Tag: recipe

Cooking with all those GREENS in your CSA box!

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This week many of the local CSAs (Community Supported Agriculture) started offering their first veggie box of the season! My family has been getting a bountiful CSA from our beloved Soil Sisters– members of Living Lands Agrarian Network for 3 years now!!

This early in the season, we know to expect a lot of GREEN for a few weeks before the other veggies start to come. I made a delightful dish with fresh fava beans, chard and spinach, rosemary and one of my early season favorites, garlic scapes (scapes are the green shoots that shoot up before the garlic blooms and goes to seed, cut them when they are young and tender and they have a mind garlic flavor)!

I often have people ask me what to do with the copious amounts of greens, (kale, chard, collards and spinach) that they get each summer in their CSA boxes. I happen to love greens so sauteing them up with some butter or olive oil and salt is just about all I do to them. This week, I used a bunch of items in our box to make a very simple dish highlighting the favas and fresh chard and spinach together!

Here it goes, I hope you enjoy this “In the HOME Kitchen” tutorial.

Felix helps me to shell the beans, we crack the thick fava pods and squeeze the beans out. He is a great helper ;)

Next, I  boiled a small pot of water and threw the beans in for about 2-3 minutes, until soft. Then we pulled the protective outer layer off each bean. Yes this is labor intensive, but SO worth while! Get those little hands to help you! Felix was so much more interested in eating this dish because he helped me make it!

I washed the greens and the scapes and got them ready to throw into the pan. This dish cooks fast once all the prep is done.

I threw some butter and the chopped scapes and rosemary into a big pan.

Next in  goes the spinach/other greens and I cooked them just until they wilted, then I added in the bright green favas and cooked only until heated through. I added a pinch of sea salt and a grate of fresh nutmeg. BAM!

 

I served this up with a bowl of fresh cherries and a nice stick of string cheese for both me and Felix. My husband Joe was working late so I could get away with a lighter dinner ;)

Can you tell I am in the child raising part of my life?

Get those greens this summer and COOK THEM! Don’t let them go to waste because you are unsure how to prepare them. Use the basic saute method and get creative with what else goes in. It is hard to go wrong. Some other of my favorite way to cook them are with garlic and chili flakes or a splash of soy sauce.

Whole Trout en Papillote

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Whole Trout en Papillote is a fancy way of saying trout cooked in parchment paper. What better way to cook up your child’s fishing bounty than whole, right on the grill or in the oven?
This can also be a cool way to open a discussion about using the entire fish…(dad eats the head right?) and not leaving anything to waste. Here is a simple recipe from the Food Network, give it a go on your grill with kid caught fish or store bought and see how your family responds to seeing the entire animal as opposed to just cutlets.

Whole Trout en Papillote

Recipe from Cooking for a Quarterback by Yolanda Banks and Levon Porter , Brown Publishing.

Ingredients
  • 2 whole trout, dressed
  • Salt and pepper
  • 1/2 cup sliced sweet yellow onion
  • 2 handfuls fresh herbs (thyme, parsley and rosemary)
  • 3 tablespoons lemon-shallot butter, recipe follows
  • 1 lemon, sliced
  • 2 tablespoons dry white wine
  • 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
  • Parchment paper

Directions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Cut 2 sheets of parchment paper large enough to completely cover the fish when folded. Wash and dry the trout. Using a knife, score the fish on 1 side by cutting slits into the flesh just until you feel the bone. Season the trout generously, inside and out with salt and pepper. Spread 1/4 cup of the onionson each sheet of parchment. Place fish on top, scored side up. Stuff the inside of the fish with herbs. (It?s ok if they stick out a bit). Top each fish with 1 1/2 tablespoons of the shallot butter. Cover with the lemon slices.Drizzle 1 tablespoon white wine and 1/2 tablespoon olive oil over each fish. Fold the parchment over the fish. Starting at 1 end, fold the paper on itself, making sure to completely seal it. At the end, fold it underneath itself. Repeat. Place fish on large baking sheet and cook for about 12 to 15 minutes. To serve, place trout en Papilloteon a platter. Cut the parchment at the table to ensure that all the aromas stay inside the package.

Lemon-Shallot Butter:

  • 1 stick unsalted butter, softened
  • 1 lemon, zest finely minced
  • 1 small shallot, finely minced
  • Salt and pepper

In a food processor, combine all ingredients until mixed. Place whipped butter mixture onto a sheet of plastic wrap and roll into a log. Freeze until ready to use. Butter will keep in the freezer for at least a month.