Summer has arrived, in spite of the cool, wet spring – and I have been spending so much time in the kitchen lately. I’ve almost constantly had little projects here and there going, which honestly has kept me from the computer quite a bit (as my email inbox would attest to – sorry everyone, I’ll respond as quickly as I can!) What have I been working on? Well, I’ve been caaaaaaaaaanning. Jumping off from my pickling binge, I have been busily making fruit butters and putting them up for holiday gifts, hostess gifts, etc… What kind you ask? Well, it started off with a handful of less-than-perfect apricots from a FFTY delivery and three pints of Apricot butter, and recently ballooned in to 2 five-gallon buckets of wild plums being turned in to twenty-four pints of Plum Butter, 9 pints of Plum Ketchup, 10 pints of Plum Chutney, and 5 qts Plums in light syrup.

Yeah, I probably have a problem. But anyways, after the plum-dust settled, I started work on a blog post – a lovely Heirloom tomato & Squash soup inspired by the slow cooking & reducing of the fruit butters I’d been making… I’d been cooking it all day, and when it was finally done – it was considerably later than I’d intended it to be. Rather than making the family wait for dinner while I took pictures, I decided to take pictures with the leftovers in the morning, Saturday. However, by the time I got back from the Farmers Market on Saturday afternoon – I discovered that Mr. Man had eaten my soup for breakfast – thus leaving me with no blog post. Fortunately, when I went to the Sunday market, inspiration struck in the form of the cutest little tomatillos.

Tomatillos are a staple of Mexican cuisine. They’re a small green fruit that is covered with a papery husk. Once the husk is removed and discarded, they look remarkably similar to green tomatoes. Of course, when I think of Tomatillos I immediately think of Salsa Verde. Salsa Verde is Mr. Man’s favorite type of Salsa. Whenever we go out for Mexican Take out, he always makes a bee-line for the Salsa Verde, dipping chips in it, pouring it on burritos or tacos, etc… For all that though, this is actually the first time I’ve made Salsa Verde, although it definitely won’t be the last, being one of the simplest and easiest salsas I’ve ever made.

I used a combination of peppers, a pepper called ‘Padron’, that I found at the farmers market on Saturday, and some Jalapeno Peppers. This was my first time coming across Padrons, so you can use only Jalapenos if you prefer, or if you like your salsa a little milder, you can use Poblanos or Anaheims. The onion I used was called a torpedo onion. I had picked it up at the Berkeley Farmers market a while back, and since I only had a few, I’d been saving them for something I thought they would shine in. They’re a little milder and a little sweeter than a yellow onion, which is what I’d call my ‘stand-by’ onion. Unfortunately, they’re not terribly common – if you can’t find them substitute whatever onions you have on hand, I’m sure it will be fine. At some point here soon, I need to make up a batch or two of Onion Jam and Pickled Onions, I just haven’t gotten around to it yet. (I did mention that I have a canning problem, didn’t I?)

A quick broil on the tomatillos and peppers, and you’re nearly done. To be honest, the thing that took the most amount of time when prepping this salsa – was husking the Tomatillos. After that was done, it took maybe ten minutes to get it all together. Super fast, and super easy – just throw all the ingredients in to the blender and bzzz-bzzz.

Before you embark on making this salsa though, a couple of quick thoughts… Salsa is a very personal sort of thing. Some people like more cilantro, some people like less. Some people like it spicy, some people don’t. Etc… This is one of those recipes that you can pretty much consider all ingredients to be ‘To Taste’. There really isn’t a wrong way to make salsa.

