Local Box Meal Plan: Dec. 7-11

Now that I’m back, I can’t wait to start getting Greenling boxes again! I’ve supplemented with veggies from the Pearl Farmer’s Market, but there’s something to be said for local produce on your doorstep.

What I like about local, seasonal produce is how it seems like what you’re “supposed” to eat is what’s available. The first night of Hanukkah is on Friday, and this week we’re getting potatoes and onions (the key ingredients in latkes) and apples (for applesauce). Maybe it’s a coincidence, but I’d like to think otherwise.

This week, we’re getting red potatoes and yellow onions from Naegelin, sweet Italian peppers from Lundgren, apples from Top of Texas, beets and icicle radish from My Father’s Farm, cucumbers from Home Sweet Farm, Bibb lettuce from Bella Verdi, Louisiana scallions from Acadian Family Farm, rainbow baby carrots from Animal Farm, and Hachiya persimmons from Indian Hill.

For Hanukkah dinner on Friday, I’m making:

• Brisket with baby carrots
• Latkes with red potatoes and yellow onions (I’ve been sworn to secrecy so I can’t share my family’s recipe, but I’m sure googling will produce lots of recipes for you to try!)
• Applesauce
• Bibb lettuce salad with cucumbers, scallions and radishes

For the rest of the week, I’m making:

• Arugula salad with roasted beets and goat cheese
• Stuffed pepper casserole
• Persimmon bread (if the persimmons aren’t ripe enough, I’ll store them in a paper bag on the counter for a few days. They need to be quite ripe for baking.)

If anyone saw Top Chef last week, Kevin made what looked like a very cool puree from the carrot tops, so I’m going to try my hand at something like that under a panseared fish. Don’t want to waste good produce!

Local Box Meal Plan: Nov. 2-6

I’m beyond belief excited that we’re getting green tomatoes again. When we were planning our trip to wine country, one of my friends passed along a newsletter from the Visitors Bureau that had a few great green tomato recipes. I’ve been saving it until we get green tomatoes again!

This week, we’re getting serrano peppers from Lundgren; herb, arugula or watercress from Pure Luck; yellow beans and Thai eggplant from Animal Farm; Mars oranges from G&S Groves; beet leaves from My Father’s Farm; turnips from Hands of Earth Farm; butternut squash from Massey Farm; green tomatoes from Green Gate Farm; red or green lettuce from Bluebonnet or Bella Verdi; and apples from Top of Texas.

So I’m making:

Snacks:

• Pickled beans
• Oranges
• Tomatillo-serrano salsa (it’s for the PSU/OSU game, so I couldn’t bring a red salsa!)

Side dishes:

• Butternut squash and apple casserole with herbs
• Mashed turnips
• Wilted turnip greens with pecans
• Green salad with balsamic vinaigrette

Dinner:

• Pasta with beet greens
• Thai green curry with eggplant

Dessert:

• Green tomato cake with brown butter icing

Grilled Candied Beets

[Printable Recipe]

I know beets didn’t come in our boxes last week (and haven’t for a while), but I always hear of people looking for good recipes for beets, so I thought I’d share this one.

I was lucky enough to get to the farmer’s market when we were at my parents’ beachhouse. It’s still pretty cool up there, so they have lots of veggies that we got in our Greenling box earlier in the year, like beets and spring onions. I have trouble figuring out what to do with beets during the summer, as they’re great roasted but it’s way to hot for that now. Instead, grilling them in indirect heat gives the same flavors you get from roasting. If you want to slice them and stick them on the grill directly, that would be great too (albeit a much different flavor).

