CSA Project, Continued

This week's delivery and my tentative plans:

Summer squash: I received one zucchini, one yellow squash, and one patty pan. Tonight I made chocolate zucchini bread. I altered the recipe by replacing half of the white flour with whole wheat flour and adding toasted pecans and nutmeg. I think that this is the fifth or sixth zucchini bread I have made this summer. I have it for breakfast every morning. I'm not sure what I will do with the other two squashes--they might find themselves baked into bread as well.

Collard greens! I was surprised! Somehow, collard greens seem to be a wintry thing. I am going to saute them with garlic, which necessitates having pulled chicken barbeque on the side, to complete the southern picture.

Purple carrots! Just when my white kitchen had begun to recover from the beets last week, I come home with these. The sink is purple again. They don't really taste much different than orange carrots. But I'm sure that whatever compound that makes it purple is very nutritious. And it will provide my inquisitive lunchtime coworkers with something to remark upon.

Green beans- a large bag. I like them raw on salads the best. Update on the dilly beans: the room temperature jars appear to be botulism-free. I set aside one jar in the fridge, just in case. I have tried them already and they are very tasty! A little more sour than I would have preferred, but they have retained their crunch, which is something of major importance.

Garlic- will disappear quickly.

Lettuce head- I got a variety that I have had before and is one of my favorites. It is called Cocarde, and has dark green oak-like leaves. Very sturdy and strongly flavored and will pair well with the salmon that I bought today.

Corn- Just four ears this time. The weather has been chilly as of late, and so I am making corn chowder with bacon this weekend.

Tomatoes- five of them, including a yellow one.

Hot peppers: one jalapeno and one Hungarian yellow wax. These must be potent ones, because even sniffing the outer skins makes my eyes water. The time has come to make pints and pints of salsa and test my canning skills again.

Cucumber: A small one. It will probably be incorporated into lunchtime salads.

The Hunger Games

I haven't eaten very much for the last couple of days. Partly, that was because I was unable to put down this book. Also, I felt guilty whenever I did tear myself away to eat. Why should I cram my mouth with beef, while these people are desperately trying to catch squirrels and chew on tree bark? I would feel much better about myself if I could just go out and gather some roots and berries for dinner.

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins was thrilling and satisfying from the first word to the last. I love this one so much that I may buy extra copies and hand them out on a street corner. I knew, vaguely, when I started this that there was a sequel. I assumed it was out already, but now I know that it's being released Sept 1. I don't know how I will manage to fill the time between now and that date.

I will try to outline the plot here, but I think that you are better off just skipping the rest and getting the book right away. The thing is, I was put off from reading this one for a long time because of numerous plot synopses just like this. The Hunger Games does not sound like my usual book. I generally do not care for action-packed stories with bold protagonists that are set in the future. I usually prefer wimpy and angsty leads that moan about love. But anyway, here I go: The nation of Panem is set in the ruins of former North America, where one shining Capitol rules with an iron fist over twelve downtrodden districts. The districts are reminded each year of their former rebellion by the institution of the Hunger Games. Each district is mandated to provide one boy and one girl to participate in the games, a nationally televised fight to the death. Sixteen-year old Katniss is chosen from District Twelve, along with a fellow tribute with whom she has crossed paths once or twice in the past. Katniss finds some talents that were previously unrealized, but exercising them may require compromising her own humanity.

Anyway, forget all that plotty stuff and give the book a try. I found the people in it to be the most compelling element, anyway. My heart pounded away audibly for the entire time that I was reading, and so I believe that the book qualifies as both a diet and an exercise plan.

Tender Morsels

I haven't done any book reviews in a while. I have been reading ravenously and have found plenty of excellent ones lately, but not many that I must share.

Tender Morsels by Margo Lanagan is one of those that I must discuss. I chose it for its cover; isn't it striking? The gist of it is this: Liga has escaped a world of cruelty to live in her own personal heaven with her two daughters, Branza and Urdda. But the real world begins to intrude, chewing at the boundaries to admit magical men, wild bears, and other troubling things. It is a dark story about two worlds and the frayed fabric that separates them. The overall question seems to be, is it really better to be safe than sorry?

