What's in the box, 4/30/14 edition

In this week's box...

...parsnips, spinach, carrots, chives, popcorn on the cob, and purple top turnips.

Sorrel sauce

This week, the box contained a large bag of sorrel, just under 12 ounces.  I was excited to see it, as I enjoy making sorrel sauce to put on seafood (e.g., scallops or fish).  Sorrel has a lemony taste, making it a great accompaniment for seafood.

I washed the sorrel first.

Then I blanched it in boiling water.  It wilted very quickly, in less than a minute.  

Take it out as soon as that happens, putting the blanched sorrel into an ice bath to cool.

Here's a close up of the sorrel in the ice bath.  I blanched in two batches.

After it cooled, I removed the remaining ice cubes and drained the sorrel.  I gave it a light squeeze, as one might do with spinach, retaining the liquid in a glass bowl under the strainer.  (In the background, you can see the carrots that I've prepped to cook with David Chang's recipe.)

I then put the sorrel, a bit of olive oil and some salt into my food processor, then blended it.  I decided to put in a handful of chives as well.

The sauce was pretty thick at this point, so I added back some of the liquid that I had squeezed out of the sorrel.

Twelve ounces of sorrel made just over 1.5 cups of sauce.

Parsnip gnocchi, take 2

As I mentioned in my original post for parsnip gnocchi, I froze some parsnip gnocchi (uncooked) for later use.  I put the frozen gnocchi into salted boiling water and cooked a minute or two past when they started floating.

I made a slightly different sauce this time.  Started with a thinly sliced onion, sauteed in about a tablespoon of butter.  Once the onion was translucent and started to brown a bit (too hungry to caramelize), I added sliced cremini mushrooms.  Once those were cooked down, I added a small amount of cream (had a bit left from a cake recipe) and added some grated pecorino romano.  When the gnocchi were finished, I cooked them for a minute in the sauce before plating.

I topped the dishes with some of the pepper cress from this week's box.

All in all, better the second time.  Not sure if something changed with the gnocchi after freezing (might have softened the parsnip a bit more) or if I boiled them a bit longer (or shorter) or if it was the sauce, but both the husband and I enjoyed the dish more this time.

Banana pecan pancakes

This week, there was maple syrup in the box, so I made some banana pecan pancakes.

The basic pancake recipe is from the Joy of Cooking.  The ingredients below are for a half batch of that recipe, plus the added ingredients of a mashed banana and some chopped pecans, which makes about 16 3" pancakes.

Ingredients:

3/4 c flour

1 1/2 T sugar

3/4 t baking powder

1/4 t salt

3/4 c milk

1 1/2 T butter, melted

1 egg, lightly beaten

1 banana, mashed (a good opportunity to use overripe bananas)

chopped pecans (I didn't measure, but I'd guess that it was less than a 1/4 cup)

Mix the dry ingredients in a bowl, whisking them together.

Mix the wet ingredients (milk, melted butter, and egg) in another bowl (or add the butter and egg to the measuring cup with the milk).

Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients.  Whisk gently until just blended.

Add the mashed banana and chopped pecans.  Blend gently until just combined.

Cook the pancakes on a non-stick griddle or pan.  You'll know the pan is hot enough when drops of water sizzle on it.

Flip when bubbles appear throughout the pancake.

Serve with maple syrup.  You can also serve with some Nutella (although one should probably choose to use either syrup or Nutella on an individual pancake).

I sometimes add unsweetened shredded coconut to these pancakes as well, which is also tasty.  

Happy birthday!

Today is the husband's birthday.  He's now 43.  We met when he was but 21, so he's spent more years with me than without.  Such a lucky guy!

One of his birthday presents won't be available until the first weekend in May, so I wanted to post it for him here to read.

Dearest husband, for your birthday, I've signed you up for a 7 month (6 month share starting in June plus a one month early start) 10 pound (per month) meat CSA at Lilac Hedge Farm in Berlin (near the crossing of 495 and 62).  Happy birthday!  Here's one present that you won't need to share with me.  :-)

Pasta with ramps and poached quail eggs

Inspired by Babbo's recipe for spaghetti with ramps, tonight I made pasta with ramps and poached quail eggs.

Ingredients:

1/2 pound pasta (I used orecchiette)
3 oz ramps (husband says that I could have easily doubled the amount of ramps)
2 T olive oil
1/2 t hot pepper flakes (the pasta was pretty spicy; cut the amount if you'd like it less so)
1/4 t salt
6 quail eggs

To start, I set our sous vide to 146 degrees.  Once at temperature, I put the quail eggs in to poach for 25 minutes.

I then prepared the ramps, cutting off the roots and washing them.

I then separated the stems from the leaves, then chopped both.

Once the pasta is boiling, heat the olive oil, then add the chopped ramp stems.

Saute for about 4-5 minutes, until tender.  Then add the hot pepper flakes and salt.

Let cook for a minute or two, then add the ramp leaves and wilt them.

If your pasta isn't ready, turn off the heat.  It'll hold for a few minutes.  Once the pasta is done, drain it and add to the ramps.  Cook together for a minute, then portion into bowls.  (We split it into two bowls.)

Get your quail eggs out of the sous vide.  (If you don't have a sous vide, you could poach the eggs.)

Crack the eggs on the pasta.

Just before eating, stir everything together, with the yolks making a sauce for the pasta.  We also added some grated Parmigiano-Reggiano. 

As mentioned in the ingredient list, husband notes that more ramps would have been good.  It was good as made as well.

What's in the box, 4/23/14 edition

Sorrel!  The box today has a big bag of sorrel!

Also in the box today: a bunch of chives, a small bag of pepper cress, two watermelon radishes (which we're told are the last from root storage), apples (which we're also told are the last batch), purple top turnips (which sadly do not come with the same promise of being the last batch), carrots, parsnips, and a bottle of maple syrup.

But back to the sorrel, a green that I had not heard of or tried before joining Siena Farms' CSA.  Back when I saw it for the first time, a small bunch of greens, the weekly email came with a recipe for making a sauce with the sorrel, to be used on fish, scallops, or many other things.  Since then, I have been a huge sorrel fan.  The sauce has a lemony taste to it, just from the sorrel.  Today, instead of a small bunch, I have a huge bag.  Lots of sorrel sauce in my future.  I am wondering how well it will freeze, so that I might save some for times with no sorrel.

Now for what wasn't in the box today, but was instead purchased from Verrill Farm on the way to get the box from Siena Farms:

Ramps and quail eggs.  With the onset of spring, I have been wanting to get some ramps to have with pasta, so I stopped by Verrill Farm in the hopes that they would have some, which they did.  I also bought a dozen quail eggs, thinking that they would be a good addition to the pasta, poached and put on at the last minute before serving.

Yes, it is a bit crazy to stop at one farm to buy things before going to another to get a half bushel box.  But it's ramp season, and it doesn't last long.