Sunday French Toast

A loaf of whole wheat bread from the farmers' market down the street with Farm Share apples and raspberries makes a great Sunday brunch meal!

Lazy Day French Toast

Ingredients

4 slices of bread

3 eggs

Splash of milk

1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

1 tbs. brown sugar

1 tsp. cinnamon (or to taste)

(These ingredients yield enough batter for four pieces of relatively stale bread.  The more porous or "stale" the bread is, the more it will soak up the egg batter.  If the bread you use is fresher, this batter may cover a couple more pieces.)

Preparation

Whisk together all ingredients.  Take each slice of bread, one by one, and dip into the egg batter, covering the slice liberally.  On medium heat, cook the slices on a large pan (I usually end up cooking one by one, but if you have a griddle you could do more!), flipping as frequently as necessary to cook the bread through while browning the outside without burning.

Gorgeous Summer Tomatoes

I love tomatoes in the summer!  Look at these gorgeous specimens, yummmmy.  The first picture is a tomato from our Farm Share, the bottom is a couple heirloom tomatoes we picked up at the farmer's market that is down the street from us.  These were so delicious, and I just love the vibrant colors--vibrant colors to match the simply delicious vibrant flavor.

Heirloom Tomatoes with Cucumber and Feta

I hit up a local Farmers' Market after work one day and found some really beautiful heirloom tomatoes.  Deep purple and red, they added a a punch of different color to an otherwise very simple tomato and cucumber salad.

Tomato and Cucumber Salad

Ingredients

2 cucumbers, sliced in quarters

2-3 tomatoes, diced

8-10 basil leaves, thinly sliced

Healthy serving of feta, crumbled 

Red wine vinegar, to taste (I would guess that I use almost 1/4 c. in this recipe)

Salt and pepper

Preparation

Simply toss all ingredients in a large bowl and serve fresh.

(Oh Baby!) Bok Choy

The recipe I posted previously for Ginger-Garlic Bok Choy is one of our absolute favorites.  Its a delicious, healthy dish that is light yet incredibly flavorful and satisfying.  While we love it, that is the recipe we have used every time we cook bok choy, so we wanted to do something different this time around.  With the gorgeous Boston weather (reaching 70 degrees yesterday!) it feels like Springtime and we celebrated by firing up the grill.  The recipe below was SO good and different from what we normally make.  The peanut sauce was easy to prepare and wonderfully flavorful.

The bok choy was from our Farm Share and the shrimp from Maine.

The spread before going on the grill (the bok choy is tied with kitchen string because we accidentally cut off the bottoms).  The delicious peanut sauce to the left.

On the grill.

The finished product, delicious!!

Grilled Shrimp Satay with Peaches and Bok Choy
(From Bon Appétit)

Ingredients
6 tbs. smooth natural peanut butter, stirred to comine
1/3 c. (packed) dark brown sugar
3 tbs. seasoned rice vinegar
2 tbs. soy sauce
2-3 tsp. hot chili paste (such as sambal oelek)
9 tbs. peach nectar, divided
3 peaches or nectarines, each cut into 6 wedges
16 uncooked large shrimp, peeled, deveined
6 heads of baby bok choy, halved lengthwise

Preparation
Prepare barbecue (medium-high heat).  Whisk first 5 ingredients and 5 tbs. nectar until smooth; season sauce with pepper.  (A tip from me: if you have a hand immersion blender, it worked wonders to blend the sauce.  The peanut butter we make tends to be dryer than most store-bought peanut butters, so blending it helped to get out all the clumps, resulting in a smooth and consistently-flavored sauce.)

Arrange peaches, shrimp, and bok choy on grill.  Brush with 4 tbs. nectar; brush lightly with 1/4 c. sauce.  Sprinkle with salt and pepper.  Grill until peaches are slightly charred, shrimp are just opaque in center, and bok choy halves are just tender, about 2 min. per side for peaches and 3 min. per side for shrimp and bok choy.

Mound shrimp, bok choy, and peaches on platter.  Drizzle with some sauce.  Serve with remaining sauce.

