August 3, 2011 CSA Delivery

Recipe Suggestions from Conne Ward-Cameron

Fusilli Pasta with Roasted Tomatoes and “Hidden” Squash
Santa Fe Summer Pot
Shrimp and Southern Pea Salad
Minestrone with Field Peas and Almond Pistou

I am so delighted with the contents of this week’s box that I don’t know where to start ….

Hooray for okra! Love it, love it, love it. Last year the okra arrived weeks earlier – by July 14. That’s when we got our first field peas as well. Check out last year’s recipes at http://www.grassfedcow.com/recipes/July14.html for a description of field peas and some ideas on what to do with fried okra. The July 21 entry offers a pickled okra recipe from Steven Satterfield of Miller Union. Assuming there’ll be okra in next week’s box, we’ll come up with some more ideas.

And all those gorgeous tomatoes! So here’s my favorite tomato sandwich. You might want to try this if you’re over your fixation with white bread and mayo. You’ll need a crusty loaf of bread like a ciabatta. Split the bread in half and layer on sliced tomatoes, olive oil, sliced fresh garlic, capers, anchovy (optional as always) and basil. Throw on a splash of red wine vinegar. Close up the loaf and let the ingredients sit for at least an hour. Eat it outside.

Your basil, like mine, probably looked pretty wilted. Do not throw it out! It’s still perfectly wonderful for a sandwich like the one above, or you can do what I did last week with mine – make ice cream. There’s a wonderful new book out, Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams at Home. She makes a vanilla ice cream base and then suggests adding a bunch of basil to the ice cream mixture as it cools. Strain out the ice cream before freezing. Amazing. Then, to make it even more wonderful, she suggests caramelizing some pine nuts in honey with just a bit of butter, salting the mixture, and then stirring it into the finished ice cream for storage. Salty-sweet-buttery nuts, basil ice cream. Fabulous. I saved a little money and used half pine nuts/half pumpkin seeds. Perfect.

Don’t want to make ice cream? Try the minestrone recipe below, with its bonus recipe for a basil pistou made with almonds and tomato. Or throw the basil in the freezer (yes, well wrapped please) and pull it out when you want to make a big pot of pasta fagioli this fall. Tie the basil into a bunch and then you can just fish it out of the finished soup. Or chop it up and throw it into your next batch of spaghetti sauce. Wilted, slightly browned, none of that will matter.

And if you need another idea for tomatoes and squash, how about this pasta?

Fusilli Pasta with Roasted Tomatoes and “Hidden” Squash

Our box held a mix of tomatoes today. Use the smaller, meatier ones for this recipe, which means leaving the big juicier specimens for your favorite sandwich.

Serves 4

6 medium tomatoes, halved lengthwise
2 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil
Salt and ground black pepper to taste
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese, divided
1/4 cup chopped basil, divided
1/2 pound whole wheat fusilli
2 squash, grated
2 tablespoons lemon juice

Preheat oven to 400°F. Arrange tomatoes on a large parchment-lined sheet tray, cut-sides up. Drizzle with oil; season with salt and pepper. Scatter 2 tablespoons Parmesan and 2 tablespoons basil evenly over top. Roast until juicy and bubbling, about 20 minutes; set aside. Meanwhile, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add fusilli and cook until al dente, 10 to 12 minutes. Drain and transfer to a large bowl. Add squash, lemon juice, remaining 6 tablespoons Parmesan and 2 tablespoons basil. Toss to combine. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Divide pasta onto four plates, top with tomatoes and serve. * * * Or how about this idea for a dish that will use up some tomatoes and require no cooking (if you buy precooked shrimp)? It’s from “The Splendid Table's How to Eat Supper: Recipes, Stories and Opinions from Public Radio's Award-Winning Food Show” by Lynne Rossetto Kasper and Sally Swift (Clarkson Potter Publishers, 2008). The shrimp could be switched out for tofu, tempeh, chicken, meats or other fish.

