When life hands you an abundance of root vegetables...

Maybe it was because I had the first of two Thanksgivings this year at my boyfriend's parent's house this weekend, or because I just spent some time researching and otherwise contemplating the perfect pie recipes for Thanksgiving with my family in Texas, or maybe just because I have a natural tendency toward gluttony, but today's post will be about fall recipes. These are not necessarily Thanksgiving recipes, mind you, just things that I've created in the last few weeks through the bounty of my farm share. I'll be sad to it come to an end this week, but I chose to not sign up for the winter share, but rather rejoin next spring. I know I'll be traveling a bit more in the winter, so it's for the best. That and I'm thinking I need a break

from squash and carrots for a couple of months. But before I besmirch the good name of root vegetables and the harvest season, here's some of what I've been making lately (all photos are not of actual food I have made, but are thanks to the good people of the Internet and serve as suggestions of what my food looked like or would have looked like if I gave more emphasis on proper plating.)

Butternut Squash Ravioli:

Did you know that you can make ravioli without a pasta maker using wonton wrappers? Okay, likely you did, but I've been meaning to try this trick for years, and only recently discovered wonton wrappers are actually very easy to find in my grocery store (right next to the tofu--of course!). I don't remember exactly what I stuffed these bad boys with, but here's an approximation of my process:

Ingredients:

1 small butternut squash (roasted with a little olive oil and salt in the oven for 30 minutes until soft enough to scoop and blend with a fork)

1/2 cup ricotta cheese

1/4 cup parmesan cheese (or rather, I just grated until I got tired)

1 tsp chopped fresh sage

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 pepper

minced garlic (in whatever number of cloves you want)

wonton wrappers

1 egg white

Mix all ingredients together (well except for the last two). Scoop a small spoonful of filling onto the center of each wrapper. Beat the egg white and a little water in small bowl with a fork. Rub some of the egg white mixture on the edges of the wonton wrapper. Fold wrapper over filling so that it forms a right triangle. Press edges to seal and crimp with a fork. Once you've finished all the ravioli, put them in boiling water for about 5 minutes or until the ravioli float and the skins look slightly translucent. I served these with some browned butter with more sage, some toasted chopped walnuts, and a little more parmesan cheese. Excellent way to make squash as unhealthy as possible.

Sunchoke puree:

Cook peeled and chopped sunchokes with a peeled and chopped potato or two and whatever root vegetables (turnips, parsnips, what have you) you desperately want to rid of with enough vegetable broth to just cover. Simmer until vegetables are soft (takes about 30 minutes). Drain off some of the liquid, but retain enough to blend smoothly in a blender or food processor (or using an immersion blender if you didn't buy yours from Bargain Stop and find that it lacks the wherewithall to so much as froth milk). Once blended add a couple of tablespoons of butter, a tsp salt, and a little milk if it needs to be thinned. Serves nicely with a spice crusted salmon. Also, judging by the image I found, it would pair fairly nicely with a panko crusted scallop. Something to think about.

Green Tomato Bread:

At the end of summer, there is apparently always a plethora of green tomatoes left on the vine that never ripened. This is something I only learned when my farm share started heaving green tomatoes on us by the pound-ful. My first instinct was to fry them as that's the only use for green tomatoes I know of. However, in the interest of being healthier and not immediately giving into every impulse I have to deep fry something, I researched further. Turns out there are tons of green tomato recipes to choose from. I wasn't that interested in the relish or the chutney, so I opted for the green tomato bread (which, yes, I realize is arguably just as unhealthy as deep frying them). I didn't tweak the recipe at all, so I'm not going to write it out here. It was a pretty tasty bread though--similar to most spiced quick breads, but with an underlying tartness from the tomatoes.

So tell me, readers, what have you been making this harvest season?

Summer of the squash

Since joining an Astorian farm share, I've delighted in exploring the great biodiversity that I didn't know occurs in upstate New York from garlic scapes to fava beans and husk cherries (which, as I just learned, as not cherries at all, but rather tiny tomatillos). However, in addition to the diverse, new things I get each week, there are some things that just keep coming in abundance. For the last month or so, I've received several pounds of zucchini in my allotment. I was going back over the emails from the farm share, and I think since the season started I've probably received around 20 pounds of zucchini or other summer squash.

