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Cooking Update: September 30, 2023
Welcome to my second cooking update!
As it turns out, I'm already not excited about writing these updates, lmao. I want the update to exist! I want to be able to look back at it! But after cooking for about four hours, I did not want to utilize my brain enough for writing. I think once I'm in the rhythm of things, it'll be easier.
Farmshare Veggies:
Cooked by Lira & Yrin:
Cooked by Alia:
Modification Notes:
-Quick Pickles: the cucumber was just cut into quarter rounds and tossed in a tupperware with some sushi vinegar and a little extra salt, the turnips got a basic water, vinegar, sugar, salt brine, and the beets got exactly the brine in the recipe
-Kale Soup: I swapped the zucchini for white beans, as recommended, and used red onion instead of shallot because it's what we have. I kept the kale stems and cooked them alongside the celery instead of discarding but otherwise, made the recipe as described. Served it with brown rice, chili oil, and the cucumber quick pickles.
-Casserole: This one barely resembles what's written after the changes I've made but casseroles are forgiving. I did about two-thirds regular potato, one-third sweet potato, used the poblano and half of some sweet, mildly spicy farm pepper that was left over from last week, zucchini, Italian blend shredded cheese, breadcrumbs from a bagel (lol), and impossible brand ground beef. Slice/chop everything, layer in casserole dish, pour over the heavy cream seasoned with salt, pepper, basil, oregano, thyme, then add the breadcrumbs and parm on top. Bake covered ~30 minutes and uncovered another ~30, then it's done.
Free Talk:
This is the first longer cooking session we've done in three or four weeks, because it's the first weekend I didn't have plans and thank god for that, honestly. I picked the soup recipe because the kale was the new veggie that wanted to be used soonest and I had wanted to try it, and the casserole because it's easy comfort food and would use up the zucchini and peppers we'd gotten at the farmer's market the week before.
Since we've been cooking smaller amounts (we often do three main-ish dishes, rather than the one or two we've been doing lately) we have a lot of unused farm veggies but they are things that keep. We have some beets, daikon, a bunch of carrots, a ton of onions, more sweet potatoes and regular potatoes... And we'll use them eventually! I think we've yet to throw any veggies out this year and especially at the beginning of the season, I was using everything we got that week and it feels really good.
I'm starting a new job this upcoming week so cooking will probably shift a little in response to that. I've been eating meal prep leftovers for lunch but not really making the kinds of things I prefer to bring into an office for lunch, so it'll be interesting rebalancing that. We'll see how it goes!
We started pre-cooking cleaning around noon and finished cooking around four pm or four-thirty, so. Not bad, considering that there were a lot of moving pieces to this recipe list -- pickling brines and sauces to make and season, fake beef to brown, plus the rice and prepping chicken for Alia's pot pies. We worked hard!
Last Week Recap:
Okay, I think I'll keep listing the recipes from the week before in the current entry, rather than linking. Feels organized. So here's what we made last week:
We made the salad almost exactly as written -- didn't bake/char the radicchio and used manchego cheese and pecans, but everything else was per the recipe -- and the dressing is really what makes it. It's a very sweet dressing and the combo of sweet and sour from the vinegar really balances out the bitterness of the radicchio. I tried it over mixed greens, just with radicchio, and with the new farm lettuce we got last Wednesday and I liked the version just with radicchio the best, which surprised me a little!
The soup, on the other hand, was kind of "meh." The spice from the spicy fake sausage intensified after cooking, so I've been eating it with sour cream to cut the spice. It isn't bad, it's just kind of one-note: there's cabbage, there's sausage, and there is other stuff in there but it just blends into the background. If I make it again, I think I'd use the non-spicy sausage, pump up the seasoning/add my own spice to taste, and add more veggies plus great northern beans. I was aiming for stew but the cabbage cooked down and I actually got a soup consistency! Which is fine but It Could Be Heartier.
Annnnnd that's it for the cooking update, thank you for joining me. Maybe in the future I'll even start taking pictures again and include those with my updates.
As it turns out, I'm already not excited about writing these updates, lmao. I want the update to exist! I want to be able to look back at it! But after cooking for about four hours, I did not want to utilize my brain enough for writing. I think once I'm in the rhythm of things, it'll be easier.
