Deliveries and Disasters

Tuesday night, along with some grilled chicken that I had socked away in the freezer, we had our first bites of Swiss chard. "Bob" made it using the crystallized ginger recipe and it was very tasty. Unfortunately, the crystallized ginger and lemon flavors were so pronounced, I still have no idea what Swiss chard really tastes like. Good thing that some more chard was included in today's shipment from the CSA.

Which brings me to today's topic. "Bob" was not happy at all with our CSA today. The share included: a bunch of moldy-topped onions, a blackened garlic bulb, a rotting head of lettuce, a decent head of savoy cabbage, a wilty bunch of basil, three rather small red beets, one very small flat squash, and a single average-size summer squash. The only good thing about this week's share was that it was delivered to our doorstep. "Bob" is reconsidering his desire to sign up again for next year. I guess we'll just have to see how the whole year goes before we make a firm decision. But this locavore eating has it's ups and downs.

"Bob" has some theories regarding our sad looking shares: we're either getting the worst of the batch because the farmer is selling better produce at farmer's markets (while our food is already paid for no matter what it looks like) OR we're getting the leftovers from farmer's markets. Either option is not all that appealing.

Of course, Bob is not alone in his conspiracy theory. Another disgruntled CSA-er (and friend of mine) has decided to blog about her CSA frustrations. For more laughs than you thought possible from the very, very serious topic of saving the planet through eating locally and organically, you MUST visit Complaining Jane's new I Hate My CSA blog (as with "Bob" her real identity will remain a closely held secret).

Last night I had dinner with some friends and "Bob" had the Italian turkey sausage dinner (made with chicken sausage) with pasta. When I got home, we had no electricity thanks to a large storm in our area. For a few hours I worried that all my frozen soups, meats, pesto, pot pies, and bread crumbs were going to suffer a horrible meltdown. No worries. Power was restored at about 2:30 a.m. and everything was still intact this morning (I didn't dare open the freezer last night; I didn't want to let any cold air escape).

I had a huge lunch of mussels and popcorn shrimp and fried calamari, so there's no dinner planned. The rest of this week's menu will have to be made tomorrow. I have off tomorrow so I still plan on making a dill potato salad and maybe even some cole slaw with that new cabbage head.

Poultry Sausage and a Long-Awaited Recipe

Last night we didn't have the scheduled sugar snap peas with ginger. Instead, we finished up the potato and squash torte. Though delicious, I will definitely cook the torte longer and lower at first and then jack up the heat at the end when the aluminum foil comes off. I still have that extra one in the freezer to test this out.

Tonight we had the Italian Turkey Sausage Dinner, except for a "few minor" changes: we used chicken sausage instead of turkey sausage, we also omitted the peppers, and "Bob" also deglazed the pan with white wine, whole tomatoes (from a can) instead of crushed, and Romano cheese instead of Parmesean. Along with the smashed potatoes, we also served a red-leaf lettuce salad with mustard vinaigrette, and the remainder of the broccoli and cauliflower with lemon-dill-butter sauce.

Okay, it's taken awhile but here's Bob's summer squash recipe that was served July 16.

Bob's Summer Squash

Serves 4

2 lbs squash, sliced
1 red bell pepper, seeds removed, sliced
2 Italian tomaotes, skinned and chopped
1/2 yellow onion, peeled and sliced
1 clove of garlic, chopped
Extra virgin olive oil
Freshly grated parmesean cheese
Basil, chopped fresh
Salt and pepper

Directions
1. Put onion, garlic, squash, and bell pepper into a large saucepan with 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Cook on high heat for several minutes to slightly soften the vegetables (do NOT overcook).
2. Once vegetables have softened, add tomatoes and cook for 5 minutes.
3. Add fresh basil.
4. Remove from heat, add the cheese, and cover the pan for 2 minutes to melt the cheese.
5. Add salt and pepper to taste.