Tantre farm share, week 4

Whooooo boy! I had trouble fitting all this produce into one photo.

Front row: arugula, dill, peppermint, garlic scapes, 1 pt. shelling peas, 1 qt. strawberries

Back row: 5 (!!) heads of lettuce, radishes, broccoli rabe, turnips with abundant greens, scallions, 4 bunches of spinach

(It might be easier to see this load of green goodness in flickr where I've put notes to identify all the items.)

What I'm planning to do with this week's bounty:

• Tonight I'm making braised turnips with poppy seeds and bread crumbs to go with some honey balsamic pork medallions and lettuce, radish and scallion salad.
• I'll use the arugula and some spinach make another batch of Warda's bulgar with spicy greens and I'll resist the urge to scarf it out of the pot--it makes a great lunch.
• Half of the broccoli rabe will be used to make pizza or calzones with one of my favorite combinations: broccoli rabe, turkey Italian sausage, caramelized onions and ricotta (then I'll blanch and freeze the other half to make this again later).
• The turnip greens, radish greens, rest of the radishes, some dill, some peas and scallions will go into an improvised spring vegetable soup.
• The mint will make some Friday mojitos which will precede souvlaki pork, with tzatziki sauce and spinach and feta rice (that also uses scallions and dill).
• Chicken with garlic scapes and capers will be served with (I'm sure) more salad.
• The strawberries will be sliced and drizzled with honey to go with honey lavender panna cotta (more details about this recipe in my next post).

Soup for summer

Ahhh book group. It has been a while since I posted about book group--I think I spaced out on bringing my camera a couple of times, but this past Wednesday I found myself at Meagan's with my camera and a hearty appetite. I wasn't terribly thorough in the photography department so missed out on taking pics of appetizers (fig-goat cheese tapenade) and dessert (fresh strawberries and alfajores) but I got the food that was served in the middle!

Ami adapted a vichyssoise recipe to make this gorgeous cold potato garlic soup. It was velvety and rich, but also refreshing--not an easy juxtaposition to pull off (recipe below).
For dinner, Meagan made grilled trout stuffed with herbs and butter--both delicate and full of flavor. And there was a salad with strawberries and chive blossoms, watermelon feta salad, sauteed garlicky greens and bread. Ooof.
Oh yea, and there was a book! I confess I didn't re-read Monsters of Templeton despite enjoying it a great deal the first time I read it. So my contribution to the conversation was pretty minimal. After some intelligent sounding discussion of the different "historical" artifacts in the book and an agreement that the stories of the past were more compelling than the life of the main character in the present, I commandeered a copy of the book and forced everyone to sit quietly while I read the monster's epilogue out loud (I'd had a few glasses of wine which, as you can see, makes me a bit of a bore.) The sweet people in my book group tollerated my behavior and perhaps looked on a with a little amusement as I got all choked up when I read about the monster giving birth and dying--so beautiful.

Ami's Cold and Creamy Potato Garlic Soup
adapted from Vichyssoise

2 C finely diced raw potatoes
4 tablespoons butter
5 T minced garlic
3 C chicken broth
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
a dash of nutmeg
1 C heavy cream
3/4 C sour cream
1 C of milk
Chopped chives

Cook the potatoes in salted water to cover until just tender. Drain. Melt the butter in a skillet and add the garlic, cooking until fragrant. Add the chicken broth and bring to a boil. Add the potatoes to the broth and season to taste with salt, pepper and nutmeg. Put this mixture in the blender (you will need to blend it in lots) and blend for 1 minute, or until smooth. Chill. When ready to serve, whisk in heavy cream, sour cream and milk. Garnish with chopped chives.

Tantre farm share, week 3

It has been perfect spinach growing weather here in Michigan as evidenced by this week's farm share:

In the front row: garlic scapes, peppermint, strawberries, and radishes
In the back row: 3 heads of lettuce, green onions, spicy greens mix, turnips with greens and 6 (yes 6!) big bunches of spinach

My book group is meeting tonight, so I quickly snagged the peppermint and used it in this watermelon feta salad:
And I'm also taking along the turnip greens, radish greens and spicy greens mix to saute with garlic and olive oil as a side dish.

