The second week of my farm share arrived on a hectic weekend. I had a houseguest and we spent most the weekend out while my vegetables sat cold and neglected in the refri. Since the vegetables were fresh picked they still looked crisp on Monday. They probably would have looked even better if I had more closely followed Margie’s directions for storage.
As you can tell by this post date, my week was not any less frenetic. Even though I love cooking, I don’t relish a weekday evening spent tackling a sink full of dirty dishes or hours of standing after a long day at work. So, I don’t mind using canned, frozen, or prepared foods if it means I’ll have a homemade meal and still get some time to tackle the other housefrau tasks that await me.
I tried the Maya Kaimal Classic Korma sauce from Whole Foods for the first time. To make a colorful vegetable korma, I chopped and sautéed all of the yellow squash with some carrot slices. Then, I added tomatoes, canned garbanzo beans, and frozen peas. After it was all tender, I simmered the vegetables in the aromatic sauce for about five minutes. In total, it took about half an hour. Served with basmati rice, this vegetable korma was rich and flavorful, but not to antacid extremes.
I also heated some store-bought naan (again from Whole Foods) in the oven after brushing it with butter. I used 5-6 ounces of my favorite goat’s milk yogurt (Erivan), a teaspoon of cumin, a pinch of salt, a chopped cucumber and chopped dill to make a raita dipping sauce. I loved this raita, but I am also a yogurt fanatic. This was another 20 minutes.
Rice was the staple of my week – another night I ate some sticky rice with stir-fried tatsoi and mei qing choi. Kept it simple with soy sauce and that was that.
I made pork chops with pearl couscous and mustard greens. In an adaptation of Margie’s recipe, I sautéed the mustard greens in a little olive oil, ½ teaspoon of curry powder, and a small handful of flame raisins. Right before I turned off the heat, I added some slivered almonds. The greens were crunchy and sweet, perfect with the pork.
The honey sweetened my tea.
My arugula, one cucumber and the green lettuce went into a salad along with some store-bought carrots and tomatoes.
A busy week, but I was well-nourished!
Week 2 was problematic for me – my oven caught on fire in the middle of cooking dinner. While this turns out to be good news (it is motivating me to update the kitchen), it did put a bit of a crimp in dinner prep. I ended up just steaming the squash and some green beans together. Tasty but not the more elaborate prep I had planned.
Most of the produce this time was lettuce/salad so that was how we used it. I know, I know, this stuff is grown in sandy soil and you really have to wash it. But I didn’t quite get that the first time. Experience was a great, gritty teacher. I think I will get a salad spinner to make the cleaning easier. I used the cukes and dill in a refrigerator pickle. They turned out a little too salty. I just added more vinegar and hope to even out the taste a bit. I was very exited by the produce for week 3! Can’t wait to hear what others are doing with it.
I really liked your sticky rice idea so the first think I did with week three’s vegetables was put together a sticky rice with the mizuna and the last of my tatsoi and I think it turned out very nicely. Thanks for the inspiration! Did you actually do the whole steaming in a banana leaf routine for your sticky rice? I’ve never been able to make that work right.
No, I didn’t do the banana leaf trick. I’ve never tried it that way actually! Glad I inspired you.
I’m glad to hear I’m not the only one that occasionally uses canned or frozen items to ease the cooking process. Your korma sounds delicious and I bet the addition of fresh dill to the raita was fantastic! I feel an Indian night coming on…
That looks delish! I often make a white bean salad that includes a bit of chopped veggies and a can ‘o white beans. Dinner’s on the table in 5 minutes. You just can’t beat that!
Happy Holidays!