Farm share, week 14

[magid]

A heavy bag this week.

• fifteen potatoes (white, red-skinned, and purple, of various sizes)
  
• eight carrots (plain orange)
  
• a bunch of red radishes with greens (Anyone want some radishes? I'm keeping the greens, though.)
  
• a head of garlic
  
• an onion
  
• a small punnet of tomatoes (that look halfway between small plum tomatoes and large grape tomatoes in size)
  
• a bunch of kale (only green or purple, no lacinato; I decided to try the purple again.)
  
• a bunch of parsley (curly or flat leaf; I got the latter.)
  
• four red Italian peppers
  
• a head of green cabbage
  
• an eggplant (either regular dark purple, or streaked with white; I got the latter)
  
  
• fruit share: twelve apples (possibly Paulas)

I'm not sure what to do with all the cabbage; I still have a head of red cabbage from a few weeks ago. I should probably attempt sauerkraut, but I don't have a large enough container.

Side note: I can tell I'm not living up to the USian consumer profile, because I'm just about out of plastic bags with handles.

Boston Organics delivery, small box, some fruit. It was very heavy when I picked it up, much more so than usual.

• a huge head of green cabbage (like, larger than my head) (local)
  
• two medium-large leeks (local)
  
• two ears of corn (local)
  
• a largish eggplant (local)
  
• two cucumbers (local)
  
• a spaghetti squash (local)
  
• four medium-large onions
  
• two oranges
  
• a pink grapefruit

There'd been an email that the green bean deliverer had forgotten, so they substituted something else (I'm guessing the onions, because they aren't mentioned in the newsletter); later-in-the-week people will likely have green beans.

My cooking happens in waves. Sunday was a make-food day (unusual, because I'm usually focused on using up Shabbat leftovers), while Monday was all leftovers.

First up on Sunday: I had about half the quart of chocolate milk I'd gotten at the tomato festival left, and wanted to use it up before it turned. I also had lots of eggs, and leftover multigrain challah. The obvious candidate: chocolate bread pudding. Which I did, adding cocoa powder and chocolate chips to the mix as well. I didn't add as much cocoa as usual, given the chocolate milk, and I regret that: it didn't come out as chocolatey as I would've liked. I also should have put in some vanilla.

Next up: another batch of jam. I used the rest of the 5-pound box of organic wild blueberries, a bag of organic raspberries, a bag of cranberries, five plums (diced), and a lime (minced). Plus sugar, of course. I didn't stir as frequently as I should have, so it burned a little on the bottom, but I canned the rest: five half-pints, and eight minis (I'd stopped at Tag's to replenish the jar supply, but I only got one box of each... I think I'm going to need more, especially with applesauce season nigh upon us.).

And then for dinner, pizza. I put garlic powder and dried oregano in the crust. I sliced an onion thinly, minced some garlic, got out a couple of different spread (red pepper, eggplant and onion), plus some leftover roasted vegetables from last week's pizza extravaganza. This time it was all cheddar all the time, though. I ate far too much of it...

Comments

[bitty.livejournal.com]

I'm just about out of plastic bags with handles.


Oh, we can take care of that. Just you wait.

[magid.livejournal.com]

Hee!

I may be getting more: I need things like detergent and suchlike.

[rhysara.livejournal.com]

I always run out of them too though for completely different reasons, I just have half a hundred uses for the silly things in my day to day life.

Also, I don't know what I'd do with all that food were it to suddenly appear in my refridgerator. I can't even get through a bottle of milk or a head of lettuce before they go bad.

[magid.livejournal.com]

I've run out because when I get them they're used for lunches, or getting veggies, or for trash (if they don't have holes), and so on.

You probably eat out more than I do; I end up cooking a lot, just to get through the week, and have people over for meals on a regular basis. (Plus, I feel healthier when I eat a lot of produce.)

[rhysara.livejournal.com]

They make great trash bags!

And actually I think the secret is that I subside almost entirely on a diet consisting of garlic hummus and tabouli salad. Often I eat it with a spoon and forgo even the bread to put it on. I am such a boy.

[magid.livejournal.com]

I don't have room for those huge trash bags, either, unless I'm doing some serious cleaning...

I'd get too bored eating only a couple of things. I know a lot of people are happy eating the same things, but I'm not. (And I don't see it as a gender division, either, knowing people on both sides of different genders.)

[surrealestate.livejournal.com]

Y'know, I haven't tried eating the radish greens -- I think I didn't realize they were good for that.

The radishes I cooked last week turned out great, especially to munch the next day.

[magid.livejournal.com]

How did you cook them?

Radishes are related to turnips; the greens are pretty similar, too.

[surrealestate.livejournal.com]

I trimmed & halved them, then steamed in the microwave briefly. Then I put them along with carrots in a baking dish and coated in a maple-cinnamon (and fat) glaze, and baked for a while.

These were white radishes, not the regular red round kind, but I'm going to try it again with these.

[fetteredwolf.livejournal.com]

We actually got the green beans. They are late in the season, and I don't think I'll eat any plain. I'm planning on using them instead of spaghetti for my famous tuna spaghetti recipe.

[magid.livejournal.com]

Tuna and green beans sounds good.

cabbage

[trainingmom.livejournal.com]

You can make an easy cabbage curry and use it up. Or you can cut it up and make a fake stuffed cabbage. That is easier than dealing with stuffing it.

Re: cabbage

[magid.livejournal.com]

I'm far too lazy to make stuffed cabbage; too many steps, all taking attention. I'd not thought of curry, though, nor fake stuffed cabbage. The things that had come to mind were to cook some with apples and cider vinegar and sausage (though not this week; at least one person doesn't eat red meat), and to try a chicken-based cabbage soup (rather than tomato-based), with carrots and such.

