New England Molasses Gingerbread Cookies

Another must for the annual Christmas cookie making. Originally from Bon Appetit, found through epicurious, and just right. The icing is also my standard recipe for cookie piping now.

Dough
6 cups (about) all purpose flour, divided
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
2 teaspoons ground ginger
1½ teaspoons ground cloves
¾ teaspoon salt
11 tablespoons (1 stick plus 3 tablespoons) unsalted butter, room temperature
⅔ cup solid vegetable shortening
1 cup sugar
1 cup mild-flavored (light) molasses
1½ teaspoons grated lemon peel
1 large egg
¼ cup buttermilk
2 teaspoons water
1 teaspoon baking soda


Icing
3 cups powdered sugar
1½ tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1½ teaspoons light corn syrup
Water
Food coloring (optional)

Decorations (such as colored sugar crystals)

Preparation

For dough:
Combine 5¼ cups flour, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, and salt in medium bowl; whisk to blend well. Using electric mixer, beat butter and shortening in large bowl to blend. Add 1 cup sugar, molasses, and lemon peel and beat until smooth. Beat in egg and buttermilk. Stir 2 teaspoons water and baking soda in small cup to blend; beat into butter mixture. Beat in flour mixture in 2 additions. Stir in more flour, ¼ cup at a time, until slightly firm dough forms. Divide dough into 3 equal parts. Shape each into disk. Wrap disks and chill until firm enough to roll, at least 2 hours. (Can be made 2 days ahead. Keep refrigerated. Soften slightly before rolling out.)

Working with 1 disk at a time, roll out dough between sheets of waxed paper to 16x12-inch rectangle, occasionally lifting paper to smooth out wrinkles. (Alice's note: I usually roll with at least one sheet of baking paper, which I leave them on to bake.) Using 4- to 5-inch cutters, cut out boy and girl gingerbread people. Pull away excess dough around cutouts; flatten, wrap, and chill excess dough. Slide rimless baking sheet or inverted baking sheet under waxed paper with cutouts and chill until firm. Repeat with remaining dough disks, refrigerating cutouts on waxed paper on baking sheets. Roll out excess dough and make more cookies, using all of dough. (Cutout cookies can be made 1 day ahead. Cover; keep chilled.)

Position rack in center of oven and preheat to 350°F. Using thin metal spatula, lift chilled cookies off waxed paper and transfer to baking sheet, spacing 1 inch apart. Bake until darker at edges and just firm to touch in center, about 12 minutes. Cool on sheet 5 minutes. Transfer to rack; cool completely. Bake remaining cookies, 1 sheet at a time.

For icing:
Sift powdered sugar into medium bowl. Mix in lemon juice and corn syrup. Mix in enough water by teaspoonfuls to form smooth icing soft enough to pipe but firm enough to hold shape. Divide into 3 or 4 portions and tint with food coloring, if desired.

Spoon icing into pastry bag (or bags if using more than 1 color) fitted with small (1/16- to ⅛-inch) plain tip. Arrange cookies on work surface. Pipe icing onto cookies in desired patterns. Apply decorations as desired. Let cookies stand until icing is dry. (Can be made 3 days ahead. Store cookies airtight between sheets of waxed paper at room temperature.)

Shortbread cookies

Shortbread is eggless, which makes it a must for the annual Christmas cookie rolling/cutting/baking/decorating fun with Kedhar! This recipe works well with cookie cutters, and tastes wonderful. It's from the Silver Palate cookbook.

Shortbread Hearts

3 sticks sweet butter, softened
1 cup confectioner's sugar
3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour, sifted
½ tsp. salt
½ tsp. vanilla extract
¼ cup granulated sugar

Cream butter and confectioner's sugar together until light. Sift flour and salt together and add to creamed mixture. Add vanilla and blend thoroughly. Gather dough into a ball, wrap in wax paper, and chill for 4 to 6 hours.

Roll out chilled dough to 5/8-inch thickness. Using a 3-inch-long heart-shaped cookie cutter, cut out cookies. Sprinkle tops with granulated sugar. Place cut-out cookies on ungreased cookie sheets and refrigerate for 45 minutes before baking.

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Bake cookies for 20 minutes, or until just starting to color lightly; cookies should not brown at all. Cool on a rack. Makes approximately 20 cookies.

For Christmas, we decorate these with frosting, which can make them a bit sweet, but getting to work with the dough and eat his creations makes one little boy very happy.

Sugar cookies for decorating

My Mom's standard sugar cookie recipe, especially for Christmas. These are perfect for decorating. Courtesy of First Presbyterian Church, according to Mom, but I don't know if that's my First Presbyterian Church of childhood or not. It seems to me that an inordinate percentage of Presbyterian Churches are First.

½ cup shortening
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 Tbsp. milk
¼ tsp. anise oil
3¼ cups flour
2 tsp. baking powder
¼ tsp. salt

Cream together shortening and sugar, then add eggs, milk and anise oil. Sift together the dry ingredients and add to the sugar mixture. Divide into 3 balls, shape into flattened disks, and wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate until firm. Using one disk at a time, roll to ⅛ inch, using powdered sugar instead of flour for rolling. Cut into shapes using cutters, and transfer to a greased cookie sheet or one with parchment. Bake at 375 degrees F for 7-10 minutes or until very light brown.

If desired, paint before baking with egg yolk and 2 or 3 drops of water and cake coloring. Or, sprinkle with colored sugar before baking, or decorate with frosting after cooled.

Apple Cake Cockaigne

I am considering cooking my way through all of the cockaigne recipes in the Joy of Cooking. Why not? They are supposed to be the favorites!

1 cup flour
1 tsp. baking powder
¼ tsp. salt
2 Tbsp. sugar
5 to 6 Tbsp. butter
1 egg
½ tsp. vanilla
milk
4 cups sliced pared apples
1 cup sugar (white, brown or a mix)
2 tsp. cinnamon

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Grease a 9- or 10-inch round pan. Do not use a springform one, or protect the oven underneath from dripping sauce. Combine the flour, baking powder, salt, and 2 Tbsp. sugar. Cut in 2 to 3 Tbsp. chilled butter until it is crumbly like pastry dough. In a measuring cup, beat 1 egg with the vanilla, then add enough mild to bring it up to ½ cup. You will have a very sticky dough. Pat it into the greased pan with a floured palm or greased spoon or spatula. Arrange sliced apples on top (if they are dull, sprinkle them with lemon juice first). Combine the cup of sugar and cinnamon with 3 Tbsp. melted butter. Sprinkle on top. Bake about 25 minutes.

Turkey tetrazinni

This alternates nicely with the great after-Thanksgiving turkey enchiladas. Recipe from the Joy of Cooking.

2 to 3 cups shredded cooked turkey
½ pound pasta
½ to ¾ pound mushrooms
5 Tbsp. butter
1 Tbsp. vegetable oil
1 clove garlic
3 Tbsp. dry white wine
2 Tbsp. flour
2 cups chicken broth
1 cup cream (or half and half)
salt and pepper
grated parmesan cheese

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Clean and slice mushrooms. Melt 2 Tbsp. butter in a pan with 1 Tbsp. oil, and saute mushrooms on medium. When they have started to release liquid, add 1 clove of garlic, minced. Continue sauteing, adding the wine and allowing most of the liquid to cook off. Meanwhile, boil salted water for the pasta. While the pasta is cooking, make a roux of 3 Tbsp. butter and the flour, slowing mixing in the chicken stock. Season it with salt and pepper, then remove from heat and stir in the cream.