So that doesn't actually leave me with an overwhelming amount of stuff to deal with this week. Here are the plans:

• If you think I'm sick of goma ae you'd be wrong. I really think that Brian and I could eat our body weight of goma ae so I expect at least half of the spinach to be devoted to having some perpetually on hand.
• The other half of the spinach will probably go into Indian spinach with yogurt sauce since I haven't made Indian food in a while.
• I'll make some garlic scape and almond pesto.
• I want to use some of the lettuce (and the scallions) in minced chicken lettuce wraps, probably something like this recipe but without the ham.
• I'm using my cheapo Japanese mandoline to cut the radishes paper-thin and then use them in one of three ways: either on baguette with butter and some chopped chives, topping some of that sweet lettuce in salads or tossed with paper-thin cut carrots and a little vinaigrette dressing. I love having marinated vegetable salads available for snacking in the fridge.
• For the turnips I'm thinking braised as an accompaniment to mustard pork tenderloin.
• And the strawberries? I love them simply accompanied by sour cream and brown sugar.

What has been coming out of the kitchen

I've mentioned some of the dishes I've been planning to cook with the Tantre bounty; I figured it was about time to show a few of the results. I've made three "keeper" recipes and only had one that I thought was a dud which is a pretty good ratio of successful cooking around these parts. (Recipes at the bottom of the post).

Keeper #1: Spanakopita made with mostly assertive greens rather than spinach. I used one of my 3 bunches of Tantre spinach--about 5 oz or so. The rest of the greens consisted of the radish greens and the spicy greens mix--a huge bunch of mostly mustard and mizuna. Washed, chopped and cooked up with the rest of the pie filling you couldn't tell the difference. This is an excellent way to use up a bounty of greens, particularly if you have folks who aren't as enamored of the sharp, bitter flavor that appears in simpler preparations. (The salad is simply the frilly Tantre lettuce with peppermint leaves and a simple vinaigrette).

And since I had only used up about a 1/3 of an 8oz roll of filo dough, I made a small pan of baklava too. I just kind of threw together the stuff that should be in there and it turned out surprisingly decent. Then again, how bad can filo, butter, walnuts, cinnamon, honey syrup and orange flower water ever be?
Keeper #2: Spinach, barley, ricotta salad
This was terrific. I used one bunch of Tantre spinach and the bunch of arugula. I adapted the recipe from this post on the blog Stonesoup. It was creamy, chewy, a little bitter and very satisfying.

Keeper #3: The feta dressing, here on a chicken Greek salad (which would have looked a lot prettier if I had tossed the greens with the dressing instead of blobbing it on top). This used 2 heads of Tantre lettuce (red and green) and the radishes to which I added some cucumbers, beets, red onion slices, tomatoes, kalamata olives and pieces of roast chicken.
Not a recipe, but a nice combination: A breakfast of garlic naan bread, toasted, with cream cheese, chive blossoms, microgreens, cayenne and black pepper, with a side of radishes
And the dud recipe, Spinach and Green Garlic Soup with creme fraiche:
Looks pretty, but the flavor was blah. I stuck to the proportions indicated in the recipe but thought it was thin and could have used something to help give it more substance--maybe a boiled potato? I used up one bunch of Tantre spinach and a lot of the green garlic in my garden but wish I'd found something more worthy of them.

Spanakopita with assertive greens
loosely adapted from this recipe

• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 1 bunch green onions, chopped coarsely
• 3 cloves garlic, pressed
• about 1.5-2 pounds of greens: spinach, mustard, mizuna, kale (I probably wouldn't use the colored chards because they tend to have a "beety" taste that might show through). Wash well, remove tough stems and chop into small pieces (spinach can be left whole unless it is huge)
• 3 t dried dill weed
• 2 T fresh dill, chopped (optional, use it if you have it)
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten
• 1/2 cup ricotta cheese
• 1 and 1/2 cups crumbled feta cheese
• salt and pepper
  
• 10 sheets phyllo dough
• 2 T butter melted with 2 T olive oil

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly oil a 9x11 inch baking pan.
2. Heat 3 tablespoons olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Saute onion, green onions and garlic, until soft and lightly browned. Stir in greens and dill, and continue to saute until greens have softened. Season with salt and fresh ground pepper. Remove from heat and set aside to cool.
3. In a medium bowl, mix together eggs, ricotta, and feta. Stir in greens mixture. Lay 1 sheet of phyllo dough in prepared baking pan, and brush lightly with olive oil. Lay another sheet of phyllo dough on top, brush with butter-olive oil mixture, and repeat process with three more sheets of phyllo. Spread spinach and cheese mixture into pan and fold any long edges of dough over the filling. Layer remaining 5 sheets of phyllo dough, brushing each with butter-oil mixture. Tuck overhanging dough into pan to seal filling.
4. Bake in preheated oven for 30 to 40 minutes, until golden brown. Cut into squares and serve while hot.

