Vegetables

Ingredients
2 tablespoons butter
4 teaspoons garlic, minced
2-3 bunches bok choy, stalks trimmed
2 cups chicken broth

Instructions
1. Melt butter in large skillet over high heat. Add garlic; sauté 1 minute. Add bok choy and stock; simmer until bok choy is tender, stirring occasionally, about 8 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.

Comments
I’ve been getting Bok Choy in my CSA box for the past few weeks but events have conspired against me being able to prepare it.  This recipe was ridiculously easy and very flavorful.  The original recipe called for baby bok choy but the mixture of old and young boy choy which I had worked fantastically.  

Shown here with Crispy Dijon Chicken.

Internet - Epicurious

Ingredients
1 tablespoon unsalted butter, softened
3 medium cloves garlic, minced (about 1 tablespoon)
1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves, chopped
1 teaspoon olive oil
1 pound green (or yellow) beans, stem ends snapped off, beans cut into 2-inch pieces
Table salt and freshly ground black pepper
¹⁄₄ cup water
2 teaspoon lemon juice
1 tablespoon fresh parsley, chopped (optional)

Instructions
1. Combine butter, garlic, and thyme in small bowl; set aside.

2. Heat oil in 12-inch nonstick skillet over medium heat until just smoking. Add beans, ¹⁄₄ teaspoons salt, and ¹⁄₈ teaspoon pepper; cook, stirring occasionally, until spotty brown, 4 to 6 minutes.

3. Add water, cover, and cook until beans are bright green and still crisp, about 2 minutes.

4. Remove cover, increase heat to high, and cook until water evaporates, 30 to 60 seconds. Add butter mixture and continue to cook, stirring frequently, until beans are crisp-tender, lightly browned, and beginning to wrinkle, 1 to 2 minutes longer. Transfer beans to serving bowl, toss with lemon juice and parsley, and adjust seasoning with salt and pepper. Serve immediately.

Comments
For the past few weeks I’ve been getting wax beans in my CSA box and I’ve been trying to cook this recipe.  However, things have kept happening in life and they always seem to happen on the day I’ve got wax beans planned!  This week I was finally able to give this Cook’s Illustrated recipe a go and we were all pleased with the crispness of the beans and the light, lemony and garlicky flavor.  This recipe paired very well with the French Chicken in a Pot and I’m looking forward to making it with green beans in the future.  

Shown here with French Chicken in a Pot.

Cook’s Illustrated

Ingredients
1 pound mustard greens, stemmed, washed, dried in a salad spinner, and coarsely chopped
1 tablespoon unsalted butter, plus extra for buttering dish
3 whole eggs, beaten
10 ounces ricotta cheese
2 ounces Parmesan cheese, grated (approximately ¹⁄₂ cup)
¹⁄₂ teaspoon kosher salt plus a pinch
¹⁄₄ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 pound mushrooms, sliced
1 cup round butter crackers, crushed (such as Ritz)

Instructions
1. Preheat the oven to 375*F.

2. Butter a 9 by 11-inch or 2 ¹⁄₂-quart baking dish and set aside.

3. In a large bowl mix together the eggs, ricotta, Parmesan, salt, and pepper. Set aside.

4. In a large pot melt the butter. Add the garlic, mushrooms, and a pinch of salt and cook until the mushrooms give up their liquid, approximately 5 to 6 minutes. Add the greens and cook until they are wilted, approximately 3 to 4 minutes. The greens will reduce to less than ¹⁄₄ of their original volume.

5. Add the greens to the egg and cheese mixture and stir to thoroughly combine. Pour into the prepared baking dish, top with the crackers, place on the middle rack of the oven and bake for 35 to 40 minutes. Allow to cool for 5 minutes and serve.  

Comments
This week my CSA box container Mustard Greens.  We’re now on the winter side of  greens season it seems!  I’ve never had Mustard Greens before, so I turned to the internet for help.  Help came in the form of this Alton Brown recipe.  

I don’t think any of us will ever become die hard lovers of greens, but this was a very tasty preparation!  They’re similar to spinach but the taste is a bit stronger and a bit of punch.  

Shown here with Mom’s Chicken.

Internet - Alton Brown

Ingredients
1 large head broccoli (about 1 ³⁄₄ pounds), cut into florets with stalks attached
3 tablespoon olive oil
¹⁄₂ teaspoon salt
¹⁄₂ teaspoon sugar
Ground black pepper

Instructions
1. Adjust oven rack to lowest position, place large rimmed baking sheet on rack, and heat oven to 500*F. Place broccoli in large bowl; drizzle with oil and toss well until evenly coated. Sprinkle with salt, sugar, and pepper to taste and toss to combine.

