August 7: Julie & Julia Opens!

I'm a food geek, but I can't wait to see Julie & Julia, the new movie based on the book about a food blogger's attempt to cook every recipe in Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking. Anything with Meryl Streep is bound to be amazing! It's like Christmas for foodies!

this week's menu

It was a two-basket trip to the market this week. Pickle wanted to be carried half-way through our circuit, so the stroller took over as a cart for all of our goodies. The weather is finally getting warm again and with that a return to more summery cooking. Our menu this week is loaded with vegetables – some more successfully executed than others (more on that in a later post).

We picked up kale from our favorite heirloom tomato vendor who sells other gorgeous produce when her tomatoes are ripening (her red-skinned potatoes are also divine). I asked her when the first tomatoes will be at the market and she promised this coming Saturday! So, some tomato- and, hopefully, corn-heavy menus will be coming soon!

At the Market
Baby zucchini
Baby Yukon golds
Banana peppers
Blueberries
Carrots
Cilantro
English peas, shelled
Gentle Breeze honey
Green-leaf lettuce
Golden beets
Italian flat-leaf parsley
Kale
Raspberries
Sweet cherries

Pickle the picky eater?!
Pickle has decided not to like any of the food he used to scarf down. Anything in sandwich form will pass his lips, but the batch of gorgeous spinach-ricotta ravioli I just cooked up is barely getting a glance; tragic, indeed.

Here are some sandwiches I’ve been experimenting with (all are on toasted six-grain bread):
Scrambled egg, melted cheese, avocado and yogurt-curry sauce (Greek yogurt, Madras curry powder, squeeze of lemon juice, pinch of salt and pepper to taste)
Almond butter, mashed bananas, Organic Valley cream cheese
Fried egg (cooked yolk), green-leaf lettuce and veggie-herb cream cheese spread (softened cream cheese, yellow roasted peppers, parsley, cilantro blitzed in food processor)
Roasted zucchini and purple bell peppers with melted Cedar Grove Cheddar and garlic-herb chevre
Up next: roasted beet and goat cheese

Menu: week of 26 July 2009
Sunday: Grilled sirloin steak sandwiches on toasted sourdough rolls with chimichurri (parsley, cilantro, garlic, red pepper flakes, red wine vinegar, olive oil, salt and pepper, blitzed in the food processor)
Monday: Holley's garlicky sautéed kale on ricotta bruschetta
Tuesday: Farfalle with green beans in a mint-pea pesto
Wednesday: Roasted zucchini and purple bell peppers with melted Cedar Grove Cheddar and garlic-herb chevre with roasted Yukon golds
Thursday: Chicken burgers with quick pickles and romesco sauce on whole-wheat buns and served with a roasted beet salad
Friday: Pizza with sautéed banana peppers and Fraboni’s sausage

One last item for the ladies: a great little article on the how and why of eating organic (it says you can drink red wine, so I’m buying it!): http://blogs.webmd.com/health-ehome/2009/07/5-organic-foods-every-woman-should-eat.html?ecd=wnl_lbt_072909

this week's menu

While fall may have arrived in Madison this weekend (it was 68 degrees and cloudy), our CSA delivery was summer in a box! I can't wait to cook this week; I need some kitchen therapy to recover from last week's horrendousness at work. Know that bumper sticker that reads, "Mean People Suck”? Well, they really do!

But enough about that — time for the good stuff. Our Driftless Organics CSA box contained lots of goodies from all corners of the world. Italy was heavily represented with gorgeous cippolini onions, zucchini, Chioggia beets and basil. We’ll be hitting India with some curried cauliflower (aloo gobi); China with some lo mein and stir-fried green beans; France with some freshly ground sausage patties seasoned with herbes de Provence and served with cabbage sautéed in beurre noisette (aka brown butter). We’ll be heading across the border with some escabèche-style veggies that are great with a cold beer and some tortilla chips. Hopefully work won’t get in the way of cooking this week and I’ll have lots to share.

