Going Stir Fry Crazy!

Its Tuesday...Tuesday...gotta get down on Tuesday...

Ok, I guess it doesn't quite have the same ring to it as Friday, but it brings the same excitement since we finally had a CSA share to pick up.  It feels like an eternity since our last share, and we were both chompin' at the bit to see what we'd get today.  So ...without further ado...

Wouldn't it be our luck that we got ANOTHER cabbage!  We're really excited about our meat share...the bison NY strip steak and the pork sausages.  For the sausages we had a choice between ham with cider, or pork butt and pork bellies.  It was an obvious choice here.  I'm pretty excited about the purple carrots and the kholrabi as well.  I don't think I've eaten kholrabi, so it will be fun experimenting with it.

And since its been a while since we've whipped something up in the kitchen, we're bringing you tonight's meal...free of charge!

We thought ahead for once and defrosted some chicken overnight, knowing we'd need a protein to go with whatever veggies we picked up tonight.  To keep things simple, and since I scored a new wok for Christmas, we settled on a Thai peanut stir-fry.

So here's what we started wth...the purple carrots, broccoli, a sweet potato, spinach and some dill from the share.  The green onions and mushrooms were leftover from the weekend and needed to be used.  So  got to peeling and chopping the sweet potato and the purple carrots.

Look how pretty these carrots are!

While I finished chopping everything, Justin was busy cutting the chicken breasts into chunks.  Then he lightly coated them in some seasoned flour.  We used coconut oil to cook everything, so that went into the wok with a few cloves of minced garlic.  Once that was nice and aromatic, we threw in the carrots and sweet potatoes, since those would take the longest to cook, along with the chicken.

Once the chicken browned a bit, we threw in the broccoli.  As the chicken continued to cook, we threw in the mushrooms, spinach, and green onions.  We also threw in a bit of sesame oil for an added layer of flavor

Once the spinach wilted, it was time to make the sauce.  We started by adding the coconut milk.  Then came the peanut butter.  

We just kept mixing and stirring until the peanut butter had melted down and everything was coated in sauce.  To top off the dish, we toasted up some sesame seeds, drizzled on some sriracha, and sprinkled on some chopped dill.

It was a great way to kick off this week's share!

CSA Recap

I know its been a while since you've been inside our kitchen...we were out in California for the holidays...New Years happened...and then I had a friend visit this past weekend...we haven't been in our kitchens very much.  But we'll be picking up our next CSA share tomorrow, so you'll be seeing new meals from us before you know it!

So before we get to the new share, I wanted to give you a quick recap of how we used the food from our last share.  Here's a refresher of what we picked up:

And here's what we cooked up:

• Linguine with clam sauce and roasted brussels sprouts
• clams
• brussels sprouts
• Tortilla with kale
• kale
• green onion
• potatoes
• Oyster po' boys (we'd already posted about our 1st foray with them here, so we didn't post again)
• oysters
• Spaghetti squash with meatballs
• spaghetti squash
• Sauerkraut 
• cabbage

Justin and I split the apples to take for lunch during the week.  All that was left before the holidays were the butternut squash and sweet potatoes, so Justin took those with him down to NC for his family to use.  We figured by the time we got back from CA, they'd be mush, and I'm sure his family put them to good use.  The garlic was used for a few different meals since we love garlic on pretty much everything.  We were slightly disappointed that we missed a drop while we were in CA because it featured Jerusalem artichokes (and no cabbage either!), but we're looking forward to picking up tomorrow's goodies. We'll be back tomorrow to share our share with you!

Oh!  Before I forget.  For those of you that have been following along since the beginning, you may have remembered me referencing a picture of Justin with a giant bowl of cioppino from his dating profile.  It was one of the many things that initially caught my eye.  Well...here's the picture!

How delicious does that look?!?!

Holy Cannoli!

We'll keep this one short and sweet.  Short, since I can link to past posts for the dinner portion, and sweet since we made cannolis!

We got another spaghetti squash from the CSA last week, and we have some leftover meatballs from a past dinner, so that's what we threw together tonight.  Here's our spaghetti squash and meatball how-to.  We did have to make some sauce, so we made a puttanesca-esque sauce.  Sweat out some onions and garlic, add baby bellas and anchovies (these were in oil with capers), toss in a can of tomatoes (preferably San Marzanos), and top with some chopped basil and parsley.  Since we had some parmesan rinds hanging out in the fridge, we threw one in to help thicken the sauce, and add a little cheesyness.  Then you can just let it simmer until you're ready to serve.  Super quick.  Super simple. Super tasty!

