cabbages and 2 bunches of mixed Asian greens

I also picked up a dozen eggs and two quarts of Flaming Fury peaches (love the name). Michigan peaches are still in their early days -- not as amazing as the Redhaven's that will come in later this season -- but I plan to cook with these.

Menu plan:

• As mentioned, the cabbage is going to be transformed into sauerkraut (I'll probably head down to the Saturday market and get more).
• Roasted chicken thighs with peaches, ginger and basil served with rice and braised leeks
• Cucumbers will go into a jumbo batch of cucumber feta salad with toasted pita chips--it's more like a dip than a salad exactly and incredibly addictive.
• The carrots are amazing and I'll only eat them raw--anything else masks their delicate, almost minty flavor.
• Turkish zucchini pancakes with yogurt garlic sauce
• The broccoli, parsley and some garlic will go into this warm chickpea and broccoli salad.
• Thanks to last week's suggestion from Librarymama, some of the green beans and potatoes will go into a salade Nicoise.
• Blanched green beans and tofu will get mixed up with a SE Asian style dressing--lime, fish sauce, sugar, garlic, peanuts and copious quantities of basil, mint and cilantro.
• The beets will be roasted (see below) and probably gobbled straight from the pan.
• Brian is taking the kids to some train fest thingy this weekend so, I'll probably eat some of the vegetables he is less fond of while they are gone: the Asian greens in miso soup with tofu and the kale and beet tops in the basic garlic/hot pepper/lemon juice saute; I think the latter makes a terrific dinner with a hunk of crusty bread and some sort of strong cheese.
• An upside down peach cake--the cake base will probably be a yogurt cake. Not sure what recipe I'll use yet.

Now, back to those beets. I've roasted beets many times, but always roasted them whole. Then Sarah directed me to the method described in this recipe in which the beets are treated like potatoes--peeled and cut up before roasting and tossed with a little olive oil and vinegar. This results in a much less slippery texture--they get caramelized and chewy around the edges and are so good that I ate them like popcorn and had to use all my self control to save some for Brian.

Yeah, that's all I left him, poor guy...

Roasted Cubed Beets
based on Melissa Clark's recipe

about 2 lbs of beets, peeled and cut into uniform-ish sized cubes
a good glug of olive oil
1/2 t kosher salt
1/2 t black pepper
1-2 T red wine vinegar

Preheat oven to 375.
Get out a sheet pan with sides, cover it in foil. Dump all your ingredients on it and toss until beets are nicely coated. Cover the pan with foil and roast 15-20 minutes, then remove the foil and continue to roast until tender inside and getting a little crusty on the edges (about another 15-20 minutes, depending on the size of your beet cubes.)