FRESH ORGANIC DELICIOUSNESS (Week 3)

Recipes from our CSA Box

Perfect Grilled Chicken
There's really not much to this. To grill a perfect chicken breast, the trick is to cut it in half. Just chop it down the middle so you have 2 chunks of breast. It cooks the chicken more evenly and quickly so that the edges don't dry out. You can marinate the chicken first--that always helps. I usually buy my chicken fresh, then freeze it in the marinade. As it thaws out, it soaks up the marinade so it's really juicy once cooked. It cooks on a hot grill for about 4 minutes per side.

Grilled Leeks

I got this idea from this website. It was amazing. I just cut in half lengthwise, chopped off the tops and discarded them, brushed with olive oil, sea salt and freshly ground pepper, and grilled the leeks for about 5 minutes. Then I chopped them up and added them to the roasted potatoes. This will definitely be my go to recipe for leeks!

Perfect Grilled Chicken, Grilled Leeks, and Grilled Potatoes

Spring Salad with Mizuna, Radish, and Roasted Peppers

This recipe is adapted from this recipe from an amazing blog I stumbled across. On the blog, the recipe is for a fall salad. But I'm making it a spring salad. Why not?

Ingredients (serves 2 ~ 4)


* 1 bag of mizuna
* 1 bunch radishes, sliced
* 4~5 roasted peppers, thinly sliced **See below for roasting instructions
* goat cheese
* Balsamic vinegar and olive oil

Preparation

Tear mizuna into 2 inch sizes and put a bed of it on a large plate. You can also cut it but when you tear greens you create more fragmented area that soak up the flavor of dressing or sauce. Sprinkle the sliced radishes on the middle of the bed of mizuna. Top with roasted peppers, and crumbled goat cheese and drizzle balsamic vinegar and olive oil.

HOW TO ROAST PEPPERS

You can cut peppers in half and remove seeds or roast them whole. I usually roast them whole. Preheat broiler on high and cook peppers facedown on a baking sheet 15~20 minutes. I just set my kitchen timer to check them every 5 minutes. If cooking them whole, I rotate them periodically. When the skin is evenly blackened, remove from oven and put into a ziplock bag. Close the bag and it will steam inside. Supposedly this helps the skin come off. When they are cool enough to handle, peel off the skin. Cut the flesh away from the inner seeds, and use as you wish.

Bok Choy Gratin

Adapted from this recipe on Epicurious.com

Ingredients
· 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons fine dry bread crumbs
· 2 1/2 lb bok choy (not baby), tough stem ends trimmed
· ½ onion, finely chopped
· 1 clove garlic, minced
· 5 tablespoons salted butter
· 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
· 1 1/4 cups 2% milk
· 1/2 teaspoon salt
· 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
· 2 oz cheddar cheese, coarsely grated (1/2 cup)
· 1/2 oz finely grated parmesan (1/4 cup)

Preparation

Preheat oven to 425°F. Lightly butter a 2-quart gratin dish and dust with 2 tablespoons bread crumbs.

Cut bok choy stems and center ribs into 1/2-inch pieces and coarsely chop leaves. Cook stems and ribs in a large pot of boiling salted water until just tender, about 5 minutes, then add leaves and cook 30 seconds. Drain in a colander and rinse under cold water until cool enough to handle. Squeeze out excess water by handfuls.

Cook onion in 1 tablespoon butter in a 12-inch heavy skillet over moderate heat, stirring, until softened, about 2 minutes. Add garlic and bok choy and cook, stirring, until greens are coated with butter and onion, 1 to 2 minutes. Spread bok choy in baking dish.

Melt 2 tablespoons butter in a 2-quart heavy saucepan over moderately low heat, then add flour and cook roux, stirring constantly, 2 minutes. Add milk in a slow stream, whisking constantly, and bring to a boil, whisking. Reduce heat and simmer, stirring, 5 minutes. Add salt, and pepper, then stir in cheddar and 2 tablespoons parmesan and pour evenly over bok choy.

Toss remaining 1/4 cup bread crumbs with remaining 2 tablespoons parmesan in a small bowl and blend in remaining 2 tablespoons butter with your fingertips until mixture resembles coarse meal. Season with salt and pepper. Sprinkle mixture evenly over gratin and bake in upper third of oven until bubbly and golden brown, about 20 minutes.

**I’m going to add some potato to this dish to make it heartier. I’m just going to dice it up and add to the boiling water.

Sausage, Spinach, Potato and Sweet Potato Hash

Finally--a recipe I came up with myself.

Ingredients
Organic chicken and apple sausage from Costco (or you can use any sausage, or even bacon)
Bag/bunch fresh spinach
3 sweet potatoes, diced
2 potatoes, diced
1 onion, finely chopped
1 clove garlic, minced

Preparation
Heat olive oil over medium heat in a heavy pan. Add onions and cook until slightly soft. Meanwhile, microwave sweet and regular potatoes for approximately 6 minutes until softened (or boil and drain). Add to onions in pan, along with garlic. Cook until potatoes are soft, browned, and cooked through. Add sausage and cook until browned (you can cook this separately to make sure all the edges of the sausage are browned. That's how I like my sausage). Add spinach last, and cook until wilted. Enjoy!