Experimenting with Cuisines: Moroccan Food

This week's box contained:

• Chantenay Carrots
• Sweet Corn
• Red Cabbage
• Desiree Potatoes
• Bunched Parsley Root
• Melons
• Strawberries
• Lettuce (traded for more parsley root)

Having just finished LuLu in Marrakech, I took my inspiration for the week from Morocco.  If you've never tried it, Moroccan food is exceptional.  Intensely flavorful, simple to prepare and, for the most part, really healthy.

I happen to have a tagine pot that I look after for a Moroccan friend.  I decided to put it to use for dinner tonight and made a mixed vegetable tagine, loosely based on a recipe from the BBC's Good Food site.

Making a tagine is easy and can be done on the stove top in a Dutch oven or a small stockpot. The process is as follows:

• Saute aromatics (onions, garlic, and the like) in olive oil,
• Add the spices and stir till fragrant,
• Add a can of diced tomatoes,
• Add a mixture diced vegetables and beans
• Add a cup of water, mix well, then
• Cover and simmer till the vegetables are tender

Serve over couscous.  The variations are endless.  Tagines are really a braise, so anything you'd consider cooking that way can apply here.  The Moroccan spices are heavenly and well worth a go, but the cooking technique lends itself to any flavor variation.

Seasonal Vegetable Tagine
... serves 4 generously as a main course

2 small carrots, diced
2 small turnips, diced
2 small zucchini, diced
2 medium onions, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 14.5 oz can of diced tomatoes
1 14.5 oz can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
2t  agave nectar
4t  ras el hanout
3 T harissa
olive oil
water
salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Saute the onions in olive oil over medium heat till translucent; add minced garlic and stir till fragrant.  Add spices and stir till fragrant.  Toss the prepared vegetables and chickpeas together, then place in the base of a tagine. Top with tomato mixture, add water and cover.  Bake, covered, for 1 hour stirring occasionally.

Other Moroccan recipes I'd like to try include:

• Moroccan Spiced Carrots
• Spiced Tomato and Couscous Soup
• Vegetarian Harira

Kitty Morse is well known in the US for her Moroccan cookbooks. I've just ordered The Vegetarian Table: North Africa and am anxiously awaiting the book expected from Mourad Lahlou of Aziza in San Francisco.  More Moroccan food to follow!

Fast & Easy Meals

This week's box contains:

• Chantenay Carrots
• Bianco di Maggio Onions
• Basil (traded for more fennel)
• Green Beans
• Lettuce (traded for more fennel)
• Fennel
• Strawberries
• Mystery (Desiree Potatoes)

Great box this week.  Given that I have a bunch of basil on hand and am not a lettuce fan, I swapped both for additional fennel.   Despite the wonderful options, we had our 4.5 year old goddaughter this weekend, so time to research and cook was simply not available.  For fun we made an "all orange" meal, composed entirely from food the color orange; turned out to be an excellent way to make eating healthy food fun.

Perhaps the biggest deterrent to cooking at home, at least for me, is the time it takes to prepare and cook a good meal.  While it is always worth the effort, you may not have the time (as was the case for us this weekend) or may not feel like doing a lot of work.

Two of my favorite cookbooks that offer sound advice, and excellent recipes, for fast and easy meals are Fresh Food Fast by Peter Berley and Vegan Express by Navas Atlas.  I've also accumulated a mental list of dishes that are fast and easy to prepare, but delicious to eat.  Of course there's always searching the web as well.

For lunch today we quickly whipped up the following for a fast and easy summer meal that worked through the carrots, green beans, fennel, and potatoes from this week's box:

• Baked Carrot Fries
• Sauteed Green Beans & Cherry Tomatoes
• Roasted Potatoes & Fennel

What are your tips for quick meals?

As for the rest of the box, the strawberries were cleaned and frozen for smoothies and the onions are standing by for a meal this week.

Too Much Zucchini: Pasta with Zucchini, Lemon, Pine Nuts and Herbs

As I mentioned in yesterday's post, we've got a lot of zucchini.  After the tapas, we still have 3.5 pounds left to consume.  I am not a big fan of zucchini, so this presents a bit of a challenge.

I spent some time digging through cookbooks and searching the web to no avail.  Finally, I decided to search for an ingredient pairing ~ coupling an ingredient I love with one I'm struggling with, in this case, capers and zucchini. 

