Berry, Berry Good

Yeah, bad pun, I know.

One of the benefits of living in SE PA is that there are a ton of pick-your-own places.  The local cooperative extensions do a pretty good job of publishing lists of local farmers, PYO, & markets.  It takes a little research to figure out which are worth a stop, but they're great research tools.  Here's Bucks, Montgomery (.pdf) and the Lehigh Valley's sites.  If you're in the area, you can occasionally grab printed ones at the library (if they still have them.)
Anyhow, these berries are black currants and red gooseberries from Tabora Farm and Sour and Rainier Cherries from Solebury Orchards.  It took about an hour at each place to pick all of them, so not bad time.  The Rainier were tougher because some rain the weekend before meant that a lot of the cherries had burst and finding ones that weren't bad took some time.  The Bings were already gone by the time I got there.  Darnitall.

I decided to make a chutney with the gooseberries, a simple sauce with the currants, and preserve the sour cherries in a medium syrup.  The Rainiers went to the kids.  I wasn't going to get a chance to put them up.

I realized that canning is a wonderful thing.  It's one of those things that takes a small initial investment, but is cheap in the long run, if you keep up with it.  Talk about the bounty of the season.  If you have good, cheap veggies, it only makes sense to save some for later.  Also, it doesn't require all the energy (or space) of putting stuff in the freezer and some things are better after being preserved for a while.  One note: consult a book or an extension service to make sure that you are doing it properly.  Nothing like a little Clostridium botulinum to ruin your day (or life).

You're Not Getting Many Pictures This Week

Since I've been doing repeats of earlier dishes lately, I didn't take pictures of them.  That might be short-sighted, but I don't want this to get too monotonous. 
Of course, that's one of the things about CSA's.  You can only get in so much of a rut before the season changes and you no longer get Kale, or Collards, or whatever.  It's funny how you'd think you'd miss the asparagus most, but really they aren't noticed too much since everything else is coming in right behind them.  Such a short season, that it's worth enjoying the bounty while it's here, but by the time it's over, you're ready to move on.  Nature's good like that. 

  So this week, we got shell peas.  They were a little on the starchy side, so I quickly blanched them.  I figured I'd use all three of the lettuces for this week's salad (well the first salad of the week).  Since there weren't all that many peas, they all went in, but that's fine.  Also, what salad is complete without bacon.  Really. 

  On a side note, one of the local, small pork producers sells the bacon ends at my small, local grocery chain.  I'd seen these before but wasn't sure what to do with them.  Then I thought about it and realized that about half of the time, I end up cooking strips and chopping/crumbling them up.  Well, if I just threw the ends in the freezer, I could slice off a bit and fry it up straight from the freezer.  It's not the "ideal" way to cook bacon, but I'm sure the bacon can cover for that.  It really works well, and a heck of a lot cheaper than pretty strips of bacon.  For that matter, one of the meat purveyors at the local all-year "farmers market" (less farmer, more purveyor) has double-smoked bacon you can buy by the whole-belly slab ($3.09/lb); part slab (~$3.34/lb); or sliced (~$4.19/lb).  It is good bacon, so the prices aren't unreasonable.  Of course, they also sell the ends for $2.09/lb.  For most of what I'm doing, that's too good to pass up.  The fact that it's sold dry, unpackaged (meaning no water added) just makes it even better, and it doesn't fry up with all that foam. 

Anyhow, back to the matter at hand.  The salad was really, really good.  Great combination of lettuces and tasty additions.  What's not to love about peas, bacon, feta, tomatoes, onion.  I think I need to throw some basil in next time to really punch it up. 

Apparently, I've Been Dropping the Ball

And now I need to use up a lot of produce.  looking...looking...looking... Ah, here we go.

Spinach gratin.  Throw in some kale and chard, and we have a winner.  Also, I put some of the parsley in the chicken roulade, along with a generous helping of other herbs and panko with butter to hold it all together.  Seared in a fry pan, then thrown in the oven to bring it to 165F, it was de-lovin'-licious, and pretty easy.  It's going to take a little practice to get the whole tying thing down, but this isn't too bad, and it held it all together. 

The gratin was pretty easy, too.  Once I figured that spinach wasn't that far removed from chard and the leafy parts of the kale, it just made sense.  The kale had to start first since it's a little more substantial than the rest, but it all worked out.

Week 5 - Nature's Bounty

I think we're going to need a bigger boat. 

