- Braised Bok Choy w/ fried Egg -
Positive - This tasted pretty good; want to try to use up the soy sauce before we move.
Negative - I put this in a bowl and there finished bok choy gave off a lot of fluid, so when I broke the yolk it just kind of became a yolk-y soup. It tasted good, but not necessarily what I was looking for.
- Oatmeal Ice Cream -
Positive - Gretchen came up with this idea, and it worked pretty well
Negative - This needed more cinnamon. I didn't strain out the oats, but I think I would next time. The texture is fine, but it's not as 'refined' as I'd like it.
- Pickled Asparagus -
- white wine vinegar, fresh dill, garlic, fennel seed, coriander seeds and dried thyme -
Positive - Had a few of these on a salad and these came out tasting really good. I was afraid not blanching them a little was going to be weird, but wasn't.
Negative - We're getting to the end of the asparagus season and I didn't make more. Got to get out of the fennel/coriander rut.
- Omelet -
- Sauteed Lamb's Quarter, Scape, and Smoked Cheddar -
Positive - Bought some smoked cheddar from the amish stand that I get eggs from. It's pretty awesome. Made this with some duck fat leftover from the confit jelly.
I'd never had lamb's quarters before this week, it has an interesting nutty flavor compared to normal spinach, but it's texturally challenging. I'd give it another shot; would be good in a... you guessed it - pesto.
Negative - Wasn't really feeling eating an omelet every morning but did it in interest of using CSA stuff.
- Smoked Bacon -
- Coriander, Fennel, Oregano -
- Coriander, Fennel, Oregano -
Positive - This tasted OK, but not great.
Negative - Not much smokiness, need to figure out a better way to control the smudge in the smoker. I usually get it started on the stovetop and then move it to the oven, but the smoke definitely dies out in the oven.
Not a lot of spice/herb from the cure either, I took it out a little early so it didn't spend a long time in the spiced cure.
I've made bacon almost a dozen times over the past year or so; and I think I'm getting worse at it. Maybe I'm not as careful, maybe I'm getting more picky. Either way my cured meats sucked this time; I was really excited to get the smoker going and making Ham and Bacon; but at the end of the day I was just discouraged.
- Smoked Ham -
- Blackstrap Molasses -
- Blackstrap Molasses -
Positive - Not sure if there's much positive about this. I cured and smoked a shoulder cut around easter and it came out incredible; it tasted like pork, smoke, salt, and maple; it was really balanced. This really was bad. I kept thinking it tasted like an olive; and there was no smoke.
Negative - This is definitely too salty and very little smoke flavor. Will soak it next time we eat it. I don't get much molasses flavor just cured tasting. This was just depressing.
- Ham and Cheese English Muffin -
- Garlic Scape/Turnip Greens and Smoked Cheddar -
Positive - The cheese tasted good.,
Negative - This needed mustard; I need to make some.
- Molasses glazed ham steaks/ w mushroom cognac sauce -
- Sauteed chard with roman beans and smoked bread crumbs -
- Fava beans, sauteed Garlic Scapes -
- Fava beans, sauteed Garlic Scapes -
Positive - The smoked breadcrumbs worked out pretty well, chard tasted good; mushroom cognac sauce was good. Favas and scapes were supposed to bring some seasonality, but they were kind of extraneous. Used up some pork stock from the trotter, it tasted good.
Negative - Again the ham is crap; ruined it for me.
- Omelet -
Sauteed Boy Choy - soy, sriracha
Positive - Bought some smoked cheddar from the amish stand that I get eggs from. It's pretty awesome.
Negative - Wasn't really feeling eating an omelet every morning but did it in interest of using CSA stuff.
- Whole Wheat Flat Bread -
Positive - Pretty basic/easy yeasted dough. Tasted pretty good and used up some more whole wheat flour
Negative - These started out as 'pita' but turned out more like 'pide' when they didn't puff up with a pocket, but got puffy all over. It wasn't how I planned it, but I like puffy, non-pocketed flatbreads anyway better anyway.
- Pickled Garlic Scapes -
Negative - I blanched these quickly, but probably shouldn't have. I tasted a couple before the pickling liquid went on them and they really lost a fair amount of flavor.
As you can tell we had tons of scapes in the CSA, and then the guy at the mushroom stand gave me some free scapes too....so I pickled some in a mixture of white vinegar and white wine vinegar.
Positive - Not sure what these taste like yet.
- Whole Wheat Sourdough Sandwich Bread -
Positive - For the first time in weeks a project actually worked the way I wanted it to. It's kind of an aggressively sourdough flavored bread, but it's pretty good and the crumb is how I intended it.
Negative - I can't complain here, I was pretty discouraged by the smoker projects so I'll take a small victory here. Seemed like I could make bread in my sleep not too long ago, so I'm happy that this weekend was a return to form.
- Merguez Sausage with Grilled Spring Onion, Zucchini, Garlic Scape -
- Spinach, Olives, Feta -
with Flatbread and Potato Salad
Positive - Everything tasted pretty good. Not sure why I bought zucchini, there will be weeks later when we get 12 zucchini a week; I just tend to get excited the first time anything shows up at the farmers market.
Bought the olives and feta at the Turkish mareket down the street; they're not amazing, but they're definitely a step up from the supermarket.
Negative - Potato salad was a bit over dressed, and the potatoes I bought were probably too starchy for potato salad; needed a waxier variety. I got these red starchy guys, that are actually really good mashed. I can't ever remember the name, but they have red/pink flesh and make really fluffy mashed potatoes, and it looks kind of fancy when you have pink mashed potatoes.
CSA Week 2
Escarole
Romaine Lettuce
Swiss Chard
Garlic Scapes
Green Boston Lettuce
Green Boston Lettuce
Baby Bok Choi
Japanese Salad Turnips
Strawberries
No comments:
Post a Comment