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CSA Bounty – Week Two

We had another week without radishes, but with plenty of lettuce. Last year we got a head each week for almost the entire season; I wonder if this year will be the same.  I will eat a large salad tonight.  This week we got:

week 2 menu

The strawberries were better this week than last week, I think, which is kind of like saying we got 12 oz of gold this week over last week’s 11.5 oz.  Both weeks have brought us amazing strawberries. We ate them for breakfast this morning with some cantaloupe I cut up last night.

strawberries week 2

This week’s lettuce head was a leaf lettuce in a very unusual color – kind of the color of manzanita wood.

red lettuce

We got cilantro this week!  Also dried black beans.  I’m thinking of making a black bean salad tonight with them both.

cilantro

bagging black beans

I have a share of beans and grains from Cayuga Organics, which grow the best beans I’ve ever had.  Their grains are also amazing.

We also got asparagus – I think we are at the end of the season.

asparagus

Last night I had some of it and it was so good.  Simply pan roasted with some salt.  I ate it with a quesadilla I fried in coconut oil, made with raw pepperjack cheese (also from the CSA), some cilantro and Tortilleria Nixtamal tortillas.  We had stopped in over the weekend and picked some up on our way home from touring the Louis Armstrong House in Corona (fabulous).  They really are the best tortillas around.

In addition to the veg, berries, black beans and grains (farro!), my meat and dairy order came in – my freezer is now full of grass fed/finished beef, organic chicken breasts and turkey sausage, and I’ve got a nice goaty chevre to look forward to tonight, too.

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Iliamna Fish Company CSA

iliamnaThis weekend, while perusing Chowhound, I came across a post entitled Where should I buy wild salmon? It mentioned a wild salmon CSA, and as a lover of wild caught salmon, it certainly caught my eye.

The salmon is caught by the Iliamna Fish Company, a third-generation family-owned cooperative based in Alaska. They follow the natural spawning season of the salmon, and catch the fish in late June and early July in Bristol Bay.  Members of the CSA will receive 12 pounds of flash-frozen sockeye salmon in late August, at a pickup location in Brooklyn.

Wild Sockeye is deep red in color and has the highest levels of omega-3 in the salmon family.  It’s high in protein, has plenty of good fat, and minerals.  It’s also delicious!

So how sustainable is are the methods for catching this fish?  According to their website, “Iliamna Fish Company sockeye salmon are Marine Stewardship Council certified-signifying the ocean, rivers and lake where our wild sockeye grow are part of a healthy and pure marine ecosystem.”  As far as the way they are caught, the fish are caught by small boats (4 feet deep and 20 feet long)  in set nets:

The process of set netting might be compared to tying a sheet to a clothesline in the wind. Nets are “set,” or anchored, perpendicular to the shore, usually in 25-fathom increments. The top of the net, floated by white synthetic corks, is tied to a line running between fixed anchors at both ends. The bottom of the net is a heavy, weighted line that sinks below the surface of the water.

Between the floating line and the weighted line, the webbing of the net billows with the strong current of the tide. As fish move up and downstream with the tide, they are caught in the billowing, curved “basket” formed by the tide and net. Fish are either ensnared at their heads, by catching their gills in the webbing, or they are caught lying broadside, ungilled-held in the “basket” of the net by the tidal current.

More about Iliamna’s set nets can be found here.

They also work with the biologists that monitor the streams in the area, and only after they determine there is enough fish does the Iliamna crew head in for the catch.  This ensures there is no overfishing and that salmon will be here for years to come.  They also support the work of the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, the Marine Stewardship Council, Ecotrust, and Salmon Nation.

So, come August I should have 12 pounds of sustainably-fished, wild-caught sockeye in my freezer!  I’ll be enjoying salmon throughout the fall and winter, I expect.  I’m really excited about this!  I will certainly report back on the quality of the fish this fall.

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Jerusalem Artichoke Fritters

plated

[This post is based upon a post I wrote for the Hellgate CSA blog earlier this week.]

So, our CSA started up this week – I am so happy about this!  We have six months of beautiful, local, organic produce ahead of us, and I can’t wait to see what the season will bring.