Parsley Pesto Pasta with Sundried Tomatoes, Mushrooms, Green Swiss Chard and Shrimp

We receive parsley somewhat frequently in our Farm Share, and I have to be honest that I haven't done much with it.  I did some recipe searching, which lead me to parsley pesto.  We had shrimp we needed to cook and the parsley pesto seemed like a good fit, so we went with it.  To use more Farm Share ingredients we also added our green Swiss chard.  I wasn't sure how the pesto and chard would work in the pasta, but it turned out really well!  I think the lemony fresh parsley flavor and ricotta added a nice balance to both the shrimp and dark leafy green.  I imagine it would work great with chicken, too.

Parsley Pesto

(recipe from Epicurious.com)

Ingredients

2 c. (packed) fresh Italian parsley leaves (from 2 bunches)

1/4 c. extra-virgin olive oil

2 tbs. pine nuts, toasted

2 tbs. fresh lemon juice

2 tbs. water

1 small garlic clove, peeled.

Directions

Blend all ingredients together in food processor until almost smooth.  Season with salt and pepper.  (I would like to note that I used 1 bunch of parsley and added about 1 c. ricotta.  I thought the parsley flavor was strong enough with the 1 c. parsley and ricotta, so you may want to start with 1 c. and add more if you prefer a stronger parsley flavor.  We only used about 2/3 of the total pesto volume in our pasta.)

Chard in pasta?  Not knowing how this dark leafy green would blend with the rest of the flavors, we threw it in simply to use it and it turned out better than expected!

For preparation, you can follow directions I previously posted (the Non-Recipe Recipe for Cooking Kale), or look here on Epicurious for more specific but similar directions.  We did the same thing here where we separated the leaves from the stalks, chopped up the stalks and sautéed in olive oil with onion and garlic.  Once the stalks are softened, we threw them and the onions in a pan with the chopped chard leaves and sautéed for another 3-5 minutes.

The pasta was boiled and strained with about six chopped sundried tomatoes.  Once the greens were cooked through a little bit, the pasta and sundried tomatoes were added, along with the shrimp and mushrooms.  This was cooked until the shrimp started to turn pink, then pesto was added, and then all ingredients were further cooked until the shrimp were done, about another 5 minutes.  

And the finished product!  Our shrimp were from Maine--not quite sure if that qualifies as  local--but in New England everything seems so close, we'll call them local fare.  Parsley, onion, and green Swiss chard were from our Farm Share.  Thanks for another delicious dinner (and lunch for the next day)!

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!

New England Mussels

One thing that's great about living in New England is the access to delicious fresh shellfish and seafood.  You don't really get that in Nashville (where we lived before moving here).  I've only cooked with mussels once before--I made a Bouillabaisse from Magnolia's cookbook--that turned out amazingly.  This time we happened to have all the ingredients to make this recipe.  I am now convinced that you really can't go wrong cooking mussels.

Steamed Mussels with Coconut Milk and Thai Chiles

Recipe from Food & Wine.

Ingredients
4 garlic cloves, coarsely chopped
2 Thai chiles, thickly sliced
1 1/2-inch piece of fresh ginger, peeled and coarsely chopped
1 c. cilantro leaves
Finely grated zest of 1 lime
1/4 c. extra-virgin olive oil
2 13 1/2-ounce cans unsweetened coconut milk
Juice of 2 limes
Salt
1 11-12 oz. bottle lager
5 lbs. mussels, scrubbed

Directions
1. In a food processor, combine the garlic, chiles, ginger, cilantro, lime zest and olive oil and process to a paste; transfer to a large bowl.  Whisk in the coconut milk and lime juice and season with salt.

2. In a large soup pot, bring the lager to a boil over high heat.  Boil until reduced to 1/2 c., about 7 minutes.  Add the mussels, cover and cook, shaking the pot a few times, until the mussels just begin to open, about 4 minutes.

3. Uncover the mussels and stir in the coconut milk mixture.  Cover and cook, shaking the pot a few times, until all of the mussels open, about 8 minutes.  Spoon the mussels and broth into bowls and serve.

The recipe can be prepared through Step 1 and refrigerated overnight.

We served this with a salad made from our Farm Share produce.  Delicious!