CSA experiment #5: Three Ways with Arugula, or How to serve your husband (and yourself) 2 whole bunches of arugula at one sitting and remain married

So, I got sort of behind on cooking the CSA veggies...to the point that I had *3* bunches of arugula in the fridge yesterday, one of which was dangerously close to becoming compost heap feed. Yesterday, I aimed to use as much arugula as possible for dinner. I had already planned to grill some tuna steaks, so that part of the meal was pretty much set. With the help of my trusty Culinary Artistry, I made a tasty, and relatively light, 3-course meal that used up 2 full bunches! And that the grudging vegetable-eater I'm married to enjoyed as well.

Happily, there were no salad greens in this week's share, so I think we will conquer the mountain of arugula within a couple of days. :)

First course:

Rocket* Salad with sliced avocado, dried cranberries and sliced almonds

Avocado Vinaigrette

1/8 avocado, mashed
1 T olive oil
1-2 t. white wine vinegar
1-2 t. water
touch of lemon juice
salt & pepper

Mix well, toss with salad ingredients. Serves 2.

* arugula...but rocket sounds more fun (and less like arugula)

Second course:

Lemon Arugula Soup

1 bunch arugula, washed, destemmed and chopped roughly (this is where I used the stuff that was already a bit wilty)
1 shallot, chopped fine
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 c vegetable broth
1 T olive oil
2 T lemon juice, divided
1 c milk
salt & pepper

Heat oil over medium heat, saute shallot and garlic until soft. Add arugula and a little salt and saute until wilted. Add broth, bring to a simmer; simmer for ~7 or 8 minutes. Add 1 T lemon juice. Simmer for 1 minute more. Turn off heat. Puree with immersion blender in pot or in blender/food processor in batches. If you want it really smooth, this is where you would strain it, but for every day, I don't see a point. Return to pot on med-low heat. Slowly stir in milk and season with salt, pepper and remaining lemon juice. Serve ASAP...careful not to let soup get hot enough to simmer or the milk might break. Serves 2.

Third course:

Grilled Yellow Fin with Thyme Butter, served over arugula and mashed potatoes

A big spoonful of your standard mashed potatoes: a couple potatoes scrubbed, boiled for 25 minutes and mashed with milk, butter, salt and pepper

Topped with a bed of fresh arugula leaves,

The fish,

Preheat grill to 500-550 degrees & clean grates.

2 yellow fin tuna steaks, fresh or thawed

Coat with olive oil and sprinkle all sides with salt and pepper. Grill for about 3 minutes per side.

and the herb butter.

1 T unsalted butter, room temperature
2 t fresh thyme, chopped fine
salt & pepper

Mash together; put half on top of each tuna steak.

Hopefully I'll remember to add the photo of this when I can, but I've been so bad about posting, I thought it best to get the menu out there while the getting was good. :)

Summer in a bowl, or CSA experiment #3

Okay, so I've actually done more than three experiments with my lovely CSA produce, but I've been dreadful about recording them for posterity...

I've been really grooving on my Culinary Artistry book since it basically has lists and lists of flavors that mesh well. I got more cucumbers this week when I still had one left from last week, and as I've got a full container of cucumber onion salad marinating in the fridge, that was out. I checked the pantry and found a can of light coconut milk and I thought--ooh, a cold cucumber soup would be perfect for a hot July evening when I got home from work after 7pm. The recipe below chronicles the experiment.

Chilled Cucumber Soup

2 medium cukes, chopped (I left the peel on)
1 can light coconut milk
2-3 cloves garlic, chopped fine
1 fat doobie of basil, minced fine (about 1/8 c.)

Put cukes, milk and garlic in blender. (Nothing fancy is necessary. I use the Osterizer Galaxy that my parents got as a wedding gift in 1975.) Puree for a minute or so until pretty well blenderized. Add basil and a little salt and blend. Taste.

It still needed something so I added:

1 T lemon juice
4 good shakes of white pepper
more salt

Blend. Taste.

At this point it still wasn't quite right, so I added a little more salt and pepper.

There was still a place in the back center of my tongue that the soup was missing. I decided it needed something tangy, so I added:

1-2 T. white wine vinegar
a couple more shakes of white pepper
a touch more salt

Blend. Taste. Perfect! Chill for a few minutes (or more) before serving--in retrospect I probably should have added a couple of ice cubes to help with the chilling process. But it was still good only a little cool.

Makes about 3 servings, 2 generous servings.

The boy called this "the best cucumber I've ever eaten." It was crisp and cool and the flavors meshed really well. I'm not always that into cold soups, but this was excellent, and also super easy and quick.

Garlic Fennel Goodness

After much prodding, here is my improvised recipe for Garlic Fennel Soup, inspired by Sr. Rathbun and the menu at his eponymous establishment. This first appeared in la belle mangeuse's post about our New Year's Eve festivities.

