eggs on sunday

Well, it’s been a whirlwind past week for us — we had a lovely visit with my parents for a few days, and following that, B and I took a little “mini-vacation” in Manhattan. Lots of fun and LOTS of good food — I can’t wait to tell you about where we ate! (Though, I’m sorry, I’m going to have to leave it at that tease for now…we just got back last night and I need a few days to settle in and sort through my photos before I can get a post up about it!)

This salad made an appearance twice over the past week (which is saying a lot for me.) I love the sesame-soy dressing, and it was the perfect way to use the beautiful heads of Napa cabbage and Romaine lettuce we got in our share last week. The first time I made it, I poached and shredded some chicken to serve with it; the second time I made it, I grilled up two boneless pork chops and thinly sliced them. I can’t decide which way I like better! Tucked in between the cabbage and lettuce, there are some bright green, sweet, blanched sugar snap peas from our farmer’s market, along with a few thinly sliced radishes I still had in the fridge. Also, I tossed in some of the herbs I have growing in my garden — cilantro, basil, mint and shiso. To top it all off, there are coarsely chopped roasted almonds on top.

This is one of my perfect summer dinners: cool, crisp, crunchy, super flavorful, but light enough to leave room in your belly for some homemade ice cream (though I have to say, that’s never a problem for me…I seem to have a separate stomach where there’s always room for ice cream!) And speaking of ice cream, we followed this salad when my parents were visiting with some toasted almond, cherry & chocolate chunk ice cream from — where else? — The Perfect Scoop. And sadly, I did not get any pictures of it before it was wolfed down. I know, I know; salads don’t really compare to homemade ice cream. But really, I promise, this one’s a good one!

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You may recall that I had to skip the May Daring Baker’s challenge, but I was back in the saddle for this June round — and what a delightful one it was! Kelly of Sass & Veracity and Ben of What’s Cookin’? picked danish!! Which was a fun coincidence — right before I found out what the challenge was going to be, I said to B “you know, it would be fun to do a yeast bread for one of the DB challenges.” Not that the other ones haven’t been fun, but I was a little buttercreamed out, and was eager to try a different category of baked good. AND, the day before that, I had said to B “you know, I think I’m going to try making my own laminated dough this summer” — laminated dough being the kind you layer with butter, then fold over itself again and again to create layers of flaky, buttery pastries…puff pastry is one kind of laminated dough, as is dough for danishes, croissants, etc. So, all this is to say, I did a celebration dance when I read the challenge would be danish!

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More great stuff! Here’s the rundown of what our share included this week:

• more strawberries (!) I expected last week to be the last of them, so I was thrilled to find out that there were more for us this week.
• rainbow chard!
• spinach
• Napa cabbage - I love this cabbage variety. I have a favorite salad using Napa cabbage and romaine that I keep meaning to share…this coming week will be a good excuse, because we also got
• Romaine
• more Asian braising greens
• lots of turnips (yay!)
• a few more garlic scapes
• scallions

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As promised on Monday, here’s the second of the panna cotta recipes that made their debut in our kitchen this past week. I was lucky enough to have bestowed upon me a huge bag of strawberries from a friend’s backyard (thanks, Emily!) Among other things, some of them ended up in this coulis, which is lip-smackingly good. This coulis is drinkable, I think. I don’t need an excuse. It’s that good.

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Panna cotta may well be my new favorite dessert (after ice cream, of course.) There’s just something so sublime about the cool, creamy, light, subtly slippery texture of a luscious spoonful of this dessert going down. I’ve been panna cotta crazy lately: the first I tried was the Barefoot Contessa’s vanilla bean panna cotta with balsamic strawberries (excellent — so good, in fact, that we scarfed them down without me getting any pictures). The second one we had late last week: lemon buttermilk panna cottas, which I also paired with balsamic strawberries. I’ll share that one with you today, and tell you about the next one I tried later on this week.

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Yes, Friday Night Pizza is back! Even though I haven’t been posting them every week lately, they still remain a tradition at our house and I couldn’t resist sharing this recent delicious entry into our pizza chronicles with you: BBQ Bacon and Cheddar. Yes, yes, I know; my love of the Kingbird Farm bacon continues. I suppose this pizza is a cousin of the bacon cheeseburger pizza I so lovingly described…this one was great too, especially as summer begins and barbecue sauce makes it into the rotation a bit more often.

I’m by no means a barbecue sauce expert, and I’d like to try some different recipes this summer to find one we can call a “favorite”…but for this pizza, I used Annie’s Naturals organic Smoky Maple barbecue sauce, which was quite tasty. Sweet, smoky, salty, crispy, gooey pizza: does it get any better?

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It’s Week #2 of our CSA share! Some of the things we got in the share this week are similar to last week — we’re still in the throes of cool-weather greens here in Central NY — but there were some new treats, too. To my delight, we got *another* pint of those gorgeous ruby-red strawberries…I just read a lovely blog post the other day talking about how we should seize the joys this short-lived strawberry season brings, and apply that attitude to all aspects of our lives: “

…make strawberry eating a symbolic, spiritual act with every berry you pop in your mouth. Take full advantage of whatever life offers on your plate today, from crunchy late spring pea pods to fresh strawberry pina coladas, from an e-mail from an old friend to a creative late-night energy burst. Live, eat and love in the here and now…”

Well said.

And you can bet I already know what I’m doing to make the most of those berries (more to come on that.)

So, after the jump, the rundown of what the share included this week, and some ideas I’m mulling over:

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A Love Letter to My Ice Cream Maker

Dear Ice Cream Maker,

Hi. How are you? I just wanted to let you know how much I love you. Oh, I know you’re not the sleekest machine out there…you’re a little noisy, and you take kind of a long time to freeze before I can use you. But none of that matters to me: I know you work hard to churn us up some delicious ice cream, and I love you for that. And as I peer into your circling cylinder, watching the custard transform before my eyes into luscious, cold, creamy soft serve, I can’t help but think I’ve witnessed a little magic happening.

Plus, you’re so thoughtful. How did you know that mocha mint chunk ice cream would be the very best antidote for the recent spate of hot, humid, sticky days? And to combine those flavors…B’s favorite of mint chocolate chip and mine of coffee, plus a little chocolate thrown in for good measure? Well, you are just too kind. And to use all-natural peppermint patties! So sweet of you. What flavor will you churn up for us next time? I wait with anticipation.

I remain faithfully yours, with love,

Amy.

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For a few years, a number of years ago, my favorite salad to make was a mesclun salad with dried cranberries, slivered pears, caramelized walnuts, and gorgonzola cheese with a balsamic vinaigrette — particularly in the fall and winter. It’s one of the dishes I would make for holiday get-togethers with family (actually, I still do make it). The idea of fruit, nuts, and cheese combined with some type of greens and a vinaigrette is hands-down my favorite kind of salad in general — so, I make them year-round, just trying to adapt and improvise the type of fruit, nut, cheese, and vinaigrette type based on what’s in season.

At least one of you mentioned making a salad with strawberries and the spicy greens that we got in our CSA share, which I thought was a great idea! Here’s how it went: (more…)

Wow! I have to say, it’s been great to see all of your comments and ideas for different things to make with all those great vegetables we got in our first share. Thanks everyone, for the inspiration!

As I mentioned in that post, the first thing I made with the spoils was a crispy, cool and crunchy salad made with thin slices of the ruby-red radishes and mild, snow-white turnips. I dressed them with some sesame oil, a little rice vinegar, a squeeze of lime, and some chopped chives…an impromptu quick side dish that was perfect for the lingering heat we still had around after the worst of the heat wave moved through.

radish art

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