Week Two - Fish and Cabbage

I feel like somewhere my Irish and Scottish ancestors are looking down and saying "finally, the kid gets it!"

Kelly and Laura are challenging me with the cabbage. A vegetable, I admit I feared two weeks ago.  Now cabbage is one of my dear friends (another life lesson from the garden).  I whipped up another crispy greens salad for the week (cabbage, collards, chard, carrots, broccoli, and brussel sprouts). We're trying an Asian Salad Dressing this week.  I added some ginger (1 tsp) and sesame seeds (1 TBSP) to the recipe!

Then for the other half of the head...

It's Too Hot to Cook Fish and Cabbage

Tilapia or other white fish
Cabbage
Carrot
Garlic butter
Coconut oil
Italian Spice Mix (my mix has basil, oregano, parsley, rosemary,thyme, marjoram,sage, sea salt, black pepper, red pepper flakes, and bay leaf)
Cinnamon
Nutmeg
Salt and pepper to taste

To prep fish, pat dry and lay out in pan.  I use a small cookie rack as a grill of sorts, to keep the fish from swimming in oil and sticking in the pan. Tin foil would work as well. Place small dabs of butter or coconut oil on the fish. Small is about as much as would fit on the end of a table knife, less than your pinkie finger nail. On a medium-sized tilapia fillet, I put three dabs.  Generously sprinkle  your spice mix on the fillets.  If you feel experiment-y, grind up some almonds or pecans and sprinkle that on too.

Pop the fish in the oven on about 400 (F) for about 20 - 30 minutes. Cooking time will depend on your oven and the thickness of the fish.  Cooked fish is white and flakes easily with a fork.

While the fish is cooking, cut cabbage into wedges and pop into your steamer.  I like to add some shredded carrot for color. When the cabbage has cooked, add a little butter (or coconut oil) and toss. Plate and sprinkle with nutmeg, cinnamon, and some cayenne pepper... and your salt and pepper. Plate the fish and yum!

You may have to experiment with timing, but my rice steamer will steam the cabbage to our liking in about 20 minutes, which is pretty close to how long it takes the fish to cook.

Happy Tuesday!

Kat 

Here's some more spices (and other things) that reportedly go well with cabbage:

  1. Mustard vinagrette
  2. Caraway seeds, butter, salt, and pepper
  3. Fennel seeds, butter, salt, and pepper
  4. Apple, apple cider vinegar, salt, pepper, and a touch of nutmeg (with red cabbage)
  5. Coriander, paprika, allspice, bay leaf, garlic
  6. Juniper berries
  7. Worchestershire sauce, butter, salt, and pepper
  8. Butter, salt, pepper, and cajun seasoning
  9. Cumin seeds and garlic
10.  Cloves, sugar, salt, pepper, vinegar, onion and bacon

 See me? See eels? Mah hoavercraft's pure hoachin!

Kat 

Week Two - Farmshare Box

Carrots
Cabbage
Scallions
Bok Choy
Zucchini
New Potatoes
Cucumbers
Summer Turnips
Raspberries

Such scope for the imagination!

Week One - When life gives you lemons...

make limoncello!

I had this first at Julie's house. Julie is my muse for all things Italian, and the source of my rapidly dwindling jar of my favorite spice mixture.

I like lemon in my water in the summer, and it's a natural with sun tea.. lovely as a roasting bed for fish... and a super brightener for roasted veggies and sweet potato.  But there's always some left over that just kinda... sits in the fridge. So what to do with those piece and ends of lemon once all the other parts have been used?

Limoncello (of course)

Lemon zest
750mL Everclear
2 quart jar

Simple syrup (equal parts water and sugar, heat to mix then cool before addding)

Peel lemon and scrape away white pith or simply zest the lemon. Place the lemon zest in a large, sealable container and add Everclear. Put the jar in a cool dry place. I use the pantry and just upend the jar every time I go in the pantry.Mixture should steep about 4 weeks. I keep adding zest as we use lemons.

After infusion-time has passed, add in simple syrup, mix well and let sit for a few days. Strain and decant into a resealable container (say, a re-purposed glass bottle with an interesting shape).

Store in freezer and serve in chilled shot glasses or as part of some interesting cocktail.

Ciao!

Kat 

Week One - Garlicscapes

This is a garlicscape.

So is this.












Sarah brought me these from the Olympia Farmer's Market. Evidently these are farmshare gold, she's seen a handful of scapes go for as much as 8 zucchini!

So what are these exactly?  Just the early sprout of the hard-neck garlic. They'll get trimmed off early, when the stems are pithy and fresh, so the garlic spends its energy making the garlic bulbs.

