Recipe Review - Kimber's - Well actually Georgeann's - Grilled Jicama

Kimber mentioned this one in the comments a few posts back, and I tried it and wanted to mention it. It was a great dish, and I'll totally make it in the future. The texture of the Jicama changes quite a bit with the heat, and the salt and pepper make for a nice crust on the outside. I'm guessing if you like spicy food, this could be interesting with some cayenne pepper as well.

And as a correction - it was Kimber's mom Georgeann who gave her the recipe. Thanks Georgeann!

Grilled Jicama

• Jicama (one per each 2 people you are serving)
  
• Olive Oil
• Salt and Pepper

1. Peel and slice the jicama into discs. I cut them about 3/4 inch, and it was a bit too thick - so I recommend maybe 1/2 inch.
2. Oil both sides, and add salt and pepper to taste
3. Grill over medium heat until they are tender - if you push on them, you can tell when they are getting softer.

Recipe Review - Hummus and sprout sandwich

Hummus and sprout sandwich
Ok, so I admit this one isn't all that novel, but it did make good use of some of the items out of the box this week. We got some broccoli sprouts in the box (side note - I totally have to start doing this on my own - super tidy little package of yummy, and to buy them in the store is expensive, and unnecessary, and they usually rot)

• Toasted bread - I used homemade white bread. Clearly this would be good with your favorite type. I just happened to have made white last week. This week it's a straight wheat, so that's what I'll use.
  
• Hummus - use any type you like - this again, was homemade - recipe for that when I'm at home sometime
• Sprouts - enough to make a nice layer
• Lettuce - I used the red romaine that came in the box

Spread hummus on both sides of the bread and stick the sprouts and the lettuce in the middle.

Other nice additions:

• Tomato
• Cucumber
• Olives
• Mushrooms
• Radishes, thinly sliced
• Carrots - shredded
  

Recipe Review - Shredded Raw Beet Salad

Shredded Raw Beet Salad
Combine the following and chill at least 30 minutes
• 2 cups coarsely shredded raw beets
• 1/4 cup vinegar
• 1/3 cuo oil
• salt & pepper to taste
• juice of 1 lemon
Then add the following, toss, and serve
• 3 cups shredded lettuce
• 1 tablespoon chopped chives
• 1-2 shredded carrots (optional)

Overall this was a fine dish. Nothing that really made me overly joyous, but it was very pleasant. Since the beets are raw, they have that earthy smell. they are nice and crunch. I did elect to add some carrots, and I think the dish wouldn't be nearly as good without them. I'll make it again, since I know that I'll get more beets with the CSA boxes.

• Tom felt the dressing was too strong - I used Red Wine Vinegar. I'm thinking that a rice vinegar would be nice, and a bit milder. I think this is much like any vinaigrette - adjust the oil and vinegar according to your tastes
  
• I used a red romaine lettuce, and minced it up really well - sort of like you might do for a chopped salad. This worked well
• I didn't have any chives, or even anything chive-like. I think that they added zing that would add would make the dish much nicer
• I used red beets, and not surprisingly, the dish comes out ridiculously red as a result. It would be interesting to try it with some golden beets
  

Recipe review - Roasted Radishes

I tried this recipe the other night with the radishes I got from the CSA box. This is *way* better than you imagine it's going to be. Two thumbs up. I made this as is, and don't recommend any changes so far

Roasted Radishes with Soy Sauce and Toasted Sesame Seed
(Makes 3-4 servings, recipe only slightly adapted from Vegetables Every Day by Jack Bishop.)
• 20 medium radishes, trimmed and cut into fourths (use all red, or a mixture of red and white)
• 1 1/2 T roasted peanut oil
• 1-2 T soy sauce (I used about 1 1/2 T)
• 2 green onions (scallions) sliced thin
• 1 T sesame seeds, toasted in a dry pan

Preheat oven to 425 F. Wash radishes, trim ends, peel if needed, and cut into same size pieces. I cut the white icicle radishes into diagonal pieces, and the red ones into half or fourths, depending on how big they were. Cut green onions into thin slices.
Toss radishes with peanut oil, then roast about 20 minutes, stirring one or two times. When radishes are tender and starting to brown, remove from oven, toss with soy sauce to coat and mix in green onion slices. Put back in oven and roast about 5 minutes more.
During final five minutes roasting time, put the sesame seed in a dry pan and toast over hot stove for about 2 minutes, or until starting to brown. Remove radishes from oven, place in serving bowl and sprinkle with toasted sesame seeds. Serve hot.

