April 2, 2011

The latest OBC Happenings, food bits & generals Musings…

Where is our beautiful sun hiding today? Hopefully it will come out and play again like it has the last couple days! Per usual, we have some lovely treats for you this week, and nope, that is not a belated April Fool’s prank! Hope everyone survived yesterday unscathed. We love sharing insider information on the especially potent (in terms of nutrients and health benefits!) items in our weekly boxes. Here are a few things that may be news to you, great news, of course:

• Artisanal LA- The SPRING SHOW in Santa Monica, April 16th & 17th: Almost like we willed it to happen! Artisanal LA, a great production that showcases local artisans and their wares has decided to hold it’s Spring Show in Santa Monica! Just as we are getting ramped up to start Westside deliveries. Perfect! We will be there, talking, sampling and hopefully getting all of your West Los Angeles friends signed up to get the same treats you enjoy weekly. This event is also a fabulous opportunity to buy other artisan-made with love edibles and non-edibles. Here is some more information. http://artisanalla.com/ Come hang out with us! And bring your Santa Monica friends!

• Cherimoya-Have you eaten cherimoyas before? If you are a subscriber of the “Extra Fruit” Add-on you will find one of these ‘bloated avocado’ looking things. They are a little fussy to eat because of the soft texture and all the tear drop shaped dark brown seeds. But, in my opinion, they are truly worth the fuss. Just know that, not only are they fussy, they are also temperamental. There is a very short window of time when they are perfectly delicious and creamy and custardy. They should be eaten when they have a tiny bit of give like a ripe avocado. Careful, too soft and it’ll taste like classic flavored pink bubblegum! Aside from being delicious, they are also loaded with fiber, potassium and slow- releasing sugars.

• Baby Artichokes-Also kind of fussy in terms of prep, but well worth the trouble! To enjoy these without having to spit out tough

pieces from your meal, proper prep is required. Aside from being tasty, they are a great liver cleanser…and full of antioxidants. Do not be alarmed if you have a larger pile heading into your compost bin than your sauté pan. See chicken recipe below for more details!

• Simply Pies, Mini Pot Pie- We love and are sure you love the Simply Pies crusts we often include in our weekly boxes. This week,

we are featuring a teaser “mini” pot pie for you. We’ll have them available in our store, full size, soon! Let us know how you like them. Available in Gluten-free as well!

As always, we wish you a beautiful week, filled with people you love and great food to share with them.

Enjoy the recipes, enjoy the food love, Shaheda, your Market Maven

Box Contents

Vegetables Fruit Roots • Purple Baby Artichokes* (Life’s a Choke) • Rainbow Chard (Roots) • Savoy Cabbage (Roots)

• Meyer Lemon (Fallbrook Orchards) • Strawberries (Rancho Cortez) • Murcott Mandarins (Regier Farms) • Guavas* (Rancho Santa Cecilia) • Bananas (Fair-trade) • Navel Oranges (Regier Farms) • Orange Juice (Friends Ranch, Ojai)

• Gold Beets (Rancho Cortez) • Fennel* (Givens Farm) • Bunched Orange Carrots (Givens) • Spring Green Onions (Rancho Cortez)

Leafy Greens Extra Fruit Meat/ Eggs • Spring Mix (Shepherd Farms) • Frisee (Earthtrine)

• Cherimoya (California Tropics) • Oro Blanco Grapefruit (Flying Disc) • Ruby Blush Grapefruit (Flying Disc) • Extra Strawberries, Bananas and Murcotts •

• Chicken Legs & thighs (Healthy Family) • Top Sirloin (Rancho San Julian) • Bacon! (Healthy Family) • 1 Dz Eggs (Healthy Family)

Herbs Dairy Regional Specialty • Rosemary (Earthtrine) • Italian Parsley (Earthtrine)

• Unsalted butter (Spring Hill Dairy) • Goat’s Milk Feta (Sierra Nevada)

• Mini Pot Pie (Simply Pies)

Conserves Grain/ Pulse Nuts, Seeds or Dried Fruit • Summer in a Jar, Tomatoes (Roots) • Almond Pancake Mix (Fat Uncle Farms)

Pod)

• Pistachios (Lash Farms) Fair Trade Catch of the Week • Sugar (Wholesome Sweetener) • Wild-caught Alaskan Salmon

(Janae’s Fillets) * not included in the Couple’s Box

Top Sirloin, Pepper crusted & grilled. Rice with Savoy Cabbage & Pistachios.

Halved Juicy Strawberries for dessert.