Drain the pasta, then mix half the sauce with the pasta, stir in the chicken and mushrooms, and mix all together. Grease a baking dish, pour in the pasta mixture, then pour the remaining sauce over it all. Sprinkle the top with grated Parmesan cheese, or a mixture of cheese and breadcrumbs. Bake until lightly browned and heated through.

Chocolate Orange Cake

This recipe is from Nigella Lawson's Feast. Susan had remembered it as a clementine recipe, and we had some, so that's how we made it. It was good but I didn't love it as much as I'd thought I would, maybe because it is classed as a flourless chocolate cake, but is not so decadent as what I had in mind, though quite nice.

2 small or 1 large thin-skinned orange, approximately 14oz total weight
6 eggs
1 heaped teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
2 cups ground almonds
1¼ cups superfine sugar
½ cup unsweetened cocoa
orange peel for decoration if wished

Put the whole orange or oranges in a pan with some cold water, bring to the boil and cook for 2 hours or until soft. Drain and, when cool, cut the oranges in half and remove any big seeds. Then pulp everything -- pith, peel and all -- in a food processor, or see below if you're proceeding by hand.

Once the fruit is cold, or near cold (though actually I most often cook the oranges the day before I make the cake), preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter and line an 8 inch springform pan.

Add the eggs, baking powder, baking soda, almonds, sugar and cocoa to the orange in the food processor. Run the motor until you have a cohesive cake mixture, but still slightly knobbly with the flecks of pureed orange. Or you could chop the fruit finely by hand, and with a wooden spoon beat the eggs one by one into the sugar, alternating with spoons of mixed ground almond and cocoa, then the oranges, though I have to say I've only ever made this the lazy way.

Pour and scrape into the cake pan and bake for an hour, by which time a cake tester should come out pretty well clean. Check after 45 minutes because you may have to cover it with aluminum foil to prevent the cake from burning before it is cooked through, or indeed it may need a little less than an hour; it all depends on your oven.

Leave the cake to get cool in the pan, on a cooling rack. When the cake is cold you can take it out of the pan. Decorate with strips of orange peel or coarsely grated zest if you so wish, but it is darkly beautiful in its plain, unadorned state.

Makes about 8 slices.

Last box: Finally the kohlrabi arrives!

Honey Brook Organic Farm made it into the New York Times regional section again today, this time in an article about locavore Thanksgiving. This picture was of a couple gathering pick-your-own herbs at the farm.

Today was the last box of the season, which is always a bit sad, while also something of a relief to not have to figure out what to do with a surfeit of daikon and kohlrabi! Speaking of which, I'm sure we got more kohlrabi last year - this is the first and only time this year. And we got four little heads of lettuce on the last day of the farm share in mid-November! The carrots, cauliflower and sweet potatoes will keep us eating our veggies for a while.

• Carrots
• Cauliflower
• Celeriac
• Kohlrabi
• Baby Lettuce
• Parsley
• Radishes

Peanut butter cookies with chocolate chunks

I made this recipe from epicurious, but would make it with a few changes next time. I might increase the peanut butter, but would definitely decrease the honey or sugar, as it was a little too sweet for me to really get that nice balance of salty and sweet that's so good with pb and chocolate things.

• 1 1/2 cups unbleached all purpose flour
• 1/3 cup old-fashioned oats
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup old-fashioned chunky peanut butter (about 9 ounces)
• 1 cup (packed) golden brown sugar
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1/4 cup honey
• 1 large egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 5 ounces semisweet chocolate, coarsely chopped

Mix flour, oats, baking soda and salt in medium bowl. Using electric mixer, beat peanut butter, brown sugar, butter, honey, egg and vanilla in large bowl until well blended. Stir dry ingredients into peanut butter mixture in 2 additions. Stir in chopped chocolate. Cover and refrigerate until dough is firm and no longer sticky, about 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter 2 heavy large baking sheets. With hands, roll 1 heaping tablespoonful of dough for each cookie into 1 3/4-inch-diameter ball. Arrange cookies on prepared baking sheets, spacing 2 1/2 inches apart. Bake cookies until puffed, beginning to brown on top and still very soft to touch, about 12 minutes. Cool cookies on baking sheets 5 minutes. Using metal spatula, transfer cookies to rack and cool completely.

Sauerkraut

About ¾ head of cabbage, over 3½ weeks, made 3 pints of sauerkraut. This is truly mysterious biochemistry with food. As I understand it, you just control the salinity of the solution, keep it out of contact with oxygen, and maintain a reasonable temperature range, and the right bacteria (Leuconostoc mesenteroides) will win. And it seems to have worked - I just put some cabbage and salt water in the basement for a few weeks, and it tastes like sauerkraut, so it definitely fermented, and presumably the good bacteria won. I canned a couple pints and kept one for the fridge.

See a recipe, and look up the science in On Food and Cooking.

Salad returns

Lettuce is back, I hadn't expected that. Carrots and sweet potatoes in quantity. Another daikon to find something to do with. Spinach and cauliflower has been nice to have lately.

• Arugula
• Carrots
• Cauliflower
• Celery
• Daikon
• Endive
• Baby Lettuce
• Radishes
• Spinach
• Sweet Potatoes

Oven-dried grape tomatoes

Based on the recipe from Barbara Kafka's Vegetable Love, for plum tomatoes--grape tomatoes are sweeter.

Clean tomatoes and cut them in half lengthwise. Arrange, cut side up, on a baking sheet that holds them comfortably. Sprinkle kosher salt lightly and evenly over tomatoes. Let stand at room temperature for roughly 30 minutes.

Place in a 200 degree Fahrenheit oven, on a rack in the middle. Dry until firm but still pliable (not hard and crispy). Set a timer for every hour or so, at first, and every 30 minutes when they get close to dry--depending on size, this can take 2 to 5 hours.

Tomatoes freeze well and we use them all winter long from the freezer.

Cassoulet

More good elite election party food. This is from epicurious as well. It is extremely rich if you actually cook up the duck skin into cracklings.

Makes 6 to 8 servings
Active time: 1¼ hr
Start to finish: 12 hr (includes soaking beans)

1 lb dried white beans (preferably Great Northern)
8¼ cups cold water
2 cups beef broth
1 tablespoon tomato paste
2 cups chopped onion (¾ lb)
3 tablespoons finely chopped garlic (6 large cloves)
1 (3-inch) piece celery, cut into thirds
3 fresh thyme sprigs
1 Turkish or ½ California bay leaf
3 whole cloves
3 fresh flat-leaf parsley sprigs plus ½ cup chopped leaves
¼ teaspoon whole black peppercorns
1 (14-oz) can stewed tomatoes, puréed or finely chopped with juice
4 confit duck legs (1¾ lb total)
1 to 2 tablespoons olive oil (if necessary)
1 lb cooked garlic pork sausage or smoked pork kielbasa, cut crosswise into ⅓-inch-thick slices
2 cups coarse fresh bread crumbs (preferably from a baguette)
1½ teaspoons salt
½ teaspoon black pepper

Preparation

Soak and cook beans:
Cover beans with cold water by 2 inches in a large bowl and soak 8 to 12 hours. Drain in a colander.

Transfer beans to a 6- to 8-quart pot and bring to a boil with 8 cups cold water, broth, tomato paste, onion, and 2 tablespoons garlic. Put celery, thyme, bay leaf, cloves, parsley sprigs, and peppercorns in cheesecloth and tie into a bundle with string to make a bouquet garni. Add bouquet garni to beans, then reduce heat and simmer, uncovered, until beans are almost tender, 45 minutes to 1 hour. Stir in tomatoes with juice and simmer until beans are just tender, about 15 minutes more.

