Plum Kuchen

Photos courtesy of the Girl

A few weeks ago, the girl and I were at Whole Foods and she spotted some prune plums. She immediately asked if they were organic because she had a plum kuchen (German for cake) recipe she wanted to try. Unfortunately they were not, so we left the store without the plums.

The next week at the Copley Square farmer's market, I was looking a the fantastic fruit at the stands and what did I find? Organic prune plums! I left the market with a quart of plums and knew a plum kuchen would be baked in the near future.
The prune plums are Italian and are smaller than the standard plums you see at the store. They have a very nice dark color and their firmness stands up well in the kuchen. The recipe original recipe was changed slightly by the girl (changes included below) to have cardamom instead of cinnamon. She also added vanilla extract for a bit more depth of flavor.
Enjoy!

Plum Kuchen
Adapted from The New Elegant But Easy Cookbook

Ingredients
1/4 pound unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup plus 1 or 2 tablespoons sugar
1 cup unbleached flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon cardamom or more, to taste
pinch of salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 eggs
24 halves pitted Italian (prune or purple) plums
cinnamon to taste  (can omit this)

Directions
1. Arrange a rack in the lower third of the oven. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

2. Cream the butter and the 3/4 cup of sugar until pale in color (5 minutes or more is ideal). Sift the flour, baking powder, cardamom, and salt together and add to the butter and sugar mixture. Make a well, add the eggs and vanilla, and beat just to combine. Be careful not to overwork the dough - folding is great for this. Spoon the batter into an ungreased 9- or 10-inch springform pan (or an 8 x 8 square pan). Cover the top with the plums, skin sides down. Mix the cinnamon with the remaining 1 or 2 tablespoons of sugar and sprinkle this over the top.

3. Bake for 40 to 50 minutes, until a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean. Remove from the oven and let cool; refrigerate or freeze if desired.

4. To serve, let the cake return to room temperature and reheat at 300 degrees until warm, if desired. Serve plain or with vanilla ice cream.

Harvard Square Urban Ag Fair

This past weekend, the 2nd Annual Urban-Ag Fair was held in Harvard Square. The girl and I took a trip over in the early afternoon to check it out. (We also stopped by the Charles Hotel Farmer's Market, held every Sunday - you should check it out!)

There were tables all around the square with food for sale as well as free samples of local foods and information about green initiatives in the area. One table even had different kinds of pickled fruits and vegetables to sample. (We didn't have time to try any, although they all looked and smelled great!) We did, however, get to try a few Grown-Up Sodas which were really good. We especially liked the Extra Dry Ginger Ale and the Dry Cranberry Lime.

Other tables featured ongoing and upcoming local food events. One of these that caught our eye was for the Boston Local Food Festival, coming up on October 2nd. It's going to be a big event down on the waterfront near the Children's Museum that will feature local food, exhibits and local music. It sounds like it will be a great time, and we will definitely be checking it out!

Zucchini Bread with Cranberries (CSA Week 5 & 6 Recipe)

The zucchini and squash are still appearing in the CSA baskets, as they have been for the past few weeks. I've made zucchini bread with the girl before, so I decided to use the squash that was the size of my forearm (no, really, it was that big!) to make it again.

This time, however, I added cranberries from one of last fall's farmers' market that I still had in my freezer. (Note: check safety guidelines for frozen foods first, and disregard the fact that I probably should have thrown these out by now.)

They really gave the bread a nice freshness and cut through the sweetness. You could also make these into muffins if you wanted, and add other fruits or nuts (depending on what's in season....or still in your freezer) . It's a good way to experiment!

Zucchini Bread, Adapted from Smitten Kitchen

Yield: 2 loaves

3 eggs
1 cup olive or vegetable oil
1 3/4 cups sugar
2 cups grated zucchini
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 cups all-purpose flour
3 teaspoons cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup fresh cranberries

Preheat oven to 350°F.

In a large bowl, beat the eggs with a whisk. Mix in oil and sugar, then zucchini and vanilla. Combine flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking soda, baking powder, salt and cranberries. Stir this into the egg mixture. Divide the batter into prepared pans.

Bake loaves for 60 minutes, plus or minus ten, or until a tester inserted into the center comes out clean.