Top sirloin, the better cut of sirloin, is fabulous just simply grilled. Let’s enjoy it with this version of a classic Venetian Rice with Cabbage dish. I add nuts at the end of mine…for crunch and a bit of protein. We can use the pistachios we got this week. Ingredients: For the Steaks

• Rancho San Julian Top Sirloin Steaks • Coarse ground black pepper • Coarse salt • Olive oil

For the Rice • 1 ¼ cups of rice (short grain if you have it) • Roots Farm Savoy cabbage, shredded • 2 spring onions, finely chopped • 4 tbls olive oil • 4 small pats of Spring Hill Dairy butter • 3/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese (optional) • Salt • 4 cups of broth, simmering • 3/4 cup of pistachios, shelled and roughly chopped

Directions: Ø Meat

Rub the steaks with a little olive oil, sprinkle generously with coarse salt and coarse ground black pepper. Set aside. After you get your rice cooking, grill the meat for about 6 minutes on each side, depending on how well you prefer your steak. Cover the meat and allow to rest for at least 10 minutes.

Ø Cabbage & Rice Heat the olive oil and butter in a pot. Add in the diced spring onions and sauté over medium heat until golden. Add in the shredded savoy Cabbage and season with salt. Stir around until softened. Add a cup of hot broth, cover and allow to simmer for about 15 minutes. Open the pot, stir in the uncooked rice and the rest of the hot broth. Lower the heat and cover until rice is almost cooked and water absorbed. Stir in the parmesan and top with chopped pistachios. Serve right away!

Ø Eat! Slice your rested steak, against the grain into ½” slices. Serve with Cabbage rice. Finish the meal with a shared bowl of strawberries. Sweet!

Eggs for dinner? We are in great company by loving this idea. Frisee, thin spaghetti , Bacon, Eggs, Happy. Citrus salad.

If you have been a subscriber for a bit, you know that we are whole-hearted believers of “Eggs For Dinner.” Russ Parsons feels the same way, not surprisingly. We pride ourselves in being on the very pulse of deliciousness.

Ingredients: • 4 slices of Healthy Family bacon, chopped • A heaping tbls of minced garlic or green garlic • crushed red pepper flakes, to taste • thin, whole wheat spaghetti • 4 large fresh eggs • Frisee, chopped • 1 spring onion. White part minced, green stalks sliced long. • Meyer lemon • Citrus, peeled and sliced • Parsley- chopped • Fennel- sliced • Olive oil • salt

Directions:

Ø Boil Pasta, take out a skillet Boil water for pasta, be sure to salt the water. In your favorite heavy bottomed skillet, cook chopped bacon on medium heat until browned and crisp, somewhere between 7-10 minutes. Stir around periodically. With slotted spoon, transfer bacon to papertowel-lined plate to drain.

Drain bacon fat from pan, BUT leave a couple tablespoons in the pan. Add in the garlic and red pepper flakes. Cook for a little bit, less than a minute. Add in the spring onion (white parts only) and sauté until softened. Remove aromatics from the pan and into a bowl. Set aside. If your water has started to boil, throw in the thin spaghetti and set a timer. Set it for 2 minutes less than the package states. Cook eggs, sunny side up in the same skillet. Cook them over low heat and cover the pan for a couple minutes. Carefully remove from pan and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Drain pasta, reserve ½ cup pasta cooking water. Place the sautéed onions, garlic back into the pan. Add the pasta and the pasta water. Warm everything through over a low heat. Add in the frisee and the bacon bits. Turn off heat.

Ø To serve Divide the deliciousness between 4 shallow bowls and top with one sunny side up egg each. Garnish with slivers of green (spring onion tops). A nice squeeze of meyer lemon over this entire thing would be great! In a separate bowl, toss together citrus, fennel, parsley and olive oil. Season with salt. Breakfast for dinner is served!

What about the gold beets? An extra side for ya.

I’ll let you decide when to serve it. We have a couple things this week that are just lovely with beets. No matter how many ways I have eaten beets, I really just prefer them roasted with herbs. To make it a little interesting, we’ll use some of the grapefruits with this as well. If you want, you can start with this recipe and then use the finished result in a lovely warm salad with frisee, grapefruit segments and event avocado. Or just enjoy the roasted beets as a side, squeezed with some oro blanco juice. The recipe: Preheat your oven to 400F. Prep beets by chopping off the stem end. Leave the pointy root end as is. I find this helps to keep the flavor intense. Place your prepped beets on a piece of foil. Drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with salt. Place rosemary sprigs on top and close up the foil packet. Roast at 400F until you can pierce them with a fork, 40 minutes or so. Cool slightly and peel. Try to avoid using water when you peel. Cut into quarters, squeeze a little grapefruit juice on top and…Eat!

Linguine with braised artichokes, chicken and rosemary. Salad of mixed greens, grated carrots, and feta.

