Roasted Cherry Tomato Sauce

Monday, I realized I’d accumulated two weeks’ worth of Local Box cherry tomatoes. What deliciously good news! I lined those babies up in a pan, tossed them with olive oil, a sprinkle of salt and pepper, and a few unpeeled garlic cloves. Then I roasted them in a 400° oven until they were molten and beginning to brown - more than an hour, but less than two. They cooled on the counter and I picked out the garlic cloves and peeled them, then whizzed the whole thing to a sauce, adding a handful of basil leaves, with my immersion blender. (A food processor works great, too.) I added a bit of olive oil to loosen the consistency, then poured over hot pasta and topped with fresh-grated parmesan cheese. Eating doesn’t get much better than this!

Local Box, 10.08.2008

That might be enough Key limes to make even my household sick of Key lime pie! I’m thinking I might try to preserve them (as I mentioned over at Texas Locavore today). Can you recommend a method for preserving Key limes?

And check out the micro broccoli greens! They look like a great omelet filler to me. And a tasty addition to a green salad!

How will you eat out of the Local Box this week?

The Yuckiest Green-Bean Casserole EVER

I should have known better than to choose a recipe that has bell peppers as a main ingredient and is baked. While I love raw bell pepper, I dislike its cooked flavor. But I was excited to use Local Box green beans, onion, and bell pepper all at once. And I was charmed by Joy of Cooking’s retro description:

What becomes of the onions and peppers? They frequently disappear, leaving marvelously seasoned beans. An easy dish for the hostess who cooks her own dinner.

There was no bell pepper disappearance. Rather, every bite tasted like cooked bell pepper. So I’ll include the recipe here in case you happen to like that flavor. As for me? The next time I get a hankering for green-bean casserole, I’ll pull out the cream-of-mushroom soup and fried onions.

Green Bean Casserole, from Joy of Cooking

• Preheat oven to 350°.
• Trim: 1 lb. green beans
• Skin and chop: 4 medium-sized white onions
• Remove the seeds and membrane from: 2 medium-sized green peppers
• Chop the peppers. Butter a baking dish. Place in it alternate layers of the vegetables, beginning and ending with a layer of beans.  Sprinkle each layer with: Salt and paprika
• Dot each layer with: Butter
• Bake the vegetables covered for about 1 hour, or until the beans are tender. Before serving, garnish with Au Gratin II (dry bread crumbs, dots of butter, and paprika).

Report from Fearless Forager, week of 10.06.2008

Here’s the list of the goodness she has in store for the Local Box this week:

• bibb lettuce
• green bell “wizard” peppers
• radish
• Meyer lemons
• Key limes
• zucchini
• yellow granix onions
• red burgundy onions
• sweet potatoes
• red potatoes
• arugula or baby greens bouquet
• cherry tomatoes
• crimini mushrooms

How Do You Like Your Chard?

It’s warm-up time: Last week’s Local Box chard was the harbinger of much more to come this winter! We’re ready for it, though: This recipe was super-good when we made it this weekend. It’s from the Gourmet cookbook but, curiously, it’s not on Epicurious.com (as most Gourmet recipes are). So I’ll share it with you here:

Swiss Chard with Olives and Raisins

• 2 T olive oil
• 1 medium onion, finely chopped (1 cup)
• 1 1/2 lbs Swiss chard (1.5 bunches), center ribs discarded, leaves and stems separated, stems finely chopped, leaves coarsely chopped
• 1/4 cup golden raisins
• 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 8 Kalamata olives or other large brine-cured black olives, pitted and finely chopped
• 1/2 t salt
• 1/4 t freshly ground black pepper
• 1/4 cup pine nuts, lightly toasted

Heat oil in a 5-quart heavy pot over moderate heat. Add onion and cook, stirring, until softened, about 3 minutes. Add chard stems, raisins, and garlic, cover, and cook, stirring occasionally, until stems are tender, about 6 minutes. Stir in chard leaves, olives, salt, and pepper, cover, and cook, stirring occasionally, until leaves are wilted, about 3 minutes.

