Pac Choi with Garlic

Hello!  I’ve been enjoying our CSA winter share, first squashes and the like and now many different kinds of greens.  We’ve mostly been making raw salads and a little green sauteeing, so I’ve been inactive on the blog for those winter months.  But, we are starting to think of spring and all the great new veggies coming and the last two weeks we’ve had some delicious and exotic greens, so I thought I would share what we made today!

Last week, we had senposai and hon tsai tai, which sent me scrambling to the Internet to find out what the heck those were.  They were absolutely delicious simply and quickly sauteed in olive oil with a bit of garlic powder and a squirt of lemon juice.  Kind of like cabbage meets kale, but delicate so they could be cooked quickly and the stems would be tender.

Today, our share included summer black pac choi (bok choy), a favorite of ours.  I couldn’t wait to make it so we actually had it for lunch.  Simple, quick prep and delicious with an Asian flair.  Here’s the recipe.

Pac Choi with Garlic
by CSAGourmet
serves 2 as a side dish

2-3 heads of pac choi (we had the “Black Summer” variety)
1 1/2 Tbsp sesame oil
2 cloves garlic, sliced
2 dashes Chinese five spice powder
splash of no salt added chicken stock
splash of low sodium soy sauce
salt to taste

Heat sesame oil over medium heat until fragrant.  Saute sliced garlic 1 minute.  Slice about 1/4″ off bottom of pac choi, then separate leaves.  There is no need to cut the leaves or remove the ribs.  Add to pan.  Salt to taste.  Saute 2 minutes.  Add Chinese five spice, chicken stock, and soy sauce.  Saute 2 more minutes.  Pac choi should still be bright green.  Remove from heat and serve.

Lemony Broccoli Rabe with Garlic Chips

This is a classic combination — olive oil, garlic, and lemon.  Really, you can never go wrong with that.  My all-time favorite vegetable dish uses this combo with regular broccoli and I’ll get to posting that soon.  Truthfully, I often find broccoli rabe a little bitter for my taste, but it was part of our CSA share this final week and I thought I’d ensure success by using accompanying ingredients that I know works.  And I made garlic chips instead of just chopping it and tossing it in.  The chips add great crunch.  Turned out delicious!

Lemony Broccoli Rabe with Garlic Chips

Lemony Broccoli Rabe with Garlic Chips
by CSAGourmet
Serves 4

1 bunch broccoli rabe
3 Tbsp olive oil
6-7 small cloves garlic (or 3-4 medium)
squeeze of lemon

In a saute pan, heat olive oil over medium heat until a drop of water sizzles.  Rinse, soak, drain, and pat dry broccoli rabe. Cut off thick part of the stems.  Cut garlic into thin slices.  When oil is hot, saute garlic until it browns slightly, turn and brown slightly on the other side.  Remove garlic before it gets too dark (or it will be bitter).  Add broccoli rabe and saute until wilted but remaining bright green.  This will give you nice texture with tender-crisp stems.  Finish with a squeeze of lemon and garnish with garlic chips.  Enjoy!

So, I bought these sweet potatoes… (not CSA)

I don’t know what possessed me.  I don’t love sweet potatoes.  But someone told me to try the white sweet potatoes and there they were, so I bought a few to experiment with.  I went recipe hunting at FoodNetwork.com and immediately found a five-star rated recipe for Baked Sweet Potato  Wedges by Paula Deen.  Now, before I even clicked the link, I knew there was going to be butter.  It’s Paula Deen.  And although I love Paula’s furniture line, her recipes and I got off on the wrong foot a few years ago when I tried to make one of her red velvet cupcake recipes and it turned out inedibly disastrous even though I followed it to the letter (I rarely mess with a baked good recipe — there’s science there).  But I was shocked at how MUCH butter was in this recipe.  For four sweet potatoes, it was 1/2 lb PLUS 2 Tbsp of butter.  That’s just crazy talk.

So I took my cleaver to the recipe and cut everything by at least 2/3.  I used less than 3 Tbsp of butter (and some was even left in the bottom of the bowl), less than 1/2 tsp of cinnamon (my cinnamon is pretty strong), a 1/4 tsp. of salt, and as much black pepper as I thought looked right.  I also melted the butter in the microwave instead of the a pan (why dirty a pan for that?).   I lightly sprayed my trusty rimmed baking sheet.  My potatoes needed far more time in the oven than Paula lists.  I used common sense, I flipped them when brown on one side and baked until brown on the other.  The wedges came out FANTASTIC.  Full of flavor, crispy outside, meltingly tender inside.  A winner and a sure repeat for our dinner table.

Baked Sweet Potato Wedges

Baked Sweet Potato Wedges
original recipe by Paula Deen
adapted by CSAGourmet
Serves 4 as a side

3 large white sweet potatoes
2 1/2 Tbsp unsalted butter
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
pepper

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Wash potatoes well, scrubbing off any dirt.  Cut into even-sized wedges, skin on.  Melt butter in a large bowl in the microwave.  Add cinnamon, salt, and pepper.  Toss sweet potatoes to coat.  Lightly spray a rimmed baking sheet with cooking spray.  Lay out sweet potatoes with one cut-side down in one layer on baking sheet.  Roast for 20 minutes on the middle rack.  When bottoms are brown, turn sweet potatoes.  Roast for another 10 minutes or so until the other side is brown and the potatoes are tender.  Just keep an eye on them and pull them when they are ready.  Enjoy, preferably with your burger of choice and a Guinness.