Prepare duck and sausage while beans simmer:
Remove all skin and fat from duck legs and cut skin and fat into ½-inch pieces. Separate duck meat from bones, leaving it in large pieces, and transfer meat to a bowl. Add bones to bean pot.

Cook duck skin and fat with remaining ¼ cup cold water in a 10-inch heavy skillet over moderate heat, stirring, until water is evaporated and fat is rendered, about 5 minutes. Continue to cook, stirring frequently, until skin is crisp, 3 to 6 minutes more. Transfer cracklings with a slotted spoon to paper towels to drain, leaving fat in skillet. (You should have about ¼ cup fat; if not, add olive oil.)

Brown sausage in batches in fat in skillet, then transfer to bowl with duck meat, reserving skillet.

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Make bread crumb topping:
Add remaining tablespoon garlic to fat in skillet and cook over moderate heat, stirring, 1 minute. Stir in bread crumbs and cook, stirring, until pale golden, about 2 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in chopped parsley, ½ teaspoon salt, ¼ teaspoon pepper, and cracklings.

Assemble casserole:
Remove bouquet garni and duck bones from beans and discard, then stir in kielbasa, duck meat, remaining teaspoon salt, and remaining ¼ teaspoon pepper.

Ladle cassoulet into casserole dish, distributing meat and beans evenly. (Meat and beans should be level with liquid; if they are submerged, ladle excess liquid back into pot and boil until reduced, then pour back into casserole dish.) Spread bread crumb topping evenly over cassoulet and bake, uncovered, in lower third of oven, until bubbling and crust is golden, about 1 hour.

Cooks' note: Cassoulet can be assembled (but not baked) 1 day ahead. Cool casserole before adding topping, then top and chill, loosely covered. Let stand at room temperature 30 minutes before baking.

Sun-dried tomato and pesto torta

I made an approximation of this recipe (via epicurious, from Bon Appétit in December 1999) as East Coast elite food for our election party. I used pesto from our freezer, roughly half regular pesto and half garlic scape pesto. The tomatoes were our own oven-dried ones. Since we keep these in the freezer (not packed in oil), I added enough oil until I liked the consistency. I didn't make quite as much cream cheese layer as the recipe calls for, and had two layers of each filling, in a loaf pan. Apart from the first layer on plastic wrap, they were easy to spread with a spoon or spatula sprayed with nonstick spray. I popped the pan in the freezer briefly, for perhaps 10 minutes, between each layer.

You can make this up to three days ahead; be sure to start at least one day in advance.

Ingredients

4 garlic cloves
1½ cups (packed) fresh basil leaves
¼ cup pine nuts
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
2⅔ cups cream cheese, room temperature (about 21 ounces)
¼ cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
1⅓ cups drained oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes
⅓ cup tomato paste
¾ cup butter, room temperature
Nonstick vegetable oil spray
Fresh basil sprigs
Toasted pine nuts
Baguette slices, toasted

Finely chop garlic in processor. Add basil, 1/4 cup pine nuts, oil and lemon juice. Process until well blended. Add 1/3 cup cream cheese and 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese. Using on/off turns, process just until blended. Transfer pesto to medium bowl.

Coarsely chop tomatoes in processor. Add tomato paste and process until mixture is almost smooth. Add 1/3 cup cream cheese and blend well.

Using electric mixer, beat 2 cups cream cheese and butter in large bowl until fluffy. Season with salt and pepper.

Spray 6-cup soufflé dish with nonstick spray. Line with plastic wrap, extending plastic over sides. Spread 3/4 cup cream cheese-butter mixture evenly over bottom of prepared dish. Top with half of tomato mixture, then 1/2 cup cream cheese-butter mixture, then half of pesto mixture. Repeat layering with 1/2 cup cream cheese-butter mixture, remaining tomato mixture, 1/2 cup cream cheese-butter mixture and remaining pesto. Top with remaining cream cheese-butter mixture. Cover and chill overnight. (Can be made 3 days ahead. Keep refrigerated.)

Invert torta onto platter. Peel off plastic. Smooth any uneveness with a hot knife. Garnish with basil sprigs and toasted pine nuts. Serve with baguette slices.

Mousse au chocolat

Chocolate Mousse
Six to eight servings

From Mastering the Art of French Cooking by Julia Child, adapted by David Lebovitz.

Doubled by me. That's a big dessert.

12 ounces (340 g) bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, chopped
12 ounces (340 g) unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
½ cup (120 ml) dark-brewed coffee
8 large eggs, separated
1⅓ cups, plus 2 tablespoons sugar
4 tablespoons (60 ml) dark rum
2 tablespoons (30 ml) water
large pinch of salt
1 teaspoons vanilla extract

1. Heat a saucepan one-third full with hot water, and in a bowl set on top, melt together the chocolate, butter and coffee, stirring over the barely simmering water, until smooth. Remove from heat.

2. Fill a large bowl with ice water and set aside.

3. In a bowl large enough to nest securely on the saucepan of simmering water, whisk the yolks of the eggs with the 1⅓ cups of sugar, rum, and water for about 3 minutes until the mixture is thick, like runny mayonnaise. (You can also use a handheld electric mixer.)

3. Remove from heat and place the bowl of whipped egg yolks within the bowl of ice water and beat until cool and thick, as shown in the photo above. Then fold the chocolate mixture into the egg yolks.

4. In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites with the salt until frothy. Continue to beat until they start to hold their shape. Whip in the 2 tablespoons of sugar and continue to beat until thick and shiny, but not completely stiff, then the vanilla.

5. Fold one-third of the beaten egg whites into the chocolate mixture, then fold in the remainder of the whites just until incorporated, but don't overdo it or the mousse will lose volume.

6. Transfer the mousse to a serving bowl or divide into serving dishes, and refrigerate for at least 4 hours, until firm.

Storage: The mousse au chocolat can be refrigerated for up to 4 days.

Sweet Potatoes

I just wanted some carrots for cole slaw yesterday. Now we have lots. The sweet potatoes are huge! We have some arugula for our "East Coast Elite" election night party.

• Arugula
• Carrots
• Cauliflower
• Collards
• Daikon
• Leeks
• Sweet Potatoes
• Spinach

Japanese curry

There was an article about Japanese curry in the New York Times Magazine this weekend. It's got a recipe, but that's a lot of work since I can buy pints of curry sauce to bring home directly from Go Go Curry on 38th Street in Manhattan.

I am interested, though, in trying to make something like the red pickles they serve as a side dish at Go Go Curry: fukuzinzuke. A Google search doesn't come up with many recipes, but this one is simple and promising, and this one looks interesting. We've got two daikons to use still, even after I made the Korean pickles from Quick Pickles.

Molto radicchio

A lighter box, and mostly greens. We have 3 or 4 radicchios now, we're not even trying to use it anymore, at least until we've eaten all the stuff we like more.

• Arugula
• Broccoli
• Cabbage
• Daikon
• Kale
• Leeks
• Radicchio
• Spinach

End of Salad Days

Lots of leafy greens keep coming, but for the first time in a while, no tomatoes or lettuce. Our remaining salad greens will probably carry us through this week.

• Baby Bok Choy
• Broccoli
• Red Cabbage
• Chard
• Collards
• Daikon
• Parsley
• Peppers
• Spinach
• Radicchio
• Red Turnips

Jim and Monika Lasagna

Ok, not really, but at their wedding recently the food was really good. The thing I wanted to make at home, though....? Butternut squash and mushroom lasagna. Here's my first attempt, informed by this recipe on epicurious and a number of its commenters, and also by my very vague memory of theirs. Kels says it had less squash and more sauce (this actually makes roughly one cup more sauce than I used tonight). No doubt he's right. For reasons that aren't clear, I loved the lasagna at the wedding but didn't pay as much attention as I normally would have to ingredients and how it was put together. Probably the good company and fun time we were having, but my attempt at re-creating it is now suffering.

