Notes from Debbie's Kitchen
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I know summer is fast approaching if we're starting to get green beans and cucumbers! This week the Small Shares get the escarole, we're all getting radicchio again, and the summer squash is still bountiful, so everyone'll get lots. So without further adieu, let's get to the recipes! ~ Debbie
 
Let's start with summer squash, shall we? I love this one; it was given to me back in 2005 (lost, now found?) by a longtime friend of the farm, Vaiva. She says, "I guess people are getting overloaded with squash already. My CSA friends thought I was joking when I asked if I could borrow some zucchinis from them.  Here's what we've been doing. Its one of those eyeball recipes, but I've tried to give some measurements."

Vaiva's Breakfast, Lunch or Dinner Zucchini Pancakes
Coarsely grate 4 of the biggest baddest zucchinis you have. [Actually Tom's doing a great job of having the workers harvest our squash nice and small, so just use more of 'em!] Place them in a colander and salt them well.  Let stand 15 minutes.  Heat 1/2 inch of oil in a heavy skillet.  Grate an onion and place in a bowl.  Squeeze as much liquid out of the zucchini as possible and add to the onion. Add an egg or two and mash it up with your hands.  Drop by 1/4-1/3 cupfuls into the oil (I use my hands), pat down into a pancake and fry on both sides until golden. [I hope at this point she's using a spatula!] Top with sour cream or applesauce** (especially if you make these for breakfast!) or salt them.  You can also grate in potatoes and carrots, though I don't squeeze the liquid out of these.

[**you know, that applesauce you made from the apple bounty we got over the winter!]


Also from back in 2005 (it's a good thing I hang onto these, huh?), here is a recipe given me by member Odile Wolf. She says it is one of her favorite soup recipes. It originally came form "Cooking with herbs" by Patricia Lousada, but Odile says she has done all kinds of changes to it over the years. The comments in parentheses () are hers, and mine, as usual are in square brackets [].

Cilantro Soup
Good cold or warm.

1 medium onion, very finely chopped
2 tbsp. butter
6 oz. zucchinis (I usually put what I get for the small share)
1 C fresh cilantro, chopped [go ahead, use the whole bunch, and remember: stems and all!]
3 tbsp. semolina [flour] (or rice or some kind of thickener)
Salt, fresh ground black pepper
4 C chicken or vegetable stock (or cubes dissolved in water)

If serving hot:
½ C whipping cream
2 egg yolks

If serving cold:
9 oz. thick-set greek yogurt (I use goat yogurt)

Garnish: fresh cilantro leaves

Sweat the onion in the butter until soft without allowing it to color. Add the zucchinis, and cilantro, and stir for a few minutes. Add 3 C salted water and bring to a boil. Stir in the semolina. [Usually if you're using flour as a thickener, you need to dissolve it in a little cold water before adding. If you just add the dry flour directly to the boiling liquid, it will form a lump! Odile's alternate idea of using an equivalent amount of rice will work great - I've done this sort of thing before - as the soup will be pureed.] Cover and simmer for 20 minutes or until the zucchinis are tender. Puree in blender. Thin by adding the stock.

To serve hot: Reheat the soup to just below a simmer. Whisk cream and egg yolks together. Stir in two ladles of hot soup, then pour back into the soup and heat gently without allowing it to come near a boil. Garnish and serve.
To serve cold: Stir in the yoghurt, taste for seasoning, and garnish with cilantro and almonds (or peanuts) [or toasted pepitas!].


Here's an unusual one (pepper and cinnamon!), also from a few years back, from member Holly Trapp. I've modified it slightly.

Carrot zucchini bisque with pepper and cinnamon
modified from the Lean and Delicious Cookbook; "out of print since 1978," says Holly. [I modified it because I don't consider 'low-fat' to be healthy. Click here if you are curious about this and read more under "Weston Price".]

1 C water
6 large carrots [more, as ours are always small], peeled and cut into 1-inch pieces
2 medium zucchini, cut into 1-inch pieces
2 C whole milk [original recipe called for skim milk]
2 tbsp. flour
¼ tsp. freshly ground black pepper
¼ tsp. ground cinnamon
3 cubes of chicken or vegetable bouillon, crushed

Add carrots and water to medium-size saucepan, cover, and bring to a boil. Cook for 10 minutes. Add zucchini, cook another 5 minutes.

Remove pan from heat and drain liquid.

Puree vegetables in a food processor or blender until smooth. Transfer back to saucepan. Add milk, place over medium heat, uncovered. While stirring constantly with a wire whisk, sprinkle in flour [it's okay, it won't lump up as long as the liquid is not hot yet, and of course you're whisking!], black pepper and cinnamon. Add bouillon and continue to stir until dissolved. Heat on low another 5 minutes, stirring frequently. [Do not boil.]

[At first I blanched at the idea of a recipe using bouillon cubes, but then I have heard there are some decent brands out there... anyone have any good suggestions? Members, including myself, might like to know!]


Longtime member Paula Chacon sent me this gem back in 2004! I just stumbled upon it now; I've missed it in my typical searches, because it doesn't have any veggies in the subject line. But it's definitely a 'slug sauce'! ("Slug sauce" is a term my husband and his friends coined decades ago for basically any sauce that was 'so good you could serve it up on slugs and it'd still taste good!') Paula says her husband, who is not a good veggie eater, loves it. She uses it on all different leafy greens, as well as green beans!