And what can you do with 'em?  Loads of things, if you like garlic.

1. After a simple spritz with olive oil, roast your scape in the oven or on the grill... treat them as you would those big fat asparagus spears.

2. Chop into inch or so long pieces and add to stirfry or sauteed green beans.

3. Chop and remove heads, toss in blender with a handful of walnuts, several cups of basil leaves, some olive oil, and parmesan cheese for a quick and yummy pesto. This stores well in the freezer for many months. We just finished off the last jar of last summer's pesto extravaganza.

4. Grandma Kelly option.  Pickle it!  I'm going to try a few of these in my picklefest this weekend.

5. According to the internet, scapes freeze well. Just blanch in salted water and freeze in airtight container.

Week One - More ways to use up cabbage...

Cole slaw is really easy, you can definitely go the traditional creamy route, like Paula Deen, but there are other ways... here are two basics, one sweet and one hot.

Coleslaw with poppy seed dressing

Poppyseed dressing is just Laurie's Dressing with something creamy (yogurt, mayonnaise), sugar, onions, and poppyseeds.  Easy, right? Here's a good recipe to get started.

Pickled Coleslaw

So easy, it's basically just vinegar, salt, and cabbage. Here's one of my favorite versions, curtido, with a nice bite to it.  This is a great way to use up the occasional farmshare pepper.

Both keep well in the fridge, and are equally delicious atop my favorite summer dinner... fish tacos!

Week One - Quick recipe to use up left over cabbage...

If you had leftover cabbage, as we did, it's easy to turn into a crunchy salad with other cruciferous veggies or bitter greens (arugula, chard, spinach, collards, etc).


Salad
Cabbage chopped fine.
Kale, chopped
Medium carrots, shredded
Young broccoli stalks, chopped.
Nuts or seeds (sesame seeds, sunflower seeds, or pumpkin seeds)
Fruit (Dried cranberries, blueberries, strawberries, etc)
Herbs (thyme, rosemary, mint, oregano flowers)
Flowers (violets, nasturtiums, etc)
Cheese (bleu, gorgonzola, or any softish stinky cheese)

Laurie's Vinegar Dressing (plus)
1 part vinegar (cider, balsamic, or white wine)
3 parts oil (olive, avocado, or cashew are good choices)
2 tablespoons of fruit jam or conserve per 1 part vinegar. Our favorites are Jeanne's Quince Jam and our homemade Apricot Jam.

Salt and pepper to taste.

In a small saucepan, heat vinegar and jam. Let cool and add oil. Put mixture in a jar with closely fitting lid and shake vigorously before serving.

Plate veggies, top with herbs, flowers, fruit, cheese, and seeds. Add dressing to taste.

This is a hearty salad, it lasts several days in the fridge, even with dressing, and is a great work/school lunch or dinner.  I will even take this in the field in my tiffin box!

Lunchtime!

Kat

Sauerkraut - Day Two

Sarah came over and we made sauerkraut!

We used four heads of early green cabbage, pickling salt, caraway seeds.

Sauerkraut

Peel off the outer two leaves from each head.

Chop the remaining cabbage fairly fine. we left out the cores, but you could probably keep 'em. 

Layer a few leaves at the bottom of your crock.

Mix chopped cabbage about 1/2 head at a time with several tablespoons of salt and a generous sprinkle of caraway seeds.

Once mixed add to crock, until the crock is full to within 2-3 of the top. Cover with a few of the reserved whole leaves.

Weight and wait.  We used a plate that fit tightly into the crock and a big river cobble in a plastic bag. They do make weights you can buy.  They're probably at the same store where you buy crocks. I bought mine at Olympia Supply, our favorite old-timey hardware store, and I saw the weights on the shelf, but I was too cheap  frugal to buy 'em.

After a nice long chat, we checked in on the crock, the cabbage had juiced up, but not enough to cover the leaves, so we ended up adding about 3 cups of brine. This seems to be about typical. 

It's key to make sure that your kraut is well-smothered, which means pressed and completely covered with brine. The Science Behind Sauerkraut is a good read and explains all the ins and outs.


Kurt or Karl (I can't remember which name we picked) is now resting in the pantry in a lovely crock.

Here's another kraut quote from a webpage Sarah found to ponder as you wait for your cabbage to ferment it's way to crunchy, sour, bitey goodness...

