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.

Sunday Night Steak Out

Ahh Sundays...since my Pittsburgh Steelers failed to make it to the post-season, I have even more time on my hands where I can either mope around that I have to get up early the next day or make something delicious to eat.

Today Kara and I were looking to use up few items from our last share.  Originally we were hoping to grill our steak since the weathermen promised us a sunny and 70 degree day, but yet again we were led astray by a weather forecast fail; so that was out of the question.  Instead, we decided to work around this by sous-viding our buffalo strip steak. We're not fortunate enough to own an immersion circulator, so we simply threw our vacuum-packed steak into a dutch oven filled with water heated to about 130 degrees for about 40 mins.  Once it was cooked through to a nice medium, I removed it, seasoned it with a little roasted garlic salt and black pepper, and seared it in a grill pan for about two minutes a side.

 

Next up was the kohlrabi.  We were simultaneously thinking "awesome" and "WTF?!?!" when we learned we were getting kohlrabi this week.

A brief search through the interwebs led us to this fritter recipe .  We subbed the besan for good old-fashioned flour.  One tip when squeezing out the excess water from the shredded kohlrabi...place it all in a dish towel, and just wring it out.  You'll be able to squeeze a lot of water out without losing any kohlrabi down the drain.




The fritters were pretty easy to put together...shred the kohlrabi, chop up some scallions, mix in the spices, and you're good to go!

What about those greens? Why we sauteed them with some garlic, shallot, and the rest of our spinach.

The meal was really starting to take shape, but rich steak and starchy pan-fried fritters needed to be paired with a fresh component.  Luckily, we had lettuce from our CSA and decided to throw together a little salad.  During a quick jaunt to Trader Joe's, we picked up some mini portabella caps, which we roasted with some goat cheese, and some orange muscat vinegar to round out the salad...plus some decent $2 beer to boot.

We were only missing one thing...a tasty sauce to compliment our greens and meat.  I'm a huge fan of red meat and Bearnaise sauce, and I like putting my own spin on this classic sauce by subbing the tarragon for other herbs, deglazing with liqueurs etc.  Since we had the dill, I simply used it in place of the tarragon.

It all came together quite nicely, and we truly made the best of an otherwise dreary day by relaxing with some quality food and drink.

Mangia, Mangia!

That's "Eat, Eat!" for those of you out there that don't speak Italian.

Since we went with the obvious the first time around, cooking clam chowder, we went with the 2nd most obvious dish...linguine with clam sauce!  For some veggies, we cooked up the brussel sprouts with some bacon and almonds.  So let's get to it!

I started with the brussel sprouts, popping them off the stalk and placing them on a cookie sheet with a drizzle of olive oil, salt and pepper.  Those went into the oven to get all roasty toasty!  We also pulled off the greens at the top to toss in with the sprouts later on.  We were left with a bare stalk...

I think it'll make a good beating stick for when Justin steps outta line! Hehehe :)  The bacon was next, getting a quick little chop and then tossed into the pan to get nice and crispy.  The onions were also thrown in with the bacon to soften and soak up some of the bacon delicousness.  

Look how nice and charred and toasty those sprouts are!  Sadly, we overcooked them slightly and they were a tad bit mushy in the middle.  But the leaves were crisp, and once they rolled around with the bacon, it made up for the overcooked centers.  Bacon makes everything better, right?

Meanwhile, Justin was handling the other half of the meal.  Since he's part Italian, I figure its better to let him take care of the sauces.  In a giant pan, he melted some butter, and threw in a bunch of garlic and onions.  Once those sauteed for a while, in went the clams.  It didn't take long for them to pop open and impart a little oceany flavor into the pan.  We also threw in some white wine for an extra bit of flavor.

Once the linguine was al dente, we made sure to reserve a cup of the starchy cooking water.  Its always good to add a bit of the starchy water to whatever sauce you're making because it will help the sauce stick to the pasta.  Oh!  We also threw in some grated parm and pecorino for a little salty deliciousness, and to help thicken the sauce a bit.  I removed the clams from the pan, added a splash of the starchy water, and then threw in the pasta.  Removing the clams made it much easier to get the pasta coated in the garlicky, buttery, clammy sauce.  On the other side of the stove, the brussel sprouts were being coated in the bacon delicousness, and I threw in some chopped almonds for another little crunch.

And then we were ready to eat!  With a little slice of cheesy garlic bread, complete with roasted garlic, we were ready to dig in!

Until next time...buona notte!

From New Orleans to New England

With our fresh Rappahannock River oysters and clams, plucked from the ocean on Monday, and in our fridge on Tuesday, we wanted/needed to use them right away.  Naturally we opted for oyster po' boys with a homemade aioli, New England style clam chowder, and sweet potato fries.  Here's what we started with:

While I started working on the chowder, Justin went to work on shucking the oysters.

Thankfully there were no injuries while shucking oysters.  The only casualty was my paring knife, who lost its tip.  But it didn't land in the oysters :)  The clams cooked up in no time, and although they didn't require much time to steam and open up, they still left a really flavorful broth that we used in the soup.  We pulled out some McGyver skills in straining the oyster broth.  Since I don't own a fine mesh sieve, we used a coffee filter to separate the sand and grit from the clam broth.  It helps to have an extra set of hands for this part.  We also kept the oyster nectar, and threw some into the chowder and some into the aioli.  Once the clams opened up, I set them aside while making the rest of the chowder so they wouldn't overcook.  We kept the breading on the oysters simple...a little cornmeal and a little Dinosaur BBQ cajun seasoning.  *Side note: if you're ever in Rochester, Syracuse, or Harlem, do yourself a favor and go to Dinosaur BBQ.  They have the best brisket you'll ever have.  It just melts in your mouth.  I may have started drooling a little just thinking about it.*  Now, back to our regularly scheduled program.

 

To top the po' boys, we used some of the homemade sauerkraut we had in the fridge (leftover from when we made buffalo pastrami reubens, another CSA meal!) for some tangy crunch, and a homemade aioli.  Justin has perfected the art of making small batch of aioli with an immersion blender.

In the aioli we threw in some of the oyster nectar, sriracha, lemon juice, garlic powder, and some whole grain mustard.  It gave the po' boys a bit of a kick!  A few clams were thrown into the bottom of each soup bowl and we poured the chowder over it to warm them up again.  We even managed to not burn the sweet potato fries, and time everything pretty perfectly.  

It was the perfect way to end the week and get ready for the weekend!