Paleo Shake-n-Bake...and I helped!

We had some umami dust leftover from our burgers, so we decided to jump a little outside the box, and try it on some pork chops.

Let's start with the cauliflower.  It wasn't too different from when we made the kimchi brussels sprouts.  The cauliflower was chopped up into more manageable, bite-sized pieces, and we crisped up some pancetta bits.  We poured a bit of the rendered fat over the cauliflower before popping it into the oven to roast.

Once the cauliflower was a bit charred, we pulled them out of the oven, and tossed them with the crisped pancetta, sliced kimchi, and some freshly sliced green onion.

Now, onto the pork chops.  Since we can't use panko or bread crumbs, we used some unsweetened, shredded coconut, and mixed some of the umami dust, minced garlic and ginger, and some black and regular sesame seeds

Then we just coated the chops in the mixture, and popped them into the broiler on some cooling racks.  Doing that allows the air to circulate around the chops, so all sides get crispy.  If you just place them on the baking sheet directly, the bottom will end up soggy.

To finish the dish, we placed our chop on a bed of creasy greens, lightly dressed in some rice wine vinegar, a dash of black vinegar, garlic, ginger and sesame oil.  The greens added a bit of acidity to the umami chops, while the roasted cauliflower added a nice kick of spice.

CSA Recap

Happy April!  It's time once again for our CSA recap.  Here's what we picked up...

And here's how we put the deliciousness to use...

• Lamb Sausage & Broiled Tomato Salad
• lamb & pork sausage
• romaine
• tomatoes
• Chicken & Kale Curry
• kale
• tomatoes
• green onion
• Chili (very similar to this one)
• ground beef
• Lettuce Wraps
• green onions
• shitake mushrooms
• bibb lettuce
• Pork Chops, Roasted Turnips & Salad
• turnips
• creasy greens

We ended up just eating the apples as snacks/part of our lunches, and the bacon is in the freezer since we still have some from the last share that we need to eat.  Stay tuned tomorrow to see what we pick up next!

It was Colonel Mustard, in the dutch oven, with the leeks

Since we're heading out of town this weekend for Easter, we needed to find a way to use the rest of our share food.  We turned to the interwebs, as always, for inspiration, and came up with pork chops with a mustard sauce, roasted turnips, and salad.  So let's get started...

Start by slicing up your carrots, celery, and leeks.  We included the leaves from the tops of the celery too.  Because of all the layers in the leeks, a lot of dirt can get in there.  Once you slice them, you'll want to place them in a bowl with water, and swish them around, separating the layers.  All the dirt will sink to the bottom of the bowl, and you'll be left with clean leeks!

Then we melted some butter in the dutch oven, and threw all the veggies in there to soften.  Once they've cooked down a bit, add your whole grain mustard and almond milk.

Once everything's had a chance to mix together, nestle your pork chops into the mixture.  We also added a couple bay leaves, some parsley and thyme.  We threw a lid on it and let it cook for about 15 minutes.  While those were cooking, we roasted up some turnips with a bit of grated red onion on top.

We also threw together a quick salad with our creasy greens, some carrots, red onion, and the rest of the pate we had leftover from our rainy day soup & salad dinner.  With a simple dressing of olive oil and champagne vinegar, we were ready to eat!

CSA Day!

It's that time again!  Woohoo!  Here's what we hauled home today:

Lots of good stuff to come as we jump back on the Paleo train.  Stay tuned!

CSA Recap

Here is our bi-weekly recap of how we used our CSA.  Here's what we picked up...

And here's what we made...

• Umami Burgers & Kimchi Brussels Sprouts
• ground beef
• brussels sprouts
• creasy greens
• Pizza & Salad
• romaine
• creasy greens
• Chicken Involtini, Roasted Turnips, and Apple Crisp
• creasy greens
• turnips
• gold rush apples
• Jambalaya
• collards
• green onions
• Sausage Stuffed Fennel
• sausage
• Chinese New Year Feast
• trout

The one thing we didn't use was the butternut squash and the cilantro, but we'll find some uses for them in the coming weeks, I'm sure.

