Cool as a cucumber

So it's hotter (and humider) than heck outside, so here's a nice cool recipe courtesy of Smitten Kitchen, Takeout-Style Sesame Noodles with Cucumber.  Cold noodles are heaven when it's a furnace outside. I added some cold poached chicken for some extra protein, and the recipe made enough for dinner for two and at least two lunches for me.  I made it pretty much as written, but made a few mods:

1. I did not have Chinese sesame paste so used regular tahini
2. I did not have Chinese rice vinegar so I used regular rice wine vinegar (unseasoned).  I want to find the Chinese rice vinegar as I've read it has a stronger taste - Super G here I come!
3. I added Thai basil to the mint and cilantro suggested for the chopped fresh herbs garnish.  I could have added even more.  
4. As I mentioned above, I added about 3 oz of cold poached chicken, sliced to each serving.  You could also use shredded leftover rotisserie chicken.  I bet some cold boiled/poached shrimp would be good too.

I used the same "rice sticks" Deb describes in her post (like what you might use for pad thai) which I've always struggled with cooking - they're either underdone or overdone and stuck together in a gluey ball.  I think I found a method that works well for me:  Place the rice sticks in a large bowl.  Bring enough water to boil to cover the rice sticks, and pour over.  Let the rice sticks soak 8-10 minutes, testing starting at 7 minutes or so for doneness.  Once they're done, drain the water and rinse w/ cold water to cool.  I even threw a couple of ice cubes in there to help cool down the noodles faster. Perfect and  I didn't even need to add the extra sesame oil to keep them from sticking.

I bet this would be good with soba noodles too!

I've made a few things..

What have I made over the past few weeks?
Here's the week 5 basket:

What all did we get?

• carrots
• beets (I've got to do something with all of these I'm accumulating!)
• kale
• fennel bulb w/ fronds
• rainbow chard
• cucumbers
• garlic scapes
• two heads lettuce (hidden under the fennel)
• a tomato!

The week 6 basket I forgot to take a picture of, but the Guilford College Farm posted one on Instagram so here's a link.  You should follow them @guilford_college_farm on the 'gram.  What was in it?

• carrots
• beets (I have a problem here)
• fennel bulb (the fronds were not quite as nice on this one so I tossed them
• collard greens
• cucumbers
• garlic scapes
• two heads lettuce
• pt cherry tomatoes (several types)
• 2 tomatoes!

 So there are some salads, gazpacho and beets (roasted and pickled) my future.

A few things I've made recently, from least complicated to most:

Grilled Garlic Scapes
Put garlic scapes in a 1 gallon ziplock bag (you may need to cut them in half).  Add a bit of olive oil, salt and pepper to taste and shake/massage the bag until the scapes are evenly coated.  Grill 5-10 minutes until a bit charred.  Serve as a side (like asaparagus) or how ever you like.

Tzatziki (cucumber yogurt sauce)

Ingredients:

• Cucumber, shredded and squeezed dry in a clean dish towel)
• Greek yogurt (I usually use 2%)
• 1small garlic clove, pressed
• 1-2 tsp lemon juice
• salt and pepper to taste

 Peel the cucumber (or not, I usually don't) and shred using the coarse holes on a box grater.  Pile cucumber in a clean dish towel, wrap up and squeeze to get out as much moisture as possible.  Place cucumber in bowl, and add greek yogurt to roughly equal the amount of cucumber (this is usually about 1/2 - 1 cup cucumber to 1/2-1 cup yogurt).  Stir to mix.  Press a clove of garlic into the mixture (or grate it in w/ a microplane).  Add 1-2 tsp of lemon juice, mix.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Hey, remember that head of red cabbage from a few weeks ago?  I finally got around to doing something with it!
Crispy Braised Chicken Thighs with Cabbage and Bacon (adapted from Serious Eats)
Ingredients:
    2 pounds bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs (4 thighs; 1.15kg)
    Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
    4 ounces chopped pancetta
    1 medium onion, thinly sliced (about 6 ounces; 170g)
    1 pound finely shredded cabbage (about 1 medium head; 450g - I used red cabbage here)
    2 tablespoons (30ml) whole grain mustard
    1/2 cup (120ml) apple cider vinegar
    3 cups (700ml) homemade or store-bought low-sodium chicken stock
    3 tablespoons sugar
    2 bay leaves
    6 sprigs thyme
One of the ways I adapted this was to substitute pancetta for the bacon called for, and to use less of it. I also didn't use any of the oil or butter called for, because between the pancetta and the chicken there is plenty of fat in this dish.

Directions

1.  Pre-heat oven to 350°F
2. Season chicken with salt and pepper, set aside (even better if you can do it the day before)
3. In a 5 qt cast iron dutch oven, heat 1/2 cup water and pancetta over medium heat.  As water evaporates, fat will render.  Cook until pancetta is browned (about 5-10 min?).  Remove pancetta from pan w/ a slotted spoon, leaving fat behind.  Remove (pour or spoon out) fat until there is only 1-2 tbs remaining in the pan. 
4. Place chicken skin side down in the pan. Cook without moving about 8 minutes until skin is crisp (reduce heat if it starts smoking).  Flip over chicken and brown on opposite side, about 3 minutes.  Remove chicken to a large platter or plate and set aside.
5.  Add onion to pan and cook about 4 minutes, until softened and starting to brown.  Add cabbage to pan and cook about 4 minutes, until softened and starting to brown.  Add mustard and vinegar and cook, stirring and scraping up browned bits from bottom of pan. Add chicken stock, sugar, bay leaves, browned pancetta and thyme sprigs and bring to a simmer.
6. Nestle chicken back into the pan, leaving the skin above the liquid but submerging most of the meat. Transfer pan to oven and cook, uncovered, until chicken is totally tender and liquid has reduced by about half, about 45 minutes.
7. Remove from oven and transfer chicken to a serving platter. Season cabbage mixture to taste with salt and pepper. Serve immediately, spooning cabbage and sauce into shallow bowls and topping with chicken.
   
