last few meals

I've been a little lame about posting. The farm is really starting to explode and we've had loads of salad of late. Sometimes I put in leftover rice. For one salad, I steamed, then cooled, chopped, and added a bunch of potatoes, beets, and cauliflower. Last night, we added homemade mozzarella cheese, which I occasionally pick up at the farm.

A few other meals:

• Roasted cauliflower -- chopped cauliflower, onions, and paneer tossed in olive oil, cumin seeds, ginger, garlic, and cayenne, then roasted in then oven. That night, I also sauteed (but did not pop) a lot of mustard seeds, then added chopped greens, lowered the heat, and steamed for a while. We tossed the greens with tahini and umeboshi plum paste and served brown rice on the side.
• A variation on the pasta and pesto meal. This time, I sauteed onions, then added greens broccoli, and cauliflower, and covered. When done, we tossed everything together. We *still* have pesto from last year and I imagine we'll start getting basil in large quantities soon.
• Tuesday, I made a shredded salad that looked rather festive. I got out the food processor and used the grating disk, processing summer squash, beets, and carrots. I chopped cucumber and some fresh green beans and we peeled some fresh peas and added some fresh herbs. The dressing was carrot juice, peanut butter, a little vinegar, some cayenne, and we added small amounts of chopped cheddar cheese at the table.

I'm finding that we're barely keeping up with our half-large share at the farm. I can't imagine taking on a small share by ourselves without giving or tossing away some of it. Right now, we're getting loads of lettuce and greens, radicchio, herbs, many kinds of summer squash, carrots and beets are starting, cucumbers, broccoli (though none this week - I took kale instead), snap peas, green beans, favas, fresh flowers. This week, I took home three very full grocery store plastic checkout bags and gave another three equally full bags to my share partner. Next week, my partner is away, so I get the entire large share to myself. I suspect I'll be handing a good deal of it out to neighbors or friends.

farm and dinner

The tyranny of vegetables has started at the farm, so much so that I didn't take everything we were offered yesterday. I did take extra cauliflower, though (there was some on the "free table"). It's sooo tasty. The clusters are looser than what we get in the store, and the flavor is subtle and delicious. Oh gosh, we got peas, lettuce, chard, bok choy, kale, cabbage, squash, herbs, and I'm sure I'm leaving something out. Garlic scapes and strawberries appear to be done already.

Last night, it was terribly hot so we had a giant salad again, including some store-bought veggies. We threw in peas, lettuce, cabbage, feta cheese, brown rice that I'd tossed with toasted sesame oil, radishes, mushrooms, and some chopped herbs. I also steamed a little cauliflower, cooled it down, and added it to the salad. Oh, it was tasty. Yum.

If it's hot again tonight, we'll have more salad. However, I'm dying to roast the cauliflower. I bet it would be good covered with oil and cumin seeds before roasting. We also have a mess of greens to eat up. I'm hankering for my tahini-umeboshi plum sauce again.

I find that most years, the summer zooms by. With the farm, at least I notice that the summer is happening, from tender green of the spring to deep yellows and oranges of the fall.

been cookin'

The weather has cooled off enough that we've actually been eating some warm food for dinner.

A few nights ago, I used up half a farm cauliflower, along with sauteed onions and edamame from the freezer in an Indian simmer sauce -- one of those jarred sauces that are really tasty. I supplemented the taste a bit by toasting cumin and mustard seeds before adding the onions. Later this summer, we'll have a few weeks of farm edamame, but they're not ready yet.

Two nights ago, I used farm broccoli, chopped kale, and garlic scapes, along with onions, to make a weird broccoli with bread crumb dish. The bread crumbs were mixed with farm parsley, some pepper, and a French herb mix, oh, and some Romano cheese. When all the ingredients were "well acquainted," I sprinkled on some lemon juice. The whole thing was fairly moist. Next time, I might mix the Romano in separately or sprinkle it on top, but the dish was fairly good anyways.

Last night, Mr. P made cabbage thoren. We had loads of farm cabbage (regular and napa) and a great thoren recipe. Given that we never see thoren on Indian restaurant menus, it's probably the reciped Indian dish we make the most. It has shredded coconut, toasted brown rice, and toasted seeds and it works as well with cabbage as it does with asparagus or green beans. Yum.

We served all dishes on brown rice, with a tasty salad to accompany.

Despite our massive salad consumption, we'll likely have leftover lettuce at the end of this week, so we may end up tossing it in favor of the next fresher batch. I guess this is a good year for green stuff! But tonight, we'll probably have a tasty salad, with additions from the grocery store, things that aren't in season yet or won't be -- peppers, shrooms, feta cheese, scallions (which are in season but we only got them one week -- maybe it was a "thinning" batch?).

And then tomorrow is another farm day -- hooray!

many meals

Thursday, we were running a little low on salad supplements, so I stopped in at our local independently-owned health food store and stocked up on an avocado, some organic cherry tomatoes, mushrooms, a red pepper, and a lot of organic broccoli, which I'd been craving. Now that I work in the neighborhood, I forget how easy it is to stop off on my way home, quickly snag some produce, pay, and dash out. It's maybe an extra 7.5 minutes off my evening. And they're *so* nice there! It's also a good incentive to leave work at a reasonable hour.

That night, we indeed had a fresh salad with the rest of the smoked salmon, some fresh mozzarella, lots of fresh lettuce, garlic scapes, tomatoes, some of the pepper, mushroom, and avocado.

Friday and Saturday, I had dinner with friends but I did get that omelette in, a little two-egger filled with sauteed mushrooms, onions, and parsley, with cheddar cheese.

