Fish Tacos, Asian Slaw, and Green Rice

At our favorite local beer bar, The Pickled Pig Pub, Joe and my favorite appetizer is the fish tacos. I'm not a huge fish eater, but these tacos are the exception. We decided to re-create them at home, and use our CSA produce to create condiments and side dishes. After looking at several recipes, we decided to use pollock. Other choices would have been haddock and cod since they hold up well with frying. To top our tacos we made a Mango-Radish Salsa from our CSA radishes and pico de gallo. We used our CSA Napa cabbage to create an Asian slaw and our CSA Russian kale to create green rice. We used small corn tortillas for our tacos.

Beer Battered Fish


1 lb. pollock (cut into 2 inch pieces)
1/2 c. flour
1 tbsp. cornstarch
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 egg
1/2 c. beer

Heat oil in a deep pan. Have about 1/2 inch to an inch of oil in the pan. Peanut oil is the ideal for frying but we used vegetable oil. Have extra flour in a dish. Dust each piece of fish with flour then cover with batter. Put the fish (a few at a time) in the oil and fry for about 3/5 minutes on each side. Try one out first to check your temperatures. When done put the fish on a towel-covered plate and continue until all the fish is fried.

Mango-Radish Salsa
(from Eating Well In Season cookbook)

3 c. diced mango (2 large)
1/4 c. chopped cilantro
1 tbsp. lime juice
1/4 tsp. salt
1 c. diced radishes (about 1 small bunch)

Mix the mango, cilantro, lime juice, and salt in a bowl. Add the radishes just before serving.

Pico de Gallo

12 oz.  fresh ripe tomatoes

1/2 med. onion

3 tbsp. lime juice

1/2 tsp. salt

handful of cilantro

dash of cumin 

salt/pepper

Dice the tomatoes and onion very finely.  Chop the cilantro. Mix all the ingredients 

together. Let it sit for a few minutes before serving so the flavors can meld together.

Asian Slaw with dressing

1/2 tsp. fresh ginger

3 tbsp. rice wine vinegar

1 tbsp. lime juice

1 tbsp. soy sauce

1/2 tsp. sugar

1/2 tsp. salt

1/4 c. oil

1/2 tsp. sesame oil

1/2 head of napa cabbage (cleaned and cut in to ribbons)

1/2 carrots (cut in to matchsticks)

Whisk the first 8 ingredients together in a bowl. Toss with the cabbage and carrots. Add scallions and cilantro to taste.

Green Rice 

(from My Father's Daughter cookbook)

1/2 lb. kale (cleaned and cut in to small ribbons)

1 1/2 tbsp. vegetable oil

2 cloves garlic (minced finely)

3 large scallions (chopped)

2 1/2 c. cooked brown rice

1 tbsp. plus 1 tsp. soy sauce

Steam the kale for about 7 minutes. Heat the oil in a large pan over medium-low heat. Add the garlic and cook for 2 minutes. Raise the heat to medium and add the kale and scallions, cook for about 2 minutes. Add the rice and cook for another 2 minutes. Add the soy sauce and cook for about a minute. Then serve. Make sure to stir the whole time you are adding ingredients to the pan so they do not burn. You can get away with using a bit more soy sauce. 

I have to be honest with you; when Joe and I sat down to eat this meal we high-fived (seriously). We were just so happy with the way everything turned out. The entire meal was light and refreshing. The fish was crispy and the pico de gallo had just the right amount of spice. The mango-radish salsa was the most surprising, as it was very refreshing. The sweet mangoes balanced out the peppery radishes. This would be a perfect meal to create for dinner guests. Everything but the fish can be made ahead of time and guests could build their own tacos based on their own tastes. Joe and I were very proud that everything was made from scratch (except the tortillas) and three out of the five parts of the meal utilized produce from our CSA. Summer dinner parties here we come!

Turnip Homefries and Beet/Turnip Greens

Turnips are a food I've only heard my mother, aunt, and grandmother talk about eating. I always thought I just wouldn't like turnips if I ever had the chance to eat them. So I must say I was not the least bit excited when turnips showed up in our CSA.  They were beautifully white but I still was wary of eating them.

All the recipes we looked up treated turnips just like potatoes. Most recipes involved either mashed turnips, or turnips cooked in a similar fashion to potatoes au gratin. Joe knows how much I love home fries, so he thought turnips would work well prepared that way. One morning this weekend he cooked brunch for us; an omelet, sauteed greens, and turnip home fries.

 Sauteed Beet/Turnip Greens
 2 pieces organic bacon
 beet greens
 turnip greens
 1 tsp. sugar

Cook the bacon in a saute pan to render the fat. While the bacon cooks, clean the greens well and tear in to small pieces. Put the bacon to the side. Wilt the greens in the fat for about 5-7 minutes. When finished, mix in the sugar and diced cooked bacon.

