Still going..

So far this is going pretty well. And the dinners have been pretty darn delicious too! I haven't gotten a whole lot of knitting done this week, but I did get all of my laundry taken care of and got to some spinning! I have 4oz of superwash merino singles from The Ranches on Etsy. Unfortunately it looks like they may not be on Etsy anymore, sad as I liked their eye for color. Not sure how I'm going to ply the singles but they'll tell me what they want to be eventually. On the menu this week:

Monday: Polenta with Tomato Sauce & Sunny-side Up Eggs
Tuesday: Chickpea and Lentil Stew
Wednesday: Chicken Curry
Thursday: Roasted Vegetable Couscous
Friday: Kielbasa with Sauerkraut
Saturday: Falafel
Sunday: Leftovers

The Polenta tonight went over fantastically well. It only took about 20 minutes from start to finish and was incredibly delicious. I think it helps that the eggs that we used were less then 24 hours old and out of my backyard. Yum!

Pesto Love

My basil in the front garden is going crazy. I thinned it out, but it still looks nice and bushy. I made a fresh pesto pasta with chicken and tomatoes for a most delicious dinner. I always have a bag of boneless skinless chicken thighs in the freezer, it's one of my few quick-fix meal solutions these days. They add a kick of protein and they are done in about 1/2 an hour on my countertop grill. Minimum of heat added to the house, or this can be made at night when it's cooler and just heated up or eaten cold.

Fresh Pesto

2 cups packed fresh basil
1/4 cup parsley
1-2 cloves garlic
1/4 cup toasted walnuts
1/4 cup parmigano reggiano
3/4 cup olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

Put all ingredients except olive oil into a food processor or blender. Pulse briefly to chop the basil and then run on low as you drizzle the olive oil in until you get a smooth sauce.

Chicken Pesto Pasta

1# short pasta (penne or rotini work well)
1 recipe fresh pesto (about 1 cup)
1# cooked chicken, chopped
1/2 cup toasted walnut pieces
1 pint cherry tomatoes halved
Parmigano reggiano to taste

Toss all the ingredients in a large bowl. Eat, enjoy.

CSA Goodness

It's that time of year again! The abundance of fresh veggies and other surprises in a big box every week. Last year we got a 1/2 share from Valley Family Farm in Milan. This year we decided to upgrade to a full share so that we had more to play with for preserving and putting up in addition to the weekly numnums (yes, that is a technical term people.). At the very beginning of the season our box is heavy with greens. The first week we had a couple of kinds of lettuce, green onions, garlic scapes, and assorted herbs. This week the box was overflowing with even more goodness. We added broccoli, red potatoes, collard greens, lemon balm, garlic chives, and kale to the list from the first week. With the abundance of lettuces it seemed like a good time to turn to the "salads" section of my cookbook (my preferred book is the America's Test Kitchen Cookbook as it has great technique sections in addition to pretty fail-proof recipes). Last week it was pretty straightforward with Caesar salads (we had a whole head of romaine). And this week it was Cobb salads. Nothing dramatic, nothing too in depth. Just simple, wonderful salads. I can't wait until next week to find another one I love!

Asparagus

I am a huge fan of asparagus. Mostly any way that you prepare it (with the exception of commercially canned asparagus - it's the texture) I am in love with this vegetable. We are in the middle of the very brief season for asparagus here in Michigan and so I went about taking advantage of it. I got 10 pounds of asparagus and pickled most of it. As my father is quick to point out, it just isn't a really great Bloody Mary without a great pickled vegetable, and pickled asparagus is always a winner. I did 5 pints of spicy, 5 pints of plain pickled, and I canned a quart of pieces that was just plain - not pickled. Overall I am pretty pleased with my effort and am looking forward to those Bloody Marys this summer as a great cooler.



Fresh


Blanched


Canned


And a bonus just in case you don't have a good bar book handy (but you really should) - a recipe for a basic Bloody Mary. Feel free to tweek to taste!

Bloody Mary (From the Mr. Boston Bartender's Guide)
1 1/2 oz Vodka
3 oz Tomato Juice
1 dash Lemon Juice
1/2 tsp Worcestershire Sauce
2-3 drops Tabasco Sauce
Salt and Pepper to taste

Shake with ice and strain into ice-filled old-fashioned glass. Garnish with a lime wedge, celery, or pickled veg. Drink and Enjoy!

