Whatcha got in your box?
blueberries
cantaloupes
tomatoes
cherry tomatoes
lettuce
arugula
eggplant
basil
beans
Blueberries:
A SAVORY BLUEBERRY RECIPE!
arugula, peach, and blueberry salad with La Quercia prosciutto
and mustard-cider vinegar vinaigrette
serves 6
This is a very old school French way of making a dressing. Lovely with the egg yolk. The interplay of the sweet of the fruits with the spice of the arugula and the dressing and then the velvety richness of the ham make for a pretty mean salad. Mean in the nice way…
Mustard-cider vinaigrette:
2 cooked egg yolks, cooked firm but not like rubber balls. 5 minute egg…
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
2 tablespoons cider vinegar
fresh tarragon
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
½ teaspoon kosher salt
pinch cayenne
Using a mortar and pestle mash up the egg yolks with the mustard. Add the vinegar and tarragon. Mash well and then slowly add the oil in a steady thin stream. You can use a small whisk at this point. Whisk in all the oil and finish with the salt and cayenne. If its too thick you can add some water, nature’s thinner.
1 quart arugula leaves
1 peach, fresh and ripe, pitted and thinly sliced
½ quart of blueberries
¼ pound or six beautiful slices of La Quercia prosciutto (earthfare has it, spendy but worth it)
1 batch dressing
pinch of kosher salt
Place arugula in a large bowl and add the sliced peaches and the blueberries. Add half of the dressing and gently toss with your clean hands. Season with a pinch of salt and then evenly plate onto six plates. Drizzle a little more dressing around each plate and then tear a piece of prosciutto over each plate. Yum.
Cantalope:
Cantalope and fresh mint soup with picked crab and curry oil
1 tablespoon curry powder, fresh as you can find
4 tablespoons grapeseed oil
3 cups Cantalope, skin cut off, halved, seeded and diced into large dice
2 cups water
2 tablespoons cider vinegar
2 tablespoons lime juice
2 tablespoons olive oil
½ teaspoon kosher salt
½ teaspoon minced jalapeno
3 tablespoons fresh mint, finely chopped (not just sliced… that would be stringy)
4 tablespoons fresh blue crab meat
Puree the curry powder and grapeseed oil in a blender and then pour into a coffee filter perched over a small cup. Let slowly drip through as you make your soup.
Place cantaloupe, water, cider vinegar, lime juice, olive oil, salt and jalapeno in the blender and puree til smooth. Pass through china cap and then split into four bowls. Garnish with picked crab, chopped mint and then a drizzle of curry oil.
Eggplant:
How about Baba Ganoush with grilled flatbread? Maybe next week though. Or you can google that and make it up as you go along.
Basil:
Eat them with tomatoes. Tear them into freshly buttered orecchiette with some of the cherry tomatoes cut up finely, some capers and some freshly grated parmesan and a good shot of chile flake. Serve with good bread and dinner is done.
Heirloom Tomatoes:
Pan Roasted Wild Salmon with Chickpea Panisses and a cucumber tomato salad
I love panisses. These little chickpea fritters are like the falafel of Marseilles. Easy to make and a joy to eat.
Serves 4
Chickpea Panisses
4 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon minced shallot
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1 quart chicken stock
1 cup chickpea flour
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon kosher salt
½ cup all-purpose flour
Warm a medium sized pot over medium high heat. Add one tablespoon of olive oil and when it shimmers add the shallot. Cook for five minutes and then add the garlic. Cook until the garlic is translucent, about two minutes. Add the chicken stock and once the chicken stock reaches a boil whisk in the chickpea flour like you would to make polenta. Lower heat to medium and keep on stirring every minute or so and cook for about 15 minutes. Season with salt, pepper and the tablespoon of butter. Whisk thoroughly. Remove pot from heat and set aside.
Use the remaining olive oil to oil a 9 x 13 sheet pan. Pour the chickpea batter into the sheet pan and then place in the refrigerator for two hours to set up.
When the chickpea batter is firm cut into two inch squares and then dust them with the flour. Fry off in remaining olive oil for two minutes per side over medium high heat, but do this right after the salmon is cooked.
