weekly pickup 6/28

2 leeks
1 bunch carrots
2 red onions
1 bunch radishes
1 dozen eggs
6 zucchini blossoms
1 bulb garlic
1 head red leaf lettuce
1 bunch ezapote

three onion and arugula frittata

Nothing is better on a weekend morning than a fresh cooked frittata. Or for that matter, nothing is better to finish off after your husband has gone to work than a fresh cooked frittata, right Katie?

Our CSA has some amazing farm fresh eggs from chickens that roam freely and eat creepy crawlies and oh, you can just read about it here. We had a lot of members of the onion family this week and some awesome local baby arugula as well, and we thought... hmmmm... let's throw it together with eggs and cheese! Speaking of cheese, we also found this awesome company: NYMilk. All the cows are totally pasture fed, there is no animal rennet its all raw milk, and all of the workers are guaranteed a fair wage. Plus its made in state, and its priced competitively with those big national organic cheeses. Go local!

Anyway, back to business. This recipe is highly customizable, just substitute as you see fit.

Ingredients:
6-7 Large Eggs
3 small Leeks (white and pale green parts only), 1 Red Spring Onion and 1 White Spring Onion (both with some greens), all sliced thinly. This is a total of 1.5 cups of goodness.
1/2 pound of arugula, or your favorite green
2 Tbsp. + 1 Tbsp. Earth Balance (or butter)
1 Tbsp. Safflower Oil (or your favorite cooking oil)
1/2 cup shredded Pepper Jack Cheese
salt and pepper to taste

You can take care of the veggies a day or two before hand if you like, or if you just want to sleep in a little longer. Heat the oil and 2 Tbsp. of EB in a saute' pan on medium heat. Add the onion/leek mixture and cook, stirring occasionally until they are just starting to get caramelized, about 10-13 minutes. Once they are ready toss in the greens, adding them slowly but surely as they continue to cook down. This will take about 5-7 minutes until all of the greens are cooked. Season to taste. Ready to move on? Need a coffee break; OK, I can wait.

Good, now set this veggie mixture aside (off the stove would be best, see above), and preheat your oven to 375 degrees. Take the remaining EB and coat a pie dish (we used Pyrex, using metal may vary the cooking time, so check in a little more often). Beat the eggs in a bowl, and then incorporate the cheese. Season if ya like to. Add these to the veggie mixture and mix thoroughly. Place in your dish and throw that bad boy in the oven, gently of course.

Now its time for the waiting. This is probably going to take about 40-45 minutes. Set a timer for 30 minutes. When it goes off turn on your oven light or peek inside eversoquickly to not let heat out. What you will probably see is a delicious crust forming on the top, with the outer rim of the fritatta puffed up and the center still sunken in. It is now time to babysit. Check back every 2 to 3 minutes, once the center has risen it is time to remove it from the oven. Careful, its hot. Set it aside. Don't touch it. Let it set and firm up for about 10 minutes. Plus it'll burn your mouth, be patient. Use this time to make some toast or hash browns. Make another pot of coffee. Call your mom, she is probably eating cereal this morning and will be very proud of what you have just created. Has it been 10 minutes? OK, let's eat breakfast.

pizza and pasta night

We were having some buds over for dinner on Wednesday, and wanted to make something fun, tasty, and easy to clean up so we could spend time hanging out. We had a lot of greens to use. We had basil, spinach, swiss chard, and some beet greens that I saved from the beets I made popsicles with. (A side note: if you don't save your beet greens when you get them, you totally should. They are delcious and packed with nutrients. It saddens me when I see people at the farmers market or grocery store rip them off and throw them away. I think I will start asking them if I can have them...) The pesto we made for the pizza has spinach in it. Have kids who don't like green veggies? Throw them in pesto, you can't even tell they are there!

Since we had just finished unpacking some of our amazing wedding presents we decided to use a few of them; namely the amazing Vitamix, and a cast iron pizza stone. So here is what we made. It was quick, easy, a breeze to clean up, and it tasted awesome!

Party Time Pasta Ingredients:
1 lb. Pasta, we used Orechiette
1/4 cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1 package Veggie Italian Sausage (or real sausage if you like), sliced into bite sized pieces
1/2 Onion, diced
2 cloves Garlic, minced
1/2 Yellow and 1/2 Red Pepper, diced
4 cups assorted Greens, we used Beet and Swiss Chard, roughly chopped
1/2 cup Pecorino Romano cheese, grated (optional)
salt, pepper, and pepper flakes to taste

Cook pasta according to package directions. While pasta is cooking, heat oil in a large saute' pan over medium high heat. Add the sausage into the pan, and cooked until both sides are browned, about 10 minutes. Remove sausage and set to the side. Turn the heat down to medium and add the onion, garlic, and peppers. Cook until onions are translucent, about 6-7 minutes. Turn off heat and stir in the greens handful by handful. Combine pasta, sausage, and veggies in a large bowl and sprinkle with Pecorino.


Pesto Pepper Pizza:
1 Fresh or Frozen Pizza Dough (we like the whole wheat one from Whole Foods)
1 bunch Basil
1 bunch Spinach
3 cloves Garlic
1/2 cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil
juice of 1 Lemon
1/2 lb. shredded low moisture part-skim Mozzarella Cheese
1/2 Red and 1/2 Yellow Pepper, sliced into rings
grated Pecorino Romano for topping (optional)
salt and pepper to taste

Preheat your oven to 450 degrees with the pizza stone inside. Roll out your dough and place it on a well floured pizza peel (hopefully you have one if you have a stone, if not a large serving platter can work.) Put the spinach, basil, oil, garlic, and lemon juice into your blender (or food processor) and blend until smooth. (This recipe makes about 1.5 cups, so you will have some leftover pesto, but that's a good thing right?) Top pizza dough with pesto, cheese, and peppers (and whatever else you would like to throw on there), and place it carefully on the pizza stone. Bake for 7-9 minutes (yep, that's it), and remove from the oven. Give it a minute or two to cool down once you remove it from the stone, it's like lava hot at this point.

