Greenling Vegetable Delivery Day (4th time)

I've been stressed out about vacations, secret missions, BabyAlice (pug) and now Lola (boxer cross) who is having 'experimental' surgery on Friday to try to help her stripped ACL.  Needless to say, it's been an emotional week. 

BUT

I opened my door this morning and found my fabulously refilled with local farm produce in a neon green plastic box on my porch.  YAY!  

Here's what came and what I'm going to do with it: 

Ahhh, the big reveal!

 

first a treatie! I LOVE a treatie!  Unfortunately, I hate kettle corn but Connor loves it so he snarfed the bag and ran upstairs to do science experiments, while eating kettle corn.  Nice!

So, let's look to see what we have and what I'm going to do with them: 

Strawberries:  We're just going to eat those, maybe some will appear on the next pavlova!  I am going to Cauliflower: I'm going to cook the cauliflower in the pressure cooker and fry it up as a side as needed this weekend. 

Greens: Another bag of delicious mixed greens.  They make a fabulous salad and that's what these are destined for.  I will make an orange vinaigrette with the oranges I got and maybe some of the strawberries on top.  Yeah.

Arugula:  I love arugula and it's peppery edge.  I will mix some in with the greens with my salad and some I will use in my egg salad sandwiches, on the homemade farmhouse loaf I just pulled out of the oven.
   
Oranges:  2 will be eaten and 1 will be zested and juiced for the salad I'm having tomorrow.

Mushrooms.  I'm going to fry them in butter and use then as a sauce on my chicken breast on Saturday night.

Kohlrabi:  I love this, I like it shredded and added to a slaw, I will salt and drain it a bit before I add it to some shredded cabbage and apples as a lunch on the weekend, nothing like a fresh, crisp coleslaw on a springtime Texas day.

Cilantro:  it'll go in, on and around everything.

   
Swiss Chard:  Love it sauteed in some bacon fat with garlic slivers until it's just tender then piled high as a side for whatever I make this sunday night.

Butter lettuce:  I love butter lettuce under grilled chicken with a chicken fat/olive oil vinaigrette ;)
 
Well, this is a beautiful box and I can't wait to get cooking with it! I <3 box="" farm="" font="" local="" my="" nbsp="">

/Tracy

Risotto , my way

QUICKIE DINNER TIME

I didn't want to cook tonight, it's Friday, I'm tired.  I had arborio rice in the pantry and some bacon, some cooked (pressure cooked) broccoli and some leftover poached chicken.  BINGO! 

Risotto is a method, not a recipe. I use the equation, however much rice you use (I had 2 cups so I used 2 cups) be sure you have 4 times the amount of hot stock (I poached a chicken in the pressure cooker yesterday and had that stock)

Fry some bacon, I used half a 12 oz packet.  Save the crispy bacon aside and drain about half the fat.  Fry half an onion in the bacon fat until soft but not colored.  Add the rice and fry it around for a minute or so then add a glass of white wine.  

Cook the wine into the rice then start adding hot stock, 2 ladles at a time and cook over medium high heat, stirring, until the rice absorbs the liquid.  I like to stand at the pot, with a very large glass of wine, listening to music or watching the news while I stir gently, this isn't hard work. 

Keep going until the rice is tender, about 15 minutes?  When you're happy with the rice, add one more ladle of stock, a large knob of butter, the cooked broccoli and crispy bacon and stir around.  

Pile it onto a plate, add some poached chicken, shredded, on top and a large dollop of the homemade aioli I'll tell you how to make another time on top of that.  Put a little parsley on top to chef it up and serve.

      

If you don't have arborio rice in your pantry all the time, shame on you.  You can always make a variation of risotto for dinner with anything you have left over.  I keep stock in my freezer all the time and in a pinch, you CAN cut it half with water so there's no excuse whatsoever for not making this, often.  

*purists insist I should have mounds of freshly grated Parmesan cheese on top but I didn't have any and was not going to let THAT stop me from making this for a rich, delicious, creamy, crispy, filling, joy giving dinner*

/make risotto

Local Vegetable Farm Box delivery day!

My Greenling local farm box came today. I love the big green box on my stoop and I love opening it to discover the goodies! 