Farmshare Veggies:
- Lettuce
- Carrots
- Sweet Onions
- Kale
- Winter Squash
- Sweet Potatoes
Cooked by Lira & Yrin:
- cucumber quick pickles
- scarlet turnip quick pickles
- beet pickles in fennel, chili, balsamic pickling brine (recipe)
- creamy coconut ginger kale soup (recipe)
- Italian potato, zucchini, pepper, and "beef" casserole (recipe)
Cooked by Alia:
- mini chicken pot pies
Modification Notes:
-Quick Pickles: the cucumber was just cut into quarter rounds and tossed in a tupperware with some sushi vinegar and a little extra salt, the turnips got a basic water, vinegar, sugar, salt brine, and the beets got exactly the brine in the recipe
-Kale Soup: I swapped the zucchini for white beans, as recommended, and used red onion instead of shallot because it's what we have. I kept the kale stems and cooked them alongside the celery instead of discarding but otherwise, made the recipe as described. Served it with brown rice, chili oil, and the cucumber quick pickles.
-Casserole: This one barely resembles what's written after the changes I've made but casseroles are forgiving. I did about two-thirds regular potato, one-third sweet potato, used the poblano and half of some sweet, mildly spicy farm pepper that was left over from last week, zucchini, Italian blend shredded cheese, breadcrumbs from a bagel (lol), and impossible brand ground beef. Slice/chop everything, layer in casserole dish, pour over the heavy cream seasoned with salt, pepper, basil, oregano, thyme, then add the breadcrumbs and parm on top. Bake covered ~30 minutes and uncovered another ~30, then it's done.
Free Talk:
This is the first longer cooking session we've done in three or four weeks, because it's the first weekend I didn't have plans and thank god for that, honestly. I picked the soup recipe because the kale was the new veggie that wanted to be used soonest and I had wanted to try it, and the casserole because it's easy comfort food and would use up the zucchini and peppers we'd gotten at the farmer's market the week before.
Since we've been cooking smaller amounts (we often do three main-ish dishes, rather than the one or two we've been doing lately) we have a lot of unused farm veggies but they are things that keep. We have some beets, daikon, a bunch of carrots, a ton of onions, more sweet potatoes and regular potatoes... And we'll use them eventually! I think we've yet to throw any veggies out this year and especially at the beginning of the season, I was using everything we got that week and it feels really good.
I'm starting a new job this upcoming week so cooking will probably shift a little in response to that. I've been eating meal prep leftovers for lunch but not really making the kinds of things I prefer to bring into an office for lunch, so it'll be interesting rebalancing that. We'll see how it goes!
We started pre-cooking cleaning around noon and finished cooking around four pm or four-thirty, so. Not bad, considering that there were a lot of moving pieces to this recipe list -- pickling brines and sauces to make and season, fake beef to brown, plus the rice and prepping chicken for Alia's pot pies. We worked hard!
Last Week Recap:
Okay, I think I'll keep listing the recipes from the week before in the current entry, rather than linking. Feels organized. So here's what we made last week:
- cabbage and cucumber salad
- Japanese miso-lemon carrot quick pickles
- Italian cabbage and sausage soup (recipe)
- sweet potato, pear, and radicchio salad (recipe)
- roasted delicata squash
- campfire salsa verde dinner
We made the salad almost exactly as written -- didn't bake/char the radicchio and used manchego cheese and pecans, but everything else was per the recipe -- and the dressing is really what makes it. It's a very sweet dressing and the combo of sweet and sour from the vinegar really balances out the bitterness of the radicchio. I tried it over mixed greens, just with radicchio, and with the new farm lettuce we got last Wednesday and I liked the version just with radicchio the best, which surprised me a little!
The soup, on the other hand, was kind of "meh." The spice from the spicy fake sausage intensified after cooking, so I've been eating it with sour cream to cut the spice. It isn't bad, it's just kind of one-note: there's cabbage, there's sausage, and there is other stuff in there but it just blends into the background. If I make it again, I think I'd use the non-spicy sausage, pump up the seasoning/add my own spice to taste, and add more veggies plus great northern beans. I was aiming for stew but the cabbage cooked down and I actually got a soup consistency! Which is fine but It Could Be Heartier.
Annnnnd that's it for the cooking update, thank you for joining me. Maybe in the future I'll even start taking pictures again and include those with my updates.