Summer Squash and Gorgonzola Polenta

I'm reaching the home stretch on my first CSA box (although this is posting a little later than real-time)- I really wanted to use the whole thing before it was time to order again 2 weeks later, and I'm almost there (technically you can get them every week, but as much as I love vegetables there is no way I could take that thing down in a week). I had a summer squash, and a craving for Gorgonzola, and the internets provided via EatingWell.

its a little hard to take a delicious looking picture when 100% of the dinner is yellow. but, nonetheless, it was delicious.

The stuff:
-Broth of your choice- 3.5 cups (I use these little squeezable packs from Trader Joes that become 1 cup of broth when you add water).
-1 yellow squash (very large. normal grocery store ones might require 2-3).
-a bit olive oil
-.5tsp sage
.5tsp pepper
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1.5 tbsp flour
3/4c cornmeal
3/4c Gorgonzola (a wholelottacheese, is what that is)
1c water

What to do with it:
Polenta: (caveat, this is the second time in my life I have attempted Polenta. other than accidentally spilling massive quantities of pepper int there, it was pretty good)
Basically, boil 2.5c broth and 1c water. Slowly pour in cornmeal, whisking the whole time. Put on lower heat, and simmer for 15 or so minutes until it becomes creamy (when you taste it, you shouldn't taste little granules). Once it reaches that state, remove from heat and pour in pepper and cheese.

Squash:
Heat up a little olive oil, and throw in the garlic (if you're me, you use the chopped garlic in the jar. so easy!). Then throw in peppers, and just brown them a little (they'll cook more later). Sprinkle the flour on, and stir to cover squash. Then, pour on 1c broth and add the sage. Lower the heat, it'll thicken up as it cooks- just wait until the squash seems nice and soft.

Spoon the squash and sauce over the polenta. This could totally be a main course. I have unfortunately had a vast quantity of squash-as-the-main-course dinners recently, so decided to supplement with a little chicken. I went the easy route, and cooked a Chipotle chicken skewer from Trader Joes (so good! so easy!). Obviously minus the chicken, and using veggie broth, its a great vegetarian entree.

This came together pretty quickly- the entire thing was done in about 25 minutes, so it can easily be done after work, but it is very warm and satisfying. In addition, this kind of gave me a revelation about sauce- this is such a simple way to make a sauce for vegetables, I have no idea why I never thought of it before- it could be adapted to any veggie main dish that you want to serve over rice, or in some scenario where a little sauce would make it extra tasty... I'll be doing that again!

Loofah Update!

I've mentioned before that I started a new gardening experiment that I've been thinking about for quite a while... growing loofahs!

Now, last time I posted, they were just sprouting from little seeds. But now, NOW, they are really something to see. As soon as I planted them, they started growing like gangbusters, so I got a little 3 foot trellis. They got so giant, they way overgrew it and started trying to invade the apartment (see exhibit A).

So, I got a much bigger trellis (7 ft tall) and when I stretched the plant out, it was basically big enough for it already! Just has to fill out a bit. There are even some little things that might be going to turn into flowers, but this thing sprouts leaves and tendrils so fast its hard to tell!

( so tall! although there is some leaf issue at the bottom I'm trying to figure out)

I'm extremely excited about how this whole thing is panning out, that much is for sure. If you're wondering what that is off to the left, it is my famous little lime tree who is doing spectacularly well, and produced these little beauties with many more on the way!

Stuffed Rond De Nice Squash

In my continuing CSA adventures, I'm learning to identify and cook some squash varieties I've never even seen before (including one thing I thought was a squash and was about to eat for dinner until I cut it open, and it turns out it was some weird cucumber! I still haven't gotten to the bottom of that one yet).

At any rate, in order to identify these things I've taken to doing google image searches of 'squash' and trying to find ones that look like what is in my fridge... and, low and behold, I have a Rond de Nice Squash, which apparently is actually a French type of round zucchini (oooh la la). Basically everyone on the internet stuffs them, so, I went for it.

