Tomatillo Soup

I know that it’s been a while since I’ve posted anything. I have plenty of excuses but I’ll be honest and admit that laziness is most likely to blame. I have been cooking and baking up a storm with all of my exciting CSA produce. It’s just that I haven't taken any pictures of my creations and I felt that I could not post without an original photo of my work. Well I’ve thrown that rule out the window. I did not take that photo of the tomatillo and I’m not going to give credit to the person who did because I don’t know who that person is. I just picked the prettiest photo off of the google images search. Now there is an insight to my personality!

Two weeks in a row I’ve received tomatillos in my produce share. I am not a particular fan of the tomatillo. I find them to be a little too sour and mealy and therefore was not looking forward to working with them. But I had two pints of tomatillos about to go to waste and that would be a violation of my vow to try new things and use everything I was given in my CSA share. So I mulled it over and dismissed the ideas of green salsa, been there tried that, and green enchilada sauce, yawn... Instead I went for soup. A spicy green soup with chicken and black beans. I threw some ingredients together and it was delicious. I added salt and a little sugar to balance out the tartness of the tomatillo. The chicken and the meatiness of the black beans gave it a nice variety in texture. The recipe follows.

2 tbsp. olive oil
1 large onion diced
1 jalapeno pepper diced
2 cloves garlic minced
1 quart chicken stock
4 chicken breast halves
2 cups tomatillos chopped
1 tbsp. granulated sugar
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper
1/4 tsp. dried oregano
1 cup chopped tomatoes
1 14 oz can black beans rinsed and drained
1/2 cup shredded cheese (cheddar, jack, mozzarella, queso fresco, whatever)

-Combine first four ingredients in a heavy bottom soup pot over medium heat. Sauté until translucent.
-Pour in chicken stock and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to simmer and place chicken breasts in liquid. Poach chicken 10-15 minutes or until cooked through. Remove the chicken and set aside to cool.
-Add the tomatillos, sugar, salt, cayenne pepper and oregano to the soup pot and bring to a boil. reduce heat and simmer for 15-20 minutes. Puree the soup in stages in a food processor or blender. I like to use my immersion blender.
-Shred cooked chicken and return to the soup pot along with the tomatoes and black beans. Heat though and ladle into bowls. Garnish with shredded cheese.

Sweet Potatoes in the Spring?

I have always associated sweet potatoes with the Fall. They are a Thanksgiving staple at my parents house. So imagine my surprise when they turned up in my CSA share this week. Sweet potatoes in the spring? What am I going to do with sweet potatoes at the end of May? My first inspiration was to make a pie, but that required two cups of mashed sweet potatoes and alas my share only supplied one. I settled on cookies. This left me searching for recipe inspiration. I found a recipe on the internet for pumpkin cookies, made a few adjustments here and there and ta-da.



Honey Sweet Potato Cookies

1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar, firmly packed
1/4 cup honey
1 egg
1 cup mashed sweet potatoes or yams
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoons cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup milk
powdered sugar, for dusting

Preparation:

-Cut the sweet potatoes into large chunks, place them in a pot and cover with water. Bring the potatoes to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer until they are tender. Drain and set aside to cool.
-Once the sweet potatoes are cool you can easily peel away the skins. Mash them well (using an immersion blender works well but if you don’t have one a regular potato masher will work.
-Sift together the all-purpose flour, baking soda, and cinnamon. Set aside.
-Cream together the butter and the sugars. Beat the egg and honey into the creamed butter and sugar. Stir in the mashed sweet potatoes and the milk.
-Stir in the flour and spices making sure that everything is well combined.
-Chill the batter in the refrigerator for a couple of hours or up to two days.
-Preheat your oven to 350 degrees fahrenheit. Drop or pipe the batter onto a cookie sheet lined with parchment and bake 9-11 minutes. After the cookies have cooled dust with powered sugar.

The texture of the finished cookie is soft and cake like. A nice change on the traditional little cookie.

The Importance of Being Mr. Scrubby

It’s Friday. CSA pickup day. My favorite day of the week and not just because I get to stop by the Tucson CSA pickup location and hang out with all the other environmentally conscious foodies. I get a sense of closure on Fridays. My work week is done and for the next forty-eight hours I get to do what I want. For me that usually means hanging out in my kitchen.