A tired cheesemonger eats dinner.

I know, it doesn't seem that exciting to hear. But I get asked every day that I'm at work how on earth I work behind the cheese counter and not be flipping huge!? It generally boggles my mind that these people think so little of their own self control that they think I just gorge myself everyday. Truth be told, I eat very little cheese outside of work. When it comes to eating, it's almost work overload to have cheese at home, because I do eat a fair bit as a part of my job (how else would I know what fab suggestions to make when you people come in, pick out a cheese to taste and then hate what you picked?). But I do find ways to sneak it in here and there.



Pasta with Tuna and Veggies

1# small pasta (I used a Sardinian pasta that looks like little grubs, avoid spaghetti unless it is the only pasta you can find at the store. Rigatoni work well)
1 can San Marzano tomatoes diced
1/2# fire-roasted artichokes, chopped (regular will work, but the fire-roasted give a nice depth of flavor)
6 oz jar Spanish Tuna in olive oil
1/4 cup capers
1/4# feta cheese, crumbled
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup agradolche or muscatel vinegar
1/4 cup olive oil
fresh cracked black pepper to taste

Start the pasta in a large pot with plenty of salted boiling water. In a bowl large enough to contain the finished pasta mix the garlic, capers, artichokes, tomatoes, and the vinegar in the bottom of the bowl, mixing so the vinegar coats all of the veggies. When the pasta is done cooking, add to the vegetables and mix well. Add in the tuna, feta, and olive oil, tossing to coat. Crack fresh pepper over the top and enjoy!

Tunisian Addiction

The last few weeks I've been getting really, really excited about food with the fresh produce and such coming back to the Farmer's Market. I had my very first salad of the season this last weekend with mixed spicy greens, pea shoots, handmade croutons, walnuts, and currents all drizzled over with a raspberry vinaigrette. No real recipe for this one, simply great ingredients tossed together in a big bowl and happily consumed. One thing in my fridge that sometimes gets forgotten about (and tragically so) is the jar of Tunisian harissa paste that lives toward the back. I made a squash soup that was liberally laced with it back in October that was delicious. But then the jar got pushed to the back of my fridge and largely forgotten about for a while. Then I got inspired by a couscous salad at work. And I was off into the kitchen to see what I could do to replicate deliciousness.

Salad:
2 cups couscous (you really want the larger Tunisian style, or Israeli will do in a pinch), cooked and cooled
1 cup black olives, pitted and halved (do not use "California black olives" from the supermarket for this, I recommend a pitted kalamata or sahli olive)
1 bunch scallions, chopped
3 med ripe tomatoes, diced (you can use canned, just make sure to drain well)
1 bunch parsley, chopped
1 carrot, grated
1 lemon, zest

Dressing:
Harissa paste
lemon juice
Olive oil
Salt
couscous water

In a large bowl mix cooked couscous (the larger style is actually more like a pasta, cook accordingly and reserve about a 1/3 cup of the cooking liquid for the dressing), scallions, olives, tomatoes, most of the parsley, and carrot. Reserve about 2 tablespoons of parsley for serving.
In a smaller bowl, mix the dressing ingredients. I haven't given exact measurements for any of the dressing because I just kind of winged it, tasting as I went along. I started with about a tablespoon of the harissa and added the juice of one lemon (I only had one, more might be nice). I added the olive oil and reserved couscous water until I had a consistency I was happy with and what looked like about a cup of dressing total. Salt to taste.
Pour the dressing over the couscous and veg mixture and toss to coat. Sprinkle reserved parsley and lemon zest over the top when you serve. This is a pretty versatile salad, I had it warm, room temp, and cool and it was excellent all ways.

I am using the last jar of tomato sauce that I made this summer for dinner tonight. I am now waiting (probably not so patiently) for tomatoes to come back into season.

Sloppy Jalopy

Everyone should have an easy dinner now and then to fall back on. I actually tend to use the easy ones on my days off of work, so that I have more time to get things done around the house or out in the world. I can't unfortunately take all the credit, but the original recipe is posted in a private forum, and I've heavily modified to make use of ingredients I generally have on hand. If you don't like things really spicy, cut the paprika by half, an omit the jalapenos all together. You could also replace the jalapenos with sweet bell peppers (I'm not a fan of the sweet, so I don't use them almost ever). Pair this with a great onion roll or kaiser roll from a local bakery if you can get them (I used the New Yorker rolls from Zingerman's Deli). I also pulled a package of corn on the cob that I froze last summer from our CSA and heated that up for along side. Expect around 15 minutes for prep (including browning the meat).