Let's go over what we got this week.  Again, I had to do a little research to determine just what it is that I'm looking at, but I think I got it narrowed down:  Red Deer Tongue Lettuce, Red Leaf Lettuce, Curly Endive, Collards, Curly Kale, Radishes, Parsley, and Shell Peas.  Oh, and the ubiquitous tomatoes. 

Can't complain.  They really are good, though I never get around to making salsa's.  Capresse salad, though, is always good and easy. 

I'm thinking a lot of salads are in the offing.  I usually don't care for salad because I hate Iceberg Lettuce and Romaine doesn't do much for me.  The Deer Tongue was really good, a little nutty.  I also realized as I was washing it that it's a little fuzzy... kinda like velcro.  Not in a bad way, but the leaves really liked to stick together.  It's funny how little things like that have been conditioned out of our sense of normal. 

I also haven't been very good about cooking this past week, so I still have a little catch up to do.  I'm amazed that everything has kept so well in the fridge, but I know it's getting long in the tooth.  Let's see what we can come up with...

We Tried Traditional...

Now for something else.  Since I had some more collard greens in this week's haul, I went searching for something different to do with it.

This is what I found: Grits & Greens.What's not to love, cheesy grits, lots of bacon, and cheesy greens.  Further proof that the addition of cheese & bacon make everything better.  Even broiling for slightly too long (hence the blackened tips of the grits/cheese) didn't make a dent in the decadent flavor.  This is a great way to use a bunch of greens, and doesn't need to be collards.  Kale and Chard work, as would any other hearty green, though anything less hearty than spinach might wilt to nothingness.

 I plan on doing this again, and again, and again.

The Blogroll

I put up a blogroll a couple weeks ago (or maybe it was last week and just feels like a couple... whichever.)  One of the sites that I consider as foodp*rn is This Is Why You're Fat.  There are a couple others that fall into that category, lots of fun, but not very thinking-inducing.  Basically, it was a glorious exhibit of foods that will make you fat if you overindulge.  Things like the fast food stadium, bacon log, or bacon mug.  Yeah, a lot of what they posted had lots of bacon.  I think they may be a little prejudiced.
Anyhow, my little sister quite often commented, "How does that rate a post?  I'd make it."  That being said, we did have a lot of fun seeing what they could find, sometimes envious, sometimes just disgusted.

Well, this morning I noticed that my blogroll entry had this little message:

http://thisiswhyyourefat.com/

Blog Removed By Owner

15 hours ago 

 NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Guess I'll just have to find somewhere else to get really dangerous ideas.  Actually, Tastespotting is a good place, though they often have really good and (shocking!) healthy stuff, too.  Maybe I'll have to try one of those recipes one of these days. 

UPDATE:  It's back.  You can now revel in the deep excesses of American culinaria... if your stomach is up for it. 

Week 4 - Now You're Talking

Ah, Spring has sprung.  I have to be honest that the first couple weeks of the CSA were a little worrisome, but It isn't too terribly surprising that the spring might be a little on the low side, quantity-wise.  That being said, this week the bounty has begun.
Let's see... what do we have here?  Chard, Pak Choi, Radishes, Red Deer Tongue Lettuce (love the name), Curly Kale, Tomatoes, Spinach, Collards, and Parsley.

This is going to be interesting.  I think I need to do some research.

$3,127,795,167

A new report from the Economic Research Service of the USDA estimates that that is how much illnesses and premature deaths from E. coli and Salmonella cost just the US every year. I know that it's a fuzzy number because of all the assumptions and guesses that go into it, but it's the best number we have to work with.
Also consider that there are a lot more bugs out there that make people sick. The CDC estimates that there are about 76 million illnesses, 323,914 hospitalizations, and 5,194 deaths (again, just in the US) every year caused by foodborne illnesses. Basically, you have a one in 4 chance of catching a foodborne illness every year.
A report earlier this year estimated that the total cost from these illnesses was something like $152,000,000,000 (yep, Billion).

What should this mean to you? Well, besides hoping that you won't be one of those getting sick, I'll talk a little about what you should do to avoid some of these bugs.

First thing, get a thermometer. You can get a decent one for about 10 bucks. You should get one you can calibrate so you know the actual temp and can check it occasionally. If you're cooking meats make sure you get it to the right temp. Chicken is 165 F. Ground meat is 160. Steak is 145.
Next, use different cutting boards and knives for meat and ready-to-eat foods. Cross-contamination is easy to avoid, if you're careful.

I know that it seems like there's a ton of information, but once you learn the basics, it's pretty easy to minimize your risks.

I Know What It Is... Now What?

