I'm Baaaaaack

Hello everyone!  Sorry for my long winter hiatus.  Since I took all winter off, I decided to change the name of the blog from Daly Freschipes to CSA: From the Farm to the Table.  I wanted to focus on what to do with all of the sometimes obscure ingredients we get in the CSA boxes!  That being said, it is week number one at Dilner Farm's CSA and my husband, Tom and I have signed up for the half share again.  It will run through November, so hopefully I can try to post at least once a week!

Let's get to it!  Here is this week's box:

- Kale
- Lettuce
- Green onions (a TON)
- Broccoli
- Strawberries
- Zucchini
- Radishes
- Basil plant (not pictured)

Tonight's star: BROCCOLI

Tonight was leftover night anyway, we had some leftover pork chops and salsa chicken but needed a vegetable so I whipped up some Balsamic Parmesan Broccoli

Balsamic Parmesan Broccoli
- 1 head of broccoli
- 1/4 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese
- 1/4 cup whole wheat bread crumbs
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 1 tablespoon dijon mustard (I used a stoneground)
- 3 tablespoons of balsamic vinegar
- 3 tablespoons olive oil

 

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.  Line a baking sheet with foil and mix breadcrumbs and Parmesan cheese together with 1/4 cup olive oil (maybe a little less) until it looks kind of like wet sand.  Spread it in an even layer and put it in the oven for 3-5 minutes.  Watch it carefully, I burnt mine the first round!  Remove from the oven and set it aside in a small bowl.

 

 

Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, whisk together the mustard, balsamic vinegar, and olive oil until blended.  Add the broccoli and toss it until evenly coated.  Put the broccoli on the same pan you just used and roast it for 5 minutes (or more, but I like some crunch left to the broccoli).

 

 

After the broccoli cooks, add the breadcrumb mixture back to the broccoli and cook for 2-3 more minutes.  Then, enjoy!!

 

Look for a kale, radish, and goat cheese spread this week, and probably some kale chips!!  I plan on using the lettuce for salads for lunch and the strawberries for snacking.  As for the zucchini....the wheels are still turning on that one...perhaps lasagna?!?!  Stay tuned!

 

 

Oh Deer

I think I have mentioned before that my Uncle Don is a hunter (and a very good one at that!)  He loaded us up on venison last time we saw him.  I will never say no to lean, organic, local meat!  Tom and I have been on vacation this week working on the basement....(maybe he will start a blog on that), which means I have been cooking more meals than usual.  Tuesday night I made venison steaks on the grill with a grilled zucchini and spinach gnocchi.  I finally used up my last zucchini!

Not much to this "recipe." 

Venison steaks with spinach gnocchi and grilled zucchini
- 2 venison boneless steaks
- salt and pepper
-half box of spinach gnocchi that I had in the pantry
- zucchini
- spice rub
-olive oil

Pretty easy!
I preheated the grill and boiled water on the stove for the gnocchi.  Sliced the zucchini lengthwise and seasoned with a tsp. or so of dry spice rub and olive oil.  Put the steaks(seasoned with salt and pepper) and zucchini on the grill and the gnocchi in the water.  The steaks took about 4-5 minutes per side and the zucchini about 3-4.  It was great because everything was done at the same time.  Don't you love it when that happens!?

 

In other news my CSA box arrived today!  They give you so much food!  And I have the small box, too.  We got a cantaloupe, peaches, nectarines, plums, corn, green pepper, tomatoes, and a cucumber.  We also stopped at Reilly's to go raspberry picking, as you see on the side.  The CSA pick up site has a "swap box" so we swapped one of our ears of corn (they had given us 3) for a hot pepper.  I hope we can eat all of this!

Since it was so nice out tonight, we decided to grill out again.  On our trip to Finger Lakes this past weekend we got some great cheeses!  One of them was roasted garlic cheese.  I decided to make Venison (surprise, surprise) burgers with a roasted garlic cheese center with grilled sweet corn on the cob.

Ingredients

- about 1 lb. ground venison (or whatever meat you'd like)
- 4 one-inch cubes of your favorite cheese, I used roasted garlic)
- dash of Worcestershire sauce
- 1 clove of garlic, grated
- 1/4 onion (optional), grated
- salt and pepper
- toppings, as you'd like
-2 ears of corn, in their husks

Begin by soaking the corn (in the husk) in a pot of water for about 15-20 minutes.  Preheat the grill to medium heat.  Cut 4 cubes of the cheese and set aside.  To make the burgers, in a bowl put the ground venison and grate the onion and garlic overtop with a microplane grater (this gives the burger some moisture, especially the onion since venison can be dry.)  Add a splash of Worcestershire sauce and salt and pepper.  Mix gently, but do not overmix.  Score the meat into 4 even sections to make the burger patties.  Form each burger around a cube of the cheese.  Be sure they are well-formed so they do not fall apart on the grill.  Set the prepared burgers aside.  Remove the corn from the water.  Pull back (but do not remove) the husks and remove the silks.  Wrap the husks back up the corn.  Put the corn on a medium-heat grill, turning every 2-3 minutes for 2-3 turns, then put to the top rack of the grill.  Put the burgers on the grill.  They take about 5 minutes on each side, depending on the thickness.  For the last 2 minutes, feel free to put more cheese on top!  I had some extra Mango BBQ sauce from my BBQ chicken last week, so I put some on top of the burger along with some Romaine lettuce my neighbor gave us from her garden.

This one was a winner!  That cheese is amazing!  Tomorrow: A caprese bread salad with fresh tomatoes!  Thanks for reading, everyone :)

CSA Box

Hooray!  I recently tried to sign up for Dillner Farm CSA box, but they were full for the season and I was way too late since they go from June-October.  I got an email today from Mrs. Dillner and she said I could get on the list for the remaining 11 weeks of the harvest!  I am so excited!

What is a CSA box you ask?  CSA stands for Community Supported Agriculture.  They send fresh produce to a variety of local drop sites and you pick up your box for the week.  Dillners has a drop site right down the road from us in Franklin Park.  Score!  We get our first box on August 18th and it runs until the last week of October.  Its actually decently prices, about 15 dollars per week.  We got the small box, but even still I am afraid Tom and I won't be able to eat it all!  A small box has a variety of 5-6 fruit and vegetable products per week.  We'll see how it goes and hopefully we can continue it next summer again.  I will definitely be getting inspiration for my recipes from the CSA box :)