In our CSA box:
Basil
Broccoli
Cauliflower
Cippolini onions
Cucumbers
Collard Greens
Dill
Fresh Garlic
Green Beans
Garnet and Chioggia beets
Green Zucchini
Pickling Cucumbers
Red Cabbage
Red Romaine Lettuce

Menu: week of 19 July 2009
Sunday: Day of rest (even a foodie needs a day off)
Monday: Curried cauliflower with basmati rice
Tuesday: Garlicky sautéed collards on fresh ricotta bruschetta with roasted beet salad
Wednesday: Stir-fried green beans with spicy ground turkey
Thursday: Caramelized cippolini and zucchini pizza with chevre and oregano
Friday: Fresh garlic lo mein with stir-fried sesame broccoli topped with a fried egg
Saturday: Homemade sausage with sautéed red cabbage in beurre noisette
Extra, Extras! Escabèche-style pickled veggies, zucchini bread and a big batch of pesto for the freezer

What’s on the menu at your house? I would love to know what you’re cooking this week!

Guess who's coming to dinner? Plus, this week's menu

My sister Holley and brother-in-law Jason were in town this weekend for a visit. Since Holley is as obsessed with food as I am, we cooked up one heck of a feast on Saturday, taking most of our inspiration from Suzanne Goin’s fabulous cookbook, Sunday Suppers at Lucques. Not for the meek or mild, this cookbook is a challenging set of menus that make the most of each season’s bounty. We bought what was in season at the market and then looked to her cookbook to see what we could make. The only substitutions we needed were fennel for artichokes and strawberries for peaches. Not bad considering she is from L.A. and we're in Madison, WI.

Here’s our menu:
To start: Braised mustard greens bruschetta with fresh ricotta – this is a recipe Holley has created … goes perfect with a couple of IPAs (or so my brother-in-law tells me). I’ll share the recipe in an upcoming post.
First course: Curried pea soup with crème fraîche and mint
Second course: Grilled skirt steak with fennel and all-red potato hash, black-olive aioli and arugula
Dessert: Cornmeal shortcakes with strawberries, mint and crème fraîche
To drink: Mojitos and Taval Rosé

At the market
Basil
Beets
Carrots
Oak-leaf lettuce
Parsley
Raspberries
Red onions
Strawberries
Swiss chard
Baby zucchini

Menu: week of 12 July 2009
Sunday: Leftover lamb meatballs and spaghetti from dinner @ Lombardino’s
Monday: Leftover skirt steak with black-olive aioli, all-red potato and fennel hash; curried pea soup
Tuesday: Cumin-scented roasted beets and carrots with almond-chickpea hummus and whole-wheat naan
Wednesday: Homemade macaroni and cheese with sautéed Swiss chard
Thursday: Pizza with baby zucchini and goat cheese with a salad of baby greens

Wherever they’re from … they’re good

I think just about every cuisine has a meatball recipe — albóndigas (Spain), koftë (Turkey), polpette (Italy), frikadeller (Finland), bakso (Indonesia), gehaktbal (Netherlands), bola-bola (Philippines), Fleischlaibchen (Austria), köttbullar (Sweden), faggot (UK, seriously), pulpety (Poland), just to name a few.

My favorite ball of meat is the koftë – those wonderful spice- and herb-filled delights that hit the spot every time. While my favorite method of cooking koftë is to grill them, I live in Wisconsin so the grilling season is a short one and I want these puppies all year round. Because of this, I have come up with a baked version that, while lacking in that glorious charred exterior, is still juicy and flavorful.

I serve them with a lemon-scented, herb-flecked Greek yogurt sauce, grilled/roasted veggies (asparagus; Juliette tomatoes – can’t wait till they are in season; zucchini; eggplant, etc.) or some crisp cucumbers, and grilled naan or pita. I could eat about 20 of them, but I restrain myself to about six or eight. Here’s the recipe:

Oven-baked Koftë
Serve 4-6 adults

Ingredients

Sauce:
1 cup plain Greek yogurt (preferably whole-milk, but 2% would suffice)
2 tablespoons chopped fresh mint
2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1 teaspoon grated lemon zest
Juice from ½ a lemon
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ freshly ground pepper

Koftë:
1 cup firm white bread, torn into small pieces
1 small onion (about 1 cup)
¼ cup loosely packed fresh parsley leaves
¼ cup loosely packed fresh mint leaves
1 lb ground lamb (from shoulder) – ground chuck or turkey thigh work well, too.
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon ground allspice
½ teaspoon cayenne
½ teaspoon cumin
¼ teaspoon cinnamon
¼ teaspoon black pepper
¼ cup pine nuts, toasted (I've also used pistachios)

Special equipment: If grilling, you will need 6 wooden skewers, soaked in cold water for 30 minutes or 6 metal skewers (no soaking needed).

