Roasted Veggie & Hummus Wrap (CSA Week 3 & 4 Recipe)

Photo Courtesy of Unversity of Minnesota

The past few weeks have been a whirlwind - I really don’t know where this month has gone! The girl and I went on a short vacation, which was really nice, but now it’s back to the grind.

I’m still getting my CSA each week (thanks to my parents, who picked it up while we were gone), and it's provided a steady supply of greens and yellow, zucchini, and kousa squashes. We are also just starting to get cucumbers.

I have to say, I’m a bit overloaded with squash. Since I've never really eaten much of it, I'm struggling to find a way to use it all. This week I decided to just roast all of it (along with red onion and red pepper), and eat it in wraps for lunches. I used Mediterranean and Greek-inspired flavors for the veggies, which really brought out the flavor of the squash.

Roasted Veggie & Hummus Wrap

What you need:

roasted veggies (recipe below)
hummus (I like the original hummus tahini but use a flavored hummus if you’d like)
flatbread or tortilla wrap
feta

What you do:

Spread hummus on the wrap. Top with roasted veggies. Sprinkle crumbled feta on the top. Wrap and eat!

Roasted Veggies:

yellow squash
zucchini
kousa squash
red peppers
red onion
olive oil
lemon juice
salt
pepper
oregano (I used fresh "Spicy Oregano" from the back porch)

Chop the veggies into bite-sized pieces. Toss the veggies with olive oil, salt, pepper, and chopped oregano. Lay out in a single layer in a Pyrex baking dish or roasting pan and squeeze lemon juice over the top. Put the veggies in the oven at 375 for about 25 minutes (or until soft). Remove from oven and let cool.

Vegetable Photos Courtesy of Farmer Dave's

Garlic Scape & Arugula Pesto (CSA Week 2 Recipe)

Photo courtesy of Farmer Dave's

The second week of my CSA share brought another plentiful basket of lettuces and squash (zucchini, yellow squash and kousa). It also brought beautiful bunches of arugula and spinach, and more garlic scapes.

I decided to make a pesto with the garlic scapes and arugula, to highlight and retain their fresh flavors and beautiful colors. I picked up a wedge of Pecorino Romano from Polcari's Coffee in the North End. (Sidenote: if you've never been here, you really should check it out - they are the nicest guys and they've have a great selection of coffees, flours, legumes, Italian imports, and so much more.)

The sharpness and saltiness of the cheese really brings this pesto together, so make sure your pecorino is of good quality!

Garlic Scape & Arugula Pesto

What you need:
1 1/2 cups Garlic Scapes (trimmed just below the flower; chopped); About 10 scapes
1 cup packed Arugula
1/2 cup Olive Oil
1/2 cup Pecorino Romano; grated
3 tablespoons Red Wine Vinegar
Salt/Pepper to taste (don't season until you've pulsed the cheese in or it could get too salty!)

What you do:
1) Add garlic scapes, arugula, Pecorino Romano, and red wine vinegar to a food processor and pulse until all is mixed and finely chopped.

2) Stream (or add in small amounts) the olive oil until the pesto is the consistency you want it to be.

3) Season with ground pepper and salt to taste.

It's that simple! I used my batch of pesto for a quick and easy pizza, using store bought dough. Just roll it out, spread on the pesto, and add sliced fresh mozzarella, halved grape tomatoes, fresh basil, and chicken sausage. (You can substitute any protein you like for the latter, or leave it out for a vegetarian pie.) Then bake until the crust is brown and the cheese is bubbling. Enjoy!

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.

Homemade Seed Strips

Photo courtesy of University of Warwick

If you haven't started planting yet, don't worry - seriously! Last year, the girl and I didn't get around to planting until the middle of June, and we still had a great harvest. So you have plenty of time to get your garden going!

The girl and I recently started working on our flower garden, aiming for late summer blooms. We started some seedlings in newspaper collars, and they are looking good, but we have more seeds that we want to grow. So, we decided to make seed strips to make the planting easier. They especially make evenly spacing small seeds, such as poppies and basil, a breeze. No more worrying about dropping too many in the same spot!

