We Have a Winner

Behold the glory that is polenta fries.
As I said, polenta was a new one for me, and even though I know it's only corn, a mush-like bowl of the stuff just didn't sound appealing. But polenta fries? Now that sounds like a winner! The recipe we used is this one for baked polenta fries, from 101 Cookbooks. We also referred to Crumby Icing's take on the recipe using the very same polenta from Castle Valley Mill.

Can you tell how happy I was to finally be making these?





The first step of the recipe is to cook the polenta to a thick consistancy so it can be spread out on a baking sheet. The recipe warned that it could take a while for the polenta to reach this stage. It didn't take ours too long, thank goodness, because it requires constant stirring (and I was starving).




Here's another look at the consistancy you want. It almost gets to be like a yeast dough, kind of stiff but springy. Notice how it's in a bowl now instead of a pot? That's because we forgot...

...the cheese. Just in case you are as absentminded as we are, please note that it didn't hurt it any to scrape it back up off the baking sheet to mix in the cheese!

Okay, we're back on track, the cheese is mixed in, and it's time to spread it out. You want it to be about a half inch thick. Gerry was grooving on his spatula, but I helped out with my bare hands once it cooled off.

Ger was determined not to have any raggedy edges! He cut off the jagged edges and used them to fill in where the dough looked a little thin. I'm calling it "dough." I guess it's dough, sort of. At this point, you put the whole baking sheet into the fridge for about an hour. That may be the most difficult part of the process: finding room in the refrigerator!

Okay, don't laugh. Yes, we used a quilting ruler to cut our fries. Maybe I've been nagging Gerry a little too much about being more neat and precise when he cooks!

Careful, Gerry, careful.

Ah, but look at them. Aren't they lovely?
HINT: Even though you are brushing them with oil or butter, you might want to work on a sheet of parchment. We thought we did a good job coating them, but they stuck to the sheet quite a bit. I think our fries ended up in the oven for about 28 minutes, which is a bit more than the recipe called for. This idea is a keeper, however, we both think they could use a little something else if you aren't planning to serve them with some sort of dipping sauce. Crumby Icing suggested adding rosemary to the mix. I think any herbs would be good or maybe crab seasoning. Gerry is campaigning for more cheese!

Polenta?

Turns out I neglected to take part of my allotment last week: a two pound bag of either whole wheat flour, cornmeal or polenta from Castle Valley Mill! Gerry chose the polenta which led to a whole discussion about the difference between cornmeal and polenta and to what extent they were interchangeable. When I started Googling for some definitive answers, I just got more confused, so I emailed the mill. Mark Fischer mailed me back and said:

It’s all the same Bucks County corn. The difference is in the size of the granules. We call the Grits (if you are from the south)/ Polenta (Italian tradition) the product that has a larger diameter nugget. This gives more texture or “tooth” in foodie terms. The cornmeal is more fine in texture, and makes an excellent creamy polenta if that is your preference. When it comes to grits, you will also hear the terms “hominy grits” and yellow or white grits. Hominy is made by soaking the kernels in lye in order to remove the hulls. I don’t do this, but the scalping machine I use , the August Wolf No. 1 Single Sieve Scalper, does a really good job of mechanically culling much of the hulls that are not ground up. White and Yellow are simply the color of the corn, and I hear from tribal knowledge that there really is no difference in taste. Bucks County grows exceptional yellow Dent variety, so we make yellow grits.

I feel much better having the information straight from the source!


Mark also tipped me off to their Facebook page which, in turn, led to some polenta recipes that look absolutely amazing! Check out this recipe for polenta fries. Can't wait to try that!

Eat Up!

Have you ever eaten a chive flower? I never had until this week! For the picture, I left it whole so it would look pretty, but I broke it up before I ate it. Yum!

Other Myerov Farm elements in this salad included the cucumbers (Wonderful! Full cuke post later this week), mint, and some chopped chives.

Spinach and lettuce were local as well.

Squashapalooza

I was right! This weird, warty thing is a buttercup squash! When I first saw it, I asked, "Are we supposed to eat that?" but then I found out buttercups are supposed to be a particularly tasty squash. And, like carrots, they are full of vitamin A and beta carotene. Pretty soon we should be able to see in the dark!

