theKitchenHelp

My father-in-law would say the best raspberries are black raspberries. I would disagree and say the best raspberries are those growing wild in your backyard!  My wife has been nurturing a wild raspberry plant in our backyard and this year it paid off. The cornmeal crust is from Chez Panisse Fruit  made by me but SHE picked the fruit and brought the tart together.  She also made a pint of raspberry jam with fruit picked from this plant. Ingredients: 1 precooked cornmeal tart crust - enough chocolate to line the bottom of the crust and about 100 freshly picked raspberries. Enjoy!

"This week your box includes..." is written on a slip of paper that arrives with our CSA delivery. Our CSA delivery comes with the share we purchased from  Virginia Green Grocer . The program allows us to receive fresh, organic produce. Our participation allows the farmers to offset their costs. The box usually comes with 6 types of vegetables and 2 types of seasonings and provides most of our vegetables for the week. Tomatoes full of flavor and meaty texture, eggplant with an even cream color inside, peppery arugula, spring greens and the basil aroma fills the room before opening the bag. All in all, it is really nice to have this service available. Some say to be successful in business, business needs to be nimble ; to encourage a successful farming community, the community needs to be engaged! CSA is one way to get engaged with your local farmers. Our CSA supplements our local, 6x8 garden... though I really wish we had a big house on 5 acres just down the road where...

Right around father's day the local farmer's market had fresh cherries. Having achieved moderate success with my Black and Blue Tart, I decided that it would be fun to try again. I of course forgot that cherries must be pitted fortunately my father's day present saved the day. Now what you need to know about me is I know nothing about baking! This should be evident since the cherries pictured are sweet yummy eating cherries and not pie cherries. In addition, the crust I was using for this recipe is a tart crust. I think the water content is too high to make cherries into a tart. Anyway, I forged ahead with my cherries and cornmeal tart crust. The result was pleasing though it did not come together the way a tart should. I cannot say enough about this cornmeal crust. It is awesome! The recipe can be found in Chez Panisse Fruit .

Our weekly pilgrimage to the farmer's market is like sending a child into a chocolate factory! This past week I noticed the fresh pasta stand and asked about the pasta.... SIX DOLLARS A POUND! Are you out of your mind? That is not to say fresh pasta isn't worth the price but the mark up is unbelievable. Here is the cost of the materials to make fresh pasta 10 oz of flour = $1.75/(5x16)=.02 x 10= .22 cents 2 eggs = .22 cents 1 tbs Olive Oil = .01 cent 3 tbs water = is like a .0001 cent so lets call round it up to a penny 1 tsp salt = .01 cent Total cost of materials $0.47 (This recipe will yield approx. 15.5-16 oz of pasta dough.) You'll have to figure your own labor costs. With the Kitchen Aid it takes (me) about 20 minutes to roll and cut the pasta. My Kitchen Aid has three attachments : an adjustable roller, a cutter for fettuccine and a cutter for spaghetti. I roll my fettuccine until the adjustable roller is set to 6; spaghetti is rolled to 5. The pasta mak...

The CSA delivery this week. Now what to do with it? 4 ears of corn 2 heads of cabbage beets eggplant tomatoes cucumbers carrots thyme mint So this is third time this summer we've received cabbage and there is only so much coleslaw can eat. Needless to say, I need some ideas. Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone by Deborah Madison offers some options. One is Cabbage Leaves with Rice and Green Herb Filling (p. 349) - Epicurious has a couple of recipes I am eager to try: Holishkes (Stuffed Cabbage) from The 2nd Avenue Deli Cookbook and Beet and Cabbage Salad by Jerome Navarre from Chez Navarre in Toulouse, France. Pictures and comments to follow....

Oven-roasted chicken is one of my favorite meals to prepare.. it is also my nemesis! The breast meat is often done before the thighs are fully cooked! Leading to longer cooking time, which results in dry breast meat. (Ir)Regardless, I attempt this meal every few weeks. Thank heavens for Jamie Oliver and Christopher Kimball . Jamie Oliver provided the inspiration for this herb stuffed (under the skin) bird with citrus stuff deliciousness! Christopher Kimball provided the guidance on how to cook it without drying out the breast while achieving success in with a perfectly cooked, moist thighs! Yummmmm! This chicken was stuffed with garden fresh tarragon and parsley creating a new found appreciation for tarragon! It was awesome.

Yogurt for Two 1 cup of plain yogurt, 1/2 cup fresh strawberries, 1/8 cup of pine nuts lightly toasted and 1 tbs sunflower oil- place these ingredients in a blender until smooth. Separate into two bowls and add 1/4 cup of your favorite granola. Enjoy!

My own creation though I should follow a recipe. The cornmeal crust recipe came from Chez Panisse Fruit ; It was great. For the fruit, I mashed 1/4 of the fruit, mixed 1 tbs of cornstarch, 1 tbs of sugar, 1/4 cup red wine (this was my mistake), 1/4 cup of water - I heated this mixture and simmered it for 5 minutes. The remaining fruit I mixed with 3 tbs of sugar. I combined the mixture, then poured the ingredients into the tart crust and baked it for 15 minutes. It was pretty but the flavor wasn't fantastic.

It was asian menu night, I selected Ray Lee's chicken choy from "The Breath of Wok " by Grace Wong and Alan Richardson. I love this book! The recipe's are easy and flavorful. The chicken choy will be remade along with the stir fry red peppers.

From the host of “The Splendid Table” this recipe can be found in “How to Eat Supper ” by Lynn Rossetto Kasper and Sally Swift. This was easy to make but why omelette? Crustless quiche or frittata would be good names.

T his week your box includes Broccoli Turnips Beta salad mix (defined as chard and beet leaf) Bunching onions Collard greens Parsley Cilantro The challenge in the box this week is the turnips. I never know what to do with them. There is a recipe for a gratin but I think it uses rutabaga. Hmm.. I think I have menu block! Ideas on the turnip welcome. One other thing… are the turnip greens edible?

High Flavor, Low Labor - The greens are arugula from our garden. They are quite peppery but they are well established in our garden.