We found a step by step in Organic Gardening Magazine (posted below), and adapted it to our needs. Give it a shot if you still need to plant your veggies or flowers!

Paper Towel Seed Strips

What you need:
Paper Towels
Flour
Water
Ruler
Qtip or toothpick or spoon
Seeds (of your choice)

What to do:
1) Tear the paper towels into strips about 1 inch wide.
2) Mix flour and water together to make a thick gravy (we started with 1/2 cup flour and mixed in water as necessary until it was the right consistency).
3) Lay out seeds on the paper towels at the recommended spacing (per the seeds instructions).
4) Using a toothpick, spoon, or Qtip, place a small amount of the flour "glue" on top of the seeds
5) Allow to dry and then roll them up and place in a plastic bag until ready to be used

When planting, simply plant the seed strip in the soil at the required depth, cover, and wait for your seeds to sprout!

Ramp Pesto Recipe

Ramps, also known as wild leeks or wild garlic, are a great spring vegetable. They have a garlicky scent but an onion flavor. I have found that the strength of the flavor/scent really varies by each ramp. You can do a lot with them, whether it's grilled along with a piece of grilled chicken or steak, or in a pesto on pasta like this recipe, it really adds great depth of flavor.

This recipe is a quick pesto that I made recently. You'll notice the recipe is really basic (and doesn't have any actual measurements). It can be adapted completely to your taste. Like it spicier? Add more pepper. Want more acidity? Add more lemon juice! Give it a try and make it your own.

Ramp Pesto

Ingredients:
Ramps
Olive Oil
Black Pepper
Crushed Red Pepper
Kosher Salt (just a pinch; the Parmesan already gives a salty flavor)
Grated Parmesan Cheese
Lemon Juice

1) Trim the root end off the bulb of the ramps.

2) Coarse chop the ramps; bulbs and green tops. Put in food processor or blender.

3) Add grated Parmesan cheese, kosher salt, black pepper and crushed red pepper to the food processor.

4) Start grinding the mixture together while slowly streaming in olive oil. Continue this until the mixture comes together and looks like a pesto

5) Taste and adjust seasoning as necessary. Add a squeeze of lemon juice to brighten up the flavor.

Toss with your choice of pasta and any other vegetables or protein you'd like and you have a simple spring meal.

23rd Annual Gore Place Sheepshearing Festival

A couple weeks back the girl and I took a ride out to Waltham for the Gore Place Sheepshearing Festival. It was a fun time, the Gore Place grounds are gorgeous and the sheep were so cute. The highlight for us was definitely the Border Collie demonstration (we want one when we get a house with enough space to let it run!). Here are a few pics the girl took while we were there.

Lambs just a couple months old (so cute!).

A ewe being hand sheared.

A freshly sheared ram and ewe.

Two Border Collies stalking some sheep.

The sheep are surrounded!

Border Collie jumping a fence with the frisbee during playtime.

Garden Update - Catching Up

So it's been a couple of busy weeks. The weather has been beautiful in the city and with that comes a lot of outdoors activities! We have been preparing the soil in our vegetable garden and have put in some fingerling potatoes. I'll be sowing some peas and lettuce in the coming days. I've also started some Roma tomatoes from seed indoors as well as tomatillos. They've both been recently transplanted into larger pots as they've been growing pretty well. I'll be starting some eggplant from seed soon with hopes of a late season crop.

On another gardening note, we have just recently gotten a plot in the Fenway Victory Gardens! We are very excited about this plot. It is going to be a flower garden. All different sizes, and some for cutting as well. We've already put in some work (had to take out some leftover shrubs and daylilies...boy did we have daylilies) but will be getting some topsoil in a couple weeks and then will start the landscaping and planting.

I will be posting some photos in the coming days of some things we've done recently in the area as well as some more citrus photos that the girl took.