Recently a friend and I were talking about meals we make just for ourselves.  I was pretty excited about an eggplant dish I made when I was alone (no one else in my family is that into eggplant) She reminded me of this zucchini lasagna that was at my wedding shower.  Her husband doesn’t like zucchini so she never makes it.  I thought it would be perfect to go with this week’s zucchini and next time we get eggplant I will share my dish.

Are there any meals you’re making just for you?

The plums are here!

Total time: 50 minutes

2 tablespoons brown sugar
1½ tablespoons plus 1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
¼ plus ½ teaspoon cinnamon
¼ teaspoon ground ginger
2 heaping tablespoons finely chopped candied ginger
12 plums, cut in half and pitted
¾ cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
1 well beaten egg
½ cup unsalted butter, melted
Vanilla ice cream, optional.

1. Heat oven to 375 degrees, with rack in center.

2. Thoroughly mix brown sugar, 1½ tablespoons flour, ¼ teaspoon cinnamon, ground ginger and candied ginger. Add to plums and mix well. Arrange, skin side up, in ungreased, deep 9-inch pie plate.

3. Combine remaining sugar, baking powder, flour, cinnamon and salt. Mix well. Stir in egg. Then, using hands, mix thoroughly to produce little particles. Sprinkle over plums.

4. Drizzle butter evenly over crumb mixture and bake 30 to 35 minutes. Crumble is done when top is browned and plums yield easily when pricked with cake tester. Remove from oven and cool.

5. Serve warm or refrigerate for up to two days or freeze well covered. If reheating, bring to room temperature then warm at 300 degrees. If desired, serve with ice cream.

Yield: 6 to 8 servings.

Thanks for your responses to my question about beets.  Jen suggested I grate them and throw them into a salad which is what I did with some feta.  It was perfect.  Pavani also sent in a recipe.  It looks good.  Maybe next time.

Carottes et Betteraves Râpées

- 450 grams (1 pound) carrots

- 450 grams (1 pound) uncooked beetroots (get small, young ones, with smooth skin and firm flesh)

- 2 cloves garlic, pressed or finely minced, or 1 teaspoon garlic paste

- 1 tablespoon hazelnut oil (or walnut, or squash seed, or olive oil)?-

1 tablespoon honey vinegar (or cider or balsamic vinegar)

- 1 teaspoon strong Dijon mustard

- Tabasco sauce or poblano pepper flakes, to taste

- Smoked salt (or regular sea salt, or gomasio, or zaatar)

- Freshly ground black pepper

Optional add-ins: - Leafy fresh herbs (cilantro, chervil, flat-leaf parsley), chopped?- Toasted nuts (almonds, pine nuts, cashews, peanuts) or seeds (sesame, sunflower seeds), or better yet, my new friend the dukkah - Shaved parmesan or cubed feta cheese or crumbled blue cheese - Mâche or baby spinach leaves?- A grated apple or shallot?- Any dried herb, spice, or spice mix you think might work (and you know there’s only one way to find out)

Serves 4 to 6.

Trim, peel, and grate the carrots and beets. (If you own a food processor with a grater attachment, yay for you!) Place the rest of the main ingredients, from garlic to black pepper, in a large salad bowl, add the grated carrots and beets, and toss until well combined. Add any desired add-ins and toss again.

Taste, adjust the seasoning, and let stand for 30 minutes, if you can, before serving: the beets and carrots will render juices that will make the salad moister. If you don’t have that kind of time and the salad does not feel quite moist enough, add a dash of citrus juice, tomato juice, or any sort of juice that may currently reside in the refrigerator door.?–

I think I’ve mentioned before how much I love parsley.  I have had a busy couple of weeks, so I needed something fast, but still satisfying.  I was inspired by Ana Costa’s scape recipe from a couple of weeks ago and I threw my remaining three scapes ( free bin score!) in with all the parsley in the fruit processor. I added a bunch of walnuts and some australian parmesan and oil.  I put it on some whole wheat pasta with fresh tomatoes.  It was kind of the perfect summer meal.  I still have some pesto in the fridge for the next time I need something fast.

Let us know what you are doing with your share.

