April 9, 2011

The latest OBC Happenings, food bits & generals Musings…

Hi everyone! Lovely morning at the market today- Spring is really starting to show around here, lots of new things are just about ready for harvest. That said, we do have lovely (already shelled!) English Peas in the box this week, a sure sign of great new things to come! Because they are already shelled, EAT THEM SOON…otherwise they will be starchy and less than delicious. Who says California doesn’t have seasons?! First off, we are so thrilled to welcome two new Rock Star suppliers into our Collective! We take so much pride in sourcing only the best of everything for our weekly boxes. This Rancher and this Fish Monger are certainly no different. • Dey Dey’s Best Beef Ever- With a name like that, they are already high up in my book. This week we are showcasing a whole

chicken and ground beef from Dey Dey’s (I imagine they will soon be adding “& chicken” to their company name). Dey Dey’s Ranch covers about 220 acres in the Santa Rita Hills. Their cattle is 100% grass-fed, start to finish, and actually fed a buffet of glorious grasses grown specifically for them. Oat, Alfalfa, Perennial Rye, Orchard Grass, Fescue are the combination rumored to provide us with the “Best Beef Ever”. If you did not already know, grass-fed beef is always lower in saturated fat than corn fed. Take a peek here to read more about Dey Dey’s practices. Let us know how you like it! Please note: we still do love LOVE Rancho San Julian. We want to share this beautiful profile of Elizabeth Poett that Patagonia recently posted. She is getting ready to give birth to a possible 8th generation rancher. We wish her the best!

• Kanaloa Seafood- Our fishmonger, Cadena has gone the way of Maria August of Liberty Granola and decided to hang up her apron…or rather put away her rubber gloves. Kanaloa Seafood, based in Santa Barbara is a larger operation, and are known as one of the most environmentally conscious fish operations in the country. They seek out the most environmentally responsible and most sustainable path in every step of their operation. They do cast a wider net than Cadena’s did, but OBC always select an option that is more local and if the waters locally are rough, we will offer something beautiful and rare and still sustainably, responsibly caught. To read more about Kanaloa please go here. This week, we are featuring Petrale Sole, a lovely fish to pan fry, drizzle with lemon and feast! You can always add the “Catch of the Week” option by visiting our website.

Other important news: • 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 its 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. Here is some more information. http://artisanalla.com/

• Too much Butter?-Are you getting way more butter than you need? Let us know if you would rather receive butter every other week. We will alternate it with another something lovely.

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 • Broccoli (Rancho Cortez) • English Peas * (McGrath) • Fava Bean Greens (Roots Farm)

• Avocado (Rancho Santa Cecilia) • Kiwis (Mallard Lake Ranch) • Blood Oranges & Pixies (Somers Ranch) • Strawberries (Rodriguez Family Farms) • Pink Grapefruit (Shulte Lane Farms) • Bananas (Fairtrade) • Lemon (Earthtrine)

• Potatoes (Noonan Farms, Mendocino) • Green Garlic * (Domingo Farms) • Bunched Yellow Carrots (Tutti Frutti Farms) • Spring Green Onions (Rancho Cortez) • Parsnips (Roots Farms)

Leafy Greens Extra Fruit Meat/ Eggs • Spring Mix (Shepherd Farms) • Savoy Spinach * (Roots Farm)

• Blueberries (Pudwill) • Extra Strawberries, Blood oranges & Pixies • Cherimoya (Earthtrine)

• Whole BIG Chicken (Dey Dey’s Beef) • Ground Beef (Dey Dey’s Beef) • Pork Loin Cutlets (Jimenez Farms) • 1 Dz Eggs (Lily’s Eggs)

Herbs Dairy Regional Specialty & OJ • Sage * (Earthtrine) • Thyme (Earthtrine)

• Unsalted butter (Spring Hill Dairy) • Monterey Jack (Spring Hill Dairy)

• Green Star Coffee (Combined categories!) • Orange Juice (Friends Ranch)

Conserves Grain/ Pulse Nuts, Seeds or Dried Fruit • Blueberry Lemon Jam (Marcie’s Jams) • Pie Shell (Simply Pies)

