Thanksgiving side: sweet potato casserole!

There's one thing I can't have Thanksgiving without, and that's my family's sweet potato casserole.  You can tell I've made it a lot just by looking  the page in the cookbook it's on:

This is from "Heritage of Hospitality" which is a Junior League of Winston-Salem Cookbook from 1975.  I think it might be the first cookbook I ever owned.  My mom was one of the editors, and I remember her testing recipes and also piles and piles of these bright yellow cookbooks with green binding all over our house.  The sweet potato casserole is one of two recipes she had in the cookbook - another is for a grilled leg of lamb that I still use. Somewhere I think I have the original recipe card that my grandmama wrote it down on.   I've modified her recipe a bit, and I always rant at Thanksgiving that I never know how much "6 or 7" sweet potatoes are.  Especially when this is what I've got to work with:

I think it ended up being about 6 lbs, but that seems like too much. You need enough mashed sweet potato to fill a 9"x13" casserole dish.  I also bake the sweet potatoes rather than boil them.

Here's the recipe typed out:
Sweet potato casserole
Casserole filling:
6 or 7 sweet potatoes
1/2 stick butter (4 tbs)
2 eggs
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup half and half
cinnamon, nutmeg and vanilla to taste (I usually add about 1/4-1/2 tsp cinnamon, 1/4 tsp nutmeg and 1/2 tsp vanilla - I think I forgot the vanilla this year).  I also added some salt  - maybe about 1/4 tsp?

Topping:
1 cup crushed cornflakes
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup chopped pecans
1/2 stick butter, melted

Directions:
 Preaheat oven to 350 and spray casserole with non-stick spray.

Wash sweet potatoes well, prick all over with fork to let steam escape and place on baking sheet.  Bake at 350°F until tender (fork slides in easily), about 1 hour.  Let cool enough to handle and peel.  Place warm potatoes in mixer and stir with paddle attachment to mash (you could also mash by hand).  Add butter, eggs (I usually beat the eggs a bit before I add them), brown sugar and half and half.  Mix well.   Season to taste and spread potato mixture in casserole.  You can cover at this point and refrigerate overnight.

When you're ready to bake the casserole, mix together the dry topping ingredients and then add the butter. Spread evenly over the top of the potato mixture.  If the casserole is warm, bake in a 450 oven for 15 minutes until heated through and the topping is browned.  If baking from the refrigerator, I usually turn the oven down to 350 and let it bake until heated through and the topping is browned, maybe 20-30 min?  Keep an eye on it.  Sorry this is vague but you're usually heating this up while you're waiting for the turkey to rest and finishing up all the other bits and pieces of Thanksgiving dinner so the goal is just to get it hot and not burn it.  It's pretty forgiving.  I'm much more likely to burn the rolls than this!

The potatoes going into the oven:

The finished product:

We have finally grown into the amount of food we make at Thanksgiving, thanks to these guys:

Edited to add in 2021 I used 7.5 lbs sweet potatoes and filled the casserole above (13x9 pyrex) and a 9x9 square casserole as well (maybe not as generously but I think a thinner layer is good).  So I think 6 lbs for the 13x9 would do, and 2-3 lbs for a 9x9.

This was delicious, and used the bok choi!
Honey Soy Glazed Salmon with Bok Choi

Sauerkraut!

Really, who doesn't love sauerkraut?  Ok, well, a lot of folks, honestly. Including me, until I was in graduate school in Texas.  Not that I'd ever really had sauerkraut before.  But the part of Texas that Texas A&M is in has a huge German and Czech community, so your sausages and fermented cabbage products abound.  (As do kolaches, which are awesome, but do not involve sauerkraut.)  There was a local brand that was sold in the refrigerated section in the grocery stores that completely changed my mind, and all brats are naked without it.  That was quite some time ago, so I can't even begin to remember the name of it!

After moving out of Texas, my interactions with sauerkraut were relatively limited - I'd occasionally buy a bag or jar in the refrigerated section of the market, but that was it.  Four years ago, I taught a First Year Seminar class called "Food:Science, Transformation and Culture".  I used as a base text the book "Cooked" by Michael Pollan, and in the chapter entitled "Earth" he discusses making sauerkraut - specifically way too much of it using a crock and many pounds of cabbage.  I had my students that semester make kim chi and sauerkraut, adapting this recipe for "Small Batch Sauerkraut" from the website kitchn.com that makes a little less than a quart.

