Breezy Willow Meats!

Did you know that Breezy Willow also sells fresh, local meat? Depending on availability, Breezy Willow offers locally raised, grass fed beef, pork, chicken, and lamb. You can browse the selection at their website, or contact RJ to make a request. If you purchase through the website, we can deliver it to BBMS on Thursdays along with the regularly scheduled pickup. You can pay at that time and ignore the shipping fee. Here are two meals Katie and I have made recently using meat from Breezy Willow.

Orange Pork Chops

This recipe (and all preparation) was courtesy of Katie's Mom, Nanci, who was visiting us at the time. I didn't know this until I looked it up, but a capital T stands for tablespoon, while a lower case t stands for teaspoon.

4 center cut pork chops
salt, pepper, paprika
2 T. oil
10 whole cloves
2 T. grated orange rind
2 T. cornstarch
2 c. orange juice
1/2 c. sugar
2 t. cinnamon
1/4 t. salt
2 whole navel oranges, sliced thin for garnish
rice (prepare as directed)

Season pork chops on both sides with salt, pepper, and paprika. Brown chops in hot oil in skillet. Once they are browned, cover bottom of skillet with water (do not completely cover chops), turn down heat, and cover skillet. Simmer till tender, (about an hour or so), adding water as it cooks away. Turn chops as needed. Meanwhile, prepare orange sauce and rice.

Orange Sauce:
In a saucepan, cook sugar, cornstarch, salt, cinnamon, cloves, orange juice and rind. Cook over medium heat until thickened. (if it does not thicken enough, mix 1 more tablespoon cornstarrch with a little bit of water then stir into sauce) Transfer chops to serving platter. Pour sauce over chops and rice. Garnish with orange slices.


Ropa Vieja (Braised Beef, Peppers, and Onions)

This recipe came from The Gourmet Cookbook, but can also be found online at Epicurious.com. p.s. Epicurious is an excellent resource for recipes!!

Ingredients

For braising beef:

* 3 pounds skirt or flank steak, trimmed (we used beef cubes from B.W.)
* 2 quarts water
* 2 carrots, chopped coarse
* 1 large onion, chopped coarse
* 2 celery ribs, chopped coarse
* 1 bay leaf
* 3 garlic cloves, crushed lightly
* 1 teaspoon dried oregano
* 1 teaspoon ground cumin
* 1 teaspoon salt
* 1/4 teaspoon whole black peppercorns

we skipped the carrots and celery as we did not have them and they were only used for flavoring the stock.

* 2 green bell peppers, cut into 1/4-inch strips
* 1 red onion, cut into 1/4-inch strips
* 4 tablespoons olive oil
* 2 cups braising liquid plus additional if desired
* a 14- to 16-ounce can whole tomatoes with juice, chopped (we used Ro*tel)
* 3 tablespoons tomato paste
* 3 garlic cloves, minced
* 1 teaspoon ground cumin
* 1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
* 2 red bell peppers, cut into 1/4 inch strips
* 2 yellow bell peppers, cut into 1/4 inch strips
* 1 cup peas
* 1/2 cup pimiento-stuffed Spanish olive, drained and halved

(we subbed green peppers for 1 red and 1 yellow as we had several from B.W.)

Preparation

To braise beef:
In a 5-quart kettle combine all braising ingredients and simmer, uncovered, 1 1/2 hours, or until beef is tender. Remove kettle from heat and cool meat in liquid 30 minutes. Transfer meat to a platter and cover. Strain braising liquid through a colander, pressing on solids, into a bowl. Return braising liquid to kettle and boil until reduced to 3 cups, about 30 minutes. Stew may be made up to this point 1 day ahead. Cool braising liquid completely and chill it and the beef separately, covered.

In kettle cook green bell peppers and onion in 2 tablespoons oil over moderate heat, stirring, until softened.

While vegetables are cooking, pull meat into shreds about 3 by 1/2 inches. To onion mixture add shredded meat, 2 cups braising liquid, tomatoes with juice, tomato paste, garlic, cumin, oregano, and salt and pepper to taste and simmer, uncovered, 20 minutes.

While stew is simmering, in a large skillet cook red and yellow bell peppers in remaining 2 tablespoons oil over moderate heat, stirring occasionally, until softened. Stir peppers into stew with enough additional braising liquid to thin to desired consistency and simmer, uncovered, 5 minutes. Stir in peas and olives and simmer, uncovered, 5 minutes.

Serve ropa vieja with yellow rice.

the Ultimate (and Epic Ultimate) Bell Pepper Cocktail

Last week's share gave us a selection of lovely bell peppers, which us a problem: Laura detests the bell pepper, both in taste and texture. While it's not among my favorite vegetables, I am not offended by it's inclusion in various foodstuffs. Instead of trading our peppers out for something else, I took this as a challenge to do something deliciously different with what I affectionately refer to as God's Filler Vegetable. (Seriously, it's in just about every frozen or easily prepared dish that includes some sort of "vegetable mix.") Giving this a bit of thought, I came to an obvious conclusion:

The bell pepper must be taken roughly by alcohol in a shadowy bedroom and spit forth delicious progeny as a result.