So, what do do with it...hmm. I saw a recipe in this month's Cottage Living that looked promising, so Gerry gave it a try.

Cider Roasted Winter Squash

1/4 cup fresh apple cider or unfiltered apple juice

2 tablespoons cider vinegar

3 tablespoons olive oil

3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

about 4 1/2 pounds winter squash, halved, seeded, and cut into 2-inch wedges

4 sprigs fresh sage, chopped

4 sprigs fresh thyme

salt and pepper to taste

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Whisk first four ingredients together in a large bowl. Add squash and remaining ingredients and toss to coat. Place in a single layer on a shallow baking pan and roast, turning once, for 50 to 55 minutes or until tender and a light, golden brown around the edges. Serve immediately or at room temperature.

Gerry had his along with some boiled beets and local turkey.

I had mine smushed up with butter. The picture is sort of embarrassing.

In my defense, this is the first time I've eaten squash that wasn't almost completely hidden in bread or a casserole. Gerry told me it would taste kind of like mashed potatoes, and I thought, "Sure, SQUASHY mashed potatoes." He was right, though, it did kind of remind me of mashed potatoes, and it was nowhere near as squashy as I'd feared. Melting some butter on top didn't hurt, either.

Mellow Yellow

I broke into a wide grin when I pulled into our driveway Tuesday evening and saw a watermelon on the picnic table! Gerry said we had a choice of a few different kinds (red or yellow, seeded or seedless), so of course he picked the strange one: yellow.

It tastes the very same (I knew it would), but Gerry says he's a little disconcerted. He keeps seeing it in the fridge and thinking, "Yum, pineapple." Somehow I don't think we're going to be getting pineapple from the CSA anytime soon! I had some for lunch today along with another slightly twisted fruit, the Saturn peach. What else could I add to my wacky fruit salad?

Everyone Has a Recipe

Okay, I wouldn't exactly count this as eating zucchini, but people keep mentioning it, so we made...

...ZUCCHINI BREAD! Despite it being so common, this is the first time I've had zucchini bread. I asked around for recipe recommendations, but Gerry got up and made it this morning before I could share them with him, so he used a really basic one from the Better Homes and Gardens New Baking Book. Many of the suggested recipes called for ingredients we didn't have on hand, anyway, like pineapple or applesauce. Ger also substituted Goodall's "mixed spice" from Ireland for the cinnamon and nutmeg in the recipe.

In case you're curious, mixed spice includes cinnamon, coriander, cloves, fennel seed, ginger, and bay leaves. I think we bought it for making Christmas pudding or his cousin Mary's apple cake or something. It's nice.

So, how's the bread? Lovely and delicious. Very tasty. And it didn't need butter or anything--I just thought it looked good in the picture!

Zucchini: Round Two

I said I'd give zucchini other try, and I kept my word. Last night we tried it breaded and fried. Now, I know breaded and fried zucchini isn't exactly health food, and I know breaded and fried pencil erasers would probably be tasty too, but at least I didn't give up!

Mmmm, smelled good. We found Italian-seasoned panko at the grocery outlet the other day, so that's what we used. Good stuff.

I ate the three pieces lickety split, and didn't make faces or gag or anything! This was a huge improvement over the first time. Maybe if I keep eating it this way, I'll eventually get used to it enough to try it other ways.

Gad Zukes!

So, zucchini. We had a big garden when I was little, with lots of zucchini, and I remember many nights when there was breaded and fried zucchini on the table. Breaded and fried is something I'm very familiar with, so I wasn't too worried about trying zucchini.

Except...then I started asking questions. Ger has no zucchini-cooking experience, so this was new to both of us. How did mom do it? What's the right way? I looked up summer squash in the Cook's Illustrated Best Vegetable Recipes cookbook, which usually has some really good information. There was lots to read about getting the water out of the squash before you cooked it, which I wouldn't have known, so I was absorbed by that and forgot all about any previous plans.

The book said to slice the squash into quarter inch rounds and cover it with salt to draw out the water. I was doing my usual hovering and thought a) the slices should be thinner and b) there should be more salt. In any event, after a half hour, there was some water in the bowl, but not very much.

Then we threw some in a pan with garlic and olive oil to see what happened. It browned pretty nicely, looked okay. Time to try it.

