Week 11 Summary

As predicted, Week 11 was very scant in the way of blog posts. But this post will include a few extra pictures to help summarize what we were up to with our CSA last week. Here's how things shook out:

Red Potatoes: there are still some left, but we made good progress with them this week! About 2 pounds got used: one in the lemon rosemary chicken, and another to make this pretty tasty red potato salad on Friday night. Neither Steve nor I are big into potato salad, so I think it's a good sign that we both approved of this one. I think the red potatoes helped, along with the lack of gobs and gobs of mayonnaise (it only called for 1 tablespoon).

red potato salad on the side of some improvised vegetable gratin

Green Bell Peppers: Steve does not like green peppers, so it mostly fell to me this week to work my way through them. A small amount went into the potato salad above, but I picked up a tub of my very favorite yogurt veggie-dip from Trader Joe's, and mostly ate a lot of pepper with my lunches. We have one left.

Yellow Onions: used here and there this week. I think we have one left.

Indian Cucumbers: I mentioned before that I wasn't sure at first what to make of these. See below for a better picture of what they look like, inside and out. When I cut them open, they were less like a cucumber and more like a melon, so I scooped out all the seeds with a spoon before cutting them up. Together with some yellow onion, I used them to make ice box pickles. They are the easiest thing in the world! Here is how to make them:

- slice up a bunch of cucumber and onion, however much you want of each. Dump everything in a deep bowl.
- add equal parts of white vinegar, water, and sugar; enough to cover all of the veggies. 
- stir well, cover, and refrigerate. I like to let them sit for at least a few hours before eating, to let everything soak in. The finished product is so tasty!

The Indian cucumbers were a bit tougher (or crunchier? I'm not sure how to describe it...) than a standard cucumber, but not necessarily in a bad way, just different.

Orange Carrots: Steve & I both munched these throughout the week with veggie dip and hummus. There are a bunch left, though!

Fairytale Eggplants: oh, my beloved fairytale eggplants. Sadly, our plan was to throw them into a vegetable gratin on Friday night. When we pulled them out of the fridge, most of them were already shriveled and turning brown. So we pulled out the ones we could salvage for our dinner, but had to toss most of them! I've definitely noted their shorter lifespan for next time.

Rosemary: the bundle of rosemary we received is so huge that we are not possibly going to be able to use it all. A bunch did go into the skillet chicken dish, however, and we used bit more of it last night in a Week 12 dish. 

Green Zucchini: we have officially reached zucchini coming out of our ears status. At my last count I think we had 8 of them in the fridge (that includes the ones we got for Week 12)! One fun and different thing that we tried last week was this recipe for zucchini bread ice cream (yep, you read that right). I actually modified it quite a bit, because I don't have patience for custard and I didn't think all the straining was necessary. The end result is really interesting - we think it actually tastes like pumpkin pie more than anything (I think because of all the spices in it). We used zucchini in a few other ways as well last week, including a vegetable gratin.

churning up the zucchini bread ice cream

Heirloom Tomatoes: I am so grateful for heirloom tomatoes! One of them didn't survive the week, but we managed to use up the rest between BLTs, the gratin, and a mini-batch of bruschetta. (Side note: I could hug the person who invented BLTs.)

Mmm, BLTs. Why not throw in some sliced avocado for good measure? (Ice box pickles showing in the background.)

Blueberries: almost gone - we are still working through them.

Peaches: gone! They were great.

Chicken Breast: gone! Both went into making the rosemary chicken dish.

Chicken Legs: still frozen.


Week 11 Link
Skillet Rosemary Chicken


So guess what happened last weekend? We finally bought a cast iron skillet! I did a little bit of browsing online to get a sense of their cost and they were far less spendy than I was expecting. Then I remembered that we still had some value left on a Crate & Barrel gift card that we've been hoarding since our wedding. So we swung by the mall on Sunday afternoon and finally picked up a 12" skillet, all with gift card funds. (Note: they sell it at Target for about $8 less, but being able to use the gift card tilted us toward C&B.) Yipee! We've already used it once and it worked great. I'm just super stoked to have one piece of cookware that is both oven and broiler safe, and can be used on the stovetop.

