Hints and spring recipes 5/2/10

Storing your CSA box vegetables

I like to unpack my CSA box and spread everything out.  Then I get out my stack of re-use plastic bags and put out an appropriately sized bag for each vegetable.  I often don't use everything within a week, so I label every bag with the contents and date.  The best way to do this is to use a roll of plain masking tape and a Sharpie - you can make a whole lot of labels at once, then cut each off with scissors and stick a corner of it on your counter.  Now pick up a vegetable, remove all rubber bands and twist-ties - this is important - put the veggie in it's big and stick the label at the edge of the open end.  When all the veggies are bagged, put them in your refrigerator.  I keep an ongoing list as I find it saves me time, but I'm anal!

When you empty a bag that is re-useable, don't bother removing the label, just stick the next one on top of it.

Green onions or green garlic?

It's easy to tell the difference: green garlic has flat, strappy leaves; green onions have hollow, tubular leaves.  Knowing this helps in the veggie garden also, but here note that shallots also have tubular leaves but multiple stems, whereas garlic and onions have a single, or occasionally, double stem.

Asparagus

To maximize the edible stem portion, grasp the cut end of a stem in one hand as far down as possible with your thumb against the stalk; grasp it just higher up with your other hand so that your thumbs almost touch.  Now try to bend the stalk, if it doesn't snap, move your hands up slightly, repeating until the stalk snaps.  This can be down much more quickly than it sounds, taking seconds to process a whole bunch.

I'm lazy, so I often microwave asparagus in a glass dish just large enough to hold it.  Put the asparagus into the dish.  Add water and soak a few minutes to wash.  Pour out the water, cover with a plate or waxed paper and zap  on high for about 3 minutes for a bunch; test it and zap another minute if you like.  Drain when done to your preference.

Farm eggs

A dozen farm egg carton often contains eggs of various sizes. But the standard for a recipe is a 'large' egg.  In something like a cake recipe, this is important, so, what do you do? Weigh the eggs in their shell!  A 'large' egg weighs 2 ounces, more or less.  If you need 4 large eggs just go for 8 ounces total - you can be 1/4 once up or down, but usually you can select eggs to get it right on.

Swiss Chard

The stems are delicious and I always use them.  They can be saved in a bag for a week or so if you don't want to cook them with the leaves.  To stem, grab the stem in one hand, then use your other hand to grab the leaf with your thumb and 1st finger where it joins the stem, roughly folding the leaf in two along the stem.  Now pull hard along the stem and the leaf should come off.  Experiment a bit if it doesn't work as well as you would like; some kinds of chard work better with the underside of the leaf up, some with the up side up.

Here is a recipe that has become my favorite appetizer/potluck dish.  The original is from SeriousEats.com (a great recipe site), who got it from Lidia Bastianich, but I've changed it some.

Leafy Green Crostata

Dough:

2 2/3 cups flour

2/3 cup olive oil

1 1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup water

Filling:

1 large or 2 small bunches greens, or a large bag of braising mix, or a combination

3 tablespoons olive oil

1 - 2 cups chopped green onions, or combination green onions and green garlic

salt and pepper to taste

2 tablespoons chopped fresh marjoram or thyme or fennel leaves, or 1 teaspoon dried

3 eggs

2 cups ricotta, chopped mozerella, brie, teleme, jack, etc or a mixture of whatever you have

1 packed cup grated parmigiano

1/2 cup heavy cream, sour cream, or thick yogurt

An approx. 18" x 20" low sided baking pan

Parchment paper or non-stick sheet

Dough: mix all ingredients to a smooth dough.  Cover and let rest for at least 30 minutes.

Filling: Wash and drain greens.  Stem larger leaves.  If using chard, slice stems thinly (1/4" is fine).  Roll handfuls of leaves into a manageable bunch, them slice thinly.

Heat olive oil on medium heat, add leeks, onions, and chard stems, if using.  Saute until softened, then add greens, salt, pepper, herbs.  Simmer at low temperature, adding a little water as needed, for about 20 minutes, at which point the moisture should have evaporated.  Set aside to cool.

Preheat the oven to 375 deg.

Beat together the eggs, cheeses, cream, and more salt and pepper to taste.  Mix well, then add the vegetables.

Now you need to roll out the dough into a thin rectangle about 2" larger on all sides that your pan.  You can do this on a floured counter then move it to the buttered pan, but it is easier to cut a piece of parchment paper to approximately the right size (i.e. 2" larger than the pan on all sides - don't worry if it's not wide enough and you have to roll beyond the edge a bit, just flour under it).  The dough rolls out pretty easily, and a few small tears or jagged edges don't matter, just try to get it fairly even.  Pick it up, fit it into the pan, then scrape in the vegetable mixture and spread it out.  Fold the edges down over the filling, pleating the corners, to form a frame.

If you wish, brush the edges with olive oil.

Bake for about 45 minutes.  cool to warm, cut into squares and serve.