I wasn't sure what form this would take. My first inclination was to find precedent for soaking peppers in an alcoholic beverage, as I didn't expect anyone would be mad enough to attempt a mixed drink with this ubiquitous waxen seed-husk... but a bit of interweb sleuthing proved me wrong, oh so wrong. Behold! The Ultimate Bell Pepper Cocktail:

My initial version used the following:

• 2 bell pepper rings
• fresh mint leaves to approximate 1 tablespoon mint
• 1 1/2 oz. grapefruit juice
• 1/4 oz. lemon juice
• 1 1/2 oz. Dogfish Head Blue Hen Vodka
• 3/4 oz. Galliano liqueur

In a cocktail shaker, muddle the mint and one bell pepper ring with the grapefruit and lemon juice. Add ice, vodka and liqueur. Shake vigorously. Strain into a cocktail glass, and garnish with bell pepper ring.

This ended up being far tastier than I expected. The profile of the pepper holds up well with the other flavors, and the result is a sweetly spicy taste of some complexity. Of course, enjoying this requires that one actually likes bell peppers. I offered Laura a sip, and her immediate response was "OMG IT'S HIDEOUS" and to gag and wave her hands in front of her mouth until I brought her a palate-flushing glass of ginger ale.

The original poster noted that serving such a drink out of a bell pepper seemed to be a messy and inconvenient idea... so I clearly had to go there. Behold! The Epic Ultimate Bell Pepper Cocktail:

• a whole bell pepper with a relatively balanced bottom
• fresh mint leaves to approximate 1 tablespoon mint
• 1 1/2 oz. grapefruit juice
• 1/4 oz. lemon juice
• 1 1/2 oz. Dogfish Head Blue Hen Vodka
• 3/4 oz. Galliano liqueur

Slice the top off of the pepper in one even layer, and gently core the central seed area out with a paring knife. Cut the central stem out from the top and discard. In a cocktail shaker, muddle the mint and the remaining pepper top with the grapefruit and lemon juice. Add ice, vodka and liqueur. Shake vigorously. Strain into the body of the bell pepper and serve.

Although admittedly gimmicky, this would be interesting for someone to try who was both "hosting a party" and had a surplus of bell peppers. The added advantage is that cleanup would be both easy and nutritious.

Now, to finish this alcohol-impregnated pepper...

an introduction, and the July 22 raw materials

Greetings! My name is John, and I'm happy to be on board to share insights and experiences from the Ilchester Road CSA experience. Unlike Adam, this is the first time my wife Laura and myself have been involved with a CSA program, and its been an excellent experience thus far.

Both of us are employed in jobs that frequently require long and irregular hours - as a result, seeking out fresh produce regularly just doesn't happen. Not only is being a part of this CSA a good thing for supporting local agricultural business, but it's also an incentive for us to expand our culinary horizons beyond "quick, heated dinners" and "eating out." I've been commenting on our experience thus far over at the Gustatory Libation Front, and I look forward to sharing our future (mis)adventures and recipes in this space.

Speaking of shares, here was this past Thursday's:

The roll call: bread, tomatoes, apple butter, bell peppers, methley plums, peaches, nectarines, summer squash, red pontiac potatoes, and variegated corn.

Raw Veggies for Dipping

Sometimes the veggies we get each week don't require any prep at all. Katie and I are big fans of snacking, and it's great to use some of our CSA produce for dipping. Here's a hummus recipe that we made recently for a neighborhood party.

1 large can garbanzo beans (chickpeas)
1/4 cup tahini sauce (we sometimes use Annie's Goddess Dressing as a substitute)
2 cloves of garlic
2-3 tbsp. olive oil
2-3 tsp. lemon juice
sprinkle of cayenne pepper

Above is a recipe for basic hummus. From here you can add any number of things to add flavor. For example, in the picture below we added a chipotle pepper and a handful of cilantro. Other possibilities include any herbs* from Breezy Willow, roasted red peppers, olives, capers, or anything else you have in your pantry or fridge.



For dipping we use cucumbers, green peppers, onions, pita, or whatever else looks good at the time.

* herb availability changes from week to week depending on what we are able to harvest on the day of the pickup. If you have any special requests, feel free to e-mail Breezy Willow in advance.

Vegetable Pot Pie

This recipe was adapted from a recipe we found on AllRecipes.com. The original recipe can be seen here. We simply changed it to fit our tastes and the veggies we had available at the time. We also used a frozen pie crust instead of making one from scratch.