For each 1 qt mason jar

1 medium head green cabbage (about 3 lbs)

1 ½ tbs kosher salt (or 1 tbs pickling salt)

1 ½ tsp caraway seeds (can add other flavorings - I left these out)

1.         Clean everything, including your hands!

2.         Slice the cabbage – cut into quarters and trim core.  Slice each quarter into halves lengthwise.  Slice each wedge crosswise into very thin ribbons

3.         Transfer cabbage to a gallon freezer Ziploc and sprinkle salt over.  Seal the bag and start working the salt into the cabbage by squeezing and massaging the cabbage through the bag with your hands.  Gradually the cabbage will become watery and limp, about 5-10 minutes.  Add the caraway seeds now if you like.

4.         Pack handfuls of cabbage into the jar, every so often pack down the cabbage.  Pour any liquid released by the cabbage while you were massaging it into the jar. 

5.         Weigh the cabbage down w/ a small plastic bag of pie weights or marbles to keep it submerged below the brine.

6.         Cover the jar w/ a piece of doubled cheesecloth and secure w/ a rubber band.

7.         Press the cabbage down every few hours.

8.         Add extra liquid if needed; after 24 hours, if the liquid is not above the cabbage, dissolve 1 tsp salt in 1 cup water and add just enough to submerge the cabbage.

9.         Ferment the cabbage for 3 to 10 days: As it’s fermenting, keep the sauerkraut away from direct sunlight and at a cool room temp, ideally 65-75°F.  Check daily and press down if the cabbage if floating above the liquid.  Start tasting after 3 days, when it tastes good to you, remove the weight and screw on the cap, and refrigerate. You can also allow the sauerkraut to continue fermenting for 10 days or even longer. There's no hard and fast rule for when the sauerkraut is "done" — go by how it tastes.  While it's fermenting, you may see bubbles coming through the cabbage, foam on the top, or white scum. These are all signs of a healthy, happy fermentation process. The scum can be skimmed off the top either during fermentation or before refrigerating. If you see any mold, skim it off immediately and make sure your cabbage is fully submerged; don't eat moldy parts close to the surface, but the rest of the sauerkraut is fine.

10.       Store sauerkraut for several months: This sauerkraut is a fermented product so it will keep for at least two months and often longer if kept refrigerated. As long as it still tastes and smells good to eat, it will be. If you like, you can transfer the sauerkraut to a smaller container for longer storage.

 Chopping the cabbage:

 Packed into the bag with salt:

After 10 minutes of massaging and squeezing, packing it into a jar:

 

Plenty of brine!

Keeping the cabbage submerged for a few days w/ a ziploc filled w/ dried beans:

A few days later, you can see the bubbles as it ferments:

I let it go for about 7-8 days, tasting every couple of days until it got to the level of sauer I like.  Then pop the lid on and put it in the fridge and it'll keep pretty much forever.

everything can be a pizza or flatbread

So you need lunch or dinner fast.  You look in the fridge and see an assortment of odds and ends and think - "Hey, that might make a good pizza/flatbread".  Using this technique described by Kenji Lopez-Alt, all you need is a 10" flour tortilla, a heavy skillet or frying pan and some toppings.  What did I have?  Cheese, some grilled eggplant (from last week's CSA), some grilled chicken and garlic confit in olive oil I'd made using this Vivian Howard recipe for a butterbean hummus I still need to make.