Now for the cannolis!  We had some leftover ricotta from our gnocchi, so what better way to use it up than by making dessert?  Honestly, I'm not much of a baker.  I don't have the patience to precisely measure each ingredient, and sift things.  Plus, I tend to gravitate towards salty snacks over sweets.  I prefer the creativity of cooking, where I can add a splash of this and a dash of that until it tastes right.  I leave the baking to my mom.

They took a little more time and work than we thought, but we pushed through!  While Justin manned the sauce, I prepped the cannolis.  For the dough, all you need is flour, salt, sugar, an egg, and some dry white wine.  The only white wine I had was some delicious chocolate flavored wine I'd picked up a couple years ago at the Virginia Wine Festival (If you've never gone, you should definitely check it out!).  We thought it'd add a nice subtle chocolate flavor to the shells.

Once the dough was wrapped up and in the fridge to rest, I moved onto the filling.  I let the ricotta drain for a bit, and then added powdered sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg (since I didn't have allspice), grapefruit zest (since we didn't have a lemon) and some whipped cream (you just need soft peaks when you're whipping the cream).  This sat in the fridge to set up while we ate our sketti squash and meatballs.

Once we were through with dinner, it was time to make cannolis!  Not to be confused with this guy.  We floured the counter and rolled out our dough while the oil heated up.  Its best to get the dough really thin.  We used the bottom of a bowl as our stencil, and cut out circles of dough.  Each circle was wrapped around a little wooden dowel that we found and dropped into the hot oil.  It only took a minute or two for them to fry up, but we got into a groove and knocked out the shells. 

Since we had some extra mint in the fridge, we chopped some up and added it to the filling for a little fresh, brightness.  I made my own pastry bag by dumping the filling into a big ziploc bag and cutting off one of the corners.  This will let you easily pipe the filling into the shells.  Once they had cooled down and were easy to handle, each shell was filled with the ricotta mixture.

During one of our last trips to Trader Joe's, we were roaming the aisles and came across a spice grinder that contained sugar, coffe and chocolate.  We looked at each other, wide-eyed and bushy-tailed, knowing we had to get it.  And what better use for it than to top our cannolis?  We ground some into a little dish and dipped each end of the cannoli into the delicious powder.

It really tied in the chocolate wine that was in the shells, and brought out the cinnamon and nutmeg that were mixed into the filling.  Ok...so maybe this post wasn't as short as I thought it would be, but it certainly was sweet!

CSA Day!

Woohoo!  CSA day!  I'll keep this one short and sweet since its so late already.  Here's what we picked up today.

We were excited to get oysters and clams again, especially since the other meat choice was a stewing hen.  Just from the name it doesn't sound nearly as appetizing.  I'm also excited about the brussels sprouts on the stalk.  Did you know that's how they grow?!?!  We have a few things in mind for some of the food, but most of it will be on the fly.  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!

Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs

Maybe it wasn't cloudy today, but there was a 100% chance of meatballs!  Beef and turkey meatballs to be exact.  We needed something to go with our spaghetti squash.  The ground beef came from the CSA a few shares ago, and I had the turkey from a past Costco run.  To top it off, we used some left over pepperoni sauce, but I'll get into that shortly.

First, the balls of meat!  We had about a 1:1 ratio of beef:turkey.  To that, we threw in 2 eggs, some garlic, some panko, salt, pepper, red pepper flakes, and fresh parsley.

Now's the fun party where you get all messy and mix it up by hand.  We formed them into balls and put them on the baking sheet, ready for the oven.

At the same time, we cut the squash in half and scooped out the guts.  Each half was rubbed with a little olive  oil, and sprinkled with some salt and pepper.  Then, everyone went into the sauna, aka the oven, to cook.  We also threw n some garlic for the garlic bread (that's what the little foil ball is).

 

Once the squash is soft, you just use 2 forks to pull the meat from the sides, and it just shreds into strands, like spaghetti.  Super simple.  And since we have bottomless stomachs, we each ate a half.

Now for the sauce...glorious, glorious pepperoni sauce.  Did you watch Top Chef All-Stars, when they were at Ellis Island and had to cook food inspired by their heritage?  I'll give you a brief recap of the highlights.  Mike Isabella came up with pepperoni sauce...basically a puree of pepperoni and tomato sauce...put it over chicken thighs, and Gail Simmons claimed it was the best thing she'd ever eaten.  How had no one thought of this sooner?!?!?  Once Graffiato opened, and chicken thighs with pepperoni sauce was on the menu, I had no choice but to order it.  The sauce certainly lived up to the hype.  Thankfully Chef Isabella included the recipe in his cookbook, and we can enjoy it at home.  Its super easy to make, and ridiculously good.  It makes quite a bit, and we've actually made 3 meals out of one batch of sauce.

Now, back to dinner.  We just piled everything into a bowl and were ready to eat!

I've been in a bit of a food coma for the last few hours, so its probably about time to head to bed and pass out.