• Walnuts (Avila)

Fair Trade Catch of the Week Welcome/ Referral gift • Green Star Coffee- Morning Star Blend

(Fairtrade) • Petrale Sole (Kanaloa Seafood) • Lilacs (Windrose Farms)

* not included in the Couple’s Box

Dey Dey’s Meat Pie, mixed green salad, Plate of Peeled Pixies

Meat pie…grrrrr. Sorry, couldn’t resist that. This is a meat and potatoes meal (quite literally), only not as unhealthy as the restaurant varieties. All the ingredients we are using are clean and raised with love. Not to mention fresh, so they are loaded with nutrients! Hope I didn’t take all the fun out of this meat pie (ggrrrr…!) Served with a simple “something raw” bowl of mixed greens and the meal is well rounded and complete. Ingredients: Meat: • Dey Dey’s Ground Beef • 3-4 cloves of garlic, crushed • 1-2 spring onions, chopped (~1 cup) • 1-2 cups of chopped veggies- some

beautiful options from the box are yellow carrots, peas, parsnips, broccoli stems, spinach. Pick your 3 favs.

• Chicken or beef stock or water or “tomato liquid” from your Roots tomatoes

• 1 Roots tomato, chopped (if you have any left)

• 2 tsp of Worcestershire or soy sauce • Fresh thyme leaves • Fresh parsley (optional) • 1tbsp of flour (optional)

Potatoes: • 2 large potatoes (or 3 medium), peeled

and cubed • I egg, beaten (optional) • About 2 tbsp of sour cream or cream

cheese or yogurt (optional) • Few pats of butter

Directions: Ø Potatoes

Preheat oven to 375F. Boil potatoes in salted water until tender, about 12 minutes. Drain potatoes and dump them into a bowl. Combine sour cream, egg. Add this mixture into potatoes and mash until potatoes are almost smooth. Stir in 2 pats of butter. You can also add a little liquid if needed. Salt, pepper.

Ø Meat While potatoes boil, heat a large skillet over medium heat. Add oil to hot pan. Add in your onions and garlic to soften. Stir in your ground beef, season with salt and black pepper. Break up the beef with a wooden spoon and then allow to brown. If there is excess fat, push the meat to one side of the pan and drain the fat away. There will not be much. Add in your chopped veggies, along with the chopped Roots brothers tomato and a little liquid. Stir to combine and cook for a few minutes. Season with thyme leaves, parsley and Worcestershire or soy. Finally sprinkle in the flour and cook for another couple minutes. The addition of a little flour will help thicken the mixture.

Ø Bake Spoon the meat mixture into a baking dish or pie pan. Top with the mashed potato mixture. Make sure the top is a little uneven, use a fork to create peaks if necessary, or have your littlest sous chef help with that. The potatoes will brown and crisp in those areas and be really tasty. Top the potatoes with a few small bits of butter, if desired. Bake for about 30 minutes. If the top has not browned, you can either place it under the broiler for a few minutes or turn the heat up to 500 for a few minutes. Either way, keep an eye on it! Let it rest for about 10 minutes before serving it up. While your meat pie is baking, prepare your salad of mixed greens (and anything else you’d like in your salad). Stir together a quick vinaigrette (3 parts oil to 1 part acid). Half a tangerine would be a great “acid” to use. Salt and pepper.

Ø Eat

Enjoy your meat pie and mixed greens. After your hearty meal (ggrrrrr…) don’t forget to pass around a plate of peeled pixies! Say that 3x fast!