Technique:

Heat a skillet (cast iron or  I use a  ceramic non-stick) over medium high heat  and add 1-2 tsp of olive oil.  Pre-heat the broiler and adjust a rack to 6-8" below the broiler. Have all your toppings ready to go.  For this pizza, I used:

Large flour tortilla
Garlic confit in olive oil (see recipe above - used garlic from the CSA)
Chopped grilled eggplant (from last week's CSA)
Chopped grilled chicken
Mozarella cheese

For this, I used 1-2 tsp of the oil from the garlic confit to spread over the tortilla as "sauce".  
Once the oil in the skillet is smoking hot, use a paper towel to wipe the oil out of the pan, leaving a thin coating behind.  Drop in the tortilla, rough side down (oil side up!) and reduce heat to low.  Add your toppings (chopped confit garlic clove, eggplant and chicken) and cover w/ mozzarella.  Try to spread the cheese to the edge of the tortilla.  Put the plan under the broiler and heat for 2-4 minutes until the cheese is browned and bubbly.  Remove from oven and use a spatula to release the pizza from the pan - if it's not quite browned and crispy enough of the bottom, heat carefully over medium heat, swirling the pan.  Remove from pan to a cutting board, slice into pizza-style triangles or squares if you're a rebel and serve.

Adapt this technique to whatever ingredients you have on hand!

Attack of the Greens! Making it fit!

So late yesterday afternoon I went to pick up this week's CSA box.  Greens-greens-greens!

 What have we got?

• bok choy
• collards
• kale
• cabbage
• salad mix
• peppers (2)
• butternut squash (3 lbs! A monster!)
• garlic

Which are all quite delicious but a little overwhelming if you're trying to cram all them in your fridge, especially if it still has some greens in it from last week!  So, to decrease the volume, and increase the likelihood that I'll use them, I've tried to chop and wash the greens as soon as I get home:

Washed and dried (with that salad spinner I told you to get awhile ago) they'll keep for a week or more in a ziploc bag with a paper towel in the bottom to absorb moisture.  Now that they are cleaned and chopped, it'll be much easier to drop them into to a recipe after work on a weeknight.

Broccoli Melts

We had a pound of broccoli in this week's box, and I've been looking for other ways to use it beyond steaming and roasting. I came across this recipe for Broccoli Melts from Smitten Kitchen, and I thought it looked like it had potential.  It also looked pretty easy, though it would be better if I read the directions more carefully before starting. What do I mean by that?  Well, it's nice if you realize you need three garlic cloves chopped and ready to go before you start heating the oil to sauté the broccoli.  Stuff like that happened to me a couple of times when making this.

First you make a steamed/sauteed chopped broccoli mixture she calls "Broccoli Rubble".  I used a little less olive oil in the sauté, and also I didn't have any romano cheese so I used parmesan instead. For the melts, I used bread from Cheesecakes by Alex, which is located in downtown Greensboro.  If you're confused by that, head down to the Greensboro Farmers Curb Market and on Saturdays they have a booth with no cheesecake (that's all at the store downtown) but they do have lots of delicious baked goods, including loves of Italian bread made with semolina flour that are delicious. This bread also make great avocado toast and BLT's.

Didn't take any pics while I was cooking it (there are plenty at the Smitten Kitchen site!),  But I did take a picture of the final product:

And it was great!  I'll make this again with the rest of the sauteed broccoli.

Blackeyed Pea Posole with Pork and Collard Greens

This is one of my favorite recipes for collard greens.  It's a great, hearty soup that uses lots of greens.  This is from Cooking Light (RIP) and I make a few substitutions.

 As printed:

• 1 poblano pepper (I sub a can of roasted green chiles -that is, unless there is a poblano in the CSA box)
• 3/4 lb boneless pork shoulder (also called country style ribs) cut into 1-1/2 inch chunks (I usually try to use 1 lb of bone in)
• 3 cups fat free, low sodium chicken broth (I usually use 2 cans of chicken broth)
• 4 cups loosely packed bagged, prewashed, chopped collard greens (OBVS I subbed collard greens from the farm)
• 1 cup chopped red onion (ooh, I had one of those from the farm, also a yellow onion)
• 1 cup chopped tomatillos
• 1/2 cup chopped cilantro (if you hate cilantro, I bet you could leave this out)
• 2 tsp finely chopped jalepeño pepper (I used chopped Thai chiles from the CSA box)
• 1/2 tsp oregano (preferably Mexican)
• 2 garlic cloves chopped (I have SO MUCH GARLIC from the farm right now).
• 1 15 oz can of black-eyed peas, rinsed and drained
• salt
• pepper

If you're using a poblano, roast in according to the directions.  Otherwise just get going w/ a can of chopped green chiles is just fine!

