CSA Dinner: Kale, Zucchini, Summer Squash, and Lettuce

The saltiness of the braised beef with the sweetness of the sweet potato is a perfect match.

First Course:

Red and green lettuce with thin sliced fennel, thin sliced red onions, and Parmesan cheese (balsamic vinegar optional).

Some notes:

• I used about half a bulb of fennel for 2 salads. I like to dress them with the juice of half a lemon;

• Make sure you wash your salad greens well. I like to rinse each leaf in cold water and let it soak for 5 minutes in a big bowl filled with water. After 5 minutes, I'll pull the leaves out and drain them in a colander. Don't dump the water into the colander because then the sand/dirt will just come with the lettuce instead of settling at the bottom of the bowl;

Entree:

Beer braised beef short ribs served with sweet potato, parsnip and pear puree, and roasted kale and roasted zucchini and summer squash.

Braised beef short ribs:

1. Coat the bottom of an oven safe pot with olive oil and place on medium high heat. When the pot is hot, brown your short ribs (~1 lb) on each side (I usually cut them into 2.5-3 in. pieces).
2. Once brown pull the short ribs out, turn the heat to medium low and throw some fennel (1/2 bulb, in chunks), onion (1/2 medium yellow, in chunks), and carrots (2 medium length, in chunks) into the pot. Stir and cook until the onion is slightly translucent. Add in 3/4 a bottle of beer (I went with Harpoon Summer) and put the short ribs back in. Cover with aluminum foil or an oven safe lid and place in a 300­°F oven for 2.5 hrs, turning once an hour and half into cooking time.
3. Then uncover the beef and continue in the oven for 30 more minutes.
4. Heat up a pan (with a little bit of oil). When hot, place the beef into the pan along with about half a cup of the braising liquid mixed with 2 T of honey. Continuously baste the meat using a spoon until the meat looks shiny.

Roasted kale:

I borrowed this recipe from Whole Foods: http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/recipes/1274

Roasted summer squash and zucchini:

1. Slice 1 zucchini and 1 summer squash into 1/2 in thick slices (on a bias makes them look prettier!).
2. Toss with 1 T olive oil, healthy pinch of salt and ground black pepper and 2 t of Italian seasoning.
3. Spread on baking sheet and toss in oven at 400°F for 15-20 minutes.

Sweet potato, parsnip, and pear puree:

1. Peel and cut 1 sweet potato, ~4 parsnips (should be equal in volume to sweet potato), and one pear.
2. Toss into a large pot and cover with water. Cook until the vegetables are tender and a pairing knife goes through easily.
3. Drain the vegetables reserving 1/4 cup of the cooking liquid in the pot. Add 1 T of butter, 1/4 t of nutmeg, a pinch of kosher salt, and 1/2 t of truffle oil. Blench until smooth (I like using a hand blender for this).
4. Salt to taste.

The end product? A delicious dinner:

No better way to top off dinner than with some Batch! ice cream for dessert! Joe and I are addicted to the Salted Caramel! So creamy and delicious! I must say I'm quite enjoying the CSA so far and have been eating a ton of veggies!

CSA Dinner: Beets & Tomatoes

I made my first dinner tonight using the beets and a tomato from my CSA share. First up were the beets. I separated the bulb from the stem/leaves and then the leaves from the stems.

I've never really eaten beets before, but I heard that the leaves could be sauteed and my mom suggested that I try eating the beets raw "pickled" in soy sauce, sugar, rice wine vinegar, sesame oil, and garlic.

After washing the leaves thoroughly, I ripped them into smaller pieces and sauteed them with some crushed garlic and salt. As a side note- Chinese people will eat almost any leafy vegetable sauteed with garlic and salt. I found the leaves to be a little bitter, but I still enjoyed them.

I cut the ends off the bulbs and peeled them using a vegetable peeler. Then, I cut them in half and sliced the beet thinly into half moon shapes. I tossed them with a little salt (~2 t) and let them sit for 1/2 an hour. According to mom, this process takes the "raw edge" off the beets. Then, I drained the water that exuded from the beet and added some soy sauce (about 1 T), crushed garlic (about a clove), sesame oil (~1 t), sugar and vinegar (in equal parts to taste). You should add less soy to begin with just to make sure it doesn't come out too salty. This dish was extremely refreshing;however, I felt as though some of the beet flavor was lost behind the marinade. I tried a piece raw while I was slicing it, and beets are surprisingly sweet.

Then I tackled the tomato.

I usually don't like tomatoes, but this one was fresh, juicy, and extremely flavorful. It wasn't even that sour! I made some tomato and eggs with it- a staple in Mama Yu's kitchen. First I scrambled two egg whites with 1 egg (can't eat too much cholesterol!) and a little bit of kosher salt. Then, I cooked the eggs about half way, pulled them out of the pan. and put them aside. Next, I added a little oil to the pan and sauteed my tomato (which I cut into wedges). After about 2 minutes I added about 1/2 a cup of water and 1 T of sugar and let it simmer until the tomatoes were cooked through and the water had mostly evaporated. I added the eggs back in with some diced scallion and 1-2T of ketchup and mixed until it was well incorporated.

I served everything with some left-over brown rice. The final product:

Everything was flavorful and delicious! Looks like this is the start to a predominately vegetarian summer!

CSA Starts Today!

This weeks share includes:

• 1 bunch beets
• 2 summer squash
• 2 zucchini
• 1 bunch asparagus
• 2 heads broccoli
• 1 bunch kale
• 1 bunch carrots
• 1 head green lettuce
• 1 head red lettuce
• 2 juicy tomatoes