There you have it, an easy, vegetable centered dinner for 4-8 people in under an hour with only 3 or 4 big dishes to clean. Not too shabby for a weekday, eh?

raclette panini with wilted greens

We were recently gifted a George Foreman Grill. Now, while I do love grilling and am super appreciative of my new found ability to do it indoors, I am equally as excited about its other feature. PANINI PRESS!!!! On our way home the other day we stopped by to visit the nice folks at The Bedford Cheese Shop. We snagged some fresh ciabatta and I spotted some amazing looking Raclette from Spring Brook Farms in Vermont. Raclette is a traditional melting cheese usually made in France, and sometimes Switzerland. It's usually made from cows milk, and has a supple texture and almost beefy flavor. This domestic Raclette was slightly more mild in flavor (which works out well for sandwiches), but as intended was perfect for melting. I am upset we didn't buy extra for grilled cheeses or mac and cheese. Good thing the cheese shop is only a few blocks away. This recipe makes two pretty big sammiches. And if you don't have a panini press of some sort, don't sweat it, just do what we did here.

Ingredients:
2 good sized Crusty Rolls
3 cups of Greens (we used Beet Greens), roughly chopped
1/2 White Onion, sliced thinly
2 Scapes (or 2 cloves of garlic), finely chopped
1 tsp. Lemon Juice
1/4 pound Raclette, thinly sliced
1 Tbsp. Safflower Oil
salt and pepper to taste

In a saute' pan over medium high heat, add the oil and onions. Cook until translucent and then add the greens and the lemon juice. Let the greens get just wilted, and then remove them from the heat and season with salt and pepper. Preheat your panini press, and open those rolls. Layer in the cheese and top with the greens. Press until the bread is crusty and the cheese is melted and looks irresistible. Now eat it!

weekly pick up 6/20

1 bunch basil

2 white onions
1 head green leaf lettuce

3 beets

1 bunch swiss chard
1 bunch spinach

2 garlic bulbs

1 bunch quelite (mexican greens)

tomato black bean bisque

I don't care what time of the year it is, I love soup. We had a few rainy days this past week, so I whipped up a batch of this simple, spicy recipe to keep us warm and dry.

Ingredients:
2 cups cooked Black Beans, reserve 1 cup
1 28 oz. can of Diced Tomatoes (there are no local fresh tomatoes yet)
28 oz. of water
1 white Spring Onion, roughly diced, save greens for garnish
4 Garlic Scapes, 3 of them roughly chopped (you could substitute 2 cloves of garlic)
2 Jalapenos, roughly chopped, (you can remove the seeds and ribs if you don't want it too spicy)
2 Tbsp. 2x Tomato Paste
1/4 cup of whole milk (optional)
2 Tbsp. Safflower Oil
1/2 cup of Creme Fraiche
1/2 cup of Sour Cream
3 Tbsp. Cilantro
Salt and pepper to taste

Place the creme fraiche, sour cream, cilantro and the one reserved scape into a blender or food processor and blend until smooth. Season with salt and pepper and pop it back in the fridge.

Heat the oil in a soup pot over medium heat. Sweat the onion and scapes until the onion is translucent. Add the tomato paste and stir for 1-2 minutes to toast it. Toss in half of the black beans, the jalapenos, the water and the diced tomatoes and cover. Simmer for 15-20 minutes, until piping hot. Using a immersion blender, blend the soup until smooth adding in some milk to cream it if you like. Season to taste. Turn off the heat and add the rest of the black beans. Wait a few minutes, top it with the cilantro cream and onion greens, and serve with some tortillas or chips.

lentil salad with purslane

Since moving to NYC one thing has become certain in our lives, we do not have as much time to cook as we used to. We have found a lot of ways to adapt. From prepping things a few days ahead, using our slow cooker more, or just making things that are simpler and still packed full of flavor we have found ways to save time and still make some amazing food. This dish is no exception.

This is also the first time we have used purslane. This happy little succulent is not only pretty damn tasty, its also the highest land vegetable in omega-3's. So eat up Veggies! Make friends and dinner with purslane!

Ingredients:
2 1/2 cups cooked lentils
1 bunch purslane, (2 cups of leaves)
1 red pepper, finely diced
1 spring red onion finely diced, about 1/2 cup
2 inches of onion greens, finely diced
2 garlic scapes, thinly sliced
2 Tbsp cilantro, chopped
2 carrots finely diced
1 tsp lemon zest
juice of said lemon
1/4 cup olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

Grab a large bowl. Throw all of the ingredients into it. Toss well, and season to taste. We served it on top of a pita warmed in a pan with a little bit of Earth Balance.

NEW CSA IS HERE!!! WE'RE BACK BITCHES!!! weekly pickup 06/14

2 red onions
1 dozen eggs
3 leeks
2 beets
2 white onions
1 bunch of purslane
1 bunch spinach
1/4 pound garlic scapes
1 bunch cilantro

we have lots of ideas flowing already.... stay tuned for triple onion quiche, black bean soup and french lentil salad!