weekly delivery 12/22

Early Xmas present! Our box came a day early this week!

18 Satsuma Mandarin oranges

4 Navel oranges

2 yellow onions

2 Napa cabbages

4 Empire apples

1 giant leek

2 bok choy

1 head green leaf lettuce

1 bunch collard greens

1 bunch kale

1 bunch broccoli

rice, squash, greens and leek bake. hello winter in CA.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups white rice

1 bunch kale, stems removed

4 slices prosciutto

1/2 butternut squash, peeled and thinly sliced

1 leek, thinly sliced

1/2 cup panko bread crumbs

2/3 lb parrano cheese, shredded and divided equally

2 cups milk

3 eggs

1 1/4 cups vegetable stock

2 Tbsp butter

2 Tbsp flour

1 1/2 tsp dried thyme

dash of nutmeg

salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 350. Layer the bottom of a large casserole dish with uncooked white rice. Next spread the kale leaves over the rice to cover completely. Then top with slices of prosciutto. Next up is the butternut squash, then pour the beschemel over the whole thing. OMG! We forgot the sauce! Make a light roux by melting 2 Tbsp butter in a small sauce pan. Stir in 2 Tbsp flour and whisk to incorporate. Whisk in the milk and veggie broth. Temper in the eggs, by beating them in a small bowl and pouring a small amount of the hot milk into that small bowl. This will ensure that the eggs do not scramble. Add the tempered eggs to the sauce. Right before the sauce comes to a boil, whisk in 1/2 of the Parrano cheese. Dump the sauce over the casserole. Next toast the breadcrumbs and leeks together for a few minutes. Layer the leek and breadcrumb mixture on top of the casserole then cover with the remaining cheese. Cover with foil and bake for 35 minutes, then remove the foil and bake for another 10 minutes. Wait 5 minutes before you slice into it!

P.S. CSA Delivery blog does not support the ehm... use of a sort-of-illegal-but-pretty-much-decriminalized-in-CA drug. But if we did, then we would eat this right out the dish with two forks and not call for shitty pizza or take out noodles. Well, we might get noodles AND eat this dish together. BLAM.

The rice in this dish gets all milky and cheesy. The layers stay intact. OMG, I wish I could eat this year round and still be sustainable. Actually, this would probably work with lots of different veggies. If you are looking to do it vegan: Sub- Earth Balance, Lightlife Tempeh Bacon, and unsweetened soy milk, egg replacer, or corn starch. The cheese? Well thats up to you and your proximity to "decent" vegan cheese.

orange glazed tofu, dirty hoe

We seriously had like 4 weeks worth of oranges and clementines piled up. AFTER I brought a whole bag into work to share w/co-workers. So I juiced em all. 1.5 quarts of orange juice. ridiculous.

Hoegaarden with a shot of orange juice. Popularized by Azure in Philly (RIP).

Orange Glazed Tofu

Ingredients:

1 lb. extra firm tofu, cut into 1" chunks

5 heads baby bok choy, quartered

1/2 cup orange juice

1/4 cup soy sauce

2 Tbsp. sriracha sauce

2 Tbsp. canola oil

1 Tbsp. grated ginger

1 Tbsp. corn starch

1 Tbsp. sesame seeds, for garnish

In a large non-stick pan or wok set over high heat, saute' the tofu in the canola oil until all sides are browned, about 10 minutes. Mix OJ, soy sauce, sriracha, and corn starch in a bowl and whisk until corn starch is thoroughly incorporated. Add ginger and bok choy to the pan and toss for one minute. Toss in the sauce and stir to cover the tofu and the bok choy. You want to bring the sauce to a boil while constantly stirring (takes about 3 minutes) and let it remain at this temperature for an additional minute, still stirring. The result should be a sweet and spicy sauce that is glazed over all of the ingredients in the pan. Serve over rice, and garnish with sesame seeds.

balsamic kale, brie and crispy prosciutto sandwiches

We originally planned on making this with broccoli rabe, but our broccoli rabe went bad before we got around to it. Luckily our kale was much heartier!

Ingredients:

1 fresh baguette

1 bunch kale, stems removed, leaves roughly torn

1/4 lb of prosciutto thinly sliced

1/2 brie thinly sliced

3 Tbsp olive oil, divided

3 Tbsp balsamic vinegar

1 red onion, thinly sliced

2 cloves garlic, thinly sliced

salt and pepper to taste

Cut kale into bite sized pieces. Halve baguette. Apply brie to one side of the baguette. Apply prosciutto to the other half of the baguette. Toast the open face sandwiches in the oven for 5 minutes at 350 degrees until the cheese is melty. Sautee the kale with onions, garlic, olive oil, and balsamic vinegar for 4-8 minutes until softened.

green mash

As a kid I hated greens. OK, to tell the truth, I had no idea what they were. I only experienced the joy of fresh produce when I was 18 and went vegan. Before that it was all boiled frozen veggies, or canned varieties. I didn't even try to eat leafies until I was at least 22. But now I can't get enough of them, and wish someone would incorporate them into dishes I already love. Oh wait! We are just about to do that!