Spicy Sesame Dressing
from the Whole Foods Cookbook

¼ C soy sauce
2 tbsp. toasted sesame oil
2 tbsp. canola oil
2 tbsp. black sesame seeds
2 tbsp. white sesame seeds
1½ tbsp. lime juice
1 tbsp. grated fresh ginger (1-inch piece)
2 large garlic cloves, minced (1 tsp.)
2 tsp. brown sugar
¾ tsp. crushed red chili flakes
2½ tbsp. chopped fresh cilantro
2 scallions, chopped

Whisk or shake all ingredients together. Paula says the recipe was written for a mixture of chard and bok choy, but that she uses it on any vegetable and as a sauce for stir-fry.


Here's a fun one that doesn't use a lot of box veggies, but does use a lot of garlic! (And eggs, if you get the egg share from TLC.) This was sent to me from an old friend of the family, Terri Muir Small:

Spanish Garlic Soup
from "Mediterranean: A Taste of the Sun in Over 150 Recipes" by Jacqueline Clark and Joanna Farrow
serves 4

2 tbsp. olive oil
4 large garlic cloves, peeled [Terri used double that]
4 slices French or similar bread [or four left-over half bagels, especially ones with seeds or other savory goodies, says Terri]
1 tbsp. paprika
4 C beef stock [or, again Terri: "rich turkey broth from roasted turkey bones and other bits." (She made this soon after Thanksgiving!)]
1/4 tsp. or more cumin
pinch or more of saffron strands
4 eggs [or Terri says use a generous slice of tangy French feta]
chopped fresh parsley to garnish [we have that!]
[Terri also added chopped spinach to the soup for extra veggie power; you could probably throw in chard to equal effect]

Heat the oil in a large pan.  Add the whole garlic cloves and cook until golden.  Remove and set aside.  Fry the bread in the oil until golden, then set aside.  Add the paprika to the pan, and fry for a few seconds. Stir in the stock, cumin and saffron, then add the reserved garlic, crushing the cloves with the back of a wooden spoon [Terri says she needed to cook the garlic in the broth 5 minutes or so before they were crushable]. Season with salt and pepper [Terri added the spinach here] then cook for about 5 minutes. Ladle the soup into four ovenproof bowls and break an egg into each.  Place the slices of fried bread on top of the egg and place in a preheated 450° oven for 3-4 minutes, until eggs are set.  Sprinkle with parsley and serve at once. [Terri omitted the oven bit because she didn't use the eggs.]


Lastly, here's a recipe I clipped from a recent issue of the San Jose Mercury News, shortly before we started getting strawberries... but I knew they were coming!

Orange-flavored shortcakes with strawberries and cream
original source, per clipping: Russ Parsons, Los Angeles Times
serves 6

2 C flour
3 tbsp. granulated sugar
1 tbsp. baking powder
¾ tsp. salt
1 tbsp. grated orange zest (from 1 large orange)
6 tbsp. cold butter, cut into cubes
2 hard-boiled egg yolks [not sure why hard-boiled; I think I'd use 'em raw 6/18/09 I stand corrected*]
¾ C heavy cream, plus extra for brushing
Coarse sugar for dusting

Berries and cream:
3 pints strawberries [that's 3 baskets]
2 tbsp. sugar
1 tbsp. orange juice [get it from the orange you used for the zest!]
1 C whipping cream [avoid ultra-pasteurized!], beaten to soft peaks

Heat oven to 375 degrees.

In the bowl of a food processor, pulse together the flour, granulated sugar, baking powder, salt and orange zest. Add the cold cubed butter and the egg yolks, and pulse together just until the mixture has the texture of lightly moistened cornmeal. There may be a few pea-sized chunks of butter remaining; that's fine.

Pour in ¾ C heavy cream, then pulse 4 to 6 times just to moisten the dough. Do not overmix, or the dough will be tough.

Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface and gather into a shaggy mass. Knead 3 to 4 times to make it cohesive and then pat into a rough circle 6 to 7 inches in diameter and a fairly consistent ¾ to 1 inch thickness.

Using a sharp knife, cut the circle into 6 wedges. Brush the tops very lightly with the reserved heavy cream and sprinkle lightly with the coarse sugar.

Transfer to a cookie sheet and bake until risen and golden brown, 18 to 20 minutes. Turn the pan around halfway through to ensure even cooking [I like to use an insulated cookie sheet too, so the bottoms don't overcook.] Remove to a cooling rack.

While the shortcakes are baking, wash, hull and quarter the strawberries, then toss them with the sugar and orange juice in a bowl. Let stand for several minutes. [Had to laugh at this point in the recipe where it says, "if the strawberries are extremely firm, do this 30 minutes in advance." Obviously this guy isn't talking about Live Earth Farm strawberries!]

Split the shortcakes in half horizontally and set the tops aside. Place the bottoms on dessert plates and heap strawberries over them. Spoon whipped cream generously over the strawberries and replace the shortcake tops. Serve immediately with any remaining whipped cream on the side.

*update after newsletter was sent: longtime member (and experienced baker) Farrell Podgorsek says, "hard boiled egg yolks will work very differently than raw - they are not interchangeable. Liquid egg yolks will act as a binder or "glue". Grated or chopped hard boiled eggs act as more of a fat. It is not an uncommon ingredient in older recipes for baked goods. They add a richness to the finished product.