There it is – a pile of eggs, cabbage, zucchini, squash, cucumbers, and sweet corn. This didn’t seem too intimidating for the week. The problem? Out of this entire pile, the only thing The Husband would eat was the sweet corn. <insert irritated sigh> If we are going to do this CSA thing, I need some help eating the food.
I tried to tackle things more creatively this week. I didn’t want just roasted vegetables.
The sweet corn only lasted a couple days. That was grilled up on Saturday, I think. It was delicious. Midwest sweet corn can’t be beat.
I sliced up the squash in the food processor, and sauteed it with a little olive oil, sea salt, black pepper, and a dash of lemon juice. It was tasty.
The zucchini has been shredded. Some went into spaghetti, some will go into wraps this weekend, and the rest was frozen. I still have some bread left, and the batter for another loaf in the freezer, so I’m good for a while.
<sidetracked> Spaghetti. NOMNOMNOM. I could eat spaghetti every day. Chunky, runny, with Italian sausage, with meatballs, meatless, with roasted garlic, with mushrooms, without – there is no end to the possible awesome combinations for this perfect food. Summer is my favorite time, too, because I can use fresh tomatoes, fresh green peppers, fresh onions, and fresh herbs. I make double or triple batches of it and freeze it for winter. I use my sauce in lasagna, and to make stuffed shells, and in meatball subs. Really, it’s the perfect food. </sidetracked>
What to do with three large cucumbers, when I already had some in the fridge? I had no idea. My friend Erin sent me a recipe from cucumber salad. It was cucumbers, red onion, sour cream, vinegar, and fresh dill. I let it sit overnight. By mid-morning Monday, I was shoving that in my face like I’d never get to taste another bite.
this picture does it no justice
There is still one left, though, and I got three more today. I am running out of cucumber ideas.
Cabbage. What does one DO with cabbage? I had never bought a head of it in my life. As usual, I asked Twitter, and I got a ton of responses – from Braised Stuffed Cabbage Rolls (which look delicious) to “feed wildlife” (which made me chuckle). I wanted to make coleslaw, but not with mayo – I don’t like mayo (and I can’t stand Miracle Whip, ever, on anything, ever). I decided to try this Amish Slaw recipe Jon found. I got to put the food processor to work shredding the cabbage and the onion. I made the sauce, mixed it, and let it sit overnight. On Tuesday, I was stuffing this in my mouth like there would never be any more made in the world. It’s amazing. It also made about 10 cups of the stuff, and I’ll never eat it all before it goes bad.
again, the photo doesn’t do it justice
On a related note: the food processor is magical. MAGICAL. It chopped up that head of cabbage in less than a minute. Dang. The zucchini was done in less than two. The veggies for spaghetti hardly knew what hit them. And what did I need to to? Peel the veggies, cut them into appropriately-sized pieces, throw them in, and then put the parts in the dishwasher when I was done. MAGIC.
Stay tuned for next’s week’s adventures. It going to feature salsa. FRESH SALSA. I’m already drooling.
On Top Chef Masters this week, one of the chefs had a really good-looking zucchini salad: http://www.bravotv.com/foodies/recipes/print/zucchini-salad-with-roasted-poblano-vinaigrette
The only drawback is that she did it with a mandolin to get really long slices of zucchini, and that’s painful. Literally. That contestant took the first layer of skin off her fingers and had to leave the show – doh!