Heat a 5qt dutch oven over medium heat.  Add 1-2 tsp olive oil.  Add  pork, and cook for 4-8 minutes until browned.

Add 1 cup of chicken broth to the pan, and stir to scrape up browned bits.

Stir in remaining 2 cups broth,  canned chiles, greens, and next six ingredients (through garlic).  Bring to a boil, cover, reduce heat to low and simmer for 40 min or until pork is tender.  Stir in peas, salt and pepper, simmer 5 minutes until heated through.

This freezes well.  Also, once you've got the pork browned and deglazed the pan with broth, you can just chop and dump stuff in the pan.  I bet you could do this in a crockpot for 4-6 hours or so on high (until the pork was tender), then add the peas and heat through.

A few pics:
Browning the pork:

I had at least half a red onion left over from a previous CSA as well a yellow onion...

No poblano in the CSA - and these are easy and nice - just drain them!

Throw in the chopped collard greens:

 Bring to a boil, cover and simmer 40 min, add the drained and rinsed blackeyed peas and it dinnertime!

Week 5 CSA Share beauty shot

I've been remiss about posting what we get each week, so here you go Iain:

What's in this week's basket?

• The triumphant return of SALAD MIX! (0.5 lbs)
• Kale (0.5 lbs)
• 1 bunch mustard greens
• 2 bell peppers (I got a green and a red)
• Eggplant (1 lb)
• Okra (2/3 lb)
• 1 head garlic
• Broccoli (1lb)
• Sweet potatoes (2 lbs)

Chopped and washed the greens, but didn't make anything with the basket tonight.  I can tell you to look for a sauerkraut post soon, though!

HOT Pepper Jelly- habañero and basil

Haven't made this in awhile, but I've run out and we've been getting a huge supply (ok, maybe just a pint) of habañero and Thai chiles in the CSA.  This pepper jelly has lots of uses: you can put it over cream or goat cheese and spread it on crackers, use it as a condiment with meats such as lamb or pork.  Put it on a sandwich, lick it off a spoon, it's pretty damn good. Search the internet - get creative!

The recipe is adapted from various spots on the internet that aren't around anymore, along with adaptations from the Sure Jell insert.

Thai Basil Pepper Jelly
1 cup packed fresh basil (Thai is best, Italian will do), chopped
2 cups chopped red and yellow bell pepper
1.5 cups vinegar (3/4 cup apple cider, 3/4 cup rice wine)
5 cups granulated white sugar
1 tbs lemon or lime juice
5 habeñero chiles (yellow or red) finely chopped (this is plenty hot...you can always add more, but be careful!)
1 tsp butter (optional).
1 package Sure-Jell powdered pectin.

Prepare jelly jars according to directions (wash with hot soapy water, sterilize lids by pouring boiling water over).  I use the 1/2 cup (4 oz) jelly jars.

Chop the bell peppers.  Chop the basil.

CAREFULLY seed and stem the habañero peppers (I recommend wearing gloves and possibly a mask).  Chop finely.

Measure sugar into a bowl. Place the chiles, chopped peppers, lime juice, chopped basil, dry pectin, vinegar and butter in a large non-reactive (stainless steel or teflon lined) pot.  Bring to a rolling boil, stirring constantly and add sugar all at once.  Return to a rolling boil and boil exactly 1 minute, stirring constantly.

Remove from heat and fill prepared jelly jars to 1/4" of the rim.  Wipe rims with damp cloth or paper towel, cover w/ sterilized lid and screw on band tightly.

Invert jars for 5 minutes, the turn over and allow to cool slowly.  After jars are cool, check seals by pressing top of jars.  If lid springs up, jar is not sealed, but it can be kept in the fridge.

As they are cooling, you can shake them occasionally to distribute the peppers so it looks nice.  If you forget you can stir before serving and it tastes just as good.

You can substitute 1/4-1/3 cup chopped fresh rosemary for the basil.  That's what I'll make with this week's batch of peppers!

