Getaway Weekend with Foodies

Last weekend, my husband and I took a trip with friends into the mountains of PA.  It was wonderful to get away, and we all soaked up the time relaxing...and eating!  We had fantastic fare...from Persian the first night to poached eggs for breakfast one morning and quiche the next.  I realized when I got home that I didn't take enough pictures of food!

We were in charge of dinner one night, and we had fun with it.  For the weekend we packed up an entire box of Farm Share produce to cook with: grapefruit and oranges for fruit salad one morning, greens, peppers, and potatoes for dinner.  We didn't end up actually using everything we brought, but we had plenty to feed a cabin of 6 people for at least a couple meals.

For the dinner we were in charge of, my husband smoked an 8-lb. brisket (our first purchase at Savenor's, one of the best places to find local, grass-fed beef in Boston).   He takes no credit for the skill involved in smoking meat, but every time he does it the results are amazing.

With the brisket we sautéed some green and red swiss chard (from our Farm Share).  I also cooked a casserole of spicy mac & cheese and baked slivers of beets and sweet potatoes for a side of "chips" (beets and potatoes also from our Farm Share).

Our sweet potato and beet chips.

Sautéed Swiss Chard

There's really no recipe we follow, but in general, when cooking these bitter, leafy greens, you want to cut out the stems from the leaf.  In a pan, sauté a yellow onion in olive oil (the proportion of onion to chard depends on personal taste and the volume of greens with which you are cooking), add some garlic (2-3 minced cloves), then add the stems.  Once the stems have begun to cook through add the leafy greens.  I typically throw in some water, or broth if I have it, to let the greens soften and steam, and then cook for 8-10 minutes.

A more formal recipe for this same approach to cooking chard can be found here, on Epicurious.com.

Sweet Potato and Beet Chips

I was going to attempt to fry these, but my friend had the brilliant idea of baking them.  

Slice the sweet potatoes and beets on a mandoline at 1/16" thickness.  Next, toss the slices in olive oil and arrange on baking sheets (so as they are not touching) and bake in the oven at 450 degrees (they turn crispy in about 5 minutes, but keep your eye on them so as not to burn them).

I made the mistake tossing the potato and beet slices in a mixture of salt and finely chopped rosemary before baking them.  They ended up being too salty.  Instead, toss the chips in a salt mixture after they have been baked and cooled.  

The idea to do sweet potato and been chips was from our Farm Share newsletter.  Thank you!