Ingredients:

2 leeks, thinly sliced

5 lbs potatoes, 1" chunks

1 bunch chard, stems removed and leaves roughly ripped

1 bunch kale, stems removed and leaves roughly ripped

3 Tbsp butter

3 Tbsp olive oil

salt and pepper to taste

Boil potatoes until fork tender. Caramelize leeks in a separate pan with 1 Tbsp olive oil. Blanch chard and kale in boiling water for one minute. Mash everything together. Eat mashed potatoes every day for 10 days straight and then never want to eat them again! Weeeee! Top with your favorite gravy, and get down!

weekly delivery 12/02

Our CSA share this week:

1 bunch kale

4 navel oranges

6 Satsuma mandarin oranges

1 head savoy cabbage

2 heads romaine lettuce

2 leeks

3 yellow onions

3 heads bok choy

1 head radicchio

1 bulb fennel

5 Rome beauty Apples

5 Fuyu persimmons

double squash coconut curry

We love squash. Sure it's a pain in the ass to peel and clean, but it just tastes so good, and is so versatile. It's a good thing, because we keep getting them in the box. Also, they do last a while, so you can kind of pile them up for a few weeks until you figure out what to do with them. This week we needed to make some recipes that were easy, and either fast to cook, or cooked while we were gone (such busy lives we lead...). So we decided to use our slow cooker to make some awesome squash curry. This recipe would work with any kind of squash or pumpkin. Easy, cheap, and totally made itself while we were at work. All it took was 15 minutes of prep.

Ingredients:

2 approximately two lb kombucha squash

1 approximately two lb butternut squash

2 fifteen oz cans of coconut milk (We used 365 Organic Light- less fat)

1 onion, roughly sliced

4 cloves garlic, roughly chopped

2 cups veggie stock

3 Tbsp curry powder, drunkenly bartered from our neighbor Jennifer for a slice of pumpkin pie

salt and pepper to taste

Peel and seed the squash. Yeah, I know it sucks; but just do it. Have a cocktail and listen to Moving Mountains, it helped me. Cut it into one inch chunks. Not exact, this isn't the French Laundry, and it's going to cook for a really long time. Chop the onions and garlic. OK, you're done. No really. Toss liquid ingredients into your slow cooker pot and stir together. Add 1/2 tsp each of salt and pepper. Dump in all the veggies. Pop it in the fridge and get on with your evening.

In the morning, put it into the slow cooker and set it to low for 8 hours. When you get home from a hard day at work, deliciousness awaits!

You can strain off the liquid (like we did for the above photo), and serve it over rice. Then use the remaining liquid to make an awesome soup by adding some lentils or pasta! Like so:

thanksgiving redux

Every time I update the blog, Kenny's facebook and twitter automatically update with the name of the post, a link and the first couple words of the post, up to the character limit. Sometimes words get cut off. Sometimes it's unintentionally hilarious:

Ha! Anyways... I had leftover roasted butt salad from thanksgiving and I decided I should make something else with it before the arugula got wilty and gross. I had not tossed the salad w/the orange vinaigrette so I had a clean slate to come up with something totally different. I separated out all the pomegranate seeds and tossed the arugula, walnuts and butternut squash in a simple cream sauce with some pasta shells. The sauce was about 1 cup soy milk, 1/4 cup of parmesan, 1/4 cup of nutritional yeast and 2 Tbsp soy yogurt. Wilt the leftovers with some olive oil and then toss everything together.

thanksgiving

Here are the recipes I made for our annual Thanksgiving potluck this year:

A salad of roasted butternut squash, walnuts, pomegranate seeds and arugula with orange vinaigrette from Bon Appetit. Here's a helpful step-by-step guide on How to de-seed a pomegranate, with photos.

No-cream creamed spinach from the White House via the NY Times.

some screwed up combination of these two carrot soup recipes: Carrot soup from 101 Cookbooks, and Carrot and red lentil soup from What For Lunch, Honey? (Btw, just found that blog and it's beautiful!). It's my family's tradition to serve a first course of soup at Thanksgiving. So for the last three years that I've been out in SF, I've made soup to bring to our annual potluck. And every year I manage to screw up the soup and need to scramble to save it. This year involved too much salt in the broth and a last minute run to the corner store for a bottle of Odwalla pressed carrot juice and a bag of baby carrots. Next year... I might just skip the soup.

