Shrimp and Gumbo Spirals

 Gumbo, after all, is another name for okra, one of my favorite vegetables, and as it is being supplied by our CSA, on a fairly regular basis, we are eating it more often.  But, it was those gumbo spices of  hearty soup/stew fame that inspired me here.  The red pepper flakes, thyme, oregano, basil and garlic, the shrimp stock, butter, wine, and shrimpies, oh yes. 

I decided to make a shrimp stock for this dish.  That's pepper on the cooking stock, not little bugs.  Just so you know.  Reserve all your shells, heads, whatever, and add a bit of minced carrot, celery and onion, salt and pepper.  Cover with water and simmer about 30 minutes.  Then, strain and add about a 1/2 cup of white wine.  Now, reduce the heck out of it while you're assembling the rest of the dish.

Pesto with Pasta

 Just in case you, as I have a tendency to do, think shopping in your very favorite Natural Foods store is, or should be a foolproof experience, forget it already.  No one here is owning up to who actually bought the cheese in question.  It was either him or I.  But, in any case, shouldn't have been in that place at all.  Here are the rules, according to the if-it-looks-like-a-duck theory (if you'll hang in there with my rant):

1. If it looks like orange processed cheese,
2. If it tastes like processed cheese,
3. It resists mold beautifully,
4. It will stay in a tidy little square when heated,
Guess what, it is processed cheese.  Duh. So much for that.  Do what you will with it.  Maybe you love processed cheese.  In that case, my apologies.

I have gone over these salient facts with the employees of said store, with a request for proper labeling.  This was labeled "Smoked Sharp Cheddar."  And, do you know what I was told?  No, you don't.  So, I'll tell you.  That cheese is our very best seller!  Yes, folks, true, which fact, you would scarcely believe from checking out the customers here.  Perhaps we're dealing with a throwback to childhoods in less enlightened times.  The flavors of mommy's kitchen?  Comfort food?  End of rant.

You have heard about a picture being worth a 1000 words, right?  Well, this little video says it all about the perfect Pesto and the perfect Pasta. Just watch Chef Paolo Laboa prepare both, you'll see what I mean.  So, that was my goal this week.  To do both, perfectly.

All that aside, this very (seemingly) simple pasta dish was quite lovely.  And, I made the pasta twice, improving on my technique and getting the dough thinner.  Next time will be even better, I'm sure.  It was not all that difficult.  There are good video instructions here on rolling the dough out, which the above mentioned chef neglects to completely show us.  Plus, I can see that this will make lasagna a more feasible operation in future  (for me anyway).  Look for it next week.

So, the first thing to do is to make your favorite Pesto.  Having a nice bunch of CSA kale, as well as a bunch of basil, I made a combination Kale Basil Pesto.

Kealani and the Giant Zucchini

Possibly many of you zucchini growers out there have raised bigger ones, however this was the largest to ever cross my personal threshold.  The lovely people from our CSA sent it over, and we heard it grew to this size in one day.  The kids had named it Daily.  Nevertheless, Daily was destined to be stuffed.  I was looking forward immediately to the challenge.

I think I've mentioned she's a Drama Queen.  Don't be so sad, you will enjoy eating him.  Just watch.
First we simmer our victim in boiling water.  Had to use my biggest roasting pan, and turn halfway through, as it couldn't be completely covered with the water.

 I simmered Mr. Daily about 10 minutes on each side.  Then cooled on a rack, before splitting down the middle, lengthwise.  After that, pretty much followed the directions for Drop Dead Delicious Stuffed Zucchini at Food.com.  Where it calls for meat or fish, I used a bit of left-over ground veal, which had been stuck in the freezer awaiting the Apocalypse.  Now I don't know what we'll do when that event happens.

Topped it all off with a nice sharp cheddar cheese before baking.  The little ceramic dish is to prevent that half from slipping over on its side.  Baked for 30 minutes or so, and removed to tremendous appreciation.  She polished off several helpings.

I would recommend this recipe to anyone wanting to stuff their vegetable of choice actually.  It made for a very savory meal, as well as a positive salute to heroic effort on the part of a zucchini this humongous.

Beef Ravioli With Chiffonade of Greens in Truffle Butter

My plating for this post leaves a lot to be desired.  Too rushed at the end, as per usual.  But at least I'm still having fun with those sweet little Nasoya egg wraps.  This time they're filled with beef and a bit of mashed sweet potato, and topped with a chiffonade of lightly sauteed beet and mustard greens, all swirled in truffle butter.  And, just so you know, it tasted way better than it looks. Delicious in fact.

Originally I was only going to use mustard greens, but the beets had been cooked, (see previous post) and their nice little tops were calling out to me.  However, when you stir beet greens with something white, guess what happens?  Sure, they're called beet GREENS, but a reddish tint follows them about.  It's really OK, I like pink.  Only next time maybe not.

Also, when  left-over pot roast is glaring at you from a shelf in the fridge, this is one of the many things you can do with it.  I didn't use a grinder, just minced the beef extremely fine, added in a bit of the sauce, some mashed, cooked sweet potato, carrot, an egg, salt and pepper.

Black Beans and Collards Soup

 We just spent a lovely week-end in Kona, resorting with the tourists over there on the sun coast.  Just in case you weren't aware, Hilo and Keaau, are on the rainy coast.  It was our granddaughter's birthday and she wanted to spend it on her favorite beach.  Actually, she has decided she wants to live in a hotel when she grows up.

So, this is a fairly short post on another of the endless ways we're using up our CSA greens.  Do you see the bits of collard floating in that soup?  My Black Beans and Collards creation.  I made stock from a couple lamb leg bones, thereby freeing up some freezer space and, next day after skimming off the fat, reduced it down, cooking a nice, tidy stack of collards at the same time.  Killing two birds with one little reduction.  Towards the end, onion, carrots and celery were added, simmered, then the black beans pureed and stirred into the soup.

Kale or your Favorite Green Pesto Pasta

Kale and Beet Greens Pesto

With our weekly allotment of CSA produce, mostly greens, there is a resultant weekly challenge, called using up the greens before Saturday when the new ones arrive.  I do not have a gigantic refrigerator, there is only so much room in it.  The good side of this, is stepping outside the cooking boxes ruts we find ourselves in occasionally, even if that only applies to certain vegetables.  Maybe no one else finds it such a challenge, but believe me, it is around here.  Early on I had determined there would be nothing left from the previous week by Saturday morning.

As an example of trying new things, this week it was Kale and Beet Greens Pesto.  The beets were not from our CSA box, but were so beautiful at the store, that I could not resist, with tops that were equally fine. Both big bunches were reduced down to that little container you see above.  I blanched the kale first for about 6 minutes, and added in the beet greens for another minute, then gave them both an ice bath, to keep their lovely vibrant color.

Cuban Style WholeTilapia

She was so lovely, the photo doesn't really do her justice.  Pearly white with touches of pink and salmon color.  Ms. Tilapia was destined to be dinner, but almost a shame to mess with such a work of art.  This was my first time (after how many years of cooking? yikes!) doing a whole fish.  Mostly, it must be said, because of Bob and his fish/bones fetish...er fear.  But, since a recent medical scare, we will be eating a lot more fish, beans, pasta, tofu and, yes ....SALAD.  Sorry Bob.

Our CSA providers, the lovely family at Ke Ola Farms, raise Tilapia in tanks, which then fertilize the veggies, so when you'd like a fish, they catch it, then put in another tank to purge for 24 or more hours.  Just so it doesn't taste like the bottom of the barrel.  And, this one didn't, of course.  It was excellent.  And, the bones were pretty easy to see, not lots of tiny ones.