Remove lid and cook, stirring occasionally, until most of liquid chard gives off has evaporated and leaves are tender, about 4 minutes. Stir in pine nuts.

What did you do with your Local Box chard this week?

Report from Fearless Forager, week of 09.29.2008

Here’s what to look for in this week’s Local Box:

• Bibb lettuce
• red bell peppers
• green beans
• Meyer lemons
• Key limes
• zucchini
• yellow squash
• eggplant
• sweet potatoes
• chili peppers
• red potatoes
• baby greens bouquet
• cherry tomatoes
• garlic chives
• crimini mushrooms
• basil

Chiles for All Seasons

It was great to find roasted chiles in this week’s Local Box. But if you’re like me, you’ve still got some fresh chiles in the fridge from Local Boxes past. What to do with them? Marysol Valle of Hands of the Earth farm dries her chiles, then seasons with them all winter long. Halve them first she says, and seed ‘em or not, depending on how spicy you like them. Then lay them out on screens in a place with good venitilation, and perhaps a little sun (but not too much). After they’re dry, she pulverizes them in a dedicated coffee grinder, then stores in airtight containers. That’s one way to keep warm with the cold weather comes!

Local Box, 09.24.2008

The change in seasons is reflected in this week’s Local Box loot: No more okra, and the first greens we’ve seen in months! I’m looking forward to puckering up for some Key-lime pie and sorrel soup this weekend… maybe some roasted red potatoes and green beans to round out a meal! How do you plan to eat out of this week’s Local Box?

Winter-Squash Chocolate-Chip Muffins

A refrigerator on-the-fritz inspired me to use Local Box acorn squash and butternut squash I’d roasted and frozen sooner than I’d expected!

Makes 12 muffins.

• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 stick (1/4 cup) butter, at room temperature
• 2 eggs
• 1 1/2 cups cooked, mashed winter squash (I used acorn and butternut, but any variety will work.)
• 1/2 cup whole-wheat flour
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 3 heaping tablespoons flax-seed meal
• 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1/2 cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Butter muffing tins. Mix sugars, butter, and eggs in a large bowl until fluffy, under a stand mixer if you have one. Add squash and mix.

In a different bowl, combine the dry ingredients.

Ad dry ingredients to wet gradually, mixing to blend well. Stir in chocolate chips. Fill muffin tins 3/4 full with batter, then bake 20 minutes, or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.

Cool 5 minutes in tins, then remove muffins from tins and let them cool completely on racks.

[Recipe adapted from Slashfood.]

Q + A: Keeping Onions

Hillary asks, “Hey, do you know for how long onions keep? I’ve got about ten in my fridge now…”

Me too, Hillary! Mine are on my counter, though… Which is the right way to store them? According to Kim Reddin of the National Onion Association in Greeley, Colorado, that depends on the onion. There are two types of onions, for storage purposes. The ones with only a single thin layer of papery skin - like our 1015’s - don’t keep long. You should use those quickly - or freeze them if you want to use them later in cooked applications. (You can find directions for freezing and other preservation methods on the NOA’s website.) But the ones we’re seeing now with multiple, thicker layers of papery skin, can last for quite a while. “The main thing the onions want to keep well,” says Kim, “is dry air. They don’t want to be wet.” So the refrigerator can be a good place if you have a drawer that is at once well-ventilated and low in humidity so they won’t experience condensation. The cool, dark, dry conditions onions need to last might be easier to find under a counter or even in a garage after the weather cools off. A big no-no? Storing them with potatoes. Onions can absorb moisture from potatoes if they’re too close together, and that’ll make them go bad, fast.

There’s no exact science for determining how long an onion will keep, but you’ll know if one’s gone bad. Key signs are sprouting and mold spots. If you see the latter, though, just peel away the layer with the mold, discard it, and proceed as usual.

Another great tip from Kim: Since thick-skinned onions that store well tend to be more pungently flavored than their spring/summer counterparts, prepare them in advance if you want to serve them raw. To mellow that flavor, slice them, then soak them in ice water overnight in the refrigerator before serving.

Got questions about your Local Box? Post them to the comments anytime, then come back to look for the answer!