All of these recipes are of course seasonal, using ingredients from the CSA box and they all happen to be vegan and (I believe) gluten-free, though I'm not super familiar with what's allow or not allowed in the gluten-free diet so I could be wrong on that one.

No photos because I suck. Seriously, I don't even have an excuse for our lack of blogging lately- we just really suck.

So, how was your Thanksgiving? What did you make? Any awesome seasonal recipes we should check out?

epic dinner

Fenneled Colcannon

Ingredients:
2 1/2 pounds of potatoes, cut into 1 inch chunks
1/2 head of napa cabbage, thinly sliced
1 bulb of fennel, thinly sliced
1 cup of unsweetened soy milk (or milk)
2 Tbsp of Earth Balance (or butter)
salt and pepper to taste

Bring a pot of salted water to a boil. Add potatoes and cook until fork tender, about 12 minutes. Remove potatoes and add the cabbage and fennel to the pot, and cook until soft, 3-4 minutes. Combine all ingredients in a large bowl and mash the crap outta them!

Traditional Pot Roast

Ingredients:
1 piece of beef (We used a 1 1/2 pound piece of london broil. Light on the fat, and quick cooking.)
1 large shallot, thinly sliced
1/2 pound of baby carrots
2 ribs of celery, roughly chopped
1 cup of red wine
2 cups stock
2 Tbsp double concentrate tomato paste
3 Tbsp canola oil
salt and pepper to taste

For gravy:
3 Tbsp Earth Balance
3 Tbsp all purpose flour

If you have a dutch oven, you should use it for this recipe. If you don't, just follow along. In a large pan, heat the canola oil on medium high heat. Season both sides of the meat with salt and pepper, and sear all sides in the hot pan, about 2 minutes a side. Yes, all sides, use some tongs and hold the meat so you can get the ends and everything- we aren't trying to let ANY juices out! When the meat is seared, set it aside in a pyrex baking dish. Add the shallots, celery, carrots, and tomato paste to the pan and cook until translucent, about 5-7 minutes. De-glaze the pan with the wine (afraid of losing eyebrows and armhair? Pro-tip- turn off the fire underneath the pan.) and using a wooden spoon, make sure you get all the meaty bits from the bottom of the pan to dissolve into the wine by scraping them up. Allow this liquid to reduce by half and then add your stock. Pour all of this over the meat, cover, and place into a preheated 350 degree oven until it reaches 165 degrees, about 1 hour.

After the tasty roast is ready, remove the meat and veggies from the remaining sauce and allow to rest on a plate for 8-10 minutes before cutting against the grain and serving. Meanwhile, melt the Earth Balance in a pan and use it and the flour to make a roux. Once the roux is complete and smells like buttered toast, add the remaining cooking liquid into the pan. Make sure to stir or whisk thoroughly so the roux dissolves completely in the liquid (no lumps here Ma!), and allow to come to a boil. Continue stirring until it does so, it shouldn't take long, the liquid is already piping hot. Allow to boil for 1-2 minutes, until gravy thickens up and coats the back of a spoon.

Sourdough Bacon Shallot and Sage Stuffing

Ingredients:
4 cups of fresh sourdough bread, cut into 1 inch cubes
3 slices of bacon, cut into 1 inch pieces
2 ribs of celery, cut in 1/4 inch pieces
1 shallot, thinly sliced
2 cups stock
4 dried sage leaves, finely chopped (or 2 tsp. dried sage)
1/2 tsp dried thyme
salt and pepper to taste

In a large pot on medium heat, add bacon and saute until crispy and delicious, about 10 minutes. Remove cooked bacon leaving oil in pot. (I removed about 1 Tbsp of the leftover bacon grease, I know- sacrilege, but I didn't want it to be too bacon-y.) Add celery, and shallots and cook until shallots are translucent, about 6-7 minutes. Toss in your herbs, and then the bread. Slowly add stock 1/4 cup at a time while stirring the mixture. Stop adding stock when you start to notice excess stock not being soaked up by the bread. Add in half of the cooked bacon, taste and season with salt and pepper. Put the entire mixture in a baking dish and top with the rest of the cooked bacon and then cover with foil. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 45 minutes covered, and then 10-15 minutes uncovered until the top is golden brown.

weekly delivery 11/11

Lots of greens this week:

