Cassie’s Ruminations

Roasted Veggies Galore and Chicken Piccata

Tonight’s dinner was mostly a selection of great roasted veggies from my CSA box – beets, cauliflower, broccoli, patty pan squash, and one Italian squash that I missed throwing into the chicken stew. I also made a little pan of chicken piccata, skipping the flouring step, and just putting in a little flour to make a roux after browning the chicken simply seasoned with salt and pepper. For the veggies, I just chunked them up into large bite sized pieces, the beets I put in their own little foil packet, and the rest I spread out in a single layer on a large rimmed baking sheet, drizzled with olive oil, seasoned lightly with salt and pepper, and roasted at 400 degrees F for about 1 hour. We could have been perfectly happy with just the veggies, actually, and in the coming weeks, I’m sure we’ll have some simple summer veggie meals.

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Herb Rubbed Pork Ribs with Cherry Zinfandel Barbecue Sauce

Tonight’s dinner came from the pages of Sunset. I used frozen cherries in the sauce and omitted the mustard, and cut both recipes by about 1/3 to go with the one rack of ribs that I had. I thought this was just okay, kinda greasy, and Shaun didn’t like it at all. Dinner fail. Oh well. The reviews are good, so if this sounds up your alley, give it a go! The salad with fresh red leaf lettuce from our CSA box was nice and refreshing.

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Italian Chicken and Vegetable Stew

This incredibly tasty meal was a result of me looking into the fridge, grabbing a bunch of things, thinking vaguely about bruschetta chicken and my Italian vegetable saute and the fact that bacon improves just about everything, and ended up with this great stew-like concoction.

Italian Chicken and Vegetable Stew
Serves 2 generously

2 thick slices of bacon, chopped
1/2 tbsp olive oil
4 skinless boneless chicken thighs, about 1 lb
8 oz crimini mushrooms, sliced
1 large clove garlic, pressed
3 medium Italian summer squash (similar to zucchini, but lighter and stripey), sliced into 1/4 inch thick rounds
1 15-oz can fire roasted tomatoes
1 15-oz can great northern or cannellini beans, drained
3 stems fresh oregano
1 stem fresh basil
kosher salt and black pepper

Crisp up the bacon in a large skillet over medium heat. When it’s nice and brown, remove it from the skillet, leaving as much of the rendered fat as possible. Add the olive oil and heat for 30 seconds. Add the chicken thighs, season with salt and pepper, and brown well on both sides, 2-3 minutes per side. Scoot the chicken to the sides of the pan and add the garlic. Cook for 30 seconds or until fragrant. Add the mushrooms and season lightly with salt and pepper. Add the summer squash, tomatoes, and beans, and season again lightly with salt and pepper. Cover the skillet and steam the squash for about 10 minutes, or until tender and just starting to turn a bit translucent. Remove the pan from the heat. Tear the leaves from the oregano and basil in small pieces and stir into the mix. Serve warm.

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Breakfast Skillet

This was a great easy meal! I used eggs and potatoes from my CSA boxes with some thinly sliced pork chops to make a balanced meal with the side of green salad we had.

Breakfast Skillet
Serves 4

1 lb meat of your choice, cut into small bite sized pieces (I used thinly sliced pork chops this time)
2 large yellow potatoes, about 1.5 lbs, cut into small bite sized chunks
6 large eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp butter, divided
kosher salt and black pepper

Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium high heat. Add the pork pieces, season with salt and pepper, and brown well on all sides. Remove the pork to a bowl. Add 1 tbsp butter and melt. When it foams, add the potatoes, season with salt and pepper, and brown on all sides. Add 1/2 cup of water to the skillet and cover. Steam the potatoes for 5-7 minutes or until fork tender. Remove the potatoes to a bowl and let any remaining water boil off. Lower the heat to medium low. Melt the final tbsp of butter in the skillet and when it foams add the eggs and season with salt and pepper. Stir gently until the eggs are cooked through. Add the pork and potatoes back to the skillet and stir to combine. Serve warm.

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Some Weekend Baking

I did some random baking this weekend. First, a (very) “rustic” (aka, ugly) raspberry lime crostata thingy. I got a flat of raspberries that turned out to be not so great, so I stirred in about 1/4 cup of flour, 1/4 cup of sugar, and the juice of two key limes and placed the mixture in the center of a store bought pie crust that I folded up around and baked at 425 degrees F for 15 minutes, then at 375 degrees F for another 40 minutes. The filling escaped some, and the pie treatment couldn’t make the berries good, but it was an improvement.

Second, I made a loaf of beer bread with my hard red wheat flour from my CSA and some local Scuttlebutt beer. It turned out quite nicely.

  

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CSA Box for Week 5

This week’s CSA Box has:

Oregano
Lettuce-Baby Heads
Squash-Farmers Choice (pattypan this time)
Squash-Farmers Choice (Italian this time)
Potatoes-Gold
Cauliflower
Broccoli
Beets-Red Ace

Fruit boxes start up next week, and tomatoes should be coming in soon. Yay!

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Chicken and Asparagus in White Wine Sauce

This recipe comes from Cooking Light. We thought this was only okay. The sauce was tasty, but too thin to stick to the chicken, even though I made a bit of a roux before adding the garlic and liquid to the pan to help with that. The chicken was kinda boring without sauce sticking to it, and the parsley did not go well at all with the asparagus either. We might use this as a launching point for something else, but we won’t be trying this as is again.

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Braised Kale and Bacon

This recipe is inspired by many similar ones out there. Many of them include onion, which I didn’t bother with. I added more garlic instead 😀 Be sure you use low sodium chicken broth. I didn’t, and it was rather salty. Other than that, it was a very good side! I served this with some mini meatloaves – I used my usual recipe but formed 4 single serving loaves and baked at 400 degrees F for about 30 minutes.

Braised Kale and Bacon
Serves 4

4 slices bacon, roughly chopped
4 cloves garlic, pressed
1 large bunch kale, washed, stems removed, and leaves torn into large pieces
1 cup low sodium chicken broth
kosher salt and black pepper

Cook the bacon in a large skillet over medium heat until crisp. Add the garlic and cook for about 30 seconds or until golden and fragrant. Add the kale and toss to combine. Add the chicken broth and cover for 5 minutes to wilt down the greens. Uncover, season lightly with salt and pepper, and cook for another 1-2 minutes uncovered to boil away most of the chicken broth. Serve warm.

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Pan Seared Flank Steak, Sauteed Zucchini, and Roasted Mushrooms

An easy dinner for a Monday evening – flank steak seasoned generously with Montreal steak seasoning, seared on both sides in a cast iron skillet over medium high heat then moved to a 425 degree oven to finish cooking; a pound of little button mushrooms washed, seasoned with garlic powder, salt and pepper, and roasted in that same oven for about 40 minutes; and two medium large zucchini sliced into thin rounds and sauteed in a little olive oil with salt and pepper.

Posted in Beef, Food, Vegetables | No Comments »

Rainer Cherries

We’re into full on cherry season here, and Shaun and I have been enjoying these gorgeous Rainer cherries just on their own for dessert!

Posted in Food, Fruit | 1 Comment »