Yeah, figuring out that the big leathery leaves were collard greens made me feel good, but then I had to figure out what to do with them.  I figured the first time out, I should really do them traditionally, just to see what that would deliver.
Basically, the traditional treatments is: cook the living hell out of it, preferably with onions, and definitely with fatty pork (salt pork, most often.) Basically, you simmer it in a covered pot for an hour or so with water, onion, salt & pepper and salt pork.  Of course, I also had to make cornbread to go with it.  Didn't care for this cornbread (not sweet enough) but the kids really liked it... especially with lots of butter and honey. 

Gotta say, it didn't look great in either the pot or on the plate, but it was pretty tasty.  Not earth-shattering, but tasty.  I used a recipe from a New York Times Heritage Cookbook, and saw another recipe I want to try next time.  It's basically collards with cornbread dumplings.  Hopefully, that one is earth-shattering.  I'll have to let you know.

Kale Chips.... ROCK!

I'd been hearing about kale chips, how easy they are and how good they are, but I could never bring myself to pick any up at the store.

Yeah, that was a big mistake.  (actually, after seeing something this morning, it might not have been as big of a mistake.  Apparently, kale is one of the dirty dozen (No. 9, to be precise).  If you're going to get it, try getting it from a farmer's market or organic.)

It took a few minutes to tear the leaves and less than a minute to toss with olive oil, sprinkle with kosher salt and toss in the oven.  13 minutes later...magic.

Week 3 - What IS That?

Here's what we got this week.

Tomatoes (easily recognizable - Geronimo variant, we're told).
Pak Coi (a little more exotic, but not hard to figure out - pretty much a bok choi - Mei Qing Choi is the variant).
Swiss Chard (not sure if anything else has quite the red stem that swiss chard does. It also comes in yellow (just as vibrant) and white.)
Lettuce (pretty easy to figure out. Think the variant is Red Deer Tongue. How's that for a name?)
Curly Kale (Kale is pretty distinctive, so that's pretty easy to figure out.)
The last two... well, I'm guessing the bunch is parsley, but wouldn't bet on it. It didn't smell like cilantro, but then my sniffer's not all that great right now.
The final bunch of leaves? That had me stumped. I had to go to wikipedia to figure it out. A lucky stab, and I figured out it's collard greens. When I checked the warning e-mail the CSA sends out, it was confirmed.

Now I gotta figure out what I'm going to do with all of it. I know I'm going to make kale chips. That almost goes without saying. Never had 'em before, but have wanted to make them for a while. And the collard greens... well, I think I have some salt pork in the freezer, so I'll have to do a traditional treatment. Let's see what else I come up with. Wish me luck. This is where the CSA is going to get fun.

Week 2... Well, Kinda

So we found out that we actually missed the real week one since we signed up late, so this is really week 3, but our week 2.  Make sense?
Anyhow, we got a half dozen tomatoes from the greenhouse and a good bunch of asparagus.  the asparagus was a little on the droopy side, so I threw it in some water to get it back on the firm side.

It's funny how used to supermarket stuff you get.  Usually when you get stuff from the supermarket, it maintains its texture so far from the farm, but with really fresh, local stuff, it really acts like nature intended.  I.e., it wilts... quickly.  Nothing that a quick dunk in water won't fix, though I do want to investigate a little and see if the osmotic pressure draws solutes (vitamins & minerals) out.  That's a bit more science than I'm up for at this time, but for your edification, osmotic pressure is what allows the plant to draw water up through its roots and into the foliage (what we eat.)
So what to do with this?  I had picked up some fresh mozzarella and our basil plant is really hitting its stride, so a capresse salad is in order.  Charlie really liked the cheese (shocker, I know) and Grace picked at her pieces, but doesn't care for tomatoes.  Well, she loves grape tomatoes, but nothing that's too big to eat in one bite.  We'll have to work on that one.

I also decided that a nice Shirazi cucumber, tomato, & onion salad sounded good (sadly though, I didn't get a picture.)  Basically, it's all those things, with mint, parsley, garlic & lime juice.  I only had lemon juice, so it was a bit too tart, but otherwise, it was really good, and I'd probably do again if I had the limes.  It also helped that I had parsley and 3 kind of mint available.  We've been growing peppermint inherited from my mom & dad (who brought it with them to St. Louis from Kentucky) and got a bit of chocolate mint from a friend.  The third kind was the little left over from week 1, so it was pretty diverse.  The recipe was out of Steven Raichlen's BBQ Bible.
I wanted to do something special with the asparagus, but couldn't quite come up with anything too much, so I just steamed it and pan-fried to get a little caramelization.  Topped with a little lemon juice and grated parmesan, it was really, really good.  Again, neither kid cared for it much, but we are working on them....slowly. 
Next week's haul is supposed to be a bit bigger.  Here's hoping.  ...and hoping I can figure out something to do with all of it.  We'll see.