Directions

Make the sauce:
Stir together yogurt, mint, cilantro, garlic, lemon zest and juice and salt in a small bowl and chill.

Make the meatballs:
Cover bread with water in a bowl and soak 15 minutes. Squeeze handfuls of bread to remove as much excess water as possible, and then transfer to a bowl.

In a food processor, pulse onion, herbs and pine nuts until finely chopped, then add to bread along with lamb, salt and spices. Mix with your hands until well blended. Using a small ice cream scoop, form lamb mixture into balls (a scant tablespoon each).

Assemble and cook koftë:
Prepare grill for cooking over medium-hot charcoal or preheat oven to 425 degrees.

To grill:Thread 6 meatballs ¼-inch apart onto each of 6 skewers. Grill koftë on oiled grill rack, until golden and just cooked through, 4 to 6 minutes.

To bake: On a Silpat-lined baking sheet, roll meatballs in extra virgin olive oil until lightly coated. Place them ½-inch apart and bake for 15-18 minutes until golden brown, flipping once during baking.

Serve piping hot with yogurt sauce.

red, white and berries

Happy 4th of July. Pickle has been sicker than a dog (such a strange expression; what does that mean, exactly?) and this weekend has been all about taking care of him and his poor, afflicted GI track until today: today he is finally feeling better and acting a little bit more like himself. Hurrah! That means he's taking a good nap and I am cooking up a storm. But first, here's what was in our CSA box this time:

In our CSA box:
all-red potatoes – red on the outside and pink on the inside (how cool!)
broccoli
chard
cilantro
flat-leaf parsley
garlic scapes
romaine lettuce
snow peas
strawberries
sugar-snap peas
yellow summer squash
zucchini

Menu: week of 4 July 2009
Saturday: 7-hour roasted pulled pork sandwiches with creamy cole slaw and corn bread
Sunday: burgers on the grill with quick zucchini pickles and roasted all-red potatoes
Monday: shredded pork tacos with avocado and green salsa with a cumin black-bean salad
Tuesday: beef and snow peas with steamed rice
Wednesday: roasted veggie pasta with cilantro-pumpkin seed pesto
Thursday: sesame soba noodles with steamed broccoli
Friday: day of rest

So, here's what I've been cooking this morning (when you're up at 5 a.m. you can get a lot done by 9:30):

Cream crackers with garlic and parsley – I really loathe giving Pickle things chocked full of preservatives, especially when I can make them at home. Store-bought crackers are culprits of the high-fructose corn syrup, calcium propionate, disodium EDTA preservative craze. I know that preservatives keep things fresh and I know that I've eaten my fair share of preservatives, but when you can easily avoid them, why not?

Chris was craving a donut this morning (I made him get some yesterday when he ran out for coffee filters; I know, bad), but instead of running out for more, I opted to make some buttermilk biscuits with fresh ricotta and a quick strawberry "jam." How good does that sound? Better than a donut!

The buttermilk biscuits are from Marc Bittman's How to Cook Everything, the ricotta is Grande Ricotta Del Pastaio (Wisconsin-made) and the jam is something I made up.

The jam utilizes some gnarly strawberries that we got in our CSA box last week. While they taste good, they weren't so pretty so I blitzed them in the mini food processor and cooked them down until they were thick and shiny.

Quick Strawberry Jam
Ingredients
1 cup stemmed and halved strawberries
2 tablespoons sugar
a pinch of salt

Directions

In the bowl of a food processor, place berries and sugar. Pulse until nice and chunky (about 5, 1-second pulses). Scrape contents into a small saucepan and cook over medium heat until reduced and thick and glossy.

Cool slightly. Spoon onto biscuits, ice cream, pound cake, yogurt ... yum.