Cut the top off, and hollow out the middle. BEWARE! this is NOT like a pumpkin, because the skin is just thin zucchini skin. So, the only thing stopping you from digging a hole straight out the side of the squash are your own razor sharp reflexes.

My filling:
-half an onion, diced
-a jalapeno (from my pepper plant!)
-1 tsp cumin
-1 tsp corriander
-ground red pepper
-1 cob corn, cut off cob
-1 can drained rinsed black beans
-3 cloves garlic
-the extracted squash insides, chopped up
-1/4c shredded cheese (or feta!)
-a little olive oil

Cook the onions and garlic in with the olive oil. Toss in the jalapeno and the cumin/corriander/pepper. Put in the beans and the corn and let cook. Put in cheese at the very end. Stuff the peppers with it.

Now, I'd say my primary mistake was in making my filling to wet- I was worried about it being dried out, but the squash itself released a lot of water, so I'd err on the dry side. I put the little hat on it, and baked at 350 for 30 minutes. Then, I took the lid off, topped with a bit more cheese, and let it keep going until it was brown and bubbly.

This was good! The squash got really soft, and it was a delicious combo of veggies. You could really put almost anything in there- a lot of people used sausage, but I didn't want to go there. Mine had a Mexican flavor, but you could go anywhere.

It was very filling and I used it as a main course, but if you cut the peppers in half (they're softball sized, so pretty large) you could use them as a side dish. In addition, it made way too much filling for the 2 squash I had (it would be perfect for 4). So, I put them in tupperware with some rice (as part of my whole lunch packing system), and have 2 lunches in the freezer!

If you see these things, give it a whirl! 

Beyond Decadent Coconut Cupcakes

I recently went on a hunt for a coconut cake recipe- Feeesh (aka my co-gardener across the city) had a birthday coming up and coconut cake is his favorite birthday cake. When I looked for "ultimate coconut cake" what came up over and over again was this recipe from the Peninsula Grill in Charleston.

Now, upon initial inspection, I was both horrified and intrigued by the recipe. Why horrified? It is 6 layers, with 2 kinds of frosting, and the entire recipe calls for two and a half POUNDS of butter. Why intrigued? This cake has been all over- it is on Martha Stewart's page, it was the subject of a Bobby Flay throwdown, it is listed on tourist websites, and apparently is the type of legendary dessert that people have mailed to them when they move away and that everyone wants at their wedding. Intrigue won over horror... and man oh man, was that the right way to go.

Since I was serving this at a BBQ outside, I decided to modify the recipe and make a slightly scaled down version, and turn it into cupcakes. I'm going to post my modified proportions based on what I actually used (which varied between 1/2, 2/3, and all of the original recipe for the various components- the cupcakes were way off on proportions compared to the layer cake). Behold:

Filling 

Make the night before and chill. This is a half recipe, which might even be too much- I made 2/3 and ended up with so much extra I had to make an entire loaf pan of extra cake to use it up, and still froze a bunch).

-2.5c heavy cream

-1.5c sugar

-1/2lb butter (2 cubes)*

-.25c cornstarch

-.5 tsp vanilla

.5 tbsp water

-4.5c shredded sweetened coconut

Put butter, sugar, and cream in a pan and slowly heat until all is melted. Mix cornstarch, vanilla, and water and add to liquid. Boil the mixture about a minute, so it can thicken. Remove from heat. Take all the coconut and chop it in the food processor so that it is in very small pieces (you don't want this to be stringy). Stir this into the mixture. Chill over night, then the next morning when you need it, beat until creamy (4-5 min).

*note on butter. every single website I saw said that you really really have to use Plugra or other European style butter. I was going to skip this, until I found out that the Smart and Final near me had a fairly good price on it- I think other places it can get up to $7-8 a pound! aack! but, these were decadent, so maybe it was worth it. If nothing else, given that I'm usually misting things in the minimum possible about of olive oil, it was kind of fun to work with giant slabs of butter.