Sorry for the rough recipe, but hey, this is what you get when I really do it off of the top of my head.

Start with two butternut squash. I don't know how many pounds, because our scale only works when it wants to, which is rarely when I want it to. Biggish. You know, a little more than average. Cut them in half, scoop out the seeds, and roast them. Scrape out the innards. Melt about 3 T. butter in a saucepan, put in the innards, with about 5 frozen chicken stock cubes (ice cube tray sized) and heat everything up. Puree with a stick blender. Add water as necessary. Season with a fair amount of cayenne pepper and freshly-grated nutmeg, a moderate amount of ground ginger, a dash of ground clove, and salt to taste. Cook until pretty thick. Cool. You should have what looks to be way more than you need.

Chop a Vidalia onion fairly finely, and clean and slice 10 ounces of crimini/portabello mushrooms. Mince two cloves of garlic. Melt 3 T. butter in a pan over medium, gently sauteeing onions for several minutes. Add garlic, a very generous sprinkling of thyme, salt and pepper, and saute for another minute. Add mushrooms and cook for a long time, until most of the liquid cooks off. Set aside.

Make a bechamel sauce with 4 T. butter, 4 T. flour, and 3 cups milk. Stir in about a half pound of shredded fontina cheese.

Shred about a pound of mozzarella.

Assemble, using no-boil lasagna noodles, in a 13x9 pan: put a little sauce (about 1/4) in the bottom, then add a layer of noodles. Top with 1/3 of the squash, 1/2 of the mushrooms, cheese, 1/4 of the sauce, and then noodles. Repeat a full layer. Top with remaining squash, remaining sauce, remaining mozzarella, and then grate some parmesan on top. Wish that you had more sauce and fret that it isn't saucy enough for no-boil noodles. (Don't despair, it is.) Bake about 40 minutes at 350 degrees.

Hmmm....tempted to tag this with "comfort food" as well as the obvious ones. Dense but good. Shows promise.

Brassicaceous!

We often get only small amounts of broccoli from the farm, enough for a small side dish for two, but rarely enough to do much else with. Today we got two small heads of broccoli, and we still have the one from last week, so we have plenty. We also got cauliflower, and since we have from arugula from last week that we still need to use up, it is perfect for Marinated cauliflower salad with arugula. Sometimes the necessary recipes are forced upon us by what we get in the box.

With chinese cabbage this week, and a big head of cabbage from last week, I am threatening to make both sauerkraut and kim chee to use them up.

The tomatoes that looked green last sunday ripened nicely, so I expect this week's to do the same. Hard to believe that we're still getting decent tomatoes. This is a good thing, since salads are once again mandatory.

• Broccoli
• Cauliflower
• Chinese Cabbage
• Dandelion
• Daikon
• Kale
• Lettuce
• Parsley
• Peppers
• Radicchio
• Spinach
• Butternut squash
• Tomatoes

Fall is here

Tons of greens, and real winter squash. The pumpkin is quite small (dwarfed by this week's cabbage), but we were among the last to pick up veggies in South Orange this week, so they were presumably picked over (the pumpkin was outside the box).

• Arugula
• Beets
• Broccoli
• Cabbage
• Chard
• Cilantro
• Kale
• Lettuce
• Peppers
• Radicchio
• Spinach
• Winter Squash - Butternut + Sweet Dumpling
• Tomatoes
• White Turnips
• Pumpkin

Pickled beets

With another batch of beets today, it was time to pickle them. Canned 6 half-pint jars, plus part of a pint jar for the fridge, using the USDA recipe. Made cold beet borscht with the cooking water, although I got the proportions off a bit and it was waterier than usual.

This week

From the farm: "This is a transition time at the farm, where our summer crops are winding down, and many of our fall crops aren’t ready for harvest. Please be patient as we await the arrival of our fall greens, broccoli, winter squash and pumpkins, mesclun mix and other fall crops."

• Beets
• Bok Choy
• Cilantro
• Kale
• Hot Peppers
• Lettuce
• Bell Peppers
• Scallions
• Spinach
• Tomatoes
  

Greens and more

More good stuff. The tomatoes are a bit green this week, I wonder if they are nearing the end. Lots of greens, and more beets and summer squash.

• Arugula
• Beans
• Beets
• Bok choy
• Cilantro
• Kale
• 2 heads lettuce
• Poblano peppers
  
• Bell peppers
• Parsley
• Yellow squash

Lots of tomatoes

Plenty of tomatoes this week, after starting to think they were tapering off. Time to make sauce again, and probably dry some as well.

Last week, I roasted weeks worth of bell peppers to freeze and keep in herbed oil, so we finally only have these two peppers to work with.

• Beets
• Chinese Cabbage
• Cilantro
• Garlic
• Kale
• Lettuce
• Parsley
• Hot Peppers
• Peppers
• Tomatoes
• Grape Tomatoes
• Heirloom Tomatoes
• Plum Tomatoes

Spaghetti squash with sausage filling

1 3¾ to 4pound spaghetti squash, halved lengthwise, seeded
1 pound bulk spicy turkey sausage
1 cup chopped green bell pepper
1 cup chopped onion
2 garlic cloves, minced
1½ cups marinara sauce (mmm...yummy homemade helps)
½ cup grated Parmesan cheese

Wrap squash halves in plastic wrap. Cook 1 at a time in microwave on high until tender, about 8 minutes. Pierce plastic to allow steam to escape. Cool. Meanwhile, sauté sausage, bell pepper, onion and garlic in heavy large skillet over medium-high heat until sausage browns and vegetables are tender, breaking up sausage with back of spoon, about 12 minutes. Mix in marinara sauce.

Using fork, pull out squash strands from shells, leaving shells intact. Mix squash strands into sausage mixture. Season filling to taste with salt and pepper. Spoon filling into squash shells. (Can be prepared 1 day ahead. Cover; refrigerate.)

Preheat oven to 400°F. Arrange filled squash halves on baking sheet. Sprinkle each with 1/4 cup Parmesan. Bake uncovered until heated through, about 20 minutes (30 minutes if previously chilled). Cut each squash half in two and serve.

Yes, Susan, a good option for CSA spaghetti squash! We endorse it. Now to get some zucchini for that soup you told me about....

Even better: eggplant and tomato stacks (with zucchini!)

I liked the first ones so much, I immediately wanted to try these when I saw the recipe in...the latest Williams Sonoma catalog.

Eggplant and Tomato Stacks

olive oil
4 yellow onions, diced
salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
4 garlic cloves, minced
10 fresh basil leaves, cut into thin strips
1 T. chopped fresh oregano
¼ cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
1 eggplant, 2½-3 inches in diameter, sliced ⅛ inch thick
5 tomatoes, sliced ¼ inch thick
4 zucchini, halved crosswise, sliced ⅛ inch thick
½ cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese

Preheat oven to 425. In saute pan over medium-high heat, warm 6 T. olive oil. Add onions, salt and pepper; cook until soft, about 10 minutes. Add garlic, basil, oregano and parsley; cook 2 minutes more.

Rub bottom and sides of 12 inch cast iron fry pan with oil. Place 8 eggplant slices in single layer in pan; season with salt. Top each with 1 tsp. onions and 1 tomato slice; season with salt. Top each with 1 tsp. onions and 2 zucchini slices; season with salt. Top each with 1 tsp. onions. Repeat layering 2 more times, ending with zucchini. Drizzle each stack with 1 tsp. oil.