Ingredients:

• 1 bunch beets (I used chioggia, or candy-cane striped, beets for this. They’re a bit smaller and milder than red beets.)
• 1 Tbsp. brown sugar
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• Pam spray

Directions:

• Preheat the grill to ~350 degrees (medium heat).
• Wash and peel the skin off of the beets, then cut them into quarters. This dish doesn’t use the greens, so reserve them for something else.
• Spray a piece of foil with Pam, then put the quartered beets, sugar, and salt in the foil.
• Fold it up in a package and place on the grill in indirect heat.
• Grill for ~30 minutes until the beets can be pierced easily with a fork (though not mushy!) and there is a syrup at the bottom of the foil package. Serve immediately, or let cool and eat at room temperature.

Verdict:
You know how beets can taste a bit earthy? There’s really no earthiness in these beets. Instead, they’re subtly salty and not-so-subtly sweet; I ate mine while scooping up the sweet syrup from the bottom of the foil packet.

Based on my experience with these, I’m going to start experimenting with beets in other sweet incarnations. Anyone have any ideas? I’m thinking a cobbler. Sorbet or ice cream may be a bit much.

Local Box Meal Plan for June 2-6

Just got word of this week’s Local Box contents! We’ve got green tomatoes (Ringger Farm), sweet corn (Acadian), italian cucumber (Buena Tierra), green beans (Animal Farm), patty pan squash (Naegelin), carrots (Tecolote), mangoes (G&S Groves), peaches (Caskey), beets (Tecolote), and blackberries (Naegelin). So this week, I’m making:

Snacks (sometimes it’s best just to eat these as is!):

• Mangoes
• Peaches

Lunch:

• Carrot-ginger soup (I’m one of those people who’s freezing no matter how hot it is outside.)

Sides:

• Grilled corn salsa
• Pickled beets
• Oven-fried green tomatoes (recipe to come in the Local Box)
• Spicy Asian cucumber salad

Dinner:

• Pasta with zucchini and toasted almonds (instead of zucchini, I’ll use patty pan squash and green beans)

Dessert:

• Blackberry ice cream

As a Yank, I’m pretty excited about the green tomatoes! How do you make green tomatoes? Got any family recipes to share?

Local Box Meal Plan for May 18-22

Hi all! Woman With a Whisk here. I’ve been a huge supporter of Greenling and their Local Boxes for a few months now, and I’ve been blogging how I’ve cooked out of my Local Boxes since then. Hopefully, I can share some interesting ways to use the produce that comes to us each week, and I expect to learn new things from you also!

Each week, I’ve been making a meal plan to figure out how best to use the Local Box contents. I find that without planning, it’s hard to use some of the more esoteric items before they spoil. Besides, I get a huge kick trying to use as many local ingredients/Local Box produce as possible in one meal. Don’t we all?

So without further ado, this week’s meal plan. In the current Local Box: blackberries, golden zucchini, green beans, dandelion greens, carrots, red spring onion, mangoes, beets, and red potatoes. Where I’m using recipes, I’ll link to them. Otherwise, the recipes are either in my head (waiting to be blogged!) or are common enough that you may have your own.

This week, I’m planning on making:

Breakfast:

• Blackberry pancakes (though this verrine would make a wonderful dessert for a special occasion or dinner party)

Sides:

• Zucchini cakes
• Sauteed green beans tossed with soy sauce and sesame oil
• Roasted red potatoes with rosemary

Lunches:

• Dandelion greens salad with roasted beets, goat cheese, and balsamic vinaigrette (I’ll roast the beets and potatoes in the same pan the night before, then peel and cut up the beets when they’re cool for lunch the following day)

Dinners:

• Slow-cooker goat stew (made just like a basic beef stew) with carrots and red onions
• Ginger chicken stir-fry with mango chutney and red onion tops

If my husband would go anywhere near it (he hates mussels), I would make mussels with dandelion greens and linguini for dinner. Mmmmm. This recipe uses beer instead of white wine, which is an interesting twist on the usual.