   I also served this with some mashed potatoes to soak up the juices.  Some pics!
   
   The browned pancetta
   
   
   Cooking the chicken
   
   
   
   Cooking the onions
   
   
   
   
   
   
   Cooking the cabbage
   
   
   
   
   
   
   Ready to go in the oven
   
   
   
   All done
   
   
   
   Plated up!
    
   

This week's CSA box and a melon smoothie

I think we're at week 7 or 8?  I've been traveling and last week's box went to my friend Sarah.  We've moved from the onslaught of greens to more summer veggies like tomatoes and cucumbers.   Here's the lineup from this week's box:

• 2 lbs purple potatoes
• 2 lbs tomatoes (one GIANT Cherokee Purple and a slicing tomato)
• 1 small green cabbage
• 3/4 lbs collard greens
• 4 red onions
• 1/2 lb radishes
• galia melon
• 1 lb zuchinni (one tiny, one enormous)
• 2 cucumbers

So far....

• I've already roasted the potatoes (wash well, cube up, toss w/ 1 tbs olive oil, salt, pepper and fresh rosemary and roast at 400°F for about 30-45 min). 
• I sauteed the one of the tiny red onion and the tiny zuchinni (both chopped) and added a little bit of chorizo (< 1 oz) and an egg to make a breakfast taco filling.
• I used one of the cucumbers to make a chicken salad: peeled chopped cucumber, 4 oz leftover chopped chicken, 3 tbs greek yogurt, 1 tbs mayo, 1 tbs chopped fresh tarragon, salt and pepper.  Could have used some lemon juice or some other acid.
• The other cucumber and the tomato went into this gazpacho.

 The galia melon (like a honeydew) I already had peeled and cut up into chunks, and I may put some of those into one of these melon smoothies my friend Ara sent me the picture of and recipe for:

To quote "Very easy to make with cut up melons, ice, and agave in the ninja."  I'm hoping that my non-ninja blender will be able to handle it!  Also I'm assuming the Ranier cherry on top is optional (I love them, I just don't have any!).

Gazpacho!

So last week I had the great privilege to go to Spain with Atlantis Global to learn more about their medical shadowing program for pre-health students.  Short story is that it's awesome and I'll be taking a group of Guilford students to Teruel, Spain to do medical shadowing in the Spring 2020 3-week session.  While I was there, I ate some amazing food, including a couple of delicious bowls of gazpacho.  Which was especially delicious given that the temperature was pushing 100°+ while I was there:

Coming back, I was determined to make this silky smooth, deliciously cool soup.  Turning to the internet for recipes, I found that there are approximately Avogadro's Number of different possible ways to make this soup.  😳  Quickly abandoning the chunky versions (which I'm sure are great, but not what I wanted) as well as Kenji Lopez-Alt's version that required you to freeze all the vegetables and then some other stuff (I just got overwhelmed).  Even his "easy version" seemed too complicated, and also had 1 cup of olive oil in the ingredients!  Eventually I settled on the recipe from Bon Appetit, and I think it came out pretty well!

Ingredients:

Ingredients

½. English hothouse cucumber, peeled, seeded

½ large red bell pepper, stemmed, seeded

2 lb. very ripe red tomatoes, preferably heirloom, cut into ½" wedges, 3 Tbsp. seeds reserved

½ large shallot, chopped

1 garlic clove, finely grated

2 Tbsp. (or more) sherry or red wine vinegar

Flaky sea salt

3 tbsp. olive oil, plus more for drizzling

Method:

Step 1 Cut 2" of the cucumber into ¼" pieces and set aside for serving; coarsely chop remaining cucumber and place in a large bowl. Cut one quarter of the bell pepper into ¼" pieces and set aside for serving; coarsely chop remaining bell pepper and add to bowl with chopped cucumber. Add tomatoes to bowl and toss with shallot, garlic, 2 Tbsp. vinegar, and 1 Tbsp. salt. Let stand 30 minutes at room temperature to let flavors meld.

Step 2 Transfer tomato mixture along with any accumulated juices to a blender. Add 3 Tbsp. oil and purée on medium speed until smooth; season with salt and vinegar, if desired. Strain through a coarse-mesh sieve into a large bowl or pitcher and chill until cool, about 1 hour

With some pics!

First line up your ingredients (tomatoes and cucumbers from this weeks' CSA, including the gianormous Cherokee Purple on the far right that weighed in at 1.25 lbs)

Peeled seeded and chopped the cucumber, cored and chopped the tomatoes (no peeling!), chopped the red bell pepper and shallot and tossed them all in a bowl and grated in the garlic clove.  Season w/ salt and pepper and add sherry vinegar:

Stir it all up:

And let is sit for 30 minutes:

Put all that in a blender along w/ 3 tbs of olive oil and let it rip at "medium" (my blender doesn't have a medium setting so I picked the middle button which said "mix").  Then put the mixture through a coarse sieve into a bowl (this was kind of a pain, but worth it -gets rid of peels and leftover seeds- and you get about 4.5 cups of this:

Let it sit overnight in the fridge to chill, and it is delicious.  You're supposed to serve it w/ chopped tomato, cucumber and a drizzle of olive oil but I haven't gotten to that part yet.  One of our hosts from Atlantis Global, Alexandra said she loves gazpacho but never makes it because they sell it in the grocery store and it's delicious.  I wish we had that here, but for now I can use this as a way to deal with the onslaught of tomatoes and cucumbers that are coming!