Straight from the Farm

Okay, I have to ask a question here.  Have any of you heard zucchini referred to as ‘zukes?  Perhaps this is a central Pennsylvania colloquialism?  Growing up, we had a ridiculous amount of zucchini in our garden, which were commonly known around our small rural town as ‘zukes.  In fact, they were so abundant, neighbors would randomly drop off bags of them on front porches just to get rid of the things.   I think we got more than one of our own zukes back by the end of the summer.   It was a (strange) vicious cycle.

The start of this summer’s zucchini onslaught is just beginning so I thought it time to start peppering the blog with some handy “use up the ‘zukes” recipes.   I think meeting the zucchini abundance challenge is a lot like weeding… if you keep up with it regularly, it’s not so overwhelming in the end.  A zucchini dish once a week keeps the grocery bagfuls away. 

At the farm, we’re growing a funky variety called “Eight Ball”, which does look surprisingly like a billard ball.  Look for smaller ones than the one pictured above.  This variety reaches a certain size where the proportion between flesh and seeds starts to tip in the wrong direction, taking on traits similar to pumpkins with their stringy nucleus.  But if you get them “eight ball” sized, they’re firm texture is perfect for zucchini scallion fritters or any other concoction you can come up with to use up those pesky ’zukes. 

While I’d had this recipe clipped for awhile, I was inspired by Elsie at Simply Food to give these a go after seeing her pictures.   The fritters were the perfect accompainment to the Caramelized Leeks…Pasta.

ZUCCHINI SCALLION FRITTERS
Adapted from Everyday Food

2 medium zucchinis
1 t. salt
1 egg
3 scallions, finely chopped
1/2 c. flour or bread crumbs
1/2 c. grated parmesan cheese
1/2 t. cayenne pepper
3/4 c. vegetable oil
1 c. plain yogurt
1 garlic clove
salt and pepper

Wash and grate zucchini.  Place in colander and sprinkle with teaspoon of salt.  Toss to incorporate salt and let stand in a bowl or the sink for 15 minutes to release liquid. 

Meanwhile, whisk egg in a medium bowl and get your other ingredients ready. Peel and mash garlic clove and sprinkle with salt. Using a wide knife, drag the knife across the garlic and salt several times to make a paste. Once the paste is smooth, mix with the plain yogurt and set aside. 

Return to the zucchini and squeeze to remove any remaining liquid.  Pat dry in a paper towel before placing in bowl with the egg.  Mix egg and zucchini.  Add the flour or bread crumbs and parmesan cheese and cayenne pepper. Mix well and season with salt and pepper to taste.

Place 1/4 c. vegetable oil into large skillet and heat over medium high heat.  When oil is good and hot, place spoonfuls of batter into skillet and flatten down a bit.  Fritters should be about 3 inches around and 1/2 inch thick.  Do not crowd the skillet or you’ll have a hard time flipping.  Brown fritters on each side (about 3-5 minutes), turning with a wide spatula, and place on paper towel to drain when done.  Add more oil to the skillet as needed to fry up the entire batch. 

Serve immediately with a generous dollop of garlic yogurt. 

(serves 5-6 as a side dish)

Leeks/onions should be done by this point so remove from heat.  Working directly in the leeks skillet, mix in browned chicken, softened goat cheese and cream cheese, salt and pepper.  Add enough of the reserved pasta water to loosen up the mixture, but don’t make it runny.  Once the contents of the skillet are mixed thoroughly, toss in the spinach pasta to coat with leek cheese sauce.  Serve with a nice side salad or zucchini fritters (pictured).

(serves 6-8 as main dish)

Peel the oranges, removing the bitter white pith. Working over a bowl, cut in between the membranes to release the orange sections (you don’t have to do this if you’re running short on time). Adding two segments of orange to the membranes, squeeze them to get a tablespoon or so of fresh juice.  Combine fresh juice with the 1/4 c. of orange juice in a small saucepan.  Over low heat, simmer the orange juice until reduced to about 1 tablespoon, which takes about 4 minutes. In a small bowl, whisk together the orange juice reduction with 2 tablespoons of lemon juice, 1 tablespoon of olive oil, salt and pepper.  Chill.

Trim fennel bulbs of all stems (save a few feathery tops), halve and core.  Rinse halves before slicing thinly.  Set aside.  In a bowl, combine another 2 tablespoons of lemon juice with 1 tablespoon of olive oil, salt and pepper. Add fennel slices and lemon balm to dressing and toss.