Cake:

(this is 2/3 of the recipe)

2/3lb butter (I don't know how many cubes of regular butter this is- it is easier to measure this amount when you're hacking pieces off of pound sized slabs)

2c sugar

4 eggs

3c flour

1 tbsp baking powder

1/4 plus a bit tsp salt

1c heavy cream

1 tbsp vanilla

1 tsp coconut extract

Preheat oven to 325. Cream butter and sugar, then add eggs one at a time. In one bowl, combine dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, salt) and the other the wet ingredients (cream, vanilla, coconut). Alternate adding and beating in wet and dry ingredients, starting and ending with dry. Now, this is very dense, almost like a pound cake (no surprise, look at the stuff in it). This makes about 27-28 cupcakes, bake them for 22 minutes, or until they feel firm. I made these the night before, as well.

Frosting:

(this is a full batch- the cupcakes needed relatively more than the cake does just due to geometry)

-.5lb butter

-8oz cream cheese

-1tsp vanilla etract

-5c powdered sugar

-1 vanilla bean, scraped out (I had this in my stash of leftover beans from the great vanilla project). It made the cream cheese frosting out of this world!

Mix butter and cream cheese until smooth. Mix in vanilla extract and vanilla bean seeds. Add the sugar in about 3 batches until mixed in (dump it all in at once and you will end up looking like a snowman as the mixer throws it in the air).

Extras:

-Simple syrup- boil together 1/2c water and 1/2c sugar. let cool completely

-Coconut topping- you'll need a few cups of coconut- you can toast it ahead of time or not, but I did half and half and the toasted ones were much more popular.

Putting it all together:

I decided to use a cupcake filling technique I learned when making home made hostess cupcakes. Basically take the (COMPLETELY cooled) cupcakes, and individually cut a pretty deep cone shaped hole in the top of each cupcake. Drizzle a little bit of simple syrup around the sides of each hole- just a small small bit to give some moisture. Fill the hole with the filling (which you will have just taken out of the fridge and beaten), cut off the tip of the cone, and put it on like a little hat.

This looks crazy, but in the end it works really well, its kind of strange. You will find there is a limit on the number of tips of cones you can eat, but at least it provides a way to taste the cake ;-).

Then, frost with the cream cheese frosting- this is part of why you need more frosting, you definitely want to cover any sign of the little hat.

Then, roll the tops of the cupcakes in the (toasted or untoasted) coconut. Chill them for a few hours- everything needs a little time to compress and fit together.

Serve and enjoy! These were absolutely delicious. A lot of people compared them to the types of gourmet cupcakes that are all over the place these days, and they really tasted like something decadent. I think some of that might be due to the fancy butter, but it could also be the cream, the sugar, everything else. I would really resist the urge to make these lower fat, and if you're worried, just enjoy and limit your portion sizes. These are perfect for a special occasion- they would be great at a wedding or bridal shower or baby shower (or birthday!); I can only imagine how delicious the full sized cake must be!

BONUS ROUND!

And... its not over... As I said, I had a ridiculously huge amount of filling left. I had just filled it with expensive butter and a whole lot of coconut, so I didn't want to waste it. I ended up making 1/3 of the original recipe as a new batch of batter, baked in a loaf pan. Per the original recipe I cut into 3 layers, added filling between. It is just adorable! It also is incredibly heavy. But, it now resides in my freezer, to be pulled out for a special occasion in the future!

Watermelon Basil Feta Salad

I have been busily working my way through the CSA box. Not everything has photographs, partly because it wasn't all blog-worthy and partly because I had a camera memory card mishap. But, some of the products are...
- a very delicious egg white quiche with zucchini, yellow squash, tomatoes, and basil
-an eggplant and chickpea based curry (with more squash)
-cucumber salad (cucumber and rice wine vinegar)
-sliced cantelope to go with my standard breakfast sandwich (3 egg whites, 1 wheat english muffin, and 1 laughing cow cheese triangle)

This one though, was simple, delicious and managed to escape the memory card debacle intact.

