Stone Soup Farm CSA Week Fourteen (and squash ravioli)

This week's share is sort of cracking me up: watermelon and tomatoes = summer. Squash and cabbage = winter. It pretty much defines the in-between-season we're in at the moment. Tuesday it was 90 degrees. Yesterday it was barely 70. Either way, we're still eating well. Here's what we've got this week: another watermelon (ick), two acorn squash, two pounds of green zebra tomatoes (mature tomatoes that happen to be green, not green tomatoes), a pound and a half of beets, half a pound of edamame, a napa cabbage, a bunch of basil, and half a pound of mixed salad greens. My food processor died last week, mid-pesto, so I'm not sure what to do with the basil now. I've been making small batches and sticking them in the freezer, but I'll have to come up with another way to preserve this bunch. Oh and hey, did you know that you can keep basil fresh by cutting the bottom of the stems and sticking it in a glass of water just like you would for cut flowers? It does start to wilt after a few days, but it's better than the fridge!



My Aunt Helen (hi Aunt Helen!) gave us the pasta roller attachment for the Kitchenaid as a bridal shower gift a few weeks ago, and we broke it in this week when we used the acorn squash as ravioli filling. I don't say this lightly, guys, but it is life changing. Adam loves fresh pasta, and it's not that hard to make the dough: for every 100 grams of flour, one egg. Add a bit of salt, knead until smooth, rest, roll, cook. The only problem was that with our hand-cranked (read: Adam-cranked) pasta machine, it took us 45 minutes to roll out enough pasta for two people. Rolling out the dough with the Kitchenaid took ten minutes. Ten! I foresee lots of fresh pasta this winter.



No actual recipe today, because I wasn't completely happy with way the filling turned out. I mixed the roasted acorn squash with some salt and a few plops of ricotta cheese, then we served the ravioli with a sage brown butter. It was tasty, but not as good as it could have been. Acorn squash was good (and our CSA farmer advised that we use the acorn squash sooner than later, it won't keep as well as last week's buttercup), but butternut would have been better since it has a smoother texture when cooked.

Peach Crumb Cake

Peaches, you are delicious. The only problem I have with you, peaches, is that people always want to talk about you the same way: as the summer fruit, eaten standing over the sink, juice dripping down arms, sticky faces. Which of course, peaches, is the best way to eat the first of you, early in August at the beginning of your harvest. But what about later?



What about in early September, when my sticky-face, juicy-arm peach gorge is starting to feel a bit cliché? Well, peaches, that's when I start to think about how delicious you can be when cooked. Sometimes I grill you and plop a bit of ice cream down at your side. Simmered down into jam or tucked into a cake, your sweet tartness deepens and cools, rather like the turning season, and I realize yet again that you can be a fall fruit, too.  



Peach Crumb Cake
Makes nine 2 1/2 inch square pieces
From Gourmet, August 1993


I found the crumb topping on this cake to be very thick. If you wanted to, you could cut it down to 3/4 the amounts listed and I bet you'd still get the same effect. This cake kept, covered, for a few days at room temperature, though the crumb topping is the crunchiest on the first day. I also know from experience that it is excellent for breakfast, so just take that into consideration when planning your next brunch, mmkay? 

First, make the topping:

1 cup AP flour
1/2 cup (packed) brown sugar
6 tablespoons unsalted butter (3/4 stick)
3/4 teaspoon cinnamon

Combine all ingredients and mash with a fork until well combined and crumbly. Set aside.

Then, make the cake:

1 stick softened unsalted butter
2/3 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 cup AP flour plus a couple of tablespoons for flouring the pan
3/4 teaspoon double acting baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3-4 large peaches (about a pound and a half) peeled, pitted, and thinly sliced.

Preheat the oven to 350F. Butter an 8x8 inch cake pan, then add a couple tablespoons of flour and shake and tap it all around so the pan has a layer of flour clinging to the butter.

In a mixer or by hand, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, then add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each egg. Sift (or whisk) together the flour, baking powder and salt, and add them to the wet ingredients, beat just until combined. Spread the batter evenly in the pan.

Layer the sliced peaches evenly across the surface of the batter, then top with the crumb topping. Bake for 30 minutes, then turn the cake 180 degrees for even baking and bake another 20-30 minutes or until a tester comes out clean. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Stone Soup Farm CSA: Week Thirteen (and mystery squash)

Happy long weekend, my friends! What are you going to do with your three days?