Turns out the original recipe is from The Greens Cookbook by Debora Madison, which we happen to own.  We adapted this recipe to the ingredients on hand to great results.

Pasta with Zucchini, Lemon, Pine Nuts and Herbs
Serves Two Generously

1/2 package of whole wheat pasta (roughly 4 ounces)
1 medium zucchini, cleaned and sliced into matchsticks
zest of 1/4 lemon, sliced into matchsticks
6 T extra virgin olive oil (worth using a good one for this recipe)
1/2 cup parsley, finely chopped
5 T pine nuts
2 large cloves of garlic, minced
4 t capers, non-pariel
2 sun-dried tomatoes, reconstituted if necessary, sliced into matchsticks
salt and pepper
Parmesan (optional)

Bring a large pot of salted water to boil for pasta and prepare all ingredients as noted above.

Heat 2 T oil in a saute pan; add pine nuts and cook till they begin to color, stirring frequently.  Add garlic, cook till fragrant, and remove from heat and place in a large serving bowl.  Stir in remaining olive oil, lemon zest, parsley, capers and sun-dried tomatoes into the pine nut mixture; set aside.

When the water comes to a boil, add the zucchini and cook for one minute.  Remove from water with a bamboo skimmer (or similar strainer) and add to the pine nut mixture.  Return the water to a boil and cook pasta as instructed and drain; add to the bowl and mix well.

Enjoy!

Experimenting with Ingredients: Red Radish Canapés

This week's box contains:

• Lettuce  (traded for more shallots)
• Red Radishes
• Strawberries
• Bunched Spinach
• Bunched Green-Tailed Shallots
• Artichokes
• Fava Beans

Red radishes are not something I would normally procure ...

Members of my family actively seek them out ~ eating them out of hand topped with salt.  I don't mind them, and actively like them pickled.  However, having them in the house takes thought and effort if they are to avoid the compost pile.

There is a bunch in this week's box, so I thought I'd focus on dealing with food that doesn't have immediate appeal.  What do you do when you have something on hand that does not inspire?

I typically do one of a few things:

• Research: Cookbooks and the internet are a tremendous help.  Either leverage the index of your favorite cookbook or search the internet for the ingredient in question.  An example would be a Google search on "radish recipes".

• Integrate:  Some ingredients can be integrated into something that does inspire.  For example, if you love risotto, almost anything you can imagine can be added to a compatible recipe.  Some ingredients can be "hidden"; check out Jessica Seinfeld's Deceptively Delicious for ideas.
  
  
• Trade:  In some cases, I know we will not eat the food.  Friends and family will often take the food off your hands, sometimes in exchange for something else.  This is a great option and often starts for us when we pick up the box.  Our CSA offers a "trade" box; if yours does ~ use it.
  
  
• Imagine: Sounds trite, but stay with me.  Is there a situation in which you can imagine a ingredient making an ingredient work?  We've got family in town this weekend and heavy appetizers were a part of the plan for tonight.  I narrowed my search on "radish recipes" to those that would fit the situation.  Knowing a few appetizer-like terms, such as canapé and "amuse bouche" helped.

I landed on a typical French preparation of radishes: radishes, butter, and salt.  Given the noshing planned, it wasn't a stretch to create Red Radish Canapés by adding bread to the equation.  Here's the recipe, which was a big hit.

Red Radish Canapés
Serves 4 as a first course

3 large red radishes, thinly sliced
butter, at room temperature (we used Kerrygold)
coarse salt (we used Celtic Sea Salt)
bread, thinly sliced
minced herbs of your choice

Lightly toast the bread and set aside to cool.  Spread butter on the bread and top with radish slices.  Top with minced herbs and coarse salt.  Enjoy!

We served these canapés with a Schramsberg Mirabelle Brut ~ a entirely pleasant pairing.

As for the other box contents, we ate the strawberries out of hand throughout the day and grilled the artichokes for dinner tonight.  The spinach and shallots will likely find their way into risotto while the favas wait for next weekend when we have time to deal with them.

Abundance of the Seasons

This week's box contains:

• Scallions
• Basil
  
• Purple Cauliflower
• Romaine Lettuce
• Mystery (Strawberries) 
• Gold Beets
• San Marzano Tomatoes
• Garnet Yams

We still have serrano chiles on hand, not to mention one poblano and one Corno di Toro Rosso.  Grand total on the beets now at lucky 13...