Sunday night, we had another salad. I made a tiny stir fry with onions, chopped baby beets, mushrooms, and fresh peas I'd picked the day before. We also had strawberry soup -- fresh strawberries, yogurt, mint, and water put through the food processor. It would probably be good with a little sour cream on top, too, but there was none in the house. For dessert, we had fresh baklava, brought back from Mr. P's trip to New Jersey. The rest of the baklava went into the freezer. We'll eat it over the course of the next few months.

Monday, we had pesto-stuffed gnocchi (Trader Joe's) with broccoli (finally), ginger, and my own pesto. I was so stuffed that I didn't want dessert. Based on a recipe in the farm newsletter, I made a quart of pickled broccoli, which we'll eat in a week. It might be horrible, in which case we'll never have it again.

And last night was farm pickup night. We had a big salad with fresh strawberries, romano cheese, turnips, garlic scapes, the rest of the red pepper, some fresh peas, fresh herbs (probably basil and parsley), and raw pine nuts.

I also made a little stir-fry over high heat of fresh zucchini, garlic scapes, and chopped spinach. Mr. P typically hates zucchini and says the stuff should be licensed. I never buy it. It is good raw and I might grate it into a salad later this summer. But I thought I'd try cooking this little guy. And it worked! Mr. P got to the seconds before I could and said "Can I finish it?" and then realized what he'd said. He couldn't get over how much he liked it. (Tiny victory dance.) We'll probably have an opportunity to try the same trick with brussels sprouts later this summer.

Not sure what's up for the rest of the week. We now have some yummy cooking vegetables in the house -- broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, kale. Depending on the misery index (temperature plus humidity), we may cook some of it up and eat it cold later.

More green food

Tuesday night was farm pickup day. I got there in the late afternoon just as a line of storms was coming through. There was a lot of thunder and lightening close by so we couldn't even go into the fields to pick. Then the heavens opened up while I was gathering the produce that had been picked for us. I'll go back tomorrow for strawberries and snap peas -- yum. But we did get a lot of goodies, including several kinds of lettuce and kale, napa cabbage, zingy radishes, tiny beets that had been thinned out, fresh herbs, and some fresh mozzarella (which you pay for separately).

Oh, and garlic scapes, which are the flower stalk and bud that come shooting out of garlic plants. I think they cut them off to send more of the growing energy to the bulbs. Mr. P says they taste "oniony and peppery." They also taste like garlic without giving you that raw garlic burn. I use them in salads and stir fries.

Tuesday, I marinated tofu (hot oil, vinegar, tamari) and cooked up some onions and mushrooms, then added in the tofu. Then I mixed in and steamed (just by covering the pan) three kinds of greens -- tender beet greens, napa cabbage, and kale. I served it with a sauce of Chinese sesame paste, brown rice vinegar, and tamari over rice.

Last night, we had a small salad -- three kinds of lettuce, radishes, basil, parsley, garlic scapes, and fresh mozzarella (all from the farm) accompanied by pasta, greens, and pesto. In the last few seconds of boiling the pasta, I threw some chopped kale, napa cabbage, and mushrooms into the boiling water. When everything was cooked, I drained the pasta and veggies and tossed with the pesto.

We still have a few servings of pesto left from last summer, and now the race is on to finish it before the basil comes in in quantity. Or maybe not. Having pesto once a week throughout the year is not such a bad thing.

This time of year, meals are fairly quick to put together. Sometimes there's a lot of chopping, but there's usually not all that much cooking.

Tonight, we'll probably have the rest of that smoked and roasted salmon, which means (*sigh*) another fresh salad, perhaps with more of that yummy mozzarella. If I get a chance, I may stop by a grocery store and pick up some cherry tomatoes on my way home.

I'll be in bachelorette mode this weekend; perhaps a few simple and extremely quick meals are in order. I've been craving an omelet lately.

pretty darned good meals

On Friday night, my mother arrived after a long trip. I made dinner so we could relax and be flexible. We had spanekopita (from Costco -- they come as little triangle appetizers which you just need to bake), fresh tasty salad, and rice. I also made a stir fry of onions, mushrooms, baby turnips, and a little chopped spinach, tossed with toasted sesame oil, brown rice vinegar, and soy sauce. I took three pieces of chocolate hazelnut birthday cake out of the freezer and we slowly and dreamily ate cake for dessert. Definitely a successful meal.

Saturday morning, I made a little fruit salad from strawberries (picked at the farm), kiwi, and apple. We served it with granola, yogurt, and maple syrup. This is a favorite weekend breakfast.

And this evening, I made a light salad -- the last of last week's farm supply of greens -- escarole, red leaf and green leaf lettuce, some chopped turnips (from the farm), a cubed steamed potato, scallions (also from the farm). I tossed it with pitted black olives and capers and a dressing made of balsamic vinegar, olive oil, and grey poupon mustard. Then I sliced roasted smoked peppered salmon (a great Costco find -- it comes as a pound package, half peppered, half plain) on top.

It was supposed to be a pseudo salade Nicoise, but we were missing the blanched green beans, the hard-boiled eggs, and the cherry tomatoes. No matter; it was delicious. And gosh darn it, the instructions on the salmon say to eat the rest within four days, so I might get another chance to achieve perfection before the week is out. Perhaps I can keep missing by a little bit each time so that I continue to have something to strive for.

greens greens greens

Last night, I chopped up a bunch of greens -- collard greens, a little cabbage, some spinach, rainbow chard, and escarole -- all from the farm -- then added them to a big bowl along with chopped garlic and ginger. I did a microwave steam -- didn't really need to add water because I had rinsed them earlier, so the steam came from the little droplets of water. Tossed with pesto (still more of that to use up before this year's crop comes in!) and served over rice with cheese and crackers on the side. The veggies were really tasty.