My ruminations on my life, my family, cooking, baking, and whatever else comes to mind
This week’s box:
Free-Range Eggs
Lettuce-Butterhead
Tomatoes-Sungold
Tomatoes-Sungold
Squash-Romanesco
Squash-Romanesco
Hot Peppers-Poblano
Hot Peppers-Poblano
Pluot-Dapple Dandy
Peach-Suncrest
Melons
Apples-Gala
Another great box 🙂
Pluot-Flavor Heart
Pears-Bartlett
Peach-Suncrisp
Apples-Ginger Gold
Free-Range Eggs
Lettuce-Baby Heads
Tomatillos
Tomatoes-Heirloom
Squash-Romanesco
Potatoes-Gold
Garlic-Bulb
Beets-Red Ace
A quick and healthy meal tonight: stir fried teriyaki chicken, savoy cabbage, and broccoli. I heated a little canola and sesame oil in my wok, added the sliced cabbage, stir fried for a minute to brown, then added water and steamed for another 2 minutes to wilt, then removed it to a bowl and repeated the process with some chopped broccoli, just increasing the steam time to about 5 minutes, then finally stir frying the chicken and adding the sauce just to it. You can get more detailed stir fry instructions and my sauce recipe here.
Just a small tweak tonight. I realized that I was out of tomato sauce after being quite committed to making this for dinner, so I added a 15 oz can of diced tomatoes and about 2 tbsp of tomato paste and boiled off the excess liquid. It worked pretty well. I like the tomato sauce better, as it permeates the filling, but I could definitely see adding diced tomatoes in future iterations.
There are probably as many variations of Cobb Salad as there are people that make it. This is the version I made tonight. Avocado is pretty traditional, but sadly the one I had in the fridge had gone mushy and grey 🙁 Blue cheese is also often used, but I never have any around.
This version has baby romaine and butterhead lettuces, beefsteak tomato, and hard boiled eggs all from my CSA box, crumbled bacon, ham, and chicken. The chicken was one of those pre-“grilled” packets you find near the lunch meat. They’re surprisingly good and make a great instant protein addition to a light meal. I used a little bit of ranch for dressing, but you could use just about anything. Vinaigrette is also very good.
For perfect hard boiled eggs, place them in cool water in a pot and bring it to a boil. Remove from the heat, cover, and let stand for 10 minutes. Move the eggs to an ice bath to stop the cooking, let cool for 5 minutes in the ice water, then remove, dry, and peel.
Another beautiful box 😀
Free-Range Eggs
Lettuce-Baby Heads
Tomatoes-Sungold
Tomatoes-Sungold
Tomatoes-Big Beef
Squash-Romanesco
Sweet Corn
Potatoes-French Fingerling
Peaches-Red Haven
Blueberries
Blueberries
Apples-Shamrock
I love potatoes 🙂 These gorgeous little fingerlings are some of the last remnants from last week’s CSA box. I tossed them in olive oil, seasoned with salt, and roasted them at 425 degrees for about 30 minutes in a cast iron skillet with a quick seared little rib eye steak. Easy and delicious!
This was a quick, easy, and flavorful soup. The smoked salmon is the star, so be sure to get a high quality piece. I used SeaBear Coho Salmon.
Smoked Salmon Chowder
Serves 4 as an appetizer, 2 as a light meal
3 tbsp unsalted butter
3 tbsp all purpose flour
2 cups chicken broth
1 dash garlic powder
1 dash onion powder
1 dash white pepper
6 oz hot smoked salmon
1 cup half and half
Melt the butter in a medium sauce pan. When the butter starts to foam and turn slightly brown, add the flour and stir to combine completely, making a roux. Add the chicken broth and spices and whisk to completely incorporate the roux. Break up the salmon into small pieces and add to the soup. Bring to a gentle boil. Add the half and half and stir to combine. Bring to a simmer, cook for 2-3 minutes, and serve hot.
This is a fast and refreshing summer salad. It works great with shrimp or crab too, but surimi (aka krab) is what I happened to have on hand. I just ate it on its own, but it would also be good on tortilla chips or bruschetta.
Avocado, Tomato, and Surimi Salad
Serves 4 as a side. 2 as a light meal
2 large hass avocados
1 large beefsteak tomato
juice of 2 key limes
dash garlic powder
dash onion powder
dash ground cumin
8 oz whole leg style surimi, cut into bite sized chunks
Coarsely chop the avocados and tomato and place into a large bowl. Pour the lime juice over the top, sprinkle with the spices, and gently stir to combine. Add the surimi and stir one last time.
I made a big pan of stuffed romanesco summer squash tonight, following my previous post. Very good as usual and the leftovers will get me through the weekend 🙂