Bake 40 minutes. Sprinkle each stack with 1 T. cheese; bake 7-10 minutes more. Let rest 5 minutes, then serve. Serves 8.

I served these with whole wheat couscous cooked with chicken stock and some more parm grated in.

The first of two summer tomato zucchini stacks

This one vertical, from The Silver Spoon cookbook. I made this about a month ago, and what is more summery than fresh tomatoes, zucchini, and mozzarella?

Tomatoes with Zucchini

olive oil
8 tomatoes
2 zucchini, trimmed
1 fresh flat-leaf parsley sprig, chopped
1 garlic clove, chopped
7 oz. mozzarella cheese, sliced (I used homemade)
½ tsp. dried oregano
salt and pepper

Preheat the oven to 350. Brush an ovenproof dish with oil. Thinly slice the tomatoes without cutting all the way through, leaving them joined at the base. Halve the zucchini lengthwise, then slice them into thin strips. Slip the strips of zucchini between the slices of tomato. Place the tomatoes in the prepared dish, sprinkle with parsley and garlic, season with salt and pepper and drizzle with olive oil. Bake for 30 minutes. Remove the dish from the oven, and carefully slip the slices of mozzarella tetween the slices of tomato and zucchini, sprinkle with the oregano, and return to the oven for 10 minutes, until the mozzarella begins to form strings. Transfer to a warm serving dish and serve immediately.

My note--very thin slices work best, or 30 minutes isn't enough.

Photos

All the photos we've posted to this blog are available as a Picasa album.

It's mostly pictures of vegetables.

A pie bird and a vegetable oil pie crust

For her birthday last year I got Shelley a copy of Mildred Armstrong Kalish's book Little Heathens. It is her story about growing up on an Iowa farm, and she includes a number of recipes. The one that she most brags about is her vegetable oil pie crust--how, because it doesn't have butter/shortening/lard in it, it can be re-worked extensively and not get tough. Shelley was intrigued, and while in MN we picked a huge supply of blueberries one morning. Why not make pie and try the recipe?

For one double crust pie, or two single crusts:

3 cups all-purpose flour
¾ cup vegetable oil
1½ tsp. salt
⅜ cup skim or whole milk

"Blend all together with a fork, and form into two equal balls using your hands. Roll out between two sheets of wax paper. Peel the top paper off the dough using a spatula. With the paper side up, carefully fit the crust into the pie pan. Now carefully remove the wax paper. If the crust tears, don't worry. Using your fingers, carefully paste over the hole. Take care not to stretch the dough. Unlike the old-fashioned lard dough, you can handle this mixture as much as you like. You will probably never make the old-fashioned dough again." (Kalish, page 132)

I did more mixing of the pie filling, and Shelley suffered through more dough mixing and rolling. It wasn't easy. We also tried Karen's pie bird for the first time. The pie bird sits on top of the bottom crust, and has filling put in around it and then the top crust fitted on top, with the top of the bird sticking out. It has an opening in the bottom that leads up through its beak, so that it allows steam to vent from the pie, and I guess also any extra liquid, hopefully keeping the pie from running over, and also supporting the crust in the middle on the bird's shoulders. Wikipedia tells us that the connection between pies and birds goes back a long way, and mentions the nursery rhyme "Sing a Song of Sixpence."

The pie bird was a great success, and the filling was yummy (sorry no recipe--we used one of Karen's that I didn't write down), but the crust was panned. It was difficult to work with and hard once baked--less flaky, more cardboard. We actually struggled to cut through the bottom crust of the pie. Hmm. After all that, Karen admitted to us that she had tried a vegetable oil pie crust once before, with the same result. I guess we three will go back to making the old-fashioned dough again.

Fall approaches

It's still warm,. and we had a tropical storm dump nearly 5 inches of rain on us this weekend, but the weekly box share is starting to show signs of fall. We got the first fall lettuce and winter squash today. Since we both had classes last week, we are falling a bit behind on using our vegetables, so we've still got an array of things to use up, from bell peppers to shallots.

• Basil
• Beets
• Chard
• Collards
• Eggplant
• Garlic
• Kale
• Lettuce
• Peppers
• Hot Peppers
• Spaghetti Squash
• Grape Tomatoes
• Heirloom Tomatoes
• Tomatoes

Egg fettucine with beets, parmesan, and poppy seeds

kosher salt
10 baby or small beets (about 1½ pounds without greens), scrubbed and trimmed
¼ cup poppy seeds
6 T. unsalted butter
freshly ground black pepper
1 pound fresh (or dried) fettucine
⅔ cup grated Parmesan cheese
balsamic vinegar, for garnish (optional)
¼ cup minced chervil or chives, for garnish (optional)

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Grate the beets. In a heavy saucepan over high heat, toast the poppy seeds until they smell slightly nutty, 1 to 2 minutes. Transfer to a bowl.

Reduce the heat and melt 5 T. of the butter in the saucepan. Stir in the shredded beets and saute for 2 minutes. Season with salt and pepper, then reduce the heat to low, cover the pan, and cook for another 8 to 10 minutes, until the beets are tender.

Meanwhile, cook the pasta in the boiling water until it is al dente. Drain and transfer to a large serving bowl. Toss the hot pasta with the remaining T. of butter, the grated cheese, and salt and pepper to taste. When the beets are tender, toss them with the pasta. Sprinkle with the poppy seeds and adjust the seasoning, adding a tsp. or two of balsamic vinegar, if desired. Garnish with chervil or chives, if using, and serve immediately.

This recipe is fun, different, easy, and yummy, and comes from Melissa Clark's fun cookbook Chef, interrupted, in which she works with restaurant chefs to adapt favorite recipes for the home kitchen. This is inspired by a beet ravioli dish from Anna Klinger at Al Di La in Brooklyn.

Chili Relleno Casserole

1 sweet onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
8 eggs
½ cup milk
2 T. all purpose flour
½ tsp. pepper
½ tsp. salt
½ tsp. ground cumin
3 7-ounce cans whole green chilies, split open and cut into strips
5 corn tortillas, torn into strips
1 pound shredded Monterey Jack cheese
paprika

Lightly grease 9x9-inch glass baking dish. Heat a small amount of oil in a skillet on medium, and saute onions and garlic until onions are lightly browned. Remove from heat and set aside. Beat eggs with milk, flour, pepper, salt, and cumin in a medium bowl to blend. Arrange chilies from 1 can in prepared dish, covering bottom completely. Cover with strips of tortilla, then sauteed onion mixture. Sprinkle with approximately ⅓ of the cheese. Repeat layering twice. Pour egg mixture over the top. Sprinkle with paprika. Let stand 30 minutes. (Can be prepared 1 day ahead. Cover and refrigerate.)

Preheat oven to 350°F. Bake until casserole is mostly set, slightly puffed in center and golden brown on edges, about 45 minutes. Cool 10 minutes and serve.

Modified from this epicurious post, incorporating various comments and updates.

Tomatoes!

This week:

• Basil
• Beans
• Beets
• Cilantro
• Chard
• Eggplant
• Garlic
• Peppers
• Hot Peppers
• Tomatoes
• Grape Tomatoes
• Heirloom Tomatoes

Shrimp and Mango Salad with Glass Noodles

4 ounces very thin bean thread noodles (also known as cellophane, glass, or mung bean noodles)
1 pound cooked, peeled, and deveined medium or large shrimp
1 large mango (1 pound), peeled and cut into 1/2-inch cubes
3 scallions, thinly sliced crosswise
1/4 cup coarsely chopped fresh basil (I used Asian basil)
1 teaspoon chopped fresh serrano or jalapeño chile, including seeds, or to taste
1/3 cup rice vinegar (not seasoned)
2 tablespoons sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons salt

Cover noodles with boiling-hot water in a large bowl and let stand 8 minutes. Drain noodles in a colander and rinse with cold running water. Drain well, then return to bowl.