2. Working quickly, remove baking sheet from oven. Carefully transfer broccoli to baking sheet and spread into even layer. Return baking sheet to oven and roast until stalks are well browned and tender and florets are lightly browned, 9 to 11 minutes. Transfer to serving dish and serve immediately.

Comments
This recipe is from the 2008 Cook’s Illustrated Annual.  We were surprised at how salty the broccoli was and then I checked the recipe and realized I had initially written ¹⁄₂ tablespoon instead of ¹⁄₂ teaspoon!  Oops.  The pieces that weren’t too salty were great, though, and this was a very tasty way to prepare broccoli.  I’ll be doing this again, the right way, in the future.  

Shown here with Lemon Grilled Chicken that was actually grilled!

Cook’s Illustrated 2008

Ingredients
1 large spaghetti squash
2 tablespoons olive oil
Salt and pepper
4 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon capers, drained and rinsed
¹⁄₄ cup onion, diced
¹⁄₄ cup zucchini, diced
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
2 tablespoons parsley leaves, minced
¹⁄₈ cup tomato, diced

Instructions
1. Preheat the oven to 400*F.

2. Cut squash in half lengthwise and scoop out all seeds.  Rub all over with olive oil, salt and pepper.   Place squash cut side down on a baking sheet, cover with foil, and bake until the rind is slightly soft, about 20-45 minutes.  (I got tired of waiting for mine to bake at about the 30 minute mark and I finished them up in the microwave.  Feel free to cook them all the way in the microwave if you’re pressed for time.)  

3. Scrap the meat out with a fork (it will be stringy) and reserve, keeping warm.  

4. Meanwhile, in a hot skillet, melt the butter and continue to cook until it darkens slightly.  Add the capers, onion and zucchini and cook, stirring, until tender.  Stir in the lemon juice and parsley and season with salt and pepper.  

5.  In a large bowl combine the squash, butter sauce, and tomatoes.  Serve.  

Comments
This is adapted from a recipe I found on Foodtv.com while searching for an exciting way to use the spaghetti squash from my CSA haul.  Art and Lance aren’t huge winter squash fans, so it’s a challenge to figure out how to prepare it in a way that will be appealing.  I grew up eating winter squashes roasted with butter, so I’m pretty easy to please!  This recipe looked appealing and has the bonus of using many of the vegetables I already have from the market.  (It actually called for red bell pepper as well but I didn’t have those so I just doubled the zucchini instead.)  It would be simple to double if you’re serving more than three people.  The flavor was great, nice and lemony from the juice and the capers.  It went extremely well with the salmon I served it with and also the jerk chicken that Art made for himself.  

Shown here with Grilled Sweet and Saucy Salmon.

Internet - Food TV

Ingredients
6 eggs, beaten
6 tablespoons flour
¹⁄₂ cup sugar
4 cups milk
4 cups corn kernels
1 teaspoon salt
Pepper, to taste
¹⁄₂ stick butter (4 tablespoons), melted

Instructions
1. Preheat oven to 400*F. Combine eggs, flour and sugar in bowl, mix. Add milk, corn, salt and pepper. Stir in melted butter and mix well.  Pour into a 9x12-inch baking dish.  

2.  Cook for 45-70 minutes, or until set. (This took the full 70 minutes for me.  It should be jiggly when finished.)

Comments
I ran across this recipe online the other day and knew I had to give it a try.  I’ve been trying to find a good corn pudding type recipe for years and this seemed to fit the bill.  I used fresh corn kernels because this is corn season.  I’d imagine that frozen, thawed, corn would work just fine and the original recipe called for drained canned corn.  

Art and I both had seconds and found this delicious.  It was a little wet and I think I might try to fix that either with a little bit less milk or more flour.  I was thinking that corn meal would be a nice addition as well.  

Shown here with Grilled Chicken.

Unknown

Ingredients
Okra, sliced into ¹⁄₂ inch rounds
Flour
Seasoning (I used Emeril’s Essence)
Oil, for frying (I used peanut oil)

Instructions
1. Place okra slices in a ziptop bag or container.

2. Season well with seasoning of your choice. Shake well. Add flour one spoonful at a time and shake after each addition. Add enough flour so that okra is evenly coated.

3. Heat 1 inch of oil in a large skillet over medium to medium-high heat. Add okra and cook until browned and crispy. Drain on paper towels and serve.  

