Now we're talking!
The share was really good this week...spinach, leaf lettuce, arugula/other greens, radishes/turnips, frisee, herbs, and STRAWBERRIES.
First the frisee. I love it. There always seems to be a couple sprigs floating around in those bagged leaf salad mixes. Tina avoids it like the plague - she calls it choker lettuce. She seems to think the lettuce has some innate desire to lodge itself in her throat. I've never really considered lettuce to be vengeful or evil, but either way, more frisee for me.
The classic frisee dish - a French salad with hot bacon nuggets (lardons, for the culinary correct), vinegary dressing made up from the bacon fat, all topped with a poached egg - yeah, a bacon and egg salad. The frisee can stand up for itself, flavor and texture-wise, so it's not totally wiped out by the breakfast ingredients that find themselves on top of it. Maybe we'll have one?!
I did the whole steaming thing with the spinach - do you know what a pound of spinach looks like after you steam it for a few minutes, and then squeeze out some of the liquid?
On Tuesday nights now, our kitchen transforms into a veggie-processing disaster area. Cleaning, sorting, storing and deciding what is going to get used when and how.
No time for composition, lighting adjustment and putting each veggie in its place - this is what the one section of countertop looked like last night...
Those are today's lunch salads sitting on the left front burner there. All the chopping was being done out of the frame to the right.
Molly and I also decided to take advantage of something else in the car for holding our veggies, instead of the reusable grocery bags:
The post office gave me our week's worth of mail in it...little did they know what they were doing. Hopefully there are no postal workers reading this. Is placing dirty arugula in a marked postal tray a federal offense? Tina assures we I won't be using it again (how does she know?) and has suggested a flexible laundry basket. Sounds good to me.
We'll be eating tons of strawberries just as is and there's a strawberry tart in the works. Lots of salads... arugula pesto... spinach pizza...and all the choker lettuce I can handle.
spinach and strawberries huh? how about a recipe from me to you... hee hee hee! it's a delicious and refreshing*** salad...
spinach (i typically use a bag so i'm not sure how much that would be for "real spinach")-a container of some fresh berries (blueberries, raspberries, blackberries... you can do each of these berries or which ever you prefer)-a container of strawberries sliced-
then comes the dressing... 1/4 cup of red wine vinegar, 1/2 cup sugar and a tbsp of water- heat until sugar melts. add 1/2 cup oil and a splash of worcestershire. mmm!
*** i laugh at my mother or mother in law when they say things like "oooh this salad is refreshing!" the first time i had this salad i said to my sister "this is so good! it's refreshing!" after she and i gave each other the OMG look we laughed hysterically about how "mom" that comment was.
Posted by: caren | June 25, 2008 at 09:56 PM
Beaner is right about that Frisee - I had an elevator conversation about those tasteless twigs exactly 8 hours ago when I saw it poking out in the bottom of my salad. I was not happy! But, I was happy that they sliced my little tomatoes because I hate when they pop in my mouth.
Instead of sharing music, why don't you send me all your strawberries? Good god, they look heavenly. Clearly passing the "red all the way through" test. I will go have strawberry dreams now... quasi-pun intended.
Posted by: Kory | June 25, 2008 at 10:46 PM
"Is placing dirty arugula in a marked postal tray a federal offense?"
It is sentences like these that keep me coming back day after day.
And "choker lettuce" had me giggling for hours. I have very little love for the frisee, but I can honestly say that it has not yet tried to kill me...
Posted by: Amber | June 26, 2008 at 01:21 AM
I was picturing a tight necklace made from frisee when I read the title. Choker lettuce, get it?
"Hot bacon nuggets" had me laughing as I tried to imagine me saying that to my French Instructor in culinary school. I think he actually would have smiled at that!
Posted by: Kelly | June 26, 2008 at 10:42 AM
Ha - I'm glad you guys are getting a laugh out of my nonsense!
Apparently, there aren't too many frisee lovers out there...who knew...
Posted by: andrew | June 26, 2008 at 01:52 PM