My ruminations on my life, my family, cooking, baking, and whatever else comes to mind
Week 4 of my Growing Washington CSA 🙂 This week’s delicious looking box is below.
This week’s haul:
I also got about 5 pounds of cherries (Rainier Cherries and Strawberry Rainier Cherries) from the Precision Fruit stand in Yakima today. They’re very tasty 🙂
A happy Independence Day 🙂
I have some fun socks that I wore today:
Breakfast was some delicious duck eggs from the most recent CSA box and some pan fried diced ham.
Today was a gorgeous summer day and we enjoyed walking around some and puttering cleaning up around the house.
Dinner was a nice grilled t-bone steak, potatoes from the first CSA box that I steamed then threw on the grill in a foil packet, and salad made the most recent CSA box.
For dessert, we split a mini cherry pie 🙂
Now, we’re snuggled on the couch watching fireworks on tv and comforting Emma from the booms outside.
Week #3 of my Growing Washington CSA. Just look at those little strawberries. I know what we’re having for dessert tonight 🙂
This week’s haul:
Tonight I made ham hocks and beans with my gorgeous heirloom bean mix from my CSA box. This time around, I used one beer (the locally brewed Scuttlebutt Amber Ale and 2 cups of chicken broth for the liquid, and it turned out very well indeed 🙂 The bean mix was just wonderful, and the beer was very subtle. I might even try it next time with 2 bottles of beer and no broth to get just a bit more flavor.
Sunday we had a driving adventure. We set off to get lunch, not sure where, and headed towards Lynnwood. We ended up at Silver Spoon Thai. I got my usual thai order – pad see ew with prawns, and Shaun got the chicken pad thai. Both were quite good, but not any leap better than our local Zab Thai or Lanna Thai. The huge fish tank was fun, though 🙂 If we’re in the area again around lunch or dinner, we’ll definitely consider stopping by here again.
After lunch we were going to head back towards the mall and Kohls to go sock questing, but traffic didn’t allow me to get into the turn lane, so we went onward, and just decided to keep going for the fun of it. We twisted our way south and west via major surface streets, entering new commercial and residential areas that we’d never seen before.
We drove through Mountlake Terrace, and as we entered Lake Forest, we saw signs for a farmer’s market just off the road, and pulled in. There, I got some Sea Beans, and some fresh morels. The sea beans were entirely new to me. They are a small edible plant, not actually in the legume family – so not really a bean, that grows in smart marshes. The fellow at the stand recommended blanching them for 2-3 minutes then shocking them in an ice bath and serving them with fish, which is what I did tonight. The morels I just sauteed in a touch of butter and finished with a bit of sea salt.
At the farmer’s market I also picked up a delicious homemade chocolate dipped cherry ice cream bar that Shaun and I split.
After the farmer’s market, we headed further south. We headed through Lake City, Sand Point, Magnuson Park, and ended up at the University of Washington, to our surprise. We hadn’t quite realized we were that far south 😛 We then tacked back to I-5, headed up to Northgate, and went sock questing at the big Target there and wandered around the big Best Buy before heading back home.
All in all a fun day with some fun results 🙂
I even got some new socks for June!
Week #2 of my Growing Washington CSA. Another gorgeous box! This week, shiitake mushrooms were on the list, so I had to get some 🙂
This week’s haul:
This is yet another iteration of a recipe I’ve been tweaking for some time. This version is a bit spicier, and very good 🙂 I serve this with corn tortillas and refried beans, much like the original inspiration, El Pollo Loco. Tonight I only made a half batch, but I still kept the same marinade quantities.
Pineapple Citrus Grilled Chicken
Serves 4
For the marinade:
6 ounces (1 small can) pineapple juice
2 tbsp freshly squeezed lime juice (1 large lime)
1 tbsp white vinegar
2 large cloves garlic, pressed
½ tsp salt
½ tsp dried Mexican oregano
½ tsp ground pepper
½ tsp turmeric
1 tsp ground cumin
1 jalapeno, minced (remove the seeds and membranes for milder, leave them in for spicier)
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
For the rest:
4 pounds chicken thighs (with skin and bone)
In large zip top bag, combine all ingredients except chicken.
Place chicken in the bag, seal, pressing all of the air out, and squish around to coat the chicken well. Refrigerate overnight, turning once.
Remove chicken from refrigerator 45 minutes before you’d like to start grilling and preheat the grill to medium heat.