While noodles are soaking, combine shrimp, mango, scallions, basil, and chile in another large bowl.

Stir together vinegar, sugar, and salt in a measuring cup until sugar is dissolved, then toss half of sauce with noodles and half with shrimp salad. Serve noodles topped with shrimp salad.

From this epicurious post. This was good; next time I'll replace half of the vinegar with fresh lime juice as several reviewers suggested.

Mocha Fudge Cake

Preheat oven to 375, and butter and flour a Bundt pan.

1 cup flour
1½ tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
½ tsp. salt
1¾ cups sugar
5 large eggs, separated
2 sticks butter, softened and cut into pieces
½ cup plus 1 T. cocoa
1 T. instant coffee powder
2 tsp. vanilla
¾ cup sour cream (can use plain yogurt)

In a small bowl, mix together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt. Set aside.
put sugar and egg yolks in food processor, process for 1 minute or until thick and light colored. Add butter and process an additional minute. Add cocoa, coffee, vanilla and process another minute. Add sour cream and process for 2 seconds. Add flour mixture and pulse but don't overmix.

Beat egg whites until stiff but not dry. Fold ¼ of the egg whites into the batter, then fold in the rest. (Since I am lazy and at this point have a full food processor and a big mixer bowl full of egg whites, I carefully fold batter into egg whites and the cake has always been fluffy enough.) Carefully turn mixture into Bundt pan, removing air pockets with a knife if necessary. Bake 35 minutes or until it starts to pull away from the sides; you can also use a toothpick test as backup. It usually needs longer than 35 minutes. Cool in pan, then turn out onto plate and finish cooling. Frost with the following:

¼ cup water
2 T. butter
1 tsp. instant coffee powder
3 oz. sweet cooking chocolate, broken into pieces
1 cup confectioner's sugar

Heat the water, butter and coffee in small saucepan. Process the chocolate for 30 seconds in the food processor, then pour in water mixture slowly, while processing. Add sugar and process for 5 seconds. Let stand until thick, then drizzle on cake.

This recipe comes to me from my Dad, but I believe it is from Abby Mandel's Cuisinart Classroom.

Good press for Honey Brook Farms

Our CSA pickup site was in the news this week, featured in a front page article in the regional section of the New York Times. They even had a picture of the garage in South Orange where we pick up our vegetables every week. They also carried this sidebar with information about joining this and other New Jersey CSAs.

As an experiment this week, I weighed the tomatoes we got: 1.2 lb. of grape tomatoes, plus a separate box containing 3.2 lb. of regular tomatoes and two heirlooms weighing in at 2.4 lb combined. That's a total of 6.8 lb. of organic tomatoes.

• Basil
• Cilantro
• Dill
• Eggplant
• Garlic
• Peppers
• Hot Peppers
• Potatoes
• Scallions
• Summer Squash
• Tomatoes
• Heirloom Tomatoes
• Grape Tomatoes

Watermelon Granita

1 cup water
1/3 cup sugar
2 tablespoons crème de cassis
about 3 pounds watermelon, seeds and rind discarded and the flesh chopped
1 tablespoon fresh lime juice

In a small saucepan stir together the water, sugar, and crème de cassis, boil the mixture, stirring, until the sugar is dissolved, and simmer it for 5 minutes. Transfer the syrup to a bowl and chill it, covered, until it is cold. In a blender puree the watermelon in batches, forcing it as it is pureed through a coarse sieve set over a large bowl, pressing hard on the solids. I don't really know how much watermelon I used, but it was probably roughly 5 cups of puree that came out of the blender. Stir the syrup and lime juice into the watermelon puree, and transfer the mixture to an 8-inch-square metal pan. Freeze the mixture, stirring and crushing the lumps with a fork every 30 minutes, for 2 to 3 hours, or until the granita is firm but not frozen solid. Scrape the granita with a fork to lighten the texture and serve it immediately. I was going to garnish with a sprig of mint but forgot....

Slightly modified from this epicurious post.

Homemade mozzarella

It would never have occurred to me to make mozzarella from scratch until Alice & I both read Barbara Kingsolver's Animal, Vegetable, Miracle this summer. It was an interesting book, and got us thinking even more about eating seasonally and locally, including canning our own produce.

One of the striking things in the book was how casually they make cheese. They even gave a website to order cheesemaking supplies from, so we went ahead and ordered a kit for $25. It comes with citric acid, rennet tablets, salt, a thermometer, cheesecloth, and instructions. The only part of this that's actually hard to find separately is the vegetable rennet, which comes in 10 tablets, enough to turn 40 gallons of milk into mozzarella. We will order this separately in the future if we run out.

The recipes are available online here and here for mozzarella. I think we've tried it a total of six times now, with 4 successes and 2 failures. The failures we attribute to excessively pasteurized milk, and we have been keeping a list of brands that work and brands that don't (Trader Joe's and Farmland have been good, Shoprite and Borden's have not). When it works, it really takes about half an hour to turn a gallon of whole milk into about ¾ pound of cheese. The process can be summarized as curdling the milk with citric acid and rennet, then squeezing out the whey while heating it up until it is firm enough to knead. We've made ricotta twice, too, which is even easier, you just curdle milk with citric acid (which initially looks as disgusting as it sounds) and strain it through cheesecloth. The ricotta ends up drier than store-bought, but we think it may be more like the Italian style.

One trick with making mozzarella is knowing when to add the salt. The first time, I added the salt to the milk initially, and I think it came out with the whey. I think the secret is to add the salt at the very last stage, when the whey is almost entirely out, but the consistency has not yet changed to the glossy, resilient final product.

It's fun to make and watch, and good, but not noticeably better than other fresh mozzarella. As for the locavore credibility, I'm not sure it save you much having the milk transported in gallon form from the dairy, instead of being transported as much more compact cheese. If you're comparing local milk with imported mozzarella, sure, you are eating a more local product if you make it yourself, but if the sources are comparably distant, my guess is that you would have a lower impact buying it as cheese.

Truffled Corn and Wild Mushroom Fettuccine

1/2 lb pancetta or bacon, cut into 1 inch strips
2 cups corn kernels from 3-4 ears of corn
2 1/2 teaspoons of salt (not tablespoons)
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 pound mixed wild mushrooms (such as wood ear, chanterelle, and/or shiitake, stems wiped clean, and sliced)
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1 lb fresh fettuccine
1 tablespoon white truffle oil, or more to taste
3 ounces parmigiano-reggiano, grated (about 3/4 cup)
2 tablespoons minced fresh basil

1. Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the pancetta and cook until crispy, about 5 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer to paper towels and drain. Let cool and coarsely chop
2. Add the corn, 1/2 teaspoon of the salt, and the pepper to the skillet. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the corn is heated through, about 2 minutes. Add the mushrooms and cook, stirring occasionally, until they are tender and give off the juices, about 4 minutes. Add the garlic and stir until fragrant, about 1 minute. Remove from the heat, add the pancetta, and cover to keep warm.
3. Meanwhile, bring 1 gallon water and the remaining teaspoons salt to a boil in a large pot over high heat. Add the fettuccine and cook, stirring occasionally to separate the noodles, until al dente, 4-5 minutes for fresh, or about 10 minutes for dried. Drain the pasta and return to pot.
4. Add the corn mixture and truffle oil and toss to coat evenly. Add the cheese and basil and toss again. Serve hot.

