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Dreyer Farms CSA for the 2021 season ended last Tuesday. It was a wonderful 27 weeks of fresh, local farm produce. This season didn’t disappointment. I found new challenges for many vegetables I hadn’t had before.
 
In my Instagram feed I follow chef Sara Moulton. First, a little background on Sara. She had one of the first cooking shows on the Food Network called “Cooking Live.” She had one hour to prepare a meal and answer callers questions all while preparing a meal in real time. Sara was also the executive chef of Gourmet magazine and a protégée of Julia Child. Currently, you can find Sara on public television with her series “Sara’s Weeknight Meals.”
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​In our CSA box of week 25 I had yet another new variety of squash, kabocha. Kabocha is also known as Japanese pumpkin and is very versatile as it can be stuffed, pureed or cooked on a stove top. Kabocha taste is a cross between pumpkin and sweet potato.
 
I found a recipe at NYT Cooking/The New York Times, Simmered Kabocha Squash with Scallions. The recipe is originally from Cynthia Chen McTernan, whose blog is “Two Red Bowls.” Julia Moskin of the Times, adapted the recipe below. The appealing part is it contains just five ingredients, not including kosher salt and pepper. Also, the Cook’s comments were very positive.
 
For the recipe you’ll need vegetable oil, the kabocha squash, scallions, chicken or vegetable broth, salt, pepper and either Sriracha, soy sauce or both. It takes about 20 minutes from start to finish to prepare this dish.
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​Peak season for cauliflower is from September through November and n our CSA box for week 23 and 24 we received a head of white cauliflower and the following week, purple. The white cauliflower was transformed into a delicious and velvety cream of cauliflower soup. I was unsure what to do with a purple head, until I read the Cook’s notes for Melissa Clark’s recipe for Lemony Carrot and Cauliflower Soup. The commenter suggested using purple cauliflower. 
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​Over the course of this season’s CSA boxes, I have discovered purple cauliflower, kabocha squash, mustard greens and new ways to prepare radishes, cabbage, acorn squash and arugula.
 
In this box, I had another delicate squash to cook. Lucky for me my November issue of Southern Living Magazine arrived and there was an article entitled, “It’s Squash Season,” with recipes by John Somerall. I like Southern Living’s recipes. I find they are well tested and come out just the way the recipe is written. In this article there are recipes for kabocha, Hubbard, blue Hokkaido, acorn, red kuri, delicata and butternut squashes. What caught my eye was the Sausage-Stuffed Squash utilizing a delicata squash.
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​Our CSA is coming to an end and it with comes hardier vegetables and greens that can withstand the cooler nights. My recent items were radishes and arugula. When I was growing up, radishes were added to a nightly salad. Arugula a very popular green in recent years, appears in salads and as a topping on gourmet pizzas. Not wanting to do either of those, I came across two great recipes from The New York Times Cooking app. The first is from David Tanis for Butter-Stewed Radishes and the other from Mark Bittman for Pasta with Gorgonzola and Arugula.
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​My four-year old granddaughter was due to visit and my daughter mentioned she was craving pasta e fagioli. As I had some time before her visit, I picked up the ingredients and the recipe from “Naples at Table,” by Arthur Schwartz. For the recipe you’ll need extra-virgin olive oil, 2 large cloves of garlic, hot red pepper flakes, 3 canned and peeled plum tomatoes, 2-1/2 to 3 cups cooked cannellini beans and pasta.
 
Instead of making cooked cannellini beans, I opted for canned beans (minus their liquid). The other change I made was to use a 28-ounce can of San Marzano tomatoes instead of just 3 tomatoes. This resulted in thick tomato sauce that I thinned out with pasta water. Per Mr. Schwartz, in Campania this dish is made “dry;” it’s not soupy or saucy, which may be how some restaurants prepare it here. 
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​My recent CSA share from Dreyer Farms, brought me a new challenge, mustard greens. I also received an acorn squash and more apples.

Recently, I made Acorn Squash with Apples, but as a food blogger, I felt I had to find another tempting recipe in which to prepare this delicious squash. My search led me to the website "The Real Food  Dietitians" and their recipe Herb-Roasted Parmesan Squash. This savory preparation offers you another option for a Thanksgiving side dish. Even better, is that it takes just five ingredients and preps in just 10 minutes. Besides the acorn squash you'll need, Parmesan cheese, fresh herbs, (suggested was thyme, sage, rosemary, oregano or a mix), butter, garlic powder, salt and pepper. As my garden is still doing well, I made a mix of all the suggested herbs and I used minced fresh garlic in lieu of garlic powder. 


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On a recent trip to Delicious Orchards, I picked up two small zucchini thinking I would bake zucchini muffins with cinnamon crunch topping, zucchini bread or a chocolate chip zucchini cake. In the end, I decided we didn’t’t need any sweets so I opted for a Frittata with Zucchini and Goat Cheese, a recipe from Williams-Sonoma. I thought it would make for a nice light supper and leftovers would be eaten for breakfast. The recipe takes 20 minutes to prep and 20 minutes to cook.
 
For the recipe you’ll need eggs, salt, unsalted butter, 2-3 small zucchini, fresh oregano leaves, fresh flat leaf parsley and goat cheese. The directions in the recipe assume that you have one of Williams-Sonoma’s frittata pans.  I don’t have one, but used my non-stick fry pan and cooked my eggs until I have incorporated them into the filling. Next, cover the pan with a lid until the eggs are set. To finish, I put the pan under the broiler to add color to the top. After removing from the oven, I run a spatula around the perimeter of the pan, place a large dish on top and invert the frittata onto the dish. I also try to slide the frittata out of the pan on to a platter.
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​In the October 9-10th weekend edition of The Wall Street Journal, from the Slow Food Fast column, there appeared a recipe for Fried Eggplant with Sungold Tomatoes, Basil and Mozzarella. The recipe is from chef Joe Papach from The Harvey House in Madison, Wisconsin. This stunning restaurant is housed in the renovated Baggage Claim House at the Madison historic train depot and the restaurant features Midwest favorites, but with a twist by Chef Papach.
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​Recently Whole Foods had a great special on Bell&Evans skinless, boneless chicken breasts for $2.99/lb. One can never have enough chicken on hand, nor enough recipes in which to change this blank canvas into a new masterpiece. For our Sunday supper, I found an interesting recipe on the website Epicurious for Magic Crispy Chicken. The premise is that with less than 10 ingredients, this recipe comes out very crispy. I must say that mine was not crispier than other recipes I’ve made.  I did to pulse the panko crumbs finer in my food processor; perhaps that made a difference? However, the flavor was delicious.


​meet donna

A former teacher, shop-a-holic, empty-nester redefining quick, family approved dinners.

​If you have questions or comments, click on the envelope icon above to contact me directly. 

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