CSA Winter Box 2: Roasted Veg and an Extra Soup!

Just a quick one today as I'm excited to say I have finished up November's blog posts which means Christmas is coming!!  It only took until March a few months later to share my Christmas crafts, baking and gift projects.  Oh well, all in good time!  Watch out for a throwback to the holiday season with posts coming up this week.

 

 

Here's a quick round up of our December CSA Box 2 which included amazing mushrooms, a cabbage that my husband made boiled cabbage with (can I use nursing as an excuse not to eat too much of this?! :-S).  We didn't get around to using the beets until after Christmas but they were still good!  The more unusual items this month were the fingerling potatoes, and watermelon radishes.

 

 

By the time we picked up our December box, we also still had the acorn squash leftover from November but that was quickly used for a delicious acorn squash soup, that included roasted seeds as a garnish.  They were so good!

 

I had seen a recipe for squash soup in Chatelaine, and just with a couple of changes we used this recipe you can find the link to here.  It was just perfect for a Winter evening and so, seeing as this Canadian Winter is lingering way, way longer than we'd all like, I'm not TOO behind with sharing this one!

 

There's a first time for everything, and these CSA boxes are really pushing us to try new things.  And that's okay!  We're happy to be trying new flavours, to play around with new recipes and are excited that soon enough our little baby girl will be able to share in this exploration of healthy fruit and vegetables too :-)

Watermelon radishes, named this because of the colour and pattern of the inside of the radish are pretty cool.  Jonathan took charge with these and found a simple way to roast these from the Red Fire Farm website, which we were grateful for as we had never come across these before, let alone cooked with them!  Cut into wedges, and roasted in olive oil with a drizzle of maple syrup coated over them made them pretty tasty!!

More roasted veg to finish up with today.  Delicious, fresh, crunchy on the outside - soft on the inside, these potatoes really did make for a nice change.  Frozen oven chips don't make the cut after these :-P

I cooked these up, with little baby girl watching in the highchair, using a recipe from Food Network's Tyler Florence and it was a quick and simple recipe, that I actually changed a little just because of what I had in the fridge, or rather, what I didn't have in the fridge!  I used cloves of garlic, and fresh sage, but only dried rosemary and thyme as we didn't have any fresh.  I'm sure it made a difference on taste, but ours definitely weren't bad!

The only thing I'd change is to cut up these bigger potatoes into smaller sizes - the smaller potatoes, the crispier edges!!!!  There was a bit too much variety in my sizes of potatoes and how I cut them, which was a shame but there'll be a next time I'm sure.

 

I guess we got too hungry and I didn't take a photo of the cooked potatoes - sorry!  But they were nicely golden and crispy all around the edges, and super soft inside.  I'd definitely recommend them!

 

So that's our CSA Boxes 1 and 2 and the dinners we had adventures with. 

Lots more to come :-)

CSA Winter Box 1: Spinach, Mushroom and Feta Quiche

 

Whether it's breakfast, brunch, lunch, straight out of the fridge for a snack, or for dinner - quiche is a dish that can really wok anytime and anyplace!  Warm or cold, with almost any fillings make this such a versatile dish. 

 

We chose to use our fresh spinach from our CSA box and to pair it with feta we had in the fridge.  After a little research we came across this recipe and this recipe both of which inspired our quiche.  They both had elements of what we were looking for and had great reviews so we went with it, and yes, they turned out as well as we had hoped!  Especially lucky as we made a double batch :-)

 

Ingredients:

 

1 prepared 9-inch single pie crust

4 eggs

3/4 cup milk

1 tsp garlic, minced

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

1/8 ground nutmeg

1/2 (10oz) bag fresh spinach

1 (8oz) package fresh mushrooms, sliced

1/2 yellow onion, sliced

1/2 (4oz) container crumbled feta cheese

1/2 (8oz) package shredded Swiss cheese, divided

 

Method:

 

1.  Preheat the oven to 400°F. Wash and drain the fresh spinach (or thawed frozen spinach) while you begin to prepare the other ingredients.  Prepare/thaw the pie crust (check directions on the box).

2.  Saute garlic and mushrooms in olive oil.

 

3.  Add the fresh spinach.

4.  Whisk eggs, milk, garlic, salt, black pepper, and nutmeg in a bowl.

5.  Gently combine spinach, mushrooms, onion, and feta cheese in a separate bowl. Spread spinach-mushroom mixture in the prepared pie dish; top with half the Swiss cheese. 

6.  Pour the egg mixture evenly over the filling, swirling egg mixture in bowl to spread seasonings through the eggs and top the quiche with remaining grated cheese. Place quiche on a baking sheet. Do not overfill the pie - we did and we ended up with leaking egg mixture all of the baking sheet! Oops!

