Our first share of the 2015 Hellgate CSA season, in a rad new space.
This week marks my tenth season with the Hellgate CSA, a community supported agriculture organization that I helped establish up in northwestern Queens. A little history: it was originally called the Ravenswood CSA, based in the Ravenswood Houses senior center, and as CSAs work in NYC it was passed on the following year from the Americorps member who staffed it, to an all-volunteer team. The members interested in forming the core group all lived above the GCP, so we brought it north.
I was a core member for eight seasons (2006-2013) and am happy to see the CSA still going, well-managed by the current core group. I left the core group for a variety of reasons, one being my desire to move on and make room for new experiences. But I wanted to remain a member, so here I am.
(The other day I realized I’ve been a member of a CSA on and off for about 24 years; my first CSA experience was with Full Belly Farm in CA, which started my love of CSAs and eating seasonally.)
We’re also in a nice new space, away from the elements, and with a lot more room than we’ve had in the past.
Recently, I’ve seen a bunch of posts on the interwebs about citrus and citrus peel – since it’s citrus season, that makes sense. I’ve been preserving lemon peel in kosher salt for a few months now – yes, that’s just the peel, not the entire lemon (I’ve preserved entire lemons, too). It’s a way to reduce waste as well as turning it into something delicious.
Usually when I use preserved lemons, it’s all about the peel; more often than not I discard the pulp, though I’m sure someone could show me what to do with it (I’m interested!). So, I got the idea of just preserving the peel in salt – each time I juiced an organic lemon, I’d get rid of the leftover lemon innards and reserve the peel. I slice the peel into strips and store them in salt.
I use the peel in things like chicken dishes or with couscous. It gives a kind of North African flavor to things. I love it! And it’s super thrifty. Organic lemons aren’t cheap.
After the peels stay in the salt for a while, they start to change color – it goes from a bright yellow to a kind of yellow orange. I think it’s beautiful.
So, last Tuesday was our final Hellgate CSA distribution of 2011. I won’t deny that it will be strange not picking up later tonight. What we got last week was:
1 bunch lacinato kale
1 celeriac
1 pound carrots
1 pound rutabagas
1 head cauliflower
1 bag sunchokes
I’ve eaten half the kale and carrots. The sunchokes were used for carrot-sunchoke fritters. Celeriac for remoulade. Rutabagas will be for roasting, as will the cauliflower.
This summer I processed 50 pounds of tomatoes – 25 pounds a week over two weeks The first week I canned beautiful organic plum tomatoes and the second week I canned beefy organic romas, and chose to dehydrated five pounds of those. It was a breeze to do this in the dehydrator compared to the oven, which I’ve used in the past.
It’s a very simple recipe: I cut each tomato in half and tossed them all with organic extra virgin olive oil. I placed the tomatoes, cut side up, on the dehydrator racks and then sprinkled salt on them. They spent time in the dehydrator for about 12 hours at 195 degrees, mostly overnight.
They didn’t dry out totally, which is what I wanted; they are soft. I ended up freezing them individually, then bagging them. This means I can take them out and use them as I like. They will be great on top of goat cheese, or chopped up into tomato sauce. Their flavor is concentrated and sweet. The epitome of a summer tomato.
I’ve preserved a lot of food this summer. I will write about it, so stay tuned for that!
We got summer’s first green beans in our CSA share last week; we tend to get a lot of green beans (and purple beans and yellow beans) in our share each season. Sadly, wasting them – meaning, letting them rot in the fridge – inevitably happens because we get so, so many each summer. This year, I’m determined to not waste any.
There are some simple and delicious ways out there to cook green beans: sautéing them with garlic, ginger, and a little naturally fermented soy sauce, topped with Sriracha; incorporating them into omelet; and simply eating them raw in salads.
But I have one way to cook them that makes them really special; it elevates the simple green bean to something truly amazing.
I discovered this method several years ago, and rediscovered it while perusing my cookbooks last week. After making it mid-week, I was reminded why I love this dish – it holds a wonderful combination of summery, earthy green flavors lent by the beans in a silky lemony egg sauce, almost like they are in a warm lemony aioli. The green beans also take on my favorite texture – fork tender. It’s really easy to make, too. And it’s full of good fat and protein from the pastured eggs and butter.
I find it’s easy to down a half pound of beans when cooked like this. In fact, I had to restrain myself from eating them all the other night, so that I could save some for lunch the next day. They were terrific as leftovers.
I’ll be making this all summer, I believe. I doubt there will be any wasted green beans, too!
Fagioli Con Limone
from The Vegetarian Table: Italy
1/2 pound string beans, ends trimmed, preferably organic
2 tsp kosher salt or coarse sea salt, plus more to taste
1 tbs unsalted butter (I used raw butter)
2 small eggs, preferably pastured
1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice (not from a bottle)
grated zest of 1/2 small lemon
freshly milled black pepper
In a saucepan bring enough water to cover the beans generously to a rolling boil. Add the beans and 2 tsp salt. Cook until tender, 6-7 minutes, then drain well.