Cucumber Tomato salad
1 cucumber, finely diced
1 pound heirloom tomatoes, diced
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 shallot, peeled and minced
1/2 cup chopped flatleaf parsley
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
Combine all in a bowl and let sit at room temperature for an hour for the flavors to really come through. You can serve this on just about anything and it will keep in the fridge for about three to four days.
Pan roasted salmon
Preheat oven to 400F
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
4 six ounce portions of wild salmon, skin off
1 teaspoon kosher salt
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
Heat a large skillet over medium heat and add the oil. Season the salmon with the salt. When the oil is hot add the salmon, presentation side down (presentation side is the side that will be up on the plate). Sear for three minutes and then add one tablespoon of butter. Baste with a spoon and then over and cook on the other side for two minutes. Then place in the oven for three minutes. TOTAL COOKING TIME SHOULD BE ABOUT 8-10 minutes for every inch of thickness. Remove from pan and place cooked salmon on a sheet pan to hold until plating.
Plating:
Place two panisses on each plate and then nestle a portion of salmon next to the panisses. Top with a liberal amount of cucumber salad, spooning some of the oil and vinegar around each plate. Eat.
Beans:
These are true Southern style beans. Some would think that that’s not my thing
Go to Bell’s. You haven’t been there in years and you should go. It’s actually not a shabby grocery store and they are really nice people. Buy some fatback. I mean real fatback. Pour a touch of lard in a big pot, add a chopped-up onion, a bay leaf and the fatback and let it cook out for about fifteen minutes over medium heat. Add the beans, topped and bottomed and then cut into two-inch lengths. Add some chicken stock just to come up half way up the beans and then cover and reduce the heat low. Cook them for an hour, until really cooked down.
PEACHES
And though Celia does not give us peaches, here’s a Fried Peach Pie recipe from the wonderful Cynthia Wong, pastry chef at Empire State South in Atlanta… next week a peach ice cream recipe from Shae Rehmel, the star of the pastry program at Five & Ten! In unrelated news Cynthia is rocking out Phatty Cakes at the coffee shop at ESS... If you haven't had one they rock. they are a really phenomenal ginger cookie pair with marscapone cream center. Wonderful.
Fried Peach Pies
Cynthia Wong, Empire State South
Serves about 4 to 6
Crust:
1 1/3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon sugar
½ teaspoon kosher salt
4 ounces cold unsalted butter
1 egg, whisked with 1 tablespoon water
Filling:
3 large or 4 medium-sized ripe but still firm peaches, peeled and pitted
2 tablespoons sugar
1 ½ tablespoons instant tapioca
½ teaspoon lemon juice
4 cups vegetable oil for frying
Slice the peaches ¼ inches thick. In a medium bowl, combined the peaches with the sugar, instant tapioca and lemon juice. Set the peaches aside at room temperature for 15 minutes, stirring once or twice. Cook over medium-low heat, stirring gently and frequently until slightly thickened. Set aside to cool completely.
Cube the butter into small pieces. In the work bowl of a food processor, or using your hands, combine the flour, sugar and salt. Add the butter cubes and pulse. Cut in with a pastry cutter or pinch together using your hands until the mixture resembles course crumbs and there are no big chunks of butter.
Put the mixture in a large bowl and sprinkle the egg-water mixture over. Using a large spatula, toss the mixture together until the egg is absorbed. Then, using your hands, gently pat the mixture together until it forms a dough.
Flatten the dough between two sheets of plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least an hour.
Roll the dough out on a lightly floured surface until a little less than 1/4” thick. Cut the dough into 4 large or 6 medium rounds.
Fill a large, deep pot with the oil and heat to 375°F degrees.
Moisten the edges of each dough circle with water. Put a tablespoon of filling in the center of each circle, then fold the circle in half. Pinch the edges to seal.
Fry the pies two at a time, turning over to get both sides nice and golden brown, about 4 minutes. Transfer to a rack or plate with paper towels on it to drain.
Vanilla and Mint Whipped Cream
1 cup whipping cream (40%)
½ vanilla bean, scrapped and pod reserved for another use
1 teaspoon granulated sugar
2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh mint leaves
Whip the cream in a large, dry metal bowl with a whisk. If you feel lazy you can do this with a electric hand mixer. Whip until soft peaks form, cream should never look like its breaking… add the vanilla, sugar and mint. Serve off to the side of each fried pie.
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