Gláucia Mir | artist » recipe

CSA Week 4

glaucia — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 00:34:07 +0000

This is becoming as much a food blog, as anything else.

For the 4th week now, we’re starting to get overwhelmed by this amount of greens, though I have to say, we’re probably eating the healthiest ever…. I love the convenience of getting super fresh veggies, all in a span of 5 minutes, and not having to pick out anything myself. It’s all there, already in a box. All I have to do is divvy with Sue, and then start to plan my meals.

I’m finding that sharing the “whole share” was the best decision we could have made. It’s just right for our family of four. If I use one item everyday, or combine a couple smaller items, we pretty much have one thing every week. Now, if you’re a vegetarian, or you cook 3 meals a day, the whole share would work better, but this way, we’re either having a salad, or a side or main dish made with veggies. It’s awesome!

This week we had(my half)…

napa cabbage
swiss chard
2 beets
2 endive
a pickle
escarole
romaine lettuce
and huge spring onions!!!
snow peas(Sue kept them)
tiny broccoli(Sue kept it)

I had some cabbage left over from last week, and today I had time for cooking. So, I decided to tackle a more adventurous recipe. I found it in Napa Cabbage Gratin, thanks to Slashfood. You can look there for the recipe.

I forgot to add the nutmeg, but it was de-lish anyhow. The cabbage gets sweet and tender. I added a little half and half, because I had a large amount of cabbage, and not enough cream. My non-picky son really liked it. It was our side dish, but could easily have been a main dish for a vegetatian meal.

I’m really excited about roasting the beets, and also using the beet greens as I do spinach. I’ll keep you posted on the results. In the mean time, go make something yummy.

I hope next week we start getting some veggies with color. But who knows what will happen with the lack of sun we’re having…

Now that the boys are done with school, I will have a bit more time at home, and will hopefully come up with some other interesting dishes.

CSA Week 3

glaucia — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 08:20:03 +0000

This week has been so busy, I have barely had a chance to think, much less cook creatively. We also had a birthday(another blog entry) and several days of eating out.

The list of goods were:

strawberries(finished by the next day)
snow peas
cucumber
napa cabbage
endive lettuce
red lettuce
tuscan kale

Finally, yesterday, the last day of week 3, I was able to make something new and creative.

I made Roasted Butternut Squash and Kale Soup (Here’s the recipe I came up with after doing a little research…)

Ingredients:

1 medium/large butternut squash

1 large onion, chopped

4-6 strips of bacon, cut into small pieces

1 medium bunch of kale, cut into long thin strips

chicken broth( at least one carton)

1/4-1/2 cup of cream

Instructions:

Roast butternut squash( I did this a couple days ahead). Cut in half, remove seeds, brush on a little olive oil and roast in a 375 degree oven for 45minutes-1 hour. It should peel right off the skin and basically look like it’s been pureed. Set aside.

In a dutch oven or other heavy bottomed pan, cook the bacon. I like to cook it til it just starts to crisp up. Remove the bacon to a bowl with a paper towl to absorb the excess grease. Leaving the rest of fat in dutch oven, add chopped onion. Cook for about 7-10 minutes til onions are soft and translucent, on a medium heat.

Add kale, let it cook down and shrink and soften. This will also pick up all the brown bits from the bottom of the pan.

When the kale and onion are soft and gooey, add pureed squash. Stir it around a bit to get it incorporated with the other ingredients. Add chicken broth. Cover, and let it simmer. After a few minutes, check for thickness, add a good bit of salt and pepper, and taste. If it needs more liquid, add water. Let it simmer for a few more minutes, and at the last minute, add the cream. You can even use milk, or half and half, if you have no cream on hand. Give it a minute, for the cream to heat up, taste one more time, and serve. Garnish with fried bacon. Yummy!

