Gold Beets

What I Made – Week 12

/ CSA in the City / 2 Comments
I tried a new recipe for these blueberry lemon scones, substituting regular milk for the plant-based and was sure I was going to regret it. The dough was so soft I dumped it in a puddle on my baking sheet for the chilling step! But somehow it baked up perfectly, and the crunchy sugar topping was a definite must. Consider adding more sugar to the dough if you don’t have any for sprinkling.
Salmon with wilted chard and a tarragon vinaigrette is a true 30 minute meal with flavor that tastes like it’s much more complex. Four salmon filets will leave leftovers for the next day, but we always eat one bunch of chard in a single meal.
These pitas are stuffed with more veggies than you might realize – oven roasted sun gold tomatoes, cucumbers in the tzatziki yogurt sauce, and zucchini in the turkey meatballs! Don’t skimp on the herbs in the meatballs, they give great flavor.
This colorful salad is just beets, avocado, and a puréed onion dressing, but is a nice light way to enjoy beets in the summer.
This dish looks veggie-free, but it hides 3 sliced and then caramelized onions! This is Adas Polo or lentil rice with chicken from the Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat cookbook. I didn’t have raisins or dates, so I used craisins. Samin would also be disappointed that my dish turned out unseasoned. She says to salt the rice cooking liquid until it’s “uncomfortable” and I thought I was probably just short of that but that it would be close enough. I was wrong and should know better than to not trust her instructions…
The recipe for these wok cooked Romano beans seems too easy to be true: char beans and dried chiles, add 1/4 c water to steam until crisp tender, then toss with garlic and ginger, soy sauce and sesame oil, and top with scallions. I’m here to say it was delicious and much more flavorful than you might expect!
This zucchini chocolate orange cake is pretty much perfection (and a great way to use up zucchini). I swap chocolate chips for the pecans and concentrate the glaze and only use about a half cup of powdered sugar since the cake is plenty sweet without it.

We also ate (more!) sunchoke gnocchi with sautéed spinach and polished off the peaches and cantaloupe as delicious lunch time snacks. We still have more onions and cucumbers to use up.

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What I’ve Planned – Week 12

/ CSA in the City / 1 Comment

Even as hot as the days are, we’re still getting leafy greens along with our beans and squash, so I’m not in full casserole mode yet! Here’s what we are planning to make this week

Well probably eat the peaches and definitely the cantaloupe for breakfast and snack on the cucumbers throughout the week. I’m still hoping to make a chocolate zucchini cake, if I can stand to run the oven that long this week!

What I Made – Week 27

/ CSA in the City / 2 Comments

I’d posted this recipe for risotto with leeks and turnips many years ago, but these days I prefer to make risotto in the Instant Pot! I cook the leeks in butter or oil using the Sauté setting, then I dump in the turnips, rice, and broth and cook on high pressure for 5 minutes. After a quick release, I turn it back to Sauté and stir in the cheese and cook for a few minutes to let it thicken up. No aching arm from all the stirring and you have risotto in about 30 minutes!

This white bean soup with Swiss chard and carrots is so nice on a cold night and is another easy Instant Pot meal! I added the thinly sliced chard stems with the onions at the beginning.

A basic chef salad is always good for a quick meal. I cooked the quinoa and eggs ahead of time to make this extra easy on a busy night.

I’ve made beets and mozzarella with poppyseed citrus dressing for a while now. It’s based on this recipe, but I don’t grill the beets, I just roast them in the oven and I substitute the easier to find mozzarella for burrata.

I went all in on the Instant Pot meals this week. Jarred curry paste gives a lot of flavor (and spice!) to this Thai red curry with bok choy and broccoli. I actually cooked the bok choy and broccoli in a wok to give them a nice char, then stirred them in at the very end.

With all these soups, can you tell it’s cold here now? I didn’t have half and half, but I did a cup of cream and a cup of skim milk and this clam chowder turned out great!