Here's what we're working with this week: basil, lettuce, cucumbers, tomatoes, potatoes, a small watermelon (shudder), and a mystery squash. Those tomatoes are in a jar now, in salsa. I also made some pesto with the basil and stuck it in the freezer. We'll eat the lettuce in salad or on sandwiches, cucumbers can go in a salad, too. The watermelon will sit in the fridge until Adam remembers it because I sure as heck am not going to eat something that tastes like compressed spiderwebs in syrup. Heck, no.

The only thing I can't figure out is what type of squash this is and what I should do with it. Suggestions anybody?

I've spent my week of unemployment so far canning a lot of things: jam, salsa, plain old tomatoes. My kitchen floor looks disgusting, just like last year.

Chili Garlic Hot Sauce

We go through hot sauce in this house like nobody's business. Adam is a spice fiend, and it's rubbed off on me to the point that I now have preferences from dish to dish. I'll eat a fried egg with a healthy dose of Frank's, a burrito with a splash of Tabasco, or a side of Adam's breakfast potatoes with a sprinkle of Cholula. Speaking of which, somebody remind me to tell you about Adam's breakfast potatoes at some point, because they are gooood.



A couple of Saturdays ago while Adam made potatoes to go with our eggs, I browsed my google reader and came across Melissa Clark's Good Appetite column on homemade hot sauces. I loved the idea of a chili garlic sauce sweetened with sweet peppers instead of sugar, and we had a heap of sweet red peppers coming ripe in the garden. Plus, habaneros are crazy cheap, like a quarter a piece, so this huge jar of sriracha-like sauce cost us a buck plus pantry ingredients. And hey, it was fun!



Chili Garlic Hot Sauce
adapted from Melissa Clark in the New York Times


I know everyone is always saying you should wear plastic gloves when chopping hot peppers. For milder chiles like jalapenos, I don't usually do so (oooh, living on the edge!). In fact, I don't even have plastic gloves. But when chopping four habaneros, I thought it was good advice, and I improvised by sticking sandwich baggies on my hands before I got started. A little goofy looking, but it worked. Oh, and try not to breath in chili-vinegar fumes, that stuff will sting your sinuses like no other.

4 hot chili peppers, preferably habanero
3/4 pound sweet red peppers (2-3 red bell peppers or similar)
3 huge or five regular garlic cloves
3/4 cup white vinegar
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt


Roughly chop the chilis (wear gloves or baggies, please!), sweet peppers and garlic. Combine in a medium pot with the vinegar and salt, and bring to a simmer over medium heat. Simmer for about 10 minutes or until peppers are tender. Transfer carefully to a blender, or use an immersion blender, and blend the sauce until you have a mostly smooth puree. Pour into a jar (I got a little more than a pint) and stick it in the fridge. 


The original recipe says to wait three days before eating, but we ate some the night I made it and loved it.


Makes about 2 cups (one pint, though I got a tiny bit more than that), and should keep in the fridge for at least a month.



Plus, look how awesome my timing is: September first is sweet and hot peppers day and the first week of Fall Fest 2010! Did you play this week?

Sage Ice Cream

People, it is hot. I know it's not considered good form to mention the weather in every blog post ever, but if the weather doesn't dictate what I want to eat, then I don't know what does. Maybe if I call it "micro-seasonal eating" or something?

Anyway, last week we had a couple days of rain which was oddly delightful after the very warm, blue skies, humid breeze end of July. The garden loved the water: the monster zucchini is climbing out of the pot, our cherry tomatoes have put forth a second round crop, the lemon verbena is up to my waist, and the rest of the herbs are very, very happy.



Back in June, still giddy from the first real month of garden fresh herbs, Adam asked me how I planned to use the bounty we had planted. Well, obviously basil gets whizzed into pesto, and Kalyn taught me to freeze thyme and rosemary. I used the lemon verbena in blueberry jam that we'll eat all year, and the bay can winter over on the enclosed front porch, but what about the sage? It freezes ok, and I'll probably freeze whatever's left toward the end of the season, but I had a hunch that sage would make a really interesting ice cream. When I searched for a recipe, the one that kept popping up was this one from a 2001 issue of Gourmet (moment of silence). However. Nine egg yolks? Psssh. Clearly not necessary. And I don't want to overload my ice cream maker, I know it can handle about 3 cups of liquid in the base, but not much more. So I tweaked and I fiddled and I came up with the recipe below. It went great with rhubarb pie (sans strawberry) back in June, and it was an excellent dessert accompaniment to the peaches we threw on the still-hot grill after we ate kabobs for dinner.



