Local Box Meal Plan: August 17-21

It’s that time of week again! We’ll be getting our Greenling Local Box on Thursday and I’ve got to plan for it.

This week, we’re getting chives (or mint) from Pure Luck, squash blossoms from Montesino, blueberries from Berry Best, pea shoots from Bluebonnet Hydroponics or Bella Verde, a pepper mix from Lundgren, okra or eggplant from Tecalote, squash from Naegelin, peaches from Cooper Orchards, lettuce from Bluebonnet, shallots and elephant garlic from Lundgren, and a Canary melon from Tecalote.

So I’m making:

Breakfast:

• Melon halves with cottage cheese (don’t knock it until you try it! Cottage cheese is a great source of protein in the early morning and it’s great when paired with a sweet melon like this.)

Side dishes:

• Grilled Caesar salad with garlic-rubbed grilled croutons
• Pea shoot stir-fry
• Fried squash blossoms stuffed with a chive-goat cheese mixture (if we get chives)
• Corn saute with jalapeno, okra, squash and tomatoes
• Peach-blueberry galette

And if we get mint instead of chives, I’ll be using that in one of the cocktails I’ll be serving at my friend’s lingerie shower this weekend. Champagne, lychee and bruised mint — yummy!

Have you come up with some creative ways to use your lettuce in recipes? I find myself eating it raw most of the time.

Buttermilk Biscuits with Chives and Goat Cheese

Chives are kind of like parsley for me — I frequently use them as a garnish, but never as a primary ingredient. But after receiving a huge bunch of chives in my Greenling box a few weeks ago, I thought it was time to change that.

Anyone else know some recipes that use chives as a main ingredient?

From Simply Recipes

Ingredients:

• 2 c. all purpose flour
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• 1 tsp. sugar
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/4 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
• 1/4 c. (1/2 stick) chilled butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
• 1/4 c. to 1/2 c. of freshly chopped chives (can also use chopped green onions)
• 1 5-ounce log soft fresh goat cheese, crumbled (I’ve never seen a 5 oz. log of goat cheese; mine come in 4 and 8 oz. sizes. I used 4 oz. and it was plenty.)
• 1 c. buttermilk (plus 1 Tbsp. for finish)

Directions:

• Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Line 2 baking sheets with a Silpat or parchment paper. (Elise’s recipe doesn’t say to butter the parchment paper, but I would. Mine stuck to the paper. Actually, I’d use a Silpat to make these again. I just didn’t have 2 of them.)
• Combine flour, baking powder, sugar, baking soda, salt and pepper in a large bowl.
• Incorporate the butter into the dry ingredients with your hands until it’s crumbly.
• Add the chives, goat cheese and buttermilk. Stir with fork just until a sticky dough forms (bits of cheese will be visible in dough).
• Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface (I needed much more flour than “lightly floured” to knead it) and knead gently 8 times with floured hands. Do not over-knead!
• Form into a round, about 3/4-inch to an inch thick. Cut the round into 8 wedges.
• Use a pastry brush to brush on some extra buttermilk over the surface of the wedges.
• Bake for ~20 minutes, until the tops are golden brown.

Mine weren’t as golden brown as I would like because my oven started smoking in the middle of cooking; I had to reduce the heat and cook them for a few minutes longer instead. Oh well. That’s what I get for not having a self-cleaning oven.

Verdict:
Wow. Wow, wow, wow. I should say that my husband didn’t care for these because he doesn’t like goat cheese (weird, I know), but take my word for it — these were absolutely incredible. The dough was light and the buttermilk gave it a tang that went so well with the tanginess of the goat cheese. The chives mellowed in the baking process so that while the onion flavor permeated throughout the biscuit, it was mild and pleasant.

Local Box Meal Plan for May 25-29

I’m late! I’m sorry. Having holidays on Mondays totally mess up my internal clock, leaving me to think that Tuesdays are really Mondays and so on. I realized this afternoon that today was actually Wednesday and I needed to get my Greenling meal plan going!

In this week’s box: blackberries (Naegelin Farm), cucumber (Buena Tierra), carrots (Tecolote), green beans (Acadian), summer squash (Naegelin), elephant garlic (Montesino), leeks (Acadian), mangoes (G&S Groves), peaches (Caskey), and garlic chives (Tecolote).