Ingredients

* olive oil
* onion, chopped
* garlic, minced
* potatoes, peeled and diced
* green beans, trimmed and snapped into 1/2 inch pieces
* peas, shelled
* corn (frozen)
* 3 cups vegetable broth
* 1 teaspoon salt
* 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
* 2 tablespoons cornstarch
* 2 tablespoons soy sauce
* 2 frozen pie crusts (one for the top)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.
2. Heat oil in a large skillet or saucepan. Cook onions, garlic and potatoes in oil for 3 to 5 minutes, stirring frequently until onions are soft and potatoes are golden brown. Add green beans, peas, corn and vegetable broth. Bring to a boil, then turn heat down to a simmer. Cook until vegetables are barely tender. Season with salt and pepper.
3. In a small bowl, mix the cornstarch, soy sauce, and 1/4 cup water until cornstarch is completely dissolved. Stir into vegetables, and cook until sauce thickens, almost like a gravy.
4. Pour the filling into the pastry lined dish. Arrange second crust over the filling, and seal the edges.
5. Bake for 30 minutes, or until the crust is brown.


This actually made quite a bit of filling. We made one pot-pie for dinner and froze the rest to use later.

Summer Fruit

Since there's only the two of us in our house, sometimes we have to get creative to use up our weekly abundance of fruit.


blueberries go well on top of almost anything


We were looking for something new to try with our plums and found this recipe at AllRecipes. The recipe calls for Italian Prune Plums, but I substituted our Methley plums. Halving and pitting was a pain, but the result was delicious.

Ingredients

* 6 tablespoons white sugar, divided
* 1 qt. plums, halved and pitted
* 3 eggs
* 1 1/3 cups milk
* 2/3 cup all-purpose flour
* 1 1/2 teaspoons grated lemon zest
* 2 teaspoons vanilla
* 1 pinch salt
* 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
* 2 tablespoons confectioners' sugar

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Butter a 10 inch pie plate, and sprinkle 1 tablespoon of sugar over the bottom.
2. Arrange the plum halves, cut side down, so that they cover the entire bottom of the pie plate. Sprinkle 2 tablespoons of sugar over the top of the plums. In a blender, combine the remaining 3 tablespoons of sugar, eggs, milk, flour, lemon zest, cinnamon, vanilla, and salt. Process until smooth, about 2 minutes. Pour over the fruit in the pan.
3. Bake for 50 to 60 minutes in the preheated oven, or until firm and lightly browned. Let stand 5 minutes before slicing. Dust with confectioners' sugar before serving.





Two other options for using up extra fruit are fruit-water and sangria. Fruit water is really that simple. Slice some fruit and let it soak in a pitcher of water for a few hours.

Sangria requires a little more work, but there are dozens of variations in the recipe. This is Katie's preferred method:

Ingredients:

White or Red Wine (we really like white sangria in the summertime)
Fruit that is chopped up into smallish pieces (anything from berries to peaches to lemons and limes)
Brandy (optional)
Ginger-ale or lemon-lime soda

Instructions:

1. Put chopped fruit in a pitcher.
2. Pour wine into pitcher.
3. Add a "glug" of brandy.
4. Add three or four glugs of ginger-ale or lemon-lime soda.
5. Let sit for one or two hours (if you can stand it...)
6. Enjoy!

Note: The amounts are purposefully vague so you can make it with as little or as much wine as you like. Taste as you go and you'll figure out what works.

As often as we make this, you'd think we'd have a decent picture. Nope, instead I had to find a pic online.

Cinco de Mayo Recipes. Readers Digest. Web. July 27, 2010.

What are the favorite ways of using summer fruit at your house?

Ratatouille

I think we've reached the point in the summer when no one has any problems using up their weekly share. Stuff like blueberries, plums, corn, tomatoes, etc. are all so common (and so delicious) that it's easy to eat them all without much thought.

One dish Katie and I really like, and is any easy combination of many of these vegetables is Ratatouille. We have actually made this dish many times without realizing it was a famous, tried-and-true dish. We called it vegetable hodge-podge and thought it was fantastic, and that was it. Browsing through cookbooks or AllRecipes.com shows many variations that are basically the same thing. Some insist on vegetables sauteed separately and then layered like a casserole. We actually prefer to saute everything together in a large wok. It's just easier. Saute vegetables in this order as some require longer to soften:

Onion
Garlic
Squash
Eggplant
Tomato

Amounts vary based on personal taste and the size of the veggies (i.e. 1 large onion = 2-3 smaller onions) Sometimes, depending on what we have available, we'll add mushrooms or green peppers. We just add them in order of hardest to softest so that they cook through. It really is a hodge-podge and I don't think we've ever made it the same way twice. The flavors are such a good mix that we don't use any herbs or spices, maybe just a little salt and pepper at the end.