This week I was intrigued by the inclusion of jerusalem artichokes in our initial season share (I thought for sure we’d get radishes!). I didn’t want to eat them raw, nor did I want to roast them, so I searched the internet for something interesting and tasty-sounding. I found that in these jerusalem artichoke fritters, which I prepared Tuesday night.

in the pan

I loved them! The combination of the jerusalem artichokes, carrots, and shallots is lovely, and the chive-lime sour cream is wonderful – this is some seriously good sauce. These fritters are easy to put together and take only about a half hour, start to finish, to make.

cooked fritters

I was also happy to be able to use some of my Cayuga Organics cornmeal in them as well! Sprouted wheat flour worked perfectly in place of conventional white flour, so I was pleased by this adjustment.

Jerusalem Artichoke Fritters
Lightly adapted from the New York Times

While grating them, the jerusalem artichokes oxidize quickly, so don’t be alarmed by dark coloring that appears after grating.

1/2 pound jerusalem artichokes, scrubbed
1 carrot, peeled
3 shallots, thinly sliced
2 tablespoons yellow cornmeal
1/4 cup sprouted wheat flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
Fresh black pepper to taste
hot sauce to taste
2 eggs
3 tablespoons chopped chives
1/2 cup sour cream
1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
Oil for frying (coconut oil would be wonderful)

Heat oven to 250 degrees. Grate Jerusalem artichokes and carrot into a mixing bowl. Add shallots. Stir together cornmeal, flour, salt and baking powder, and stir in, mixing well. Season with pepper and hot sauce to taste. Add eggs, and mix thoroughly.

Combine chives, sour cream and lime juice, and set aside.

Pour oil into a large skillet, so that it just covers the bottom of the pan. Heat over medium-high heat until sizzling. Drop mixture in by tablespoons, flattening slightly. Fry until crisp and golden brown, turning once. Transfer to oven on a baking sheet lined with paper towel while frying more. Serve with sour cream mixture.

Yield: 4 servings.

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CSA Bounty – Week One

I’d like to show off what I bring home from the CSA each week, so this is the first post in my CSA Bounty Series.  Mostly eye candy, this is going to be my record of the 2010 Hellgate CSA season.

Our vegetables are organic and the fruit is “ecologically grown”, which means it’s not quite organic, so they do their best to use alternate techniques (like integrated pest management) to control pests, weeds, and fungus.  In NY state, it’s pretty much impossible to grow tree fruit truly organic, due to the overly wet summers.

Strawberries!  One of the best parts of the early CSA season.  They were delicious.  Note that past tense, “were”… these strawberries came from our vegetable farmer, so they were organic.

strawberries

Green leaf lettuce, one of my favorites.  I ate some of it tonight and it was lovely.

lettuce

Tarragon, my new favorite herb.  I use it liberally in chicken salad (I’ll share the recipe sometime soon – it’s fantastic).  This was particularly gorgeous tarragon.

tarragon

Leeks – beautiful (and delicious – I’ve already eaten them).

leeks

Bags of jerusalem artichokes.  Not very photogenic, I’ll admit, but I’m grateful that the farm pre-bagged them for us.

IMG_6255

Gorgeous collard greens.  I didn’t choose these (the choice was these greens or the leeks), but glad I got a shot of them.  I expect they were delicious.

collards

That’s it!  I can’t wait to see what we get in week two…

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Garden Update – My, How You’ve Grown!

Thanks to all this recent heat, my garden is coming along – the tomatoes especially are enjoying the hot weather  they are sporting nice healthy greenery and thicker stems.   I was able to get out early on Sunday and do some weeding, which makes a world of difference!

garden long shot

My tomatoes have started to take off!  From top to bottom – Amish Paste, Prudens Purple, Silver Fir.

Tomato Collage

I found two tomato volunteers while weeding!  One is bigger and healthier than the other, but I hope some daily TLC will help the straggler along.

volunteer tomato

volunteer tomato 2

I’m really looking forward to seeing how these little guys will grow up.

My cucumbers have flowers!!

cucumber flowers

These four plants are coming along.

4 lemon cukes

I got to plant something new this weekend, too – a beautiful little spicy basil plant, compliments of my friend Harlan.

spicy basil in the ground

My containers are doing well, too.  Clockwise from top left: lavender flower, more spicy basil, thyme sprouts, tastoi.

container collage

Because of the hot weather, my arugula sent up flowers for about a week; if I had let it continue, it would have gone to seed.  I harvested the remaining leaves and turned under the roots and stems (thanks to fellow gardener Jen for the inspiration).  I’ll plant lettuce or braising mix in its place this weekend.

arugula on its way out

Finally, there is a very cool decrepit outbuilding on the property – I love how the ivy is growing up it.

ivy

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Dos Toros – An Initial Review

dos toros.bmp

Back in January, I got wind of a new taqueria in Manhattan, called Dos Toros.  The claim made was that they served good Mission-style burritos.  Having lived in NYC for almost five years (and on Long Island for four), I can tell you that I’ve heard many make this claim, but none have delivered.  And having lived in the Bay Area for 9 years, I think I’m a pretty good judge of what makes for a good Northern CA burrito.

