Exquisite eggs (and a salsa recipe)

Brian's friend, John, has started keeping chickens and yesterday Brian came home with a half-dozen exquisite eggs.

This morning I poached one and had it with paesano bread drizzled with a little olive oil:
You can just see the intense color of the yolk glowing through the white, but here's a clearer view:
No, I did not touch up the photo! It really was that glorious golden orange. I've bought plenty of eggs from the farmer's market, but none have been this deeply colored or this flavorful.

John is also the source of my salsa recipe. He's a salsa-making fiend and every year adds to the number of tomato plants he grows in his back yard (I think he's up to 50 plants this year). I can't even imagine how many jars of salsa he makes, but he and his two sons eat it pretty much every day. Last year I used his recipe and made 6 pints, which we loved. This year I made 12 pints--6 of the original recipe and 6 with chipotle peppers to give it a smoky kick.

Tomorrow I think I'll have my poached egg with a dollop of salsa and will raise my mug of black coffee in a toast to John!

John's Amazing Salsa
makes about 6 pints

10-11 cups of peeled and seeded tomatoes. Roma's are preferred but I've made these with all kinds of tomatoes--roma's, brandywines, green zebras, yellow plum, etc.
3 cloves of garlic
3 large white or yellow onions
4 mild red, green or yellow peppers (or a mix)
4-6 jalapenos with seeds; for the chipotle version swap in two chipotles in adobo sauce for the regular jalapenos
1 bunch of cilantro, washed (you can leave the stems on)
1/2-2/3 C brown sugar (depends on how sweet you want it)
1 C white vinegar
3 T pickling or kosher salt (not iodized)

Wash all the vegetables and then cut into manageable size pieces. Use a food processor to chop all the vegetables--I usually leave some a little chunky and almost puree others so the salsa has some thickness. Put all the chopped vegetables, the sugar, vinegar and salt in a large pot and bring to a boil. Simmer for 2.5 hours, stirring frequently so the bottom doesn't scorch. You want to reduce the salsa so it isn't watery and some of this will depend on the juice content of your tomatoes, so if it still looks a little watery at the end of 2.5 hours, simmer for a bit longer.

Prepare your jars--wash, then put on a cookie sheet in a 200 degree oven for 10 minutes to sterilize. Boil the lids to sterilize.

Fill jars with hot salsa, put on a lid and screw on a ring. You can either set these on the counter and hope they all take a seal (I have pretty good luck with this but if the seal doesn't take then you'll have to refrigerate the jar and consume it relatively quickly) or take the safe route and process the jars in boiling water for 10 minutes.

Enjoy the taste of late summer all winter long!

Canning time

The critters are back at school (whoo hoo!) and I went a little cuckoo this morning at the farmer's market:
In addition to my regular bountiful farm share, I purchased a peck of peach 2nds, a peck of tomato 2nds and some additional peppers. The first will go into peach jam and the second and third will go into salsa. Last year I made my own salsa for the first time and it has totally ruined me for the store bought stuff.

I already have peeled and frozen some tomatoes and slow roasted and froze some other tomatoes and roasted some red peppers from previous weeks of the farm share so I'm hoping to experiment with some different batches. If I come up with a phenomenal new combination, I'll share the recipe.

So today, while the critters are easing themselves back into the school year, I'll be steaming up the house, peeling and skinning and chopping these fruits. I've loaded up my iPod with a bunch of my favorite podcasts and an audiobook that I've been meaning to listen to. And I'll try not to get so deeply involved that I forget to pick up the critters at the end of the school day...):

A sight for sore eyes (and stomach)

After two days of road food, the last of which consisted of cheese sticks, grainy apples, granola bars and a couple of cans of Starbucks Double Shots, I was so happy to go out this morning and pick up this:
No, I have no distinct plans for all this produce, and yes, I will try not to binge and make myself sick.

Now if you'll excuse me, there are some (a lot!) of tomatoes to be consumed for breakfast!

I wish I was this good with duct tape

I took the critters to the Botanical Gardens this week to play in their wonderful children's garden and to check out the decorated flamingo lawn ornament display.

There we met this fine fellow--a flamingo transformed into a dragon, all done with duct tape!
If I attempted this I would probably stick all my fingers together and end up with wads upon wads of crumpled tape, not this elegant creature.

There were some other nice flamingos (flamingi?). There was a bird decorated to look like a strawberry (standing, appropriately, in a strawberry patch):


a bride and groom flamingo (which made me want to perch them on top of a really big cake):


and a few that had been transformed into other bird species, like this blue heron,


and this shy loon:


Maybe next summer I'll keep an eye out for cheap flamingos and see what the critters and I can come up with.

Tantre Farm Share, week 8

Top row: onions, dill, lots of cucumbers, broccoli, swiss chard
Bottom row: Thai basil, green beans, red potatoes, carrots, summer squash, beets

Menu plan:

A couple of the recipes from last week's menu plan were so good that I'm making them again: the cucumber dill feta salad (this one is tried and true and since we have a bumper crop of cukes this week, it seems wise to have some around for snacking), the beets and chard w/goat cheese and chile dressing (Brian didn't even get to taste this since I loved it so much I didn't save any for him; he's on a work trip this week so once again he misses out!) and the squash and green beans with sauce vert. There was sauce vert leftover which I ended up eating smeared on pieces of baguette with some cheese. I wished I'd had some cold roast beef because the sauce, with its capers and mustard, would make a pretty terrific roast beef sandwich.