*All the above steps can be completed several hours or a day ahead.  Refrigerate until the time of serving.

When you’re ready to serve, toss the beet slices with the orange juice vinaigrette. Arrange beets on plates and mound the fennel on top. Place orange slices around the beets and garnish with feathery fennel tops.

(serves 4-5 as a starter salad)

When I got home from the farm over the weekend, I had a very big pile of scallions that I hadn’t really planned on getting.  Who knew an excess of scallions could lead to such a fun and fancy evening that I will appropriately dub “Backyard Blog Bonanza”?  Here’s what happened.

I started contemplating how to use the scallions.  I came up with an idea of a salad, but wasn’t so pleased.  Then the idea of a salad led me to a gourmet beat salad I’ll post shortly.  That led me to think about how to make a fancy starter dish even fancier.  That led to Parmesan Scallion Crisps to address the original excess of scallions.  That lead to the realization that I needed an audience to fully appreciate how much work and thought I was putting into creating fancy salad stuffs.  All of which culminated into a fun and casual dining experience with some great friends chowing down in my backyard (really it’s the front, but that doesn’t make for nearly as catchy a title) on several dishes created specifically for the blog. 

Thus it came about that the spark for this gastronomic gala, a humble bunch of scallions, was transformed into a little something extra special for a nice salad.  The crisps would also go nicely with a bowl of soup. 

As for the Backyard Blog Bonanza, it was such a big hit, we plan to do it again sometime, although D has forbidden me from doing it every week due to the monstrous pile of dishes it created in our oh-so-tiny kitchen.  For once, I have to admit he’s right. The recipes to be posted this week were all served at the BBB and met with rave reviews.  If you’re having a summer dinner party in the near future, perhaps you’d care to follow the same menu.  If nothing else, try the parmesan scallions crisps the next time you want a little somthin’ somethin’ with your dinner.

Parmesan Scallion Crisps

1 c. freshly grated parmesan cheese
2 scallions
1 lemon
1 t. freshly ground pepper

Preheat the oven to 350 F.  Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.  Finely mince both the white and green parts of the scallions.  Spread out on a paper towel and dab to soak up as much of the “juice” as you can.  Place dried scallions in a small bowl along with the grated cheese.  Zest the lemon peel and add to the bowl along with the pepper.  Toss together until well mixed.   Drop tablespoons of the mixture onto the baking sheet, leaving at least 2 inches between piles.  Bake for 7-8 minutes until brown and crisp.  Let cool 5 minutes before gently peeling off the parchment paper.  Use on top of salads or soup. 

(makes 7-8 crisps)

No recipe for today, but plenty to come this week so don’t despair.  I wanted to talk “shop” for a bit, as in what farm offerings you can anticipate when you shop in Weavers Way Co-op or at the Fair Food Stand in the Reading Terminal Market.  Farmer Dave has been so kind as to provide a crop availability overview for the farm.  For those of you that don’t have the good fortune of being located close enough to partake in our particular patch of farm goodness, you can use this harvest list as a gauge for what might be in season in farmer’s markets near you if you live in southern PA, DE, NJ or northern MD. 

2007 Season Crop Availability.pdf

If you’re not able to buy from Weavers Way, I highly encourage you to seek out local farms in your area.  Buying local is not only important for the local farming community and economy, but it also gives you, the shopper, a superior product.   For example, last night I was making peach shortcake but hadn’t had the luck of finding local peaches on short notice.  At my grocery store, I found what seemed to be nicely ripened peaches so I felt they’d do the trick even if they had come from California.   When I got them home, I was shocked at how stubborn they were to give up their skins even though they were perfectly ripe.  After marveling over their tenacity for a minute, I realized what the problem was.  These peaches had been bred to handle any amount of abuse on the 1,000+ mile journey they’d be taking to get to some mass market.  No doubt they weren’t handled gently from picking to shipping to display.  These peaches had to be TOUGH.  While I applaud the modern marvel of indestructible peach skin that won’t come off even when it’s suppose to, I am very certain this engineering of our food chain is not for the best.   The flavor and juice of a tree ripened peach is not meant to last more than a few days, let alone a few thousand miles.  Trust me, buy local and your palate will thank you.  

The week of July 16th is Buy Fresh Buy Local Week.  Celebrate by visiting a farm/market near you!  

Here is a link to Local Harvest, an online directory for farms, farmers markets, and other small agricultural businesses in the United States.