Earlier in the season, we got some radishes.  I’m just not that into radishes, but this year I was on a mission to use all that I got to the full potential.  I used them in salads - green, tuna and rice salads.  I kind of started to like them.  My friend in Vermont also got radishes from her CSA and told me about this radish top soup.   I was curious, but it was too late, no more radishes.  Until two weeks ago.  I got a small bunch of radishes, not enough to make the soup, but I didn’t use them and then last week in the free bin SCORE!  Radishes!  Loads of radishes!  I made the soup.  It was on one of the chilly fall nights last week.  I didn’t really know what to expect.  Well . . . it was perfect.  Cozy and comforting and a little bit like baby food.  And it was super simple.  I’m hoping for another score this week in the free bin.  I used the tops of four bunches.  Now I have plenty of radishes left over and a little bird told me I can roast them.  We’ll see.  I am going to make this soup again.  I’m hoping for another score this week in the free bin.

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1 large onion, diced
• 4 medium red potatoes, diced
• 4 cups raw radish greens
• 4 cups chicken broth
• 1/4 cup milk
• 5 radishes, sliced

Directions

1. Melt butter in a large saucepan over medium heat. Stir in onion, and saute until tender.
2. Mix in potatoes and radish greens, coating them with butter.
3. Pour in chicken broth.
4. Bring the mixture to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer 30 minutes.
5. Allow the soup mixture to cool slightly, and transfer to a blender. Blend until smooth.
6. Return the mixture to the saucepan. Mix in the milk.
7. Cook and stir until well blended. Serve with radish slices.

Tonight was one of those nights when I came home from work and realized we have another delivery tomorrow, and I still had a fridge full of stuff from last week. Eek! Plus I also had a leftover container of takeout rice. (Why, you ask, did I order Chinese takeout the other day when I had a ton of CSA veggies sitting around? Because I’m a bad person, and very lazy.) But anyway, never fear, because fried rice came to the rescue! Here’s my recipe:

Heat some peanut or canola oil in a wok or frying pan. Add a clove of chopped garlic, a little grated ginger, and a chopped scallion, and cook for a couple of minutes. Add the leftover rice, crumbing it with your fingers if it’s clumpy. Stir frequently for a few minutes, and then add some chopped veggies. I tossed in broccoli, eggplant, tatsoi, green bell pepper, and hot red pepper, but you can really improvise here. Cook until the veggies are tender but still crisp. I also like to add some egg in my fried rice, so I made a little hole in the middle of the rice/veggie mixture, cracked an egg in there, and scrambled it in. Then sprinkle on a splash of soy sauce, mix it all up a little more, and it’s done. You could also add tofu, chicken, or pork for protein instead of the egg. I should have taken a picture of this, but I was so hungry I just dug in and totally forgot. But trust me, it looked delicious (and tasted pretty good too).

In my three years as a member, I manage to always be otherwise engaged for any farm trips.  I’m always disappointed to miss it.  I’ve gone on the website a lot to show my kids pictures of the animals and I vow that I will make it up to see them in person.  But it never works out.  Until this year.  I was so happy that the barbeque was on a day I was free.  My husband was happy that the menu included pulled pork.  It’s one of our favorite things.

So even though a 5 hour roundtrip with two kids 3 and under can be dicey, we were excited.  We got up there faster than expected.  We immediately shed our sweatshirts, it was a beautiful day.  There was chickens running around everywhere along with a couple of strutting roosters. Read the rest of this entry »

Sara H. sent in this pic of a yummy looking salad she made this week with her CSA share. Just chop up some wax beans, cucumber, tomato, basil, and shallot, and toss in a bowl with olive oil, lemon juice, salt, and pepper. Simple and delicious!

Member Ainslie Binder made a halved version of this recipe and said it was—as Rachel Ray would say—”DELISH.” (Well, actually, Ainslie said it was “delicious,” but I could not resist!)

Fresh Sour Cherry Cobbler

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Where I used to live, summer was all about the zucchini. Everyone seemed to grow them and there would be so many that you couldn’t unload them on your colleague or neighbor. If you left your car door unlocked (this was a rural area, so no one really locked their cars), you might end up with a couple in your front seats. Actually, I think this is the only time people locked their car doors. We also used to carve our names in them as they grew and if they got too big, they were kind of tasteless so we’d use them for target practice. Read the rest of this entry »