Wednesday, July 22, 2009

CSA--Half way through the summer!

The last few weeks I have not actually been aware of what was coming in our CSA share, as I have been on bedrest and friends have been picking it up, delivering it, and making it disappear into my fridge. Then my husband makes salad. 

But today I was downstairs on the sofa when Kristen and Howard showed up with the share, so I know what we have and boy is it a beauty!

Swiss Chard
Onions--three kinds
Shallots
Fennel
Garlic
Opal Basil (it's Purple!)
Thyme
More fingerling potatoes than you can shake a stick at 
Tomatoes!

I have a feeling that tomorrow, I will be eating some sort of tomato, onion, and basil all together. Perhaps on a bagel (my parents are coming into town and they are bagel people) but also perhaps as a salad or just by slicing up tomatoes and putting the onion and basil on top. Who can say?  What I do know is that I am having a baby in 4 days and I am not going to let those tomatoes go to waste!

Friday, July 17, 2009

Have not been cooking

I'm still on bed rest for another 9 days, so I haven't been cooking.

That said, Maggie went to go pick up Pho for dinner tonight while Adam and the kiddo went to a ballgame. Hooray for Pho! 

If you have never had it, Pho is Vietnamese Beef Noodle Soup. It comes with very thin noodles, beef cut of your choice (you can be adventurous or not), a delicious broth, and a whole lot of side veggies and spices that you can choose to add or not. I managed to add some of nearly everything--bean sprouts, onions, basil, hot peppers, and spicy sauce (sraracha and hoisin mixed and yum). I over spiced mine but I didn't care because I have been Craving Spice for days now.

Maggie tells me that I need to remind everyone that it is also the world's tastiest laxative. 

I can't wait to getting back to cooking, but for now, Pho and other delicious take out items will do just fine!

Sunday, July 5, 2009

Chicken with Cherry Sauce, also, My husband, the cooking fiend

It's Cherry Season!!!

Last year at Cherry Season, my friend Maggie and I invented the Best Cherry Sauce Recipe There Ever Was. This year, I had to ask my husband to make it, based on some very nebulous directions that I had scribbled into my Livejournal. These included directions like "Add a whole lot of Five Spice." Well, he followed my crazy directions but then told me exactly what he did so that we can emulate it in the future. So today, I present Chicken with Cherry Sauce!

Chicken with Cherry Sauce
by Lynne Powell, Maggie Kolb, and formalized by Adam Terio
1 whole roasting chicken
olive oil, salt, pepper, garlic powder, paprika
1 cup sour cherries, pitted
1/2 cup sweet cherries, pitted
1/4 cup Smart Balance 
2t salt
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 of a bottle of red wine (estimate here)
1t five spice
1/2t black pepper
splash of apple juice

Coat chicken with olive oil and season with salt, pepper, garlic, paprika. Roast chicken. While chicken is roasting, start the sauce.

Saute sweet and sour cherries in Smart Balance. Add salt and sugar and continue to saute until cherries are coated. Add wine, five spice, black pepper, and a splash of apple juice. Bring to a boil and then reduce heat to medium-low. Smash cherries with a fork or potato masher and allow to continue reducing until chicken is ready to eat. 

We serve the chicken with the sauce on the side, as if you do have leftovers of both, they reheat better separately. This is traditionally (both times) served with cous cous and corn on the cob. 

In other news, my husband has been a cooking fiend today. He started out making breakfast burritos with eggs, cheese and chorizo. On our list of things to cook or prep are this fabulous dinner, a cherry pie (which he made, and we had for dessert), swiss chard empanadas, mint chocolate chip ice cream, and beer. And since I can't stand up, he has been doing everything himself! I did help pit the cherries because I could sit and do it in about 10 minutes now that we have a cherry pitter. I know it's a uni-tasker. But it's probably even more useful than my favorite gadget, the mango pitter, because cherry season lasts longer. 

So he's been cooking. The ice cream is cooling before we put it in the ice cream maker, the pie has been partially eaten, the dinner was demolished, and the water for the beer has been boiled. If we don't get to the empanadas, oh well, there's always tomorrow (it's more important that the beer get made actually, based on my due date!) When I met him, my husband knew how to make three things--Boboli pizza, chicken stir fry, and taco salad. (He claims he knew how to make other things but that's all we ever ate at his house unless I cooked!) So after today he has made a believer of me!! He even noticed that he had extra heavy cream from the ice cream, so he made whipped cream for the pie! I'm seriously impressed, and I love him dearly!