Santa Fe Summer Pot
Serves 4

1/4 cup fresh lime juice
1/2 medium red onion, finely chopped
1 large garlic clove, minced
1/2 jalapeño, seeded and minced
1/4 teaspoon ground coriander
1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1-1/2 pounds ripe delicious tomatoes, coarsely chopped (do not peel)
2 sprigs cilantro
1 small cucumber, peeled and diced
1 ripe avocado, diced
1 pound cooked, peeled shrimp, or firm tofu or leftover poultry (organic if possible, diced)
Handful tortilla chips, lightly crushed
2 limes, each cut into 8 wedges

In a small bowl, combine the lime juice, onion, garlic, jalapeño, and spice blend. Let marinate for 10 minutes.

Place the tomatoes and coriander sprigs into the bowl of a food processor, and pulse until the mixture is chunky. Add the onion mixture, and pulse five times.

Divide the cucumber, avocado, and shrimp among four bowls. Spoon the tomato blend into the bowls. Garnish with the crushed tortilla chips and lime wedges. * * * Now on to the real stars of this week’s box - the field peas.

Shrimp and Southern Pea Salad

You can use any southern pea in this recipe, but the cooking time will vary by variety and how mature the peas were when harvested. Our fresh pink-eye peas should cook pretty quickly.

Hands on: 20 minutes
Total time: 40 minutes
Serves: 4

1 pound fresh shelled southern peas
1 teaspoon salt
1 pound large shrimp, peeled and deveined
4 teaspoons olive oil, divided
1 1/2 (one and a half) teaspoons cumin, divided
2 teaspoons fresh squeezed lemon juice
Pinch of red-pepper flakes
Salt and pepper
1/2 (one half) pound (about 4 cups) young arugula or spinach leaves

In a medium saucepan, add peas and salt and cover with cold water. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat, cover and cook until peas are fully tender, about 25 minutes.

While peas are cooking, toss shrimp with 2 teaspoons olive oil and 1 teaspoon cumin. Refrigerate until ready to cook.

When peas are tender, drain. In a medium bowl. toss peas with lemon juice, remaining olive oil, 1/2 (one half) teaspoon cumin and red-pepper flakes. Taste for seasoning. Add arugula or spinach leaves; toss to combine.

When ready to serve, heat grill pan or skillet over high heat. Add shrimp in a single layer and cook until shrimp are pink on one side, 2 to 3 minutes. Turn shrimp over, reduce heat and cook until shrimp are opaque, about 3 minutes more.

Stir shrimp into pea salad and serve.

Minestrone with Field Peas and Almond Pistou
Adapted from a recipe published in the New York Times: September 28, 2010.
Yield: 4 to 6 servings.

For the soup:
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 sprig rosemary
3 bushy sprigs thyme
4 parsley sprigs
1 chopped onion
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 medium squash, diced
1 carrot, diced
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
2 cups vegetable or chicken broth
1 pound fresh field peas (about 1 1/2 cups)
4 tomatoes (about 3/4 pound), diced
1/2 cup thinly sliced green beans

For the pistou:
4 cups fresh basil, packed
1/3 cup slivered almonds
1/4 cup chopped plum tomato
2/3 cup grated Parmesan
2 large garlic cloves, roughly chopped
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil.

In a large pot over medium-low heat, heat the oil. Tie rosemary, thyme and parsley in a bundle with kitchen string if desired (this makes it easier to fish out later). Add the herbs, onion, garlic, squash, carrot, salt and pepper to the pot and sauté until the vegetables are golden, 10 to 15 minutes.

Add broth, peas, tomatoes, green beans and 4 cups water to the pot. Simmer partly covered until the beans are tender, 30 to 45 minutes. Discard herbs. Thin with a little water if the soup is too thick.

Prepare the pistou: Pulse the basil, almonds, tomato, Parmesan, garlic and salt in a food processor until basil is chopped and all the ingredients are combined. Drizzle in olive oil while the motor runs and continue processing until a paste forms. Serve the soup with dollops of the pistou, letting people add more as needed.

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See you over next week’s box. I’m thinking okra … green beans … and more tomatoes! Oh, and a recipe for pickled squash.

conne

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