Re: cabbage

[(Anonymous)]

If you were to make stuffed cabbage, however, you could use the leaves of the giant cabbage and make unusually large pieces.

Another labor- and attention-intensive project that probably doesn't use up all that much cabbage would be egg rolls.

I like green cabbage sauted alone in olive oil until very translucent and soft. I like purple cabbage in whole-meal salads. I also like the purple cabbage added into colorful stir-fries to wilt a bit.

I wonder whether you can roast cabbage in chunks along with the other vegetables that you tend to roast.

A nice, clean sauerkraut can be very refreshing.

I have a simple recipe I haven't used in a decade for a soup that calls for a whole head of cabbage, but it does also call for three tomatoes.

Re: cabbage

[(Anonymous)]

I meant to write:

Another interesting and intriguing but labor- and attention-intensive project

Re: cabbage

[magid.livejournal.com]

Interesting cabbage ideas; thank you.

I'm wary of roasting leaves in general; they dry out too easily. Even though these are thicker, I think that much dry heat won't be good for them.

I'd need to get a big container for sauerkraut; I suppose Tag's would have something...

It's not that I'm anti-tomatoes in cabbage soup, it's just that I've only made cabbage soup with tomatoes, and I'd like to experiment a bit.

Re: cabbage

[(Anonymous)]

Yes, I had understood that, regarding the soup.

I recall now that I too once made an unstuffed cabbage; the one time I made stuffed cabbage, I had much of everything left over (including the tomato sauce I had made which was amazing and the likes of which I have never tasted since), so I layered it all into a casserole dish and baked it like that.

Egg rolls might be a nice treat for Shabbat guests. You could have fun with apricot sauce and with mustards. Even though this wouldn't use all that much cabbage, you'll already be cleaning and shredding cabbage for the soup anyway (and carrots too). You could make the egg rolls vegetarian, or you could add in a bit of the chicken you'd be using for the soup.

Re: cabbage

[magid.livejournal.com]

What made the sauce so amazing that time? (The cabbage casserole sounds yummy, and much less work....)

Egg rolls are nice, but there's no way I'm going to fit them into this week's menu. I'm in a bit of a tizzy getting everything done as it is (while rather underslept), especially because it's been a while since I've had this many people. Perhaps next week, though (since I'm sure I'll still have cabbage on my hands then :-).

Re: cabbage

[(Anonymous)]

I don't know, actually, what made that sauce so special. I used the recipe once, as a teenager, and do not have access to it now.

Egg rolls are indeed work; I was only intending to share some additional thoughts I had had.

I hope that you feel relaxed by the time you bring in Shabbat, that you have an enjoyable time with your many guests, and that you are able to get much restorative rest.

Also, I ought to have noted earlier how yummy the pizza you described sounded.

Re: cabbage

[magid.livejournal.com]

Ah, a lost-chord recipe.*

Thoughts are good; I appreciate them. Somehow, there are things that are labor intensive that don't feel like a big deal to do, and other things that are labor intensive that feel like far too much bother. The line between them is fluid, depending on my mood and what I'm enthusiastic about cooking just then.

Thank you; I hope you have a lovely Shabbat as well. For me, it's all front-loaded, with evening guests, but no daytime ones, so I'm hoping to be able to catch up on sleep. (The irritating part is that there's no reason for being so tired; I've been going to bed at a reasonable hour, just waking up before it's light.)

That was a pizza of convenience; I'm glad you liked it. Pizza's useful; there's almost always potential toppings around :-)


* Years ago I was taken to a kosher fish shop in Chicago that also had a menu of cooked-fish items. I was told I wanted the whitefish sandwich (not whitefish salad, but fried fillets), and as it turned out, I did: it was absolutely perfect. Somehow it reminded me of my childhood, even though I'd had nothing like this then. I've never attempted to make a whitefish sandwich at home, knowing I won't be able to attain that level.

Re: cabbage

[(Anonymous)]

Thank you for introducing me to the concept of a lost chord. I had not heard this term before and found the story as a result of a web search. I like how you used it attributively. And I like your story; it is a well-crafted little essay, one of those very short stories that tells a full story in very few words.

Thank you for the appreciation. I think I can understand a bit what you describe about how approaching various cooking projects might feel, though perhaps not fully. The intensity of labor, it seems, isn't measured in one uniform manner from project to project, and there are other variables. The deep-frying of egg rolls would certainly feel weighty to me. And you present the pizza-making as effortless, but to me, it seems like a good example of "a big deal to do."

Thank you; it would be nice to have a lovely Shabbat. Perhaps the change of season is causing you to be tired.

Re: cabbage

[magid.livejournal.com]

Deep-frying always seems weighty to me. There's all the mess of the frying itself, and making sure things are at the right temperature, and so on, then there's the issue of how to dispose of the oil afterward, plus the added feel that it's not as healthful anyway, so why go to all the fuss? (I've seen people say that proper deep frying doesn't let the food absorb much oil, but I don't know that I'd manage proper deep frying, even if that's true :-)

Pizza-making isn't effortless, but not so much more of a deal for a couple of people than most other meals. Yeah, there's a yeast dough to make, but it's a simple one that rises quickly, while the other toppings are being sliced/diced/whatever. Plus I don't tend to make tomato sauce, which is a huge time saver (I either used plain diced tomatoes, or just layer lots of other veggies, and no one complains.). It's a bit more work than pasta, given the assembly, but not to the level of something really involved (steamed wontons? an complicated curry?).

I hope you did have a nice Shabbat. And I think that if I get a full night's sleep a couple of nights in a row, I should be fine.