Some pics!  The habañeros:

.  Chopping them...carefully:

All the peppers:

All the ingredients in the pot:

Heating to a boil:

Packed in jars:

Mustard greens pasta

Week before last we had a lovely bunch of mustard greens in the the CSA.  Greens and pasta are great together, and I found this recipe and thought it would be good to adapt since I had three links of this chicken kale sausage (that I bought on sale) to use up.

Here's how I put it together for two servings:
Ingredients
6 oz pasta (I used farfalle)
3 links chicken kale sausage, sliced (you could use 8 oz of whatever sausage you like.  If it's raw, crumble and cook it before adding to the pasta)
1 yellow onion chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 bunch mustard greens, chopped (stripped out any large stems)
2 oz (1/2 cup) grated parmesan
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1/4 tsp red chile flakes (if you're not using hot Italian sausage)
2 tbs half and half
2 tbs pasta water or chicken broth

Process:
Cook pasta in hot salted boiling water until al dente - drain and reserve pasta water.  I

Heat a 5 qt dutch oven over medium heat. Add 1 tsp of olive oil and then chopped onion, cook 4-5 minutes until tender.  Add chopped garlic and chile flakes, saute 1-2 minutes.  If you're using raw sausage, you could add it at this point and saute until cooked.

Add greens onion/garlic mixture, saute until wilted and tender 2-5 minutes. (if you're using cooked sausage, add it at this point and heat).  Season with salt and pepper. 

Stir in half and half, cheese, pasta water or chicken broth and cooked pasta. Heat until cheese melts.

Serve on two plates or pasta bowls, sprinkle with additional grate parmesan.

Some pics - chopping and washing the greens:

Sausage and greens mixture:

 Plated up!

Would also be good with some toasted pine nuts!!

More Casserole - Baked Penne with Roasted Vegetables

Here's another great casserole to use all the veggies from the box.  It's based on this recipe from Giada de Laurentis on the Food Network. I use a variety of vegetables depending on what I have.  I also vary the cheese, and the amount of pasta.  Here's what I did this week:

2 red or yellow peppers cut into 1" strips.
2 zuchinni,quartered lengthwise and cut into 1" cubes
2 summer squash, quartered lengthwise and cut into 1" cubes (I substituted eggplant for squash this week)
8 oz sliced mushrooms (basically one package)
1 yellow onion, peeled and cut into 1" pieces.
2 tbs extra virgin olive oil
1 tsp salt
1 tsp black pepper
1 tbs herbs de Provence
8 oz penne pasta
4 oz mozarella or Italian blend shredded cheese (1 cup)
2 oz (1/2 cup) shredded smoked cheese (mozarella, provolone or gouda)
3 cups marinara sauce (a jar is good here - Trader Giotto's is convinient)
1 oz parmesan (1/4 cup)
2 oz mozarella (1/2 cup)

You'll need a 13'x9" casserole dish sprayed with olive oil.  (Pam or similar)

Preheat oven to 450°F
Line a baking sheet with heavy duty aluminum foil.  Spray with olive oil spray (Pam or similar)
Put all the vegetables in a large bowl and add olive oil, salt, pepper and herbs de Provence and toss to coat.   Spread out on the the baking sheet and put it in oven for 15 (too short) to 30 min (30 is prob too long).  Once the vegetables are roasted, you can save these in the frig and assemble the casserole later.  But if not, while the veg are roasting, you can...

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil over high heat.  Add the pasta and cook for about 6 minutes. Since you will be cooking the pasta a second time in the oven, the inside should still be a bit hard.  Drain.

In a large bowl, toss the drained pasta with the roasted vegetables, marinara sauce and 
4 oz mozarella or Italian blend shredded cheese (1 cup) and 2 oz (1/2 cup) shredded smoked cheese until everything is well combined.

Pour into the casserole and top with the parmesan and mozarella cheese.  Bake until top is golden and cheese melts, about 25 minutes.