Ingredients:

• 2 lbs Tomatillos; husked and washed
• 1 small onion
• 2-4 cloves Garlic
• 1/4 cup Cilantro
• 2-4 Combination of Padron or Jalapeno Peppers (or other peppers of your choice); to taste & desired heat level
• Kosher Salt

Method:

• Place washed and husked Tomatillos on a baking sheet, along with your choice of peppers
• Broil for 1-2 minutes, or until skins are beginning to brown & blister (cooking time may depend on size of tomatillos, for larger tomatillos, recommend roasting at a lower temperature)
• Turn Tomatillos and Peppers and return to broiler until beginning to brown
• Take peppers and place in bowl. Cover with plastic wrap to allow steam to soften the skin and make it easier to remove
• Peel the peppers and remove stems. Set aside.
• Place all ingredients except peppers and salt in to the blender, and puree until smooth.
• Pour all of the puree in to a bowl, except for approximately 1/2 a cup
• Add peppers to blender with reserved 1/2 cup of salsa, and puree until smooth
• Add the pepper mixture and kosher salt to the salsa, a little at a time, to taste & desired spiciness level
• Refrigerate for 1-2 hours to allow flavors to meld

I’ve been experimenting lately with different types of pickles – something that has been immensely rewarding and lots of fun. It started when Planet Organics sent me 10 orders of Green Garlic in place of the 10 pounds of Baby Artichokes I ordered. They had ended up running out of stock on the artichokes, and for the CSA-style subscribers, the artichokes were to be replaced with Green Garlic. Which probably would have been fine if I hadn’t been buying so much, lol. So there I was, late one evening – confronting a ginormous amount of green garlic. Since then, I’ve pickled Fennel (probably my favorite), Carrots and Radishes, baby turnips, asparagus, and now – Cherries.

Yes – that is right. Pickled Cherries. One night, when I was poking around online thinking about how nice it would be if Mr. Man would take me out to dinner, I saw Pickled Cherries on the menu for Chez Panisse. A little light went off in my head and said “Wow! That sounds interesting”. When things settled down enough from Miss Thing getting out of school and all that hooplah, I resolved to try it. A very nice lady at Frog Hollow Farm was kind enough to sell me a flat of their amazing Ranier Cherries, and I was rushing home and getting busy popping pits.

Of course, I got about ten cherries in when Miss Thing came over, saw what I was doing and decided it looked like fun and offered to help. Which was awesome on several levels – having Miss Thing actually wanting to help in the kitchen is always a rare pleasure, so I handed over the cherry pitter and stepped out of the way. It made the process go a lot faster, since while she was pitting, I was prepping everything else – all in all, it was one of my faster pickling sessions, which was very cool.

I waited a couple of days before trying them – I had planned to wait a little longer, say a week or two atleast, but I ended up giving in to temptation and trying them today. And I really like them. The first burst of flavor is salty and tangy, balanced with some sweet. I think I added too much clove though, since the flavor of clove was distractingly strong. I’d like to say that next time I would add less clove, but as much as I like these – there probably won’t be a next time, since Mr. Man and Miss Thing, who were dubious about pickled cherries to begin with, didn’t end up liking them. Ah well, dems da breaks, right? They’ve both been less than enthused about my pickling habit anyways.

I should probably include this little disclaimer on canning and pickling: I’m still learning, and also – I take a somewhat-more-lackadaisical approach to pickling in that I seldom sterilize the jars, rarely cook the ingredients beforehand, and have been known to ‘wing it’  from time to time. All of these things could put you at risk, and if you have a compromised immune system and/or healthy fear of botulism, this recipe might not be for you. I haven’t died yet, and I am more or less of the opinion that given the vinegar and salt content of pickles, I’m probably safe, but again – if you’re worried you can check out the USDA guidelines on canning, find an alternative recipe, or refrigerate them and use them up quickly. I am not an expert on canning and if you are not familiar with canning procedures, I recommend you familiarize yourself before attempting this recipe. Also, I’ve seen a lot of other recipes for pickled cherries, most of which called for 2-4 times the amount of sugar that I called for. If you’re hoping for something sweeter, less salty & tart, try one of them instead.