Tender Morsels isn't for everyone. It is overwhelmingly grim and violent in parts and tough to get through for those reasons, although I found that the aching beauty of the lighter parts more than made up for the darker. I had a strong feeling of dread for most of the characters throughout, but I felt that putting down the book would be another hurtful abandonment for them. Lanagan is also a poet, and it is evident that every line of prose is lovingly crafted with imagery.

I enjoyed the shifting points of view in the book. Sometimes first-person narration, sometimes third, and with many people taking over. When you are receiving story from a person who is "I" and is speaking in past tense, you might assume that this person will be alive and well in the end. Therefore, I was unsettled and disturbed when one of these "I"s disappeared. It kept me on my toes for the rest of the book. And it is a good thing that I was alert for surprises, because the ending was deliciously shocking.

CSA Abundance

This week's delivery:

Corn: six ears
Yukon gold baby potatoes
Cucumber
Beets
Zucchini
Tomatoes: five!
Lettuce head
Eggplant

I will keep this brief because I am planning two other posts today. This afternoon I am making roasted eggplant marinara sauce. I already have a pot roast in the crock pot with onions, carrots, and potatoes. One chilly night and I am already in a pot-roasty winter-squashy mood.

Dilly Beans

Well, the canning is complete. Keep these beans in your thoughts. If all goes well, these dilly beans will become steeped in peppery, dilly, garlicky, vinegariness--and remain botulism-free. I researched home preservation basics and followed the rules religiously, including the proper measurement of airspace at the top (half an inch for this recipe). Unfortunately, I didn't realize that green beans like to float above liquid, and so there really isn't any airspace at all. I hope that's OK. But otherwise, everything is painstakingly sterilized and I restrained myself from "winging it" with the recipe. Everything is measured and nothing extra has been thrown in on a whim. Recipe may be found here on my CSA's site, just click on green beans.

In news of other things sour, I went to the Vom Fass store this weekend. It is a place that sells fancy oils, vinegars, wine, and spirits out of the casks, with the option to taste anything or to buy quantities as small as 100 ml. It is like a little potions dispensary. Or apothecary. Maybe I could get a job there? I bought pomegranate vinegar.

Zucchini Overdose

Yesterday was the Day of Zucchini. I made zucchini-carrot cake with citrus-cream cheese frosting in the morning. I found a low-fat recipe in Better Homes and Gardens, of all places. I substituted part of the white flour for whole-wheat flour.

For lunch, I made these fantastic zucchini fritters. I always forget that I dislike shallow frying until I am in the midst of doing it. I was worried that they wouldn't work out too well; my first couple of fritters didn't have the oil hot enough and were flipped too soon out of impatience, but it was completely worth it in the end. They were amazing. Crispy and browned on the outside, buttery with feta cheese and dense greenness on the inside. I didn't use mint because I didn't have any (I wish I did), but the fresh dill was an excellent flavor. The tzatziki sauce was excellent and a good way to use up a cucumber from the CSA. I served the fritters with thick slices of purplish heirloom tomato. Hopefully the leftovers will turn out well when reheated in the oven. I will find out today.

Then for dinner, I made homemade macaroni and cheese with zucchini. After all that, I am not yet tired of it. That is a good thing, because I expect to get lots more zucchini this coming week.

Other items from the CSA delivery last Thursday:

Corn: Five ears. I ate one, then boiled and froze the rest of the kernels.

Green beans: A huge bag! I found a simple recipe for dilly beans. I may try out home canning this week. I have been studying the preserving supplies at the grocery store lately and it's time to act.

Chinese cabbage: I have already sauteed and eaten one half of it. Not sure what will happen to the other half.

Lettuce head: Lunch plans are settled for the week.

Garlic: to be used in nearly everything I make!

Cucumber: I was tentatively planning to make pickles, but I received two of these, and one was used for the tzatziki sauce yesterday. One isn't worth the trouble. I may marinate it.

Hot pepper: One jalapeno and one yellow Hungarian hot wax. I might make spicy black beans with one. The other could find its way into the dilly beans.

Carrots: It is a good thing that they have a long refrigerator life. I have used some in salads and for the zucchini-carrot cake. I will make the carrot-dill soup soon.

