Invasion of the Endive Heads

This week’s organic vegetable packet did not bring us one, not two, but THREE heads of endive!

Wow. I guess it’s obvious what we’ll be eating this week… ;)

• lollo rossa lettuce
• pumpkins
• endive
• topinamburs
• fennel
• Elstar apples

I considered changing plans and serve yesterday’s guests potato mash with endive for dinner instead of the planned hutspot but decided against it: the idea of cooking the dish I hated so much as a child was way more exciting! Up until this week I have never, ever made it myself. So it felt like a real challenge to try this new recipe.

I won’t keep you in suspense any longer: I liked it! We caramelized some onions and toasted some pecan nuts for topping, and had vegetarian ‘meatballs’ and fennel-tomato salad as side dishes. (*) There’s just one BUT.. If I’m completely honest I wouldn’t really call this dish hotchpotch: the carrot and potatoes aren’t mashed together — it’s just a mix of cut up parsnip, potatoes and carrot, like my oven-roasted root vegetable dish with honey. I even used honey instead of the required maple syrup since my cupboard lacked the latter. So I’ll need to re-challenge myself another time ;)

Do you have a dish you hated when you were young and still won’t eat today?

(*) Side note for Dutch readers wanting to make the hutspot recipe: it took the vegetables 45 minutes at 200 °C (gas oven: 5) instead of 30 to get done.

September vitamins

When we collected our organic vegetables at the Groenekans distribution point last Friday, we got this lovely field-bouquet.

Groenekans is the second local farm we get our groceries from. It works different from Amelis’Hof in that we can pick our choice from a weekly list instead of getting a surprise batch of greens, and pre-funding is on a voluntary basis. Because we do pay an amount in advance they gave us these colourful flowers. Nice, eh? I’m not much of an expert on flora, but I bet some of them can be eaten or made into tea… Still, I like ‘em just where they are on the dining table :))

Now, on with the vegetables we got from Amelis’Hof in the last few weeks, our first (bio)organic resource. Although they didn’t only land in our kitchen this time… When Mr Gnoe and I were on a trip to Paris two weeks ago, my friend Elsje took hold of them in our place! She was sweet enough to make a photo so that we would actually know what we had missed out on :)

Amelis'Hof CSA vegetables week 36, 2010

• Endive
• Aubergine (eggplant)
• Lettuce
• Runner beans
• Carrots
• Flat leaf parsley

Elsjes picture of Amelis'hof CSA vegetables week 35, 2010

• Lettuce
• Yellow & pink beetroot (OMG I never had those!)
• Corn on the cob (yum!)
• Basil
• Tomatoes
• Green beans

Amelis'Hof CSA vegetables week 34, 2010

• Leek
• Fennel
• Lettuce
• Green beans
• Corn
• Dill
• Courgette (zucchini)

There will be a new bag of vitamins waiting for us tomorrow afternoon — the last of the summer season… I’m hoping for a really sunny loot! :))

Amelis’Hof CSA vegetables week 32, 2010

Green beans, Swiss chard, red lettuce, spring onions, opal plums and beet.

CSA Summer Loot (week 25)

The first CSA vegetable bag from summer brings us zomerkoninkjes (‘kings of summer’) a.k.a. strawberries! With lettuce, zucchini eggplant (what was I thinking? ;), bok choi, spring onion and cilantro.

About Stalks and Stems (veggies week 24, 2010)

I’m pressed for time so I’ll just briefly log this week’s local organic vegetables, including a call for help: do you know what the greens below the rhubarb are called in English? In Dutch it’s raapsteeltjes, which would literally translate into… turnip stalks? :\

Clockwise:

• swiss chard
• snow peas
• rhubarb
• raapsteeltjes > turnip-tops
• red Batavia lettuce
• plum tomatoes

The Telepathic CSA Supervisor

I sometimes believe there’s a telepathic csa supervisor somewhere, tuning in to (very) special requests. This afternoon I scouted several stores in search of celery but couldn’t find any. I desperately wish to turn some leftover corn into perkedèl djagoeng (corn fritters) for my next bento you see, and it won’t work without that specific herb! :(

When I went to get our weekly vegetable bag it briefly crossed my mind… but nah, that would be really improbable and too much to hope for. Well. YIPPEE!

Just like that time when I was craving eggplant!