Pesto Change-O!

Tonight we thought we'd try something different, and put a twist on your traditional pesto.  I've seen recipes for pestos made with arugula or parsley instead of basil, and walnuts instead of pinenuts, so why not try making a pesto out of all those creasy greens we have?

We pulled all of the leaves from the stems and threw them in the food processor with some garlic, toasted pinenuts, and parmesan cheese.  Once it was pureed, we streamed in some olive oil.  With a bit of roasted garlic salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes, the pesto came together quite nicely.

 

We let all flavors in the pesto mix and mingle together while we put the chicken involtini together.  We started with 2 chicken breasts that we pounded out, then seasoned with salt and pepper.  Inside we put some slices of mozzarella and some sun-dried tomatoes.  Then we rolled up the chicken so everything was tucked away inside, and used some skewers to hold them all together.  The chicken went into the oven to cook for about 20 minutes.

Next, it was time to prepare the turnips.  The last times we got turnips in the share, we made a puree, so we wanted to do something a little different this time.  We found this recipe for roasted turnips with a mustard vinaigrette, and thought we'd give it a shot.  So we chunked up the turnips, tossed them in a little olive oil, salt and pepper, and threw them into the oven (with the chicken) for about 15 minutes, until they were roasty, toasty, golden brown.

The vinaigrette was really simple to whisk together; a little whole grain mustard, a little white wine vinegar, a scallion, some parsley, and a little oil.  Once the turnips had cooled, we tossed them in the vinaigrette, and sprinkled a little fresh parsley on top.

There was a wide variety of flavors on the plate.  There was a nice contrast between the the herb-y pesto, the acidity from the sun-dried tomatoes, the rich mozzarella, and the slight sour tang of the turnips and mustard.

But we didn't stop there!  While we ate dinner, we let our dessert bake.  That's right, folks.  We made dessert!  But don't be fooled...it wasn't a multi-layer cake, or anything fancy like that.  We sliced up the 2 gold rush apples we had, and covered them in pecans, cinnamon, nutmeg, ground ginger and brown sugar.  For the topping, we smashed together some oats, brown sugar, butter, and chopped pecans.  We covered the apples with the oat crumble, and sprinkled a little cinnamon and sugar on top to kind of brulee the top.

By the time we were done eating dinner, the crumble/crisp was just about done.  I don't like my dessert cloyingly sweet, or my fruit pies/crisps/crumbles extra syrup-y, and I want my fruit to still have some bite to them, so this was a perfect dessert.

CSA Day!

Hooray!  Time for our bi-weekly show and tell.

We're really excited to be seeing less cabbage and squashes, and more variety in the produce.  This week we have anabundance of greens...kale, collards, creasy greens, romaine, brussels sprouts.  Tonight we had a choice between a butternut or spaghetti squash, so we opted for the butternut, since it's a bit more versatile.  We also had a choice between mild or maple pork sausage, and we went with the mild.  That way we can either use breakfast or dinner.  I think the maple sausage would've pigeon-holed us into using it for breakfast.  I'm also a fan of all the herbs we've been getting.  We've managed to stretch their shelf life by wrapping them in a paper towel, and storing them them in a plastic bag in the fridge.  The paper towel helps absorb the moisture and prevent the herbs from turning all slimy.  I think we had a bunch of cilantro or mint that lasted over a month stored like that.  So there's your helpful tip of the day...free of charge!

We haven't quite figured out what we're going to cook with this week's share, but you know we always come up with something good.  Stay tuned!

CSA Recap

Tomorrow we pick up another share of food, so I thought I'd give you a quick recap of how we used all the items from our previous share.  As a refresher, here's what we picked up 2 weeks ago...

And here's what we made...

