Corn Chowder

Friday is CSA pick up day.  Once again, Fair Weather Acres did not disappoint, and i came home with a giant muskmelon, a dozen ears of corn, more peppers, giant scallions and more.  

I'm not a huge fan of corn on the cob.  Maybe it's the childhood punishment of having to shuck ear after ear, or the 6+ years of having to pick it out of my braces.  Even if i was, Duncan and i couldn't possibly eat a dozen ears of corn ourselves in just a few days.  The last time we got this much corn, I froze it, so that we could have some ready to go for recipes or a side.

This time, i decided to try my hand at making corn chowder.  It's not something i've made before, but i have enjoyed it.  When Duncan said it was one of his favorites, i decided to go for it.

I decided to start from Corn Chowder with Chilies from The Pioneer Woman.  Her recipe seemed flavorful, easy and i'll admit it, her photography could probably make anything look delicious and amazing.  I wanted to go with more items from my CSA, however, so i made some modifications.

some of my ingredients

• 6 ears of corn, shucked and cut off the cob 
• 2 slices of bacon (i tried her trick with just cutting the end and it came out great)
• 1 onion
• 1 large scallion (these were giant,you'd probably need several regular sized ones)
• 2 Tbsp butter
• 1 green pepper
• 1 red pepper
• 1/2 jalapeño pepper
• 4 cups vegetable stock   You could use chicken stock if that's what you have on hand.
• 1 1/2 cups heavy cream
• Salt to taste
• 3-6 Tbsp corn meal
• 1/4-1/2 cup water

Over medium heat, place the bacon in a pot or dutch oven (yay i got to use mine!) and let it cook down so the fat starts to be released.  

Add the onion and scallion, stirring occasionally until the onion starts to become transparent.  (You could also add the peppers at this step if you wanted them to be more cooked in the final product).

Add the butter to the pot and allow to melt.

Add the corn and stir.  I added the peppers at this point as well, and they stayed fairly crisp in the chowder.  Allow to cook for a few minutes, so things start to get bright, stirring frequently.

Add the vegetable stock and cream.  If your vegetable stock is dark, don't panic, the cream will lighten up the color.    

Bring to a boil over medium high heat.

In a separate bowl, mix the corn meal and water, starting with 3 Tbsp of corn meal and 1/4 cup water.  Add to the pot, and allow to simmer for 15 minutes.  

If the chowder is not thick enough, mix the remaining corn meal and water and add to the pot, simmer for another 10 minutes (approximately).  

veggies before adding stock and cream

We ate this with a sweet sausage and bread.  It was good enough Duncan told me to keep the recipe, which may be a first.  

Filling the Freezer with Fritters

Honest, i don't always make total junk food.  Sometimes i take healthy things and turn them into junk food.

All this without grating my fingers!

The CSA from Fair Weather Acres is great.  But like most folks in the summer, we've got an abundance of zucchini and summer squash.  I've already made a few batches of zucchini bread, and even brought some to work, where it quickly disappeared, but i still had way too much to use up and squash bread is less popular.

Then i saw a recipe for zucchini fritters... this sounded interesting!  Grated zucchini with a little flour, egg, spices and fried?  And promised to freeze well?  Hmmmm.  It was rainy out, and supposed to cool off (once again the weatherman LIES!).

This time i followed a recipe by Smitten Kitchen, which was amazing and yum.  My changes were using whole wheat flour, and making a second round with summer squash (which used a little more scallion).

Tasty tasty zucchini

Seriously? Make these.  Try not to eat them as they come out of the pan.  OK, eat the little bits that aren't a whole piece right out of the pan.  Or the ones that are a little too crispy.  Or not round.

Who am i kidding.  These and two muffins (and two hard ciders) were dinner last night.  And some more are lunch today, with some cherry tomatoes and a plum.

Some tips - definitely use a cheesecloth for de-watering the veggies.  I used a towel for the zucchini and it may be green forever.  Also the pore size was too small and took longer.  There is a LOT of water in these veggies and the full 10 minutes with salt makes a difference.

I only have a grater, but the texture was fine, sort of like a hashbrown of sorts.

These should freeze fine, and will update if not.  We'll probably know soon, because i want more already.

Farm Share Week 1

So here's what i did with my delicious produce from the first week of my CSA through Fair Weather Acres, a beautiful and delicious haul!

Spinach (1 lb)

• Omelettes with spinach and swiss cheese and Farmer's Cow eggs (see picture).  Pretty proud of actually making an omelette that didn't turn into scrambled eggs, but could of been more patient and cooked it a tad longer.
• Cut up a ciabatta roll and layered herbed goat cheese, fresh spinach and roasted red pepper as a fancy late afternoon snack.
• Threw some in a salad for Saturday & Sunday dinners
• Cut some up and ate it with slices of turkey for a lunch on Monday & Tuesday.

Strawberries (1 qt)

• Ate some straight out of the container they were SO GOOD i snacked on them consistently.
• Strawberry shortcake for Father's Day using home made Cream Biscuits from the Fannie Farmer cookbook and whipped cream from scratch.  I wish i took a picture of these, they looked so pretty in my mom's blue bowls!

Parsley (1 bunch)

• Looking to use it soon, if not will dry it.

Rainbow chard (1 bunch) 

• Pickled the stems with a modified version of this recipe.  They are not kidding in calling this rainbow chard!  They are gorgeous!
• Going to sautee the greens with the beet leaves maybe?

Turnips (2)

• Cut 1/2 of the larger turnips into french fry shapes and roasted with some herbs in the oven.  Came out tasty, but could of cooked longer.  Amazingly low cal!

Beets (1 bunch)

• Tried to make beet chips with the actual beet part, but they all came out burnt.  Looks like i'll have a chance at redemption this week as we'll be getting more.  The ones i didn't burn came out tasty!
• Pickled the stalks using this recipe.  
• Saute the greens with the chard?  Or just combine this week's haul with the next for a larger serving?

Romaine lettuce (1 head)

• Saturday & Sunday dinner salad with tomatoes, spinach, cucumber, peas and chick peas.

Bok choy (1 head)

• Slow Cooker Chicken with Pineapple and Bok Choy

Tomatoes (2)

• Saturday & Sunday dinner salad, basic but tasty!

Mini Pledge 1 from 100 Days of Real Food

So link hopping today took me to the 100 Days of Real Food blog, which is well worth a read if you're interested in food, what we eat and how to limit your intake of artificial ingredients.  I'm not sure i buy everything she says, but i've decided to participate, behind the schedule, in her 14 Mini Pledges.  Although they are not necessarily sustainable for me at this point, i will try to keep with the spirit of things.  I may modify as necessary, or fail, or whatever.

Week 1 is to eat a minimum of two different fruits or vegetables with every breakfast, lunch, and dinner meal.  I feel that this may be a challenge for breakfasts, as i usually only eat 1, but maybe i will alter my oatmeal a little.  Or alternatively, ensure one snack is a fruit or veggie.  Lunch and dinner should be relatively easy.

Although she suggests the fruit and vegetable be organic, i'm not going to hold myself to that.  In part just because i would rather use what i have available.  Also because today, after work, i sign us up for a half share in the Fair Weather Acres CSA!  This is a veggie & fruit CSA (the fruit will be coming from Belltown Hill Orchards and Dzen Farm).  I prefer local over organic, because it keeps money in my community, supports my neighbors, and Connecticut grows some delicious produce!  It also reduces the environmental impacts from shipping.  I'm not strict on either, but this is about new experiences, right?

Anyone want to join up with me starting Monday?