So for the next few days, we’re having:

Weekend brunch:

• Crepes with blackberries and fresh whipped cream (that’s if my husband doesn’t eat all of the blackberries before I can take them out of the green box — come on, I know you’re guilty of doing this, too!)
• Buttermilk biscuits with goat cheese and chives

Condiments:

• Tzatziki with cucumber and Greek yogurt (to be eaten with turkey meatball kebobs)
• Peach-mango jam

Dinner:

• Gnocchi primavera with garlic, green beans, carrots, and summer squash

Side dish:

• Polenta or mashed potatoes with leeks

What are you making 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

Report from Fearless Forager, week of 09.08.2008

Here’s the forecast for Greenling Local Boxes this week:

• onions (yellow 1015’s & red burgundy)
• garlic chives
• cucumber
• Meyer lemons
• Key limes
• zucchini
• sunburst squash
• okra
• eggplant
• chiles
• jalapeños
• red potatoes
• sweet potatoes
• slicing tomatoes
• lettuce
• basil
• red bell peppers

Weeknight Feasting, Southern-Style

Last night we had a rather eclectic dinner: beer-battered okra, potato salad, and a taste of fresh salsa. The okra was the best we’ve fried yet. To make the batter, I glugged a bit of Shiner Bock into a bowl, added flour until it was about the consistency of pancake batter, and stirred in some salt. Fried in about an inch of a mix of canola and safflower oil at at least 350°, these puffed up beautifully!

For the potato salad, I cooked all of my remaining Local Box red potatoes in boiling water until they were tender, steaming Local Box asparagus over them for the last few minutes. After the potatoes cooled enough, I chopped them and put them in a mixing bowl, sprinkling them with white wine vinegar, salt, and pepper, as I went. We mixed in the asparagus, cucumbers, some red burgundy onion, a few chopped garlic chives, and half a bunch of julienned basil — all from the Local Box. Then we made a dressing of olive oil, lemon juice, Dijon mustard, salt, pepper, and a touch of sugar and tossed it all together. YUM!

And the salsa? We had only a taste because that’s all we could handle! I used my Local Box chiles and tomatoes to make Paula Disbrowe’s “Horse Trader Salsa” from her book, Cowgirl Cuisine.  First ingredient: “20 ounces fresh red, green, and yellow JALAPEÑOS and/or SERRANOS, stemmed but not seeded.” Hot diggity! We’re talking fire, here.

Pot Pie – New, and Improved!

We tried a pot pie a while back and didn’t love it. But last week, we decided to give it another go with a recipe in the current issue of Gourmet.  YUM!  It was a good bit more work than the other, and we made a few substitutions. Our filling included Local Box pattypan squash, yellow squash, garlic chives, okra, and tomatoes.  The best part was the flavorful, texture-rich cornmeal crust. We ate the whole thing in only a couple of days!

Local Box, 08.13.2008

Some inspiring new characters showed up in my Local Box today!  I’m planning to try a new pot pie recipe with the end of last week’s okra and this week’s yellow squash, garlic chives, and tomatoes. Later in the week, my husband wants to make soup from the lemony sorrel and another stir fry using the garlic chives, pattypan squash, peppers, crimini mushrooms, and Asian eggplant.  And that kabocha squash?  I’m not sure what I’ll do with that yet, but I’ll keep you posted!

How do you plan to eat out of your Local Box this week?

Medal-Worthy Stir-fry

We opted for a Chinese-style meal to commemorate the opening of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. For dinner during the ceremonies Friday evening, we stir-fried Local Box eggplant, pattypan squash, and garlic chives with some peanuts, garlic, ginger, soy sauce, and a splash of Chinese rice wine.  And to drink? A cocktail called a Green Lantern made with a full, packed cup of fresh Local Box parsley!

Local Box, 08.06.2008

This week’s Local Box arrived light in heft (no watermelon!) but heavy on inspiring ingredients.  Here’s a snapshot of my plans for the week:

• The Olympics kick off tomorrow night, so we’re planning to stir fry some eggplant, summer squash, peppers, and garlic chives for a China-themed dinner.
• I’m dying to try okra “coo coo” using the recipe Shannon recommended in her comments to this post.
• And I can’t wait to make PDugan’s zucchini Parmigiana, either, which will also require some Local Box parsley!

Do you have any summery great ways with sweet potatoes to recommend this week?