This is the time of year where the harvest means so many things.  As the seasons change, at least where we live, there are traditional summer favorites and early fall vegetables readily available.  As we depend on the weekly box for a majority of the food we eat, we work with what we have on hand.  I usually look for interesting combinations, an ethnic twist, or depend on Googling for inspiration.  Today's box offered many possible paths; here's what I did:

Scallions: some of the scallions were used for dinner tonight in the form of grilled scallion flat breads.  I made the following substitutes: Bob's Red Mill whole wheat pastry flour for all purpose flour and light sesame oil for generic vegetable oil, keeping the total oil at 3T, with 1.5T light and 1.5T dark sesame oil.  We also grilled vs. pan frying.  These were fantastic -- an excellent side for any Chinese meal, minus the rice.  The rest of the scallions may find their way into risotto later this week.

Basil: another batch of my favorite pesto for the freezer.

Purple Cauliflower: prepped for use later this week, by cleaning and cutting into florets.  Click here for my all time favorite cauliflower recipe.

Romaine Lettuce: honestly, I tossed it right along with the wilting salad mix from last week.  We are just not a salad eaters.  A better options would have been to leave them both in the swap box so at least someone could have eaten them...

Strawberries: cleaned, hulled and halved then added to the bag of frozen fruit that I use for smoothies.  My tried and true smoothie recipe is as follows:

Breakfast Smoothies
Serves 1

1c frozen fruit
1c low fat, unsweetened soy milk
2c water
2 scoops Vega Smoothie Infusion

Add all ingredients to the Vita-Mix
and blend well.

Gold Beets: roasted and pickled; gold beets for immediate consumption following this recipe.  I thought these were winners, Sean thought they tasted like dirt -- he's just not a beet eater.  The red beets on hand were prepped for long term storage following this recipe. I made the following substitutes: Penzey's Premium Pickling Spice for the caraway and mustard seed and Cyprus Black Lava Sea Salt
for pickling salt.


Tomatoes: with further inspiration from my friend Karen, of Promoting Central Indiana's Local Food Culture, we made some salsa to freeze following this recipe.  Freezing salsa had never occurred to me until Karen and I spoke Friday, but I'm willing to give it a go.  Since Karen and Thom eat locally all year, they've figured out quite a bit about what works and what doesn't.  See the story of their first "local" year here.

Garnet Yams: roasted.  My appreciation for the humble potato continues. Today I reached for warm spices and complementary oils, in this case light and dark sesame.

Roasted Yams with Chinese Five Spice

Serves 4

garnet yams (~2 pounds), diced
1T sesame oil (half light, half dark)
1t Chinese Five Spice
1t salt
Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.  Clean and dice yams, toss with oil, salt and spices.  Roast for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Queijo Fresco Tostada

I brought home a tub of Nicolau Farms Queijo Fresco ("fresh cheese") from the Mountain View Farmer's Market today. This queijo fresco is made from goat milk and is perfectly salted. Looking for a quick lunch, and to use up ingredients on hand, we decided on tostadas.

When you think about it, tostadas are a lot like tartines, with tortillas used in place of bread. Here's what we came up with:

Queijo Fresco Tostadas
Serves 2

4 corn tortillas
4 oz queijo fresco
1/2 c tomatillo salsa
1c cherry tomatoes, quartered
1/2 c white onion, minced
1/2 Anaheim pepper, finely diced

Spread queijo fresco on tortillas and place on a baking sheet; broil till cheese is bubbly and slightly brown. Top tortillas with salsa, tomatoes, onions and peppers. Olé!

Box Contents August 14, 2009: What to do with cabbage...

This week's box contains:

• Potatoes
• Tomatoes
• Strawberries
• Torpedo Onions
• Red Beets
• Lettuce (romaine and red butter)
• Cabbage
• Cherry Tomatoes

On hand from weeks past, we still have green onions, red cabbage, golden beets, carrots, red leaf lettuce, and a bit of arugula.

I'm always a bit challenged with cabbage. Don't get me wrong, I love it, but always struggle with what to do with it to consume a full head on my own as Sean's not much of a fan. Being of Polish origin, there's lots of family recipes to consider, but vegetarian options amongst them are few and far between. Google turned up braised cabbage, coleslaw, kimchi, sauerkraut, cabbage rolls, etc. As always, vegetarian is absolutely possible, but not de facto. In addition, many of the recipes involve braising -- which is not all that appealing in 77 degree weather.