From Chad and Becky, from their Emeril cookbook (don't know which one).

Bounty

• Cilantro
• Chard
• Eggplant
• Garlic
• Onions
• Parsley
• Peppers
• Hot Peppers
• Potatoes
• Scallions
• Summer Squash
• Tomatoes
• Grape Tomatoes
• Heirloom Tomatoes
• Watermelon

Heirloom tomatoes!

• Beans
• Chard
• Cilantro
• Eggplant
• Garlic
• Peppers
• Hot Peppers
• Potatoes
• Grape Tomatoes
• Tomatoes
• Shallots

Plus some cut flowers.

Bubble and Squeak

We don't post our old standbys often enough. This is one, that's simple, filling, and doesn't need any meat or side dishes. Bubble and squeak is just fried potatoes and cabbage. I'll often add onions or garlic, and maybe sausage if we have it around. Tonight we used up some grated beets we had, so it was nearly red flannel hash. It's good winter food, but we get potatoes and cabbage through much of the late summer and early fall from the CSA, so we'll make it almost any time. This is probably the first week we got both this year.

Hail damage!

Note from the farm this week:

CROP UPDATE
We had a severe thunderstorm on July 23rd that included large hail. We had hail as large as 1", and know that it damaged the tomato, scallions, beets, summer squash and early watermelon crops, and destroyed completely the remaining chard and summer lettuce. We are still assessing the damage and will keep members apprised via the "This Week Page" on our website. This is the first time we have had damaging hail in our 17-year history! But never fear; we're still open for business!

So, no more lettuce, but we got:

• Cabbage
• Garlic
• Onions
• Peppers
• Potatoes
• Summer Squash
• Tomatoes
• Grape Tomatoes

Everything looked pretty good, but the zucchini (above) was a bit pockmarked from the hail.

Another view of this blog

Salad fixins

The lettuce isn't as good these days, but we have nice grape tomatoes to go with it now. First potatoes this week, too; maybe we'll make potato salad.

• Basil
• Garlic
• Lettuce
• Onions
• Peppers
• Potatoes
• Summer Squash
• Grape Tomatoes
• Tomatoes

Stuffed Cabbage

This is a good, hearty meal. We agreed that a higher rice/meat ratio in the fillng would be good. I might leave out the raisins next time, but they were fine. We had about ⅔ head of cabbage to use up, so they were slightly overstuffed. I used 2 fresh tomatoes and a 28 oz. can of crushed tomatoes for the sauce, and left out the sugar, and cooked it in a 325°F oven instead of on the stovetop. That worked fine, except for the fact that it was a 90° day today, so the oven wasn't ideal. This may be a better winter/fall dish.

Friday Night Stuffed Cabbage

Friday night dinner meant stuffed cabbage, challah, and chicken when artist Brenda Miller was growing up in New York. Her mother, Florence, who came to America in 1932 from Moldavia, "made the whole house smell like cabbage," Brenda remembers. "We ate this as an appetizer, with plenty of challah to sop up the juice."

1 Savoy Cabbage
1 lb. ground beef
1 egg
Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
Juice of 1 small lemon
1 onion, chopped
1 tablespoon raw white rice
6 fresh tomatoes, cored, seeded and chopped
1 can (8 ounces) tomato sauce
¾ cup raisins
1 tablespoon plus 2 teaspoons sugar
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon sweet paprika

Cut cabbage across the base and separate the leaves. Any leaves that are not large enough to roll should be chopped.

Bring a large pot of water to boil. Blanch the cabbage leaves until they are soft. Drain in a colander and cool under cold running water. Drain and pat dry. Lay the leaves flat on a cutting board and cut out any thick ends, in the shape of a small triangle, at the bottom of the leaves.

In a mixing bowl, combine ground beef, egg, salt, pepper, half the lemon juice, 2 teaspoons of the chopped onion and the raw rice.

In a nonreactive large pot, combine the remaining chopped onion and the chopped cabbage.

Place 1 tablespoon meat mixture on the lower third of a cabbage leaf. Fold the base of the leaf over the meat mixture and then fold each side toward the center. Roll to form a cylinder. Place each cylinder on the onion and cabbage in the pot as you finish it.

Pour the tomatoes, tomato sauce, raisins, remaining lemon juice, the sugar, oregano and paprika over the cabbage rolls. Season with salt and pepper. Cook, covered, over low heat for about 2 hours, to get all the flavors mingled.

Serves 4 to 6.

From Molly O'Neill's New York Cookbook

Tomatoes have arrived!

Only a few small tomatoes, but they are delicious. No basil, unfortunately, to go with them and our homemade mozzarella.

• Beets
• Chard
• Cucumbers
• Green Garlic
• Lettuce
• Onions
• Parsley
• Peppers
• Summer Squash
• Tomatoes

banana vanilla popsicles

Inspired by a recipe from Locopops, in Durham NC, where our friend Sara used to work. However, they make theirs classier.

One box instant vanilla pudding (see what I mean about classier?)
1.25 cups milk
3/4 cup cream
one ripe banana, mushed
about 1/2 cup crushed vanilla wafers

Make the instant pudding with the cream and milk, beating for about a minute and a half, then adding the banana and beating for another half minute. Add the vanilla wafers and just beat enough to mix them in evenly. Put into popsicle forms and freeze (it's super lumpy, so do this fast, and use something like chopsticks to help get air bubbles out).

Next time I might use a banana and a half, and more vanilla wafers. The vanilla pudding is a shortcut--we should be making this with heavy cream and some vanilla and sugar. The problem I have is that our popsicles almost always come out too grainy--with large ice crystals. For cream ones, instant pudding helps a lot. For juice ones, I haven't found a solution. I think the problem is that they freeze slowly--the lovely Locopops ones don't have this problem at all and I think they must be frozen in a colder freezer. I have yet to stoop to the point of taking the popsicle mold to work to make them in the -80, though.

Pasta with homemade pesto, sauteed tomatoes, and homemade mozzarella

Today I made pesto with basil from the csa (no garlic yet--we get our first garlic of the year Sunday!). For dinner, I made gemelli pasta, sauteed some grape tomato halves in butter (also our last non-farm tomatoes for the summer!!), and tossed the tomatoes, pesto, cream, and little chunks of homemade mozzarella with the pasta. Served with grilled french bread with olive oil, and very tasty.

Homemade mozzarella? Stay tuned.....

Chard and Beet Green Pie

We've had good and bad experiences with recipes from Mark Bittman. He is responsible for us making both No-Knead Bread and Banana Goulash. This is a pretty easy biscuit-style crust for a vegetable pie, but it didn't work as smoothly as I had expected. There wasn't nearly enough dough for both a top and bottom crust that size, so I made another half batch quickly to finish the top, and the bottom was too thin to be substantial. I would either double it or leave out the bottom crust entirely. And 8 chard leaves wouldn't make much of a pie, unless he uses chard that's a whole lot more substantial than what we get. I used over a pound of combined beet greens and chard. A little less would be OK, but not a lot less. Like his previous cookbook, The Best Recipes in the World, this one seems rushed, like the recipes haven't been fully tested. This recipe is definitely close to something good and easy, but needs a little work.