 The stuff:
-1 watermelon
-half a bunch purple basil, half a bunch green basil (basically, a bunch of basil. I'd used the purple basil for a variety of other things, like the quiche and breakfast sandwiches).
-feta cheese crumbles
-a few limes (number varying based on juiciness - I needed 3 because 1 was completely dry)

What to do with it:
Ok brace yourself, this is very technical and demanding.

Cube the watermelon into bite sized pieces. Chop the basil and add. Dump in some feta. Squeeze the limes. Toss... and done!

I served this at a BBQ as a side dish (to accompany my Korean fusion tacos, which are are an infallible crowd pleaser) - it was nice and light and refreshing and just different enough to make it interesting. Delicious!

Penne alla Vodka, minus the Vodka

I found this recipe in the Now Eat This! cookbook by Rocco DiSpirito, and he's used it all over the internet as an ad for the book, so given that it seems fine to actually post the recipe here.

Now the claim is that vodka is not actually a key ingredient in penne alla vodka, and it was perfectly delicious without it so maybe thats true. I'll leave it up to your imagination how to replace the vodka you're now missing in your life.

The stuff:
-whole wheat penne pasta
-a jar fat free marinara (they have some at TJ's) or other marinara. you can make it yourself, but then this becomes a whole lot less like something you can throw on the stove when you get home at 8:00
-red pepper flakes
-1 7oz contained low fat plain Greek yogurt
-1c chopped basil (fresh! FRESH!)
-salt/pepper
-parmesan cheese
-cooked chicken chunks (optional, minus which it is vegetarian)

What to do with it:
-Boil water, cook pasta (you can figure this out).
-heat the marinara sauce, adding red pepper flakes, simmer a bit
-now you have to mix in the yogurt, and I think this is a good trick, it keeps the yogurt from curdling. mix about half a cup of marinara with the yogurt, then stir it back in the sauce
-toss together the sauce, pasta, and basil, (and chicken) topping with the cheese.

Basically, this is ridiculously easy, and pretty healthy to boot- it really tasted creamy and good, it actually made me want to start adding yogurt to everything (so, watch out!!). If you can boil pasta and stir together pre-made sauce and store-bought yogurt, you're golden. I love recipes like this, that you can throw together at the last minute, but that still taste like you're treating yourself. Try it, you'll like it!

(note- this clearly also pre-dates the whole farm box thing.. be patient, I'm getting to it! my blog posts lag a little behind my real life unless I'm over the top excited about something: exhibit A, inaugural CSA box).

Roasted Cauliflower, Bulgar and Toasted Walnuts with Pumpkin Sauce

This recipe is perfect for a crisp fall evening- its light, but it is also very satisfying. It was borne out of the list of things that existed in my kitchen, but turned out surprisingly well. It's close to being vegan, but doesn't quite make it although I'm sure where there's a will, there's a way.

What you need:
1c bulgur wheat
half a head of cauliflower
1 cup mashed pumpkin (NOT pumpkin pie mix!!!)
1/2 large onion, diced
3/4 c broth (chicken or veggie)
3/4 c milk (I used plain almond milk)
1/4c parmesan cheese
2 tsp ground sage (or, fresh if you have it)
3 cloves garlic
1/4c fat free greek yogurt
walnuts
olive oil

What to do with it:
Cauliflower- cut into florets, toss in a little olive oil, roast in 400 degree oven, stirring a few times, until nice and brown

Bulgur - this is very easy to cook. You can actually just boil water, pour 1 c bulgur into a bowl, pour 2.25c water on it, cover,  and let it sit while you do everything else. Stir once while it sits.

Walnuts- for me, toasted walnuts are like crack. Seriously, I don't even like plain walnuts but when you toast them they turn into something amazing and decadent, and they added a really critically delicious crunch that you don't want to miss. So, toast the walnuts. I did this under the broiler, which resulted in an initial batch of blackened burnt nuts. The second ones... delicious!

