CSA Week 14

So the laptop has received some much needed TLC and we're back in business.

What did we get this week?

• Lettuce
• Kale
• Arugula
• Spring Onions
• Green Bell Peppers
• Strawberries
• Parsley

Looks like it will be a lot of salads this week. Maybe some peppers into a stirfry? We had a party on Sunday and I have a fair amount of random leftovers (though the Cuban roast pork, ribs, and Smoked Pork Chile Verde were all ravenously devoured. So much for those plans!) Meredith has it in mind to do some kind of soba noodle soup with the spring onions and kale. I do have some leftover canistels that are ripe, I'll try take two on Canistel Pie. Some (very) good friends brought us a whole guanciale that they'd cured, so I'm thinking of doing a pasta dish with some of that and the kale or arugula, maybe some roasted green peppers. Probably a play on Bucatini all'Amatriciana, but with more veggies.

Anyhow, here's what we have done so far, as well as last week's wrapup.

Goat Cheese and Arugula Chile Rellenos

Last night I looked in the fridge and began to plan. I've been trying really hard to use things that we have in the fridge or backyard, minimizing trips to the store for items that can be substituted for or left out entirely. In this spirit I saw that we had some goat cheese leftover from the party (thanks again to those same friends!). We had some salsa that Meredith had made for breakfast tacos. We had some Mexican crema, a ripe CSA avocado, CSA arugula and a whole bunch of ripening poblano chiles in the yard...so why not Goat Cheese Rellenos? Like a spinach ravioli but with goat cheese and arugula and in a relleno? So for two people:

• 4 good sized poblano chiles. Roasted, peeled. Make a slit down one side and carefully remove the seeds and any pesky central veins. Rubbing them and then filling the cavity with water does a good job. Be careful not to tear the flesh, it helps if you can roast the chiles as hot and quickly as possible so the skin blisters but the flesh doesn't cook. I turn my electric stove on high and set them right on the coil (with the hood on high and the window open, you'll be releasing pepper spray!) At hot grill works well too. Put them in a paper bag for 20 minutes to sweat the skins off before peeling.
• Filling. Into a bowl put 1/3 lb goat cheese, a pinch of mexican oregano, thyme, and marjoram, a chopped serrano chile, about 2 T of chopped shallot, a chopped sun dried tomato, and some salt and pepper. Get a pot of water simmering and blanch a clove of garlic for 5 minutes, meanwhile clean and pick the leaves from half the CSA arugula bunch. When the garlic clove is done take it out and put the arugula in for 30 seconds, then remove and shock with cold water. Chop all this and add to the filling mixture. Mix well and divide into four portions.
• Prepping the chiles: stuff with 1/4 of the mixture. Use a toothpick or skewer to close the chile. Meanwhile heat a pan of oil to 375. While it's heating mix an egg and 2 T of cream in a separate bowl, and put some blue cornmeal in another dish for dredging.
• Dip a chile in the egg-mixture, then dredge in the blue cornmeal and fry 2-3 minutes until slightly brown. Drain on paper towels and keep warm in the oven.
• Serve on a plate with a fan of avocado and some salsa served in a kale leaf. Drizzle a little Mexican crema over it. Serve with a couple tortillas.

It was pretty tasty. It looks like a lot of work but it only took about an hour. Also it turned out that the goat cheese had lavender and fennel pollen in it, so it really became this weird Italian/Southwest fusion thing. All in all I was pretty happy, though I would have liked some more heat. Apparently I'm not tormenting my chile plants enough. You could probably add some quinoa or rice to build up the body of the stuffing as well. If I had any Jack cheese I would probably have added some to the filling as well.

Carrot Top Soup (or Thanksgiving Stuffing Babyfood)

I set out to make the Carrot Top soup from last week's newsletter but it turned out that I was missing some ingredients so I improvised...

No veggie stock = frozen homemade duck stock
No fresh dill and various other herbs = dried thyme and some herbs de provence
I added a celery stalk because I had one and I could.

I didn't really like the texture of it when it was done, so I hit it with the hand-blender a bit, but then I liked it even less. So I added a tablespoon of heavy cream and a some inside bits of a baguette that'd been hollowed out for a sandwich earlier that day. Then pureed the bejesus out of it. This resulted in a seriously thick and creamy carrot soup, that thanks to the herbs de provence made it taste "like Thanksgiving stuffing baby food", in the words of Meredith. Thanks love.

But she was right. It did taste like Thanksgiving Stuffing Babyfood. And it was delicious, a hypothetical future baby would love it. Served it with some leftover croutons from the Panzanella and a greek salad.