The Weekly Share

Fresh Tomato Salsa

Here is a great recipe for salsa made with lots of yummy stuff from your garden or share.  It is easily adaptable to your own tastes.

Fresh Tomato Salsa

• 3 tomatoes, chopped
• 1/2 cup finely diced onion (red onion is really pretty in this recipe!)
• 5 serrano chiles, finely chopped – or as many as you’d like (I use 1-2 with the seeds removed)
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons lime juice
• additional ingredients can include fresh garlic, garlic scapes, and tomatillos

In a medium bowl, stir together fresh vegetables, cilantro, salt, and lime juice. Chill for one hour in the refrigerator before serving.

For this batch of salsa, I used 3 different colors of tomato (red, orange and purple), plus a sweet onion (store bought ), a tomatillo, 2 cloves of pressed garlic, 1 jalapeno pepper, 1 purple (jalapeno?) pepper, 1 oz. of cilantro and 2 tsp. of lime juice.  I removed the seeds from the hot peppers to reduce the heat.  I am a “mild” salsa person, but I like the flavor of the hot peppers.  All of the ingredients, except the onion and the lime juice, are from our share.

This recipe is SO easy, but it creates an explosion of flavor with every bite.  People will ask you for this recipe.  I make it for summertime pot lucks and it is always a hit.

Last week, our CSA newsletter contained a recipe for Vegetable Chowder (adapted from the Simply in Season cookbook).  Tonight I fixed a pot of it to accompany our BLT’s.  I used lots of share vegetables and some herbs from our garden.  Here’s how I did it:

BLT & Garden Chowder

Garden Chowder

• 2 Tbsp butter
• 1 – 2 carrots, finely chopped
• 1-2 cups green beans, chopped
• 1-2 medium zucchini, chopped
• 2-3 green onions, chopped
• 3 Tbsp fresh herbs, chopped (basil & parsley in original recipe)
• 1/3 cup flour
• 3/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp pepper
• 3 cups water
• 3 bouillon cubes (chicken or vegetable)
• 1 tsp lemon juice
• 2 cups tomatoes, chopped
• 1 1/2 cups evaporated milk (1 – 12oz. can)
• 2 cups corn
• 2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
• cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
• sugar to taste

In a big pot, melt the butter over medium heat.  Add and saute until tender: carrots, green beans, zucchini, green onions, fresh herbs.  Stir flour, salt, and pepper into vegetables.  Gradually stir in water to make a smooth stock.  Add bouillon and lemon juice.  Bring to a boil, reduce heat and cook, stirring often, for 2 minutes.  Add tomatoes, evaporated milk, and corn.  Return to boil; reduce heat, cover, and simmer for 5 minutes until corn is tender.

Just before serving, add cheddar and Parmesan cheeses.  Stir until melted.  Add a pinch of sugar to taste and garnish with chopped fresh parsley.

I made a few adjustments to the recipe based on what I had or didn’t have on hand.  I used  the following share vegetables: 2 carrots, 1 cup of green beans, 1 zucchini, 1 squash,  and 2 cups of tomatoes.  I added 1 share eggplant.   I used 3 store-bought green onions and 2 cups of frozen corn.  I used fresh basil, parsley and chives from our garden.  I only used 2 bouillon and 1 cup of cheddar cheese because that’s all I had.  Oh, and I topped it with crumbled bacon!  Mmmmm – bacon and cheddar – what could be better? 

Chowder ingredients

chopped tomatoes

The chowder was wonderful!  My kids were skeptical when I set it in front of them.  My youngest decided he didn’t like it just from looking at it!  But then they tasted it…  It got thumbs up from both boys!  What more could I ask for?

It took quite a bit of time to prep all of the ingredients.  I didn’t plan on it taking so long, so we had a late dinner tonight.  Now I know for next time!  And there will be a next time – this recipe’s a keeper!

Swiss Chard A La Terry

Here is a swiss chard recipe from my mother-in-law, Terry.  She made it up as she went along.  I made some modifications to it based on what I had (or didn’t have) in the fridge.

Swiss Chard A La Terry (adapted by Amy – serves 4)

4 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled (Terry only used 2 slices, but we really like bacon!)

1 tbsp olive oil

1/2 tbsp butter

2 garlic scapes, chopped (Terry used minced garlic)

2 spring onions, chopped

1 carrot, sliced

5 large swiss chard, stems chopped and leaves torn

1 med. yellow squash, peeled and sliced (Terry used 2 squash, but I only had 1)

I did not have the following ingredients, but Terry used them in her recipe:

chopped red bell pepper

Simply Organic seasoning

chopped hazelnuts

Heat oil and butter in a large skillet.  Add garlic scapes (or minced garlic, as Terry had used), spring onion, carrot, and swiss chard stems.  Saute until fragrant, about 2 minutes.  Add red bell pepper and squash.  Saute another couple of minutes, until squash starts to brown and carrots are crisp-tender.  Add seasoning.  Add swiss chard leaves, stir to wilt, remove pan from heat.  Top with crumbled bacon and hazelnuts.

