CSA Week 4: Fennel & Summer Squash

I took a week off for my friend's wedding, but I am back in the kitchen this week, prepping foods from my farm share. Our half of the share included:

- Cucumber
- Salad turnips
- Fennel
- Yellow squash
- Zucchini
- Carrots
- Pointed Cabbage
- Broccoli
- Salad greens
- Herbs

We still had greens left over, so the first thing I did was prep the cucumber, turnips and carrots for a salad. We have used those cut up veggies for multiple salads this week. The yellow squash and basil we sliced up and put on 2 different pizzas - 1 with red sauce, 1 with pesto. The broccoli will probably be frozen for later, and the zucchini will end up in a fried rice.

The fennel was my biggest question mark this week. I went to Martha Stewart to tell me how to use this uncommon vegetable, and she had a roasted tomato, fennel, and basil relish. Initially, I wanted to cut the recipe in half because it makes 3 cups, but I also wanted to use up all the fennel, so I left the quantities as they were. I don't make a lot of relishes, but this one is meant to be an accompaniment to chicken or fish. I made this relish to go with salmon, and below you will find my new favorite recipe for pan-searing salmon to perfection!

Fennel, Roasted Tomato, and Basil Relish

INGREDIENTS
1 lb ripe tomatoes
6-8 garlic cloves
1 fennel bulb, trimmed and cut into 1/4-inch dice
1/4 cup red-wine vinegar
1/4 teaspoon crushed red-pepper flakes
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 cup loosely packed fresh basil leaves
Oil, to grease the baking sheet

DIRECTIONS
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Coat a baking sheet with oil. Slice tomatoes in half lengthwise; arrange them, cut side down, in a single layer on prepared baking sheet. Place garlic cloves on baking sheet next to tomatoes. Roast in oven until tomatoes are soft and wrinkled, and garlic is aromatic and tender, about 35 minutes. Remove from oven, and let cool.

2. In a medium bowl, combine fennel with vinegar, red-pepper flakes, and olive oil. Stir to combine. Finely chop garlic, and roughly chop tomatoes; add to bowl. Slice basil into fine strips; add to bowl. Stir to combine; serve chilled or at room temperature.

Adapted from: https://www.marthastewart.com/1050252/fennel-roasted-tomato-and-basil-relish

Pan-seared Salmon from Once Upon a Chef

INGREDIENTS
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper
4 (6-ounce) salmon fillets, 1-1/4 in thick

INSTRUCTIONS

Season the salmon with the salt and a few grinds of pepper. Heat the oil in a 12-inch nonstick skillet over medium-high heat until hot and shimmering. Cook the salmon, without moving, skin side up, until golden and crisp, about 4 minutes. Carefully flip the fillets and reduce the heat to medium. Continue cooking until done to your liking, 4 to 5 minutes more. Transfer to a platter and serve.

Adapted from: https://www.onceuponachef.com/recipes/restaurant-style-pan-seared-salmon.html

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Image
In my search for easy recipes, I ended up on quite a few emailing lists - Better Homes & Gardens, Food Network, Tastebook all have the privilege of spamming me. At work today, I was browsing through recipes for "Crisp Summer Salads" and I was shocked at what passed for a salad. The first "salad" - The Layered Spinach and Pot Sticker Salad - on the list included potstickers, strawberries and strawberry jam as ingredients. Then to add insult to injury, they tell you to whip up a recipe of " Spiced Chips ". As is frozen chicken pot stickers weren't unhealthy enough. It isn't a salad just because it has spinach! Next is the Southern Cobb Salad , and to it's credit, it looks like a salad. However, I don't even want to think about what constitutes the " cheese dressing ". I'm terribly confused by the Smoked Salmon and Melon Salad . I guess it counts as fruit salad, but why I would mix salmon with cantaloupe, honeydew and blueber...
Read more

Eat This Not That Part I

Image
I recently saw a copy of the book, Eat This Not That , and I thought it was a cool idea, so I am starting my own version with products I use at home rather than at restaurants. First on my list is Eat ReddiWhip not Cool Whip. Cool whip is delicious, especially when frozen, but it was not until I bought some for myself to go with strawberries that I realized how horribly fake it is. According to Dietfacts.com, they include: INGREDIENTS:WATER, CORN SYRUP, HYDROGENATED VEGETABLE OIL (COCONUT AND PALM KERNEL OILS), HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP, LESS THAN 2% OF SODIUM CASEINATE (FROM MILK), NATURAL AND ARTIFICIAL FLAVOR, MODIFIED FOOD STARCH, XANTHAN AND GUAR GUMS, POLYSORBATE 60, POLYSORBATE 65, SORBITAN MONOSTEARATE, SODIUM HYDROXIDE, BETA CAROTENE (COLOR). So, they don't actually have any milk in them, they have less than 2% of one milk derivative and a bunch of additives to maintain freshness and composition. We all know hydrogenated oils and high fructose corn syrup are bad for us, an...
Read more
Image
As promised, here is a picture of the squash risotto recipe. I have started to get into uncharted territory with this recipe, but I invited over my good friend who makes butternut squash all the time. What really threw me off about this recipe was that even though we halved the recipe, we still needed a lot of broth to cook the risotto. We used all 2 cups of the broth plus some cooking wine, and still the risotto was burning and sticking to the bottom of the pan. I think this is one recipe that cannot be cut in half, or else you can't skimp on the broth. Instead of mixing in the parmesan cheese, we sprinkled it on top at the table, and it really had a big impact on the flavor. For dessert, we had more butternut squash with cinnamon, sugar and nutmeg - yum!
Read more