Turnip Home Fries
turnips (cleaned and chopped in to cubes)
butter
small onion (chopped)
minced garlic
dried rosemary

Boil the turnips until tender, then drain. Heat butter in a saute pan. Add the onion and garlic until the onion is softened. Saute the turnips with the onion and garlic until the turnips are browned. Add about 1 tsp of dried rosemary.

Well I have to admit, I was wrong about turnips. The home fries were the star of the brunch. They had a wonderful flavor; like a mix of a potato and a radish or parsnip. The greens were the best I've had so far from the CSA. The beet greens had a sweeter flavor and I love anything with bacon in it. My favorite part of Joe's brunch was that each vegetable was prepared in a way to highlight, not hide, its true flavor. With so many of the turnip recipes we looked at, it seemed that people were trying to mask the turnip flavor. The home fries definitely tasted like turnip. Turnips are no longer just an older person food.

Almond Cake with Strawberries

The third week of our CSA brought us radishes, russian kale, lettuce, beet greens, turnips, and more strawberries! I was expecting to get more strawberries so I already knew I wanted to do a dessert. I first thought it would be nice to make a classic strawberry shortcake, but once I started looking at recipes I wanted to try something different. On Epicurious I found a Toasted-Almond Cake with Strawberries recipe that looked delicious. Joe doesn't really like sweets but he's a fan of almond desserts so I thought it would be perfect. The recipe calls for rose water for soaking the strawberries. Joe had just made a Rose Water Wit beer that I thought would pair perfectly with the dessert. 
For cake:

• 3/4 cup whole almonds with skins (1/4 pound), toasted and cooled
• 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 4 large eggs, at room temperature 30 minutes
• 1 1/4 cups superfine granulated sugar
• 1 1/2 sticks (3/4 cup) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
• 1/3 cup whole milk
• 1/4 teaspoon almond extract
• 1/2 cup sliced almonds (2 ounces)

For strawberries and cream:

• 2 cups water
• 1 1/3 cups granulated sugar
• 6 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• 2 lb strawberries, trimmed and quartered lengthwise
• 1/2 teaspoon rose water or 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract, or to taste
• 1 1/2 cups chilled heavy cream

Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 350°F. Butter and flour cake pan, knocking out excess flour. (To make it easier to remove the cake from the pan I would line the pan with parchment paper.) With blender motor at high speed, add half of toasted almonds through top hole and finely grind (be careful not to grind to a paste). Transfer to a bowl and grind remaining almonds in same manner, transferring to bowl. Add flour, baking powder, and salt to ground almonds and whisk until combined well.

Beat eggs in a large bowl with an electric mixer at high speed until foamy, about 15 seconds, then add superfine sugar a little at a time, beating. Continue beating until mixture is thick, pale, and forms a ribbon when beater is lifted, 7 to 8 minutes in a stand mixer or 10 to 14 minutes with a handheld. (This seems like a really long time but it's necessary to get the cake light and airy). Add butter in a slow stream, beating, then add milk and almond extract and beat until just combined. Reduce speed to low, then add flour mixture, mixing until just combined.

Spread batter in pan, smoothing top, then sprinkle evenly with sliced almonds. Bake until top is golden, cake begins to pull away from side of pan, and a wooden pick inserted in center of cake comes out clean, 30 to 40 minutes. Cool cake in pan on a rack 30 minutes, then run a knife around edge to loosen and invert onto rack. Turn cake right side up on rack and cool completely, about 30 minutes more.

For strawberries in syrup, bring water, sugar, and lemon juice to a boil in a 2- to 3-quart saucepan, stirring until sugar is dissolved. Then boil, uncovered, until reduced to about 2 cups, 8 to 10 minutes. Transfer syrup to a bowl and cool completely. Stir in strawberries and rose water (I used vanilla instead) and macerate (which means soak) at room temperature 30 minutes.

Beat cream in a large bowl with cleaned beaters until it holds soft peaks. I added about a tablespoon of superfine sugar and a splash of vanilla to make the cream sweeter. 

The dessert definitely had a lot of steps to follow. I was happy with the end result but would make some changes for next time. The cake burned a little around the edge and was hard to get out of the pan. Lining the pan with parchment paper would help. The strawberry syrup was delicious and since I had some left over I used it on my waffles the next day. I would make this dessert again, especially for a bigger group of people since it does get a little dry after being in the fridge for a day or two. This reminded me how different baking is than cooking, since baking measurements need to be exact. I look forward to more baking this summer. Cheers!

Pickled Radishes

This year Joe and I have been determined to make our own pickles. Growing up my Grandma's pickled green beans were my favorite treat. My parents said I loved pickles from the first sour bite I took when I was little. Earlier this year we attempted to create pickles, but were quite unsuccessful.