In a saucepan over medium heat, melt the butter. Add the drained beans to the butter, toss to coat, and cover the pan to keep them hot. In a bowl, lightly beat the eggs, and then beat in the lemon juice, lemon zest, and pepper to taste. Add the egg mixture to the hot beans and stir quickly with a wooden spoon. To prevent the eggs from curdling, keep the pot over the lowest possible heat, or place a flame tamer over the burner. As soon as the sauce thickens, remove the pot from the flame.
Cool weather continues to reign here in NYC, even though it’s almost mid-April. It’s also feels kind of damp to me, which makes it seem even chillier. Some of you might laugh when I say that temperatures in the low-60s make for chilly times, but I (like to joke that I) have thin California blood and have always found that this kind of weather produces in me an intense longing for 80-degree days.
However, weather like this is perfect for roasted root vegetables – they are so comforting, plus it’s not hot enough yet to eschew your oven. Sweet potatoes with rosemary and garlic are nice; butternut squash with thyme is also delicious; carrots, onions, and parsnips underneath a roasting chicken is truly fantastic. However, what’s really calling me these days is gratin dauphiois – a simple dish of roasted potatoes in milk.
Contrary to popular belief, there is no cheese in this dish (though I’ve seen some recipes that ask for it). You wouldn’t know it by just looking at it – to me, it really looks like there must be cheese in there. What else would produce such a glorious and tasty crust? Well, it’s the starch in the potatoes that encourage this, actually. Whoever figured this out was brilliant.
The potatoes come out perfectly cooked – warm and creamy and smooth. The milk/half-and-half/cream thickens from the starch. The garlic and nutmeg add a nice hint of flavor, too. Be sure to use a good quality milk/half-and-half/cream – preferably from grass-fed cows, which provides so much more nutrition, not to mention superior taste. Organic potatoes are preferred because of the pesticide residue that can remain with conventionally grown potatoes; Yukon Golds would be nice.
As an aside, whenever I read the name of this dish, I think of the piece by the great French theorist and composer Jean-Philippe Rameau, La Dauphine. Of course, gratin dauphinois is named after Dauphiné, a former province in southeastern France, where the dish is a specialty of that region. In any case, La Dauphine is the first piece of Rameau’s that I ever played, and it is the only solo harpsichord piece he wrote after spending his time writing operas. It was written in the style of an improvisation, to honor the marriage between Marie-Josèphe of Saxony and Louis XV.
2 pounds potatoes, a mix of waxy and baking potatoes (if you prefer to use only one type, pick waxy potatoes, not too firm), preferably organic
2 cups half-and-half or whole milk (absolutely not skim milk), preferably grass-fed
1 1/2 teaspoons sea salt
freshly grated nutmeg
1 clove garlic, sliced lengthwise
3 tablespoons finely chopped chives (optional)
1/4 cup heavy cream, preferably grass-fed
Peel the potatoes, rinse them briefly, and slice them thinly (about 1/10th of an inch) and evenly. Do not rinse after slicing, or you will lose all that precious starch.
Combine the sliced potatoes, milk, salt and a good grating of nutmeg in a saucepan. Bring to a simmer over medium-low heat, and keep simmering for 8 minutes, stirring the potatoes and scraping the bottom of the pan regularly to prevent sticking/scorching. The milk will gradually thicken to a creamy consistency.
While the potatoes are simmering, preheat the oven to 430F and rub the bottom and sides of a medium earthenware or glass baking dish with the cut sides of the garlic clove.
Transfer half of the potatoes into the baking dish, sprinkle with the chives if using, and drizzle with half of the cream. Add the rest of the potatoes, pour the cooking milk over them, and drizzle with the remaining cream.
Bake for 35 to 40 minutes, until bubbly on the edges and nicely browned at the top. Let stand for 5 minutes before serving.
Serves 6 as a side dish.
This post is participating in Real Food Wednesday, hosted by Kelly the Kitchen Kop.
I’ve eaten many, many chicken breasts (boneless/skinless) in my days. Unfortunately, many of them have been tasteless, with texture like sawdust. There’s a salad place near my office that serves chicken breasts just like that. When I first tasted them, I couldn’t believe how bad they were, or that any place would be ok with selling something of that questionable quality. Needless to say, I don’t eat them there anymore.
(We ate them weekly when I was a kid, and I don’t remember them being so devoid of flavor then.)
Fortunately, I have discovered wonderful chicken breasts that actually taste like chicken! I get them through my CSA and they are delicious. These are chickens that run around on pasture, eat bugs, and lead a generally good life. This kind of chicken is always going to produce tastier meat.
Usually I grill chicken breasts, but I’ve gotten tired of cooking them that way, and have wanted to find other ways to prepare them. I’ve tried poaching them in spiced/herbed water, but they end up being devoid of fat. Baking them is dissatisfying. What to do?
My current favorite way of cooking them is pan-frying them in coconut oil, which is an excellent fat that lends rich flavor and adds extra nutrition. Then I chop them up and simmer them in salsa verde – one of my favorite sauces. I like eating them with a little cheese on gorditas, or even by themselves.
I was fortunate enough to find in my freezer a bag of salsa verde I’d made last summer from tomatillos I grew in my community garden. I find homemade salsa verde to be far superior to anything in a jar, but if you’re stretched for time, using salsa from a jar works just fine.
Salsa Verde Chicken
1 full chicken breast
2 tablespoons coconut oil
sea salt and pepper
