Chutney

Since we have been eating adai for breakfast for the past six months, I have started to make chutney to go with it. The first time I made this I used a big tromboncino squash and it came out really well. This time I used delicata, both of which can be eaten with the skin on, this helps give the chutney a little more texture. If you use a winter squash you will need to peel the whole thing. You can also use other things as the main: mangoes, zucchini, eggplant, anything that is similar in texture and cooking time. You can also adjust the seasonings to what suits your palate, we like ours spicy and very seasoned.

squash, onions, garlic, ginger, jalapeno, oil, sugar, salt, and indian spices

whoops! I forgot raisins and vinegar

chop your onions, mince your garlic, ginger, and jalapenos

saute the onions and ginger in lots and lots of oil

seed, and chop your squash, you can also peel some of it

add raisins, jalapenos, and garlic

then stir in squash and spices (tumeric, cumin,cinnamon, garam masala, pepper, coriander, sugar, salt)

cook with the spices a few minutes then add vinegar

let barely simmer for an hour or two

once all the flavors have cooked in, you can mash some of it with a spoon, leaving some chunks

either freeze for later or refrigerate to use within two weeks.

Next time I am going to try mangoes!

CSA week 23 (bonus round)

Whoops! I didn't post a recipe again. We went camping to enjoy the last warm weekend of the season and it was fun, but I didn't get to posting anything. This week I promise. I am actually going to do it right now and schedule it so I can't forget again.

For our CSA they still have crops, so they did a mini two-week CSA. We went for a large share this time since most of it will be root vegetables which I can store. In the swing of summer we just do a regular share, that way we can still go to the farmers market and buy from other farms and get things that we really love without worrying about having lots of other stuff at home.

Okay, this week with the large share we didn't have choices, we just got one of everything. We got apples and pears for fruit. We got potatoes, arugula, spinach, milan turnips, watermelon radishes, rutabagas, butternut squash, and carrots.

What I made: carrots and pears in tummies, applesauce, quick radish pickles (with radishes from last week also), rutabagas and turnips mashed with butter and salt, arugula salad and in sandwiches, sauteed spinach, then potatoes, remaining turnips, and squash for later.

CSA week 22

The last official delivery of our CSA. We will have two more extra weeks (for extra money), since they still have crops growing. This week we all got pie pumpkins (we got two since I actually brought a pie as thanks),  potatoes, radishes, onions, and carrots. I picked kale over sunchokes and spinach over lettuce. We had apples and pears in our fruit share.

I didn't have my camera with me at pick up which meant that by the time I got home the carrots were already gone, but you can see the stems. Also, I didn't post a recipe this week as it was baby girl's birthday and party and I was a little busy.

What I made: carrots, apples, and pears in bellies; sauteed spinach; salt potatoes; steamed kale; pumpkin pie; and the other pumpkin, radishes, and onions for later.

CSA week 21

Oh the season is winding way, way down. It doesn't help we had a six hour long hard freeze with temps in the 20s. That pretty much stops the growing season for everything but hardy greens and root vegetables. This week we all got fingerling potatoes, a butternut squash, and watermelon radishes. I picked baby chard over lettuce, cauliflower over broccoli or cabbage, and shallots over red onions. We have more apples and pears in our fruit share.

What I made: applesauce, apples and pears in bellies (I introduced eldest to pears w/peanut butter and mayo, he is a fan like mom), baby chard with quinoa and onions, roasted cauliflower and fingerling potatoes, sliced radishes with salt, shallots and butternut squash for later. I think I am storing up too much squash, I will need to cook some soon.

Tomato yum

This is a hybrid of the tomato jam we made last year and tomato paste. We had a 5lb bag of tomato seconds from our CSA, not enough for sauce, but enough for paste. It turned out really yummy, hence the name and I have used 3 cubes already. This is another recipe I left the skins on for to use as much tomato as possible. I cook this down in the slow cooker since it will burn very easily once it starts to thicken. I have three kids and I never get to the kitchen to stir often enough and have learned the hard way that the slow cooker is the way to go for me. If you want you can cook it down on the stove, it will be much faster, but you have to be attentive to stirring.

tomatoes, onion, garlic, oil, sugar, vinegar, lemon, salt, cinnamon, anise, and chiles

chop onions and garlic

saute in a good amount of oil

core and rough chop the tomatoes

throw in the pot with the spices, salt, sugar, and vinegar

let simmer for an hour or two

remove chiles, anise, and cinnamon stick

then blend, blend, blend

run through a chinois to remove last of the skins

then I move to the slow cooker to cook down to paste

freeze into cubes

and use all year long (though I don't think I made enough)

Yum!

CSA week 20

Time for the leafy greens again. This week we all got spaghetti squash. I chose cabbage over sunchokes, broccoli rabe over russian kale, yellow peppers over roasted peppers, and cauliflower over chard. For fruit we got apples and pears.

What I made: apples, pears, and yellow peppers in bellies; roasted cauliflower; sauteed broccoli rabe; cabbage with potatoes and onions; and squash for later.