"Fermentation breeds strange sounds and smells, so try not to worry about those"

Week One - Sauerkraut, Day One

I decided to do it in a clear crock because:

1. Curiosity. What happens to the cabbage as it becomes sauerkraut?  I don't have any idea! This way I can watch it kraut up (or kraut down?).
2. I couldn't wait to get more cabbage, so this is Experimental Batch One. Which means I needed a smaller container.

This is the thing, fully brined, with added caraway seeds.  I have some faint memory of eating homemade sauerkraut (did my Grandma make it?) with caraway seeds in it.

The word about kraut is that you salt the cabbage and it leaks out all its water, making brine.  They also say that late season cabbage works better. But of course, not the why of it.  I'm guessing, since my early cabbage did not leak a whole bunch of water, that maybe the late season cabbages have more water.

I'll try this a couple more times with different cabbages at different times throughout the summer and see what changes.

So since, the cabbage couldn't take care of itself, I made some more brine (salted water, boiled) and once it cooled down, added it to the cabbage until it was completely submerged.  I then topped it with a leaf and a saucer and weighted the whole thing down with a bag of water.  Then made a lid with a heavy salad plate. 

Jeanne seems to know about kraut, maybe she'll tell us why the cabbage didn't leak.

Week One - more pickles...

This is what I'm trying this weekend to address the carrot issue...

Sweet and Spicy Asian Pickles

Taqueria-Style Pickles 

I love the "Asian" pickles on sandwiches and as a garnish with the homemade miso. Well, if truth be told, also for random grazing in the fridge.

Also they're pretty in their little jars on the shelf. 

I've never made 'em with star anise, but I like my marinaded mushrooms that way, so I'm willing to give it a go.

The "Mexican" pickles go great with Jackie's fish taco recipe and her ceviche recipe, which I will share at some point... because!  yup!  The fish tacos are served with cole slaw (drum roll) which is made with ... carrots and cabbage! 

And the ceviche is made with tomatoes and cucumber, which apparently will riot in my yard this summer. 

I'll wrap this up with my favorite vegetable joke...

 What's the difference between cabbage and snot? 

Kids don't eat cabbage!

Have fun!

Kat 

Week One - When life gives you cabbage, make sauerkraut...

After reading Mo's blog about kimchee, I was all fired up to make sauerkraut last year.  Then things got busy and the kraut-reserved cabbage was used as a side dish for the homemade corned beef I did in the crock pot. Equally tasty!

I mentioned my failure to a friend of mine, and she confessed the same curiosity and a similar feeling of trepidation.

I mostly wondered if it would blow up or something,

Sarah says she's pretty sure it won't.

We'll see...

Here's what I know about sauerkraut so far:

1. You can add as much cabbage as you want.
2. All the cabbage must be under the liquid.
3. The liquid comes from the cabbage after you add salt to it and stir it around.
4. It ferments best in a big crock, with weight keeping the cabbage fully submerged.
5. Scum will form, scrape it off and move on.
6. If your kraut smells weird, ditch it and try again.
7. Sauerkraut recipes are full of pithy life-lessons.

Whoot!

Kat

Week One - Speaking of peas

Our peas are loving this year's climbing solution.

We're eating them young in the shell, raw and often as we're watering the rest of the garden, but have left a few to ripen up in the pod. Here they are climbing up the cat coop!

The dill in this week's farmbox reminded me of a recipe with peas in a dilly cream sauce, which served hot sounds yummy for a fall dinner, or cold sounds like a great side dish for a picnic.  I was looking around for something else to do with the peas and dill, something less... creamy... and found this recipe.

An even simpler version: 

Summer Peas

1 cup of fresh shelled peas or coarsely chopped pea pods, blanched
Dill, finely chopped
Chives, finely chopped, with flowers
Olive oil
Lemon juice (about 1/4 squeezed lemon)
Salt and pepper to taste

Lightly sauté blanched shelled peas or coarsely chopped pea pods in olive oil.
After a few minutes, toss in chopped fresh dill and add squeeze of lemon juice (mind the seeds!)
Add salt and pepper to taste.
Remove from heat, toss in chives, and serve.

Keeping peas green... a quick google finds loads of answers, but I've had the best luck with blanching or steaming. A quick "bath" in boiling, salted water, followed by a dunk in ice water works a treat.

The low-down on oils in general, olive oil, in particular.

I've been having loads of fun with coconut oil lately, wonder how snow peas in coconut oil would be?  ...or one of the nut oils? Cashew peas with a dash of curry, perhaps? 

Enjoy!

- Kat

Week One - Saturday's Pickles

Nearly all well on Friday and tired but all better today. Yay!