Ingredients:

• 7lbs Cherries; stemmed and pitted
• 4 cups Red Wine Vinegar
• 1 cup Distilled Vinegar
• 1 cup Water
• 1/2 cup Sugar
• 1/4 cup Pickling Salt
• Cloves (whole)
• All Spice (whole)

Method:

• Prepare clean, pint sized jars and lids (Sterilize if desired)
• Simmer lids to soften the seal
• Pack jars tightly with stemmed and pitted cherries and add 1-3 cloves (to taste) and 1 whole all spice to each jar
• In a saucepan, bring the Red Wine Vinegar, Distilled Vinegar, Water, Sugar and Pickling Salt to a boil, stirring occassionally, until sugar and salt are fully dissolved
• Ladle vinegar mixture in to the packed jars
• Remove Air bubbles
• Place lids and rings on jars and process in Water-Bath Canner for 10 minutes
• Cool overnight and check seals

Well, Miss Thing went back to school this week. I know… I know… It’s only the second day and I’m already thinking “is it summer time yet?”. But back to school means that I’ve got to stop being lazy and sleeping in every morning, staying up late every night… mores the pity. I suppose it’s a good thing though. Mr. Man has recently had a whole spate of early morning meetings, so we should all probably be going to bed earlier and getting up earlier. Will we do it? Who knows.

With Miss Thing going back to school now though, my available free time is taking a dive – so I’ve been doing a little more cooking-ahead, atleast – when I’ve been able to cook. Miss Thing had a big all-day affair on Sunday, and then I wasn’t feeling well yesterday after my doctor’s appointment, so we ordered pizza… and it’s been a pretty slow week for me in the kitchen. Fortunately, I used up a fair chunk of this week’s FFTY box making this dip. Well – actually, I’m calling it a dip – but honestly, it’s much more versatile than that. For dinner on Sunday, we tossed some with pasta and sliced sausage for a nice spicy pasta dish, it’s also great as a spread on sandwiches, served with chips or pita bread – I’ll bet it would even be good on Pizza. It was a big hit at last week’s DVP Meet & Greet, and it’s super easy to boot.

I’ve decided that during pepper season, I will probably be making this (or a similar style dish) fairly frequently – it’s a great, easy, flavorful way to use them up – and it’s versatile enough that I (probably) won’t get sick of them. Although I do have to find a decent source for the spicy peppers – unfortunately FFTY doesn’t grow them. I have recently become aware of two other services that I may use to supplement my local-tendencies (and my lazy ones, since they also deliver… yay!) A service called Spud and Planet Organics. Both have their pluses and minuses, and I haven’t placed an order with either yet… But I’m definitely getting close. It’d be a supplementary to my FFTY box though – not a replacement.

At any rate – there really isn’t an easy way to mess this recipe up. The proportions listed are approximate, and you can feel free to mix them up based on what you have available and how spicy or tangy you like it. This makes a fairly largish amount – but it’s versatile enough that I can’t imagine it going to waste. I ended up with 1 quart and 1 pint (each) mason jars full, and it’s already almost gone.

Ingredients:

• 2 lbs Eggplant; cut in to 2″ chunks
• 1 lb Crookneck Squash; cut in to 2″ chunks
• 1 lb Tomatoes; cut in to 2″ chunks
• 1.5 lb Sweet Peppers; cut in to 2″ chunks
• 3 Jalapeno Peppers; whole
• 2 Serrano Peppers; whole
• 1 large onion; cut in to chunks
• 6 cloves Garlic; minced
• 1/4 cup Fresh Basil
• 2 tbs Red Wine Vinegar (to taste)
• 2 tbs Lemon Juice (to taste)
• Olive Oil
• Kosher Salt

Method:

• Liberally salt the eggplant chunks and allow to drain for several hours (or overnight) before roasting
• Preheat oven to 400°
• Rinse Eggplant to remove some of the excess salt
• Place all chopped veggies (except basil) in to a large roasting pan
• Drizzle liberally with Olive Oil, and sprinkle liberally with Kosher Salt, stir to combine
• Place the whole Jalapeno and Serrano Peppers on top of chopped veggies, turning to coat with the residual olive oil and salt
• Roast in oven for 1 hour, or until veggies are tender and beginning to brown
• Allow veggies to cool to room temperature (for ease of handling – and so it doesn’t cook the basil)
• Take the Jalapeno and Serrano Peppers and set aside
• Puree remaining veggies along with the basil (working in batches if neccessary) in food processor
• Pour all but about 1/2 cup of the puree in to a bowl and set aside
• Remove the stems of the reserved peppers and add to food processor with reserved puree. Process until smooth.
• Add Kosher Salt, Lemon Juice, Red Wine Vinegar and Jalapeno/Serrano Puree to the remaining dip, a little at a time, to taste.

As I mentioned in some of my recent posts, the last week has been super busy – and we ended up with a little bit of a glut of veggies. One of the veggies we seemed to have an overabundance of was Cucumbers. We had like a pound of Lemon Cucumbers and another pound of regular cucumbers – far more than we would get through with just snacks or what have you. So there was only one thing to do… Make Tzatziki Dip! I still have yet another ginormous cucumber in my fridge from this week’s FFTY box as well… but I think I can manage with that one.

I normally try to take more in-process photos, but unfortunately I made this dip the night before Miss Thing’s giggle of girls came over for the Team Pool Party & Sleepover, and I was just a wee bit busy getting things together for it – so I only have the finished product photos… and barely those! I snapped a couple of pictures really quick while we were chowing down on it for dinner last night.

After spending the afternoon recovering from the Night of the Invading Teenage Girls, we had this dip along with some pita bread and sliced veggies for a light supper, and it was a big hit. Mr. Man and I already knew we liked it, but at first Miss Thing was like ‘ewwwwww… the cucumbers in the dip are going to be soggy!’ but we just did what we usually do when she does things like that and ignored her, putting some on her plate anyways – and after the first bite she was sold, too. Having a spread of sliced veggies, torn up pitas with the dip was so yummy, I think I might have to do it for a get together sometime. It was very elegant but low-key.

Mr. Man preferred to keep his veggies and dip segregated, but I stuffed mine all in a slice of pita and had it as little mini sandwiches – both ways were delicious.

The party was a big success by the way – Miss Thing says that everyone is going to be talking about it today at practice and about how kewwwwwwl she is. Which is good, because last year she had a few problems finding her feet as far as social interactions went. All but three of the girls on her team were able to attend. Of course, Miss Thing is looking forward to rubbing the party success in the face of one of the girls who wasn’t able to come. The girl has something of a queen bee mentality and has made life a little difficult for Miss Thing. I, of course, tell her to be nice. But you know how teenage girls are… DRAHMAH! Hopefully it will work out and Miss Queen Bee and Miss Thing will take things gracefully and be a little nicer. Riiiiiight.

Anyways, back to the dip. Making the dip is dead easy, but it does require a little bit of planning. I started the dip the night before, and finished it in the morning – leaving the yogurt and cucumbers to drain overnight. If you’re in a hurry, you can get by with an hour or two of draining, although you’ll really get the best results with overnight. I’ve made it both ways, and both are good, but the one that was drained overnight was much better.

**Some quick notes - I used Whole Milk Yogurt. I’m not really sure how low or non Fat would work, so if you try it, YMMV. I also took the sprigs of Mint and Parsley and Blanched them before adding to the dip so that they would keep their bright color. I saw the tip on another website and durned if I can find it at the moment. It’s not a neccessary step though, so you can skip it if pressed for time or what have you.