Given that tonight's plan is to celebrate Sean's 50th birthday, I settled on something to serve as a side for grilled food:

• Asian Slaw
• Pearl Couscous with Olives and Roasted Tomatoes
• Beet Carpaccio
  

The rest of the menu remains to be seen ... besides the birthday cake of course!

Roasted Cauliflower with Garlic and Rosemary

Using this recipe for Roasted Rosemary Cauliflower as a base, I added 2 cloves garlic for a wonderful side dish. High heat seems to be key; long roasting at low temperature makes for soggy cauliflower.

All in all this was a lovely side dish. The full head of cauliflower posted last Friday resulted in enough florettes to serve four.

Chana Dal

A while back I made a large batch of chana dal and tucked it into the freezer. For dinner tonight, after a non-stop day that ended at 8pm, I thawed out enough for two and stirred in the remaining fresh peas we had from yesterday's trip to the farmer's market. Sean had thirds...

I used the recipe linked above, skipping the tamarind pulp and adding a can of Muir Glen fire roasted tomatoes for an extra bit of nutrition. Tonight's addition of the peas covered the missing sweetness the tamarind would have offered and the tomatoes added during the original prep covered the missing acid.

Simple, but extremely satisfying meal.

Box Contents May 29, 2009

This week's box contains:

• Thyme
• Mustard Greens
• Purple Scallions
• Spinach
• New Potatoes
• Strawberries
• Summer Squash
• Radishes
• Gold Beets (we got spinach instead)
  

Lots still on hand from past boxes, most in great shape thanks to the Evert-Fresh bags.

Tonight I made Quick Radish Pickles from a Gourmet Magazine post:

Quick Radish Pickles
makes about 1 cup

6 oz radishes (about 7), quartered
3 tablespoons rice vinegar (not seasoned)
2 tablespoons sugar
1 (1-inch) piece peeled ginger, cut into thin matchsticks (1 tablespoon)

Toss radishes with 1 tsp salt in a bowl and let stand 30 minutes. Drain in a sieve but do not rinse. Heat vinegar with sugar in a small saucepan over medium-low heat, stirring, until sugar has dissolved. Remove from heat and add radishes, then stir in ginger. Transfer to a small bowl and marinate, chilled, at least 2 hours.

Cooks’ note: Radishes can be marinated up to 1 day.

Recipe by Melissa Roberts

I substituted agave nectar for the white sugar. My plan is to let these sit for a day or two, then finely dice and toss with chopped baby mustard greens, barley, toasted sesame oil, and ume plum vinegar.

I am at a loss for what to do with so much thyme - a full bunch. Infused vinegar came to mind, so I did some research. I found a few recipes for thyme infused cider vinegar, good for use in the kitchen and the bath. It's infusing now -- I'll let you know how it goes.

When Life Gives You Avocados...

make guacamole.

Today's the day we've decided to relax and enjoy. Thanks to the the ingredients on hand, we're having:

• Guacamole
• Peach Salsa
  
• Veggie Quesadillas
• Margaritas

As we don't have any particular "favorite" in the guacamole department. Sean has a long history of "intuitive guacamole", so he's whipping one up with the following ingredients: avocados, onion, jalapeno, salt, cilantro, cayenne, and Cholula hot sauce. For the peach salsa, we simply added 4 peaches to the Cilantro-Lime Salsa recipe on the Muir Glen website, using their fire roasted tomatoes. Last but not least, the beverage of choice:

Simple Margaritas

1 part tequila of your choice, we like Patron Anejo
1 part triple sec of your choice, we like Cointreau
1 part fresh squeezed lime juice
kosher salt

Mix well and enjoy.

Box Contents May 8, 2009

This week's box contains:

• Agretti
• Baby Red Chard
• Green Garlic
• Red Leaf Lettuce
• Strawberries
• Zucchini

In addition to these new veggies, we have some on hand from last week and several things in the pantry that we need to work through. My challenge for the week is to feed the household without a trip to the store and without our old standby -- carry out.

I'll freeze the berries for use in breakfast smoothies. Beyond that, it will be a daily adventure! For dinner tonight, we are having Aglio e Olio. Literally translated as "garlic and oil", this traditional Italian dish consists of pasta, red pepper flakes, and -- you guessed it -- garlic and oil. I added coarsely chopped baby red chard. Here's a recipe from Emeril Lagasse to get you started:

Aglio e Olio
Emeril Lagasse, compliments of The Food Network

Ingredients

• 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 tablespoon minced garlic
• 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 1/2 pound angel hair pasta, cooked, pasta water reserved
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Directions

To a heated skillet, add the oil, garlic and pepper flakes. Saute for 2 to 3 minutes, then add the cooked pasta, salt and pepper and 1/4 cup of the reserved pasta water. Toss to combine. Serve immediately.