Honey Garlic grilled pork cutlets

Helpful tip: Benefits from a long marinade served with sauteed fava greens/ peas

bowl of berries for dessert

If you haven’t tried Fava Bean Greens yet, you are in for a treat. Fava Beans are delicious, but quite frankly, a pain in the place where the sun don’t shine, to prep. The Fava Greens have a fava bean-like taste and require virtually no prep. A quick sauté with the seasons first (and crazy sweet) English peas make a great side dish to accompany these Pork Loin cutlets. Ingredients: Meat: • 4 cloves of garlic, crushed • Jimenez farms pork cutlets • equal parts honey and citrus juice

(lemon or tangerine or grapefruit would all be great)

• 2 tsp of soy sauce Sides: • Fava greens, washed and leaves

separated • Peas, shelled • 1 clove of garlic, crushed • olive oil • salt • squeeze of lemon to finish • rice (optional)

Directions: Ø Marinade the cutlets

This recipe is super easy and will benefit from a longer marinade, but it is certainly not required. Even 30 minutes at room temperature will make a difference. In a bowl, mix together garlic, honey, citrus and soy. Remove your cutlets from the packaging and pat dry. Lay flat and sprinkle with a little salt, and then cover with the marinade, reserve a little to baste with when you are grilling. If you have time to marinade for more than an hour, throw everything into a ziplock bag and refrigerate. If you have less than an hour, leave it at room temp while you prepare your greens. Ø Saute the Greens

Heat up a little olive oil in a pan. Quickly sauté the chopped garlic and then add in your shelled peas. This dish comes together very quickly so it’s key to have everything prepped. Keep moving the peas around for about a minute and then add in your fava greens. Add a tiny bit of water to the pan if needed. Season with salt. Cover the pan for another minute of two. Done. The greens should still be bright green but wilted. Squeeze a little lemon on top before serving and check the salt. Ø Grill the cutlets

Heat your grill pan or heavy skillet to medium-high heat. Grill your cutlets for about 5-8 minutes or until they reach 150F on the inside. Baste with reserved marinade while they are in the pan. Remove from pan, cover and allow to rest. While they rest they will come up to the recommended 155F. Ø Eat

Serve your cutlets with a side of seasonal greens and rice, if desired. Have some berries for dessert, you’ve earned it.

Roast Chicken, roasted potatoes, Roasted Parsnips, roasted carrots and mixed greens (not roasted)

This is a very classic meal and we have a great herb for it. Thyme and chicken are lovely together, especially fresh thyme grown by Earthtrine, its hasn’t even been refrigerated since it was in the earth, so it still has all of the flavor that nature intended it to have. Ingredients: • Whole, happy Dey Dey’s Chicken • Kosher salt • Potatoes, scrubbed, halved • Carrots, scrubbed, left whole • Parsnips, scrubbed, large pieces • Thyme leaves • Mixed greens • Dijon mustard • Unsalted butter, room temp

Directions: Ø Prep and Roast

Preheat oven to 450F. This is my favorite way to roast a chicken, it is easy and pretty foolproof. It does get a little smoky, so have a window cracked. Remove the chicken from the packaging and pat dry, really really well. Don’t forget the inside of the cavity, dry that too. Bring the bird to room temp while you prepare the vegetables. Place potatoes, parsnips and carrots in a separate roasting pan. Drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with salt and thyme leaves. Toss to coat evenly. Cover with foil! Because we are roasting at such a high temp, we’ll need to cover the vegetables to allow them to cook through otherwise they will be burnt on the outside and crunchy on the inside…and no one wants that. Back to the chicken. Rain a very generous amount of coarse kosher salt over the entire bird and inside it’s cavity. I use about 1 ½ tbsp. Truss the bird like so and place in a roasting pan. Place the chicken and the vegetables into the oven. Make sure you covered the vegetables with foil. The chicken will be perfect in about 50-55 minutes. The vegetables will be done a little sooner. Uncover them after 20 minutes in the oven. Put them back into the oven for another 5 minutes so they have a chance to brown. When you take the chicken out of the oven, toss lots of thyme leaves on top and in the pan. Baste the hot bird with the drippings and thyme leaves. Cover and allow to rest and “re-juicify” for at least 10 minutes. Make your salad while the bird rests. Ø Eat

Serve your roast bird with Dijon mustard and room temp unsalted butter on the side, or just as it is. Roasted carrots, parsnips, potatoes and a fresh green salad round out this meal.

Stir Fry Night! Citrus and avocado salad.

