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 15 Box 15

This week The Box was lovingly delivered to me by The Husband and I had about 5 minutes to look it over, take a picture of it and then run out to a hearing that lasted till 12:00am. Wonderful. Not to mention that I then did the exact same thing on Tuesday, quick PB and J dinner and then back out to a hearing that didn't end till 10:00pm. Welcome to my life. I'm exhausted and in desperate need of a full day of TLC but I don't want to pull a last week and forget to post anything about this week's box so here it is:

Week 14 Box 14: Spicy Fun Arugala

Because of the way my day job works we are getting into the heavy season at work. Which means my posts are going to start condensing because I don't have nearly as much time to work on them as I would like too. Sorry folks. I'm going to try to get better at spacing them out, maybe get on a regular schedule like The Husband recommends. We shall see. Anyway last week The Box Contained the following:

• Red Potatoes
• Many tomatoes of the red and heirloom variety
• Yellow Onions
• Celery
• Concord Grapes
• and Two Bunches of Arugula

Since, of course, Arugula is one of my favorite greens due to it's spicy fun flavor and I had an excess of tomatoes I went looking for a good old fashioned quick pasta recipe for a Tuesday night dinner.

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?

The Number of Hot Peppers in The Box is TOO DARN HIGH

As I said in a previous post Hot Peppers are an interesting but dangerous ingredient. Usually I will add them in small quantities to various recipes of the Spanish/Mexican variety. But when The Box gave me 7 Hot Peppers I was honestly stumped. What exactly do could I make with that much spice that won't kill The Husband by taste-bud overload.

Even I was a little frightened and for lack of a better plan I was going to simply slice and pickle them, saving them to top off sandwiches when the mood arises, maybe add them to a Martini for an interesting flavor twist.  But, although I've been wanting to pickle something for the blog for a long time, I just couldn't bring myself in this case. It felt a little bit like a cop-out. Too easy. So after some time on The Google Machine, and the purchase of a brand new canning kit, I decided to turn this:

Into a sweet and spicy relish. Yum!

Week 7 Box 7

After the disaster that was The Box last week. I was anxious to replace the rotting produce in my fridge with a fresh clean start. This week The Box was delivered to me by The Husband while I was at my Parents' house waiting for our wedding photographer to bring us our pictures (EEEEEEEEE!) and it was, un-ironically, delivered  in a box, which, because of my experience with the sp-sp-spider, I promptly made The Husband remove from the apartment as soon as we got home.

I have to honestly say this week The Box is giving me a little bit of a head scratch-er. This is not because there are any particular ingredients in it that are unusual or difficult to work with, but for precisely the opposite reason. It is going to take some thought to try and make the ingredients interesting.

Play your guessing game before looking at the list below:

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.

Week 5 Box 5

This week I had a nice little change of pace when it came to picking up The Box.  It was not sinister-ly delivered to me by The Husband.  The Husband was working late so... I went. I took the 45 minute trip north through the traffic (and I HATE traffic) to get to my MIL's house where the abundance of veg was waiting for me. Once there my MIL and I lazily divided the contents in almost-half, chit-chatting and catching up, then we went out for a delicious pizza dinner where we discussed the various uses of the various veg we received.  It was delightful and made the following a little less of a conundrum.

Week 4 Box 4

Yesterday  my worst nightmare occurred: I got stuck in traffic.

On a normal day my commute back and forth from my job is 20 minutes. On a fantastic day I can do it in 15. Yesterday it took me 1 hour and 20 minutes to get home. I tried multiple routes, all had traffic. I sat at the world's worst planned intersection for a total of 5 light cycles and then sat in more traffic all the while calling and complaining at The Husband. I get terribly whiny when I get stuck in traffic.

Thank goodness for The Husband who loves me and  was patiently waiting for my arrival with more Garlic Scape Pesto, a bottle of Prosecco left over from our wedding night and the contents of this week's Box.  That and a pound and a 1/2 of mozzarella from the Italian Deli who always gives you a 1/4 to 1/2 pound more mozzarella then you ask for... and charges you for it (not that you would complain, the stuff is delicious).

I broke into the Prosecco before I addressed the contents of the The Box.

(Doesn't it look like a face?)

Week 3 Box 3

This week's box contained no major surprises. It was actually a nice sigh of relief after the funeral followed by a wedding weekend The Husband and I had just gone through. The Box Yielded the following:

Week 2 Box 2

***Before this post went live, The Husband and I received the sad news that his aunt had passed away. We will be attending the funeral on Thursday but it requires some travel. Unfortunately that means that this week's cooking adventures will have to be put on hold.  Thank you for your support.***

I was at work when I got the call from The Husband that he was picking up The Box.