1.5 lbs red Norland potatoes

4 Satsuma Mandarin oranges

1 leek

1 head Romaine lettuce

1 butternut squash

1 bunch broccoli rabe rapini

4 red beets

5 Starkrimson pears

1 bunch cilantro

1 bunch arugula

5 golden delicious apples

1 bunch dinosaur kale

2 heads broccoli

dolmas and caramelized leek hummus

Ingredients:

Hummus:

3 leeks, white and light green parts only, sliced in half length wise then 1/4" chopped

1/4 cup butter (Earth Balance)

2 Tbsp water

1 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed

juice of 1/2 a lemon

1 Tbsp cayenne pepper

salt to taste

Melt the butter in a small pot, then add in the leeks and toss to coat. Add the water and a dash of salt, cover and cook on low heat until the leeks soften and begin to caramelize, about 25 minutes. Remove from the heat, dump in a can of chickpeas and puree with an immersion blender. Or you could add everything to a food processor and puree that way, but why make more dishes? Season to your liking with lemon juice, cayenne pepper and salt. Transfer to a small bowl and stick it in the fridge to cool down.

Dolmas:

1 cup white rice, cooked

juice from 1 1/2 lemons

2 Tbsp olive oil

1/4 cup scallions, thinly sliced

2 leaves fresh mint, chiffonade

salt, pepper and garlic powder to taste

1 bunch chard

Cook the rice and let it cool. Toss with lemon juice, olive oil, scallions and mint. Season with salt, pepper and garlic powder to taste. The rice needs to be a bit sticky for this recipe. To assemble to dolmas, remove the rib from a leaf of chard, place a dollop of rice on the leaf, tuck the sides in and then roll like a burrito. Traditionally, dolmas are braised in oil but we like to keep it health-conscious around here (uh... sometimes) so we simply steamed them. Place the dolmas, seam side down, in a steamer basket over an inch of boiling water and steam for about 2 minutes. Allow to cool before serving.

weekly delivery 11/04

Here what we got this week:

1 head broccoli

4 Satsuma mandarin oranges

1 bunch rainbow chard

5 bartlett pears

1 bulb fennel

10 Russian banana potatoes

1 head red leaf lettuce

4 Fuji apples

1 head Napa cabbage

1 bunch fresh cilantro

chile infused beet and radicchio salad

Ingredients:

1 head radicchio, whole leaves

2 carrots, thinly sliced

1 lb beets

2 dried ancho chiles

1 tsp salt

8 small radishes

3 peppers

juice from 1 lime

3 Tbsp olive oil

1 1/2 tsp chili flakes

cilantro, whole leaves for garnish

1/4 lb queso fresco, crumbled

Add beets and ancho chilis to a pot of boiling water with 1 tsp of salt. Adjust to a simmer and cook for 35 minutes. Remove beets from liquid and cool. Remove the chilis. Slice radishes and carrots thinly, and peppers in a 1/4" dice. Mix olive oil, lime juice, chili flakes, and salt and pepper to taste, in a dressing shaker. Let sit while beets cool so that the chili can permeate the dressing. When the beets have cooled, add them over the radicchio leaves. Top with other veggies and dressing. Then crumble queso fresco over the dish, and top with whole cilantro leaves.

I ate this for dinner the other night, and for lunch the past two days. The dressing and dish flavor just gets better with age. Sweet, spicy, salty, and just damn delicious. I kind of wish we would get this all in the box again sometime soon.

potato medley!

If you have known me for a grip, you know that there are two things I (and most of the Hub/Cone) were addicted to from Trader Joe's. I work at Whole Foods, and so do most of my friends. We shop there, and budget it well. (Don't even start the Whole Paycheck ish, you get what you pay for, or you aren't doing it right.) BUT, there were two amazing items that lead me back to TJ's again and again, and both have been discontinued within the last year or so. The first, which we will address here, is potato medley, the second (which would take a miracle to produce) were the veggie gyoza. There were many nights when our sustenance depended on these items, late nights, early mornings, bonding moments sharing recipes. In truth, some of the best times of my life.

So fuck you TJ's for letting these items go by the wayside; but I understand. If something is too popular with your customers, the factory HAS to produce it instead of giving you leftovers, and that makes the price go up for you, lessening your profit. Just raise the price and bring them back, I will buy cases, seriously. CASES!

Ingredients:

1 lb red potatoes, cut in 1/4" slices

1 onion, 1/4" slices

2 carrots. Julienned

3 peppers, Julienned

1 head broccoli, roughly chopped
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 tsp garlic powder
olive oil, for cooking

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Get a pot of salted water on the stove to boil. Slice potatoes and onions. Spray 2 baking sheets with oil and layer the potatoes and onions on them, seasoning with salt and pepper, and adding a layer of sprayed oil on the top. Place in oven for 35 minutes. Remove and let cool to room temperature.

