Category Archives: Winter CSA
A Trio of Winter Winners
We’ve certainly been experiencing our share of winter weather this month. Light snow, heavy snow, and wintry mix. Having a dog sheds a new light on winter because you have to go out walking, rain (or should I say snow) or shine. I’ve learned to enjoy winter walks, especially on a weekend afternoon when we can walk through the woods. Cold just doesn’t feel as cold as it used to.
That said, the amount of winter precipitation is getting tiresome. Any suggestions on where we should move for better weather? It’s tough to figure out because I don’t like to be hot.
In deference to the weather, in the past week, I’ve tried three new recipes for hearty fare. Two were from websites I follow and the third, torn from a magazine by a friend and shared with me. All three were successful, so I share the results here with you.
#1 Mujaddara
This is a relatively simple lentil and rice dish, Middle Eastern in origin. I found this on Food 52, the website of Amanda Hesser (of former New York Times fame) and Merrill Stubbs. I can easily get lost for hours, browsing through recipes and watching the videos. The thing I especialy like about this site are the videos. They make everything looks so easy, which is inspiring.
Each week, this site has a themed recipe contest. The top two recipes, as chosen by Amanda and Merrill, are demonstrated and readers can vote. If I understand the site correctly, all the winning recipes are being published together in a cookbook, coming soon.
Lentils are probably my top favorite bean or legume. For this recipe, three basic parts are cooked separately and then combined and served with a spicy yogurt sauce. You bake some rice, while simmering some lentils, while caramelizing some onions. That’s about it. After you combine the lentils, rice, and onions, they sit for a short while while the flavors blend. This is just enough time to make the yogurt sauce. Its components definitely sum up to something greater than its parts. If you check out this recipe, be sure to watch the video.
This recipe comes from Six Burner Sue, the website of Susie Middleton, former editor at Fine Cooking magazine and author of the recent book Fast, Fresh and Green. Given the 5 pounds of parsnips in the fridge, this one appealed to me right away.
The recipe uses only one pound of parsnips, so it use up my entire supply. However, this is a fast side dish that I will definitely make again. I think I made the “fries” a little to thin. I cut them to around ¼-inch sticks. That was fine for eating with fingers, but with a fork, slightly wider, maybe ½ inch sticks would have been better. I also might not have blackened as many if they’d been a wee bit thicker.
We opted for a simple sprinkle with kosher salt, though a lime and maple drizzle was offered as part of the recipe. Maybe we’ll try a little squeeze of lime juice next time.
#3 Beet and Fennel Soup with Kefir
My friend April (see her recent guest post on my blog here) passed this recipe along to me. It’s from the January issue of Bon Appetit, which I subscribe to, but hadn’t browsed yet. Again, I have a large supply of beets (10+ pounds) in the fridge from our winter CSA. They are gigantic beets too.
This soup has a lot going for it. The texture was velvety, the color was a shocking pink, and it uses kefir, a yogurt-like drink, which was a new taste adventure for me. I can’t say enough about the color. It’s wild! The double fennel taste, supplied by fresh fennel plus fennel seeds, is not overpowering as I feared it might be. It has an interesting flavor that complements the beets nicely.
I had some already roasted beets, so instead of peeling and dicing raw beets, I just peeled and diced my roasted cooked beets and simmer for only 10 minutes to blend the flavors as the beets did not need cooking. Because I love the caramelized sweetness of roasted beets and the ease of peeling them, I’d go this way again. Actually, I made a double batch of this soup.
I still have some kefir left, so I think I’ll try to use it in place of buttermilk for some scones or other quick bread this weekend. Or maybe for pancakes on Saturday morning breakfast, or maybe both!
Winter Wonderland Arrives!
Winter has set in. The solstice was this week, so I shouldn’t be surprised. We had our first snowfall on Monday night and another last night (Wednesday); a few inches dusted my world. I always say, if it’s going to be cold, it might as well be pretty, and it is.
On Saturday, we picked up our second and final share of the Shared Harvest CSA. The pantry and extra refrigerator are now packed with bountiful vegetables, mostly ones that will store for a while. Our share included potatoes, sweet potatoes, onions, beets, carrots, celery root, butternut squash, cabbage, parsnips, leeks, winter radishes, lettuce and kale. The share also included some popcorn (on the cob) and two pounds of locally grown beans: kidney beans and one other. I picked some crazy-looking brown and black marbled beans called Peregion. We had ordered an additional 10 pounds of carrots, 5 pounds of parsnips, and 10 pounds of beets. I suspect there is a least one pot of borscht in our future.
Cold weather calls for hearty meals. We had some people coming over for dinner, and I was in the mood for roasted vegetables, so I made a winter vegetable and chicken paella. The original recipe called for butternut squash and Swiss chard. I added extra squash plus a couple of turnips and parsnips. I also substituted the kale from the CSA share for the chard.
I am fortunate to have an actual paella pan that I brought back from a visit to Spain when my mother was living there (a couple decades ago). You can use a very large ovenproof skillet or sauté pan, but the paella pan makes for a gorgeous presentation. (Unfortunately, I didn’t take a picture of the paella in the pan, just some of the leftovers.)
Paella is a very flexible dish. I once borrowed an entire cookbook of paella recipes from the library and spent several nights browsing through. Each part of Spain has their own version which features local ingredients. The common element is the short-grain rice.
Here’s the version I made this weekend from my CSA share vegetables:
Winter Vegetable-Chicken Paella
Serves 6 – 8
Adapted from this recipe from Food and Wine magazine, December 2002
1 large leek, white and tender green parts only, halved lengthwise
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 small butternut squash, about 2 pounds, peeled and cut into ½-inch dice
2 turnips, peeled and cut into ½-inch dice
2 parsnips, peeled and cut into ½-inch dice
Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
3 lbs chicken thighs, with skin
1 large onion, chopped
¼ teaspoon saffron threads, crumbled
1 tsp smoked paprika
2 cups Arborio rice
3½ cups hot chicken stock
1 can (28 oz) whole tomatoes, drained and chopped
1 bunch of kale, stems discarded, leaves coarsely chopped
Preheat the oven to 425°. In a large bowl, toss the diced squash, turnip, and parsnips with 1 Tbsp olive oil. Season the vegetables with salt and pepper. Spread onto one or two baking sheets in one layer. Brush the leek with 1 teaspoon of the olive oil and arrange on a portion of one of the baking sheets, cut side down. Cut the leek into 1-inch lengths. Roast the vegetables for 20 minutes, or until golden and just tender.
Meanwhile, heat 1 tablespoon of the oil in a 14- to 16-inch paella pan or skillet. Season the chicken with salt and pepper; cook over moderate heat until golden, 10 minutes. Transfer to a plate. If there is a lot of fat in the pan, carefully pour off all but 2 tablespoons. Add the onion to the pan; cook over low heat until softened. Add the saffron and smoked paprika; cook over moderately high heat, stirring, for 2 minutes. Add the rice and 1 1/2 teaspoons of salt; cook, stirring, for 2 minutes. Stir in the stock, tomatoes, kale, and roasted leek, squash, turnips and parsnips.
Nestle the chicken into the rice, skin side up. Simmer the paella over low heat for 5 minutes. Transfer to a 350° oven and bake for 30 minutes, or until the stock is absorbed, the rice is tender and the chicken is cooked through. Remove from the oven and cover with a towel; let stand for 10 minutes. Serve at once.
A Plateful of Happiness 