Spinach, pearl barley & ricotta salad
adapted from stonesoup
serves 2 as a lunch-sized salad or 4 as a dinner side

• 2 oz pearl barley
• 1 large bunch spinach, washed well with thick stems removed
• 1 large bunch of arugula, washed well
• 1 C whole milk ricotta
• 1 t orange zest
• 1 t chili flakes
• 3T clementine olive oil (if you have it, or just use regular extra virgin)
• 1 T balsamic vinegar
• fleur de sel and black pepper to taste

1. Place barley in a small saucepan and cover generously with water. Bring to the boil and simmer for 25 - 30 minutes, or until cooked through. Drain and rinse with cold water and transfer to a large bowl.
2. Heat 1 T of clementine or regular olive oil in a pan, add chili flakes and toast in the oil for a minute. Add greens and allow to wilt.
3. Spread spinach/arugula mixture over a serving platter. Scatter the barley around it. Dot with dollops of ricotta. Grate the orange zest over the top and, if you want a little more heat, scatter a few more chili flakes over. Drizzle with the remaining 2 T clementine olive oil and 1 T balsamic vinegar. Sprinkle on fleur de sel and ground black pepper to taste.

Tantre farm share, week 2

Good thing we like greens over here because whoo boy, the table runneth over with greeny goodness:

From left to right: frilly green lettuce, butter lettuce, (tucked in front) tatsoi, Pink Beauty radishes with ample greens, spicy greens mix with lots of mizuna, 3 big bunches of spinach, peppermint, arugula, asparagus, and spring onions

What I plan to do with the bounty:

• spinach and green garlic soup (I have a load of green garlic in my garden)
• spanakopita with some radish greens and mizuna taking the place of some of the spinach
• lettuce, arugula, radish and spring onion and peppermint leaf salad with feta dressing (see below: really simple, really good). Sarah started chucking whole leaves of mint in her green salads and it is an inspired addition.
• tatsoi stirfry with tofu, dried shitakes, ginger and garlic
• Korean scallion and kimchee pancakes with those long spring onion greens
• raw asparagus with lemon and Parmesan (supposed to be pecorino, but parm will work fine)
• spinach, barley and ricotta salad

and if that doesn't use all the greens

• probably some more goma ae with whatever greens are left
• maybe a quiche with some blanched chopped greens

and if that still doesn't do it, then I'll just blanch and freeze some for use later.

Feta Salad Dressing:
Put about 1 C crumbled feta, 3 T red wine vinegar, 1 T water, 1/2 t dried oregano (or about 2 T fresh oregano), 1/3 C good olive oil and lots of fresh ground black pepper in a food processor or blender. Pulse or blend quickly to combine into a chunky dressing. Don't over blend or the olive oil might take on a bitter flavor. If you want a really smooth dressing, then leave the olive oil out until the last minute and add it at the end.

Fish hat

You'd think that wearing a fish on your head would just about guarantee a smile from a kid.
But my girl critter has been working on her face of gloom.
I had to jump around like a monkey to get her to crack, but I finally succeeded.
She almost looks cuter from behind. Which is good, because now that she's 6, apparently the age of turning away from mom has commenced.
Pattern info:
The fish hat is from this awesome knitty pattern: Fish Hat [Dead or Alive?] It was really fast and fun to knit and I got to use up a bunch of stashed scrap yarn. I'll probably be making one for every member of my family.

Goma ae days

In these days of spinach bounty, here's how I take what seems to be an overwhelming quantity of leafy goodness that is busting out of the crisper drawers and threatening to creep into the container of yogurt on the shelf above and render it docile and tidy (the spinach, not the yogurt which tends to stay where you put it). And tasty. Very tasty.

The magic words are: Goma Ae. Brian and I used to order this when we went out to Japanese restaurants (ah, the days before GM was teetering on the edge of bankruptcy) but that was before we realized that we wanted to eat a much bigger quantity of it than any restaurant ever served and that it was so darn easy to make.