Pumpkin sauce- this is based on a very delicious recipe that I found out in the Washington Post.  Saute the onions and garlic in a bit of the olive oil until soft and brown. Add sage and cook a few more minutes. Add the broth, the pumpkin, and the milk, and cook for about 10 minutes, letting it thicken a bit. When your cauliflower, walnuts and bulgur are ready, remove the sauce from the heat, and stir in the cheese. Then, at the last minute stir in the yogurt (the sauce shouldn't be boiling when you do this). You could do this without the cheese and yogurt to make it vegan, but I can't make any promises about the cheesy goodness in that scenario.

Assembly... basically, serve some bulgur, top with cauliflower, add sauce, and then the walnuts! I had my doubts about whether the sauce would be overly pumpkin-y, but it actually was amazing, and I plan to make it again. It would also be delicious on pasta. Enjoy!



(FYI, this post refers to a dinner prior to receiving my glorious CSA box, so despite all my hype about using that for the next 2 weeks, none of this was in there).

A New Adventure: CSA Box!

Something is afoot, and I'm not going to lie, Charlotte and I are pretty pumped about it. OK, that might be a little white lie because I'm having some amount of trouble getting her properly enthused.

Whats up? I finally, after quite a while of looking, found a CSA to support. For those LA area people who might be interested, the one I found is the South Central Farmers Cooperative Community Supported Agriculture, the main feature it had that the other ones didn't is that you can sign up each week as you want to- which, since I am not a family of 4, means that if it takes me more than a week to eat everything, I'm not buried in a hailstorm of kale (a scenario I imagine somewhat like this scene from the Simpsons of Homer eating donuts in hell, around minute 2 in this video). ANYWAYS... I got my first box this week! Check out the bounty...

I've already busted into the cantelope, which is quite delicious.

(pictured next to the favorite go-to breakfast of me and my co-gardener across the city, Feeesh- egg whites on top of whole wheat english muffins with Laughing Cow cheese spread.

You are sure to see more... its all very exciting- watermelon! purple basil! patty pan squash! (I think), Rond de Nice Squash (I think based on google)!, summer squash! spaghetti squash! the cutest little eggplant ever! fresh tomatoes! kale! (as a side note, I have already learned something about basil... apparently, the appropriate way to store it fresh is the same way you store flowers- trim the stems and put it in a glass of water- who knew!).


I'm hoping to wrap this into my budget cooking posts by trying to create dishes that are based on these items, and that use basic staples (grains, onions, garlic, beans, flour, olive oil, chicken, broth, (feta and almond milk, around here), etc) that I have on hand- essentially I've made sure I have everything like that on hand and am now going to see how long I can go without going to the grocery store. We'll see!

Something Different: DIY Jewelry Rack

So, I make jewelry. The reason I started selling jewelry, was partly that I have more necklaces than any normal person needs, had given them to everyone I know for presents, and needed a new outlet. So, I now have things to do with the new necklaces, but my own collection is still stuck on a series of hideous overloaded hooks. The two main problems with the hideous plastic hook system were that they were constantly tangled and I that couldn't see them all.

This idea came to me in a craft store, here is what you need for a little do it yourself action:
--a gridded baking cooling rack (preferably black)
--a package of black bobby pins
--needle nose pliers, or round nose jewelry pliers
--decoration, if you want (here, some discount Christmas berries. I also considered ribbon woven around the edge).

Take the rack, and put whatever decorations you plan to use on it first- this works better for things like the berries so that you can place your hooks around them. 

To create the hooks, take a bobby pin, and, from behind the rack, clip it onto one of the horizontal bars, so that its hanging straight down on the front. Then, take your pliers, and grip halfway up the bobby pin. Bend the bobby pin upwards so it forms a V pointing up, making a hook. You can space the hooks out as you want- I found that leaving an empty square between them helped a lot when hanging things.

For necklaces, be sure to leave enough space between rows for the pieces to hang. I made one square for necklaces and the other for earrings. On the earrings rack, I put a series of hooks at the top for hoops, and the other earrings I just hung through the squares by their hooks.

Once all your hooks and decorations are installed, nail it up!

Here is the finished product... so far, it is working fantastically! Its not only cute, it was veeery budget friendly. give it a try!