Recipe review - Roasted Cauliflower

One of my friends headed out on vacation, and before she left, she brought over all of her perishables that we would eat - basically all of her veg. Included was a small cauliflower and a lemon. As I said earlier, I'm going to try out a bunch of things that require little beyond what comes in my box of veg. This is somewhat outside those bounds, but did only require items that I already had in the house.

Here's the recipe I used:

Roasted Cauliflower
• 1 head of cauliflower
• 2-3 cloves of garlic, peeled and coarsely minced
• 1 lemon
• Olive oil
• Coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper
• Parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 400°F. Cut cauliflower into florets and put in a single layer in an oven-proof baking dish. Add garlic. Squeeze a lemon over cauliflower and drizzle each piece with olive oil. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. If the oven hasn't reached 400°F yet, set aside until it has.
Place casserole in the hot oven, uncovered, for 15-25 minutes, until the top is lightly brown. Test with a fork for desired doneness. Remove from oven and sprinkle generously with Parmesan cheese.

My modifications:

• I don't keep Parmesan cheese at home, so I didn't add that at the end, but I was guessing that it was mostly for a little salty flavor. When I tasted it, I realized it had enough salt already and didn't need the addition
• The head of cauliflower I used was rather small, so I reduced the rest of the ingredients by about 1/2
• The florets I cut were a bit on the big side - I recommend that you cut them quite small
  

Conclusions:
This was a nice recipe, and I would certainly make it again. I found that the baking time given didn't make it quite as tender as you might otherwise hope for, so in the future, I'd bake it a bit longer. The lemon gave it a nice zing, and was the primary flavor. It might also be interesting to try a few seasoned breadcrumbs on the top - it might give it an interesting crunch. Overall, I recommend this to others, and will certainly make it again.

CSA Starting

Summer Veg

It's summer in Austin, and today marks the first weekly box of veggies from our CSA from Hairston Creek Farms. For those who we haven't already bored with the description, this is the box of veggies and fruits that we get each week from a farm that is nearby - in our case, in Burnet, TX which is about 45 minutes north of Austin.

This year, we've elected to go with the every other week box since Tom is out of town every other week. We had a hard time keeping up with the veggies last year when we were both in town, so trying to have a box a week would just be way too much. Basically through the summer, we aim for this box to be the vast majority of what we eat. It helps us eat seasonally, locally and mostly plants.

This week we are getting
• Asparagus
• Beets
• Broccoli sprouts
• Lettuce
• Green Garlic
• Green Onions
• White Icicle Radishes
• French Breakfast Radishes
• Swiss Chard
• Strawberries
• Red and green lettuce

I'm going to start a project to collect recipes that I can make using the ingredients I get in the box with little else. Things that will have to be added include grains, beans and oils. There are a number of "farmer's market" type cookbooks, but they typically have vegetables combined that aren't in season at the same time in Texas. So this is what I get this week - what can I do with that?

Pressure cooker

As a gift, I received a lovely gift certificate from my gramma and aunty (and mom I think). Anyhoo, I elected to use it to get myself a pressure cooker. So far so good. I made some rice pilaf, and today I'll try it to cook some Anasazi beans. Beans and heavy grains seem to be where the pressure cookers shine.

I'll keep you up to date on how its going.

For reference, I got the Fagor Duo 6 quart pressure cooker. If I decide that I need to do some canning, I'll have to get the 10 quart.