We had one very nice cucumber in our box this week.  I generally like cucumbers two ways, sliced thinly and served with hummus, or as a pickle.  I'm headed out of town next week, so I figured I'd do a quick refrigerated pickle with this first-of-the-season-cuke, so it'd be shareable with the folks I'm visiting.

This is the recipe my Cousin Laurie uses to whip up a yummy crisp cucumber salad.  Not sure where it came from originally, but I think it's pretty common . I found several versions on-line, for examples visit here and here.

We're trying to avoid refined sugars and extra salt, so I subbed out a mild local honey for the sugar and did salt by the dash instead of the teaspoonful. I used the fresh dill from the farmstand, tarragon, thyme from our garden, and the cucumber, of course!

Cucumber Pickles Like Laurie's

One large cucumber, thinly sliced
2 cups white vinegar
1/4 cup honey
4 tablespoons chopped fresh dill
Dash salt and pepper
1/2 teaspoon mustard seeds
1/2 teaspoon fennel seeds
1 teaspoon chopped tarrgon
1 teaspoon fresh thyme + 4 sprigs of thyme

4 small canning jars, if sharing.
Jar sufficient to hold all the cucumber slices if not.

Mix vinegar, honey, salt and pepper in a medium pot. Bring to a boil.

While vinegar mixture is heating, evenly divide the spices and sprinkle in the bottom of the jars.

Layer in cucumber slices.

Pour in hot vinegar mixture.

Screw on jar lid and put in the fridge. When you share, remind your recipients that these have not been processed and should stay refrigerated. 

If you're feeling slightly adventurous, and want to give canning a go... I recommend starting here.

I'll share some of my experiments a bit later in the season, but if you're raring to go, my favorite tip from my favorite cook is that you can always can in small batches.  It's easy, and with a few precautions, you can do without most of the fancy canning gear. This is a really fun book about making preserves.

Enjoy!

Kat

Week One - Thursday's Miso Soup

Finally feeling human again, and able to keep things down, I wasn't quite ready for the salads and omlettes and sauteed veggies I had envisioned when we picked things up on Monday, but I had some ideas...

One of my favorite sick foods is miso soup, there's a great recipe here. This week, we used a boxed version, which has ginger in it.

Simple Miso Soup

1 - 2 cups miso stock
6 - 8 carrot shreds
1 medium baby portobello, sliced very thin
Small squares of firm tofu
1 raw egg

While the miso stock is coming to a boil, prep your cup for your favorite sick person by:

Cutting a 1/4 to 1/2 inch slice of firm tofu into small cubes. Toss in bowl.
Using a vegetable peeler to thinly slice a carrot. 6 - 8 thin slices should be enough.

Thinly slicing your favorite mushroom  and layer in cup or bowl with carrot and tofu.

If your patient is feeling mostly better and can tolerate eggs, gently crack an egg into the nest created by these veggies, without breaking the yolk.

Gently pour the boiling stock over the veggies and egg and cover for 5 - 10 minutes or until the egg cooks. The poached egg can be broken up. The yolk will melt into the stock, creating a soft, creamy broth loaded with protein.

Serve  with a garnish of chopped green onion and some saltine crackers. 

The Egg Drop Soup Alternative 

If you like the effect of lacey strands of egg in broth, make the egg drop version.

- Add all your veggies into the boiling stock.
- Gently whisk the raw egg, then start stirring your broth.
- Drop the whisked egg in a little at a time, while continuing to stir.

The whisked egg will firm up in the hot broth, creating lovely wisps of egg in the broth.

The Well-Stomach Version

Clearly this would work with nearly any broth, trust your palate and experiment with your favorite veggies.  Or new ones you learn about at your farmstand! 

When I'm feeling less flu-ish, this is one of our favorite easy dinners... we add thinly sliced onions, leeks, cabbage shreds, and / or sweet potato shreds.

And I love hot stuff, so I always add a dollop of chili paste. 

Enjoy!

- Kat

Week One - The Farm Box

Bill, Cat, Tami, and I are splitting a farmshare from Piece by Piece Farm this season.  I decided I wanted to celebrate the fresh fruits and veggies with a blog sharing recipes featuring the bounty.

Cat and Bill led off, last week was ours!
Beautiful broccoli, carrots, peas, lettuce, snap peas, snow peas, and strawberries (which were eaten so quickly I didn't get a photo).
 
All in all, a great selection of material for my Farmstand Recipe project. And then, I found out that Bill had also shared his flu with me.  Down and out for most of the week, the produce was exactly the last thing on my mind until Thursday. Ack!

- Stay well

Kat