This stir fry recipe is more a ‘technique’ I am sharing rather than an actual recipe. If I knew exactly what you had waiting in your crisper drawer, I’d be more specific. That being said, stir-fries are awesome! And the best way to create a quick, healthy meal using up odds and ends you may have, in a relatively short amount of time. The most important thing for stir fries is…PREP! Oh, we have delicious walnuts in our box this week, so we’ll be toasting and using those too! Ingredients: • Leftover chicken • Broccoli- florets & stems cut in small

pieces • Spring Onions- chopped • Garlic, sliced thin • Savoy Spinach leaves • Fava greens • Carrots- chopped • Walnuts- toast lightly • Citrus, segmented • Avocado, sliced • Salt, pepper

Optional ingredients: • Organic tofu- if you ate your roast

chicken. • Ginger- grated • Soy sauce • Cilantro • Red chili flakes • Sesame oil • Noodles or steamed rice to serve. • Any other veggies you want to use

up!

Directions: Ø Stir fry prep

With Stir fry meals it is very important to make sure all of your prep is ready to go before you ever turn the heat on. Chop all of your vegetables about the same size. The spinach and fava green leaves can be left whole. Make sure all the veggies are in separate piles. Place the garlic, ginger & chili flakes in a small bowl.

Ø Time to stir fry! Heat a small amount of oil in a wok or skillet. Use an oil with a high smoke point, like canola or grapeseed. Add in ½ of the garlic, ginger, red pepper and stir around quickly. Add in the vegetables, one by one, starting with the hardest first. Do not add the fava greens or spinach yet. If you are using tofu or leftover chicken, add that too. Everything should be cooked until tender-crisp and bright in color. Add some soy sauce and cilantro. Stir around. Turn off the heat, add the fava greens and savoy spinach leaves. Cover for a couple minutes.

Ø Citrus Salad This is a refreshing simple salad meant to showcase all the lovely flavorful citrus. Place the citrus segments into a bowl, along with the juice drippings. Add in some avocado.

Ø Eat Drizzle the stir fry with a tiny bit of sesame oil and serve over noodles or steamed rice. Sprinkle the citrus and avocado slices with a little salt and toss very gently using your clean fingers. Eat!

Savoy Spinach quiche

We have this delicious pie crust from Simply Pies (another supplier that we adore!) still waiting in the box. Let’s make an easy quiche. Lots of things will work in this recipe, like, perhaps last weeks bacon! We can’t forget to include this weeks heirloom savoy spinach (all the benefits of spinach but without the slightly bitter aftertaste). Ingredients: • 1 ½ cups milk • 6-8 eggs • salt/ pepper • ¾ cup grated jack cheese • a little fresh grated nutmeg (optional) • savoy spinach, quickly sautéed • onion, sautéed • bacon, sliced and cooked (optional) • herbs that you like, chopped

Directions: Ø Step one and done!

Preheat oven to 375F. Sauté all the veggies as noted in the list above. Don’t forget the bacon, if using. Slightly cool. Prepare pie crust as directed. Place all vegetables inside the crust. Mix eggs, salt, milk, pepper and nutmeg well and pour over the top of veggies. Sprinkle with cheese before placing in oven. Bake for 30 or so minutes until top is brown but still wet looking. Sprinkle with fresh herbs. Allow the quiche to sit for at least 20 minutes before eating. Enjoy with a salad of your choice.

Easy Skillet fried Petrale Sole with lemon and butter

This is a very basic recipe for cooking sole. It is a fish that is lovely and delicate and just great pan fried like this. Ingredients: • Sole, patted dry • a little flour • salt/ pepper • lemon • butter

Directions: Ø Step one and done (again)!

Place the flour in a shallow dish. Season it really well with salt and pepper. Take your sole fillet (patted dry) and dredge it in the flour to coat evenly. Shake off any excess. Repeat with the rest of the fillets. Heat up a small pat of butter in a skillet, medium-high heat. When the pan is warmed, pan fry the sole for a couple minutes on each side. Remove to a plate and serve immediately with lemon slices and extra butter (optional). Serve with a simple salad or veggies you might have lurking (steamed) or even just a bowl of fruit.