• Po' Boys, Clam Chowder and Sweet Potato Fries
• clams
• oysters
• sweet potato (from a previous share)
• half of the onion
• Beet Chips
• beets
• Lamb Chops with Roasted Cauliflower & Beet Greens
• lamb chops (from a previous share)
• beet greens
• cauliflower
• creasy greens (for salad)
• Gnocchi
• sweet potatoes
• butternut squash
• Spaghetti & Meatballs
• spaghetti squash
• ground beef (from a previous share)

The rest of the creasy greens were used for salads throughout the week too.  The cilantro is still in the fridge, waiting to be used, and we used the broccoli as part of a crudite spread for a party 2 weekends ago.  We haven't done anything with the cabbage yet, but we're planning on making more sauerkraut.  More to come on that.

We can't wait to pick up tomorrow's share and make some more delicious dishes.  Stay tuned!

Sunday Dinner

We usually take a bit of a break from cooking once the weekend hits, but tonight we got back in the kitchen for some lamb chops, beet greens, and roasted cauliflower.  We kept the lamb simple, seasoning them with a little salt, pepper, and fresh rosemary, and threw them on the grill pan.  Though things got a little smokey, we managed to not set off the smoke detector, and get some perfectly medium chops.

The beet greens were saved after making some beet chips earlier in the day.  More on those in a little bit though.  We just sauteed the greens with a little garlic, olive oil and butter.  I hadn't had them before, but they were really tasty...similar in texture to sauteed spinach, but they still had the sweetness of the beets.  The roasted cauliflower is one of our favorite side dishes.  We first had it at Graffiato, Mike Isabella's restaurant in DC.  The seasonal, Italian-inspired, small plates never disappoint.  We've made a few attempts at recreating this dish, and have come pretty close, considering the menu simply lists roasted cauliflower, mint and pecorino as the ingredients.  But now that Chef Isabella's cookbook is out, we have the recipe in hand.  Its super simple, and super tasty.  Between the 2 of us, we almost ate a ginormous head of cauliflower in one sitting.

are you drooling yet?

We capped it off with a little salad to finish off our creasy greens, topped with some red onion, chopped walnuts and gorgonzola.  We usually make our own dressing when we have salad.  In this case, we used some orange muscat champagne vinegar that we picked up on a recent expedition to Trader Joe's and some olive oil.  The sweetness and citrus was a perfect complement for our salad.

As for the beet chips I mentioned a little earlier...I like beets, but they aren't something I would normally buy. When I hear beets, I think back to my childhood and the cartoon "Doug".  The beauty of the CSA is that it gives you a chance to try something out of your normal routine.  So what were we to do with these beets?

We turned to our friend Gojee for some ideas.  If you haven't heard of Gojee, you need to check them out.  You can tell them what you're craving, what ingredients you have, ingredients you don't like, etc. and it will search the interwebs for recipes that fit your criteria.  That's how we stumbled upon the recipe for beet chips.  They couldn't be simpler: peel the beets, slice the beets, brush with olive oil, sprinkle with salt, and pop 'em in the oven.  

A simple, tasty and healthy little treat!  Now if only we could get a few more weekend days before heading back to work tomorrow.  The weekend always flies by too fast.

Its Almost Like Christmas

Every other Tuesday we get to pick up our CSA share.  Neither of us had participated in a CSA before, but considering how much cooking we do, and our affinity for trying new things, we thought we'd give it a shot.  I'd had my eye on the Farm Bus for a little while, mostly because their drops are at Eastern Market, within walking distance of my apartment, but when I was cooking for 1, it didn't seem like a viable option.  Now that I had another stomach on board, it made sense to give it a try.  We opted for the produce and meat shares, and there is always an abundance of food.

As much as I try to keep it a surprise, I can't help but open the email that tells us what we'll be picking up that night.  But it doesn't just stop at reading the email.  Then I start to think about what we can make, and how we'll utilize all the food we'll be getting.  Here's what today's share brought us...

The fun part about the food shares is getting to try different foods you wouldn't normally buy.  A couple weeks ago we were given some rutabaga, and this week we got some creasy greens.  Not greasy greens...creasy greens.  I hadn't even heard of these greens before, but with a little help from the interwebs, I learned their similar to watercress, with a peppery taste like arugula.  Pulled off their stems, they made a delicious salad with some shaved pecorino and some homemade Italian dressing.

We have some ideas in the works for this week, so stay tuned!