Whole Oats with Peaches
I bought some whole oats from Cayuga Organics a few weeks ago because I'd never had them before - and then in our next grain share we got another bag; so now I have two pounds.
I eat a lot of oatmeal, I usually buy the giant bags of old fashioned oats from Costco, but I also really like steel cut oats - they just take forever to cook. These were soaked overnight and they still took at least 45 to become soft and porridge-like; so I'm glad I did the extra step. I think I might try to grind them up in the food processor a little bit next time so they're more like steel cut oats.
They tasted good, but not as mushy as either steel cut or old fashioned oats (obviously), so seemed less like breakfast for some reason
Zucchini, Corn, Cherry Tomatoes Pappardelle
w/ sauteed Squash blossoms
Put the pasta dough together Saturday morning before leaving to swim in a dumpster. Rolled it out as the water was boiling. Made a quick sauce by sauteing Zucchini, corn and cherry tomatoes. Finished it with fresh mint, fresh oregano, lemon juice, extra virgin olive oil and cheese.
Positive - The pasta rolled out OK. It was probably drier that last time, so it was a little harder. The corn tasted great. Overall it was a really mild flavored dish, hopefully showing off the ingredients.
Negative - I turned down the pasta water, as it was boiling really hard, and didn't really get it going again before I added the pasta. Some of the noodles kind of folded and stuck together. This is the second time in a row I did this.
My difficulties with overcooking zucchini continues this summer. I could have used a little more chili flake to bring a little balance.
These cherry tomatoes have a really tough skin - wonder if it's the hot weather causing that; or maybe they're just not ripe yet.
- Grilling -
I also had extra zucchini and eggplant I bought, thinking I would cook more that weekend than I did. So I was thinking grilled vegetables, steak, and some kind of dressing on a flat bread would be a really simple thing to do. Also brought some Halloumi to grill, thought of it as we were walking by the Turkish market Saturday night, thought it would be good on there too.
Joe supplied some great grilled corn and had beer on tap (Kolsch and Altbeir). Brendan joined us and brought a potato salad (you can't go wrong with butter and sage) and a broccoli, carrot salad.
- Whole Wheat Fennel Flatbreads -
Started with the Kolsch starter (since the Kolsch was on tap) and went with a 65% hydration on this dough. I knew that I had to go Mediterranean because of the ingredients I had bought, and originally I was thinking Italian flavors, I made the addition of toasted fennel and extra virgin olive oil.
The whole idea became more Greek later on; so maybe it didn't make 100% sense to use fennel. For some reason fennel seed seems more Italian to me, even though Greek cooking uses anise; come on Ouzo. It's just a mental thing, I think anise=Greek, fennel=Italian?
Positive - I got them done, and they tasted pretty good. I made these Sunday morning and when I smelled them in the afternoon they had a very assertive smell to me; so I was worried they would taste weird; but that wasn't the case.
I was also worried that I didn't add enough fennel seed to make it seem like they weren't an accident; but it seemed ok.
Negative -
The dough rose really fast, but I timed everything badly that morning, so I was rushing to roll them out and cook them right before I had to leave for practice and a basketball game. So they came out really inconsistent. Some were big, others small, some thing, others puffy.
I needed to divide out the dough by weight, but I didn't.
- Marinated Grilled Skirt Steak -
Marinated this in olive oil, salt, pepper, fresh oregano, fresh mint, garlic, onion.
Positive - Ottomanelli was out of hanger and flank steak, which were my first two choices; so I went with skirt. This was probably for the best. Since I haven't ever had an apartment with real outdoor space, I don't have any real grilling experience; and it showed.
Luckily skirt steak is such a thin cut that you don't really have to worry about it being too-rare; it's kind of impossible. Sometimes if it's medium-rare it can be chewy - so you want it just about medium; and it came out pretty well despite multiple flare ups.
Negative - I cut the pieces of skirt too long to fit them on the grill with all of the veg we had going; eventually I just decided to ask Joe for a knife so I could cut them down to fit. I wish we had gotten them on sooner, because the higher heat would have helped with a better crust on there - although maybe there would have been more flare ups.
Probably need to have something to catch dripping fat; like some tinfoil balled up, or a disposable pie pan with a little water? I don't know; I'm sure Cook's Illustrated has some solution for this.
- Grilled Eggplant, Zucchini, Peppers -
I used a marinade identical to the steak marinade on these - with the addition on lemon juice. I had omitted the lemon juice on the steak, acid tends to break down meat too much and it gets mushy.
Positive - Since I cut and prepped the vegetables at my place and took them to Joe's (which took a while, thanks to the Holland Tunnel) I was afraid that the eggplant was going to soak up way too much oil; and they didn't. It probably helped that I used Rosa Bianca eggplant and not globe - the texture is a little less porous, so it doesn't soak up so much (making it good for eggplant parm).
Negative - Either the grill was too hot, or I didn't use enough oil, but some of the pieces got a little unpleasantly charred. Also, thanks to me messing with the charcoal that Joe already setup, the heat was a little uneven and there was a really cool side and a really hot side.
What made me think I would distribute the coals in a smart way when I haven't setup a grill in years is just stupid; obviously I should have deferred to Joe, he knows what he's doing way better than I do.
Basically, we should have set up more of a medium zone for these vegetables, a hot side for the meat and the corn, and a holding area.
From a service point of view, I probably didn't make it clear when more vegetables were done; I didn't really put them on a tray or anything.
- Grilled Halloumi -
Halloumi is kind of a string cheese/mozzarella, but it's saltier like feta. It doesn't melt much, so you can grill it (or sautee it).
Positive - It's hard to mess this one up; the cheese tastes pretty good in general.
Negative - You really need to do this for a little while to really soften the cheese up and get good browning on the outside. I've sauteed this (and the Mexican frying cheese, which name escapes me) and usually I do in over medium-low. On the grill the temps were a little all over the place, so I started it on the cool side (which was a little too cold) and moved it to the hot side (which got a little too browned).
You also really have to eat this when it's hot, or it gets all coagulated and weird. It still tastes okay, but it's kind of strange texturally.
- Mint Tzatziki -
Basically made a tzatziki, but substitute mint for dill, since I had it on hand.
Positive - Tasted ok - was seasoned ok, cucumber/garlic flavor was fine, enough lemon. I give it a B+.
Negative - Didn't really have much of a mint flavor. I didn't want it to taste like mouthwash, but it should be a little minty. When I was made it I was tasting a lot, so I thought maybe I blew myself out because I wasn't tasting much mint; so I backed off adding more.
Maybe it's just that I added the fresh herbs hours before we ate and it just mellowed out a lot, not sure.
- Red Bean Puree -
Fresh Oregano, Lemon, Olive Oil
I thought this tasted pretty good - really simple and clean; but defer to Gretchen
CSA
Zucchini
Cucumber
Long Peppers
Green Pepper
Mountain Rose Potatoes
Garlic
Cherry Tomatoes
Onions
Green Beans
White Peaches
Donut Peaches
No comments:
Post a Comment