Kale or Chard Pie
2 tbl. butter
About 8 large kale or chard leaves, thinly sliced [I used much more]
1 medium onion, sliced
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
¼ cup chopped mixed herbs, like parsley, thyme, chervil, and chives
6 eggs
1 cup whole-milk yogurt or sour cream
3 tbl. mayonnaise
½ tsp. baking powder
1¼ cups all-purpose flour

Preheat the oven to 375°F. Put the butter in a large skillet, preferably nonstick, over medium heat. A minute later, add the kale and onion. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and cook, stirring occasionally, until the leaves are quite tender, about 10 minutes; do not brown. Remove from the heat, add the herbs, then taste and adjust the seasoning.

Meanwhile, hard-cook 3 of the eggs, then shell and coarsely chop. Add to the cooked kale mixture and let cool while you make the batter.

Combine the yogurt, mayonnaise, and remaining eggs. Add the baking powder and flour and mix until smooth. Lightly butter a 9×12-inch ceramic or glass baking dish. Spread half the batter over the bottom, then top with the kale filling; smear the remaining batter over the kale, using your fingers or a rubber spatula to make sure there are no gaps in what will form the pie's top crust.

Bake for 45 minutes; it will be shiny and golden brown. Let the pie cool for at least 15 minutes before slicing it into as many squares or rectangles as you like. Eat warm or at room temperature.

From How to Cook Everything Vegetarian, by Mark Bittman

Stuffed Zucchini, Turkish Style

This leaves us with only one zucchini to use before we get more on Sunday. This has been a standard for me for a long time. The herbs and cheeses are flexible, I will often swap out the dill and swiss cheese.

I've always wondered: how Turkish is this?

Stuffed Zucchini, Turkish Style

4 medium zucchini (about 7" long), halved lengthwise
3 tbs. butter
¾ cup finely minced onion
3 smallish cloves crushed garlic
3 beaten eggs
½ cup crumbled feta cheese
¾ cup grated Swiss cheese
2 tbs. freshly chopped parsley
1 tbs. fresh, chopped dill (or ¾ tsp. dried dill weed)
1½ tbs. flour
Salt and pepper to taste
Paprika for the top

Scoop out the insides of the zucchini to leave a half-inch rim. Chop the innards into little bits and cook in butter with onions, garlic, salt (a few shakes) and pepper until onions are soft. Combine with flour, cheeses, herbs and beaten eggs. Correct salt and pepper. Fill the zucchini cavities and dust the tops with paprika.

Bake at 375ºF for 30 min. or until the filling solidifies. Serve with a fresh tomato salad.

From the original Moosewood Cookbook

Green-wrapped Flavor Bundles

Filling
1/2 pound boneless lean port or lean ground pork
1 T. tamarind pulp, dissolved in 1/4 c. warm water
3 T. peanut or vegetable oil
1/2 c. chopped shallots
3 T. minced garlic
2 T. palm or brown sugar
1 or 2 T. fish sauce
1/2 to 1 tsp. salt, to taste
1 T. minced ginger
2 T. dry-roasted peanuts, finely chopped

Wrapping and topping
about 30 pieces Thai-style pickled cabbage, or Bibb or other tender leaf lettuce leaves
1 stalk lemongrass
2 T. minced ginger
2 to 3 scallions, trimmed and minced
1/2 c. chopped coriander leaves and stems

If not using ground pork, cut the port into small cubes and then mince to even consistency. Set aside. Place a sieve over a bowl and press the dissolved tamarind through the sieve; discard the pulp. Set the tamarind juice aside.

Heat a wok over high heat. Add the oil and, when it is hot, add the shallots and garlic. Stir-fry until golden, then add the pork and stir-fry until it has all changed color, about 4 minutes. Add the sugar, the tamarind juice, the fish sauce, and salt and cook until the liquids have almost evaporated, about 5 minutes. Add the ginger and peanuts and stir-fry for another minute. The mixture should be the consistency of paste and somewhat salty tasting. Adjust seasonings if you wish. Remove from the wok and let cool. You will have about 1.5 cups filling. (Can be made ahead and stored in a sealed container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.)

To make a flavor package, put a leaf of pickled cabbage or lettuce on the palm of one hand, then scoop up a scant tablespoon of the filling and place it on the leaf. Sprinkle on a pinch of minced lemongrass, a little ginger, a pinch of scallions, and another of coriander. Fold the leaf over to make a bundle, or leave it open, like a filled cup, and place on a platter. Repeat with the remaining ingredients and greens. Or instead, serve these roll-your-own style. Makes about 2 dozen.

from Hot Sour Salty Sweet by Alford and Duguid


I often include dry-roasted grated coconut (not the sweetened kind!) and sometimes tiny lime wedges as additional toppings. Served tonight with lettuce-wrapped salmon (including a leaf of Asian basil in the wrapping of each), and leftover Javanese sambal, from Sunday's dinner that included sweet chili grilled chicken.

Zucchini-Crusted Pizza

This is good way to use zucchini, and pretty tasty. The crust wasn't as crispy as I had hoped, I baked it around 20 minutes, I would let it go longer next time.

Zucchini-Crusted Pizza

A normal pizza on top, with a beautiful, substantial-yet-tender crust: golden, with flecks of green and a slight crunch.

The Crust:
31⁄2 cups grated zucchini
3 eggs, beaten
1/3 cup flour
1⁄2 cup grated mozzarella
1⁄2 cup grated parmesan
1 Tbs. fresh basil leaves, minced (or 1⁄2 tsp dried)
salt and pepper

Salt the zucchini lightly and let it sit for 15 minutes. Squeeze out the excess moisture.

Combine all crust ingredients and spread into an oiled 9x13-inch pan. Bake 20-25 minutes, until the surface is dry and firm. Brush the top with oil and broil it, under moderate heat for 5 minutes.

Pile all of your favorite pizza toppings on (tomato sauce, olives, sauteed mushrooms, strips of peppers, lots of cheese - etc.) and heat the whole mess in a 350ºF oven for about 25 minutes. Serve hot, cut into squares, with a big tossed salad.

From the original Moosewood Cookbook

Bread and Butter Pickles

This was our first try at real, canned pickles. I've been a fan of making quick pickles for a while, and made a big batch of bread & butter pickles each of the last couple summers, but I always had a big jar of them that ended up taking up too much space in the fridge and hanging around too long. Since we started canning jams recently, I thought I'd try making some pickles to put up as well. The cucumbers and onions were all from our weekly CSA share.

We canned four pint jars, and had about ½ a pint left to refrigerate, which we tried today. They're pretty good, and crunchy - I had been afraid that they might not hold up as well to cooking, but they seemed fine.

Bread-and-Butter Pickles
about five 1-pint jars

Wash, then slice ⅛ inch from the ends of:
2½ pounds pickling cucumbers
Cut crosswise into ¼-inch thick slices. Peel, then cut the same way:
1 pound 2- to 2½-inch onions, preferably red
Combine the cucumbers and onions in a large bowl along with:
3 tbl. salt
Mix well to dissolve the salt. Cover with a clean wet towel, then top with 2 inches of ice. Refrigerate for 3 to 4 hours. Discard the ice; drain the vegetables, rinse, and drain again. Combine in a 4-quart or larger saucepan:
2 cups white vinegar
2 cups sugar
1 tbl. mustard seeds
1 tsp. red pepper flakes (optional)
¾ tsp. celery seeds
¾ tsp. ground turmeric
¼ tsp. ground cloves
Stir until the sugar is dissolved. Cook uncovered until the syrup boils. Add the vegetables, stir to mix, and continue to heat until the syrup just begins to boil. Using a slotted spoon, pack the hot slices into hot pint jars and then add the hot syrup. Leave ½-inch headspace and process in a boiling water canner for 10 minutes.

From The Joy of Cooking: All about Canning and Preserving