The kids liked it! The roasted squash is really sweet.

canjica(hominy) with coconut on the crock-pot

glaucia — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 04:27:16 +0000

My mom gave me a package of canjica. It’s hard to explain what it is in English, but the best explanation I found was on wiki-pedia. It’s the whole germ of the corn, dried. Actually, tons of stuff is made from corn, from all parts of the corn, in Brazil.
anyway, my mom has always made canjica for me, and I love it. It’s a great winter-time dessert, and or hearty breakfast. I had never made it myself, so, I started looking for recipes, and asked my mom what she thought about cooking it in the crock-pot, since most of the recipes called for it to soak overnight. I figured it would work like beans. She thought it might, though she’d never tried it herself. I figured I was adventurous enough to give it a try. Lo and behold, it worked beautifully!!
Here’s my recipe…
1 package of “canjica de milho”
2 cans of sweet condensed milk(or 1 can or sweet condensed, and one of coconut milk)
2 cups of milk
3(or more) sticks of cinnamon
20(approx.) cloves
1 bag of shredded sweetened coconut
ground cinnamon to taste

In a large crock-pot, put 2 quarts of water and the package of canjica. Turn it on low, and forget about it.
About 5 or 6 hours later, check it for taste. It should taste soft and chewy, sorta like al dente pasta. There should be some water at the bottom still, but most of it will have been absorbed by the corn.
At this point, add the cans of sweet condensed milk, and the regular milk. Also add the cinnamon sticks and the cloves(in a cheese cloth or in a tea infuser) and the shredded coconut. Try to work quickly, in order to lose as little heat from the pot as possible. Stir it all in, and close it up again.
Put it on high, and let it start to bubble. About an hour and a half later, this should be ready to serve. Give it a really good stir.
Pour it into a bowl, add some powdered cinnamon and some peanuts on top.
Enjoy!
Some other tips:

If you try it, let me know how it turned out, and if you like it!

Thanks Pink Bites for a good canjica recipe in English measurements for me to go from; and for enlightening me to other brazilian recipes.

fresh bread

glaucia — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 18:56:29 +0000

There’s something about fresh bread that is just intoxicating.

Even more so, is making fresh bread yourself. And then, if you can turn out a loaf that rivals the bakery, then you’re really in for a trip!

About a month ago, I was reading about nearby farm, and a blog associated with it. The people writing the blog are writing about the vegetables they are getting weekly from the farm, and what they are making with it.

In one of their entries, they mentioned an apparently famous internet phenomenon, the no-knead bread.

New York Times’ No-knead Bread

Yeah, I had never heard of it either, so I went on a search to find out what it’s all about. There I go, spending more time online than I should, but yet, finding such a treasure can be merited.

I also came across another site, Breadtopia, which is really helpful with more videos of the bread making process, as well as other variations, and other people’s attempts, and their comments.

Anyway, I tried it 2 times now. The first time, I think the yeast I was using wasn’t very active, and kinda old, so the bread was good, but it didn’t rise much.

The second time, the result was entirely different, and it was delicious, and it looked every bit as good as other bakery bread.

See?!

Yup, I made this! And it was super yummy.

Anyway, I pretty much followed the Breadtopia’s recipe, with a few variations.

Here’s my take:

2 cups white bread flour

1 cup whole wheat flour

1/4 teaspoon instant yeast(it might be called “breadmachine” yeast, but don’t use active dry yeast, or rapid yeast)

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

1 1/2 cup purified(bottled) room temperature water

How to prepare:

Mix all the dry ingredients first. Then pour the water in and mix it together until a wet dough forms.

Cover your bowl with a plastic bag, and let it sit on your counter for at least 12 hours, but 18 hours is best.

The dough will have risen considerably!!

Once the time’s up, generously flour your work area. Put the dough over the floured area, and spread it out into a big oval. Fold it into 3, and then once over itself. Cover it with seran wrap, and let it rest for 15 minutes.

While waiting, get another large-ish bowl, baste it lightly with olive oil, (and in my case, I dusted it lightly with wheat bran, but it’s not a necessity).

Once the 15 minutes have passed, grab the dough and form it lightly into a ball, and put it into your oiled bowl, and cover it with a cotton towel. Let it sit for about an hour and a half.

When there’s about a half hour left, turn your oven on to 475 F( I might try 500 with my next loaf) and put your dutch oven with the lid(or other covered pot) in the oven, so it can get hot as well.

When everything is piping hot in the oven, pull your pot to the edge, grab your dough and carefully(don’t burn yourself!) put the dough, which will have risen again, in the pot. (Watch the video above, and you’ll see what I mean.) And cover the pot again!

Bake for 25-30 minutes, remove the lid, and bake for another 10-15 minutes.

You’ll be amazed at the results.

Let it cool a little in a cooling rack, and then cut into it!

It’s awesome with some butter!

And now, I will go eat a slice, before I have to pick up the boys.

Let me know of your questions or attempts, and I’ll let you know of mine!