Annual Palo Alto Chili Cook-off

Yep, we're going for it. We're going to enter this year's Palo Alto Chili Cook-off with a vegetarian chili.

The vegetarian chili at the 2008 event was good, but there were not many options from which to choose. Veg chili was apparently popular as 2 of the 3 booths were "sold out" by the time we got there just after 1pm.

Our idea is to start with a recipe that works well and build on it from there. Here's where what we chose as a base:

Chunky Garden Vegetable Chili
from the Whole Foods Market Cookbook, page 90
Serves 6 to 8

1T olive or canola oil
1 medium onion, chopped
2 large carrots, chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped
1 medium green pepper, seeded and chopped
1 medium red pepper, seeded and chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced (1.5t)
1 jalapeno chili, seeded and minced
1T dried oregano
2t ground cumin
1T chili powder
1c tomato puree
1 (28-oz) can chopped tomatoes
2 quarts cold water or vegetable stock
1 cup cracked wheat
1 (16 oz) can red or white beans, rinsed and drained
1 cup cooked black beans
juice of 2 limes
1/2 cup tamari or soy sauce
1 bunch fresh cilantro, minced

Heat olive or canola oil in large sauce pot over medium heat and saute the onion, carrots, celery, peppers, garlic, jalapeno, oregano, cumin and chili powder for 2 minutes to combine well.

Add the tomato puree, tomatoes, cold water, cracked wheat, red or white beans, and black beans; simmer uncovered fro 50 minutes, until blended. you may add additional vegetable stock, water, or tomato juice to adjust the consistency, if needed.

Add the lime juice, tamari, and cilantro. Serve with plain yogurt or sour cream, grated cheddar, and minced scallions.

Again, the idea is to use this recipe as a base on which to build. Some changes right out of the gate include swapping a yellow pepper for the green pepper recommended, using water instead of broth, and using widely available bulgur instead of crack wheat. We're also playing around with chipotles from Tierra Vegetables, today's test batch using smoked Hungarian wax peppers.

Viva Argentina

The lingering purple potatoes from a few weeks back found themselves added to a fantastic meal. The September/October VegNews had an article "Viva Argentina" containing two exceptional recipes: Chimichurri Cha Cha and Carbonada con Seitan. We paired the two with a bottle of 2006 Cicchitti Torrontes, a great match.

Chimichurri Cha Cha
Makes 1 1/4 cups

4 cloves garlic
2T red onion or shallot, diced
3/4c parsley
1t fresh marjoram (we used 1/2t dried)
1/2t salt
1/4t black pepper
2T lemon juice
1 1/2T red wine vinegar
2/3c olive oil

In a food processor, combine the garlic and onion; pulse until chopped. Add the parsley, marjoram, salt and pepper; pulse until minced. Add the lemon juice, vinegar, and oil; process until blended.

Robin Robertson, "Viva Argentina", VegNews, September-October 2008, 62.

Carbonada con Seitan
Serves 6 generously

1T olive oil
1 pound seitan (pronounced SAY-tan), cut into 1" chunks
1 yellow onion, chopped
1/2c celery
1/2c green bell pepper, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 28oz can diced tomatoes, drained
1t dried marjoram
1/2t dried thyme
2c vegetable broth
2 russet potatoes, peeled and diced (we used 2c purple potatoes and did not peel them)
2 sweet potatoes, peeled and diced (we used 2c orange fleshed yams and did not peel them)
2c zucchini, diced
2c corn kernels
2 ripe pears, cored and diced (we used peaches)

Heat the oil in a large pot of med-high heat. Add the seitan and cook until browned; set aside. Add the onion, celery, bell pepper, and garlic; reduce heat to medium, cover and cook till softened, ~10 minutes. Stir in the tomatoes, marjoram, thyme and vegetable broth; bring to a boil. Add potatoes and simmer for 20 minutes. Return seitan to pot, add zucchini and corn kernels; simmer 10-15 minutes. Add peaches to pot and cook 5 minutes longer.

Robin Robertson, "Viva Argentina", VegNews, September-October 2008, 63.

We used the Chimichurri sauce as a topping for the Carbonada con Seitan. Stirring the sauce completely into the Carbonada is a good option.