Comments
This is my second experience with okra.  I asked one of the wonderful farmers at my market for advice on how to prepare it and this was her advice.  They turned out well, crispy, and tasty.  If I get more okra during the season, this is probably how I’ll prepare them.

Unknown

Ingredients
2 pounds ground beef, browned and drained
¹⁄₂ pound orzo pasta, cooked al dente and drained
3 large zucchini (The ones I used were the size of clubs)
3 cups mozzarella cheese, shredded
1 ¹⁄₂ cup tomato sauce, more to taste

Instructions
1. Preheat oven to 475*F.

2. Prepare ground beef and orzo, set both aside.  

3. Cut the ends off each zucchini, cut in half and microwave the halves, cut side down, until tender.  (I was using large zucchini; this took about 15-20 minutes per zucchini.)  

4. Scoop out the insides of the zucchini, being careful not to burn yourself, leaving about ¹⁄₄-¹⁄₂ inch of shell.  Place the insides in a sieve to drain some of the excess water.  

5. Once drained, roughly chop the scooped out zucchini.  Mix with ground beef, orzo, and tomato sauce.  Season well with salt and pepper.  

6. Place zucchini shells into 9x13-inch baking pans and then spoon the filling on top of them.  Top each zuccanoe with ¹⁄₂ cup of shredded cheese.  

7. Bake until cheese is melted.  

Comments
Sadly I didn’t have much appetite when dinner was finished, but Lance and Art both assured me that these were delicious.  And huge.  We found that one zuccanoe was plenty to serve two people which means this recipe serves 12.  Yikes.  They did turn out very well and the only change I’d make is to use more sauce the next time.

Unknown

Ingredients
1 ¹⁄₂ tablespoons butter, divided
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 cup onions, chopped
1 ¹⁄₂ teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon garlic, minced
4 pounds summer squash, any variety, thinly sliced (I used a mixture of zucchini, yellow squash, and pattypan squash)
1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves, finely chopped
3 large eggs
¹⁄₄ cup half and half
1 cup crushed butter crackers (Such as Ritz or Safeway store brand which is HFCS free)
¹⁄₂ cup Parmesan cheese, grated

Instructions
1. Preheat the oven to 350*F. Grease a 9 by 13-inch baking dish with ¹⁄₂ tablespoon butter.

2. Heat the olive oil and the remaining 1 tablespoon butter in a medium pot over medium-high heat. Add the onions, salt, and black pepper and cook until the onions are soft, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add the squash and cook until tender, stirring occasionally, about 20 minutes. Stir in the thyme and remove from the heat. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the vegetables to the prepared baking dish, reserving the cooking liquid.

3. Combine the eggs and cream in a medium bowl and whisk to blend. Gradually whisk the reserved cooking liquid into the egg mixture. When all the cooking liquid is incorporated, pour the mixture over the vegetables in the baking dish. Using a spoon, gently shift the vegetables around so the egg mixture is evenly distributed.

4. Bake until the mixture sets, about 30 minutes. Remove from oven and sprinkle first with the crackers and then with the Parmesan, if using, and return to the oven. Bake until golden brown, 10 to 15 minutes.

Comments
This is adapted from an Emeril Lagasse recipe.  I used a wider variety of squash than the original recipe calls for because that’s what I happened to have.  It turned out spectacularly and we all enjoyed it.  It’s always nice to find new uses for summer squashes, since we get so much of them during the season.

Internet - Food TV

Ingredients
1 ³⁄₄ pounds small potatoes, such as new, red, or Yukon gold, cut into 8 wedges each
6 medium carrots, scrubbed and cut into 2-inch pieces
8 large shallots, peeled
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon fresh rosemary, finely chopped

Instructions
1. Preheat oven to 400°F.

2. Combine potatoes, carrots, shallots and oil in large bowl. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Toss to coat.

3. Transfer vegetables to roasting pan. Roast until vegetables are almost tender, stirring occasionally, about 45-60 minutes. Add rosemary and roast until vegetables are golden brown and tender, about 15 minutes longer. Transfer vegetables to bowl and serve.

Comments
This recipe is from Epicurious.com.  I used to swear that I hate cook carrots.  It turns out that I just dislike carrots that are soft and coated in some sort of sugary glaze.  Roasted carrots are amazing.  It turns out that roasted shallots are quite delicious as well!  

Shown here with Fried Green Tomatoes and Tatanka Burger.

Internet - Epicurious