Many of us Bay Area “expats” wish for a source for a proper burrito in NYC, and are constantly on the lookout for something that even comes close.  I’ve been disappointed time after time, but I had great hopes for Dos Toros.  I mean, the owners, Leo and Oliver Kremer, grew up in the Bay Area and ate lots and lots of burritos in SF, so that’s a great start.

I’m happy to say – I think I have found what I’m looking for.

As we were walking home from an awesome evening of beautiful music, we found ourselves on Fourth Ave, a little bit hungry.  All of the sudden I looked to my right and saw the bright orange Dos Toros sign, glowing in the dark.  My eyes and my stomach told me I had to check it out.

Now, since we encountered the establishment at about 10:30pm, I didn’t want to ingest an entire (or even half of a) burrito – I know better than to suck one of these down so close to bedtime (which was around midnight).  So, I chose a taco.  I ate a lot of tacos at Bay Area taquerias, and I know what I like.

This was an excellent decision, as the taco was just enough to satisfy me.  I chose a pollo asado taco, and my guy got a simple bean and rice taco, both served with guacamole, pico de gallo, and green sauce.  And both were absolutely delicious.

This taco is special.  The tortilla itself is made locally by Tortilleria Nixtamal in Corona/Queens, and it was fabulous – such wonderful texture and fresh taste; the chicken is raised without antibiotics or hormones; the rice is cooked with chicken broth, which makes it more nourishing than if it was cooked simply with water.  As for the rice and beans, the beans come from Cayuga Organics, the people that supply dry beans and grains for our CSA.  They grow the best beans I’ve ever eaten.  Plus they are local, just a little ways upstate.

Additionally, their utensils and paper products are biodegradable; they compost and recycle; they clean with non toxic, biodegradable products. And like a lot of places these days in NYC, they use reclaimed wood for their tables, chairs, and wall paneling materials (from a barn upstate), and reclaimed tin for the ceiling. To top it off, their energy comes from renewable energy sources. A+ in sustainability.

I plan to return to try one of the burritos, which will be the true test. I have high hopes – Dos Toros, I expect you’ll have the burritos I’m looking for!  I’ll take pictures next time, too.

Dos Toros Taqueria
137 4th Avenue
New York, NY, 10003
212-677-7300
info@dostorosnyc.com

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Spinach by Yotam Ottolenghi

ottolenghi spinach

I first came across the name “Ottolenghi” on the 101 Cookbooks site, where Heidi featured a recipe from Ottolenghi: The Cookbook.  The recipe consists primarily of Bhutanese red rice and quinoa, along with aromatics, pistachios, dried apricots, and arugula.  I remember making and really enjoying this dish, especially entranced with the red rice, which was unusual to me but so delicious.  FYI, “Ottolenghi” is the last name of Yotam Ottolenghi, who with Sami Tamimi are behind Ottolenghi, a very popular food shop and catering company in London, UK.

Last month, I discovered another Ottolenghi recipe that looked fantastic.  It’s very simple – spinach, pine nuts, ricotta, and some aromatics and spices.  I was particularly intrigued by the use of sumac, which I’ve only come across in middle eastern restaurants here in town (most notably at Kabab Cafe).

Sumac spice, not to be confused with the more toxic sumac like poison ivy, is a dark red spice derived from a wild bush in the Mediterranean.  The spice has as tart, lemony flavor.  It’s really delicious, and since I have so much of it left over, I look forward to trying other dishes that require it.

So, this lovely spinach dish.  I thought it was very good, really tasty, and easy to make; and I’d make it again in an instant.  I loved the use of fresh, mild cheese alongside the tart sumac, plus the cheese and nuts boost the protein content. I was happy to be able to take advantage of buying fresh, locally made ricotta at my neighborhood salumeria.  This cheese is so fresh and clean tasting, it’s a joy to use.  This dish is also good the next day.

You can find the recipe for Spinach with Sumac, Pine Nuts, and Fresh Cheese over on Design Sponge.