Also on the menu this week:

• Vietnamese rice vermicelli salad w/cucumber, thai basil, carrots, sweet onion, blanched green beans, tofu and peanuts with nuoc cham dressing.
• At least one other stem of the thai basil will get planted with my potted herbs so I can have it to use later in the summer (a nice benefit of getting the basil with its roots).
• Some of the potatoes and one of the cucumbers will go into this German-ish style potato cucumber salad; it sounds like it would be good with grilled sausages.
• The rest of the potatoes and the broccoli will get roasted w/a soy butter sauce. I'll pair it with either marinated and grilled chicken or tofu.
• It looks like I'll still have a couple of cukes left so I think I'll make a jar of bread and butter tarragon refrigerator pickles. Normally, I'm a lacto-fermented type pickle eater, but these pickles are really good with summer bbq or on a turkey burger so it'll be good to have a jar on hand.

Tantre Farm Share, week 7

From Left to Right: (top row) cucumbers, broccoli, yellow zucchini, garlic, epazote, basil
(bottom row) fava beans, beets, swiss chard, sweet onions, green beans

Menu plan:

• I'm going to use the fava beans in this recipe for linguine with fava beans, garlic, tomato and bread crumbs (and I'll chuck in some of the basil).

• Half the broccoli will go into a half recipe of Sesame garlic broccoli salad.

• I'll toast up some pita chips to scoop up this feta cucumber salad; I doubt it will be a part of a meal, more like a good beer-absorbing appetizer.

• I'll caramelize the onions and use them on a white pizza with goat cheese, olives, basil and fresh thyme, served with this recipe for green beans and (yellow) zucchini with sauce vert. If it is stinking hot, the pizza will get done on the grill.

• Provided I can stand to turn on the oven in this warm, humid weather I'll make Roasted Beets with Guajillo chile dressing with added swiss chard. It sounds like it would be good with grilled chicken (I want to try a butterflied grilled chicken that is in this month's Food and Wine--no recipe on-line yet; if it's good I'll post it) and baguette.

• I'll dry the epazote to use later when I cook dry pinto beans.

Tantre Farm Share, week 5

Bottom row: scallions, 2 quarts shelling peas, beets and greens, fava beans, Asian greens
Top row: 2 kinds of lettuce, parsley, a lone yellow zucchini, broccoli

This week's share seems a little small, but we're having beautiful cool weather for we humans so I guess that's the price we pay. It works out fine with me since we won't be here the whole week and I would have had to give away a bunch of stuff otherwise.

Menu plan

• The fava beans and some of the peas will go into this recipe for sizzling halloumi to be served with good bread.
• A salad with lettuce, beets, some more fresh peas, scallions, parsley, feta and walnuts will be my lunch for a couple of days.
• Stir fry of Asian greens, yellow zucchini and scallions with a lot of ginger, served with rice and kim chi and maybe a fried egg.
• Super basic broccoli this week: just steamed with butter. I'm hoping the girl-critter who eats broccoli will participate in its consumption.

Tantre Farm Share, week 4

Clockwise from bottom center: turnips, quart Chinese pea pods, chives, spinach, bok choi, 4 heads of lettuce, English peas, scallions, broccoli

Menu plan:

• The lettuce and a few scallions will make some lunch-time salads. Lately I've been making a sweet and tangy vinaigrette with some muscat vinegar from Morgan and York, Spanish olive oil from Sparrow, a glob of Michigan honey, salt, pepper and a little dijon. It's pretty basic, but doesn't overpower these soft lettuces.
• Some of the pea pods will get combined in a stir fry with the bok choi, some sliced chicken, ginger and scallions.
• The spinach will go into goma ae (I know, again, but we're still not sick of it)
• Turnip greens and shelled peas get tossed in for the last few seconds of cooking with pasta, then tossed with the leftover frozen pesto from last year (I've got to clear out last year's supply before the basil starts rolling in!)
• The broccoli and the rest of the pea pods (and probably some scallions too) will go into this Miso vegetables with Tofu recipe which I'll serve with brown rice.
• I'll use the chives in soft scrambled eggs, a combination I love, particularly with some good, dense, multigrain toast and a mug of strong black coffee.
• I haven't decided what to do with the turnips. I tried grilling them the other day (tossed with olive oil, salt and pepper and drizzled with a little balsamic when they came off) with some other vegetables and they turned out pretty well, so if we're firing up the grill I'll probably do that again.