A bounty of squash should be taken as a gift, and naturally, that's how I looked at it for the first few weeks. It's great roasted in the oven or sauteed on the stove, and even better grilled at such times as I find myself near a bbq. Soon I had to get more creative though because the quantity of squash coming my way was too much to enjoy. I started hiding it in things like corn bread and brownies. When that still didn't quell the tsunami of squash, I started frying mass quantities of it. I'm actually kind of disgusted at the quantity of olive oil I've gone through after frying so much zucchini over the last month.

This veritable zucchini banquet includes a garlic zucchini soup, zucchini fritters, and a nice slice of zucchini bread for dessert.

One of my favorite things to do with zucchini is to thinly slice it and then saute it in garlic and olive oil, and then serve it with tomato sauce like pasta. I realize this is not a particularly nice photo, but I wanted to post it so that I can say I made the tomato sauce using farm share tomatoes. Yep. I did that.

Anyway, I thought if some of my readers are also trying to eat seasonal and finding the winding down of summer squash (as it transitions into the inevitable march of autumn squash) abundant, you might appreciate some of the following recipes:

Best zucchini fritters I have ever made. These are the appetizer in the zucchini banquet pictured above.

For those of you who prefer your olive oil saturated zucchini the traditional Italian restaurant way, this is a good one for fried zucchini.

Of the two separate zucchini brownie recipes I have tried, this was definitely the superior one. They're just so moist! And not at all tasting of zucchini!

Of the two separate zucchini bread recipes I tried, this one is far better. Also, the more nuts you add, the better off you will be.

I can't say enough positive things about this zucchini garlic soup. Then again, I put a minimum of 4 cloves of garlic in almost everything I make, so this is not surprising.

I think the summer squash season is finally winding down as we only got 3 pounds (!) this week, but that still leaves me plenty to work with. If any readers have some great squash recipes, feel free to send them my way!

Beet it.

This is a post I never thought I would be writing. Growing up, the question of beets (to eat or not to eat?) was a contentious one in my house. My parents were always deeply divided in their opinions on this ruby root vegetable. My mom believed in boiling them or (god forbid) eating them pickled and my dad found them wholly disgusting. For our parts, my sister and I sided with our father, erring on the side of not eating vegetables where permissible. This beet-phobia has stuck with me long after I expanded my eating habits beyond the bounds of grilled cheese sandwiches. Some readers may remember my vegetable blog from a couple of years ago and note beets were among those veggies never friended.

Now, I can't say I've never had beets. I've eaten them in small quantities in salads before at restaurants that I judged too fancy to pick them out. However, I must confess at 25 years of age, I had never had a whole beet in my possession. All of this changed last week.

A couple of months ago I joined a farm share here in my fair neighborhood. Astoria has a couple of community supported agriculture groups, and I'd always toyed with the idea of joining one. I feel like my vegetable horizons are somewhat limited. I know how to make a few things, and generally avoid those vegetables I'm not sure what to do with. Also, I'm terribly incompetent when it comes to eating with the seasons. I was hoping the farm share would cure all these ills. The real kicker came when I realized the distribution point for one of the farm shares was a mere two blocks from my apartment. Thanks to this serendipity, I am now a proud member of Harvest Astoria and will be getting a selection of locally grown, organic produce every Wednesday from now until November.

But back to the beets. Naturally, one of the components from my very first week was: 3 beets. I was conflicted at first. A part of me wanted to immediately hide them in something. I'd heard of beets being successfully concealed in cakes or, better yet, donuts. I wanted to do this, but something gave me pause. While I knew I wasn't ready to boil and eat beets straight, or even chopped on a salad, I didn't want to cowardly retreat from my first CSA challenge. In the end, I took the middle road. I made a beet risotto.

The spoils. For the record, this is before I washed them.

I adapted a recipe from Rachel Ray so that I could use not only the beets, but some of the garlic and onions that we also got from the farm that week. I'll add the full recipe below. It involved whole roasting the beets in the oven before pulverizing them into submission in the food processor to make a brilliant pink puree.

Pink puree. Formerly beets.

One of the reasons people make risotto with beets is apparently for the beautiful color. For some reason (perhaps revenge of the beet gods for years of vitriol?), mine didn't achieve that. It started out a lovely deep red, but as I cooked it, it mellowed into more of a maroon, and finally ended with a sullen grey. Not unlike mushroom risotto really.

Not quite as showy as it might be...

I was making it in the morning to take to a picnic in Bryant Park, but I did make sure to try it while warm. Not bad. Mostly what came through was the creaminess of the risotto with a slight earthy undertone from the beets. It was tasty, although to be honest I probably would have enjoyed it just as much without the beets. Also, the dish held up surprisingly well in my office refrigerator all day and was enjoyed immensely by picnicking friends who all told me they couldn't even taste the beets. I guess they lack my keen palate and beet-honing skills.