Like we mentioned at the top, artichokes are a bit of a pain to prep. And they only yield about ¼ of their weight after prep. That may a bit of an exaggeration, but it sure feels that way. Below, I have linked a great little photo slideshow detailing the prep. All that said, artichokes, prepared as they are for the recipe below are a delicious combination of textures and flavors…from a caramel-ey and browned outside to a tangy and creamy center. The chicken and other ingredients are simply an afterthought. Ingredients:

• baby artichokes • olive oil • 1 tbls of garlic or green garlic-

chopped fine • 1 small carrot, diced • 1 fennel bulb, sliced • a little flour • chicken legs and thighs • I whole Roots tomato, chopped • a squeeze of meyer lemon juice • a splash of white wine vinegar • chopped fresh rosemary leaves • chicken broth • Dry, whole wheat fettuccini or linguini • a bit of feta, crumbled (optional) • salad | mixed greens, grated carrot,

feta, vinegar, olive oil

Directions: Ø Prep your artichokes

Follow these handy instructions and prep your artichokes. Like I mentioned earlier, don’t be surprised if the amount of artichoke heading towards your pan is far less than the amount headed towards the compost bin. Basically, you will chop off the first third of the artichoke and then peel away all the tough outer leaves. Finally, chop off the tough part of the stem and slice the entire thing in half, lengthwise. All prepped!

Ø Boil water and find a big heavy pot (your Dutch oven)

Boil water for the pasta in a large pot. Salt the water. In your Dutch oven, heat up a little olive oil. Add the garlic, carrots and fennel and cook until softened. Season with salt while it is cooking. Stir in the chopped tomato and cook down. Coat the chicken pieces with a little flour, seasoned liberally with salt and pepper. Increase heat to high, push the vegetables to the side of the pan and add the chicken. You might need to do this in a couple batches. Brown the chicken evenly on both sides and remove to a plate. Do the same thing to the artichokes, slightly brown them on the cut side. After the artichokes are browned on one side, return the chicken to the pot. Add in the vinegar, lemon juice and rosemary and cook. Stir, stir, stir until the liquid evaporates. Add in the chicken broth and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer until the broth is reduced by half and the artichokes are super tender, this will take about 30- 40 minutes. Season with salt and pepper and set aside.

Ø To eat Boil the pasta until done, but still a little firm. Reserve about a cup of the starchy pasta water. Place drained fettuccine directly into the artichoke and chicken pot. Stir everything around. Over high heat, toss everything together; add about half of the pasta water and cook for a few minutes until sauce thickens. Serve with another squeeze of meyer lemon, a little more fresh chopped rosemary and a few crumbles of feta. Don’t forget the salad!

Simple Frittata, your way. lemon and feta steamed rainbow chard rolls. Two eggy dinners! It must be our lucky week. Enjoy. Ingredients: • 6 eggs • 4 Tbls milk or cream • 1 Roots tomato- chopped • bacon, chopped and cooked • chopped parsley • anything else you want in your frittata • rainbow chard leaves • fresh meyer lemon juice • feta • good quality olive oil • salt and pepper

Directions: Ø Frittata

Pre- heat your oven to 400F. In a bowl beat the eggs and milk together. Mix in the tomato, cooked bacon, and parsley (along with anything else you are using). Season with salt and pepper. Find your favorite ovenproof skillet. Liberally coat the bottom with oil and/ or butter. Pour the contents of the bowl into your heated up skillet. The burner should be at a medium flame. Cook until the bottom has set. We will be finishing this frittata in the 400F oven. Keep an eye on it. Pull it out of the oven as soon at the center doesn’t look really runny and the perimeter is starting to brown. Allow to set for at least 10 minutes before cutting into wedges.

Ø Steamed chard rolls Wash and trip the stalks off of your chard leaves. Leave them whole. Place a small amount of water in a skillet large enough to hold all the chard. Steam for just a few minutes. Remove from the pan, carefully and lay flat, in stacks of 3-4 leaves. Drizzle each stack lightly or brush with your favorite olive oil. Season with salt. Starting at the stem end, roll up the leaves and place in a shallow serving bowl. Continue until they are all rolled and in the bowl. Squeeze lots of lemon juice on top and sprinkle with feta. Drizzle again with that tasty olive oil. Slice the rolls before serving.

Catch of the Week | Wild Caught Alaskan Salmon Fennel and Salmon are delicious together. The recipe is very simple. Heat up a little olive oil in a pan. Saute sliced fennel and sliced spring onion. Season with salt. Add in the juice and zest of your favorite citrus. Cook a little longer and then remove from heat and into a small bowl. Meanwhile season salmon fillet with salt and pepper. Reheat skillet and melt a little pat of butter into it. Sear salmon, skin side down. It will cook quickly. Cover and allow to steam through. To serve, place a spoon of the onion mixture onto your plate and top with the lovely salmon. Have some salt and maybe a little citrus juice nearby to dress it. Enjoy!