Week #7

The Weekend

This was a very quiet, relaxing weekend at home.  On Sunday, we did make it out for a hike on the Billy Goat trail near Glen Echo park.  It felt pretty great to be out in the woods.  See, the thing about hiking is: it's non-competitive, the scenery is gorgeous, and you get to wear boots that make you feel powerful.

What's in the Box?

- Yellow squash
- Basil
- Peach
- Nectarines
- White onions
- Green peppers
- Zucchini
- Jalepeno
- Garlic
- Cantaloupe
- Okra
- Corn
- Heirloom Tomatoes

What to Make...

*Breakfast!

I didn't capture pictures of everything we made for Breakfast on Saturday and Sunday, but we used a lot of our farm-fresh ingredients in those meals, which included:

- Fruit Salad with: peaches, strawberries, bananas.  And lots of cantaloupe (pictured above).
- Breakfast potatoes (leftover from a previous CSA pick-up) with: white onion, green peppers.    

*Caprese Salad

Ingredients:
- Greens
- Heirloom tomatoes, sliced
- Fresh Mozzarella cheese, sliced
- Basil
- Balsamic Vinaigrette
- Pepper, to taste

Instructions: Pretty simple.  Greens on the bottom of the plate.  Then, layer the slices of tomato, the slices of mozzarella, and the basil leaves.  Top with Balsamic and pepper to taste.

*Rockfish with Yellow Squash Risotto

The Fish: we purchased the WHOLE fish at whole foods.  They cleaned it for us there - head off, cut into the filets.  Brian took the lead on the fish.  He seasoned it with dill, lemon pepper, garlic, some salt and pepper, and slices of lemon.  From there, he wrapped it in tin foil and baked it at 400 for about 20 minutes.  There was a little improvising/winging it with the fish - but it came out great.

*Yellow Squash Risotto

Ingredients:
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 onion, diced
- 1 large yellow squash, diced (about 3 cups)
- 2 cups arborio rice
- 6 cups chicken broth, heated
- Splash of white wine
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
- Rosemary, to taste
- Parsley, to taste
- Salt and pepper, to taste

Instructions:

1. Heat the olive oil (on high heat) - add the onion, let it sweat for a few minutes.  Then, add the squash.  Let them cook together for about 5 minutes.  Then, add the rice.  Mix everything, ensuring that the rice is covered in oil - there isn't a lot of oil in this, so mix well.

2. Add 3 cups of broth to the rice.  Bring everything to a boil, then reduce the heat to low (think of it as a healthy simmer; there should be just *some* bubbles indicating that the rice is cooking; and you'll see the vapor of the broth cooking off).  Stir A LOT as the liquid cooks off.  From there, add the remaining broth bit by bit, stirring regularly and consistently as the liquid cooks off.  As you're stirring, add in the seasoning: Rosemary, Pepper, Parsley.  I chose to omit the extra salt, since the chicken broth already contained so much.

3. It will take a long time to use up the chicken broth.  Risotto takes a lot of time and attention.  For me, the process of stirring and adding broth took about an hour.  Once the broth liquid had mostly cooked off, I added a splash of white wine, and allowed that to cook off as well.

4. When the liquid is gone and the rice is al dente, add the butter and cheese and mix well.

Lessons Learned


1. Brian plans to gut and clean the fish himself next time.  This is not my thing.  But, I do wish him well in the endeavor.

2. I invented the risotto recipe based on a Pumpkin Risotto recipe I found on epicurious.com (link: http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Risotto-of-Almost-Anything-388489).  You'll see there are some major differences between my recipe and that one.  The takeaway, though, is this: You can use my recipe or this epicurious recipe to create ANY type of risotto.  Just sub the vegetable of your choice in for the Squash (my recipe) or Pumpkin (their recipe).  I feel like I have a handle on Risotto now - which is great, because it's one of my favorite foods.  I almost always order it when I see it on a menu.  Now, I can make it at home :)

3. Whole Foods is a magical place.  We also picked up some fine looking steaks yesterday.  We'll probably make that tonight - with our CSA corn on the side.