Venison Joe:

3 lb ground venison, cooked
2 c. onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, pressed or minced
1 1/2 c. ketchup (about 16-18 oz)
1/2 c. water
3 med. jalapenos, minced
1/2 T. horseradish
4 T. brown sugar
4 T. mustard
4 T. cider vinegar
4 T. worcestershire
4 T. spicy paprika (if you can't find spicy, use chili powder instead, but don't just use the bland red powder most grocery stores stock as "paprika")

Put all ingredients in crock pot, stir and forget about it (6-8 hours on low or 3-4 hours on high).

A few final notes: the sauce is rather liquid when it first goes in, but cooks down to a great thick consistency. If you are pressed for time or don't want to use the crockpot, omit the water in the recipe to achieve similar results and mix together in a regular sauce pot on the stove. Add the venison, and cook for 10 minutes or so until everything is heated through.
Alternately if you are going to be gone longer then 8 hours, add more water to the sauce so that it does not burn. Another 1/4 cup should give you about 2 to 3 more hours.

Green Beans Even Kids Love

Tonight's dinner was so typical of the dinners that happen around here on weeknights. Meat, potatoes, and something green. I have a pretty all purpose way of cooking the something green, but tonight it was green beans and turned out kind of awesome. So when you read this keep in mind that the "green" part of this is pretty flexible. I like it with beans or mixed greens (collards & mustard usually), but you could use it with a range of vegetables as long as they have a little heft to them. This is not what you want to do with your delicate greens. Save those for the salads and such people!

Green Beans for Everyone

2# fresh green beans - trimmed and cut to about 1" lenght (you can use frozen here if you are in a hurry)
8oz bacon - diced
1 medium onion - chopped

In a large skillet (I use my wok so there is enough room for everything) cook the bacon until it has given up most of it's fat and is starting to crisp up. Add the onion and cook until slightly soft. Add the beans, stir to coat with the bacon fat and saute until the beans are slightly soft and warmed through. Be careful not to overcook, if they start to turn "army green" they are close to being over done. Take out of the pan with a slotted spoon so you leave most of the fat in the pan (you can pour this into a container and put in the fridge for later use). Serve warm.

Holidays Interruptus

I have neglected this blog for the last couple of months, largely because I didn't have any time! I have been cooking and of course eating and I might get a chance to go back and catch up on some of those, but probably not.

Tonight for dinner was one of my favorites though. It's so dead simple I'm not even going to really write out the recipe, and feel free to riff on it to your hearts desire. In a cast iron skillet (a regular baking dish will work if you don't have cast iron, but everyone should really have some and know how to keep it happy!) set out some pierogi (thawed if they were frozen) and bratwurst (also thawed if frozen). Brush a little bit of olive oil over the top of the pierogi so they brown up nicely. Add around a pound of sauerkraut and bake in the oven until the sausages are cooked through and the pierogi browned on top. I usually flip the sausage half way through(ish) so they also brown on both sides. Serve with a little bit of sour cream on the side and enjoy!

Pizza in Pictures

Easy as Sh*t Garlic Bread

So I made another batch of the fab pasta sauce the other day and had some for dinner. And then I realized that I had nothing to really serve it with. Until I remembered the loaf of bread I had just picked up the other day. Tada! Garlic bread. I had 6 or 7 cloves of garlic left from the pasta sauce that I had just gotten sick of chopping a that point so I stopped. This is great stuff... I was eating garlic bread all night because it was soo easy to just make some more!

You'll Need:

6 or 7 cloves of garlic
1 teaspoon prepared horseradish
1/2 a stick of butter
A couple slices of bread

Throw the garlic and horseradish in a food processor and chop until it is in small bits. Cut the butter into a couple of pieces and add to the food processor and blend until smooth. Toast your bread in the toaster and spread on the garlic/horseradish butter you have now made. Enjoy!! This makes enough butter for 10 or so servings, but refrigerates well and can be saved for up to 2 weeks.