Pickling Brine and Your Garden Bounty ...

Today, it's clear to me that the garden produce will be coming fast and furious for the next four to six weeks. In defense, I'm calling up my Sprout Sara's pickling brine that she uses to 'quick pickle' red onions.

I have the first of the zucchini and some beautiful Vidalia onions that all all the rage on the end bins in the produce departments right now.  So, with our grilled steak and fresh steamed green beans, we'll have some pickled zucchini and onions this evening.

I'll probably be setting aside some green beans and adding them to the pickling broth in the days to come. I was thinking that salad radishes might be interesting too.

Kale Salad with Apples, Cranberries and Roasted Butternut Squash

Thoroughly 'massaged' kale ribbons, fresh Pink Lady apple chunked and soaked in lemon juice, dried cranberries, pumpkin seeds, roasted cubes of butternut squash, a small handful of Feta cheese  and there you have last night's dinner.

Hokumpoke Creamy Corn Pasta with Peas and Basil

This past week I made my way over to Hancock, New Hampshire to a start-up CSA called Hokumpoke Farm. Isn't that an awesome name ? First of all, it's just plain fun to say and second it is not a name to be forgotten, so it's easy to toot it to my friends. Anyway, I was drawn there because Colleen had the brilliant idea to market the CSA to more folks by offering a weekly opt in/opt out share program. Now, SB and I have our own vegetable garden, but we also are pretty basic in what we grow. My herbs are sketchy this year, we never grow leeks or kohlrabi or fennel or heirloom tomatoes or cabbage ... and guess what? Hokumpoke Farm does! You can guess what weeks I'll be trotting over to pick up a bag of produce!

White Beans with Italian Sausage and Escarole

A good stew is a thing of beauty. This particular stew is healthy, relatively low in calories, filling, and a small enough batch that it doesn't grow 'old' on the palate. The recipe makes enough for two hungry souls with a bit left over for lunch in the next day or so. A good meal that doesn't overstay its welcome!

Ina Garten's Sun-Dried Tomatoes and Pasta

 Fourth of July picnic fare was all dolled up yesterday with pulled pork, burgers, hotdogs, pimento cheese and crackers, boozy coconut pineapple chunks, chips, pickles, and this pasta salad. Thank you, Ina Garten for giving me a wonderful base recipe! I used gemelli pasta instead of rotini because I like its 'bite'. I also added the pepperoni, sweet yellow peppers, and sweet white onions. You can add whatever you have in your produce drawer - perhaps red and green peppers ? In addition, I omitted the Parmesan cheese and halved the mozzarella measure, because I felt there was enough cheese in the recipe. Here's the base recipe ! Have at it !

Stewed Summertime Veg - Pisto

Summertime vegetables are starting to come into the supermarkets and soon they'll be mounded up at the local farmer's markets too! That makes this tapas dish perfect for using the best of the best fresh veg! I love the color and flavour that a bit of smoked paprika gives this particular pan of Pisto.