panzanella.

This is the time of year when we are plucking ripe tomatoes from the vine just about every day, but we are not yet in buckets-full for sauces or canning. There is nothing better than a sliced tomato, warm from the garden, with just a sprinkling of sea salt and a grind of pepper. I often stand at the counter after coming in from the garden, sampling the tomatoes (I love to grow new varieties every year).

As the early weeks go on, I make tomato salads, add tomatoes to dinner, toss together small batches of salsa, and of course start to make panzanella. A Panzenella uses good stale bread, which just soaks up the flavors and cuts the acidity of the tomatoes. It is a perfect summer salad.


To make the 'croutons':
I use bread that is hard - usually a French baguette, or a nice Italian rustic loaf. Slice the bread, lightly coat in olive oil, sprinkle with sea salt and toast in a toaster oven for 5 or so minutes. When out of the toaster, cut into cubes (if you don't have a toaster oven, a regular oven set to 350ºF is fine). If you can cut your bread into cubes from the start - go for it. I find that baguettes in particular can be hard to cut when stale, and the toasting with olive oil makes them crispy, but easier to cut.

ingredients::
2 large or 3-4 medium slicing tomatoes, cubed
1 small mild onion, very thinly sliced
1 clove of garlic, finely minced
3 cups of croutons
3-4 Tbsp good balsamic vinegar
5 Tbsp olive oil
Sea salt & pepper to taste
10-15 basil leaves - depending on how big/variety of basil you have, sliced
a few sprigs of parsley, chopped

Make your croutons. While they are in the toaster, cut your tomatoes, garlic and onions and put into a large bowl, sprinkle with a pinch of salt to get the tomato juices going. Add the balsamic and olive oil. When the croutons are out of the toaster and have cooled, toss them in with the bowl of ingredients. Make sure you toss/stir for a few minutes, to be sure that the croutons are evenly coated in the tomato/oil/vinegar mix. Season lightly with salt and pepper. Let sit for about 10 minutes, stirring here and there. Add the parsley and basil and stir. Taste, and add more salt & pepper to taste. Serve immediately!

Other good additions to a panzanella:: sliced cucumber or peppers.

This is not an exact recipe - depending on how big or how juicy your tomatoes are you can tweak how much vinegar/oil you add to get your bread to soak it up nicely. It should soak in fully, but not have a lot of standing liquid. If your tomatoes are small or more meaty than juicy, just add an extra one!

summer cabbage.

While I love making sauerkraut, when we are getting one head of cabbage at a time in our CSA box I often find that head of cabbage sitting on my counter longer than I would like. One of my favorite recipes that uses that whole cabbage head is my take on a German style Apples & Cabbage. It tastes great as a side dish fresh out of the pot steamy hot, and is also good the next day cold from the fridge.


ingredients::
4 cups thinly sliced red or green cabbage
2 1/2 cups peeled/sliced apples (tart)
1 large sliced red onion
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
1/2 cup apple cider or beer (I use hard cider)
1 teaspoon fennel seeds & coriander seeds, ground (or you could go more traditional and use caraway seeds)
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
pinch of nutmeg
ground fresh pepper to taste


instructions::
Put the cabbage, apples, onion and cider/beer into a saucepan. Cover and cook on medium heat until everything is tender, about 5-10 minutes. Add the rest of the ingredients, stir, reduce heat to simmer, and cook another 30 minutes. Add more beer/cider if needed to keep everything from sticking to the pan. Season to taste.


think::

Did you know :: Red cabbage contains a lot more protective phytonutrients than white cabbage, and "The vitamin C equivalent, a measure of antioxidant capacity, of red cabbages is six to eight times higher than that of white cabbage." Red cabbage may be beneficial in prevention of neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's. In addition to being packed with Vitamin C, red cabbage is a good source of fiber, manganese, folate, vitamin B6, potassium, and omega-3 fatty acids and a decent source of thiamin (vitamin B1), riboflavin (vitamin B2), calcium, potassium, magnesium, and even vitamin A!

CSA Box: week 7

It is sweet corn time in Wisconsin. Huge signs at every road side farm stand, poster board signs at the end of farm driveways, piles of it. It comes for only a few weeks, so we try to stock up enough to freeze for the winter. We love getting it in our CSA box too - so fresh and sweet you can practically eat it raw.

In the box this week: sweet corn, turnips, beets, peppers, cucumbers, summer squash, head lettuce, onions, garlic, cherry tomatoes, slicing tomato, nasturtium blossoms.


Extras this week: mushrooms, garlic, onions, sage, parsley, thyme.

CSA Box; week 6

The heat, sun and rain have been going all July and we are finally seeing some hot weather veggies!

This week: beets, dill heads, head lettuce, summer squash, daikon radishes, cucumbers, onions, garlic, pepper, broccoli.


Extras this week: cherry tomatoes, onions, garlic, thyme & mushrooms.

CSA Box.

Oh, I'm behind on my CSA posts! As many of you may know, my back (the one with two herniated discs) went 'out' again and I've been nursing it back to bearable for the past few weeks. I like to eat quick and fresh in the summer to take advantage of just picked produce, but with the back things were even more simplified. We have been having salads and stir-fry - whatever I can make quickly and easily. Of course how much fresher can you get with boxes of organic veggies from our CSA farm or something yummy picked from the garden.

This past weekend I was able to spend some time catching up on small batch fermenting - I have jars of garlic and beets lacto-fermenting on my counter - and made another batch of currant jelly and several quarts of my back healing bone broth. I even have several recipes I tested that turned out great. With several pounds of pickling cucumbers in my fridge, I know what I am doing today as well!

While I do have several recipes to share this week, I want to catch up on my CSA boxes for the past 2 weeks.

CSA Box:: July 8


Beets, broccoli, beans, romaine, head lettuce, spring onions, parsley, peas, garlic, peppers, summer squash, and a pint of raspberries!


CSA box:: July 15


Swiss chard, cucumbers, broccoli, onions, garlic, beets, chives, basil, head lettuce, summer squash, yellow beans.


And, feeling like I could handle more time in the kitchen this week, my extras included dill heads, pickling cucumbers, onions, cabbage, beets and mushrooms.

If you have a CSA, what is in season where you are??

honey balsamic reduction.

Like just about everywhere, we are in the end of the fresh strawberry season. We are not picking enough for any big recipe, but love having a hand full for dessert in the evening. One of my favorite combos is balsamic vinegar, strawberries and whipped cream. It is super simple and so good.

::honey balsamic reduction::
1/4 cup good balsamic vinegar
1 Tbsp raw honey

Bring these two to a boil in a pot, reduce heat and simmer until reduced by about half (10 minutes or so). Take off the heat - it will thicken as it cools. Drizzle over fresh strawberries.

My favorite whipped cream is done by hand. I think using a big bowl gives you room for a better stroke and it doesn't take as long when using a whisk. I like to whip about a cup of heavy cream in with the seeds from about one half of a vanilla bean. Just as it is starting to thicken, I add a drizzle of honey and finish whipping to the desired thickness. Add a dollop of this over your balsamic strawberries - oh yes, it is REALLY good.

csa box: week 3

With parks, picnics, bike riding and playing with the neighbors in the alley I didn't post this yesterday.

So, here is our box for this week:: purple beans, basil, spring onions, fresh garlic, romaine, head lettuce, fennel, beets, cabbage, snap peas

I made a veggie soup last night (oh so good) since I had a fridge full of homemade stock. I don't like following a recipe with soups - in particular vegetable soup - I use what I have. Garlic, onions, peas, beets, mushrooms, broccoli, just cut herbs, fresh stock. Nothing else needed but some salt & pepper and a simmer!