Take about 1.5-2 lbs of clean spinach. Pinch off the stems if they are tough. Dump the spinach (you can also add in other relatively tender greens--I put some mizuna in this batch) in a big pot of boiling water to blanch, then quickly rinse under cold water. Once it is cool you squeeze it like hell to get all the water out until it is about the size of a softball:
(If only all such unruly things were this easily contained. Kids...?)

In your mortar put 2 T roasted sesame seeds (you can see I buy the pre-roasted ones at the Asian grocery).
Pestle-ize them to a fine-ish grind:
Then add 2 T soy (I use Japanese lower sodium), 1 T rice wine vinegar, 1 T mirin, and 1 t sugar and mix it all together.
(I would bet that the above slurry can also be made in a blender if you don't have a mortar and pestle or if your forearms are just too darn tired today for all the grinding. My blender is putting me through hell at the moment by leaking all over the counter no matter how carefully and tightly I attach the base to the jar so I'll stick with the mortar for now.)

Chop the spinach coarsely, put it in a bowl and then dump the dressing over your chopped spinach. Drizzle on 1 t toasted sesame oil.
Use a fork to distribute the dressing and break up the clods of spinach.
Number of servings depends on the level of goma ae enthusiasm in your house. Brian and I can easily polish of a bowl this size but then we are a little piggy when it comes to this stuff.

Tantre farm share, week 1

Last year I became incredibly curious what a week-to-week farm share looked like. I enjoyed reading about the creative uses the Gastronomical 3 ladies were doing with their split Tantre share and I loved Mary's Community Farm Kitchen blog (she not only lists the weekly full share, but if you are a part of her Kitchen CSA, she tells you how she will be preparing it for you).

If any of you are as curious as I was as to what a full-share looks like, I plan to post a photo of my weekly share from Tantre Farm. I also plan to briefly mention what recipes I intend to use to consume all this produce and would love to hear if you have any creative thoughts of what you would do (particularly when I inevitably get stumped by a vegetable!)

If you have a farm share that you'd be willing to photograph weekly, please let me know. I'd love to peek at your haul! I went with Tantre this year because one of the farmer-owners, Deb, came into my picky boy critter's class when he was in 2nd grade and actually got the kid to taste a tiny nibble of raw sorrel. I figure she must be magical because I haven't been able to pry his jaws apart for any leafy green in years and a magical farmer sounded like a good place to start.

So here is the photo of week 1 of my Tantre farm share:

The haul, from left to right: purple lettuce, green lettuce, some over-wintered fingerling potatoes, mizuna, asparagus, huge bag of spinach, french radishes, globe radishes, spring onions, chives

plus some rhubarb that sneaked out of the photo (rhubarb is sneaky like that):

What I plan to do with it:

• Lettuce: salad (duh)
• Fingerlings: roasted with olive oil, fresh rosemary and fleur de sel
• Mizuna and some of the spinach: Warda's Spicy Greens with Bulgur (Tchicha bel Khoubiz) probably served with something lamb based, maybe some kofte
• Asparagus: there are just a few beautiful spears (apparently some slugs have been having a field day with the asparagus crop this year) so I might supplement these with some from the store. I want to make a broiled miso asparagus dish called Dengaku
• rest of the spinach: goma ae (I'll share my basic recipe soon), probably served some variation of miso soup
• French radishes: my favorite cold soup, Chlodnik
• Globe radishes: roasted radishes with radish greens (Yes, you can eat the greens like, well, greens! And this bunch has gorgeous greens.)
• Spring onions: a couple saved for salad, the rest roasted along with the fingerlings
• Chives: I already used up some in a chive-ricotta omelet as soon as I came home. The rest will be used for more omelets and as garnish for the Chlodnik soup
• Rhubarb: pie (which will make my husband very, very happy since he knew he'd be getting lots of healthy food out of this farm share thingy, but didn't anticipate his favorite pie!)

Thoughts? Plans? Ideas?

Soup, and its variations

I have a new favorite soup! And it's easy to make! And it's healthy!

(Whew. Used up my quota of exclamation points.*)

I've always loved miso soup. Even my picky girl critter will eat it. But I always think of it as a prelude to a meal, not as the centerpiece. But this past weekend Sarah changed my mind about that. Both of our Brians had taken their respective 6-year-old critters and headed up north to a state park cabin, leaving Sarah and I each with the luxury of only catering to the needs of one critter and furthermore, eating the kind of food we really love (and which our Brians will eat, but not celebrate).

