Menu a la Week: 8/10/08 - 8/15/08

So many vegetables to eat through, so little time This coming week we're reluctant vegetarians again (largely because we have leftover veg from last week). We'll have to bring salads to work to ensure that we get through the lettuce. If we don't get to the latest batch of green beans by Thursday, I may either blanch and freeze them (I think that's the best way to preserve them) or maybe make a soup. I plan to make refrigerator pickles out of the two small cucumbers we have.

After a bunch of evening plans derailed last week's menu, we have dinner plans for tonight too. So the menu really doesn't start until tomorrow night.

Menu 8/10/08 - 8/15/08
Sunday August 11, 2008
Dinner with the folks

Monday August 12, 2008
Green beans with garlic with the neverending summer squash side dish

Tuesday August 13, 2008
Stir fry cabbage with green peppers and a salad on the side

Wednesday August 14, 2008
Carrot and beet salad with kohlrabi saute
(there's also some nice kohlrabi recipes here, especially one for a traditional kohlrabi in bechamel sauce with nutmeg)

Thursday August 15, 2008
Kohlrabi and carrots and whatever else happens to be laying around

Salads and Sides

Als usual lots of plans late in the week kept us from adhering to the menu (movies and John Hiatt at the State Theatre in New Brunswick; "Bob" and I were some of the oldest people at Wall-E and some of the youngest at the concert). We did finish up the pork though and I had the rest of the carrot soup for lunch yesterday.

So what's left? Quite a bit of our usual summer squash side dish (the one with tomatoes and peppers). As for all the unprepared vegetables we have: green beans (though we almost had them Thursday night), 2 cucumbers, 2 kohlrabi, 3 beets, 1 bunch of carrots, 2 squash, and a bit of lettuce. Add to that this week's CSA share: green beans (yup, again), red cabbage, green peppers (2 small), cucumbers (2 small), red leaf lettuce, beets (3), bunch of dill.

This can only mean one thing for this week's menu: lots of salads and side dishes.

Ay, There's the Rub: On Ham-let and Other Midsummer's Night's Meals

Sunday, we had roast pork loin with a dry rub along with the summer squash recipe. A word to the wise: make sure the ratio of summer squash doesn't overwhelm the rest of the vegetables in the recipe. It's tempting to do this because chances are you have a ton of squash to get through, but it tends to make the recipe less appealing. For the record, I'm also finding that using a few canned Italian plum tomatoes in the recipe really works a lot better than some less-than-juicy nearly-in-season tomatoes from the supermarket.

The pork was easy to prepare (since "Bob" did it all). He says the nearly 2-pound pork tenderloin was rubbed down with kosher salt, freshly ground black pepper, and dry mustard and roasted for 2 hours at 350 degrees.

Monday we had a special guest (Iz!) and a new cole slaw recipe. I made paper-thin panini: a slice and a half of Swiss cheese, a few very thinly sliced pieces of pork, and grainy mustard on rye bread. I slathered the olive oil on the press and the pan, warmed both of them over a medium flame, then added the sandwiches to the pan. In a matter of 10 minutes (don't forget to flip the sandwich once and apply pressure to the press every so often) I had a pair of delicious sandwiches. "Bob" meanwhile prefered to have his cheese and meat on dry toast--his British DNA wins out over every once in while.

The cole slaw recipe we used was from this page of the Seasonal Chef web site. I've copied it below, but I would suggest that you perhaps halve the sugar amount. It was pretty sweet. Yes I know that "sweet" is in the recipe's name, but still, exercise some caution. The vegetable oil was not gross, which I had feared it would be.

Tonight we skipped ahead: hot dogs, cole slaw, and some leftover summer squash. Tomorrow we'll have the pork with a side of green beans..

Sweet and Tangy Cole Slaw

1 cabbage, finely shredded
1 medium red onion, quartered and thinly sliced
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon dry mustard
1 teaspoon celery seed
1 cup vinegar
2/3 cup vegetable oil

Directions
1. Combine shredded cabbage with sliced onion.
2. Combine remaining ingredients and bring to boil.
3. Pour over cabbage and toss.
4. Cool, then refrigerate.

Curried Carrot and Apple Soup

I love curry. "Bob" loves carrots. We both like apples. With this soup, we're both very happy. We adapted this soup from The Ultimate Soup Bible (2005, 2006, Anness Publishing Ltd.). For the record, adding croutons makes us ecstatic.

Curried Carrot and Apple Soup
Serves 4

2 teaspoons olive oil
1 tablespoon curry powder
1-1.25 pounds carrots, chopped
1 large onion, chopped
1 green apple, chopped
3 cups chicken stock
Salt and ground black pepper

Directions
1. Heat oil in a large pan and cook the curry powder for 2 to 3 minutes on high heat.
2. Stir in the carrots, onion, and apple; be sure to coat all with curry powder.
3. Cover the pan and reduce the heat to low. Cook for about 15 minutes until the vegetables are soft. Stir occasionally.
4. Transfer mixture to food processor. Add half of the stock and process until smooth.
5. Return this mixture to the pan and add the remaining stock.
6. Bring the soup to a boil and season to taste.

Menu a la Week: 8/2/08 - 8/8/08

I was out last night, so "Bob" dined solo: salad and pasta with Parmesean cheese. We didn't get around to making the beets from last week, so we'll have to use them up very, very soon. We'll try and fit salads (all that red-leaf lettuce) in all week, if not for dinner, then for lunch. We're also going to give my mom 1/2 of the green beans. We could freeze the extra, but it's better to share the bounty.

Menu 8/2/08 - 8/8/08
Saturday August 2, 2008
Carrot soup and croutons and green salad

Sunday August 3, 2008
Lunch: Carrot and beet salad
Dinner: Summer squash and pork loin

Monday August 4, 2008
Cheese panini, cole slaw (new recipe), and carrot soup

Tuesday August 5, 2008
Pork loin and green beans with garlic (this recipe from C&Z looks good)

Wednesday August 6, 2008
Cole slaw and hot dogs or hamburgers

Thursday August 7, 2008
Kohlrabi and carrots and pork loin

CSA Take

All the vegetables from this week's CSA delivery look beautiful because "Bob" got to the latest (there have been three) pick-up site earlier than usual.

Here's the haul from the CSA this week: three onions; two each of kohlrabi, cucumbers, and squash; one head each of radicchio and red-leaf lettuce; one pound of green beans; and one bunch each of carrots, dill, and basil.

It's our first delivery of cucumbers, carrots, and green beans, and I finally get to try the farm's radicchio (or is it endive? "Bob?").

Catch Up and Ketchup

I'll have to make this recap of the past few days quick: Wednesday night we had cole slaw and hot dogs (I had mine with the best hot dog mustard ever: Kosciusko spicy brown), "Bob" had his with Dijon mustard and ketchup.

More cole slaw and ketchup was had last night. I had just the cole slaw and Bob had the last bit o' turkey meatloaf with a smattering of ketchup. Bob's cole slaw recipe was excellent. And with the red onion and carrots, quite colorful too. Though we finished the first batch, there's still sliced onions and cabbage, and shredded carrots in the fridge ready to go for a second batch. We're debating dressing it differently. Perhaps with a mainly vinegar-based dressing.

Colorful Cole Slaw
Serves 6

1/2 head cabbage
2 carrots
1 red onion sliced
1/4 c. white wine vinegar
1/2 C. Hellman's low-fat (or is it reduced?) mayonnaise
2 pinches of Kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper
2 teaspoons sugar

Directions
Slice as thin as possible the head of cabbage and red onion. Grate the two carrots. Combine all ingredients in a large bowl. Season to taste.