Tantre Farm Share, week 3

From left to right, top row: Massive bunch of spinach, spicy greens, two heads of red lettuce, romaine lettuce, strawberries
bottom row: turnips, radishes, scallions, English peas, garlic scapes, lemon balm

Menu Plan:

• Some of the spinach, a few garlic scapes, and two of the scallions will be used to make foil-packet tilapia (see below).
• Garlic scape pesto to freeze and enjoy in the depths of winter
• Fresh peas and radishes will be tossed with toasted walnuts, feta, scallions and a mustard vinaigrette.
• The rest of the spinach will be blanched and combined into this salad with ricotta (and wheat berries instead of barley).
• My mom's birthday was yesterday so we consumed the strawberries with a lemon sour cream cake and whipped cream. I much prefer lemon cake to biscuity shortcakes as my strawberries and cream delivery device.
• The lemon balm will be made into herbal tea. I love infusions with fresh herbs--the flavor is much brighter than the dried.
• I haven't really decided what to do with the lettuce, turnips or spicy greens yet. Probably just salad, braise and stir fry respectively.

Now, about that fish in a foil packet. I really like making fish this way, partly because there is very little mess (no pan to wash, just rinse the used foil and toss in the recycling bin) and partly because it is easy and flavorful and eminently flexible. It works just as well in the winter with frozen vegetables as it does now with all this glorious produce.

Here's the general idea:

• First, crank up the oven to 400.
• Rip off a big piece of foil for each serving, probably about 18 inches long. Rub a little olive oil on the center and then pile on a portion of leftover rice (you can freeze leftover rice which makes this super easy. Just thaw the rice first.)
• Assemble a cutting board full of vegetables--you definitely want one or more members of the allium family: thin sliced onion, minced garlic, chopped garlic scapes, chopped scallions, you get the idea. Put half of your chosen allium(s) on the rice and reserve a few to top the whole pile so there is lots of pungent goodness throughout. Most vegetables work fine, just watch out for the ones that release a lot of water when they cook. Try combining any of the following: thin sliced carrots, sliced red peppers, steamed greens, thin sliced fennel, sugar snap peas, some cherry tomatoes. Whatever sounds good and is hanging out in the crisper drawers. Heck, even frozen peas and frozen broccoli works in the wintertime.
• Lay a tilapia fillet on top of the rice pile. Sprinkle on a little salt and pepper and any other herbs you want (dill, tarragon, fresh basil, whatever works with your vegetable pile).
• Pile on the vegetables and the rest of your chosen alliums.
• Top with some feta, another sprinkle of salt and pepper, a squeeze of lemon juice and a drizzle of olive oil. Then fold over your foil and seal up your packets, plop them on a baking sheet and chuck them in the oven for 15 minutes.
• Take out a packet and carefully open it up (there will be some steam); use a knife to poke around and see if the fish is cooked through. If not, seal up the packet again and leave it for another 5 minutes.
• Open up the packets and slide each one onto its own plate.

As I mentioned before, this recipe is flexible. You can splash on a little white wine if you are so inspired, you can smear the tilapia with some dijon mustard, or replace the feta with a blob of sour cream and a little lemon zest. I'm sure you could substitute a different fish fillet, just make sure it is thin. I use tilapia because it a) cheap b) mild and c) the US farmed tilapia is one of the best choices on the seafood watch guide. I usually get a bag of frozen fillets and pull out as many as I need the morning I want to make this.

Tonight's packet contained brown rice, garlic scapes, two big scallions, spinach that I had nuked until it wilted and chopped (the leaves were HUGE), feta and lemon and it was terrific--all the flavors melded together but it wasn't a big pile of fishy mush (which may be one of the more disgusting phrases I've ever written. Fishy mush=ewwww.) I neglected to photograph it before I gobbled it down, but here's a picture of a depths of winter version all piled up and ready to be sealed in its packet:
Let me know if you come up with any particularly tasty combinations that I can add to our repertoire!

Sunday Supper Sillies

By Sunday evening we tend to get a little nutso around here. Brian decided that his hakurei turnips from the farm share would make an excellent base for a little man, particularly since there was the opportunity to deck him out with orcchiette (the hat), rotini (for the arms) and peas (eyeballs) which could be scavenged from the rest of our dinner. Poor little turnip man never saw it coming...

On a more serious note, the garlic scape pesto that is topping the pasta and peas turned out much better this year than last year's attempt. Last year I left the flower part on the end of the scape and that left us with garlic breath for about a week. This year, I pinched off the flower portion and just used the stem which made for a much more pleasant garlic experience. This year's recipe also included some lemon juice and zest which turns out to be a great way to keep the flavor bright and spring-like. Tossing some peas in with the pasta--sauteed sugar snaps, blanched fresh shelled peas, some pea shoots or just a cup of thawed frozen peas--adds a nice sweetness and balances out the intensity of the pesto.

Garlic Scape Pesto
from Tantre Farm CSA newsletter

1/4 cup toasted pine nuts
3/4 cup coarsely chopped garlic scapes, the top flower part pinched off (or leave them on if you want a much more intense garlic experience)
Juice and zest of 1/2 lemon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

Combine the scapes, pine nuts, lemon juice and zest, salt, pepper and Parmesan in the bowl of a food processor. Pulse about 20 times, until fairly well combined. Pour in the olive oil slowly through the feed tube while the motor is running. Store in an air-tight jar in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks or freeze.