CSA Basket 8

This weeks basket contained Chard, Tomato, Kale, Summer Squash, Winter Squash, Green Beans, Nectarines, Peaches, Pluots, Lettuce, Carrots, Grapefruit, Valencia, Grapes, Cilantro, Lemons, and Cucumbers.


Any thoughts on what to do with grapefruit if you're not into eating it plain?

I used my brand new KitchenAid FVSFGA Fruit/Vegetable Strainer and Food Grinder for Stand Mixers to strain roasted winter squash for baby food. I've been pondering Super Baby Food by Ruth Yaron. The exciting part of the book is the recipes for toddlers, but the advice for first foods and making baby food at home is handy. And I feel like the best granola crunchy mom ever for serving my wee bairn local, organic food from my CSA basket. Between that and the cloth diapering, I feel totally justified leaving the air conditioning on more than strictly necessary . . . not really, I feel totally guilty about using electricity.

Anyway, from last weeks' summer squash I made Fettuccine with Zucchini which I had clipped from the Pairings column in the New York Times about a year ago for Mom, who was up to her ears in zucchini at the time. I never managed to send her the recipe, but it sure did come in handy. Using handmade fettuccine from Trader Joe's was the key. Of course, my better half would have preferred a big slab of chicken on top, which would have gone very nicely with it, but it wasn't necessary. This week I'm contemplating the options presented in Martha Rose Shulman's roundup of dishes using summer squash.

Thankfully, the cherry supply seems to have dried up. My third incarnation of cherry pie, as contemplated in my last CSA post, was the worst yet: medicinal flavored cherry filling, the liquid portion of which somehow seeped between the bottom crust and the pan to create a tough layer of burned fruit leather. But the top crust, which I got from Ratio: The Simple Codes Behind the Craft of Everyday Cooking by Michael Ruhlman, (along with my new favorite phrase, "pate sucre") was a great success. So with this week's peaches and nectarines I shall again make a pie. Stay tuned for the outcome.

I did make a paneer of sorts from the raw milk Bridget brought. Just heated the milk for awhile, added some red wine vinegar, and strained it through a dish cloth overnight. Great on my morning bagel. Next week I'm planning to tag along while Bridget milks her cow. I'll try to take pictures.

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