Thanks for reading about our CSA adventures in Week 11. Week 12 info is on its way!

Skillet Rosemary Chicken

Usually, the recipes I take the time to individually post about here are for new-to-us dishes. That's largely been a function of the CSA; since we're getting lots of new and interesting produce (new in the sense that we haven't cooked much with it before), the experience is lending itself to trying a lot of new recipes. But the dish I'm sharing about today is one that's been in our arsenal for quite some time, and it just so happens that the CSA stars aligned this week such that we got to return to an old favorite. Chicken: check; red potatoes: check; rosemary: check. We were already three-fifths of the way to having all the major ingredients covered!

But the funny thing about this dish is that we've altered it in a number of small ways over time, so that it doesn't much resemble the original dish any more. Most of the changes are due to our personal taste preferences, and one is because we don't have a cast-iron skillet. (Our lack of cast iron skillet is becoming an emerging theme on this blog. I think we must be approaching the critical point of taking the plunge to invest in one.) I'll outline our main changes below. But the main thing you need to know is that the flavors in this dish are truly wonderful. Lemon + rosemary = love.

Skillet Rosemary Chicken on Minimally Invasive 

Used From Our CSA
red potatoes
rosemary 
chicken breast

Right before going into the oven.

Thoughts on the Recipe
- We use chicken breast (usually 2) instead of the boneless, skinless thighs.
- We substitute green beans (frozen in this case) for the mushrooms. I usually just dump in half the bag. I love the way they taste when they get all lemony! Which brings me to the next change...
- I like to one-and-a-half the part of the recipe for the lemon marinade. That means 3 lemons instead of 2 and a bit more of the garlic, rosemary, and salt all get mashed up together on the cutting board. I love having that extra amount of tangy juice in the pan when serving this up. Especially because the potatoes will soak up most of it.
- To make this without the oven-safe skillet, we still get the chicken started in a regular skillet as instructed, and toss the cooked potatoes and frozen beans in the bottom of baking dish while that's in process. Then the chicken, remaining marinade, rosemary, lemon halves, and the rest of the lemon juice all go over the top. Having a cast iron skillet would definitely make that part easier and create fewer dirty dishes, which is always a good thing. Someday...

So there you have it: one of our favorite dinners, and all the wild things we do to it to make it even yummier. I really need to sit down and re-write the recipe with all of our modifications, so I don't forget the altered steps when we make it. Do you have any super-adapted or ever-evolving recipes that you love? 

Week 11 Delivery

Welcome to Week 11 of our CSA! Here's a glimpse at what we received in our latest box:

Vegetables
red potatoes
green bell peppers
yellow onions
Indian cucumbers (the round, gourd-looking fruit between the potatoes and carrots)
orange carrots
fairytale eggplants
red tomatoes swapped for rosemary
green zucchini
heirloom tomatoes

Fruit
pint of blueberries
bag of peaches 

Chicken
breasts
whole legs

A few thoughts on the items in this box:
- I think those fairytale eggplants are the cutest things ever. End of story.
- At the start of the week, I had no idea what an Indian cucumber was and was honestly having a hard time finding information about them online. Up to this point, that really hasn't been an issue with the more unusual produce we've had. I may share more about them this week, but ended up using them in a way I would have used a regular cucumber.
- The small heirloom tomatoes are also beautifully colored, and the ones we've had so far have been delicious.
- The peaches this time around are awesome. Finally (they've been a little hit or miss so far, even within the flavor of a single fruit)!

This CSA week may be a little blog-light because I was feeling a pull to keep things more simple with our meal plan. Thankfully, a lot of the produce in this batch is lending itself well to that. Lots of veggies & dip happening in our house this week. And I'm enjoying a little respite from our usual heavier cooking routine. More to come in the next few days!