CSA Mizuna with Indian Spiced Chickpeas

Well this was an especially rough week at work, as our biggest deadline of the year is June 15th.  The earliest we ate dinner was 9pm.  No natural daylight left even on one of the longest days of the year as evidenced in the photos!  As late as I may get dinner on the table, I prefer home cooking to takeout especially when I have beautiful CSA ingredients to use. 

I received another huge bunch of mizuna in my CSA box that I was determined to put to good use.  This is an ingredient that I had not previously used so I have been doing some experimenting.  I made it with orecchiette and sausage which was good but my family prefers broccoli rabe.  I also have added the mizuna to salads and made a stir fry.  My very favorite use for mizuna was added to Indian Spiced Chickpeas - so delicious!  I served the chickpeas as a side with Martha Stewart's Indian Spiced Chicken burgers (from Everday Food: Great Food Fast) on garlic naan but this could easily be a vegetarian main course.  I had the leftovers for lunch the next day.  Perfect! 

Indian Spiced Chickpeas
Adapted from http://www.god-dess.com/services_recipesMay03.html

2 cans chickpeas – drained and rinsed
¼ c oil
1 c finely-diced onion
1 inch finely minced peeled ginger root
4 cloves minced garlic
1 t turmeric
1 t ground coriander
1 t ground cumin
1 t salt
1 chopped jalapeno – seeded and diced
1 14.5 oz. canned diced tomatoes - drained
2 T lemon juice
1/2 c water
3 cups coarsely chopped mizuna
1 c yogurt
1 c fresh cilantro, coarsely chopped

Add the oil to a large skillet over medium heat and sauté the onions until softened. Next add the garlic, ginger, jalapeno and spices and cook for about a minute. Next add the chickpeas, tomatoes, lemon juice and water. Cover and simmer for 15 minutes. Stir in the mizuna and cook until wilted. Lastly stir in the yogurt and chopped cilantro.

Weekend Eats at the Jersey Shore - Crab Shack Brick, NJ

I love this time of year and I love eating outside on the patio - sans the annoying flies!  This weekend we enjoyed some local seafood - steamed crabs and grilled clams.  We got the crabs already steamed and seasoned from The Crab Shack in Brick, NJ.  The place is really a shack as its name implies but has some great local crabs and other seafood at reasonable prices.  I find it charming that you can dine at wooden tables right next to big bushels of live crabs!  We also picked up a couple of dozen little neck clans to grill up.  I love that the clams tell you when they are done.  Simply place them on a hot grill and once they open up, they are done - no guesswork involved.  Serve them with a little drawn butter and enjoy!  The crabs are a little messy and involve a little work, but are so good. 

I  also made homemade barbecued pulled pork sandwiches for the first time and they were just delicious.  I may insult Southerners who can make great traditional pulled pork but I was happy with the results.   I bought a boneless pork shoulder, brined it overnight (in a Ziploc), then seasoned it with a dry spice rub, popped it in  the crock pot with Emeril's wet mop sauce and after six hours on low we had perfect crumbly and delicious pork.  The weather was so hot, that it was nice to use the crock pot and not heat up the whole kitchen.  I mixed the pulled pork with Hoboken Eddie's barbecue sauce and served it on a roll topped with coleslaw.  As much as we had of the pork, it sure disappeared fast!  Delicious! 

The dry rub and brine solution are from the blog kevinandamanda.com.  Thank you!
Dry Rub
1 tbsp ground cumin
1 tbsp garlic powder
1 tbsp onion powder
1 tbsp chili powder
1 tbsp cayenne pepper
1 tbsp salt
1 tbsp ground pepper
1 tbsp paprika
1/2 cup brown sugar

Brine Solution (I halved the recipe)

1/4 cup salt
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 qts cold water
1 1/2 tbsp dry rub mix
1 bay leaf

Eureka! Farm Fresh Eggs in Monmouth County, NJ

Eggs fresh from a farm are so good!  If you buy supermarket eggs please do yourself a favor and try them from a local farm or farmers market.  You won't be sorry!  The yolks are a deep yellow, and the taste and texture are great.   I used to travel quite far to buy fresh eggs but just discovered a farm right on my way home from work on Red Hill Road in Middletown, NJ.  There is a small, hand painted sign on the side of the road just past the entrance to the Parkway South.  I love traveling back roads - you never know what you will find! 

For years, many have been foregoing the delicious yolks in eggs, hence the ever popular egg white omelets.  I recently read an interesting article in Cooking Light which relieves any guilt associated with enjoying whole eggs.  Eggs are so versatile, nutritious, and delicious - perfect for a meatless Monday! 