• Me: Really? What did we get?
• The Husband: Do you really want me to tell you or do you want to be surprised when you get home?
• Me: Tell me.
• The Husband: Are you sure?
• Me: No.... don't tell me. I'll end up frantically researching the remainder of the day and will never get any work done.
• The Husband: See you when you get home.

That last comment sounded way more sinister on the phone then it looks in writing. I spent the remainder of the day worried. VERY worried. And as it turned out, I was right to be concerned. 

This week The Box provided the following recognizable items:

• 1 Tomato (not nearly as beautiful as last weeks but still delicious I am sure)
• 1 bunch of spinach 
• Oregano
• More Garlic Scapes

The Following less-recognizable items:

• Turnip Greens (The Google Machine told me to just add Bacon)
• Tokyo Bekana (which I learned was "great for salads and stir fry)

and THIS:

Garlic Scapes!

I had heard of Garlic Scapes before. Mostly on NPR or in the New York Times as this random food item that shows up on fancy NYC restaurant menus and over which the Foodies go all Gaga. The thing is I had never seen them before. So when they showed up in The Box they elicited a lot of confusion. This is the item I had to bite into in order to determine what it was and, as a result, the cause of my indigestion in the morning.

After that not-so-pleasant experience and the formal determination of its genus, species and culinary classification, the next step was to determine how I was going to use them. Once again I took to The Google Machine which informed me they were good in salads and in other culinary applications where a less garlicky flavor might be required. After a half hour of research and some deep probing of my internal culinary desires, which included my desire NOT to slave over the stove in this god - forsaken heat,  I went with BFF Becky's suggestion: Pesto.

To start this task I broke out Tyler (the name for our Food Processor) and, being new to this whole "take pictures as you cook" part of blogging, I promptly forgot to take a picture of the Scapes before I chopped them into little pieces. So here are the Scapes after Tyler did his thing :

Now I think you should know in advance of the remainder of the blog that I am Italian, and, as an Italian, I do not measure when I make pesto. Pesto literally means paste. So when I make pesto I kinda just grind everything up until it looks/tastes right and then serve. However, since The Husband voiced concerns that blog readers may not like a food blog without recipes, I've tried my best to estimate amounts for you after the fact.

Introduction

The Husband and I, being happy go lucky newlyweds who love to cook, decided that we were going to invest in a CSA Farm Box. OK, maybe it was more like I decided I wanted a Farm Box.  I had had the privilege of consuming some of the amazing foods my BFF Becky created from her box the year before, and it looked like fun and simple enough. So when I heard that my MIL's temple had a Farm Share with Catalapa Ridge Farm I made a deal to split a weekly box with my MIL and convinced The Husband that this was a great idea.  In fairness to Former-Me, it seemed like a really good idea at the time.

Anyway, we received our first box last night and as The Husband laid out the contents before me:

• 1 Cucumber recognizable in shape and form, thank heaven
• 1 heirloom tomato, big and fat and glorious
• 1 bunch of red lettuce
• Onions with the greens still attached
• Rosemary
• Rhubarb
• Green Garlic
• Elephant Garlic Scapes

 I had a minor freak out. 

Now, in fairness to this first box, it wasn't much and the first five items I recognized easily enough but the last three items were totally new to me. What the HECK was I going to do???  The Husband MAY have laughed at me as I frantically began searching the net to figure out proper storage of the above items, and chomping into a random items to try and determine what manner of green they were. After exhausting The Google Machine and experiencing the worst garlic breath I've ever had,  I resorted to picking up the phone and calling the one person whose fault this really was: Becky's. 

That conversation went like this:

• Becky: Hello lovely
• Me: This is all your fault
• Becky: What?
• Me: I did something because I was inspired by you and now I have no idea what to do.
• Becky: What?
• Me: I bought a Farm Box and now I have Rhubarb sitting on my kitchen table and some other veg I don't recognize and YOU ... YOU MADE IT LOOK SO EASY.
• Becky: ::Laughter::

It took a bit to calm me down but with promises to provide me with recipes and resources Becky got my panic under control and, to her relief, got me off the phone.

I created this blog to document my adventures with the Farm Box. I'm sure this will be filled with lots of recipes that will most certainly go wrong and some that will go right. Inevitably some items will be deemed inedible by The Husband and others spoil in the fridge forgotten. But hopefully by the end of this year I will no longer panic when the box walks in the door. That is my goal and I'm sticking to it.

Now please excuse me, I have to go do more research on Rhubarb and Garlic Scapes.