Week 16 - More Pie

[Posted by Ruth]
The pie kick continues.  Week 15 brought my first bunch of turnip greens which I paired with bacon and summer squash in a polenta crust.  Here it is before baking...

And after baking.

 It came out great although you'll notice that the attempt at a fluted edge was a waste of time.  The polenta is just too soft to hold the shape.  In fact, if you want to serve this piping hot straight from the oven, you'll be spooning it out, rather than slicing it.  You might even want to put the polenta on top in that case.  We let it sit for about 20 minutes and were able to cut and carefully serve the slices.  At room temperature is should slice very well.  We didn't have a chance to test this theory; it was long gone before it cooled!

Turnip Green/Summer Squash Pie with Potenta Crust

Preheat oven to 375.
You can make your own polenta instead of using the packaged, but the packaged worked very well here and made this a quick weeknight meal.

Polenta Crust
1 Package (18 oz) ready made, organic polenta 
4 T unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
Salt and pepper, if needed - depends on the polenta you use

Place all ingredients in a food processor and pulse until completely blended.  Press into a standard sized pie pan.  (See above, don't bother to flute the edges)

Filling
5 thick slices bacon (we used applewood smoked) cut up
1/2 medium onion, coarsely chopped
1 clove garlic, chopped
1 bunch turnip greens - coarsely chopped
1 small/medium summer squash, thinly sliced into 1/2 rounds
1 T minced fresh basil
Salt and pepper to taste


Cook bacon pieces over medium heat until crisped, but not over-browned.  Remove bacon with a slotted spoon and set aside, leaving the fat in the pan.  Saute the onion and garlic in the bacon drippings until softened.  Add the turnip greens and squash and cook over medium heat until just cooked through, stopping before the squash gets too soft.  Add salt and pepper to taste (careful with the salt, the bacon and the cheese in the crust will add quite a bit) and stir in the basil.  Turn the vegetables into the crust and bake over a cookie sheet to catch any drips for 30-40 minutes, until the crust is beginning to turn a light golden brown and the filling has cooked down.  Let cool for at least 20 minutes before slicing.


Here is the haul for week 16.  The week brought a huge amount and variety.  It was great to get some more corn before the season ends.  They were small, very sweet, tender ears.  There was also a head of lettuce.  I was actually happy to see it so I guess I'm over the Spring lettuce overload syndrome!

 

Week 13 - 14 - Pasta 'Primaspacho'

[Posted by Ruth]
Wrapping up week 13 and in the midst of yet another heat wave, I did a sauce earlier this week that wound up being very good both hot and cold.  It's kind of the love child of Pasta Primavera and Gazpacho.

This recipe represents what I had kicking around near the end of Week 13 but you can really add any late summer vegetable you like here.  The key is to keep the cooking to a minimum to maintain the color and crispness as well as the fresh taste.

Pasta 'Primaspacho'
Serve hot over pasta as or as a cold soup.  This makes a large batch, enough for a hot meal 1 night, a cold meal the next night and some to put away to have another time

2 Zucchini, cubed
2 Summer Squash cubed
1 large onion, coarsely chopped
4-6 cloves garlic, crushed
4 ears corn, cut from cob
Olive oil
4-6 cups peeled, roughly chopped ripe tomatoes, seeded as well if they're very juicy
1/2 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp thyme
1 T honey
Salt, Pepper
Fresh basil, mozzarella cubes or shaved Parmesan and red pepper flakes as desired for garnish.

Al dente pasta if serving hot.


Heat oil in large heavy pan.  Gently saute the onions and garlic until garlic is fragrant.  Add Zucchini and squash and cook over medium heat until it begins to lose its raw appearance.  Stir in the corn, tomatoes, oregano, thyme, salt and pepper.  Cook until the vegetables are tender but still a have some bite to them and some of the tomato liquid had evaporated.  Stir in the honey.  If serving hot, place pasta in deep bowls and top with sauce and cheese, basil and red pepper flakes, if using.  It will be a soupy sauce so it's best served with a smaller pasta and spoons.  If serving cold, serve as a cold soup with the same garnishes.  You can place a slice of French or Italian bread in the bottom of the soup bowl before serving if you like to absorb some of the liquid and thicken it a bit.  We really liked it hot the first night but both liked it even better cold the second night.


Here, by the way, is the Week 14 haul.  There are actually 12 ears of corn, but they are not all in the shot.  It was just too hot to unpack them all!