I was also pretty happy to see some more of those scarlet globes, french breakfast and icicle radishes among the veggies for this week.
(Thanks for teaching me their names Judy!) Haven’t they grown since last week? :-o

• celery
• bunch of 3 radish varieties
• eggplant
• endive (frisée)
• red chili pepper
• leek
• lettuce

ETA: The celery was used for corn fritters (dôh), bami goreng (twice), Russian salad and several other dishes. Half of the curled endive went into a potato stew with gorgonzola and almonds (which should have been cashews but we were out of those), the rest became toemis andijvie with bami. The leek was also used for perkedèl djagoeng and bami; the chili pepper dito and stir-fried with last week’s bok choi.

Rate-Da-Radish

Last Thursday I told you about the comparative test we were supposed to do with the 3 different csa radishes we found in our veggie bag. Well, here’s the result you’ve all been waiting for! ;)

— Drumroll —

3: the ‘ordinary’ round radish
2: the long red one

Number 1: the WHITE radish!!!

The root vegetables were tested by wlfr, Mr Gnoe and myself. Mr Gnoe and I ate them with, and without (sea) salt.

Wlfr did the test by himself (probably salted) and sent us his verdict by e-mail:

Cool, right? As always, his and my verdict were completely opposite… Actually, we all had different tastes concerning the three types!

The plain round one was my favourite; the white came first for Mr Gnoe. So he would have won the (con-)test… if it had been a bet ;)

My number 1 was juicy, sweet and spicy at the same time. The white winner started out with a subtle taste and turned into a sharp lingering taste. “Multiple consecutive sensations,” as Mr Gnoe put it. [sic.] The long red one was well… just pretty pungent and a bit too tough to my taste — although Mr Gnoe disagreed.

Anyway, it was a fun thing to do! :) Hope you’ve enjoyed our experiment a little as well? ;)

Do the Veggie Test (week 22, 2010)

This week’s vegetable packet contains 3 kinds of radish and a request for feedback on which we like best. The bundle shown in the picture was actually a little bigger but we gave one piece each to wlfr who loves a test like that.

Yes, that is the same wlfr who made me do the Pepsi test when we were kids, and had me taste Nibbit Cocktail Chips blindfolded to see whether I really liked the red ones best. Anyway, it seemed only fair since I had devoured half his stash of radishes on our hike.

I’ll present our verdict on the radishes later this week!

• pak choi (Chinese cabbage)
• spinach
• red lettuce
• 3 kinds of radish
• spring onion
• red bell pepper

ETA — the spinach turned into an Indonesian meal: toemis bajem & djagoeng (spinach & corn) with telor boemboe Bali and nasi goreng which contained some of last week’s bundle garlic. The bok choi, bell pepper and scallions were stir-fried (added the chili pepper from week 23) in sesame oil, soy sauce and ginger syrup and served with bami goreng, using part of the celery. The radishes became sandwich toppings, healthy snacks and they were indeed submitted to a veggie test. Lettuce & spring onion in salad.

Veggies for week 21

Just quickly logging this week’s organic vegetables. Need to go make these pop-tarts with last week’s rhubarb ;)

• Endive (swapped 1 of 2 loafs for chili pepper saplings with @yvovro)
• Romaine lettuce
• Pumpkin chutney
• Plum tomatoes
• Bundle garlic

ETA — Endive stew with spicy potatoes, salad and salsa picante made from tomatoes. Still to be used: pumpkin chutney.

Something Old, Something New

It was impossible to shoot a decent ‘solo’ picture of this week’s organic vegetables. I had locked out my feline friend Juno when I went to collect our veggie bag, so when I got back she was determined to stay in sight where ever I went and whatever I did. rest assured that she won’t be anyone’s dinner ;)

• Lettuce
• Red Frills mustard
• Rocket
• Cucumber
• Tree onion
• Rhubarb
• Turnip stems ? (raapsteeltjes)

It was fun to find something new among the loot, again :) When I say ‘new’ I really mean unfamiliar, since Amelis’Hof farm mainly grows traditional and often even ‘forgotten’ foods. Today’s treasure is ‘Red Frills mustard’ (mosterdblad) which can be used in salad, Indian saag or as garnish. I already had some in the Greek salad I ate for lunch; it’s nice and spicy.

The arugula went into a couscous dish last night with spinach, dried apricots and pine nuts. Next to it we had a salad of last week’s red Batavia, radishes and bundle garlic, tomato, egg, cucumber and a yoghurt-mustard dressing.

I’m not sure yet what to do with the rhubarb. I hated it as a child. In my heart head I still do, but I’ve tried it again and I know it’s not as horrible as I think it is. Maybe I’ll bake the rhubarb crumble that’s described in the leaflet accompanying the vegetables, or make some rhubarb oatmeal bars. They might provide a nice change for the Marmite cereal bars ;)

I guess I should start planning my menu for the week..!