Turn the grill to low heat. Starting skin side up, grill over low heat for 12-15 minutes, until the skin starts to look dry and the chicken is firm. Turn the chicken skin side down and cook for another 12-15 minutes, until clear juices are pooling in the hollows of the chicken pieces.
Increase the heat to medium and cook for a final 2-3 minutes or until the internal temperature reaches 180 degrees F and the skin is crisp and browned. Keep a close eye on the chicken as it cooks and put out any flare-ups immediately to avoid burning the meat.
Serve with beans and corn tortillas.
We revisited grilled pizza tonight after the success of the grilled garlic flatbread. Tonight I went for a Hawaiian pizza – ham and pineapple. This was another great success! We’ll definitely be coming back to this over the summer with new and fun toppings 😀 If you’re normal, unlike us 😛 , you’ll probably want to add a little cheese – just put it on with the other toppings
Grilled Hawaiian Pizza
Serves 4
12-16 oz uncooked pizza dough
1 tbsp olive oil
For the pizza sauce:
2 cloves garlic, pressed
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp dried basil
1/4 tsp onion powder
1 8-oz can tomato sauce
For the toppings:
8 oz ham, diced
8 oz fresh pineapple chunks (canned is okay too, just get the kind that is packed in juice, not syrup)
Preheat a propane grill to high heat.
While the grill is heating, roll out the pizza dough to a rectangle, about 8 inches by 12 inches, and place it on a piece of aluminum foil (I used Reynolds Wrap non-stick grilling foil for this). Brush the dough lightly with olive oil on both sides.
Carefully move the foil with the dough onto the hot grill and close the lid. Reduce heat to medium high. Grill for 2-3 minutes or until the bottom of the dough is nicely browned and starting to char just a bit around the edges.
Flip the dough over with tongs so the browned side is facing up and remove the foil from the grill – a pizza peel makes this easier if you have one.
Spread the pizza sauce, ham, and pineapple evenly over the pizza. Slide the pizza, foil and all, back onto the grill and close the lid.
Reduce the heat to low. Grill for a final 3-4 minutes, or until the dough is cooked through, nicely browned on the bottom, and the toppings are warm.
Carefully slide the pizza onto a platter and cut into four pieces. Serve hot.
This is an easy and delicious way to grill salmon, or any other hearty fish. The cedar plank lends a delicate smoky flavor to the fish. This is the first time I’ve tried this method, but it certainly won’t be the last! You can find cedar planks for grilling in many grocery stores, at cooking equipment stores, and even online: Cedar Grilling Plank
Cedar Planked Salmon
Serves 2
1 cedar grilling plank
Olive oil
1 lb salmon fillet (I used wild Copper River king salmon tonight)
Kosher salt
Thinly sliced lemon
Soak the cedar plank in water for at least 1 hour.
Preheat the grill to medium heat.
Place the plank on the grill, brush lightly with olive oil, and let it heat for 5-10 minutes or until starting to crack and smoke slightly.
Place the salmon on the plank, season lightly with kosher salt, and cover with lemon slices.
Grill, covered, for 20 minutes, or until the fish flakes easily. Keep an eye on the planks and spray them with water if they catch fire.
Remove the plank and place on a trivet. Serve salmon warm.
While perusing the produce at Central Market, I saw these intriguing items labeled “garlic spears.” The description on them reads:
Garlic Spears
Flower Tops from Elephant GarlicWhen cooked, garlic spears have a very mild garlic flavor with a texture and taste somewhere between asparagus and artichoke. The whole spear may be eaten – as is.
Steam or saute lightly (3-5 minutes, depending on how crisp you like your vegetables) and serve with a little butter and lemon juice.
They are also delicious served chilled (after steaming) as an appetizer and a companion to your favorite dip.
Pureed, they make a wonderfully mild garlic soup. Chopped raw they are very hot and will spice up your baked potatoes, salads, or dips.
For a very special touch, steam lightly, cut into inch long pieces and add them to your pasta dishes.
Try them – you’ll like them!
I chose to put them on the grill over low heat for about 6 minutes, much as I’ve done with asparagus. They turned out crisp-tender. The flavor was indeed somewhat like asparagus with mild garlic. The crisp-ness lent a bit of similarity to a green bell pepper as well. All in all, I liked these quite a bit. Shaun thought they were okay too, but would have liked them a bit better cooked for a touch longer.