Blanch all other veggies. Carrots 4 mins. Peppers 3 mins. Broccoli 1/2 a minute. And let them cool with the potato/onion mixture. Sprinkle with garlic powder, salt and pepper to taste. Let cool, and store in the fridge. This should last 6-7 days, if you can wait that long. I have already eaten twice with this as an ingredient, and I am not near done!

weekly delivery 10/29

2 Fuji apples

2 French fingerling potatoes

3 leeks

1 bunch rainbow chard

1 head broccoli

1 head Treviso radicchio

4 heads mixed baby lettuces

1 bunch cilantro

1 beets

4 kiwis

2 Fuyu persimmons

3 peppers

going to ny!

We are headed off to New York on a red eye tonight. We canceled our box this week but we have a bunch of new posts coming up and of course some vacation photos when we get back! Hope everyone has a great weekend.

soft chili tofu

We still have some quick pickled veggies left over from last week. I guess now they're not quick anymore - just regular pickled veggies. We thought they would pair well with our favorite appetizer which we always get when we order Chinese takeout. Here's our own version of soft chili tofu. It's super simple, fast and the flavors very vibrant - fresh, salty, and little spicy.


Ingredients:

1 block soft tofu, small dice

3 Tbsp soy sauce

2 tsp sesame oil

1 tsp rice wine vinegar

1/2 scallions, finely diced

2 tsp red pepper flakes

Cut the tofu into very small cubes and add to a large bowl. Pour in the soy sauce, sesame oil and rice wine vinegar and very gently toss to incorporate. Next add the scallions and red pepper flakes. Soft tofu is very crumbly so stir everything together as gently as possible. Garnish with pickles cucumbers, beets and onions. And you're done - it's that easy!

potato and gruyere "sandwiches"

This recipe proves that you don't need a dozen ingredients to make something delicious.

Ingredients:

1 lb russet potatoes, cut into 1/8" slices (Got a mandolin? Use it!)

1/4 lb gruyere, cut into thin slices (Mandolin helpful here as well.)

Earth Balance, for frying (Like butter? Go for it!)
Salt and pepper

Grilled cheese and french fries, potato gratin, cheese fries, chili cheese fries, poutine, nacho fries, cheesy mashed potatoes... potatoes and cheese are just meant to be bestest buddies. I wanted to make something simple, delicious, and bite size since we were having some friends over for a little late night Rock Band and pissing off the neighbors, so why not make some mini grilled cheeses, but with potatoes for bread!!! I know, I'm a genius, or just a little drunk- take your pick.

Steam potatoes until just fork tender, about 6-8 minutes. Carefully remove them and set them on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper and let them cool in the refrigerator for 4 hours. We are trying to let the potatoes lose as much moisture as possible with this step so that they will crisp and absorb lots of buttery goodness when they are cooking. Assemble lots of little sandwiches, seasoning the middle with salt and pepper. In a saute pan over medium heat, add the Earth Balance and cook them until crispy on the outside, and the cheese gets happy and melty. Eat them! Repeat!

Kenny's legendary vegan cheese sauce

Ingredients:

5 slicing tomatoes, seeded and chopped

1 pint cherry tomatoes, seeded and chopped

5 red peppers, finely diced

a few leaves of arugula, about 1/4 lb

1/2 red onion, diced finely

3 cloves garlic, diced finely

1 lb pasta, your choice

vegan cheese sauce:

2 Tbsp earth balance

2 Tbsp all purpose flour

2 cups soy milk (unsweetened is preferable)

2 tsp garlic powder

1 cup nutritional yeast

salt & pepper to taste

1 Tbsp dijon mustard (optional)

We made some epic vegan mac using my famous "cheeze" sauce. Saute the onions and garlic over medium heat in 1 Tbsp. of olive oil until translucent. Add the tomatoes and peppers and continue to cook until the tomatoes begin to break down, about 10 minutes.

For the cheeze sauce, make a rue with the earth balance and flour and allow to cook over medium heat until it no longer smells like flour, and is a nice toasty golden color, about 5 minutes. Whisk in the soy milk and bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Allow to boil for 1 minute, (still whisking!) and start to add the nutritional yeast, garlic powder, and finally the mustard. Season with salt and pepper, combine with the veggies and pasta, and wolf down!

weekly delivery 10/07

YES! Arugula has returned!

2 acorn squash
6 slicing tomatoes
4 yellow onions
4 red plums
1 bunch arugula

4 Valencia oranges

6 red peppers
1 head Romaine lettuce

5 Russet potatoes

3 red beets

8 Gala apples

1 bunch baby bok choy

1 bunch Italian parsley