A Family-Friendly Farm

The kids would be much happier if our CSA farm looked more like this one.

Tis Another Season To Be Cooking

I popped into my kosher butcher shop yesterday and guess what song was playing on the radio?

White Christmas.

At least we can chalk up that one to a nice Jewish boy. The holiday, too, for that matter.

Anyway, the post-CSA cooking has run the gamut from roasted Brussels sprouts with garlic to rum-tinged cranberry sauce to homemade Pop-Tarts. And I've been on a squash kick of late. Here are a couple of good choices for cold winter evenings.

Squash, Cauliflower,and Chickpea Curry

Vegetarian Cabbage Rolls

These are really before-and-after pictures, as the cabbage rolls are stuffed with rice and leftovers from the squash curry. The recipes and idea are from The Boston Globe. (For a meaty "stuffed cabbage" with a lot less work, check out my Stuffed Cabbage Casserole.)

Another recent hit was this stuffed squash recipe, also via The Boston Globe.

Mushroom and Barley Stuffed Delicata Squash

(adapted, barely, from The Boston Globe Magazine. Mostly, I cut back on the salt and oil, and made minor ingredient substitutions based on what I had at home.)

2.75 cups water

1 cup pearled barley

3 delicata squash, about 1.25 pounds each, halved lengthwise and seeded

Olive oil

Salt and pepper

2 Tbsp frozen orange juice concentrate, thawed

1/2 ounce dried porcini mushrooms, reconstituted and chopped

2 ribs celery, finely chopped

1 yellow onion, chopped

10 ounces button mushrooms, sliced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 teaspoon dried sage
1 1/2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar

In a large saucepan, bring water to a boil. Add barley and 1/4 teaspoon salt, lower heat and simmer, covered, about 35 minutes or until the barley is tender and the water has been absorbed. Remove cover and set aside.

Heat oven to 400 degrees. Brush squash halves with olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and bake cut side down on a foil-lined baking sheet for 30 minutes. Turn squash halves over, brush each half with orange juice concentrate, and bake cut side up for another 20 minutes. Remove from oven.

While the squash is baking, heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a large skillet and saute the celery and onion until soft, about 5 minutes. Add the celery mixture to the barley along with the porcini mushrooms. Heat another tablespoon of olive oil in the skillet and saute the sliced button mushrooms until brown, about 8 minutes. Add the garlic and herbs to the skillet and cook another minute more. Add this to the barley mixture, and stir in the vinegar. Taste the barley mixture and adjust the seasoning as desired.

Fill the squash cavities with the barley mixture and bake until the filling is heated through, about 20 minutes.

Chicken With Apples, and a Review of the Season

It's been a couple of weeks now since our last CSA pickup, and I'm reflecting on the season. Whereas 2009 was categorized by excessive rain and clouds, this year we had crop-withering heat and drought. What a visceral reminder of the unpredictable nature of farming!

A couple of crops did very well. Our farm supplied us with 174 peaches (that's somewhere between 43 and 58 pounds); 81 ears of corn; and 42 apples. I have samples of each of these in my freezer for the months to come. On the other hand, I've seen enough green tomatoes, thank you (several dozen, between the farm and our own plants), and I'm ready to forget about that wretched broccoli rabe.

As I go on hiatus, I leave you with a chicken dish that's quick to make and brings in the flavors of fall.

Chicken With Apples

(Adapted recipe; origin unknown)

3 to 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (pounded to be no more than 3/4 inch thick)

1 Tbsp olive oil

1 apple, cored, halved, and cut into 1/2-inch-thick slices
1 cup apple juice
1 large onion, sliced
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 tsp thyme
1/2 tsp salt
2 Tbsp Dijon mustard

Heat oil in a large skillet. Saute the chicken for about 3 minutes per side, or until golden. Add the remaining ingredients except for the mustard. Bring the liquid to a boil, lower heat, then cover the skillet and simmer 8 to 10 minutes, or until the chicken is cooked through. Remove chicken from the skillet, whisk in the mustard, then return chicken to the sauce. Heat through and serve.

Week 18: Green Tomato Soup

Last CSA pickup of the season, and what did we get? A bouquet of Swiss chard.

The chard was the best dish of the week, but you don't need a recipe for it. Just wash the chard, remove leaves from stems, chop the leaves, and saute them with garlic in a little olive oil, as you might do with spinach. Sprinkle salt on top before serving. Perfection.

The rest of the week's cooking seemed to revolve around just a few items:

• Butternut squash -- in a stew with turkey meat; roasted with green tomatoes and onions; and roasted alone and mashed;
• Green tomatoes -- roasted with the squash, as mentioned above; and in soup;
• Red cabbage -- braised with apples and caraway; and turned into slaw;
• Apples -- with cabbage; and in cake.

The soup was a quick solution to too many green tomatoes. I don't know why it took me all season to come across this idea.

Quick Green Tomato and Bean Soup

(Inspired by this Gourmet recipe)

1 Tbsp olive oil

4 scallions, sliced

2 garlic cloves, crushed

2 pounds green tomatoes, chopped

2 cups water

1 can (15.5 ounces) small white beans, with liquid

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

1 tsp smoked paprika, or to taste

Heat olive oil in a Dutch oven or soup pot. Saute scallions and garlic in the oil for a couple of minutes; watch that they don’t burn. Add the tomatoes, water, canned beans and their liquid, and the spices. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer 30 to 45 minutes or until the tomatoes break down to your liking. Adjust seasonings to taste and serve hot.

Week 17: Roasted Cauliflower With Capers

Caboodle vs. the Collard

I got what I needed this week: a couple of cool, wet days conducive to cooking. After a pot of soup and a big stir fry -- both cabbage based -- I'm close to clearing out the vegetables in the fridge.

My favorite meal of the week was our "C" food dinner: Cod with Crumbs, Cauliflower with Capers, and Collards with, um, more  Collards. The collard greens had enormous leaves, and the cauliflower weighed in at 3.5 pounds. I guess the drought/flood cycle has been good to some crops.

Roasted Cauliflower With Capers
(Adapted recipe. Variations of roasted cauliflower abound.)

Heat oven to 425 degrees. Break a head of cauliflower into florets and toss with a bit of olive oil. Lay the florets in a single layer on a rimmed baking sheet and sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Roast for 10 to 15 minutes, then flip the pieces with a large spatula and roast another 10 minutes or so, until the cauliflower is tender and a bit browned. Keep an eye on the cauliflower so it doesn't burn.

Transfer the cooked cauliflower to a serving bowl and sprinkle with 1 teaspoon drained capers and 1 clove of garlic, finely chopped. Serve hot or warm.