Woo hoo! It's summertime in the glorious Pacific Wonderland (a little plug for my awesome employer). The cucumbers in my garden are going crazy and the tomato plants are strong but not setting fruit yet. The days are hot but the nights have been cool -- great for wine grapes but not so good for tomatoes.
The CSA box has been filled to the top with great stuff. Lots of onions, lettuces and potatoes. The first tomatoes came this week along with blueberries (which my sweetie has eaten most of...). We got a boat load of carrots, fennel, cucumbers, and a few green peppers. I juiced the carrots and fennel together with some ginger. Yum! The cukes were also juiced with a lemon.
The best CSA box recipe so far (in terms of using lots of produce) is...
Chilled Lettuce Soup
(Soupe à la laitue)
1 ea head lettuce, chopped (I used romaine but any lettuce but iceberg will do)
3 ea medium onions (I used two sweet, one yellow)
2 ea cloves of garlic, minced
1/2 cup white wine
3 c chicken stock
1/2 cup parsley, rough chopped (split use - save some for garnish)
3 cups heavy cream
1 T OO, 2 T butter
Salt to taste
Saute onion in olive oil and butter. Deglaze with white wine. Add chicken stock. Bring to a simmer and add lettuce & parsley. Simmer for 20-30 minutes. Adjust seasoning. Cool and puree in a blender or use an immersion blender. Chill completely. Before serving, add heavy cream and adjust seasoning again. It's easy to over salt at this point. Allow the salt to melt before adding more to a cold soup.
I wish I could say it froze well but there wasn't any left to freeze. Oh well.
My new favorite new potato recipe is...
Salt Boiled Potatoes
Easy-peasy. Use one ounce of salt per pound of potatoes. Use kosher salt or a local salt like Jacobsen salt which is farmed on the Oregon coast. In a pot deep enough to hold two layers of whole new potatoes, combine one ounce salt per pound of potatoes with two cups of cool water. Stir to melt the salt. Add potatoes and top with enough cold water to cover.
Boil for 30 minutes, partially covered. The result will be potatoes with a dusting of salt. Slather the pots with sweet (unsalted) butter and serve. Really, you can't have too much butter. OMG they are amazing and not too salty!
I caught an awful cold at the beginning of the week and was flat on my back for the better part of three days with a fever, sore throat and overwhelming fatigue. I think I slept about 15 hours a day for the days I was home for my weekend. The worst of it has passed and now I feel great. This is by way of 'splaining why I teased the potato recipe on Facebook well before I finished this post. Twas too tired to write (or eat for that matter).
Anyhoo, Love Big and Eat Well.
xoxo
Nancy
