Garlic Thyme Butter

Garlic Scapes... I've never seen these weird things before! Once again, Google comes to the rescue! Garlic scapes are the shoots that grow out of the garlic bulb. They're a lot like scallions, but curl up into these adorable little tendril things. I found a lot of helpful hints on what to make with these garlic 'flowers', including some ideas for compound butter.

I don't know about you, but anytime I go to a restaurant that serves compound butter, the 'fancy' factor jumps up quite a bit. I've had cinnamon butter with breakfast and garlic butter with bread at dinner. The big question - why haven't I ever made it?

You can add just about anything you want to the butter to get the flavor you want. This time, I figured I'd use some of the garlic scapes and a little dried thyme. My mom is coming over for dinner on Sunday, so I thought this butter would go well with a fresh baguette from Sun Street Bakery's farmer's market stand and an Italian Sausage/Kale/White Bean recipe I'll post about next week.

Easy-peasy recipe: (substitute the garlic scapes & thyme for whatever else you want)

• 2 sticks soft unsalted butter
• 3 garlic scapes
• 2-ish Tbsp. dried thyme (I just through a bunch in. Go crazy!)
• sea salt, coarsely ground, to taste

1. Cut the garlic scapes into 1/2 inch chunks, discarding the top part (cut just below the bump).
2. Throw the the garlic into your food processor (or your handy Magic Bullet - don't judge!), pulse until coarsely ground.
3. Combine butter, garlic, thyme, and salt. Mine still had some small plain butter chunks in it, but that'll make it more delicious.

I saved only a little bit to use for dinner with my mom and threw the rest in the freezer. Wrap it up like a log in some parchment paper, and you can keep it there for a few months.

I promise it will be a showstopper at your next dinner party!

Moroccan Veggie Stew

It is now week 3 of my CSA summer, and I've definitely learned a few things. First, always eat the lettuce first. Always. I picked up a salad spinner at boutique Target, which has helped immensely. Now I have at least until Saturday (we get our boxes on Thursday), so I don't get as salad-ed out. The rest of the items in the box so far seem to last through the weekend, which gives me a chance to look up recipes and do some planning.

I'm late in posting this recipe, but it is definitely worth posting!

We got a bunch of lacinato kale (also known as dinosaur kale - rawr!) in our first box and I was stumped. I'm not sure if I've ever eaten kale, much less cooked with it. So... after a lot of googling, I found this recipe on allrecipes.com. The only change I made was dropping the lentils... they're not my thing.

Although it was a LOT of chopping, I thought this was a super easy recipe and it made my house smell incredible with all of those spices & veggies stewing. I chose to freeze most of it so I would have something when I didn't feel like cooking (which, believe it or not, happens more often than I care to admit). The stew is also delicious straight out of the fridge after it sits overnight!

Moroccan Veggie Stew

Ingredients

• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon ground turmeric
• 1/8 teaspoon curry powder
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1 sweet onion, chopped
• 2 cups finely shredded kale
• 4 (14 ounce) cans organic vegetable broth
• 1 (14.5 ounce) can diced tomatoes, undrained
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 4 large carrots, chopped
• 2 sweet potatoes, peeled and diced
• 3 large potatoes, peeled and diced
• 1 (15 ounce) can garbanzo beans, drained
• 1/2 cup chopped dried apricots
• 1 teaspoon ground black pepper, to taste
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch (optional)
• 1 tablespoon water (optional)

Directions

1. Combine cinnamon, cumin, ginger, cloves, nutmeg, turmeric, curry powder, and salt in a large bowl, reserve.
2. Melt butter in a large pot over medium heat. Cook the onion in the butter until soft and just beginning to brown, 5 to 10 minutes. Stir in the shredded kale and reserved spice mixture. Cook for 2 minutes or until kale begins to wilt and spices are fragrant.
3. Pour the vegetable broth into the pot. Stir the tomatoes, honey, carrots, sweet potatoes, potatoes, garbanzo beans, and dried apricots. Bring to boil; reduce heat to low.
4. Simmer stew for 30 minutes or until the vegetables are cooked and tender. Season with black pepper to taste. If desired, combine optional cornstarch and water; stir into stew. Simmer until stew has thickened, about 5 minutes.
   

Footnotes

Make Ahead Tip:

If making ahead or freezing, prepare stew through Step 3. Simmer for 5 minutes over low heat; remove from heat and cool in the pot or in freezer-safe container. Transfer to the fridge (store for up to 3 days) or freezer. The vegetables store better if not fully-cooked prior to refrigeration or freezing. When ready to eat, (if frozen) thaw in refrigerator for 24 to 48 hours, then pour stew into a pot, bring just to a boil, and simmer until heated through.

Adventures in CSA-ing.

Well, after a long long break... it's back to the food blog! I'm sharing a CSA share with a coworker of mine and I think it's the perfect time to get back into sharing my experiences in the kitchen. So... let's get to it!

Today was our first delivery from Hay River Farm. The farm is located in Wisconsin, but is delivering directly to Target HQ. Super exciting. Our first box included rainbow chard, dill, green onions, parsley, carrots, beets, radishes, baby bok choy, arugula, romaine lettuce, and kale. CRAZY! That's a lot of greens!



To get started on the right foot, I decided to make some quiche with the chard. The internet is a mighty tool, and I found a great recipe to serve as a starting place and made my own adjustments. It's in the oven now to take to work tomorrow, so we'll see how it turns out!

Rainbow Chard, Green Onion & Feta Quiche

2 T olive oil
1 c chopped onion (I used the green onion from the box)
1 pre-made pie crust
1 bunch Rainbow chard, stemmed and coarsely chopped
8 large eggs
1/4 c heavy cream, half-and-half, whole milk, yogurt, sour cream…
salt and pepper, to taste
1 c crumbled feta (or other, grated) cheese

1. Preheat oven to 325ºF. Heat a large skillet over medium heat. Add onions and sauté until softened, about 5 minutes. Transfer to a bowl, leaving some oil in the skillet.

2. In the same skillet, add chard and sauté until wilted and tender, about 5 minutes (or longer) and any liquid has mostly evaporated. Transfer to bowl containing onion. Stir to combine. Let cool.

3. In a large bowl, whisk together eggs, cream, salt, and pepper. Add onion/chard mixture and feta and stir to combine. Transfer to prepared baking dish with crust. Bake until set in center, about 45 minutes, or up to 55 minutes. Let sit for about 5 minutes before serving.