Food and Wine

Recipe flop

These days I'm always on the lookout for recipes that use up farm share veggies, so when this zucchini gratin dish flashed by on Food Network as I was channel flipping, I hit the record button.

The recipe sounds foolproof -- layers of zucchini, tomatoes and onions jazzed up with bread crumbs, pesto and goat cheese. But the end result was kind of....blech. Bland and soggy. Totally disappointing.

Luckily the pesto was good and the pasta I served on the side was enough to ward off the need to order emergency pizza.

And the silver lining of the meal? Dessert! I made homemade chocolate pudding for the first time and it was so, so good. I may never eat a pudding cup again.

I'm putting last night's recipe flop behind me and looking for new veggie recipes for next week. I'm especially interested in this one and this one suggested by readers. Any more to add?  - Jillian

 

Now that's zucchini!

   Check out these zucchini! In all my years, I've never met anyone who can grow better zucchini, or even tomatoes than my Nonno. I'm turning these bad boys into a super easy soup -- fill a pot with onions, zucchini, and chicken stock, boil for 20 minutes, add a few triangles of Laughing Cow cheese, and puree.

    Could it be any easier?

Just one of these zucchini makes a lot of soup and since I hate waste, much of it will find its way to the freezer for cooler, autumn lunches.

On another note, the baby in my arms is my daughter, despite the boy shirt. We didn't want to ruin her pretty dress with some of my Nonna's homemade pasta sauce.

Who knew cabbage could be fun?

When I discovered the gigantic head of Chinese cabbage in this week's farm share box, I was stumped. It's not something I ever buy and I can only recall eating it a handful of times, usually mixed into a stir fry.

Because there was SO MUCH of it, I figured it had to be the main ingredient in whatever dish I used it in...but what to make?

I was going to try a variation on coleslaw, but then I found this fun salad recipe, which pairs the cabbage with green onions, sweet dressing and a crunchy, buttery blend of ramen noodles, almonds and sesame seeds. It's not exactly a healthy -- but it's delicious and it used up all the cabbage so I was happy. (Important note: I used half a cup of olive oil in the dressing and only about 1.5 tablespoons of sugar and it was great. I sudder to think how sweet it would have been if I'd followed the recipe exactly!)

I decided to go for the gold and work more farm share veggies into this meal by pairing the salad with grilled vegetable sandwiches featuring farm share eggplant and zucchini along with some jarred roasted red peppers (I hate taking the skin off homemade ones!) and baba ganoush spread.

This was a really fun meal with lots of different flavours and textures -- if it wasn't for the farm share I never would have tried Chinese cabbage and now I will definitely pick it up at the store from time to time. 

Do you ever cook with Chinese cabbage? Send me your recipes!  -- Jillian

 

 

Grab and go veggies

For me, convenience is key when it comes to eating fruits and veggies. I doubt there are many days when I hit the recommended eight servings (if you do, tell me how you do it!) but having a variety of stuff I can eat on the go is a big help.

The farm share has been great for this as the contents start to shift away from leafy greens -- good but not exactly a convenient snack -- to things like carrots and peppers.

This weekend I spent a few minutes assembling a container of carrot sticks, cucumber spears, grape tomatoes and two kinds of peppers, all from the farm share.

Now they're chilling out in the fridge, at the ready if I need a side for my lunch sandwich or a quick snack to throw in my purse. I'd still rather eat chips, but now I have no excuse!

Do you have any tips for making veggies a more convenient snack? How do you cram in those eight servings a day?  -- Jillian

 

Chuck's sangria

If you know me, you'll know I'm no fan of wine, but I might give this one a try. Here's Chuck Byers' sangria recipe. Read his column on the fruity wine punch at http://newsdurhamregion.com/article/183333.

"One bottle of good rose, such as Inniskillin, Jackson Triggs or Cave Spring Cellars; four cups of tropical juice mix from concentrate; one delicious apple, sliced; two blood oranges (one thinly sliced with rind, the other peeled and sliced); two fully matured lemons, both peeled and sliced; one lime sliced thinly with rind; one chopped banana; one small fully mature cantaloupe or sugar melon; one mango peeled and sliced.

Mix all the ingredients in a large bowl and leave them overnight. On the occasion of the party, get a bottle of sparkling rose and pour it into the mixture, giving it a rich tasting fizz and voila -- a sangria to die for, but please do not drive with!" Chuck Byers.

 

Half way mark

Today's delivery marks week number 10 - half way through my farm share adventure -- and it didn't disappoint. 

In addition to some of the regular stuff like kale, cucumber and green onion, I got.....watermelon!!

I'm definitely someone who prefers fruit over veggies, so this is something I've been waiting for on pins and needles since I first saw melons mentioned on the Zephyr Organics blog a couple weeks ago. Other than a small pint of raspberries in July, this is the only fruit that's been part of this share!

Also new this week, delicious smelling parsley...

 

 ....adorable tiny eggplants.....

... and the biggest head of Chinese cabbage I've ever seen. Seriously -- it dwarfed the cutting board and barely fit into two giant produce bags!  -- Jillian

 

How to make home made allioli

I've always thought mayo was one of those food items that had no place in proper cooking. You used it to slap on sandwiches and that's about it.

But when I went to Spain and started experiencing their cuisine, I realized the local version of it, called aioli or allioli depending on the type, was a big part of the cuisine. A touch of it goes a long way in many delicious dishes.