As far as the wine goes, on its own it is not special - in fact, it is a bit fruity for me. However, in combination with these two recipes it was fantastic.

Vegan Zucchini Bread

Following the recipe in Colleen Patrick-Goudreau's The Joy of Vegan Baking, we converted the three zucchini received in this week's box into zucchini bread. This was my first attempt at vegan baking, so I was not sure what to expect.

Zucchini Bread
Makes 2 standard loaves.

3T ground flaxseed
1/2c water
1c canola oil
1T white distilled vinegar
2c granulated sugar
2c grated zucchini
2t vanilla extract
3c unbleached all-purpose or whole wheat pastry flour
2t ground cinnamon
1/2t nutmeg
1t baking soda
1/4t baking powder
1t salt
1/2c chopped walnuts
1/2c raisins

Preheat oven to 325F (170C). Lightly grease two 8x4x2 inch loaf pans.

Combine flaxseed meal and water; whip till thick and creamy. Add oil, vinegar and sugar - mix well. Add zucchini and vanilla, mix well. In a separate bowl, sift together all dry ingredients. Stir in walnuts and raisins. Stir the dry mixture into the wet mixture until just combined; do not over mix.

Divide the batter evenly into the loaf pans and bake for 60 to 70 minutes.

Patrick-Goudreau, Colleen. The Joy of Vegan Baking. Beverly, MA: Fair Winds Press, 2007.

We made a few changes out of necessity. First, we used 1/3 walnut oil and 2/3 sunflower oil as we had no canola on hand. Second, we used less sugar as we did not have the 2 cups required -- it was still very sweet.

Vegan baking was a bit different and did yield slightly different results. First, the batter was a bit gluey, certainly not pourable like other quick breads I've made. I was not sure the recipe would work, but it did -- very well. Second, while the texture of the crumb was just like a 'regular' quick bread, the taste and mouth feel were lighter -- a very pleasant change.

Box Contents July 15, 2008

This week's box contains:

• Lettuce (red leaf, green leaf, or butter)
• Mystery of Fruit
• Leeks
• Cabbage or cauliflower
• Bok Choy
• Beets or red chard
• Onions
• Carrots
• Summer Squash
• Gypsy Peppers

I'm on the road this week, so my friend David picked up the box. We should hear from him about how he used shortly.

Remnants of last week's box is still hanging around. We used the spinach and the zucchini on our grilled pizzas and the new potatoes for a pesto potato salad. The strawberries molded quickly, so hit the compost pile early this week. I'm going to try a Mexican-inspired pesto with the cilantro and will likely roast the turnips with a bit of truffle salt.

Grilled Peaches

In addition to the plum tree I've written about recently, we have a humble peach tree in our backyard. It's small and a bit neglected, but produces amazing fruit.

For dessert tonight, we decided to use the embers remaining from dinner to grill some peaches.

While I'm intuitive in some areas, cooking is not one of them. The peaches are literally falling off the tree, so there was nothing to lose.

The results were exceptional.

Grilled Peaches

1 peach per person
brown sugar (~1/4t per half peach)
butter (~1/2t per half peach)
nutmeg, freshly grated (~1 twist per half peach)
cinnamon (1 pinch per half peach)

Slice each peach in half and top with brown sugar, butter, nutmeg and cinnamon.



Place peaches, cup side up, on the grill over a low fire. Cover grill and let cook for 5 minutes. Covering the grill is an important step.



Plate and serve as is or with vanilla ice cream.

A few items of note:

• The brown ball you see inside the peach is actually a clump of brown sugar, not a pit. Next time we'll crumble the sugar before topping the peach.
  
• Nutmeg is best freshly grated. We use the Nut Twister nutmeg mill. Admittedly, a bad name for a product, but it is a great tool.
• Cinnamon. Wouldn't go so far as grating cinnamon sticks, but do take care with the ground cinnamon we keep on hand. Two favorites include China Cassia Cinnamon and Extra Fancy Vietnamese Cassia Cinnamon from Penzeys.
• The butter was 'heavy' relative to the peaches; we'll try almond or hazelnut oil next time.
• Chopped, toasted nuts would be a good addition, matching the nuts to the nut oil.
• Ginger anyone?

As a side note, we tried these with a 2001 Joh. Jos Prum Wehlener Sonnenuhr Spatelese -- highly recommended pairing.