Garlic Fennel Soup

makes 4 large servings, 6 small

2-3 T unsalted butter
2 bulbs fennel, cored and sliced thin
10 or more cloves of garlic, minced or pressed through a garlic press
1-2 t fennel seeds, ground
2 c dry white wine (You could replace this with broth if you wish)
3 c broth (vegetable or chicken)
2 sprigs fresh thyme
1 c heavy cream

Melt butter over medium-low heat; saute fennel until soft ~ 20 minutes.

Add garlic and fennel seed and saute until the garlic becomes fragrant, about 1 minute.

Deglaze the pan with a splash of white wine and add the rest of the wine and the broth. Add the thyme and simmer for ~20 minutes.

Remove the thyme sprigs and puree with an immersion blender or in batches in a blender. Strain through a mesh strainer, and stir in the cream. Serve and enjoy!

Rustic Potato Leek Soup

After my folks were here for the weekend, I ended up with a leftover leek and some potatoes, so I decided to make soup. Incidentally, I always put leeks sauteed in butter in my mashed potatoes for special occasions. SO good.

Anyway, my soup adventure started with cleaning and chopping the leek. This resulted in streams of tears running down my face. I have never before experienced leeks that made me cry like onions! See those pesky suckers above on the right. I made it through, but it was rough.

Once I had the offensive leek chopped, the rest of the soup came together brilliantly and relatively quickly. The leftovers also froze really well (don't add cream before you freeze). Leeks and potatoes are such a perfect couple...like Fred and Ginger or Bert and Ernie. I served with leftover No Knead Bread for a delightful light supper which we were able to eat out on our porch. Quite a nice cap to an otherwise blah Monday, though it just seems wrong that we can eat on our (unheated) porch in November.


Rustic Potato Leek Soup

This recipe is the love-child of The New Best Recipe and Alice Water's The Art of Simple Food.

6 good sized servings

1 big leek or 2 small leeks, white and light green parts only, washed well and chopped
2T butter or extra virgin olive oil
2 sprigs of fresh thyme
1 bay leaf
1.5 lbs of potatoes, coarsely diced (I oppose peeling potatoes generally, but you can if you want)
5-6 c of broth or water
salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
optional: 1/3 c heavy cream or evaporated milk

Melt the butter over medium heat in a heavy-bottomed saucepan. Add the leeks, thyme and bay. Add a fair dusting of salt. Saute until the leeks soften, about 10 minutes. Add the potatoes, salt them and cook for about 4 minutes. Add the broth/water and bring it to a boil, then turn the heat down to a simmer. Cook until the potatoes are tender, but not quite mushy, about 30 minutes. Remove the bay leaf and the thyme sprigs. Using either an immersion blender in the pot or ladling the soup into a blender in batches, puree about half of the soup and return the puree to the pot. Stir in the cream if desired, taste the soup and add salt and pepper until it is just right. You can see in the photo that my soup had a little bit of pepper and red sea salt as a "garnish" (really, it was because I didn't put enough in the soup before I served it!)

Enjoy! This is especially good sopped up with delicious warm bread.

A Better Bean Soup

When we first discovered this recipe for white bean soup we were absolutely awed by how amazing it was... and how laborious the recipe was. The boy made it first, and I was floored by what a good job he did. Later he admitted he had skipped steps and got mad it was taking so long. Later, I made a double recipe for a football party, met with the same irritating length of preparation, but felt redeemed by the overwhelming compliments and requests for the recipe. Well, to usher in fall this year, I asked the boy what he wanted me to make and he immediately requested "the white bean soup." I decided I was going to make it easier and healthier this time around. I also include options for a veggie version. This is what I came up with:

Creamy white bean and chorizo soup

3 cloves garlic

1 large onion

1 large carrot

2 celery stalks

2 tb olive oil

4 cups chicken/veggie broth

2 cups H20

2 cans cannellini beans, rinsed

1 sprig rosemary

2 tsps fresh thyme (or dried)

1 bay leaf

1 # chorizo (remove casings), ground Italian turkey sausage or soysage crumbles

1/4 c heavy cream, half and half or milk (richest flavor will be cream)

pinch of thyme, salt and pepper

Chop or throw in cuisinart first 4 ingredients. Chop coarsely.

Saute in olive oil about 8 minutes till veggies are soft. Watch the garlic so it doesn't burn.

Add next six ingredients and bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat to low, and simmer for at least 1/2 hr and up to 2 hrs. The longer, the richer the flavor.

Meanwhile, cook your sausage in a pan and drain;I did mine (I use Italian turkey sausage) on the foreman grill. Let it cool and then chop up.

When you have determined your soup is done simmering, puree it carefully so you don't burn yourself and return to pot. You can leave it lumpy for a more "rustic" puree.

Add the sausage, pinch of thyme, cream and salt and pepper to taste.

Serve immediately.

If you need to have it wait a bit before serving, do everything but add the cream right before you serve.

Perfect for fall supper, with a crusty hot loaf of rustic bread, or toast. Better even with a good rich beer.

I am grateful for: beating the boy in fantasy football and being 6-1. The boy is grateful for aceing his test yesterday on research techniques.