Dave and I really enjoyed this.  The boys were not so enthusiastic. I think the hazelnuts would have been a really nice accent.  I’ll get some for the next time I make this.  Dave and I ate this as our lunch.  It would also make a good side dish.

Our shares are really growing now!  This week, we received:

1 cucumber
1 zephyr yellow squash
1 zucchini
4 oz. salad mix
1 head lettuce
3 oz. spinach
2 oz. parsley
4 sprigs basil
4 garlic scapes
1 bunch green onions
4 easter egg radishes
2 lbs. new potatoes

I used the spinach Tuesday night in Tortellini with Bacon, Greens, and Brown Butter (see 2nd pick-up post for recipe modifications).  Yum!  I had to add greens from our garden, too since we like extra greens in the recipe.  I plan to make parsley-buttered potatoes later this week, using the new potatoes and parsley from the share.  Dave has asked for Basil Chicken over Angel Hair Pasta (see post of same title for discussion) , so that will use the basil and garlic scapes.  Plus we’ll have fresh salads using just about everything else.  I think I’ll make zucchini bread using the zucchini and yellow squash.  I’ll take pictures as I go this week…  I didn’t take pictures Tuesday night – we were too hungry!  And now it’s all gone!

I went to the grocery store on Wednesday for the rest of our pantry needs.  I will follow up with how our share matches up with the grocery store produce section.

OK, the grilled squash did not go over well at dinner last week.  The comments were:  “Yuck!”,  “It’s kinda slimy in the back of my throat…”, and “I don’t really like it.”  I thought the taste was good, but the texture was too soft.  Can anyone give me some recipes?

Here’s how I made the squash:

Squash marinating in italion dressing

I sliced in into 1/4″ planks, marinated it in my favorite dressing for 5 hours (I marinated chicken breasts in the same dressing).  Then I grilled the planks over direct medium heat for 5 minutes a side.  Here is the end result:

marinated chicken and squash

Looks good, but…  (The chicken was really good, just not the squash)

Help, please!  I’m sure I’ll get more squash this afternoon!

I picked up our second share of the 2009 season on Tuesday, June 16th.  We received:

• 1 zepher yellow squash
• 1 head lettuce
• 4.5 oz. Salad mix
• 4.5 oz. Spinach
• 8 oz. snap peas
• 4 radishes
• 1 bunch green onions
• 2 garlic scapes

I love having all of the fresh greens available again! Tonight, we finished off the lettuce from last week as a salad. I still have some arugula from last week that I will saute with garlic tomorrow for lunch. I think I might be the only family member who likes it . Usually I don’t like “hot” or “peppery” greens, but I think the arugula is great! Dave can have all of the green onions, though!

I think I will grill the squash this week. I plan to slice it lengthwise into ¼ inch planks, marinate in italian dressing, then grill it to carmelize the marinade. How do YOU cook squash? I’d love some ideas because I know this ONE squash is just the tip of the squash iceberg coming this summer! We had zucchini coming out our ears last summer. I have a great zucchini bread recipe( see “Z-Word” post) – but there is only so much of it one can eat… I shredded and froze some of last year’s zucchini. I guess I should use that soon, huh? I had planned to make zucchini bread at Christmas time for gifts, but it never happened. I’ll remember this year though – it’s already on my calendar!

Here is my favorite greens recipe. My whole family loves it. My boys even tell me to put MORE spinach in it – how can a mom say no to that ?!  Plus they want more bacon, too – you give a little to get a little, I suppose! Give it a try and tell me what you think…

Tortellini with Bacon, Greens, and Brown Butter

From Real Simple Magazine, May 2007

hands-on time: 15 minutes total time: 30 minutes serves 4

• 1 pound cheese or meat tortellini
• 4 oz. Sliced bacon *My family likes MORE!*
• 6 tablespoons unsalted butter *We find 4 tablespoons to be plenty of butter*
• 2 cups arugula (OR spinach OR basil OR watercress) *My family likes spinach – and MORE of it!*
• ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
• ¼ teaspoon black pepper

With the second week’s share we found ourselves with some ingredients we don’t normally keep around the house. Namely, fresh basil and garlic scapes. Using one of our favorite websites, AllRecipes.com, my wife found the recipe for Basil Chicken over Angel Hair.  She made this for dinner last night and I thought the recipe was delicious.  Using the garlic scapes in place of a clove was a great way to change it up.  The scapes have the taste of garlic but without so much of the garlic ‘heat’.  Thus the garlic flavor, while there,  doesn’t overpower the flavors of the other ingredients and as a whole the final result was savory.

Besides the fresh basil and garlic cloves, the recipe also calls for tomato and onion.  We had already used the most of the tomatoes and onions so we had to go with store bought, but had we planned ahead we could have made use of four different share items in one recipe.

For us the garlic scape was a new food and we asked the basic questions of what is it and how do you use it?  Here are a few interesting links about the garlic scape:

Once unused, garlic scapes a delicacy

Garlic Scape Pesto

Seems like June is best month for scapes and with any luck we’ll get some more in the next share.  The pesto recipe sounds good.