Ingredients:

• 3 cups of Plain Yogurt**
• 2 cups Shredded Cucumber
• 4 cloves Garlic; minced
• 2 tbs Fresh Mint,** blanched and finely chopped
• 2 tbs Fresh Italian Parsley,** blanched and finely chopped
• Kosher Salt

Method:

• The night before (recommended) or 2 hours before you assemble the dip, line a fine mesh sieve with a flour sack towel, paper towel or cheese cloth.
• Pour the yogurt in to the lined sieve and set over a bowl to drain for 2 hours or overnight
• Take the Shredded Cucumber and toss with several generous pinches of Kosher Salt (1-2 tsps)
• Place the Cucumber in another sieve or strainer over a bowl and allow to drain for 2 hours or overnight
• When ready to assemble
• Blanch the herbs, if desired
• Place the minced garlic in a dry skillet and gently heat over medium low for 30 seconds to 1 minute to remove raw bite, if desired. (optional step)
• Rinse the the excess salt from the Cucumbers
• Use paper towels or a flour sack towel and squeeze the remaining excess moisture from the cucumbers. For the best texture, try to remove as much moisture as you can. (May require several towels – I used three pretty absorbant cloth towels)
• Place the cucumbers in a bowl.
• Add the Strained Yogurt, minced herbs and garlic.
• Stir to combine.
• Add Kosher Salt to taste

Last week, in my most recent FFTY box, I received a cubic ton of Bananas – due to a combination of my requesting to not receive anymore stinkin’ apples and them running out of apriums. I ended up with nearly a dozen or so. Miss Thing was gunning for some banana bread, which is pretty much the only way she’ll eat bananas… and I’ll admit, I considered it. But ya know – everyone makes banana bread with bananas. So I decided that I wanted to try either making a pie or a banana pudding, and I offered those two choices to Mr. Man.

After some consideration, he decided on banana pudding – and thus began my quest to find a recipe for homemade vanilla wafers… (What? I certainly wasn’t going to go buy them…) I looked around for a few different recipes, and settled on this recipe at Serious Eats. Even though I didn’t have a pastry bag. Which was probably a bit of a mistake. I did try using a plastic bag, but after a pan or two, the flimsy zip-top bag ripped, and I just used a spoon to drop them. It wasn’t ideal, particularly considering how small they needed to be, but it got the job done.

Next time I make these though – I’m definitely going to want a pastry bag. I’m sure it would have made life a lot easier. At any rate – these cookes are about a million times better than the vanilla wafers you can buy in the store. They are VERY vanilla, crispy, and completely delicious. When all was said and done – they were almost as good outside of the pudding as they were inside of it, and can easily be enjoyed as a snacking cookie.

Ingredients:

• 1 and 1/3 cups Flour
• 8 tbs butter; softened
• 1 cup Sugar
• 1 lg Egg White
• 1 tbs Milk
• 1 vanilla bean
• 1 and 1/2 tsp Vanilla Extract
• 3/4 tsp Baking Powder
• 1/4 tsp Kosher Salt

Method:

• Preheat oven to 350°
• Line cookie sheets with parchment paper
• In a small bowl, whisk together the flour and baking powder
• Split and scrape the inside of the vanilla bean, discard pod (or save the pod to make vanilla sugar!)
• In a large bowl, cream together Butter, salt, sugar and vanilla seeds until fluffy
• Add the egg white and beat until well incorporated, scraping sides if neccessary
• Add the vanilla extract and milk and beat to combine
• Mix in the flour until just incorporated, scraping sides if neccessary
• Spoon (or pipe – if you’ve got it) dough out in to small mounds – about an inch in diameter
• Bake for 15-20 minutes, or until cookies are golden brown around edges
• Cool on wire rack
• If desired, layer with sliced Bananas and Vanilla Pudding to make Banana Pudding

Last week when I went to the Concord Farmer’s Market, I picked up a few things to supplement this week’s FFTY box – most specifically tomatoes and zucchini, because I had been kicking around the idea for this dip for a week or two now, and the guests we were having over on Sunday seemed like a perfect time to try it out.

I made a loaf of No-Knead Bread to go with it, and set up a little spread/dip dealio. I paired the Spicy Zucchini and Tomato dip with some Pesto and Irish Butter, and served it all with the warm bread. It was a big hit. The beauty of this dip though – is that it is super easy to make, and as an added bonus, if you don’t want to use it with bread, you can toss it with some pasta for a quick meal, spread it on a sandwich, or stir some broth and/or cream in to it to make soup. It’s one of those things that once you have a jar or two of it sitting in the fridge, you’ll wonder how you ever got along without it.