When we saw 2 bunches of radishes in our CSA, we were a little unsure what to do with them. Yes radishes go great on salads, but there are only so many salads you can make in a week. The radishes were beautiful pinks, purples, and white. They were much bigger than store bought radishes, which gave them a much stronger peppery taste. Joe brought up the idea of turning them in to to pickles, which would mellow the strong flavor, preserve the gorgeous colors, and provide us with some pickling practice.

Pickled Radishes
3 lg. carrots (peeled and sliced)
6 lg, radishes (sliced)
3 c. water
2 tbsp. raw cane sugar
3 tbsp. white vinegar (rice vinegar would be preferable)
2 tbsp. pickling salt
1/2 tsp. ground ginger
3 stalks lemongrass
1 bayleaf

Mix the salt, sugar, ginger, lemongrass, bayleaf, and water until boiling. In a separate pot, sanitize the jar by putting it in boiling water for several minutes. In the sanitized jar layer the sliced radishes and carrots. Cover with the boiled salt/sugar mixture. Close the jar. Let cool down to room temperature for about 24 hours then refrigerate.

We plan on letting the pickles hang out in the fridge for at least a week. The longer they sit the stronger the flavor. Once opened most recipes say that the pickles will stay good for at least a month or two. We're very excited to try them. If nothing else, between our garden and now our pickles I am definitely getting a big lesson in patience!

Our recipe was based on several we found on the internet. One recipe that especially help was on another food blog. Cheers!

Beef and Swiss Chard Lasagna

When Joe saw the beautiful rainbow swiss chard in our CSA bag I know the first thing he wanted to do was wilt it down, add some spices and he would be good to go. On second thought, knowing my aversion to greens, he wisely chose to instead add the swiss chard to a lasagna that we had already been planning to make during the week. 

Whenever my boyfriend goes home to his beloved Vermont, he's lucky enough to be able to buy delicious grass-fed beef from his uncle's farm. After a few months the only beef we have left is the ground beef and lasagna has become one of our go-to recipes.

Joe's meat sauce is one of my favorite things that he makes. I could eat the sauce by itself for an entire meal. It never tastes exactly the same, but it's always just as good as the last time.

Joe's Meat Sauce (this time)
1.5 lbs ground beef
2 small or 1 large onion (diced)
3 garlic cloves
1 can (28 oz.) crushed tomatoes
1 can (28 oz.) diced tomatoes
1.5- 2 c. red wine
fresh oregano

In a large, deep saucepan, brown the ground beef then drain. Add the onions, garlic, and saute until softened. Add the tomatoes, red wine, and oregano (about a handful). Simmer for at least an hour (we like to simmer for 2).

Ricotta Mixture
32 oz. ricotta cheese
1 bunch of swiss chard (chiffonade aka roll and cut in to long thin strips)
3 eggs
salt/pepper/nutmeg

Mix all of the ingredients together, with a salt, pepper, and a pinch of nutmeg. In a 13x9 glass dish put a little meat sauce on the bottom and then cover with uncooked lasagna noodles. Traditionally lasagna has a layer of noodles, a layer of ricotta, a layer of meat sauce, a layer of ricotta and then more noodles. We like to separate the meat sauce and ricotta mixture but having noodles, then ricotta, then noodles again, followed by a layer of meat sauce, and noodles again. Bake about 45 minutes at 350 degrees covered with aluminum foil, then take the foil off and brown for 15 minutes.

The lasagna was nice and crispy on top and delicious in the middle. The red sauce complemented the chard well. It works perfectly for adding a little green to the normally carb-heavy lasagna. I'm sure it would work well with any greens such as kale, beet greens, collard greens, and spinach as well. Cheers!

Asian BBQ Tuna Steaks & Chinese Five Spice Bok Choy

When Joe came home with our second batch of produce I was so happy to see our number of veggies had almost doubled! We had 2 bunches of radishes, 2 bunches of bok choy, swiss chard, arugula, butter lettuce and STRAWBERRIES! The strawberries unfortunately did not make it in to any recipe because we ate them all while planning our recipes for the week. Not even in the house for an hour and they were already gone. Can you tell we like strawberries?

Everything looked gorgeous and green, but the one vegetable that stood out was the bok choy. We always knew the CSA was going to be a challenge as far as keeping up with the amount of fresh produce but I love the challenge of using new ingredients too. I scoured my cookbooks for recipes with bok choy and surprisingly found four. One small side dish recipe stood out, "Bok choy with five spice sauce" out of Cooking Light. The main reason I wanted to try this particular recipe is because Joe has a serious love of Chinese five spice. Bok choy is commonly associated with Asian-inspired recipes so it pairs well with the five-spice flavor. As with the leeks last week, it's important to clean the bok choy well since dirt gets in all the tiny nooks and crannies.

