This is going to be a quick one tonight, it's late, I have to get up early and the long weekend is upon us. It was so nice to see so much local produce in the regular box this week. If I can brag, I think the cherry tomatoes from my back yard are equally as good as the ones in this week's box, however, they are not as plentiful as I have little hands who get them every time they are outside! Also to brag, sort of, the week we were on holidays in July I forgot to ask anyone to water my plants. Most everything did fine except the herb pot, it didn't look like anything survived the week of crazy hot weather. But after just a couple weeks of watering, there is one plant that is back to life and doing better than before - that little basil plant that we got in our box almost a month ago. Phew.
Also, last week I made the Chard and Tomato pie from the Bristish website, and it was delicious, a great lunch meal with some fresh veggies. This week you could do the same recipe and use the beet greens and tomatoes. Here is a photo of everything getting cooked up.
Last week I meant to give you this recipe for the plums for a lovely dessert out of the Summer 2012 edition of the Food and Drink magazine.
Plum Strudel
Filling
1/2 c. sugar
1/3 c. fresh bread crumbs (challah bread if you can)
1 tbsp. flour
1/2 tsp. ground cardamom
3 c. firm ripe plums, cut in 3/4" dice
Pastry
6 sheets of phyllo
1/3 c. melted butter
1/3 c. sugar
Preheat oven to 400F. Combine 1/2 c. sugar, bread crumbs, flour and cardamom. Toss all but 2 tbsp bread crumb mixture with plums. Set aside. Lay phyllo sheets on counter and cover with a tea towel. Working with the long edge of the phyllo in front of you, place first sheet on a parchment lined baking sheet, brush with butter and sprinkle with about 1 tbsp. of sugar. Repeat until all of phyllo and most of sugar have been used. Sprinkle reserved 2 tbsp of bread crumb mixture on lower third of top layer leaving about 2 inches from the long edge and 1 inch from the short edge. Place plums over bread crumb mixture. Fold in short edges and roll pastry lengthwise into a strudel shape, sealing edges with butter and making sure the seam is underneath. Brush with butter and cut 3 slits on top. Sprinkle with remaining 1 tbsp sugar. Bake for 20 to 30 minutes or until the top is browned and plum mixture is cooked. Serve with fresh whipped cream.
I got a sneak peek of the Fuji apples last week when I popped in to pick up my box and I can tell you, they are fantastic, crisp, and so delicious. One of those ones that I should have remembered to order extra of.
Unfortunately, my little beets did not get pickled last week - these big ones may as we are just two in my house this week and that's a lot of beets to go through. What I forgot to mention last week was how to store beets. It is important with these beets to trim the greens off near the top of the beet. Try to use the beet greens fairly quickly as you would chard (steamed, boiled, sauteed). Put the beets in a plastic bag, push out as much air as possible and tie up the bag. Store in the refrigerator for up to 3 weeks that way. The beet page at WH Foods outlines all the good properties of beets, and some simple ways to cook them.
I came across a neat summer recipe for Creamy Corn and Zucchini that at first glance I thought it was a salad but as I read the ingredients and directions - it is a cooked dish that's pretty simple. If you are familiar with the Kraft.ca recipes you know how the recipes are part advertising but still appealing enough to want to make them so you can easily substitute any of the brand name items they recommend for your own choice, and even substitute their dressing recommendations with homemade. Kraft also had this simple Farmer's Market Corn Toss that would be easy to make with the zucchini this week and maybe pick up some nice local corn. A few years back a lady I play ball with made a delicious potato salad recipe that is so simple to make, the new potatoes we got this week are the ideal size for this salad:
Potato Salad (courtesy of Dominique)
Red potatoes - cook and cool
Finely chop red onion and shallots
Stir together equal parts of canola oil and plum vinegar. Add some pepper and cilantro. Toss with the vegetables and chill.
One last thing, I usually don't say too much about the easy vegetables (that's how I think of them) such as carrots. When I opened my box and took out the carrots, the variety of colors was fantastic so I thought I should look something up to see if there was any good recipes to showcase the color variety and I came across the carrot museum website - www.carrotmuseum.co.uk I had a bit of a laugh and then clicked on it, and actually found some really interesting information about all the different colors of carrots (incidentally, the purple carrots have more beta carotene than the orange carrots). If you scroll down to the bottom of this article, The Many Colours of Carrots, it outlines the nutritional benefits and differences of each of the different colors. And there is a recipe for Coloured Carrots and Couscous at www.coloredcarrots.com that also looks really good.
Enjoy the local produce, make a caprese salad with the tomatoes and basil, and snack on the sugar snap peas - that's what I'll be doing.
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