Japanese Barley and Rice with Spinach and Tofu

Foraging through the fridge last night in search of something for dinner, I found a bag of spinach from the June 18th box and a package of high protein tofu. We marinated the tofu in ponzu sauce, sauteed the spinach in toasted sesame oil and served over the following barley rice. We added finely chopped radishes from last week's box and tossed lightly with ume plum vinegar -- dinner was served.

A combination well worth repeating, though time consuming if you don't already have the barley and rice prepared.

Japanese Barley and Rice
Serves 4 to 6

1c pearled barley
2 1/4c warm water
3T white miso
1/3c short-grain brown rice
hot water for soaking barley

Place barley in rice cooker bowl and cover with hot water. Let soak for 1 hour and drain; return to rice cooker. Add miso, warm water, and brown rice -- mix well. Close the cover and set rice cooker for regular/brown rice cycle. When the cooker switches to the keep warm cycle, let rice and barley steam for 10 minutes.

Hensperger, Beth & Kaufmann, Julie. the ultimate rice cooker cookbook. Boston, MA: Harvard Common Press, 2002.

Box Contents July 2, 2008

This week's box contains:

• Romaine Lettuce
• New Potatoes
• Chantenay Carrots
• Lacinato Kale
• Dill
• Baby Erbette Chard
• Basil
• Broccoli
• French Breakfast Radishes
  

The potatoes will either become potato salad or get roasted. The broccoli and radishes eaten raw as snacks over the holiday weekend, and the chard and kale sauteed with garlic as a side. Carrots will almost certainly become baked carrot fries and the basil will be made into pesto. I, of course, swapped out the romaine, this time for dill. With two bunches of dill on my hands I'm in the same situation as I was with the rosemary two weeks ago -- strong herb, lots in stock. Time to make and to use of some non-traditional pesto.

Fortunately I found an interesting recipe that uses dill pesto: Mozzarella, Tomato, & Dill Pesto Panini. While there's a recipe for the pesto included, I plan to stick with my tried and true vegan pesto recipe from the Voluptuous Vegan included below. The dill pesto pictured here, which I just made, is fantastic. I find dill can be overpowering, but the combination with walnuts and garlic, two other strong flavors, is solid. We'll serve this alongside a crudite platter, but it would be great on pasta, tossed with roasted vegetables, etc.

[Herb of your Choice]-Walnut Pesto
... makes 25 - 2 tablespoon servings

3/4 cup walnut pieces, toasted
1 bunch herb of choice, ends trimmed
1 large garlic clove, pressed
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon mellow barley miso
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Combine all ingredients in a blender, adjust salt and pepper and use or freeze.

This pesto is incredible by itself on a spoon or used any of the ways you see pesto in the wild. It freezes amazingly well.

Herbs successfully tried using this recipe include basil, dill, and parsley - all yielded excellent pesto.

Nutritional Information (per the Calorie Counter at MyFoodDiary.com)
Calories: 51, Total Fat: 5.2g, Saturated Fat: .6g, Cholesterol: 0mg, Sodium: 37mg, Carbohydrate: .9g (.4g dietary fiber, .2g sugar), Protein: .7g

Box Contents June 18, 2008

Purple Cauliflower
Originally uploaded by michellefleury.

This week's box contains:

• Salad Mix
• Baby Spinach
• Cauliflower (Purple)
• Mint
• Fennel
• Sorrel
• Strawberries

As usual, I'm lost for the desire to make use of the lettuce, but everything else will find a place on our plates.

Most of contents from last week's and the prior week's boxes found their way into a "stone soup" of sorts; random ingredients on hand went into a pot and a hearty, tasty soup emerged:

Stone Soup

bunch of erbette chard, chopped
bunch of gallegan kale, chopped
pile of french fingerling potatoes, diced
bunch of turnips, diced
1 can diced tomatoes
1 can chickpeas
1/2 cup quinoa
4 large cloves garlic
1T olive oil
2 Rapunzel vegan vegetable bouillon cubes

We sauteed the garlic in olive oil and then added the freshly washed greens. Meanwhile everything else simmered in a stockpot till tender. Greens, and the juices created during their sautee, were added. Stir to combine and soup's on!

I seasoned mine with ume plum vinegar, Sean seasoned his with black pepper. For ease of eating, it is important everything is bite-sized. A few ideas for further seasoning include porcini powder and fennel pollen.

No word yet on what Teresa and Billy did with the June 4th box, but stay tuned.