Umm...it was on a level with plain oatmeal for me. Not much to taste and kind of mushy. The first couple of pieces went down okay, but then I stalled. I wasn't enjoying this at all.

Gerry dumped some of the Myerov salsa on the rest and enjoyed it that way, but we all know I'm not a tomato person. So, what next? How can we make this better? Shred it? Add carrots? Find out how mom did the breading? Help!

Failure!

Remember that mashed potato and beet recipe I found? We tried it. Gerry, for some reason, asked me to choose the potatoes to go into it. I figured we'd use up some odds and ends.

Um, I don't cook, remember? I had no idea those were not good potatoes for mashing! The results were a gluey mess. I don't even want to show this picture. Warning: Cover your eyes if you're easily offended.

--shudder-- I ate some, and they tasted fine, but I didn't join Ger for leftovers the next day! Technically, I ate some beets, but this probably shouldn't count!

A Quiet July 4th

Well, Gerry's at work today, so I independently made myself a red, white, and blue snack and ate it at the picnic table! Black rasperries (and the red ones last week for that matter) are a new food for me. It's not that I was scared of them or thought they'd taste bad--they're just always so expensive! The red berries last week were a little more tart, but these black ones are so, so good. I could get hooked on these very easily! They remind me of the mulberries I used to eat straight from the tree when I was little.

Beet It

So did you know that people originally ate only the beet greens, and it wasn't until around the time of the ancient Romans that eating the roots became popular? I sure didn't.

This is pretty much all I knew about beets:
They're really red and can stain things, and pickled beets are kind of stinky.

Neither of those things were really selling me on the idea of eating beets, so I did some more research. I have since found out that NON-pickled beets are supposed to be smooth and sweet and delicious. You can eat them raw or roasted or steamed or deep fried, NOT just pickled!

As for the color, cooking sites advise keeping the skin and an inch or two of stem intact when cooking beets, so they won't bleed. As with most things, that vivid color indicates the presence of antioxidants, including a type called betalains, and guess what--if you lose the color, you also lose antioxidants, so be careful with that skin! Beets also have a high sugar content but are very low in calories.

I know we'd have a disaster on our hands if we tried to do anything with raw beets (we have wooden countertops--that could get ugly), so we'll probably end up roasting them. I kept thinking, "How about something with potatoes? I love potatoes," so I searched until I found a recipe for Roasted Beet Mashed Potatoes. How about that? First pink mashed potatoes, and now red!

Cabbage Day

Because we knew it would keep, we decided to put off tackling the cabbage until today. That's been one of the things we've had to get used to--planning ahead. I showed Gerry both recipes I'd found, and he chose the pallya. I thought the other one sounded more like something I'd try, but we went ahead with the pallya. Who am I to argue with the cook?

The recipe's ingredients included some things we didn't just have lying around. Coconut, mustard seed, urad dal--we knew a trip to the Indian grocery was in order. We didn't get the recommended chilis, because I am not used to too much heat. Instead, we just used one milder pepper.

Gerry said this was a VERY easy dish to cook. One thing we should have spent more time on was chopping the cabbage. I would have liked it cut finer, because I'm still a little wary of the big chunks. Also, an orange pepper would have made it prettier, but we used what we had.

So, what's the verdict? Gerry couldn't say enough good things about it. He said he would definitely make it again, and he can't wait to make it for other people. He asked me to be sure to mention how light it is. I have to confess I was completely freaked out when I saw the bowl. All I could think was, "It's cabbage. It's cabbage." But it didn't taste cabbagey. I don't know if it was the coconut or the lime or what, but it was pretty tasty. Thank goodness we toned down the peppers though, because I would have been on the ceiling if it had been much hotter!

You Say Tomato...

They look so friendly. They're my favorite color. They're filled with vitamin C. And lycopene. They do good things for your cholesterol. And your heart. They're a natural anti-inflammatory. And yet they fill me with dread.

I put it off for two days, but tonight I brought it up and told Gerry it was time. I was going to try one. "I thought we were making pizza?" he said. "No," I said, "I want to try it raw."

With a glass of water standing by, I took a deep breath and bit into a slice. Gerry said my face screwed up like a prune, and he knew right then I'm just not a tomato girl. Not wanting to give up, I will try again tomorrow, with the pizza.

He, however, will be happy to eat my share.