Bok choy with five-spice sauce
2 bok choy (smaller is more tender) cleaned and halved length-wise
1 c. chicken broth
1/4 tsp. five spice
1 tbsp. soy sauce
2 tsp. rice vinegar
1/4 tsp. crushed red pepper

In a large skillet, bring the chicken stock and five spice to a boil. Place the bok choy halves in the pan. Cover and cook until tender (about 3-5 minutes). Take out the boy choy and stir in the soy sauce, rice vinegar, and red pepper. Cook until reduced to about a 1/4 cup.

We had the bok choy with an Asian marinated ahi tuna steak and cilantro lime couscous. The tuna steaks were fresh from our local fish market. They were quickly marinated (about 30 minutes) in a mixture of soy sauce and BBQ sauce with a tiny tsp of sesame oil and then sprinkled with ground coriander and sesame seeds. The tuna was then grilled. The couscous had fresh cilantro and a squirt of lime mixed in. The tuna worked perfectly with the Asian marinade. The bok choy was much milder than I expected and really took on the flavor of the five spice. Next time we plan on cooking the bok choy on the grill with the tuna. If you get the chance, pick up some bok choy from your local farmers' market. Throw it on the grill or cut it up and make it a part of your favorite stir fry (I bet kids wouldn't even notice it was there). Happy cooking!

Potato Leek Soup and Kale Chips

So the day finally arrived...our first CSA pick-up day! For someone who hasn't always been a big vegetable fan, I was surprised how excited I was to see what vegetables we would get to take home. The farm warned us that the shares would start off small since the season was just beginning. Seeing as how we had just started our plants in our garden I was amazed that they had anything for us at all the first week in May. I set off after work and drove down a tiny road to a cute little building in the middle of a huge field. Twenty minutes later I was happily driving down the road with my reusable bag filled with a bundle of 4 leeks, a bundle of kale, a cilantro seedling, and a package of organic bacon and scrapple (a personal favorite).

On my way home, I stopped at Joe's work to show off our new loot. We started brainstorming ideas of what to make, and my excitement slowly turned in to nervousness. Leeks I was pretty comfortable with, thanks to Food Network and Top Chef, but kale was a completely different story. I just kept thinking it reminded me of lettuce gone wrong. My mom never even attempted to make me try kale or any other form of cabbage/greens when I was growing up. But I was determined to be a grown-up and eat all my veggies. 

The next night I came home from my 2nd job of the day, completely exhausted and starving, to find my amazing boyfriend stirring a pot of soup that smelled wonderful. He had come home from work, and in typical Joe style, threw himself in to creating Potato Leek Soup from scratch without a cookbook in sight. I know ladies, how lucky am I! 

When using leeks the most important part, that no one thinks about myself included, is cleaning them. The Internet has some great videos that show you exactly what to do. The key is to just keep washing and washing until you think you can't wash anymore. 

Potato Leek Soup

4 leeks (cleaned and cut in to small pieces)

3 lb. white potatoes (peeled and cut in to small pieces)

5 c. chicken broth

butter

minced garlic

1/4 c. cream

1/4 c. plain Greek yogurt

fennel, dill, tarragon, salt, pepper to taste

In a Dutch oven or large saucepan, saute the leeks with 1 or 2 tbsp. butter and minced garlic until the leeks are soft. Add the uncooked potatoes and chicken broth. Bring to a boil and cook for about 30 minutes, or until the potatoes are fork tender. Add the cream, yogurt and spices. Take off the heat and blend until smooth. An immersion blender is a cook's best friend. 

The soup was wonderfully thick and flavorful. Potato soup is my favorite kind of soup and it was better than any I had had at restaurants. We had the soup for several days, and it reheated easily. My favorite was dipping warm soft pretzels in it. Our first CSA experiment was a success!

The kale had continued making me nervous but I finally thought I had found a solution. Someone had suggested making kale chips. I had never heard of this but it seemed like the perfect answer. In her new cookbook, Gwyneth Paltrow says her kids can't stop eating them so if kids eat them I figured I'd survive. 

This is the easiest recipe!

Kale Chips

kale (washed and torn in to medium size pieces, equally sized)

olive oil

salt

Coat the kale with olive oil and salt in a single layer on a baking sheet. Roast the kale at 400 degrees for about 12-15 minutes. Make sure to check every few minutes.

Well the second CSA experiment was not as successful as the first. Due to our oven's inconsistent temperatures and my lack of care in making the pieces equally sized, only some of the chips turned out the way they were meant to. The chips were good but the kale taste was definitely present. The crispiness was refreshing and they tasted great crumbled up in the potato soup and in a red sauce the next  night. It wasn't a complete success but you live, you learn. 

Overall, it was a wonderful beginner week for our CSA experience. Can't wait to find out what surprises await us next week! Cheers!