Gumbo

This week, the CSA delivered okra. Alrighty then, what the heck am I going to do with okra? After a quick check of How to Cook Everything, by Mark Bittman, and a quick google search for "Emeril Lagasse," I decided that gumbo was the way to go. Bittman's recipe is simple; Emeril's is complex. I opted for the middle ground and basically amalgamated the two.

Amazingly, I had everything that I needed in the fridge and pantry - including some spicy vegan sausage and frozen wild-caught shrimp. I used onion, garlic, and carrot as the aromatics, then added tomatoes and chicken stock. The okra, when cooked for a long time, breaks down and thickens the gumbo. A clump of white rice, they say, is traditional down on the bayou. It looks cool too.

Faux Fried Green Tomatoes

Lately, K has been going off on everything. I try not to blame her. She's going through a lot right now. The latest object of her ire has been the CSA... It's not delivering to the expectations of her country upbringing and farm sensibilities. Normally, I am a stalwart defender... but this week I am flipping pissed.

We got three hopelessly under ripe tomatoes. These were clearly not meant to be doled out as green tomatoes... someone just simply picked them too soon. And even though I left them for a good week, they didn't ripen off the vine. I feel like the output of each share was going to be low, so someone in charge decided to load it up with something that should have stayed on the vine for another week. That's no way to do things. I'd rather wait for something edible.

I managed to salvage the tomatoes by treating them as fried green tomatoes. But instead of breading and frying in oil, I used the oven bake technique that I have used recently for eggplant. See the recipe here.

A couple quick sauces - a spicy ketchup (two parts ketchup to one parts Frank's Red Hot) and a garlic mayonnaise - for the side.

Pork Tenderloin; Cucumber Salad with Onions and Black Olives

 

The benefit of belonging to a CSA is that it stimulates kitchen creativity. Forced to use up what produce comes home each week, one experiments with recipes that are not part of his or her normal food routine. For some, that might be frustrating. For me, it's a challenge.

A batch of some very nice waxy new potatoes from the CSA seemed perfect for (s)mashed potatoes. Needless to say, I had to bring in K for that one. Her inner Mid-Westerness came through with flying colors as the potatoes turned out to be the best that I've ever had. Drawing on my Indiana family connection, I pounded out some pork tenderloin that she brought home, breaded it in egg and panko, and sauteed it up Midwestern-style. My Italian heritage called for the lemon... in Indiana, they'd use yellow mustard.

A simple salad of thin sliced cucumbers (CSA, if you are listening, don't give me any more) with sliced onions and kalamata olives proved a nice accompaniment.

Perciatelli with Onion and Tomato Sauce

This week, we received a nice haul of onions from the CSA. I decided to saute them in olive oil and then add some crushed tomatoes and red peppers to make a quick sauce for some perciatelli, one of my favorite pastas for tomato sauce.

Tomato Salads

The CSA came through with an early batch of tomatoes... a couple of slicers and some cherry and grapes. Made the first panzanella of the year with some leftover bread; as well as a caprese with some dark CSA basil.

Bulgur and Lamb Meatballs; Tabouli Salad; Crostini with Avocado and Tomato; Dante's Inferno Juice

When I first learned of its existence, I kind of scoffed at Mark Bittman's book about how to cook everything. But since grabbing the 10th anniversary edition from the local library, I have found repeated uses for it. Rather than scouring the internet for a quick recipe - and as we know their are tons of poorly-tested recipes on the web - I much prefer going to Bittman. His tabouli salad and lamb and bulgur meatballs were perfect for using up some bulgur in the pantry. The juice, Dante's Inferno as we call it, is carrot, beet, ginger, garlic, lemon, and a pinch of cayenne. Gotta juice in the summer months.

Vietnamese-style Spring Rolls

My high school buddies D and T would be proud. All these years as a cooking hobbyist and I can probably count the times that I've attempted Vietnamese fare on the fingers of one hand. Two of my best friends hail from Vietnam and I still recall the days of visiting their homes back in eighth grade and experiencing all the sights, sounds, smells, and tastes of the immigrant kitchen... Spring rolls are probably the least interesting of Vietnamese fare, but easy enough to make... Lettuces from the CSA went inside, as did carrots, serrano pepper strips, vermicelli, cilantro, thai basil, mint, and shrimp. The peanut sauce recipe courtesy of Mark Bittman's amazingly-useful How to Cook Everything.

Sedanini alle Olive Nere e Funghi; Crostini with Avocado

Le Marche is one of the most often overlooked provinces of Italy. Sadly, however, it has recently been discovered by the Brits who have started an influx of foreigners. But it is still pretty untouched by tourism. According to the Italian culinary tome, La Cucina, this simple dish of pasta with mushrooms and black olives hails from there. Go easy on the olives. I used kalamata and the briny flavor of using too many counteracted the delicateness of the mushrooms.

You don't really see a lot of avocados in Italy, but I used the crostini concept to use up a half of one that was leftover in the fridge - and the last of my recent loaf of Lahey bread. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with sea salt and freshly cracked black pepper.

Collard Green Rolls; Red Bean and Collard Greens Stew

 Collard greens are the latest thing to make a heavy appearance at the CSA. I like 'em well enough, but after a few side dishes of ribbon-cut greens sauteed with garlic I needed to try something else. Dried red beans, soaked overnight, then cooked with collards in chicken broth made a nice stew. With another batch, I made up some rice and beans and made stuffed collard green rolls. Blanched them first for pliability, then baked with crushed tomatoes for a half hour.

Pane e Pizza

Another attempt at Jim Lahey's pizza... Precooking the crust for 20 minutes and THEN adding the toppings made for a crisper pie. Since the oven was going to be cranking, I figured that I'd make my favorite of his bread recipes too... pane integrale with 1/4 whole wheat flour.

Bean and Collard Green Soup; Green Beans with Shallots and Lemon; Scape Pesto; Pane Integrale

In the hot summer months, I rarely want to heat up the kitchen with a 400 degree oven. Bread, therefore, is of the store-bought variety. Fortunately, there are a few decent options in the area. But when I decided to use up what has become a dearth of CSA-grown collard greens in a bean soup flavored with a last piece of smoked turkey leg, I figured that a homemade bread would be a needed accompaniment. Jim Lahey's no-knead technique is marvelous, provided you have the time and foresight to plan ahead. My favorite is his pane integrale, which uses a ratio including some wheat flour - not enough to make it too dense and overly "wheaty;" just the right amount to give it flavor, texture, and nutrition.