Fried Eggs and Greens

I'm sorry that I don't have time to post a real recipe tonight, but we're leaving for the airport at 5 am, and I have to finish packing!

Tonight's dinner was AMAZING, and we'll definitely be making it again. I'll post a recipe then (although Dan made it on the fly, so hopefully we'll be able to re-create it).

Here's a photo:

Ingredients:

- Olive oil
- Greens from pearl onions (basically scallions)
- Spinach
- Beet greens
- Eggs
- Parmesan cheese

We ate it with bread (I made mine into an open-faced sandwich) and put a little balsamic vinegar on top for extra flavor. So good!

It was loosely based on a recipe I saw recently (possibly from Martha Stewart?), which I will find for you when I have more time. Sorry! Have a great week... will write more when we get back!

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Citrus Fish and Beet Salad

Tonight's dinner included "mystery" fish and the beet salad I posted about yesterday. I'll get to the details in a minute, but first, an explanation about the "mystery..."

So I'm not sure if we just ate tilapia or flounder, but it was an error on the part of the clerk at the fish store today. Or possibly that the fish was mislabeled? I asked for tilapia, and then decided that the flounder looked better. So I told her that I wanted flounder instead, but she reached for (what I thought was) the tilapia. I said, "I actually wanted that one" and pointed to what I thought was flounder. She said that was the tilapia, and although I showed her that the signs said the opposite of what she gave me, she charged me the price for the tilapia (which was lower than the flounder). The woman in line behind me was laughing at the entire exchange! Regardless, I made some sort of white fish tonight as a main dish to eat along with our beet salad.

Now, back to dinner...

First of all, I was excited because it was the first time that I cooked fish myself! (yes, I know, some of you are probably cringing at this statement, but Dan usually does all of the prep involving raw things. EW. Tonight he was doing yard-work though, so it was all me. YAY!)

To season the fish, I used fresh orange and lime juice, garlic, salt, pepper and fresh cilantro. I also left the squeezed orange and lime in the pan. Somehow not that much of the flavor actually came through in the cooked fish (although Dan disagrees with me, he enjoyed the fish more than I did). I also made a side salad using red lettuce from the CSA, almonds, orange, and some of the leftover dressing from last night's salad.

We expected the beet salad to have a lot more garlic and lime flavor than it did. I think next time I'd use a lot more dressing, or perhaps not leave it overnight before we eat it. The cucumbers actually soaked up more of the flavor than anything else. Hmm...

As you can probably guess, we were both kind of disappointed with tonight's meal. I guess you win some and you lose some, right?

At least it all looks pretty!

My rating: 6.5/10
Dan's rating: 7/10

PS - For those of you who are curious, I'm not sure that I like beets anymore than I did before. I did like the striped beets better than the regular ones, but I still don't think I'd choose them over something else. Again, Dan disagreed with me - he really likes them!

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Roasted Squash Salad

Based on a Google search I just did, (and the help of the University of Illinois Extension) I think that the summer squash varieties I got at the CSA pick-up were Goldbar Squash (the yellow one) and either Vegetable Marrow White Bush Zucchini or Lebanese White Bush Zucchini (the green one). Does anyone know about squash varieties? (I guess I'll have to do a post about squash soon.)

Regardless of what type of summer squash they were, they were very tasty! This is what we had for dinner last night:

Roasted Squash Salad (Adapted from Eatomaniac)

INGREDIENTS:

- 2 summer squash
- 2 cups baby spinach
- 1/2 cup walnuts, chopped
- 1/2 cup raisins
- 1/2 cup Craisins
- 1/4 cup feta cheese

- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon honey

PREPARATION:

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.

2. Cut the squash into 3/4-1 inch wedges, coat them with about 1 tablespoon of olive oil and place them in a baking tray.


3. Place the prepared squash and apples in the oven for about 20-30 minutes until they are soft. Once done, set aside and let them cool to room temperature.

4. Combine remaining olive oil with lemon juice, balsamic vinegar (I used our 12-year aged balsamic!) and honey.

4. Assemble salad ingredients and top with dressing. Enjoy!


(The original recipe called for the addition of roasted green apples, but we didn't have any apples. I added honey to the dressing to make up for some of the sweetness that was missing, and Craisins because I like them!)

I also discovered a new website, Food52, that has some great recipes and tips. They're doing a contest for most of the summer featuring a different ingredient each week. The winner gets a Whole Food gift card! This week's challenge is actually summer squashes - check out some of the recipes or submit your own here.

PS: The spinach also came from the CSA...

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Beets and Carrots in a Lime Vinaigrette

I've never really been a big fan of beets, but I decided to give them a try again by making them at home. We saved our beets from the last time we got them from the farm, and I got more today so I was able to use a lot of them! I discovered once I cut into them that today's beets were actually striped, which I think is pretty cool. I wish I had taken a photo of them cut open. I'll do so if we ever get them again! I think they might have been chiogga ("candy-striped") beets, but I'm not sure. Anyone know if there are other varieties of striped beets?

Anyway, here's the recipe I made tonight (we're going to have it as a side dish tomorrow for dinner, but I was afraid that it might not look as pretty by then because of the beet juice...):

Beets and Carrots in a Lime Vinaigrette (Red Fire Farm)

INGREDIENTS:

- 2 medium beets, peeled and cubed
- 2 medium carrots, sliced diagonally
- 1 medium cucumber, cubed
- 6 Tbs veggie oil
- 3 Tbs lime juice
- 2 Tbs chopped cilantro or dill
- 1 garlic clove, minced
- salt to taste

PREPARATION:

1. Steam beets and carrots separately until tender.*
2. Combine dressing ingredients (they suggested that a jar works well because you can put the lid on and shake it all up.)
3. Put the veggies, including the cucumber in a bowl and toss with dressing. Chill.

Before adding the dressing:

All finished!

* As you can see below, I like to steam my veggies in a pot with a steam basket. I found this great silicone one that molds to the shape of just about any pot - you can probably find it at most housewares stores. (you can also steam veggies in the microwave - put just a little water in the bottom of a bowl and cover with plastic wrap. I'm guessing that this way is not as nutritious, but I don't really know for sure... and I do this when making frozen veggies)

Finally, here are a bunch of other recipes I considered making before selecting this one:

• Roasted Beet Salad (Claire Robinson)
• Beet Green Gratin (Alton Brown)
• Roasted Beet Salad with Cocoa Vinaigrette (Paula Deen)
• Beet Salad with Watercress Drizzle (Ellie Krieger)
• Beet and Goat Cheese Arugula Salad (Giada De Laurentiis)
• Beet-Orange Salad (Food Network Magazine)

Oh, and if we ever get golden beets, I want to make this recipe!

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This Week's Share - 6/30/10

This is what was available at our pick-up location today:

• Beets
• Cucumbers
• Summer Squash/ Zucchini
• Lettuce
• Pearl Onions
• Spinach
• Carrots
• Herbs
• Kale or Collards
• Cabbage or Broccoli

J decided to take the broccoli, basil, and kale, and we took the pearl onions, lettuce, and carrots. The rest of the items we split.

I was able to go to today's pick-up, so I took a photo for you to see what it actually looks like when we get the share (sorry, random people who ended up in the picture - I was trying to be quick about it):

Some photos I took when I got home:

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