Butternut Squash “Fries”

I was excited to see a butternut squash in our harvest.  Thanks to a tip from friend of my sibling’s, I had previously made simple, yet sooooo delicious not-fried fries.  And not-fried means good for you!  Too bad that butchering a butternut squash is such a chore.  They are so hard and the skin is so difficult to peel.  But I promise these “fries” are worth it.

A few tips to make this recipe a success:

• I know the butternut squash is very irregular, making even cutting hard, but you really must try to make the fries as uniform in size as possible.  Otherwise, some will burn before others are done and you will haz a sad.
• Be generous with the cooking spray.  Otherwise, they are going to stick.
• The fries shrink up when they cook, so make more than you think you will need.

Grab that chef’s knife and get to it!

Butternut Squash "Fries"

Butternut Squash “Fries”
Serves 2-4

butternut squash
salt
pepper
garlic powder (NOT garlic salt)

Preheat oven to 400 and put a rack on the top notch.  Peel a butternut squash and cut off the ends.  Halve lengthwise.  Scoop out seeds.  Being careful to make even pieces, cut the squash first into 1/4″ thick planks, then into 1/4″ thick matchsticks (cutting in half crosswise if they are very long).  Generously spray a rimmed baking sheet with cooking spray.  Lay out fries in one layer.  Spray tops with cooking spray.  Sprinkle with salt, pepper, and garlic powder to taste.  If you are cutting back on salt, leave it out completely.  They will still be delicious.  Bake for about 15 minutes (keep an eye on them so they don’t burn), turning them once or twice during the baking time.  If they need more cooking time to crisp at the edges, leave them in longer.  Remove and serve promptly.  Enjoy!

CSA Harvest Week 18

Just one more week to go in our CSA for the summer/fall.  Unseasonably warm weather seems to have nicely extended our harvest season.

Swiss chard in the back; the containers are Burgundy Bush Beans, baby kale, and Asian mixed greens.  Spanish onions and eggplant.

Sweet Acorn Squash

I recently visited with Gram (who wholeheartedly approved of the batch of her pumpkin chocolate chip cookies that I made!) and we got talking about our CSA and the squash we’ve had this year.  She told me that her mother (who was an amazing cook, baker, gardener, orchardist, forager, and everything else that an immigrant girl from Poland needed to be to raise and care for her own family) used to make squash with cinnamon, brown sugar, and butter.  Hmmmm…that sounded intriguing…and I did have that one acorn squash left…just a little alchemy with the proportions…

Sweet Acorn Squash

Sweet Acorn Squash
by CSAGourmet
Serves 2-4 as a side

1 roughly 2 lb acorn squash
1 Tbsp. butter, softened
1/8 c. brown sugar
1/8 tsp. cinnamon (adjust depending on how potent your cinnamon is)
pinch salt

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Cream butter, adding sugar, cinnamon, and pinch salt once the butter has gotten going.  Cream until combined and lightened.  Divide mixture in half.  Cut acorn squash in half lengthwise.  Remove seeds and membrane.  With a spatula, spread half the butter mixture on the cut side of one half of the squash, then the other half of the mixture on the second half of the squash.  Place on a rimmed baking sheet and roast, cut side up for about 35 minutes, until a fork easily pierces the squash.  Remove and cool slightly.  Scoop out flesh (include melted butter in the hollow of each half) into a bowl and stir to mix.  ENJOY!!

I think a bit of whipped cream and a shortbread cookie crumbled over top and you could call this dessert!

Roasty Toasty Pumpkin Seeds

This is the week!  One of my favorite times of the year.  I absolutely love pumpkins, Halloween (I’m not a dress up type, but the carving pumpkins and the laughing yelling kids and the blustery crisp weather and the spookiness of it all…that’s my happy place), and Fall in general.  Carving pumpkins is a must for me and for many years my mom, and now me, made excellent use of all those pumpkin seeds you pull out of the pumpkin by roasting them.  This is a super easy recipe, delicious result.  I eat them hull and all (the ones in the grocery store that are hulled irk me…). Cool them fully before you store them in an airtight container.  I’ve kept them a week, sometimes a week and half if they last that long.  If they get a little chewy, try restoring the crunch with a few seconds in the microwave or a quick turn in the oven.

Roasted Pumpkin Seeds
by CSAGourmet

1 medium large pumpkin (or as many as you like — make them for a crowd!)
salt (your choice on the regular table salt vs. sea — I traditionally have used regular table salt — I might try ground sea salt this year)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Remove seeds from pumpkin with a spoon or other suitable utensil.  No doubt, pulp will come out as well.  To separate the seeds from the pulp, I squeeze handfuls and let the seeds slip between my fingers while the pulp stays in my hand.  Don’t wash the seeds — you’ll remove the pumpkiny deliciousnees, but get the major pulp pieces out.  Spread the seeds (they’ll be wet) out in a single layer on a rimmed baking sheet.  Sprinkle with salt.  You don’t need much, just a few grains on each seed.  Roast on top rack for about 10 minutes, turning once if needed.  The seeds are done when dry and a nicely browned toasty.  Scrape off the tray into a bowl and ENJOY!