Cucumbers and Squash Galore

Since I last wrote, the cucumbers, squash and zucchini have been pouring in. Which of course means cucumber soup! However, we still had cucumbers left over last week, so I made some pickles as well, tossing in some zucchini in the pickle mix since there was room in the container. Should be ready in a day or two so we'll see how pickled zucchini tastes soon enough. There was also some pasta with zucchini, bacon and pesto (forgot the corn). Blueberry buckle with some of our fresh blueberries. And yesterday, I whipped up some Vichysquash and Chocolate-Chip Zucchini Pecan Muffins to use up some yellow squash and zucchini. Still have more zucchini, maybe some more zucchini pancakes? Also have some cabbage and carrots, so maybe this recipe would be good. We should actually be home a few nights this week, so I might actually be able to go through this week's tally.

In non-cooking news, had a fabulous swim in an outdoor Olympic sized pool this morning - felt good since I was feeling sluggish Thursday after having been sick earlier in the week. And maybe I'll have more time for swimming and cooking since things have been slow at work so I'm now working part-time until things pick up. Hopefully that will be soon, but only time will tell.

Cooking up a Storm

Been busy cooking instead of blogging, as well as relaxing up in the Berkshires for the 4th. Some of the stuff I've been cooking:
- Zucchini Tart (delish! and I love the crust because you don't have to roll it out!)
- yogurt and cucumber dip (threw in some salt, pepper, oregano, and lemon juice)
- more strawberries and dumplings!
- amazing cheese ravioli with arugula walnut pesto (this recipe but with arugula instead of basil and walnuts instead of pine nuts)
- linguine with swiss chard, pine nuts and raisins
- zucchini and squash salad (inspired by deb's recipe, but with basil instead of arugula)
- grilled salmon with grilled zucchini and squash on the side
- roasted beet, goat cheese and walnut salad
- pasta with sautéed green garlic and beet greens (not as flavorful as I would have liked)

CSA Week 3

This week our pasta didn't show up, but that's ok because we got tons of strawberries! As for the veggies, we got snap peas, boston lettuce, arugula, zucchini, summer squash and radishes. The lettuce and radishes have been going in salad, but I'm not a huge fan of arugula straight up, so I made a pesto out of the arugula with walnuts, garlic, Parmesan and olive oil and put it in the freezer for later. The snap peas got eaten raw as a snack. Sunday we had some grilled bbq chicken (though of course it started downpouring right as Sam turned on the grill), with a side of grilled summer squash and zucchini. And for dessert, I made Strawberries and Dumplings. As easy as slicing strawberries. Even the leftovers were great tonight. Next time I'd whip the cream to top it rather than pouring it over though.

Tonight, we used the rest of the zucchini to make Zucchini and Chickpea Pancakes. I didn't have garam masala, so I tossed in some coriander and cumin instead. The curry powder was just a tad overwhelming, so I might cut that back a little next time, but its a tasty use of zucchinis, and very quick to put together if you have a food processor.

Oh, and with the leftover garlic scrapes from last week, I made some pesto. We now have three containers of pesto in the freezer - need to label them! And need some nights when we don't have fresh veggies we want to use to test them out!

Beets Turnips and Garlic Scrapes

Wednesday night and we're done with our CSA food! Which is just as well because we probably won't make dinner at home before our next pickup on Saturday. So far, everything's been delish. Monday we had carrot linguine, which I topped with some chopped garlic scrapes sautéed in browned butter with a dash of nutmeg thrown in.

And tonight, I roasted some beets and Japanese turnips tossed with salt and olive oil as a side dish for pan grilled pork chops. We had some plain yogurt in the fridge, so I made a dipping sauce/dressing for the veggies. I wanted to toss in some lemon juice but I was out of lemons and lime just didn't seem like it would work, so I whisked in a bit of cider vinegar and some Penzey's Florida Pepper seasoning, which has some lemon zest in there. Results were quite good, and ended up dipping the pork in it too. Can't wait for next week's food!

Cooking Afternoon

We had a busy day with a two-mile swim this morning/afternoon that took longer than expected. We had to wait for the tides to change, and then as a result there was barely any tidal assistance. My hip was a bit sore but otherwise a good race.

When we got home though, I cooked up a storm! First, I made some ricotta cheese. Then, I started the soup recipe Sam's mom sent me last week - Greens Supreme Soup. I had kale from the CSA this week, but not as much as the recipe called for, so I threw in the beets and turnip greens too. Also didn't have chardonnay around or another comparable wine, so I used some of the liquid left over from the ricotta instead. The end result was delish.

While the soup was cooking, I made some pesto with the basil growing on our deck - it needed to be cut back so it will get nice and bushy, so it seemed like a batch of pesto was in order. Always good to have some pesto in the freezer.

The soup seemed so nice and hearty that we just had that with some sourdough toast for dinner with a salad rather than making pasta as well. Mmm.

Blogging Some More

I got an invite today to join a group Cooking Away My CSA, which may actually revive my blogging. Well that and the cut-and-paste feature on my iPhone once the new operating system is available. For those of you not in the know, CSA stands for community supported agriculture, where you pay a farmer upfront in the spring and then get to pick up a box of food every week in the summer and fall. We joined the Greene Harvest CSA in Fort Greene, getting veggies, fruit and a pasta share each week.

It started up last week, and my brother was nice enough to pick up the first share since Sam and I were busy swimming around Manhattan, with which me made spinach linguine with swiss chard, raisins and pine nuts, and kale and collards boiled and then sautéed with garlic and olive oil and japanese turnips over couscous. With radishes and lettuce in our salad and apples on the side, we used it almost all up.

This week, we got kale, japanese turnips, beets, snap peas, garlic scrapes, lettuce, carrot linguine and strawberries. We had some strawberries with scones this morning, and I'm thinking the pasta with garlic scrapes, maybe a soup or fritatta with the kale, roasted beets and turnips. Other good ideas?

photo.jpg

photo.jpg
Originally uploaded by samtny