In preparation for making this, I made sure to have a couple of jalapeno peppers on hand to roast with them. I didn’t end up using them all (it was spicy enough with just one) but roasted jalapeno peppers are nice to have on hand as well – and I’m thinking that going in to summer, I might want to see about canning some now that they’re coming in to season. Depending on the heat, quality, and age of your peppers, you may need to adjust to taste how spicy you want it to be. I was shooting for a medium-ish heat.

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It kind of reminds me of this dip Mr. Man and I would have sometimes when we would go out for Moroccan. We haven’t had really good Moroccan food since we moved from San Francisco, and I think their dip was made with eggplant and not zucchini, but there was a bit of the same kind of flavor going on. Although, to be honest, we haven’t really gone out to eat much at all, lately. Whenever we think about going out, nine out of ten times, I’m more inclined to cook something than to go out to eat. I guess because lately, everything that I make tastes better than most of the restaurants I’ve been to lately.

Not that I don’t ever want to get lazy and just order a pizza or something – but I tend to be less inclined to do so when I have a fridge full of local produce (courtesy of my weekly CSA delivery) that isn’t going to get any fresher if I skip using them that night. Plus I love to cook (if you couldn’t tell) so I usually don’t mind, and if I have a jar of this dip sitting in the fridge, I can have a guilt-free slough off day when I’m feeling lazy.

Ingredients:

• 6 tomatoes; cut in to 8ths
• 6 Zucchini; cut in to chunks
• 1-3 Jalapeno Peppers (to taste); whole
• 1 large Onion; cut in to 8ths
• 4 cloves Garlic
• 1/4 cup Olive Oil
• 1 Lemon; juiced
• 1/4 cup Basil
• 1/2 tsp Kosher salt, plus more to taste

Method:

• Preheat Oven to 400°
• Toss all veggies except the Lemon and Basil with the Olive Oil and Kosher Salt
• Roast in oven for 30 minutes or until veggies begin to brown around the edges
• Set the roasted Jalapenos to one side
• Reserve 1/3 of roasted veggies
• Puree basil, remaining 2/3′s of veggies (working in batches if neccessary), and adding the Jalapeno a little at a time, to taste
• Pour pureed veggies in to a bowl
• Add the reserved veggies to the blender and pulse once or twice to chop
• Mix in to the pureed veggies
• Stir in Lemon Juice and kosher salt to taste
• Chill for several hours to allow flavors to marry
• Serve with chips, crusty bread, pasta, etc… Makes about 2 quarts

I received several avocados and mangoes in this week’s FFTY box. The avocados are never truly a problem, since I know that left to his own devices, Mr. Man would eat Avocados for breakfast, lunch and dinner – and probably have an extra one or two for snacks – I had some ideas for the mangoes, but – unfortunately, I had spaced on the fact that I had them until today, and upon opening the bag they were in, discovered that they were ALL ripe and ready to eat – one of the downsides to keeping them in a brown paper bag… out of sight, out of mind.

Fortunately, they were fairly smallish Mangoes, so I was able to use them up in one meal. I started out with four – and used three of them making a Mango puree to use in the entree – Mango Glazed Pork Tenderloin. The fourth, I used in this salsa to serve with the tenderloin, although – next time I think I’ll make it to serve with CHIPS. Or maybe I’ll just grab a spoon and eat it straight from the bowl.