Overall, I feel a fear was appropriately faced. Next time I see them on the farm share roster, I won't feel a moment's pause. I might even try eating them without any sort of cloaking device. Or I might just embrace defeat and make a batch of pink donuts. Only time will tell.

Ingredients

• 3 medium beets, scrubbed, stems and root ends trimmed
• 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• Salt and black pepper
• 1 cup water
• 1 quart chicken or vegetable stock
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 3 spring onions, finely chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped or grated
• 2 cups arborio rice
• 1/2 cup dry white wine or dry sherry
• 1/2 cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375ºF.

Place the beets on a large piece of aluminum foil and drizzle

with a T olive oil. Season with salt and pepper and fold the

foil into a pouch. Roast the beets inside the pouch

until tender, about 45 minutes.

When the beets are done roasting, remove them from

the pouch and let cool for a few minutes. When they're

cool enough to handle, lightly rub the outside of them with

a paper towel to remove the skins. Transfer the beets to

a food processor and puree them until smooth. Reserve

the puree until the risotto is finished cooking.

Bring the water and stock to a boil in a saucepot, then

reduce heat to low to keep warm.

Place a large skillet over medium-high heat with 2 T

olive oil, 2 turns of the pan, and butter. Add the onions and

garlic, and sauté until the onions begin to get tender,

4-5 minutes. Add the arborio rice and toast it in the pan,

stirring constantly with the veggies, 2-3 minutes more.

Add wine or sherry and cook until the liquid has

absorbed, about 1 minute. Ladle about a third of the

stock or broth into the pan with the rice and bring it up

to a bubble, stirring constantly. Simmer the mixture,

stirring frequently, until all the liquid is absorbed,

about 5 minutes. Ladle another third of the remaining

liquid and continue stirring the rice until that liquid

has fully absorbed, 4-5 minutes. Ladle in half of the

remaining stock and stir the rice another 4-5 minutes.

Add in the beet puree and the rest of the stock and

cook an additional 4-5 minutes, until the rice is

al dente. Season with salt, pepper, and cheese.

Put in tupperware and bring to the park to share with

beet-loving friends!

Recipe for a tuberlar Thanksgiving

Last weekend, I went to see a friend do a cooking demo at the farmer's market in Union Square. Said friend is in culinary school, and it was a class assignment to demonstrate how to cook something using locally grown, seasonal vegetables from the market.

I think the recipe they made--braised fennel and potatoes--would make an excellent contribution to a Thanksgiving feast. I know most people are Thanksgiving tradition purists and have a long settled menu that doesn't abide changes or substitutions. That said, for those Thanksgiving mavericks, this particular recipe would be an excellent stand in for the traditional mashed potatoes. (This is easy for me to say, because mashed potatoes are something my Thanksgiving dinner could do perfectly well without. I know this likely makes me a Communist, but I hate mashed potatoes. It's a texture issue. For whatever paranoid reason, I feel like they're choking me).

My friend displaying his well-honed knife skills. Turns out, I've been cutting things inefficiently all my life.

After trying the little sample cup allotted to me at the farmer's market, I had to buy all the ingredients and make my own skillet full at home:

Potatoes don't photograph super well, I've decided. I'm willing to forgive them that, though only when they're braised in cream.

Here's the recipe (courtesy of the National Gourmet Institute) if you want to make it a part of your Thanksgiving. Or any fall meal really.

Braised Fennel and Potatoes

Ingredients:
1 large fennel bulb (with fronds intact)
3 T butter
1 large onion, cut into 1/4 inch saute slices
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1 lb potatoes (I used fingerlings, but any will do)
1/2 c water
1/4-1/3 c heavy cream

Directions:
Remove fennel fronds from fennel bulb. Chop enough fennel fronds to measure about 2 T, and set aside.

Quarter fennel bulb lengthwise and core, then cut into 1/4 inch slices.

In large saute pan heat butter over low heat. Add fennel, onion, salt, and pepper. Cover pan, stirring occasionally until onion is softened (about 5 minutes).

Add potatoes to pan and cook over low heat, uncovered, stirring frequently for about 3 minutes. Add water and simmer covered until potatoes are tender and water has evaporated (about 10 minutes).

Add cream to dish. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Garnish with fennel fronds and serve.