 This is the first time I've been disappointed with the corn.  I'm not sure if it's the variety or that it's late in the season.  The ears are all very large and the two that we had last night, just quickly boiled and served, were starchy and didn't have much flavor.  The remaining ears will need some jazzing up this week.

Week 9 - Finally...

(Posted by Denise)

Can you believe it! A recipe from me. I finally found something that I had enough time to think through and take pictures of.

So I give you:

Zucchini and Summer Squash Gratin

1 Tablespoon lemon zest

1 1/2 pounds summer squash or zucchini, sliced thin (I used a mandolin)

½ teaspoon kosher salt

1/4 cup fresh oregano leaves

1/4 cup fresh Italian parsley

2 large garlic clove, chopped

1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes

1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil

1 Tablespoon lemon juice

1/4 cup unsalted butter

2 cups fresh bread crumbs (I used a day old baguette)

3-4 potatoes, sliced transparently thin

1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 400F degrees and place Prepare a gratin dish with a little (2 tsp) olive oil and sprinkle lemon zest.

Place the zucchini slices into a colander placed over a sink, toss with the salt and set aside for 10-15 minutes (to drain a bit) and go on to prepare the oregano sauce and bread crumbs.

Puree the oregano, parsley, garlic, 1/4 teaspoon salt, red pepper flakes, and olive oil in a food processor or using a hand blender. Set aside.

Melt the butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. Cook for a few minutes until the butter turns brown. Wait two minutes, then stir the breadcrumbs into the browned butter.

Transfer the squash and the potatoes into a large bowl two-thirds of the oregano sauce. Toss until well coated. Add the cheese and half of the bread crumbs and toss again. .

Place squash mixture into gratin dish, top with the remaining crumbs, and bake for between 40 and 50 minutes – Test for doneness by piercing with a knife. Remove from oven, and drizzle with the remaining oregano sauce.

Week 8 - Even more zucchini

[Posted by Ruth]
With crazy amounts of zucchini and summer squash left and week 9 looming, I did a quick casserole that we enjoyed.  There really isn't a recipe with quantities here.  Just take a huge amount of squash (somewhere between an amount that makes you want to sit on the kitchen floor and cry and enough to want to go up in a tower and start shooting should work) and cook it in a way you already like.  I sauteed ours in olive oil w/ garlic, some fresh oregano and thyme from the garden, salt, pepper, red pepper flakes and a bit of Worcestershire sauce..

Then, top with a mixture of bread crumbs tossed with olive oil and cheese and bake at 375 until golden and bubbling.  I actually liked the combination of cubed stale bread and panko breadcrumbs tossed with Gruyere cheese in this one.  Mixing the finer panko with the chunks of bread provided an interesting mix of textures.

Week 4 - We interrupt this farm share to bring you....peas

[Posted by Ruth]

The warm weather this week made the peas in my own garden go 'splodey' so it was time to pick them.  I loved a recipe in Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything Vegetarian cookbook for lettuce leaves stuffed with peas, mint and ricotta and steamed and decided to make that tonight.  Problem was, none of my remaining few lettuce leaves were large enough for stuffing.  So, plan B - Peas with Ricotta and mint with braised lettuce.

 It was a great little side dish w/ a chicken sausage.

Peas and lettuce with ricotta and mint
serves 2
Approx 2 cups fresh peas
3 cups torn up lettuce
pinch sugar
salt and pepper to taste
2 T fresh mint, leaves only - roughly chopped
pat of butter
1 1/2 cups ricotta


Braise peas and lettuce in a small amount of water w/ sugar, salt and pepper until peas are just tender and liquid is almost gone.  Add in butter and mint, lower head and fold in ricotta until warmed through.  Serve immediately.


The rest of the week has been a busy one but here, in brief, are some of the things we made with our farm share.


A little of this and a little of that....

Sunday brunch was the last of the Wave Hill bread, grilled, topped with goat cheese and sauteed Asian Mix and served with a Stone Gardens Egg.

Monday's dinner was a clean out the fridge dinner.  I had leftover rice and leftover chicken from the Stone Gardens chicken.  I sauteed the summer squash with garlic scapes, sundried tomatoes, pine nuts, capers and rosemary and then stirred in the rice and the chicken.

Here it is before and after the chicken and rice were added.  Done and on the table in under 15 min.

Tuesday I did a fritatta with the last of the zucchini, garlic and some ham.  I love making these during the week because they're great to take for lunch the next day.  

I still have to get a handle on the collard greens, but I did make the ham hock stock for braising them tonight.  The plan is to make them tomorrow night and freeze them in batches for later.