Random CSA Box Recipes and a Duck Rescue

Well, I really enjoyed my first week of CSA vegetables.  Tonight I get to put the box out on the porch for week 2.  I am so excited to see what I'll receive.  Below are a couple of the ways that I prepared the vegetables this week.  I  also made a delicious stir fry with the mizuna but it was too dark for good pictures.   

Quinoa Salad with Pickled Radishes and Feta

This was such a light, refreshing, and healthful salad.  I had the leftovers for lunch today - delicious! 

Strawberry Salad with Honey Balsamic Vinaigrette
CSA spring mix, almonds, feta, and fresh strawberries

My daughter Cailyn's favorite salad dressing:

Honey Balsamic Dressing
Allrecipes.com

Ingredients

1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup olive oil
1 teaspoon soy sauce

Directions

Whisk together the vinegar, honey, olive oil, and soy sauce until the honey has dissolved, and the dressing is smooth.
 
 

We had some unexpected Memorial Day guests in our pool.
Don't worry!  My husband Matt rescued all of the baby ducks. 

CSA Vegetables - Asparagus, Radishes, and Chives

When looking for inspiration on how to prepare our CSA vegetables, I poured through cookbooks, my latest food magazines, and searched some of my favorite food sites.   One of my go-to sites is foodandwine.com.  They have a great advanced search that has steered me in the right direction many times.  My daughter Ashley was helping with the search and came across this recipe on foodandwine.com.  She searched for orecchiette, asparagus, and goat cheese since we had all of those ingredients on hand.  I went a little crazy and bought a bunch of DeCecco orecchiette because my local grocery store hasn't carried it in a long time and suddenly it was back, and on sale.  I also bought goat cheese at Costco - so you know that we had plenty.  Oh, and of course we had the gorgeous, fresh asparagus from my CSA box.  The bonus is this recipe also uses chives which were also in my CSA box. 

With delicious fresh produce and recipes like this one, I could easily, and I mean easily, become vegetarian.  My family loved this pasta!  Easy, healthy, and delicious - just perfect!  I later noticed that this recipe is on the list of Food & Wines users' 30 favorite recipes list.  This would be perfect for a "Meatless Monday".  The only changes I made were to up the amount of goat cheese (I know- very bad - but it was so good!) and I also added fresh chive flowers. 

 I served the pasta with herbed butter and radish crostinis.  I had come across an Ina Garten recipe for herbed butter served with whole radishes and toasted French bread.  Stacey, of Stacey Snacks (another go-to site), suggested sliced radishes served on bread with a "swipe of butter".  Stacey is an expert, so I knew that butter, bread, and radishes were the way to go!  I decided to add some herbs (dill, scallions, and parsley) to my butter, and serve it on crostini with sliced radishes.  Just delicious! 

Creamy Goat Cheese and Asparagus Orecchiette
Recipe by Scott Conant
Food & Wine Magazine

Ingredients


3/4 pound orecchiette
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 medium red onion, finely diced
3/4 pound medium asparagus spears, cut into 1/2-inch lengths
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons fresh goat cheese (I used 4 tablespoons)
1 tablespoon snipped chives

Freshly grated Parmesan cheese, for serving

Directions

1.In a large pot of boiling salted water, cook the orecchiette until just al dente. Drain the orecchiette, reserving 2/3 cup of the cooking water.

2.Meanwhile, in a large, deep skillet, heat the olive oil until shimmering. Add the onion and cook over moderately low heat until softened, about 5 minutes. Add the asparagus and crushed red pepper and cook over moderate heat until crisp-tender, about 5 minutes.

3.Add the orecchiette and the reserved cooking water to the skillet along with the lemon juice and zest; season with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring, until the orecchiette is al dente and the asparagus is just tender, about 2 minutes. Add the goat cheese and chives and stir until melted. Transfer the pasta to bowls and serve with Parmesan cheese.

My First CSA Box

I received my first CSA box today!  It was like Christmas morning!  What's in the box?

Asparagus
Chives (with blossoms)
Mizuna
Radishes
Zesty Salad Mix (Red Russian Kale, Arugula, Baby Red Leaf Lettuce, Baby Green Leaf Lettuce)
Scallions (Yellow)

Now the fun part - what to make?  I would love suggestions especially regarding the radishes and mizuna.

Fresh Picked New Jersey Strawberries

Did you know that a serving of fresh strawberries contains 140% of your recommended daily allowance of Vitamin C? They also contain flavonoids which help lower bad cholesterol. Better yet, they are low in calories and just delicious!  Enjoy them when they are available locally.   These are a few of the ways that I have been enjoying the fresh berries:

Fresh Picked Strawberries from Cedar Hill Farms, Red Hill Road, Middletown, NJ     $5.50/qt.

Sourdough French Toast topped with fresh strawberries - scrumptious! 

Chocolate Covered Strawberries made with Valrhona Dark Chocolate - oh my!