Sarah made the soup I'm raving about and I brought a salad. I had just been to the farmers market that morning and picked up a gorgeous huge endive, eggs from the Amish farmers and more asparagus. These came together with a handful of walnuts and some spinach thinnings from my garden:
We tossed the greens with vinaigrette and walnuts, then poached the asparagus and eggs. Served with a glass of wine, a hunk of paesano bread and a really stinky Camembert that I got at the Friday Zingerman's warehouse sale this would have been fine for dinner.

But then Sarah brought out the soup! (Ooops. Over-quota on exclamation points.**)

Allow me to present the original:

Miso Mushroom Soup

Barley miso, dashi, spinach, mixed mushrooms, firm tofu, chicken broth

It was a chilly, windy evening and this soup, with the rich, robust flavor from the barley miso, was perfect. It was tangy, it was fresh, it was umami and I loved it.

Last night, I decided I wanted MORE and so, going with what I had in the house, I made a variation on the original:

White miso, dashi, pea shoots, shitake mushrooms, medium tofu, scallions, chicken and vegetable broth, lemon zest (accompanied by a big bowl of goma ae to the left)

It resulted in a slightly more delicate variation, well suited to the sunny day on which it was served. The pea shoots and tiny bit of lemon zest gave the soup a bright, light flavor.

Don't make me pick my favorite because I loved them both. Clearly the recipe is very versatile and adapts to what you have on hand, it is easy to make vegetarian (though I have to say the chicken broth does give this a more substantial flavor), and also potentially useful for using up spare produce. And best of all it takes maybe 10 minutes to make! This soup is going to be in regular rotation at our house, particularly on those frantic nights when there doesn't seem to be any time to cook.

Mushroom Miso Soup

The Sarah Version
(adapted from Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything)

4 cups chicken broth
dashi (instant kind) about 1t or to taste
2 T Barley Miso
4-6 oz mixed mushrooms, sliced
about 1/2 lb spinach
1/2 cake firm tofu, cubed

The Kate Variation
(adapted from Sarah's adaptation from Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything)

1 can chicken broth
1 can vegetable broth
2 C water
2 T white miso
2 t instant dashi
4 oz shitake mushrooms, stems removed and sliced
about 2 oz fresh pea shoots which is a couple of good handfuls ($1.50 worth from the Garden Works folks at the farmers market is plenty for this soup)
1/2 cake medium or soft tofu, cubed
1 scallion, sliced in thin circles
a little bit of lemon zest (don't over do it or it will overpower the other flavors)

Saute your mushrooms in a little canola oil or butter till they are just tender. Then dump in your broth, dashi, water (if making variation 2) and bring to a boil. Turn down the heat, scoop out about a 1/2 C of broth and stir it into the miso to thin it. Then dump it back in the pot with the tofu and heat until the tofu is warmed through. Toss in the spinach or pea shoots and optional scallion and lemon zest. Warm gently for a minute until the green stuff is wilted.

Done!
_________________________________________
*Over-use of exclamation points leads to cheerleaderitis syndrome. More than three in a post is a danger sign for developing the disease.
**picture me with my pom poms...

The day my character came alive

A strange thing happened today.

The main character in my work-in-progress novel just came alive. And it turns out that she is 15, not 12 and she has straight dark brown hair, not light brown frizzy hair, and she's short, not tall.

I have to say, this is a little weird.

I have written almost 60,000 words and while many things have been falling in place, there was something that was holding me back. I was getting the plot points, seeing where the story was going, developing conflicts, figuring out resolutions. But all the while my main character felt a little off: stiff, not quite real to me.

Then today while polishing off my second cup of black coffee and eating my new favorite not-so-healthy breakfast (garlic naan with cream cheese, Turkish aleppo pepper and cherry tomatoes) how she should be was so apparent that my hands started to quiver with anticipation of typing it all down. I don't know where she has been hiding, but now that she's here it feels like any of my residual reservations have fallen away.

This is going to necessitate some changes to the rest of the book--now I think it is pretty clear that this will be YA, not middle grade so the voice will have to be tweaked and some of the relationships rewritten. But this doesn't sound overwhelming--with her here beside me, it sounds like fun.