Grilled Chicken with Matching Vinaigrette

It works to have Tuesday’s menu always be grilled chicken, salad, and nice crunchy bread. It’s CSA pick up day and we are usually ooh and ahhing over our share, trying to clean and store everything, and get dinner on the table all at the same time, right around 5:30. But I wanted to try and at least make it interesting every once in awhile. Yesterday I found a marinade I had never made and tried making vinaigrette using the same flavors. It was fun and still chaotic.

Tuesday Menu – Australian Grilled Chicken, Salad, Crunchy Dinner Rolls
Farm Share Produce – Bell Peppers, Carrots, Cucumbers, Salad Mix, Basil
Other Local Produce – Garlic, Scallions, Tomatoes (from the garden)

Australian Grilled Chicken
Based on http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=1995712

1 ½ T reduced sodium soy sauce
1 T honey
1-2 t grated fresh ginger
½ T mirin
1/8 t five spice powder
1 clove garlic, grated
1 T olive oil

Mix all ingredients and marinade for up to 2 hours with 3-4 chicken breasts. Grill.

Australian Vinaigrette

½ t grated fresh ginger
1 clove garlic, grated
2 t sesame oil
2 t lime juice
Pinch red crushed pepper
Pinch salt
1 T soy sauce
1 ½ t whole grain mustard
3 T balsamic vinegar
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil

Combine ingredients.

I just realized the other fun advantage to this menu every Tuesday is the salad allows for a sampling of all the great stuff we just got in our CSA. Last night we got to sample the bell peppers, carrots, cucumbers, and basil. The salad mix is gone!

Week 7 of 2010

We got…
Bell pepper, Carrots, Cucumbers, Eggplant, Green beans, Onion, Salad Mix, Summer Squash, Zucchini, Basil
Fruit - Peaches

My plans…

Bell Pepper – Grilled Pepper and Lentil Salad
http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=2001919

Carrots and Cucumbers – Claremont Salad
http://www.auntruthskitchen.com/recipes/claremontsalad.html
We had a grocery store version of this over the weekend. It was a nice light version of coleslaw. I can’t wait to make a homemade version.

Carrots – Carrot Cake Ice Cream
I’m working out a recipe in my head. I can’t wait to try.

Eggplant – Indian Eggplant Cooked in Yogurt
http://www.cookingchanneltv.com/recipes/bengali-style-aubergine-cooked-in-yogurt-recipe/index.html

Green Beans – Green Bean Salad with Mustard Crema
http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=2001893

Summer Squash and Zucchini – Grilled and Stuffed with Cous Cous, Spinach, and Feta
http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=2001921

Dal with Cabbage

Cabbage is one of those vegetables I went into adulthood thinking I didn’t like. That’s the beauty of a CSA, you have to at least try the items you get. My memories of cabbage are dishes like stuffed cabbage, which I still would only eat if that was the only option I was being served. Last night my husband said he still views cabbage as something he generally does not like, but last night’s dinner made it okay. The dal was good, but it could have used a little more of a kick. I’m going to include how I would add kick as an option in the recipe below.

Meatless Monday Menu – Dal with Cabbage, Naan
Local Produce – Cabbage, Onions

Dal with Cabbage
Adapted from http://indian.food.com/recipe/lentil-cabbage-and-tomato-dal-153240

9 oz. lentils, mix of yellow and red
5 ½ cups water
¼ t turmeric
1 14oz. can stewed tomatoes
8 – 10 curry leaves
2 T olive oil
1 ½ t mustard seeds
¼ t ground mustard
1-2 dried chiles (optional)
1 onion, thinly sliced
½ large cabbage, thinly sliced
1-2 T lemon juice
1 ½ t garam masala
Salt and pepper to taste
1-2 T fresh cilantro, chopped

Rinse the lentils with hot water. In a heavy saucepan or Dutch oven cover lentils with water and add turmeric. Bring to a boil, and then simmer for 20-25 minutes. Lentils should be very soft. Add tomatoes and curry leaves and set aside.

Meanwhile, add the olive oil to a skillet. Add mustard seeds, mustard powder, and dried chile (optional). Put on medium high heat, cover, and wait until you hear the seeds begin to pop. Add the cabbage and onion and cook until wilted.

Combine the vegetables with the lentils and simmer an additional 10-20 minutes, until vegetables are tender. Stir in lemon juice, garam masala, and salt and pepper. Serve garnished with cilantro.

Green Bean Salad with Spicy Asian Dressing

The basil in the garden is going crazy, so that needed to become pesto. I was all out of nuts of any variety and didn’t like any of the selection at the store, so I made pesto with sunflower seeds. I liked it. I also made a visit to the farmer’s market Sunday morning.

The first pepper is hot. I used that in the green bean salad. The sweet pepper is only in the picture because it is purple. I plan to make some pickles out of the cucumbers with my son who would happily just eat pickles for lunch. And, I can never resist an eggplant – don’t know what I’ll do with it, but I can’t wait!!!

Sunday Menu: – Grilled Salmon with Pesto, Spicy Asian Green Bean Salad, Dinner Rolls
Local Produce: Basil, Green Beans, Hot Pepper



Green Bean Salad with Spicy Asian Dressing
From Everyday Food Issue 70

3-4 handfuls of fresh green beans, trimmed
2 T sunflower seeds
2 T vegetable oil
2 T rice wine vinegar
1 T lemon juice
½ hot pepper, seeded and thinly sliced
1 ½ t sugar

Boil water in a medium saucepan and blanche green beans for 3 minutes. Remove immediately and rinse in cold water. Place in serving dish and sprinkle with sunflower seeds.

Mix oil, vinegar, lemon juice, hot pepper sliced and sugar together. Toss with Green Bean Salad.

Guesstimate Week 7

Next week’s guesstimate…

Carrots, Chard, Cucumbers, Green Beans, Head Lettuce, Peppers or Eggplant, Salad Mix, Summer Squash, Sweet Corn, Zucchini, Cilantro

Fruit - Peaches

Please send any favorite ideas or recipes for these items through the comments or e-mail me at purplecook8@gmail.com

Freezing Herbs

Sometime I can’t get through the fresh herbs fast enough. We get at least one fresh herb each week in our CSA, sometimes 3. We also have them growing in our garden and it gets to a point where they need to be used. Freezing herbs is a wonderful way to save them. I love having the bags of fresh herbs in the freezer all winter! Here is what I do.

I chop the herbs and then shove them into the sections of an ice cube tray and pour in a small amount of water.

Once they are frozen, they look like this.

I then put them in a freezer bag and label them. I have a basket in my freezer where I keep them. I like this system because then I can go straight to the basket instead of shuffling through all that stuff in my freezer.

Week 6 of 2010

We got…

Cabbage, Carrots, Cucumbers, Chard, Green Beans, Onions, Salad Mix, Summer Squash, Zucchini, Cilantro
Fruit – Peaches

My ideas…

A spicy Asian dressing
http://www.marthastewart.com/recipe/spicy-asian-dressing-edf with a Cucumber Salad http://www.marthastewart.com/recipe/cucumber-salad-spicy-asian-dressing
or a Green Bean Salad
http://www.marthastewart.com/recipe/green-bean-salad

For Green Beans, Summer Squash or Zucchini
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/paula-deen/zucchini-or-green-bean-bundles-recipe/index.html

Cilantro
http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=1853931