Much Ado About Nothing

Broccoli gets a bad rap, so I felt a little trepidation when I saw it on our list this week. Truth be told, I was relieved when I found out it was only a small piece! Whew!


We got out the trusty steamer and combined the broccoli with this week's lovely peas and some carrots from the grocery store. After cooking in the inferno that was our kitchen last week, we're keeping it simple! (We love that steamer, by the way. It's from Pampered Chef, but we got it at the thrift shop cheap.)


My bowl is on top, with just one piece of broccoli stem. Gerry said not everyone likes it, so I only had to try one piece. Why does it look like all the green stuff is in MY bowl? Hmm.



The verdict? I liked it! It does a good job of holding onto butter ---laughing wildly---. The stem part, eh. It was a little woody for me, but I'm sure it would be okay peeled.

That's it for the peas this week. I'll miss them.

Cabbage Gratin

Gerry and I picked up our share together this week, and as we were driving home I read some of the recipes to him. As the words "Baked Napa Cabbage Gratin" left my lips, Ger immediately decided we were trying it and asked me to read the ingredients so we could swing by the store to pick up anything we were missing.

about 2 lbs. of napa cabbage
3 Tbsp. unsalted butter
1/4 cup thinly sliced white onion
1 tsp. kosher salt
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup chicken broth (we used veg broth to appease me)
1/3 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
1/3 cup grated mozzarella cheese
1 1/3 cups panko


Discard the tough outer leaves of the cabbage. Separate and rinse in cold water to remove any dirt.

Add the butter and onion to a large, heavy skillet that has a tight-fitting lid. Cook over medium heat, stirring, just until the butter melts, then add the salt, cream, and broth. Add the cabbage, in two layers. Cover the cabbage with a piece of waxed or parchment paper, then with the lid. Bring the liquid to a boil, then turn the heat to low and simmer until the cabbage is very tender, about ten minutes. [Okay, I was confused. Two layers? I wasn't sure why it said that, so I looked the recipe up online. I found it here, and see now that it has been modified. In the original recipe, you would end up with two layers of four chunks of cabbage. In this version, just layer it in the pan.]


Preheat the broiler until very hot. Butter a 9 by 13 inch glass pan. Use a slotted spoon to transfer the cabbage. Pour the onion and cream mixture on top. Mix the grated cheeses with the panko in a small bowl, then sprinkle evenly over the cabbage. Broil until the topping starts to turn brown and the cheese melts. Serve hot.

It didn't turn out to be the most photogenic dish, did it? I think it would benefit from being constructed the original way, or maybe being made in a slightly smaller pan, if you're going for looks. Taste-wise, however, it was exactly what Gerry expected, and he LOVED it. For me, it was really, really rich. I didn't even taste the cabbage in it, just the cream and cheese. I gave up after a few bites, but it was because of the richness, not the cabbage. I actually had a few snips of the leaves as we were cleaning them, and wish I'd saved out a few leaves to add to our salad. It really is very mild.

I'd also like to add that we cooked this on the hottest $%@# day of the year in a house with no a/c and a very small kitchen. It's a miracle we're both still here to tell about it!

Everybody Bok Choy Tonight

Even though I had some baby bok choy mixed in with other vegetables last week, I considered this my first real bok choy experience--just me and the bok choy and nowhere to hide.

Was I worried? Heck yeah! I was worried about it being a member of the cabbage family. Now you have to understand, I'm eastern European, so my experience with cabbage is halupkis and that waterlogged, colorless chunk of cabbage my mom used to fish out of the pot when she made soup. How was I going to eat this stuff?

One thing you have to remember if you're going to cook bok choy is that the thicker, stem pieces are going to take longer to cook than the leaves. So you need to chop everything up. Ger ate a few pieces as he was chopping and said it had a nice taste. I said I'd wait until it was cooked!

So Gerry sauteed it with some ginger and garlic...

I had to admit, it looked pretty nice.

How was it? Not cabbagey! I didn't think it had a whole lot of flavor, but it wasn't disagreeable, and the ginger was really nice with it. Everyone tells me I have to try it with soy sauce, which is another thing I've never eaten, but I'm glad I got to taste it relatively plain. Gerry said he preferred it raw. If we get another bunch, I guess I'll be trying it both raw and with soy sauce!