CSA Basket 7

Wednesday we received our 7th CSA basket, the first of the summer quarter. In it were Tomatoes, Chard, Turnips, Kale, Beans, Lettuce, Summer Squash, Winter Squash, Radishes, Cucumbers, Dill, Grapefruit, Basil, Carrots, Apricots, Peaches, Cherries, and Pickling Cucumbers.

Following Mark Bittman's advice in his article 101 Fast Recipes for Grilling, I peeled the carrots, rolled them in some brown sugar, cumin, salt, and pepper and threw them on the grill alongside the turnips and radishes which I brushed with olive oil, sprinkled with salt, and skewered. All were fantastic! If I could through chard on the grill, I would.

Two weeks ago and this week I made pie from the stone fruits. My first round of pies followed the New York Times recipe for Twice-Baked Sour Cherry Pie. Well, mostly. I found organic pie crusts in the frozen section at Henry's, so the bottom crusts were store bought, but I followed the recipe for the top crust and the filling. Well, I substituted vodka for water in the crust recipe, which made it super crunchy awesome. Other than that I totally followed the recipe.

I made a cherry version and a peach and nectarine version that first round. The peach/nectarine tasted great. The crust on both was great. But the cherry filling just did not taste right to me. But my tapioca did not grind no matter how long I left it churning in the Cuisinart, so there were little spheres of tapioca in the filling. So for the second round I switch to corn starch instead of tapioca. No spheres. But the filling didn't really firm up like I'd prefer. And the cherry filling just didn't taste right to me again.

I have some cherry filling left over. I heard a bit on The Splendid Table today about jam that inspired me to try doctoring the cherry pie filling with a vanilla bean and vodka. I bought some Ketel One vodka at Trader Joe's strictly for vanilla extract production and pie crust making, so I've got plenty to spare for cherry pie doctoration.

P.S. Along with my CSA basket, Bridget brought me a quart of raw milk from her cow share. I'm going to try making paneer, which was also discussed on The Splendid Table today.

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