OH! SWEET!  I got a reusable bag as a little giftie.  I do love a little giftie.  

They passed a single use plastic bag ban here in Austin that started Monday.  I always have bags with me anyway but it's nice to get a new one...

There's not quite the same size haul it seems as the last two weeks but it's still delightful!  I got (and what I plan to do with it): 

Spinach

We love it raw or cooked in a little olive oil and garlic and a splash of water to get it steamed quickly so it doesn't go soggy.  I think we'll cook it tomorrow.

Broccoli

I will say I'm a little disappointed that they keep cutting the stalk off the broccoli they send.  The stalk is delicious and one of the best parts.  They need to keep them on, I'm going to send a note to that effect.  With this beautiful head, I'm going to make a broccoli casserole quiche on the weekend.  It's CRAZY delicious  Here's the link to the recipe  http://www.tracycooksinaustin.com/2012/12/broccoli-casserole-quiche-yes-really.html

Beets

Again, I love them and will roast them in tin foil with oil, salt and pepper.  When they're cool, I'll rub off their skins and slice them.  Maybe as a side, at room temperature, with the egg salad sandwiches OR more likely, as a side to the broccoli casserole quiche.

Radishes

I will have some, sliced thinly and have them with my winter salad mix, and a nice orange vinaigrette.  I'll have some, sliced thin on thickly cut, heavily buttered french bread (recipe I'm working on and will post a link here)  Radishes love bread and butter and salt.

I'll cut up the greens and have them tossed in with the spinach that I saute.  Oh yeah, hot, cold and combined, that's how to do it!

Winter Salad Mix

I see a salad in our future :)  I may save some to put in a bean soup I'm making on Sunday.  I'll post the recipe when I do it. 

Fennel

I like fennel simply roasted in a hot oven with some olive oil, salt and pepper, as a side.  It'll be a side on the weekend meal. 

Herbs

Looks like they sent Dill, I'll use it in dips and on potatoes and in the salad.  Anything left, I'll just use 'em :) 

Red leaf lettuce

it's a BEAUTY and will make a number of fabulous salads.  I'll also use it in the new recipe white bread I alchemied the other day (recipe to follow) and I'll use this lettuce in egg salad sandwiches because there's nothing better. 

Oranges

We're just going to eat 'em.  I will zest them first to keep the zest, frozen, to use for my next orangy dessert item. 

Grapefruit

Todays lunch!  Sprinkled with sugar and slurped up greedily, I can feel the amount of juice in this one and THAT makes me a happy gal. 

So, that's my plan for the things in today's local farm box. Here's the few beauty shots I took.

    

Third delivery box, third time I'm absolutely delighted.  IF you are local and want to sign up for the delivery, message me, I have a code you can use to get 10% off

/enjoy!!

Pressure Cooker Vegetables in 3 minutes

OK, I caved in and decided to pressure cook the vegetables... after some recent experiments that went very very right, I decided to go through my fridge, see what was there and cook them in the pressure cooker, see what happens...

I have a new pressure cooker, this one:



and I absolutely completely highly recommend it!!



Here's the results:

Everything cooks in 3 minutes! HAHAHAHA  SERIOUSLY!  

I'm not kidding, it's weird but everything I found today cooked perfectly in 3 minutes:  I don't think it was clear but I quick release all the vegetables :D

I put cut up carrots on the trivet, over some water and locked and loaded for 3 minutes.  PERFECT!
*I tossed the carrots with a little of the water, a blob of butter, salt, pepper and tarragon and put over high heat until they were lightly glazed and put them aside, covered, they reheat beautifully.

I threw the brussels sprouts from Greenling.com on the trivet, over water (the carrot water once it had cooled) and locked and loaded for 3 minutes.  PERFECT!
*I tossed the sprouts in some bacon fat heated over pretty high heat and tossed them around so they got some bacony goodness and some brown bits then put them aside, covered, they reheat perfectly!

I cut up 3 broccoli heads (with stalks) and threw them on the trivet, over water (the brussels sprout/carrot water, once it had cooled) and locked and loaded for 3 minutes.  PERFECT!
*I simply put the broccoli in a covered container, I will reheat lightly later, also a great do ahead veggie.

