theneedle.net

Fall hit my kitchen last night in what turned out to be a wonderful clean out the pantry & use up stuff from the windowboxes meal.  This one is definitely going to happen again.

- 1 butternut squash, peeled & cut into ~1/3 inch chunks
- A handful of chard, cut up
- A pound of pasta
- 2 cloves garlic, diced
- A couple of hot peppers, chopped
- 2 sage leafs, bruised
- Rosemary Olive oil (plain would do, but I had a bunch of home-infused oil I needed to use)
- a handful of pine nuts
- Some oregano, chopped
- some basil, chopped
- Some Parmesan cheese, grated

Heat the oil in a heavy bottomed pan, add the garlic, stir & after 30 seconds add the squash, sage & hot pepper.  Salt & pepper as needed.  Let that go for a while, stirring occasionally until the squash starts to brown. When the squash is just about ready add the chard & let it wilt.

While the squash is cooking boil the pasta & toast the pine nuts.

If you feel like it add a little oil to the pasta after draining.

Put some pasta in a bowl.  Put some of the squash on top of that.  Put some cheese, basil & oregano on it.  Put some pine nuts on that.  Consume.

Some of the tomatoes have germinated – maybe six of the 12 varieties.  Huzzah!!!   Lets hope more start popping up today!

-rudy

I’m attempting to garden a bit more this year.  Last year we did tomatoes (German striped) in the small patch of ‘yard’ to the south of the house and the usual window box herbs.  This year I’m setting up shop at Ang’s father’s place.  I just started:

Tomatoes:
Box Car Willie
Druzba
Aunt Ruby’s German Green
Amish Paste
Black from Tula
Eva Purple Ball
Green Grape
Kellogg’s Breakfast
Jaune Flammee
Reisentraube
Anna Russian
Mule Team

Winter Squash.
Black Futsu
Acorn

Random.
Thai Basil
Lemon Drop Peppers

I’m attempting to not over do it.  I probably have already – but I’m thinking of adding a few more things – summer squash, lettuces, some sort of melon…

Best of 2008:

Records:
Girl Talk – Feed the Animals
Firewater – The Golden Hour
Gutter Twins – Saturnalia
The New Year – The New Year
Earth – The Bees Made Honey In The Lion’s Skull
23 Skidoo – Seven Songs (re-release)
Matmos – Supreme Balloon
Weedeater – God Luck and Good Speed

Concert:
Firewater – Cleveland, OH 5/28

Books:
Neal Stephenson – Zodiac
Michael Pollan – The Omnivore’s Dilemma
Nikolai Gogol – Dead Souls

Beers:
3 Fonteinen Oude Geuze Blauw
3 Fonteinen Millennium Geuze
Leelanau Good Harbor Golden
Boulevard Saison w. Brett
Ithaca Ten

Food:
Dinner at 1 Caroline Bistro in Saratoga Springs, NY
BBQ Pork sandwich at Pho 99 in Buffalo, NY
Everything at Fatty Crab in NYC, NY

Despite forgetting to fill out the form this spring we managed to reserve a half pig through the CSA.   The processing facility just called & he’s ready for pickup.  I’m not sure how much we’ll be taking home.  Based on the processing fee I’m guessing the hanging weight was around 140 pounds.

Now to figure out a solid plan on getting that freezer to our house.

Huzzah!

Mephie enjoyed tonight’s dinner of fried green tomatoes and roast butternut squash w. Stilton blue.

What was this in my April 15th post:

Is now this:

Which is covered in these guys:

The most advanced of which is this guy:

who will soon (by the end of the week?) look like the ones in this stock photo:

Oh, and I made a mistake in my April 15th post.  I guessed, based on photos, that they were Georgia Streaks.  After talking to the farmer who grew the plants we harvested the seeds from last year we discovered that they are Striped Germans.

Huzzah!

Ciabatta (from Dolci)
Arugula (from the CSA)
Smoked bacon (from Spars)
Black Krim tomato (from the Elmwood/Bidwell Farmers Market)
Mayo (eh… Hellmans.)
& a pinch of salt.

Edamame, Romaine, Purple Scallions, Fennel, Carrots, Tomatillos, Red Pepper, Zucchini, 10 pounds peaches (not in the picture), 4 pounds plums (also not in the picture.)

I love the summer.

Imagine my happiness when a new vendor appeared at the Elmwood-Bidwell Farmers Market a few weeks back selling rabbits at a reasonable price.  Prior to that the only meat vendors at the market were a bit out of my price range.  Unfortunately I didn’t get a rabbit that day but I vowed to return.

I vowed to get a rabbit , that is, until I went this weekend and found that she was now selling ducks as well.  So I bought a 3.5 pound quacker and portioned him up.  The legs/thighs/carcass are in the freezer, waiting their turn to become confit & stock.

Tonight I seared the breasts, sliced them and fanned them out on a bed of porcini (Thanks M&D!) risotto.  I topped that with a cherry and port sauce.  I had planned to add slivered almonds, but it slipped my mind at the last moment.

The picture isn’t great; I was more concerned with eating than getting a good shot.