Ingredients:

• 2 small Avocados (or 1 large); peeled and cut in to 1/2″ chunks
• 1 small Mango (or 1/2 a large); peeled and cut in to 1/2″ chunks
• 1/2  small Onion; finely diced
• 2 cloves garlic; finely minced
• 2 tbs Italian Parsley; finely minced
• 1 tbs Fresh Basil; finely minced
• 1 tbs Fresh Mint; finely minced
• 3 tbs Rice Wine Vinegar
• 1 tsp Habanero Hot Sauce (or to taste)
• Kosher Salt (to taste)

Method:

• Mix all ingredients together in a medium bowl
• Serve immediately with chips (or with Mango Glazed Pork Tenderloin, if desired)

This last friday, I was invited to Beltaine with my (now – new) sisters, and needed to come up with something to bring for the snacking part of the evening. I was kind of short on time – what with all the birthday preparations and all, so I needed to make something that was quick and could be prepped beforehand. The chard I received in this week’s FFTY box was a great jumping off point for me to start with – even though I’d already made a different style dip the week before. This time, however, I wanted to make something that could be stuck in the fridge and pulled out when needed, and didn’t require baking.

It also had to be vegetarian, since one of my sisters is vegetarian -  but despite that, it turned out fantastic – similar to a creamy Spinach Dip.  I used Hearts of Palm because I didn’t happen to have any water chestnuts on hand, and actually I think that I liked the hearts of palm better than the water chestnuts. I had picked up a jar of them a while back at Trader Joe’s and every time I looked in the pantry recently I was like “I should do something with those…” This dip was a perfect way to take advantage of their texture and unique flavor.

If you don’t happen to have miso on hand (I didn’t – and had to make a trip to an Oriental Grocery to get some) – I’ve found that Better than Bouillon brand bases can be swapped out almost seamlessly in many recipes for Miso, since they both rely on the Umami factor to provide that rich mouth feel, and are both concentrated flavor pastes. Although you might want to adjust quatities a little bit, depending on the flavor you’re shooting for. If I hadn’t been shooting for vegetarian, I’d have probably just used the bouillon, rather than making a special trip to the store. Fortunately, I found an oriental market on the way to Costco to pick up Mexican Coke for Miss Thing’s party, so it wasn’t too out of the way. I <3 Mexican Coke, btw.

Ingredients:

• 3 Onions; finely diced
• 5 cloves Garlic; finely minced
• 1 bunch Chard; stems removed and chopped in to 1″ pieces
• 1 bunch Carrot Greens (optional), finely minced
• 2 cups Sour Cream; divided
• 1/2 cup Mayonnaise
• 4 stalks of Hearts of Palm; finely chopped
• 1 tbs Butter
• 3 tbs Red Miso
• Kosher Salt (to taste)

Method:

• Melt the butter in a large skillet over low heat
• Add the onions and cook slowly, stirring occasionally, until onions are golden brown and caramelized
• Add the garlic, chard, and carrot greens (if applicable)
• Toss to combine and cook until greens are tender
• Remove from heat and allow to cool
• In a small bowl, mix together 1/2 cup of the sour cream and the miso until thoroughly combined. (this step is kind of optional – but doing it makes it less likely you’ll have any large lumps of miso hiding out in your dip)
• In a large bowl, Mix together the miso-sour cream mixture, the hearts of palm, the sauteed greens and onions, and the mayonnaise.
• Add Kosher Salt to taste
• Refrigerate for 4 hours or overnight to allow flavors to meld
• Serve with chips, crudites or with crusty bread (such as No-Knead Bread)

You ever get the feeling that the weekend just went by too fast for words? Thats how this last weekend was. The intention on friday was to hang out around the house and maybe get some things done (and cook, of course). However, it was not to be. On friday afternoon, I received a phone call from a friend that I hadn’t heard from in a little while – and bully for them! They had just closed on a house – yay! …. and they were moving this weekend. They had helped us move, so of course we had to offer to help them move. Which is cool – love them, you know… but it made the weekend go crazy fast.

The best part though – is that they moved closer to us, which is great, because we’ve really missed them since we left San Francisco. So now we’ll get to see more of them. After we came home from visiting with them at their new house, I hopped in the kitchen and made this dip. It was inspired by this post I saw over at CSA Delivery for a Chard and Artichoke Dip. CSA Delivery is a blog written by another subscriber to FFTY.  I saw their dip last week after I had already used that weeks chard in another Pesto – so as soon as I received another bunch of chard in this week’s box, I knew what I was going to make with it.

