June 24 - Vicki's Vegetable Venture
Clearly Abundant
My yoga teacher talked about abundance last Friday, urging us to observe the abundance within ourselves. But later, after returning from the grocery, what I observed was abundance upon the kitchen counter. A couple of red tomatoes, yellow cherry tomatoes, an avocado, red onion, yellow onion, apples, new potatoes, a lemon – all huddled together for a real homey, rustic, colorful look of abundance.
Add to that all the fresh-picked, green produce from the CSA, and it’s enough to make one feel abundant indeed. Because when you start with great produce, you cook great meals. It’s that simple. And with last week’s fresh greens, lettuces and herbs, I nailed three great dinners.
Well, almost. User error came into play on Friday night, when I fixed butternut squash ravioli with sage brown butter. Taste: exquisite. Appearance: hmm. I used wonton wrappers instead of making my own ravioli dough. This was lots easier, but you still have to assemble the raviolis individually, which is quite time-consuming. After carefully assembling 25 raviolis, I proceeded to boil them all at once (mistake #1, as they were too crowded in the pot) and then dumped them en masse into the colander like it was a big pot of spaghetti instead of 25 individual, delicate pillows (mistake #2). They all stuck together and I had to spoon them out like mashed potatoes. Also I got started too late for such a labor-intensive project (mistake #3). Ray and I finally sat down to eat our ravioli and salad at about 9:30. Still, I would prepare this Emeril Lagasse recipe again in a heartbeat because it was THAT delicious. And Ray didn’t mind the carbs – he said the dish was restaurant quality. I’m fairly certain he was referring to its taste, not its funky appearance.
On Sunday I made salmon topped with lime and dill in foil packets. I popped them in the oven for about 20 minutes – so easy! – and served the salmon with sautéed spinach. The salmon was pricy at $6.99 per fillet, but wow, was it worth it.
And finally the kale dish suggested by Susan Evans in her cooking demo. Simple recipe: Saute some garlic and onion with pancetta in nice big skillet. Remove the cooked pancetta and set aside, then cover so you won’t nibble at it. To the skillet add coarsely chopped kale and a cup of chicken broth. Season with salt, black pepper and crushed red pepper. Braise slowly, covered, for 20 minutes. Meanwhile, cook some whole-wheat spaghetti. When done, remove spaghetti with wire skimmer and add to skillet along with about half a can of white beans (e.g., garbanzo, cannellini, Great Northern) and reserved pancetta. Stir it all together, heat for a few minutes and adjust seasoning. If too dry, add a little pasta water. Serve with a sprinkling of grated Parmigiano Reggiano cheese. A healthful, tasty, one-pot meal. And the freshness of the kale made it a star ingredient rather than a side thought.
Adding peas and herbs to salads, eating lots of salads throughout the week, I was able to use up nearly everything. By the time of the second distribution on Tuesday, the only things left were a bit of lettuce, which I ate that evening, and the oregano. Stumped, I finally decided to take my friend Rob’s advice and dry the oregano by hanging it upside down over a jar in the pantry. This week we received more oregano, which has joined last week’s batch in the drying jar. If this herb-drying project turns out well – what can go wrong? – I plan to use the oregano in a big batch of pizza sauce for freezing.
Also in this week’s distribution were lettuces, spinach and kale; cilantro, parsley and dill; and both sugar snap and shelling peas. Having devised a plan for it all, I’m especially eager to make a dish I saw Jamie Oliver prepare on TV. It was potato salad with smoked salmon, dill and horseradish crème fraiche, which I’ll serve with peas and arugula. Abundance galore.
