I'm also two weeks behind by now, so prepare yourself for lots of mediocre pictures of food! First up, week 17:
3 honeynut squashes
2lb red onions
2 lettuces (one greenleaf, one Boston lettuce)
1 bunch cilantro
3lb sweet potatoes
2 acorn squashes
2lb arugular
This week we got some honeynut squashes, which are really tasty, sweet and nutty. The first thing we made was a giant salad of greens and winter squash, and it was quite good. Also, that arugula - so peppery! I'm a big fan.
The salad we made had multiple types of squash - acorn, honeynut, and sweet potato. I'm counting sweet potatoes as squashes because of the color and because they taste similar. I know they're actually not related, but I don't care. The greens were some greenleaf, some boston, and some arugula. We also had some quick-pickled turnips, which are so pretty, because they're pink on the outsides.
And then the dressing - a buttermilk ranch! Ed made it, so I'm not sure of the proportions, but it involved buttermilk, sour cream, raw red onion, raw green pepper, hot pepper, lots of cilantro, lemon and salt. Maybe other things. It was really good. I recommend using the internet if you want an actual recipe for that one.
Moving backwards, here are some more meals from week 16:
This one was a really tasty Thai-inspired curry. Basically, whatever vegetables you feel like, plus lots of curry paste and a can of coconut milk and a bunch of chicken stock and you just can't go that wrong. I have zero recollection as to what was actually in that curry, but I think I spot an onion, maybe some turnip, and collards. And this really weird stringy tofu that Ed got at the Super 88 when he was there.
A somewhat deconstructed lentil soup. Ed had also acquired a pile of pork chine bones at the discount shelf of our usual grocery store - the sale meat isn't bad, but you do want to use it relatively quickly. What are chine bones? Best I can figure, they're sort of offcuts of pork spine, with various amounts of meat attached. They made a DELICIOUS pork stock - super rich and flavorful. We also roasted a batch of them, and pulled off what meat there was into the next soup, below.
Anyway, enough about the pork stock. Over these lentils in pork stock we had a fried bok choy (fried on one side, then covered with stock to finish cooking), some enoki mushrooms, matchsticked turnip, chives, fried onions, and some sriracha. Good stuff. That was actually a really, really delicious soup.
The other soup with pork stock, pork meat from the chine bones, sausage, white beans, and kale. Can't go too wrong with that much pork product in a bowl!
This is a quick lunch I'd made for myself - a honeynut squash, fried with some onions, then tossed with apple cider until that cooks off, and finished with a pat of butter. Over the last of the bok choy and collards, cooked with some soy sauce and sesame seeds, and of course the roasted squash seeds on top. Pretty tasty.
Week 18
2 butternut squashes
2 eggplants
gazillions of potatoes
gazillions of beets
carrots
yellow onions
1 head of lettuce
spinach
First up was our take on borscht. Still with that tasty pork stock, and then we sorta winged it. Boiled some beets and potatoes, while cooking down an onion and some carrot. Added the root veggies with some pork stock and some kale (side note: one of my skier's parents keeps giving us kale. I can't say no to things like that, but we already have enough greens...). And topped with some cottage cheese and a fried egg. Really good, actually.
Root vegetable tart with fried kale, onion jam, blue cheese, and a spicy roasted eggplant. The root vegetable tart was in a buttermilk crust, because we still have some buttermilk from the last time I made biscuits. It wasn't great. Not tender, not flaky, kind of more like a cracker. Not making that crust again. I could see us making another squash tart, though. First I sliced the butternut squash and beets, then roasted them. Once there was some browning, I layered them into the tart crust, and baked until the crust was done. Instead of becoming mush, the squash actually kind of dehydrated, and got really tasty. I recommend. Especially with blue cheese and onion jam (a great use for all those onions...)
The kale I fried in a nonstick pan with some olive oil and balsamic vinegar, and it actually got a little crunchy. It was good!
The eggplant is one of my favorite ways to eat eggplant. Halve it, and score it all the way down. Make a little dressing of whatever - this one was miso, sriracha, honey, and fish sauce. Slather dressing on the eggplant and roast, cut side up, for a while. It gets soft and tasty and delicious.
Spinach and redleaf lettuce salad, topped with grated carrots, roasted butternut squash, fried chickpeas, and some fried tofu. The dressing was a cilantro-lime sort of deal. I really liked all the crunch!
Also, admire what is left of my baguette. Those were some really good sourdough baguettes. They went well with the Jasper Hill cheese that we won up at Craftsbury.
The fried chickpeas are worth making again - basically take a can of chickpeas, dry them as much as you can, and fry in a nonstick pan with some olive oil until they've dried out a bit and gotten crunchy. If you leave them in place, they'll get more browning. Toss with a little salt, too.
Sometimes I have trouble using up sweet potatoes, because I just don't like them as much as potatoes, or as much as squash. These ones have been cooking up pretty nicely, though. Here we've got a mostly beige meal - roasted potatoes and sweet potatoes, and a pile of eggplant and mushrooms in a white wine reduction with some fried tofu and cilantro on top. The eggplant mixture also had some onion, sundried tomatoes, and garlic. And a pat of butter swirled around at the end. Tasty!