 7.  Bake in preheated oven until the quiche is lightly puffed and browned, 45 to 50 minutes. A toothpick inserted into the center of the filling should come out clean. Cool for 30 minutes before serving.

Then enjoy!

 

CSA Winter Box 1: Chicken, Leek and Potato Pie

 

CSA Box 1 so far has had the most variety of different fruits and vegetables, and we definitely did lots of experimenting with different dishes using this selection of healthy, farm fresh food. 

 

 

Next up for us was a dish we've only made once before but made a crucial error with.  Last time we forgot to salt the potatoes!  Believe me...  It didn't go well and pretty much ruined the dish.  Maybe we're bad people who can't cope without salted potatoes, but well, that's us.  I hope you may have fared better than we did!

Once again combining chicken and mushroom, and adding leeks from our box and some ready made filo pastry (because which parents of a newborn want to spend time making that!?) it makes a deliciously creamy dish, with a great crunch on top!  The recipe comes from 'Grandma's Best Recipes'.  Not my actual Grandmother's unfortunately.  But it's a good book!!

Ingredients:

225g/8oz potatoes, cubed
5 tbsp butter
1 skinless chicken breast, cubed
1 leek, sliced
150g mushrooms, sliced
2 1/2 tbsp plain flour
300ml milk
1 tbsp Dijon mustard
1 tbsp chopped fresh sage
225g filo pastry, thawed if frozen
3 tbsp butter, melted
Salt and pepper

Method:

1.  Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F.  Cook the potato cubes in a saucepan of boiling water for 5 minutes.  Drain and set aside. 

2.  Melt the butter in a frying pan and cook the chicken cubes for 5 minutes or until browned all over. 

3.  Add the leek and mushrooms and cook for 3 minutes, stirring.  Stir in the flour and cook for 1 minute, stirring constantly.  Gradually stir in the milk and bring to the boil.  Add the mustard, sage, potato cubes, season to taste with salt and pepper and simmer for 10 minutes.

4.  Meanwhile, line a deep pie dish with half of the sheets of filo pastry.  Spoon the sauce into the dish and cover with 1 sheet of pastry.  Brush the pastry with butter and lay another sheet on top.  Brush this sheet with butter.

5.  Cut the remaining filo pastry into strips and fold them on to the top of pie to create a ruffled effect.  Brush the strips with the melted butter and cook in the preheated oven for 45 minutes or until golden brown and crisp.  Serve hot.

CSA Winter Box 1: Chicken, Mushroom and Swiss Chard Pasta

 

Two blog posts in two days?!  I'm on a roll! ... Even through battles of a teething poorly baby :-(  Luckily her bedtime is earlier than mine (just!) so I'm dashing through and making the most of it!

 

After the broccoflower, the next new and exciting vegetable was Swiss chard.  Now this was a surprise to me - it was MUCH more delicious than I originally anticipated, and I'd even consider buying it again!  It made this dish fresher and had a great texture.  A pleasant surprise for sure!

 

I used this recipe from Giada de Laurentiis, with just a few changes.  It was all me cooking for dinner, so I got to work.  It felt good to start and finish cooking this meal from scratch.  My amazing husband had been making so many of them since our little one arrived, so it was nice for a change to treat him to a fresh cooked meal when he got home.

 

All of the elements of this dish are DELICIOUS, the creamy mascarpone with pasta shells to soak it all in, my favourite mushrooms of curse, and as well as how easy it is made by using rotisserie chicken rather than spending extra time cooking up chicken breast yourself! 

 

Ingredients:

 

1 cup low sodium chicken broth

1 pack slice mushrooms

Salt and Pepper

1 pound pasta (I used shells but Giada used bows!)

3 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil

1 large or 2 small shallots, slices

1 tsp freshly ground pepper

One 12oz bunch Swiss chard, centre stems removed and leaves chopped into 1-inch pieces

1 cup mascarpone cheese, at room temperature

2 tsore bought rotisserie chicken breasts, diced into 1/2 inch pieces to yield 2 cups of meat

 

Method:

 

1.  Bring a large pan of salted water to a boil over a high heat.  Cook the pasta until tender but still firm to the bite, stirring occasionally, 8-10 minutes.  Drain and reserve about 1 cup of pasta water.



 

2.  Heat the oil over medium-high heat in a large, non-stick saute pan.  Add the shallots, mushrooms, 1 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper.  Cook until the shallots and mushrooms are soft, about 3-5 minutes.  

3.  Add the chard in batches and cook until wilted, about 7 minutes. Sprinkle with 1 teaspoon of salt and the remaining 1/2 teaspoon of pepper.

4.  Remove the pan from the heat and add the mascarpone cheese.  Stir until the mixture is smooth and creamy.  Then add the chicken.

5.  Add the chicken stock and the reserved pasta water to the pan.

6.  Add the cooked pasta to the pan and toss until all ingredients are combined. 

7.  Serve and enjoy!