Let's see what we got....

Jen & the kids picked up the first week's worth. She'd been making a visit to the farm as a bit more than it ended up being. Basically, it was self-serve, pick up the share and mark you name off of the list. Not exactly what she envisioned. Ah, well.
This week's share was about 8 tomatoes and a big bunch of mint. I have to admit that I was a bit surprised that there were that many tomatoes this early in the season, but with the weird weather we've been having, I'm not completely shocked. It's gone from 90 degree days to frost warnings and back. I'm sure it's not ideal for getting plants to cooperate.
Well, what to do with that mix of goodies? We sliced up one 'mater to have with lunch, then I turned to on making a quick pico de gallo and some gazpacho. Since I also had ginger, I threw that and some of the mint (which had been thrown in water to revive it some) in the gazpacho. I'd used most of the tomatoes for the salsa, so only put the remaining two in the gazpacho, rendering it much paler than normal, but no less tasty. I'd forgotten to pick up sour cream, which really would have made it tasty. Maybe next time.

The salsa was killer on some grilled chicken, along with the roasted asparagus. Jen reminded me to get a picture of the dinner before we devoured it. Speaking of the pictures, I'm not at the point where I'm putting together a light box and attendant devices for really pretty pictures, but we'll see if that happens at some time in the future. For the time being, we'll be relying on basic point-and-shoot camera in situ. Deal with it. ;-)

There were three kinds of tomatoes. I couldn't discern which kinds, but they were really good. It's amazing how fresh, ripe tomatoes that haven't been bred to ship thousands of miles taste so much better than the alternative. It's going to be an tasty summer.

It's Starting....

So we pick up our inaugural half share from the Myerov Family Farm CSA this evening, and I have to say that we're excited and a little worried. How much are we going to get? Will we be able to cook it all? Will the kids eat any of it? What'll our favorites be? What will the kid's favorites be? On and on and on. You get my drift.

With that all said, we're really looking forward to it. Grace & I went through some of entries from a blog done a couple years ago by a local couple who had a share. A lot of what they got looked great. Grace was really intrigued by the luffa squash. You may recognize it more as a loofah, but either way, it's kinda cool to see where the come from, and how to make the finished product. She's also really excited about any and all fruit we may get. Shocker, I know.

I'm torn between excited to try new, tasty things and wary about trying to figure out good things to make with all these new, tasty things. It'll be interesting to see how much I can flex my cooking chops. It'll also be interesting to see if I can get Grace to help us chop some of them. She's big enough to handle a paring knife. Actually, proportionally, it's much like a chef's knife to her, and she's had a little practice, but you have to start them with the right skills early. At least that's what I've heard.

Thanks for joining us on this little journey of ours. Hopefully, it will be fun and interesting.

So.... What About Food?

Eating and cooking is only a small part of the totality of what food means. Actually, "food" means so many things to so many people that it's almost meaningless. Everybody views it through their own prism.

The title is deliberately vague. It's a bit of several questions. What is it about food that makes us [insert feeling]. What about real food? What is "food", in light of what is available to us now. Give it a go. How many different meanings can you see in those three simple words?

As for me, I'm currently studying for a degree in food science, going back to school after years of flying helicopters in the Marines and working in manufacturing, including some time leading a 60+ person manufacturing team, as a quality engineer, and buying about $44 million a year worth of chemicals. It was interesting work, but not what I really loved. I love food, but don't know enough to break into the field. With a mechanical engineering degree, food science is the right mix of science and food.

This blog is a mix of things. One part is a "travelogue" of our experience with a half-share from a local CSA. Another part is musings on food, food science, food policy, food politics, and food safety. Hmmm, what else? Yeah, pretty much anything food related.

My blogroll might give you some ideas about some of the things I like to read regularly. Some is "foodp*rn", like Tastespotting. Just reading through is dangerous, because you just want so much. Some is safety or policy related (sometimes self evident, but not always.) Some is just downright fun. Cakewrecks, This Is Why You're Fat, Steve Don't Eat That. Guilty pleasures, but darn fun.

Enjoy. I'll try to keep this interesting and light. I know that I get burrs in my britches occasionally, but love a good dialogue. I just won't countenance ignorance or rudeness. If you think that you know everything, you know nothing. I know that I don't know much, but I want to learn.