My mom explained in the old days if you wanted to make a potato salad or something of that sort, you'd whip up some home made mayo, and I suppose this is the same principle.

By making it at home, you can control the salt level, forgo preservatives and also ensure that you're using quality oil. This recipe calls for using raw garlic and a fair amount to boot. Cut back a bit on it if you're not really a garlic fan.

Allioli is one of the ingredients in the stuffed zucchini's I made for this week's food page recipe.

Here's how to make it according to Anya von Bremzen's The New Spanish Table

Basic one-cup allioli

2/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil

1/3 cup peanut or canola oil (vegetable, safflower or any other light oil is fine)

4 large garlic cloves, minced

2 large egg yolks

4 teaspoons fresh lemon juice, or to taste

Sea salt or kosher salt

Stir together both oils in a measuring cup with a spout. Place the garlic, egg yolks and lemon in a blender or food processor and pulse until combined in a coarse paste.

With the motor running, add the oil in a slow, thin steady stream. The mixture will be the consistency of a thick mayonnaise.

Scrape the allioli into a bowl and season with salt to taste and add more lemon juice if desired. Let stand for at least one hour before serving and cover and refrigerate when not using. It should keep in the fridge for three days.

 

In addition to being used in the zucchini dish, my dad really liked the taste of the allioli as an alternative to tartar sauce with a fish dish.

Your burning farm share questions answered

I've been getting a lot of farm share related emails lately and thought I'd answer a few of the questions here in case others are wondering the same things...

Q. Oshawa resident Cathy asks whether I'm actually eating everything in the box every week, or if stuff is getting thrown out?

A. It's been tough, but I haven't thrown any food away except for the week that the box contents turned into goo after eight hours in the sun. The Ziploc produce bags I'm using are amazing -- they keep veggies fresh longer than a week so I hold items over if I haven't used them by the time the next box arrives. If I don't like something (radishes!) or figure I won't use it I give it to family or bring it into work. But that hasn't happened much.

Q. Twitter follower Gail wants to know if I'm saving money on my grocery bill as a result of the farm share?

A. Actually, no. I've found coming up with recipes that incorporate all the weird and wonderful farm share veggies usually means buying extra ingredients I wouldn't normally have on hand. It kind of eliminates any potential savings. I also still have to buy fruit and "staple" veggies like carrots, potatoes and onions at the store, because there generally isn't any of that stuff in the share. Some weeks I maybe save $5 or $10, but nothing significant -- and definitely not enough to offset the roughly $27 per week cost of the half share.

Q. Erin wants to know if the locally grown, organic veggies from Zephyr Organics taste noticeably better than grocery store stuff?

A. Yes and no. With greens like lettuce and kale I don't notice any taste difference -- although they're often bigger and leafier than their store counterparts. On the other hand, the grape tomatoes, zucchini, green beans and sugar snap peas have been fabulous, way better tasting than what you would buy at the store. I think it's hit and miss with any produce, whether you buy it at a store, get it from a farm or grow it yourself.

If you have any questions feel free to email me at jfollert@durhamregion.com!  -- Jillian

 

 

Purple!

I was a little disappointed when I opened today's farm share box and discovered the rumoured melon had not materialized. I checked the Zephyr Organics blog and apparently only people with a whole share got watermelon this week. I have a smaller half share, so no dice.

But there was a silver lining -- purple beans! I think they're actually called burgundy beans, but the colour is definitely purple. So fun!

Also in this week's box: green onions, green leaf lettuce, zucchini, cucumbers, roma tomatoes, grape tomatoes, green beans, radishes, green peppers and sweet peppers. I have lots of cool recipes lined up!  -- Jillian

 

Nothing "beets" this salad

Beets were one of the farm share veggies I was nervous about preparing, only because I've never cooked them at home before  -- and I'd heard what a mess they can make!

I really like roasted beet salad, so I was curious to see if I could duplicate this restaurant favourite in my own kitchen. I saved the beets from last week's farm share delivery and this week's, so I had a ton to work with.

As luck would have it the Globe and Mail featured a roasted beet salad recipe in yesterday's paper, so I gave it a whirl -- and it was awesome!

Roasting the beets was easy, you just throw them in the oven with some water and olive oil for about an hour. To prevent my kitchen -- and myself -- from being stained red, I followed online tips that suggested wrapping a cutting board in parchment paper and putting on an old T-shirt before peeling the skins.

I used some store bought mixed greens for the salad base and topped with goat cheese (ricotta would have been good, but I didn't have any) and walnuts that I candied by boiling them in sugar water for a minute or two before baking in the oven. The nuts burned a bit (damn you 20-year-old oven!) but still tasted great.

To make this the ultimate veggie meal, I paired the salad with grilled zucchini from the farm share and grilled portobello mushroom "steaks." I've had vegetarian friends tell me portobello mushrooms taste "just like steak!" so I was excited to try this recipe.

The mushrooms were surprisingly good -- but anyone who thinks they taste like steak hasn't eaten meat for a looong time! I really liked how they picked up the flavour of the balsamic/garlic marinade they soaked in and the meaty texture was yummy and filling. I would definitely make these again, but they could never take the place of real steak!

The Zephyr Organics blog says we might be getting watermelon or canteloupe in tomorrow's farm share delivery -- can't wait!  -- Jillian