Sage Ice Cream
adapted from Gourmet, October 2001
Makes about a quart

You can use just about any combination of dairy you like, as long as you get three cups total. The first time I made this I used two cups of heavy cream and a cup of whole milk. This time I used one and a half cups of each. You could get away with two cups of cream and a cup of 1% or 2% if you want, but don't wuss out and use skim milk, ok? Or if you do, don't blame me when your dessert is icy and wan. Fat is flavor, friends.

2 cups heavy cream
1 cup whole milk

1/3 - 1/2 cup fresh sage leaves, roughly chopped

3 strips lemon zest, 2 inches long
6 egg yolks
scant 3/4 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt

Heat the cream, milk, sage and zest in a medium sauce pot just until it boils. Turn off the heat and allow to steep for half an hour.

Whisk together the egg yolks, sugar and salt. Temper the eggs: slowly add a cup of the hot cream mixture to the eggs so they warm slowly and do not curdle, then add the egg mixture back to the pot of cream, whisking constantly. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until it coats the back of a spoon. (By which I mean, if you run your finger over the back of the spoon, the trail it creates stays put and is not immediately overrun with cream again).

Strain the custard through a sieve into a bowl, then press a layer of plastic wrap right onto the surface and chill for at least three hours or overnight. Churn in an ice cream machine, then freeze in an airtight container until ready to use.

Stone Soup Farm CSA: Week Twelve

Whew, you guys, what a week! I know I'm several days late with the CSA post but it was my last week at work so I was there rather late most evenings. I'm all done now, and getting ready for my next adventure. Thank you all so, so much for your support and encouragement! My week off starts with Adam's (30th!) birthday party tomorrow, so I've spent most of today cooking and shopping to prepare for it; I've got a brisket in the oven and another one in the slow cooker. I know this is a crazy amount of meat, but Adam's a popular dude and dangit, I'm going to want leftovers, so I'm cooking a lot of meat. In other news, my house currently smells AWESOME.

This week's veggies are: tomatoes, corn, cucumbers, pattypan squash, basil, lettuce, swiss chard, onions, garlic, edamame and some carrots that I think sat in the ground a bit too long because they were really quite woody, unfortunately.

I made classic basil pesto with, um, the basil and put it on a pizza with sliced tomato.



Alright, I know, a little slapdash and rushed, but fear not! I'll be back soon with hot sauce, breakfast pastries, ice cream, and cake! Have a great weekend, everyone!

PS: Michael Ruhlman is doing a Week Twelve Roundup over on his blog - interesting stuff!

I've been holding back.

Dear friends,

I've been lying to you. Not an outright lie (don't worry, my name really is Bruno), but a sin of omission, as the expression goes. I was discussing it with a friend at lunch on Friday and I confessed, "Well, I haven't told the internet yet." She pointed out that I was being very silly and weird (I believe she called me a freakshow, but in a totally loving way), and I agreed. So here it goes, internet:

I quit my job; my last day is this Thursday. I start the professional chef's program at the Cambridge School of Culinary Arts in September.

I got fitted for my uniform and picked up my knife roll and supplies on Wednesday and I've got a week off in between work and school. I'm still not entirely sure what I'll be doing that week, but I figured it's going to be a while before I can just take a week off. School is only 3 days a week, so I'll be looking for a part time job in the field. As for the plan post-education, well, one of the biggest reasons for going to school is to narrow down the options. I hadn't told you yet because I feel like I'm supposed to have a firmer plan.

So there you go, internet, that's my news. Now who wants a grilled cheese?

Grilled Cheese with Tomato and Pesto
You probably don't need a recipe for grilled cheese, but I'm giving you one anyway. It's a great way to use that parsley pesto. 

two pieces of whole grain bread
cheddar cheese, sliced
two fat slices of tomato
a blob of parsley pesto (or basil pesto)
butter

Butter one side each of two pieces of bread. Heat a skillet over medium heat, and put one piece of bread in the skillet, butter side down. Lay the cheese slices on the bread, then put the tomato slices on the cheese. Spread the pesto on the unbuttered side of the other piece of bread, then put that on top, pesto side on the tomatoes. As the cheese melts, carefully turn the sandwich over, toasting both sides equally. When the cheese is melted and the tomato is heated through, your sandwich is done.