The Garlic Gratuity Grows on us

The gratuitous garlic scapes which Suzanne brought (having intended to give us kale) are once again in use: I added them to the Eggplant Slop with good results. Thus combined, they make more of a garlic statement, while giving a nice crunch. I added 4 scapes to 2 medium sized roasted eggplants, one roasted red pepper, 1/3 of a vidalia onion, some roasted cumin, jalapeno. They were still pretty prominent, so I added about 1/2 cup roasted tahini and 2 T. yogurt to sedate them.

Kale confusion coincidentally conjures a creative culinary consequence

Suzanne had kale from her box all packed up to bring to me. In an identical bag she had garlic tails. And accidentally brought those instead! After lament, she conjured this pesto recipe:

4 - 6 garlic tails. We tasted various parts of the tails and concluded that the part above the bloom wasn't desirable.
All the available basil: about 1 1/2 loosely packed cups.
1/4 cups pine nuts
1 T. olive oil
2 oz. parmesan

Chop the tails into 1" slices. Put in processor with basil, oil, and pine nuts. Process, then switch to cheese grating blade and add cheese. Stir and serve.

See photo including curly garlic scapes below. Suzanne says that if they're not curly, they're too tough.

Greens^2: CSA box 2

Just picked up my second CSA box! In Maryland, we have seasons, so I expect I'll be having a little less variety than my sister in sunny Northern California. This week, we got:
Kale
Spinach
Red Leaf Lettuce
Romaine Lettuce
Cabbage
Green Leaf Lettuce
Red Chard
Garlic Tail
Yes, it's almost all greens! And three different types of lettuce do count as three different veggies. Still, leafy greens are very good for me and are versatile ingredients, so I feel good about the haul.
When I got home today, I washed and tore/chopped (where appropriate) all the veggies. They need some pretty heavy duty washing/soaking unless you want a protein boost from some insect friends. The red and green leaf lettuces will be salads. As for the rest, we'll have to see where the week takes us! Last week I made the chickpea stew I keep raving about with kale and a lasagna with the red chard (sautee the chopt stems with onions, let simmer until the stems are soft, add garlic and tomatoes, simmer a few more min, then wilt in the green part of the chard for your veggie layer). I feel a little bad about having cabbage in the fridge, as Michael is returning from Russia, where cabbage has been one of the only fresh veggies reliably available all winter. The garlic tail is the big x-factor of this week's box: "What in the Sam Hill is garlic tail?" you may be thinking to yourself. Indeed, that is exactly (well, almost) what I asked the guy handing out the veggies today. He works at the school of public health and coordinates the pickup there. He has no clue, but will be letting us know when he figures something out.
This article explains it pretty well.
I will also note here that my CSA pickup occurs in a parking lot in East Baltimore. It's just about the least pastoral scene you can think up. It's so sweet, though, to see everyone scurrying over there with their matching, reusable bags to get their food. They donate some shares to local shelters,
as described in this Baltimore Sun article.

Healthier Muffins

Here's a recipe for muffins off of a Stonyfield Farms Yogurt container. It has significantly less butter than the highland lodge recipe that I favor. I prefer the HL version b/c I just love that buttery taste, but this one's alright. It's less likely to make your stomach hurt if you eat it first thing in the morning.

I made these muffins this morning in anticipation of Michael's return as they are one of his favorite foods. Then I went over to a friend's house and we made banana muffins for her boyfriend. 'Twas a very housewifey sort of day for two very non-housewifey sort of people.



1c. flour
1c. whole wheat flour
1/2 c. sugar
1.5 t. baking powder
2 eggs
1c. yogurt (I used vanilla, but you could also use plain and add 1t vanilla later)
1/4c. butter, melted
1c. blueberries
spices as desired (cinnamon, cloves, & nutmeg are all nice)

Preheat oven to 375.
Mix dry ingredients + damp berries in one bowl
Mix wet ingredients in a different bowl
Pour wet ingredients into dry and stir until there are only smallish lumps in the batter (don't make it completely smooth, this will mess up the texture and rising)
Spoon batter into greased muffin tins
Bake 20-25 min or until tops are golden brown
Yield: 12 muffins

A taste of summer

I got tomatoes and basil in my box this week! They were the first tomatoes of the season - little yellow cherry ones. I made a simple pasta dish. I Just sauted onions and garlic and crimini mushrooms. Then I added oregano and the halfed cherry tomatoes and cooked until the tomatoes broke down. Then I added some fresh basil and cook for just a minute more. Meanwhile, I cooked some really nice kamut pasta spirals, which I added back to the sauce along with a little pasta water to give the dish the right moisture. I topped it with some nice pecorino romano. It was definitely a nice preview for the summer produce to come.

Beet Salad

Once again I got beets in my box. Emboldened by last times success, I decided to try them raw. It was good! Beets are winning me over.

Beet and Carrot salad

Grate some beets
Wash and peel some carrots with the intention of grating them, but then decide you are sick of grating things and cut them into thick slices instead.
Make a vinnegrette of equal parts lemon juice and hazlenut oil. Whisk in salt, pepper and a bit of dijon. Marinate the beets and carrots in the dressing. Then mix in some toasted walnut pieces. Serve over arugula with feta cheese.

The Kale Quest: A Concession

Reeves admits that Suzanne's sugggestion of Moorish Chickpea Stew with kale is less bad than the previous contestants. I used 1/4 tsp cayenne and 2 slices of homemade bread - - that is, with onion, olive, wheatberry, etc. I loved it!!

The Kale Quest Encounters a Contradiction

Reeves doesn't like kale.

Tonight I am trying kale with caramelized onions and balsamic vinegar.
I also bought purple-ish kale at Whole Foods today, on the clerk's recommendation that it was less bitter. He said stay away from dinosaur kale, which he finds very bitter. Jody, didn't you once use dinosaur kale?
Of course it's possible that purple kale has no lutein or zeazanthin.

The clipping for caramelized onions has been sitting in the drawer under the microwave for a long time. You sweat them - - 2 lbs worth- - with 1 tsp salt and 1 tsp sugar in a bowl, tossed, for 10 minutes. Then, leaving the drippings in the bowl, you saute them on medium high until the first hint of browning. Then you add back the liquid, turn the heat to low, and cook them, covered, for an hour. Very sweet!

The Kale Quest Continues

So I tried Suzanne's recipe with some pretty bland whole wheat noodles. I think I need to shop more diligently and bring home the soba for this recipe. I didn't have miso, nor asparagus, so it was basically noodles and kale and tahini sauce, which I made with lemon juice, water and tahini. I served it with tofu that I'd cooked in the teriyaki marinade I use for salmon, along with some eggplant slop (red pepper, onion, roast cumin, yogurt, tahini, eggplant) and - -big novelty - the stems of the kale, chopt into small pieces and sauteed over medium high heat. They added a neat crunch to the tofu! But Reeves was not pleased by the kale. He like the noodles, though. I have great envy over these CSA boxes you both are getting!!

Fresh Apricots

I would just like to take a moment to appreciate fresh apricots. They are heavenly. A good fresh apricot is like a solid nugget of perfume. I don't remember having them before coming to CA. They put their dried cousins to shame.
Tonight I made a quick fruit salad of sliced apricots, strawberries, peaches and a squeeze of lemon. It was perfect. I love June!

The Kale Quest

As Suzanne has been hearing for the last two nights, I'm committed to culinary concentration on kale. It has by far and away the highest amounts of lutein and zeaxanthin, which when ingested embed themselves in the retina and protect photoreceptors. So - - go blog!! I used the search function for the first time and came up with Suzanne's April post about noodles with kale, asparaus and tahini sauce. Will do!