Edited on 5/19: The Local Box video for this week is on Facebook here (you don’t need to be a Facebook member to check it out!). Turns out that we’re not getting red potatoes, but we are getting broccoli and swiss chard or red leaf lettuce. I’ll still roast the broccoli with the beets, and maybe wilt the swiss chard or use the lettuce to make lettuce wraps (since I’d also like to make dumplings this week!). Have fun!

Beet Salad

We found the most beautiful big, round, ruby-red beets in our Local Box last week. For dinner one evening, we roasted them, mixed with chopped Local Box onion and orange wedges, then tossed with a vinaigrette made from olive oil and fresh-squeezed orange juice. We added small handfuls of feta and almonds for protein, toasted some bread cubes, and called it dinner.

How did you eat your Local Box beets this week?

Local Box, 04.15.2009

Mmmm… a beautiful selection of bases (beets, zucchini, kohlrabi) and aromatics (oranges, onions, radishes) to choose from as we nourish our tax-sapped selves this week! I’m looking forward to a salad of roasted beets and orange wedges – and perhaps some radish slices, too. What have you got planned for this week’s Local Box?

Local Box Lookout, week of 03.16.2009

Here’s what to expect in next week’s Local Box. Haven’t ordered one yet? There’s still time. You can still order next week’s Local Box through Saturday and later, depending on your zip code. Click here to check it out!

• Chioggia beets
• spinach
• cilantro
• green shallots
• kale
• cabbage
• strawberries
• oranges
• Swiss chard
• crimini mushrooms
• herbs

Beets & Kohlrabi for Dinner

For a Friday-worthy feast after a crazy week, last night we raided the fridge and came out with some Local Box vegges ripe for cooking. We selected beets to make this risotto and kohlrabi to make a Greek dish we found in the fabulous (but unfortunately out-of-print) cookbook, Greene on Greens, by Bert Greene. Here’s our spin on the recipe:

Kohlrabi in Avgolemono Sauce

4 medium kohlrabi (about 2 lbs), with leaves

2 cups vegetable broth

1 T butter

1 T flour

2 eggs

juice of 2 lemons

salt and pepper

• Trim and peel the kohlrabi bulbs, reserving about 1 cup of leaves. Cut each bulb into 1/4″-thick slices. Place slices in a saucepan, add broth, and heat to boiling. Then cover and simmer over low heat for 20 minutes. Drain, reserving 1 cup cooking liquid.
• Trim any tough stems from leaves. Cook leaves in boiling salted water until very tender, about 10 minutes. Drain and press out water. Chop leaves.
• Melt butter, then stir in flour and cook, stirring constantly, 2 minutes. Whisk in reserved cooking liquid and cook 2 more minutes.
• Beat eggs in a small bowl, then slowly beat a ladle of sauce into them. Beat this mixture back into the sauce. Add lemon juice. Cook, stirring constantly, over low heat until thickened, about 10 minutes. Do not allow to boil. Add the leaves, season, and spoon sauce over kohlrabi slices.

We ate leftover kohlrabi cold for lunch today, and we’re looking forward to risotto cakes for dinner.

Local Box, 02.18.2009

There’s lots to love in this week’s Local Box, with more kohlrabi and broccoli, plus ample bok choy and a few oranges to ward off those nasty colds everyone seems to be getting lately. (Note that arugula and beets are also very high in cold-fighting antioxidants!)

A word to the wise: The big bag of salad mix needs a VERY good washing. Whether it’s the dry weather that made lots of dust or the recent rain that splashed everything with mud, those greens are super dirty. My favorite method, adapted from one the head chef taught me in a kitchen I worked in many moons ago, is to pull out my biggest pot or mixing bowl, fill it with cold water, and dump the greens in, swishing occasionally but letting the dirt settle to the bottom. You may even want to repeat this with this batch. Then spin dry and store with something absorbent (like a paper towel or tea towel) until using.

And a question: Do you ever juice your Local Box produce? I recently enjoyed a juice blend made with beets from Daily Juice in Austin.  That made me wonder how I’d go about juicing my own.