Two Small Victories

Today I dropped off my bike at the repair shop for a tune up and a few minor repairs. Believe it or not it hasn't been ridden in over four years! It's definitely in need of a bit of TLC. In a couple of days I'll be able to pick it up and take it for a spin - let's hope I remember how! Hopefully in the next couple weeks I'll be up for doing my first commute to work via bike!

Another not so minor victory today - I used up the last of my CSA share! Well, sort of. I did have one small bit of sorrel that went bad. I was going to use it in a quiche with my tiny bit of remaining ramps. Instead I used the last few stalks of my asparagus with the ramps and a bit of chives. I must say it is excellent!

Here's the recipe I tailored myself following some guidance from my How to Cook Everything cookbook. (I LOVE that book!)

Asparagus and Ramp Quiche

1 frozen pie crust (I use Pillsbury)
6 eggs
2 cups heavy cream (or 2 c any combination cream, milk and/or half and half)
5-6 stalks of asparagus, coarsely chopped
3 ramps, white part finely chopped, stalk and leaves chopped
1-2 cups of cheese, shredded (I hear goat cheese is excellent. I used part sheep cheese, part cranberry cheddar because that's what I had on hand. Really this is rare! I am normally a plain cheddar and/or mozz kinda gal but we recently took a trip to Wisconsin and stopped off at a wonderful cheese shop on the way home!)
1-2 T of vegetable oil
4-6 chives, with bud, finely chopped

Cook white part of ramps in 1-2 T oil over medium-high heat until they start to brown. Lower heat to medium and add remaining parts of the ramps, and asparagus. When asparagus starts to soften, add chives and cook for 1 additional minute. Put vegetable mixture on a plate to cool.

Unroll pie shell into a deep dish pie plate. (If you do not have a deep dish pie plate as I didn't, you will have some extra filling that you can bake without a crust in another small baking dish if you like. ) Poke the pie shell with a fork all over and pre-bake at 425 degrees for about 10 minutes or until just starting to brown. Remove from oven and lower temp to 325 degrees.

While pie shell is cooking, mix eggs in a medium bowl. Heat cream in small sauce pan just until barely warmed, add to eggs. Add cheese, and the cooled vegetable mixture.

Pour quiche mixture into the pre-baked pie shell. Bake at 325 degrees for 30-40 minutes, until set. Enjoy!!

CSA - Week 1

Well, I did it. This city girl finally got her rear in gear and joined a CSA. I was a little nervous about how I would manage to use up all the fresh veggies coming my way. Would I find the time to find recipes and make the home cooked meals it required? Would I even like them? My partner, gotta love her, informed me very clearly that she "would not eat half of the vegetables they give you." Hmm.

The thing is some CSAs allow you to sign up for less frequent deliveries if you think you cannot keep up with a once a week delivery. Or some people choose to go in on it with a friend and split them. Luckily for us I found Harmony Valley Farm which has many glorious options! So, I signed us up for veggies every other week. And fruit every other week (opposite the veggies). And cheese once a month. Before you start to think I went a little overboard for a first-timer, let me point out that I did miraculously manage to hold myself back from also ordering the coffee share. If you knew anything about me and coffee you'd know that's a true feat! And, also a feat, a week since getting our first veggie box my partner has eaten more than half the veggies they gave us. In fact, she's eaten exactly what I have, except for the black radish chips (more on those later).

All in all, this has been a glorious week of amazingly good, nutritious, veggie filled recipes! I'm completely thrilled with the whole experience so far (aside from the larger than normal mounds of dirty dishes!) Over the next few days I'll try to post some of the recipes we've tried. But for starters I'll share the absolutely scrumptious dinner we had tonight:

Beef and Black Radish Stew (Khuplama)
This was the best thing I've made in a long time! It cooks for a while, but it was so easy. And I got to use up one more of those radishes. The only think I did differently from the recipe is to skip the cayenne and cilantro and added some chili powder. Do you know radish is one of those things that my partner swore she would not eat? And she had no idea it was in here!

Potato, Parsnip and Ramp Pie

Great side dish. I adapted the recipe quite a bit to fit what I had on hand so I'll re-type it here the way I did it. In hind sight I think it could have used a couple cloves of garlic too. Here's what I did:

1 lb potatos & parsnips, peeled & cut into 1-inch cubes
1 c cheddar, grated
1/2 c half & half
3 eggs
salt & pepper
One pre-made pie crust (I use Pillsbury frozen pie crusts)
3 ramps, chopped - use all parts of the ramps

Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Salt the water and add the potatoes & parsnips. Let boil for 15 minutes until tender. Drain. Return the potatoes & parsnips to the pot, add the cheese & mash. Stir half & half & eggs together then stir into mash. Salt & pepper generously. Set aside.

Preheat oven to 375 F.

Lay the pie crust in a 9" pie plate. Pour the mashed mixture on top of the crust and spread out. Trim any excess pie crust. Sprinkle ramps on top of the mash.

Bake for 25-30 minutes until the mash has set & the edges are golden brown. Let sit a few minutes before serving.

4 servings.