Braised Bok Choy & Chicken Lettuce Wraps (CSA Week 1 Recipe)

Photo courtesy of Farmer Dave's

Summer is finally in full swing around here, and that means fresh vegetables are on the way. A couple of weeks ago, I picked up my first CSA. The selection featured heads of lettuce (curly and Boston), bok choy, kousa squash, zucchini, beets, radishes, cilantro, and garlic scapes.

I was really excited by all the fresh produce, and decided to use some of it right away for dinner. Below is a simple recipe (although it’s more of a starting point - no measurements needed here, just play with it according to your tastes!) for braised bok choy and chicken lettuce wraps. This is a really quick and easy way to use fresh veggies, as cooking them quickly and simply will help retain their flavor, color and nutrients. Enjoy!

(By the way, I'll be posting a weekly update of my CSA's contents. I'll also include a recipe or two throughout the week, featuring the produce from my share. So stay tuned!)

Braised Bok Choy & Chicken Lettuce Wraps

What you’ll need:

1 head of Bok Choy (chopped)

Red Bell Pepper (sliced into 1/4 in sticks)

Minced Garlic

Fresh ginger (minced or grated)

Minced Shallot

Olive Oil

¼ cup water (or chicken stock)

Teriyaki Sauce (optional)

Cilantro (chopped; optional)

Teriyaki Ginger Chicken Sausage (or chicken breast seasoned however you’d like)

Boston Lettuce cups for wraps (or Iceberg Lettuce if you’d like)

What you do:

1) Chop chicken sausage into bit size pieces and sauté in a hot pan until browned (these chicken sausages are fully cooked; If using chicken breast, cook through, about 7 minutes per side). Remove from pan.

2) In same pan, add oil, ginger and garlic (to taste) and heat until the garlic and ginger starts to sizzle.

3) Add the shallot and bell pepper and continue to cook until they start to soften.

4) Add the chopped Bok Choy and sauté with all other vegetables until the Bok Choy is a bright green color (only a couple minutes).

5) Add the water and lower the heat. Continue to cook on a simmer as the Bok Choy gets tender.

6) Toss the chicken into the pan along with some of your favorite teriyaki (or any Asian stir-fry sauce; I like a spicy teriyaki sauce for this). Cook until the Bok Choy is done to your desired tenderness (I personally like it still with a bit of crunch in the stalk)

7) Assemble the lettuce wraps using the Boston lettuce cups. Place a bit of the Bok Choy and chicken mixture into the lettuce cup. Top with a little more of the sauce of your choice and some chopped cilantro.

*You can switch this recipe up in any number of ways. Mix in any of your favorite veggies, leave out the chicken, or change up the sauce if you’d like. You can also use different toppings, maybe some chopped peanuts for some crunch. Also, you can stretch it a little further with some rice.

Community Supported Agriculture (CSA Shares)

As you know from some of my previous posts, I wholeheartedly support getting your produce (and meat for that matter) from local farms as much as possible. So far, I've mainly purchased these from farmers' markets in the city. This year, however, I've decided to go a different route: a CSA share.

CSA stands for "Community Supported Agriculture". What exactly does this mean? Basically, you purchase a "share" of a farm, investing in its farming season. This gives money up front to the farm, prior to the growing season, and gives them income when they need it the most. In return, you get a share of their harvest each week. Several farms now have pickup locations at Boston farmers' markets.

Once you've purchased a share, you go to the designated pickup spot each week and get your box of produce! Along with your vegetable share, you can even get fruit, flower, and meat shares from certain farms. CSA shares are often priced on a sliding scale, and farms usually have different sizes available. There is a suggested price per share, but if you have a low income you can pay less. You can also opt to pay more, helping lower income folks to get shares. It really is a win-win situation all around!

Of course, there are risks involved in purchasing a CSA share (if you can call them risks). Since you are taking the same risk as the farmers by investing in the crops, you are at the mercy of the growing season. Having started my own garden last summer, I know all too well how the weather can affect the success of the harvest. However, I think the rewards of a CSA program far outweigh the risk of receiving smaller baskets of produce.

I will be posting updates as soon as I decide which farm to purchase a CSA share from. Then, throughout the season, I will be writing about some of the interesting and wonderful produce I receive.

I really hope this inspires you to go one step further than farmers' markets, and help local farms with their upcoming season by purchasing a CSA share yourself.

For more information on Boston area CSA programs, visit the Boston Localvores site or the NOFA/Mass site.