Getting your vegetables directly from the farmer is a great way to ensure that you are getting your produce at its freshest. However there is one minor and easily solved drawback to this. Most vegetables grow in the dirt and the farmer doesn’t always do the best job of washing off the dirt. This is where Mr. Scrubby comes in. When I got my invitation to join the CSA (you have to start on a waiting list!) a friend of mine, who was already a member, gave me Mr. Scrubby. She told me that I would use him every day and she was right. A little bit of cold water, scrub scrub scrub and presto, your veggies are clean. Perhaps it’s not as exciting as the thunderstorm produce showers you can witness at the fancier grocery stores but Mr. Scrubby is cute. How could anyone resist him?

Cottage Pie

I lived in Europe until I was about 15 years old. So when I think of comfort food My cravings are a little different from the typical American. Now granted my mother is from Wisconsin so tuna noodle casserole and macaroni and cheese are on my list of comforts foods. However, also on that list are things like Dampfnudel and Cottage Pie. Recently we’ve been getting a stash of carrots, onions and potatoes from the CSA. When I examined the contents of my fridge and freezer I realized that with very few exceptions I could compose an entire meal from CSA ingredients! I went for it. The recipe follows.

Cottage Pie

Red skinned potatoes, cubed: 1 1/2 pounds
Farm House Cheddar cheese: 2-3 ounces shredded
Yogurt: 1/4 cup
Olive oil: 1 tablespoon
Ground beef*: 1 pound
Carrots, diced: 1/2 cup
Onion, diced: 1/2 cup
Peas: 1/2 cup
Vegetable Stock: 2 cups
Bay leaf: 1
Worcestershire s:auce: 1 tablespoon
All purpose flour 2 tablespoons
Salt and Pepper to taste

-Preheat your oven to 350 degree Fahrenheit.
-Combine the potatoes and 1 cup of the vegetable stock in a sauce pan. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and cover. Simmer 10 minutes or until the potatoes are tender. Set aside. Do not drain.
-Heat olive oil in a skillet. Add ground beef. Break the beef into chucks as it cooks. When you don’t see any more pink, pour off any extra fat and add the carrots, onion and peas. Cook 5 minutes more. Add the Worcestershire sauce, bay leaf and salt and pepper to taste.
-Stir the flour into the beef mixture making sure to coat all of the ingredients. Cook 2-3 minutes more.
-Slowly poor the remaining vegetable stock into the beef and bring to a boil. Pour mixture into an 8 or 9 inch casserole.
-Mash the potatoes in their cooking liquid and stir in the shredded cheese and yogurt. Spread the potatoes over the beef and vegetables. You can sprinkle extra cheese on top of the potatoes if you like things extra cheesy.
-Bake 30-45 minutes or until bubbly along the edges.

*Substitute ground lamb and you have a shepherds pie!

Whole Wheat Carrot Bread

I love baking, especially in the morning. This morning I was inspired to make a carrot bread. We’ve been getting carrots for the past three or four weeks in our CSA produce share and they had begun to pile up. I’ve included my recipe for whole wheat carrot bread.

- Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

- Whisk together :

Canola Oil 1/4 cup
Plain Yogurt 1/4 cup
Granulated Sugar 1 cup
Grated Carrots 1 cup
Raisins 3/4 cup

- Sift together :

All Purpose Flour 1 cup
Whole Wheat Flour 1 cup
Baking Powder 2 tsp.
Baking Soda 1/2 tsp.
Cinnamon 1 tsp.
Nutmeg 1/4 tsp.
Ginger 1/2 tsp.

- Combine the wet and the dry ingredients mixing until all the dries have been incorporated.
- Pour into a greased loaf pan or 8” square baking pan.
- Bake 1 hour or until set.

An Introduction

I became a member of Tucson Community Supported Agriculture as an exercise in sustainability. Recently I calculated my carbon footprint and it was estimated that I emit 16.2 metric tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere every year. While this is lower than the national average of just over 17 I still didn't feel good about it. I needed to do something, but something realistic. I knew I didn't have the discipline to ride my bike to work every day. I'm not in a position to be spending money on carbon offsets or buying a shiny new hybrid vehicle.
I am a chef by profession. I take the food I prepare very seriously, and I like to know where my ingredients are coming from. Fresh fruits and vegetables travel hundreds if not thousands of miles before they end up in grocery stores. Community Supported Agriculture was a way for me to stretch my culinary legs secure in the knowledge that I wasn’t having a dramatic impact on the environment.
The Ground Rules:
- Use CSA (community supported agriculture) produce first.
- Purchase as little produce in grocery stores as possible.
- Every home cooked meal must contain something from the CSA.
- Try every new vegetable received.