I cut up a head of cauliflower, with stalk, and threw it on the trivet, over water (the brussels sprout/carrots/broccoli water) and locked and loaded for 3 minutes.  PERFECT!
*I put the cauliflower in a container to reheat later, I will save some of it and make a bechemal to do cauliflower cheese tomorrow or another day.

Here's some action and some beauty shots:

All the dishes started like this:  trivet over about 12-16 oz of water and a little salt.  
*I cooked these vegetables one after the other in the Nesco electric pressure cooker.  I did allow it to cool between uses as I prepared the vegetables.  I did add a little water each time to keep the level just below the strainer/steamer/trivet

 

Then prep your vegetable of choice and toss them on the trivet/steamer:
   
LOCK AND LOAD THREE MINUTES ON HIGH PRESSURE.  Perfect veggies, tender crisp and ready to either eat, chill or doctor up and save.
 
I tossed the sprouts in bacon fat and shushed them around a bit then put them aside, covered for later.
   
or broccoli:

   
or cauliflower:
 

Go cook yourself some veggies... FAST!  This HAS to be better than boiling or blanching, there's no evaporation and the veggies taste so very very much like themselves this way!  plus, it's THREE minutes!  I saved all the water and will use it to make gravy with the roast chicken drippings later.  Yeah, look at me planning ahead ;)

/enjoy

Quick spinach and lemon pasta lunch

As you're aware, my new passion, my local farm box from Greenling, arrived today.  I have it delivered every 2 weeks.  That makes me happy.

I looked through the box today and found spinach, lemon, and oregano,  I had olive oil, garlic, tomato and pasta.  Sounds like lunch to me!

There's no recipe, it's a method so there's only one version, the long winded with loads of pictures version: 

TRACYS QUICK SPINACH AND LEMON PASTA

1/2 box of pasta (I used Barilla angel hair, broken in half - don't judge)
large handful of fresh spinach, roughly chopped
1 tomato, seeded, chopped
zest of half a lemon
juice of that lemon
olive oil
butter (seriously, we can't NOT have butter, you don't need much but use some!)
a little chicken stock or water
1 large garlic clove (sliced paper thin in my new favorite garlic slicer from pampered chef)
salt, pepper, nutmeg (nutmeg and spinach are best friends, always use them together)

Put a large pot of heavily salted water on to boil.

Grab your NEW favorite IKEA non stick frying pan (365 series, look how there's no scratches and it's about a year old) and heat up some olive oil and a good blob of butter
  
Arrange your beautifully chopped up food on the island for quick grabbing.  This is my garlic slicer, i love this thing.  Just drop the garlic in and twist and paper thin slices come out the bottom.  Yeah, it's a good buy.
  
Fry the garlic lightly then add zest and lemon juice and then the chopped tomato.
  
Grate in some fresh nutmeg, spinach and nutmeg are complete best friends, each is better for being near the other.  All the time. Drop in a branch of fresh oregano and shush it around a bit.
  
I'm not terribly patient waiting for water to boil and too lazy to find the lid so this is my speeder-upper regiment.  Drop the pasta into the boiling water and cook for about 3-4 minutes.  Do not overcook it! Before you drain any pasta, ALWAYS grab some of the cooking water, it's starchy and salty and it's a much better option mix into any sauce or to use to make anything into a sauce, just always do this.
  
Look at this yummy sauce, almost together!  This is going to be good. TASTE it, if it's too dull, add more lemon, if it's too acidic, add some pasta water.  Add some wine, add some stock, it's your dish! Drop the drained pasta into the sauce and then top with the chopped spinach.  Toss around quickly, the heat from the pasta cooks the spinach and the pasta absorbs all the olive oil, lemony juices.  MMMMM.
  
Toss around for a minute and plate it up!

  
Freshly grates parmesan cheese for Connor and some fresh oregano leaves. I had cut some homemade bread thickly, buttered and sprinkled garlic powder on it and toasted it.  Mmmmm.  Rather nice looking lunch for two in about 10 minutes.
    

Here are the random beauty shots:

        

This says success to me! 

It's a quick, easy, light lunch and with just a few super fresh ingredients and it's absolutely delicious.  

Go make yourself a quicky bowl. 

/enjoy