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! 

CSA Winter Box 1: Broccoflower and Kale Soup

Hi... I'm back!  And I'm going to try and catch up with my many many MANY blog posts that are way overdue since last November when well, let's face it - our baby girl was way more fun that writing blog posts! ... And of course she still is - but right now I have a 30 minutes window if I'm lucky so here goes!

*Quick check of the monitor screen ... and we're safe ... write... quickly! *

November was the first month that we picked up our CSA box for the Winter sign up we had bought from Coopers Farm, just a few minutes drive from our house.  Ever since we moved house in the Summer, out of Toronto - we knew we wanted to do this.  CSA ~ Community Supported Agriculture is the greatest thing - fresh vegetables and fruit right from the farm every month (or more - we'll be doing weekly in the Summer!) and in paying for the box upfront you are supporting the farm and helping it to grow and produce these very same vegetables!  Check out the Coopers Farm website here and read more about it. 

Box number one was picked up at the beginning of November, so it was the most colourful box we've had, still with some of the Summer greenhouse fruits and veg still available.  I'll write a few blog posts about everything we did with the box, but the first thing I have to talk about is the Romanesco Broccoli - broccoflower!  The COOLEST vegetable I've ever seen! 

A couple of friends were coming over for dinner and to meet baby girl so we made a Romanesco Broccoli and Kale Soup with Cheddar Cheese from the FruitGuys website - and it was DELICIOUS!  I never thought I'd be saying that about a soup made entirely of greens!  Give it a try, it was really good!

Ingredients:

1 head of Romanesco broccoli, chopped into bite-size pieces
1 bunch of kale, rinsed, stems removed and coarsely chopped
1 large onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
4 tbsp butter
1/2 tsp dried tarragon
6 1/2 cups vegetable or chicken broth (we used vegetable as one friend is a vegetarian!)
1 cup heavy cream
3 tbsp all purpose flour
2 cups (packed) grated extra-sharp cheddar cheese

Method:

1.  Melt 2 tablespoons butter in heavy medium pot over medium-high heat.

 2.  Add onion and sauté until onion is translucent, about 6 minutes.

3.  Add garlic and tarragon; sauté 1 minute.

4.  Add chopped broccoli and kale; sauté for 5 minutes until kale starts to wilt.

5.  Add stock and bring to boil then simmer, uncovered for about 5 minutes.

6.  Stir in cream.

9.  Mix remaining 2 tablespoons butter with flour in small bowl to make paste, and whisk into soup.

10.  Simmer until soup thickens and broccoli is tender, stirring frequently, about 5 minutes.

11.  Blend together to make a soup without any chunks if preferred!

12.  Season with salt and pepper.

13.  Serve while hot, with grated cheddar cheese.

 

If you're a greens skeptic do give this a try!  I never thought I'd be eating a soup made from kale and broccoli (although admittedly the cream and cheese does help!!). 

 

Thanks to Fruit Guys for the inspiration and recipe and to baby girl for taking a 40 minute nap! :-)

Malt Loaf and a Cup of Tea

Ahhhhh... one of my most favourite treats today!  And another recipe I can't believe I have never posted on here!  Malt loaf.  Moist, delicious, fruit loaf - perfect in the afternoon, sliced and buttered with a cup of tea.  Thanks Mum for your recipe!

Once again, I did a double batch!  It really was the best thing when I received two new loaf tins for my birthday :-D 

I'll get going on this malt loaf recipe now, and there are a bunch of savoury recipes coming soon to the blog.  I can't wait to share all of the dinners we have been creating using seasonal vegetables from our CSA Winter Box!  Watch this space for some non-baking blog posts soon!!

Ingredients (for just the one loaf!):

8oz self-raising flour
1/2 cup demerara sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup milk
4oz dried fruit (I used raisins and sultanas)
1 egg
1 tbsp golden syrup
1 tbsp black treacle

 

Method:

1.  Soak fruit with a cup of black tea overnight in a jug/bowl.  Enjoy a cup of tea seeing as the kettle is boiling!

 

2.  Preheat the oven to 350°F/180°C and grease and line loaf tin (or tins if you are doing a double batch like me!)

 

3.  Mix all of the ingredients together in a bowl.

 

4.  Put the batter into the prepared loaf tin and place in centre of oven.

5.  Bake for 1 hour, until a cake tester/skewer comes out clean.

6.  Leave to cool, then slice and enjoy... With another cup of tea of course!!

That's all for today folks! 

 

Hopefully I'll be back next week with some vegetable inspired recipes for once :-)