This was the first time that I’ve used fresh artichokes in a recipe like this – and I really can’t believe what a difference it makes. While jarred artichokes are dandy – don’t get me wrong, I do like them – the taste of fresh artichoke hearts, that haven’t been marinated or soaked for a long time, is really something special, so while you can subsitute jarred artichokes in this recipe – if you have the time to devote to preparing fresh artichokes, it’s really worth it.

In addition to the artichokes and chard – when I received nantes carrots in my weekly box, I saved the greens and added them to this dip as well. If you don’t happen to have them, you can just leave them out – I try to waste as little as I can, and since I’ve stopped making stock for a little while (it’s just been too warm and the materials take up too much freezer space), I wanted to use them up in another way.

This dip is really rather decadent – and would be great for a crowd or a party. It ended up making way more than I thought it would – so we had a bunch leftover. Although it’s packed full of veggies, I probably wouldn’t call it healthy. lol Mr. Man liked it with Tortilla Chips, but I preferred using some slices of leftover No-Knead Bread.

Ingredients:

• 6 steamed artichoke hearts; coarsely chopped
• 1 bunch Chard; chopped
• 1 small bunch Carrot Greens; chopped (optional)
• 1 leek, thinly sliced
• 4 cloves Garlic; minced
• 1 cup Cream Cheese; softened
• 1 Cup Sour Cream
• 1 cup Cheddar Cheese; divided
• 1/4 cup Mayonnaise
• 1 tbs Brown Mustard
• 1 tbs Miso
• 1 tbs Butter
• 1/2 tsp Kosher Salt
• 1/4 tsp Cayenne Pepper

Method:

• Preheat Oven to 350°
• Melt the butter in a large skillet over medium heat.
• Add the Leeks and saute until tender
• Stir in the Garlic, Carrot Greens and Chard and saute until bright green and tender
• Remove from heat and set aside
• In a bowl, stir together the Cream Cheese, Sour Cream, brown mustard, miso, mayo, salt and cayenne pepper
• Add the greens, artichokes, and about 3/4 cup of the Cheddar cheese and stir to combine
• Spread the mixture in to a casserole dish and sprinkle with remaining cheese
• Bake for 20-30 minutes, or until edges turn golden brown
• Serve warm with Chips, slices of crusty bread, veggies, etc…

This morning, (okay, technically this afternoon) Mr. Man and I got up and began our weekend routine – we tend to divide labor (mostly) equally when it comes to mornings – he makes the espresso, and I make breakfast. Today, we had a fair amount of leftovers in the fridge, so I wasn’t inclined to do anything too fancy, we just had some of the leftover Potato Pancakes and some of the Carnitas I made last night with a couple of fried eggs – however, I decided to make this quick salsa to serve with it.

I usually make salsa with fresh tomatoes however, since tomatoes aren’t in season yet, I used canned – and quite frankly, I’m surprised I waited so long to try making salsa with canned tomatoes. I’ve been denying myself delicious homemade salsa all winter for no reason! This salsa only took about 10 minutes to throw together. I made it while I was waiting for the potato pancakes and carnitas to reheat in the oven, that is how quick it was.

I’m sure the flavors will marry a little bit after refrigerating for a while, but it was bright and flavorful just made as well. Given the gorgeous spring weather we’re having today – it was just the perfect complement to our leftovers breakfast (brunch).

Ingredients:

• 1 – 28 oz can whole tomatoes; drained and diced
• 1 – 4 oz can diced Green Chilies
• 1 Onion, finely diced
• 3 cloves Garlic; minced
• 1 lemon; juiced
• 1/2 cup Cilantro; finely chopped
• 1 tsp Serrano Pepper Hot Sauce or other Green Pepper Hot Sauce; (Or to taste)
• 1 tsp Kosher Salt (to taste)

Method:

• Stir all ingredients together in a medium sized bowl
• Serve immediately or refrigerate