Tomatoes: Something heartbreaking happened to the farm's tomato crop. You can read the terrible news here. Thousands and thousands of them, destroyed. Lots of marinara sauce, salsa, gazpacho, chili, and caprese salad, never to be known. Anyway, I did get one ordinary red tomato and one purplish heirloom variety in my box. I plan to eat them plain, in remembrance of the rest.

Ratatouille Tart

This is what I accomplished this morning: a cornmeal-crusted ratatouille tart, using an Ellie Krieger recipe. Click on the photo for a larger size! Underneath the crunchy parmesan cheese are layers of roasted eggplant, zucchini, tomato, mozzarella cheese, and basil fresh from my garden. I didn't have any shallots but I did have lots of garlic and onions around. So I substituted one small onion and one garlic clove to approximate the shallot flavor.

It turned out wonderfully. Tastes like summer! I worried about the veggies getting soggy but they turned out fine. The crust could use a little more flavor, maybe more butter and a dash of sugar, but otherwise I wouldn't change a thing. My tart pan is larger than the recipe requested (11 inches vs. 9 inches), so I didn't have enough crust to creep up the sides. But that's OK, because I'm generally too scared to invoke the removable-bottom feature of the pan anyway. It was fun to make and nearly fool-proof, but it's definitely a weekend kind of project with the crust-making and pre-roasting of veggies.

Summer Bounty

In the early weeks of CSA delivery, I scoffed at the idea that each week's box was supposed to feed four adults for one week. Now I am beginning to see that point of view. But fortunately, this week's installment of produce has the potential to be preserved for future use.

Highlight of last week's cooking projects: I used the new potatoes to make hot German potato salad, with lots of bacon, garlic, and fresh thyme from the garden.

Zucchini: I got tons and tons of zucchini! Many, many pounds! I have three ideas for its consumption. First, I will make this ratatouille tart. I have had my eye on this recipe for a long time, and I have been itching to use my tart pan again after its debut success with the peach melba tart. Second, I will make these zucchini fritters. Third, I will make another zucchini-carrot bread (or two) and freeze some it.

Cucumber: I got tons of this, too. I am making gazpacho, using a combination of Alton Brown's version and Barefoot Contessa's version. I like mine spicy and chunky-style, with lots of garlic and basil. I imagine that some zucchini may find its way in, too. I am making gallons of gazpacho to freeze away for the winter.

Carrots: another huge bag, with a promise for another bag next week. I may make another batch of carrot dill soup, which should also freeze well. Some will go into the zucchini-carrot bread. I may need to browse the internet for other ideas.

Onions: I got about six medium-sized fresh onions. Many will go into the gazpacho.

Corn: Seven ears! I blanched them all last night and ate one ear. I haven't had fresh corn in a long time, owing to the low-carb lifestyle. I had forgotten how much I like it. Then I cut the rest of the kernels off the cobs and froze them.

Green beans: I got another big bag, in addition to half of a bag that I have from last week. I may blanch and freeze them. I'm just not sure what to do with them, other than make dilly beans. I'd like to make a large pot of vegetable soup, but I've got two soups in mind for this week already.

Lettuce head: a head of crunchy reddish leaves. I will see what looks good at the seafood counter to top it.

Garlic: Probably the whole head will go into the gazpacho.

Tomatoes: I got a deep purplish heirloom variety. I am thinking that it will be very nice in the ratatouille tart.

Oh yeah, and, um, I went to the farmers market today and got MORE produce. I am such a pig. But it's patty pan squash season, and I haven't gotten any from the CSA yet! If too much time passes, I will be unable to get ones this teeny and tender. I bought a pound of patty pans, which I will saute in butter and garlic.

And I bought a pound of young eggplant, for the ratatouille tart. If there is any leftover, (or if, as I suspect, I will get one from the CSA next week) I will make roasted eggplant marinara sauce and baba ghannouj.

In my defense, I did fight the temptation, successfully, to buy cauliflower at the market, even though they had both purple cauliflower and cheddar (bright orange) varieties. Maybe next week.....?

And thanks to friend Janet, I found a really neat cooking blog: 101 Cookbooks. On a first casual browse, I found cookies made from white bean puree and fudgy brownies made from black bean puree. It's almost as if this blogger is reading my mind. That weirdness and carb-swapping is just my sort of thing.