I only took one pic  - here's what the vegetables look like after roasting:

Roasted Eggplant and Sauteed Greens Lasagna

Fall's CSA last year was filled with eggplant, perhaps a little too much eggplant.  This year Nick is trying not to overwhelm us, but we are gauranteed two varieties (1 lb each) each week.  Last week it was a pound of "Casper", white, ghostly eggplants, and a pound of "Orient Charm" a long, thin, pink eggplant.  We also got one bunch of broccoli greens, which I've never had before but the note with the basket said we could saute them like collards.  So, I thought it would be a good time to make this Roasted Eggplant and Sauteed Greens Lasagne from Food52 that I discovered during last year's CSA eggplantapalooza (eggplantapocolypse? eggplantnado? I don't know,  but you get the idea).  The recipe suggests using a modified version of Marcella Hazan's tomato sauce, which I recall making last year (and it is delicious), but this time I didn't have the time so I just used a jar of Trader Giotto's Marinara I had in the pantry.  It was a little less than the quart required, so I added a can of chopped tomatoes with their juice (at the end, when I realized everything was a bit dry...would have been better to mix that in at the beginning.  I also used regular shredded mozzarella rather than fresh. 

So slice the eggplant, toss in some olive oil and spread on a sheet to roast at 450 for 20 min (the recipe fusses around with rotating pans but I ain't got time for that while I'm trying to make a different dinner at the same time)

(I might have sprayed them w/ a little olive oil spray before roasting.
Saute the chopped greens:

And then build the lasagna according to instructions (no photos).  Bake covered with foil for 40 min at 350°F.  Remove foil and back 5-10 minutes to brown.  I discovered last year that this freezes and reheats well:

Blueberry Barbecue Pizza (Flatbread)

Pizza..flatbread...pizza...flatbread.  What's the difference?  I reckon if something is called a "pizza" it should be vaguely Italian, which this was not.  What's used from the CSA?  Thinly sliced red onion and a chopped red Thai chili from last weeks' basket.

So, I've been working on a lot of Vivian Howard's recipes from Deep Run Roots.  Early this summer, I made her Blueberry Barbecue sauce, and I've used it on pork barbecue, as well as on grilled chicken or pork.  I've also used it as a flavoring for seltzer (like a "shrub").  I found a recipe online in which she used the Blueberry Barbecue sauce on a barbecued chicken flatbread:  Link to flatbread recipe

I love to make pizza, so this was super-intriguing.  Recently I had some leftover grilled pork tenderloin, and I had the sauce in the fridge and, believe it or not, some smoked gouda from some other recipe I can't recall the name of. But there it was, threatening to get moldy so let's use it up!  I used the recipe as a guide.  I substituted chopped grilled pork tenderloin for chicken, and used the red onion from the farm.  I didn't have jalepeños, but I did have some Thai red chilies from last week's basket and I used one of them.  I also used this pizza dough recipe: Link to pizza dough recipe.

I rolled out 12 oz of dough to make a flatbreat, and covered it with 4-5 tbs of Blue Barbecue sauce.  Then I put the chopped pork tenderloin (4 oz) on, and added 5 oz of the shredded smoked gouda.  I added about 1/2 cup thinly sliced red onion, and one chopped red Thai chile.

Before baking:

note: I start my pizzas on parchment - bake 5 min, then slide off the parchment onto the stone and bake 5 more min.  Much easier to get the raw pizza dough onto the stone.

After baking:

Ugly, but very, very tasty.

Other things you do on CSA arrival:
Wash it
Cut it up
Roast it

Eat it up!

So delicious: 1 lb okra.  Tops removed, pod halved (one really big one  I cut into quarters).  Tossed with salt, pepper, 2 tbs of olive oil.  Spread out on sheet pan lined Al foil, cut sides down.  Bake at 400°F for 30 min.  Remove from oven, cool slightly, and eat.  All of it.

The arrival of a new CSA

So....usually when I get the CSA I try to post a beauty shot of all its gorgeousness.  I did not this week.  To be honest, I'm still trying to catch up from last week.  So this post will be an homage to catching up.

But this is all about catching up... remember this summer, when I said "we've got the beets" and I promised I would discuss what I was doing with them?  Ok, what I'd been doing with is putting them in the crisper and waiting for another day.  Fortunately beets can take that kind of abuse.  They can wait around FOREVER.  Finally, I have made some beet hummus.
Step 1: Roast your beets
I used this recipe from Food 52 that has been a go to when I have beets: The best way to cook beets.

Then, when I've got them cooked, I either eat them in salads, or try this crazy thing from simply recipes.  First I roasted the beets, and then I made the beet hummus.

