Clear & red glass bubbles, part of the new sofa back display.
January 3, 2012
Clear & red glass bubbles, part of the new sofa back display.
January 2, 2012
Surprise hit from our first new restaurant try in 2012. Ma Pao tofu from Lung Gong near FIU.
Taste of Fall Pumpkin, Arugula & Pecan Ravioli in Brown Butter Sage Sauce
This is a riff on one of my favorite uses for canned pumpkin. I make this pasta a thousand different ways – with fresh pasta, with wontons, with greens or without, but always with pumpkin and nutmeg. The combo is great, and a perfect light weeknight meal.
Taste of Fall Pumpkin, Arugula & Pecan Ravioli in Brown Butter Sage Sauce
1/2 can pumpkin puree
4 oz. goat cheese
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
1 bunch arugula, finely chopped
4 leaves fresh sage
1/2 c. pecans, chopped
olive oil
butter
Approximately 30 wonton wrappers
Combine the pumpkin, goat cheese, nutmeg and 2 big handfuls of arugula in a small bowl. Stir, mashing with the back of your spoon, until the mixture is integrated well.
Put a large pot of salted water on to boil.
Arrange your wontons in a single layer on the countertop. Fill each wonton assembly style with 1 tsp or so of the filling (place the filling in the middle of the wrapper. Dip your finger in a shallow bowl of water and lightly moisten 3 sides of the wonton wrappers. Fold the edges of the wrapper together so you have a rectangle ravioli. Make sure to press out any excess trapped air.
When the water comes up to a boil, add the raviolis in batches of 6 or less at a time. You don’t want to dump them all in at once, or they will stick together in a soggy messy lump of grossness. As each batch floats to the surface, skim off with a slotted spoon and run under cold water to stop the cooking process. I then moved each batch of six to a plate so there was no chance of stickage, which worked great.
While your last few batches are cooking, put a large pan over medium/medium-high heat. Add the butter. I used a little less than a Tablespoon for serving 12 wontons. When the butter is starting to brown and turn nutty, add your ravioli. Cook, swirling in the pan with the occasional flip until the bottoms just start to brown. Add the remaining arugula and sage and cook, continuing to stir occasionally until the arugula wilts, approximately 3 minutes. Add a shot or so of olive oil if the sauce looks lacking and serve.
30 wontons serves 2 for a light dinner or 3 for an appetizer. I served 12 as a stand-alone dinner and was hungry an hour later.
January 1, 2012
We kicked 2012 off by doing something new and taking a touristy boat cruise around Biscayne Bay. We saw mansions (and ex mansions) of the rich and famous, beautiful blue skies, and plenty of waving passersby.
December 31, 2011
Living it up on New Years Eve with a Harry Potter marathon and lap companion (Dar) who currently feels fireball hot.
December 30, 2011
Salsa Party!
December 29, 2011
Sunset
December 28, 2011
Black Spanish Radishes through the Lensbaby Sweet 35 optic
CSA Box 5
Week 5 share from the Little River Market Garden CSA
CSA Share 5
5 bananas
1 lemon
1 black sapote
1 head Napa cabbage
3 black Spanish radishes
1 bunch collard greens
1 bunch baby mustard greens
1 yucca
What I Made With My Share
I made a baked pasta casserole type dish with the cabbage, which was pretty great.
I made an inedible tart with the mustard greens. Just… yuck. The crust was decent; the greens, not so much.
Grits & greens – Collard greens with roasted tomato, buttermilk grits and bacon.
The Best Thing I Made This Week
Instead of boring you with another grits & greens recipe featuring tomatoes and bacon, I will instead dig into the archives for this week’s recipe and share something I made with the watermelon radish from last week.
Roasted Sesame Radish Soba with Kale
Up Next Week
Next week, we’re taking a CSA vegetable break. No veggie share this Saturday, so I will have to be creative on my own. I see a lot of grains and veggies in my future in a futile attempt to balance out our ‘retro midwestern appetizer night’ on Christmas Eve, and obscene amount of beef (and Yorkshire pudding) on Christmas day. Cleansing grains & veggies in preparation for one last indulgence night (dumplings on New Years Eve) before the reforms of January roll around.
I have the Spanish radishes and yucca leftover to play with.
New To Me Veggies
Spanish Radishes
I’d seen these radishes but had never cooked with them. Apparently these are popular among food bloggers and CSAs, the top page of Google results brought up blog after blog. From what I’ve gathered (and was told by my CSA grower), black radish works just like regular radish, but is spicy and zippy.
Yucca
I’ve had this in Cuban restaurants, but have never cooked with it. Yucca root is actually named Cassava and isn’t related to the Yucca plant. It is a woody South American shrub prized in tropical and subtropical regions for its starchy tuberous root. According to Wikipedia, dried cassava is used to make tapioca. Apparently, Yucca must be cooked in order to get rid of its toxic cyanogenic glucosides. (Again according to Wiki) Improper preparation can leave enough cyanide to cause “acute cyanide intoxication and goiters, and has been linked to ataxia or partial paralysis.” Well, then. I guess I’ll be cooking mine. Yucca can be used as a potato substitute, served as tapioca, fufu, a flour, or a syrupy juice. You can also turn it into a liquor.
Roasted Sesame Radish Soba with Kale
This dish started with the question, what can I do with these CSA radishes other than serve them raw or pickled? I’d made simple roast English breakfast radishes before, and knew they turned sweet with heat. I’m happy to report that this dish turned out great – the radishes were sweet, almost turnip-y and the greens worked well with the sauce and carrot. All in all a satisfying, healthy weeknight dish.
Roasted Sesame Radish Soba with Kale
3 watermelon radishes
1 bunch kale
2 small carrots
1 c. vegetable stock
1/2 palm sesame seeds
1 Tbsp. + 1 tsp. honey
1 Tbsp. + 1 tsp. soy
1 Tbsp. mirin
1 tsp. chili garlic sauce
1 shallot, thinly sliced
2 servings soba
Preheat the oven to 425 F. While your oven is preheating, chop the radishes into roughly 1 inch chunks. De-stem the kale and slice it into ribbons. Slice the carrots into thin rounds.
Put the radishes into the oven on a cookie sheet. Bake 25-30 mins. or until they reach your desired softness. I left mine a little al dente, and they tasted just fine.
While your radishes are cooking, add the vegetable stock and kale to a large pan and cook approximately 10 minutes until the liquid has evaporated and the kale is soft. Add the carrot halfway through the cooking time (this will give you crisp carrots – for softer carrots, add at the beginning with the kale).
While all this is working, toast your sesame seeds in a dry pan over high heat until they just begin to brown and smell nutty. Set aside and make your radish dressing.
In a small bowl or measuring cup, combine 1 Tbsp. honey with 1 Tbsp. soy. When the radishes are done, pull the sheet from the oven and pour the radish sauce over. Add the shallots, toss to combine, and put back in the oven for 3-5 minutes. Watch carefully so the mixture does not burn.
Cook the soba according to package directions, about 3 minutes, and drain.
When the radishes are done, add the sesame seeds and toss to coat.
Add the noodles to the pan with the kale and carrots, along with the miring, 1 tsp. honey, 1 tsp. soy, and chili garlic sauce. Toss to combine.
Serve topped with the roasted sesame radishes.
Serves 2
Gastography 