Neither from Israel nor Artichokes

Jerusalem Artichokes, or sunchokes as they are sometimes less confusingly called, look like knobby potatoes, or perhaps tumor ridden turnips. Choose your imagery. Surprisingly, or un-surprisingly if you've been watching me cook with the weird veggies all year, these knobby ugly things, like most root vegetables, seem to have only 2 or 3 successful and suggested methods of preparation. You can roast them. You can boil and mash them. You can make them into chips or fries, or pancakes. Boring Boring Boring. Tubers are Boring. There isn't much I can say about that. However, the Sunchoke does have one unique trick that the other tubers do not. They take very well to being stir fried. Almost like a water-chestnut but more bendy. And although I find stir fry's to be as un-original a way to get rid of veg as making a salad, I realize I had not yet created one for you on this blog. Also, I found a recipe with some pretty interesting techniques. So who am I to resist. Let's get stir-crazy.

Week 20, Box 20 and an Appology

So for the first time in 20 weeks it looks like I honest to god missed a recipe post. The truth is last week was just about the worst week thus far luck wise. I was sick, The Husband then got sick and then over the weekend I had to take my grandfather to the hospital. So over all even though I got The Box, took pictures and even cooked and took pictures of two full recipes, I just never got around to posting. I apologize. If you were wondering I made 2 dishes, the first was Macaroni and Cheese with Swiss Chard, which was a variant of THIS recipe. To modify it I gave the chard a quick chiffonade, blanched it and squeezed the water out. I then mixed it in with the final product just like the recipe calls for mixing in the broccoli. It was a little bit of a cheat recipe, we wanted comfort food, and when that comfort food is mac and cheese you always feel better adding some green to it.

The other recipe I made was baked potato soup. I followed the recipe found HERE to the letter. It was easy, delicious, didn't require an excessive amount of milk fat and exactly the thing The Husband needed in his sickness. Also a fantastic way to use up a TON of potatoes. Yum.

This week I am hopeful that things will go more smoothly. I am pleased with the ingredients that came in The Box. They will prove some challenges but also some comfort items. Let me show you:

The Whole Enchelada

This week The Box provided me with 4 tomatillos. Tomatillos are related to the husk cherry, and are not, despite the similarity in their name,are not tomatoes. Prior to creating my most recent creation, described below, I had never worked with them before. Tomatillos are frequently found in native Mexican cuisine, and being Italian and Jewish and The Husband being Irish, we don't usually eat a lot of Mexican food, and we certainly rarely choose to dive into that cuisine for cooking. It requires ingredients not typically found in our kitchen, and a taste palette that we are unaccustomed to balancing. However, the whole purpose of this little exercise is to expand our culinary horizons by dealing with the ingredients that appear on our doorstep. So, I made enchiladas.

Week 11 Box 11

Let it be known that the Rabbi has returned. This of course means that I no longer get the benefit of a full and fruitful box. Ah well, I'm back to my half share and it's probably better for the environment (less veg going to rot) and for this blog (splitting the share with the MIL results in me getting the weird stuff). However, we are coming into the Fall (even though it is still August) which means the "harvest time" is coming. I'm excited for the bounty of new veg that are coming into the season. And this week The Box is starting to reflect it. Here's what we got:

Week 10 Box 10

Many of you have been asking about the status of my finger. Well I'm sorry to say it had to be amputated.... Naw just joshing. It's fine. The Husband and  I went  down the shore as planned which was a lot of fun except for the fact that I had to wear a rubber glove on the beach and couldn't go in the water. Lots of little kids stared trying to figure out what exactly that crazy lady was doing and I am sure lots of parents worried that I had some horrible skin disease. I just tried to relax and keep my hand out of the sun (apparently rubber gloves trap heat).

The Glue they used peeled off a day early and unfortunately the wound hadn't healed all the way. It wasn't gushing or anything just still a little exposed. So of course it has become infected and I'm on antibiotics. Nothing is ever easy, is it? However, I expect to heal acceptably from now on and it cannot come fast enough. I'm sick of the pain every time I forget and hit "l" with the finger while I am typing. Apparently I can compensate on all the other letter but "l" is ingrained as "hit with right ring finger" unless I am paying close attention.

Anyway this week I picked up The Box again. It just happened to coincide nicely with the end of my doctor's appointment.

Here's what we got:

Week 9 Box 9

We had a very productive weekend. Not only did we bake Zucchini Bread, we cleaned and organized our office which it desperately needed. See, when we moved in we unpacked, but we didn't really think about where things were going. It was kind of a, let's just get everything AWAY so we don't have to look at it any more and we will deal with it later. Now, 1 year later, we've dealt with it, the office feels neater and my life less chaotic. Bonus: organizing the office freed up the giant tea storage box we had been using as a junk drawer and suddenly we could condense the 5 boxes of wedding gifts into one box, getting rid of the clutter! Think of all we could do if we just put in some shelves (hint hint).

In addition to the cleaning, we took apart the old entertainment stand in preparation for a Brand New (also ordered this weekend) Wall Unit. We drove the old broken down Subaru up to the MIL house for final disposal,  opening up the garage for our needs. We watched Identity Thief, drank way too much Port AND, to top all that off spent a wonderful morning with our Friends Amy and  Ben, breaking in their new home. It was busy, busy, busy but HEAVEN. I love when The Husband has weekends off.

In the Chaos The Husband, who does so much so that I don't have to and who loves me and is amazing, brought me home The Box. I was very excited and hopeful after last week's berry surprise. However, there wasn't too much exciting in this week's box.

Let me walk you through it:

Week 8 Box 8

The Husband and I are getting into a nice little rhythm. I guess we've moved into that sweet spot after the wedding where we start just being comfortable with each other and our roles. Not that we didn't have the sweet spot before the wedding, just that planning a wedding tends to mess with the natural equilibrium of things. Now we are just fat, happy and trying not to stress over the unplanned expenses that arise, and furniture shopping. It helps that the heat has subsided; I woke up this morning to 67 degrees and sunny. BEAUTIFUL. Now if we can make it through August without the heat rising above 90 I will remain a very happy girl.

This week's box arrived unceremoniously with no terrifying surprises, but again, no immediately clear cooking ideas came to mind.  Here's what we got:

care to guess?

Week 6 Box 6

With The Husband and the MIL relaxing away at Cape Cod this little plebeian slaved away in the summer heat. She also found herself alone this Monday and the only one able to pick up The Box. This requires a 40 minute trip north (thankfully not in traffic this time) at top speed trying to make it to the Temple by 6:30.  I made it at 6:20 and picked up my abundance. 

If you've ever wondered what a full farm share box looks like in comparison to the 1/2 a box I get every week, this is your chance. When I got it all laid out on the table, needless to say it did not fit nicely into the big bowl:

I apologize for the cruddy picture, The Husband has the good camera with him on The Cape. So what are this week's contents? I'll tell you, but feel free to guess before reading the list.