Here's what the beets look just after they are done roasting:

And then you cube them  up and put them in the food processor with the tahini, lemon juice, zest, cumin, salt and pepper:

And blitz it:

Viola! Pink and delicious.  I have to admit, I only put 2 tsp of cumin in (rather than a tablespoon), and 4 tbs of lemon juice (rather than 5).  But it was tasty!!!

Shrimp Succotash Salad

So this is mostly ingredients from the Greensboro Farmer's Curb Market, but they are all seasonal and I did use two items from the CSA!  I made the Shrimp Succotash Salad from p 154 of Deep Run Roots by Vivian Howard, of Chef and the Farmer fame.  It starts with butterbeans that have been cooked according to the method for the Butterbean Burger recipe posted on the PBS website for A Chef's life (it's also on p 153 of DRR).  The rest of the ingredients are:

Salad:
1/2 lb large shrimp (21-25 count), peeled and deveined
1 1/2 cups Stewed Fresh Butterbeans, drained and rinsed of their cooking liquid - I used speckled butter beans from Smith Farms, they cook up brown rather than green)
1 cup fresh corn (I used bicolor from Rudd's Farm)
1/2 cup celery, small diced
1/2 cup picked parsley leaves (oops, just realized I forgot to put those in)
1/2 tsp salt
1 medium tomato, diced (I used a German Johnson from Smith Farms)

Dressing:
3 tbs extra-virgin olive oil (I used 2)
2 tablespoons minced red onion (yay, from the CSA!)
1 garlic clove, grated on a microplane  (also from the CSA)
1 tsp coriander seeds
1 tsp mustard seeds
1/8 tsp red chile flakes
3 tbs red wine vinegar
zest of 1 lemon
2 tbs lemon juice
1 tbs honey (could have been from the CSA, but it wasn't)
1/2 tsp hot sauce

Making the dressing:
In a small sauté pan, heat the olive oil over medium heat, add the onion and cook gentyly for 3 min.  The onion should not brown, only soften.  Stir in garlic, coriander seeds, mustard seeds and chile flakes. Toast for 45 seconds.  Remove from head and transfer to a small bowl.  Whisk in the remaining dressing ingredients and put it aside while you make the rest of the salad.

Making the salad:
Bring a large pot of heavily salted water to a boil.  Slice the shrimp in half lengthwise, and drop them into the boiling water and immediately turn off the head.  Stir the shrimp in the hot water for 30 sec, drain and put in the fridge to cool.

Stir together the butterbeans, shrimp, corn, celery, parsley and slat.  Pour the dressing over the top, stir to mix, and refrigerated, stirring occasionally, for at least 3 hours or, better still, overnight.  Just before serving, stir in the tomato.   Eat cold or at room temp.

A few pics:
Chopped red onion for the dressing:

Cooking the red onion:

Final product:

 Could have used the parsley just to make it a little prettier (as I said, those butterbeans aren't the prettiest when cooked), but it tasted good!  Overnight marinating really helps mellow out the garlic a bit!

And we're back!

So today was the start of the 10-week fall CSA.  And a lovely start it was:

According to the note we had:
peppers (both hot and sweet)
potatoes
onions (one red and one yellow)
eggplant (Thai and purple)
okra
onions
garlic

Tonight I used some leftover roast chicken and made tacos with one of the peppers and onions from the CSA basket. Very easy and quick, and I forgot to take a photo.  I cheated a bit and used  one of the pouches from Frontera.  I also add a little bit of salsa and some of this ancho adobo sauce (easy to make and keeps for months!)

Since I forgot to take a picture of dinner, I thought you'd enjoy some of these pictures of animals at the Guilford College Farm:

This is Polly - she belongs to Nick and Audrey (Nick is the farmer).  She's a big sweetheart.  Glad her days of bounding across New Garden Road seem to be behind her.

And this is Oliver, one of the barn cats.  He's a feral rescue (from the Feral Cat Assistance Program), and also a big fuzzy sweetheart.  Unless you're a mouse in the barn.  Then he's a stone.cold.killer.

SRSLY DONT MESS WITH OLIVER.