Friday, July 30, 2010

I HEART FENNEL

As most of you know Ina Garten is my Idol, well at least when it comes to cooking.  If you don't know who Ina is then you will soon if you contine to follow this blog.  Maybe you've heard of Barefoot Contessa?  Barefoot was Ina's store in the Hamptons. Tonight we made Ina's Tomato Fennel Salad.  I wasn't sure if I was a fan of fennel but after making this simple dish I HEART FENNEL



Heirloom Tomato and Fennel Salad

1 1/2 pounds heirloom tomatoes
1 small fennel bulb
2 tablespoons good olive oil
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon cider vinegar
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Directions

Core the tomatoes and cut into wedges. Remove the top of the fennel (save some fronds for garnish) and slice the bulb very thinly crosswise with a knife or on a mandoline.  Toss the tomatoes and fennel in a bowl with the olive oil, lemon juice, vinegar, salt, and pepper. Garnish with 2 tablespoons chopped fennel fronds, season to taste, and serve. Recipe courtesy of Ina Garten, Barefoot Contessa.

We also enjoyed some grilled BBQ pork chops, farm fresh mashed potatoes with garlic chives and sweet corn.  We are lucky if we go 2 nights a week without sweet corn in the summer. 




Food Coma

FARM FRESH FRIDAY

Fridays are particularly exciting because we get to see what the land has brought us for harvest!  This week, we have some carrots, garlic chives, heirloom tomatoes, kale, beautiful red raspberries, fennel, cucumbers, Asian cucumbers, green peppers, and very pretty earthy Yukon gold potatoes.  We (I) also get my two dozen eggs.



Tonight we will be taking full advantage of the fresh potatoes and rightly mashing them along with some BBQ pork chops, fresh grilled corn and a nice fennel salad.

THURSDAY'S VEGGIE PASTA

Thursday's are the last ditch effort to use whatever vegetables we have left in the fridge before garbage night, and the new farm box. Last night we used the remainder of our zucchini, squash, scallions and our green beans which were blanched...

Good looking, and she can cook too! (the pot)
Side bar: Blanching is a really cool new thing that we have learned.
Instead of steaming the hell out of your veg, you bring a pot of water to a boil,
throw in your veg for like two or four minutes...
or until a chef recently told me "if your blanching green vegetables yeah,
and they get really bright fucking green, yeah, they they are done yea" YEAH!
Scoop the veg out of boiling water into a bowl of ice water BIG BOWL OF ICE WATER,
and viola nice crispy veggies...

 
Recipe
white onions, green onions, cherry tomatoes, some from the store, and some from the garden, farm zucchini, farm squash, garlic, and finished with some fresh basil, parsley and don't forget the parmigiano reggiano!



white onions, tomatoes, garlic go first into the pan to simmer and stew with some cold pressed GREEK olive oil, Italian is too sweet and Spanish uh...too grassy...let the tomatoes start to release their juices, then add the zuch and squash with your blanched green beans, cover it all...don't forget salt and pepper along the way, and taste...if it's too crunchy keep cooking...too soft you messed it up...Pasta in the SALTED water for 4-8 minutes...same thing goes for the pasta...too crunchy keep cooking...blah blah blah...Add cooked pasta from the pot to the pan with the veg, stir, add some pasta water to the sauce...maybe one ladle full, grate in some parmigiano and plate. Once on plates finish with some basil and parsley and for me...a touch more cheese...


Wednesday, July 28, 2010

EAT YOUR BEETS

Hi! Welcome to our new Blog. Since Johnny is constantly sending friends and family pictures of the food we cook we thought we might as well start a blog rather than fill up your Inbox.

This summer we joined a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture). The CSA is a way to support our local farmers. Each week our CSA, Simply Wisconsin LLC, delivers us one box of beautiful, delicious, fresh, LOCAL produce and eggs. We never know what we are going to get so it has forced us to get creative in the kitchen. I hope you enjoy our culinary journey.

Last weeks box included Beets! If only I knew beets were so delicious the last 28 years of my life. We recently discovered our love for Beets at The Publican, our favorite restaurant. We roasted our beets and served them on a bed of arugula with a side of grilled sourdough bread and fresh burrata cheese (mozzerella's creamy cousin). This dish was completely inspired by The Publican (http://www.thepublicanrestaurant.com/).



We ate every last bite. So please don't forget to Eat your beets. They are so delicious!