I was 18 that summer, the summer before I would move out east to attend college. The summer before everything would change. In the true spirit of my family we took one of our crazy  last minute road trips to Memphis, TN for some barbecue and blues. I didn't think there existed a place more muggy than St. Louis, but Memphis sure had the old STL beat. Nonetheless, the food, the music and the company were great. Walking down Beale Street and eating at BB Kings is a memory I wont soon forget, especially considering the crazy street performers that enraptured me. Fried green pickles are still one of my favorite snacks, when I can get them of course. I remember going in and out of kitschy shops and coming across a sign that said "Put some south in your mouth!" My parents quickly herded my younger brother and I along because of the obvious connotation. But when I was planning this week's meals based on our share, I knew I would be using the cornmeal to make some grits and bringing some south to our mouths here in, what I fondly call, the arctic north.

Special thanks to Lucky Penny Farm for generously providing the goat chevre  for this post!

Shrimp 'n grits
***I originally found the recipe for the shrimp in this dish on Food Network's website. I should have trusted my gut when I had doubts about the preparation because it definitely not my favorite. So this recipe represents what I should have done and will do in the future when I make this again. Because even though the shrimp was a little bleh, the grits and greens were amazing!


1 C stone ground cornmeal (Source: Stutzman Farms, FFM)
1 C water
1.5 C chicken or veggie stock (Source: homemade from the bones from our FFM chicken)
1/4 C whole milk or cream (Source: Snowville Creamery, FFM)
4 oz chevre (Source: courtesy of Lucky Penny Farm)
1 TBL butter
fresh parsley (Source: fire escape garden)
fresh chives (Source: fire escape garden)

Shrimp- try to find some big tiger shrimp, mine were a little sad
1 medium onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 TBL butter
1 TBL olive oil

Mustard greens (Source: FFM)
Beet greens (Source: FFM)
2 TBL olive oil

Chevre Grits-
Bring stock and water to a boil and lower heat to medium low. Add cornmeal in slowly while whisking to avoid lumps. Stir occasionally and let grits cook for about 5-10 minutes or so. Whisk in the butter, milk, and chevre and remove from heat.

Shrimp-
Heat oil and butter in a skillet and cook onions and garlic until soft. Saute shrimp until pink. Be careful not to overcook the shrimp as they will become tough.

Greens-
Saute your greens on high heat in a skillet with olive oil. S&P to taste

Serve shrimp and greens over grits.

Okay, what is with the Cleveland weather these last few weeks? I understand it's summer, and yes it's Cleveland where we get the worst of everything. And nobody better say, "In just a few short months you are going to be wishing for this weather, young lady!" because I totally won't (right).But, seriously! Where is the sun? Why is it as muggy as in Miami, FL?? The bad part of the weather is that it makes me want to skip cooking, let alone any semblance of dinner and just eat ice cream all day long. Bad for the body and bad for the blog. And sometimes, that's all that motivates me to get into the kitchen! I have no way to prove this, but I assume we have loyal readers or even semi-loyal readers who count on coming to this blog and seeing SOMETHING, ANYTHING. As the Pioneer Woman would say:
 
tap tap tap....

......is this thing on?

Anyway, so it's into the kitchen I go. After last weeks bounty of greens I was somewhat disappointed with this week's share. I don't know, nothing really "spoke" to me and told me what it needed to become. We all have those weeks I guess. But I think I came up with some exciting ways to use the produce. Let me know what you think and which recipe this week ends up being your favorite!

Swiss Chard and Sweet Potatoe Gratin
***I found this recipe on the Smitten Kitchen Blog and sort of halved it since I didn't have as much chard as she suggests and didn't want too heavy of a sauce considering the weather. Also, I put this together and baked it on Saturday and it heated up and served very well today- a great option if you don't feel like turning on the oven after a day at work or because it's too damn hot!


1 bunch swiss chard, more if you've got it!, washed and chopped coarsely (Source: FFM)
2-3 sweet potatoes, peeled and thinly sliced (1/8" setting on mandoline)
1 large onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, smashed and chopped finely
1 C whole milk or heavy cream (Source: Snowville Creamery, FFM)
1 TBL flour
1-2 TBL butter (Source: FFM)
cheese
s&p
fresh flat leaf parsely (Source: Fire escape garden)

Prep your onion, garlic, greens and potatoes. Saute onions and greens in a little butter. The original recipe warns against liquid and draining it off, but I didn't have any?? Set aside when wilted, after about 5 or so minutes. TIP: If you are using the stems, put them in first and let them soften up a bit before adding the leaves. I didn't use mine as I tossed them into my crockpot batch of veggie stock!

To make the sauce, melt the remaining butter and whisk in the flour. Cook for about 1-2 minutes and add garlic. Warm milk for about 30 seconds in the microwave or in a saucepan if you're anti-microwave. Slowly whisk in milk to avoid clumps. S&P the sauce- congratulations, you've made a bechamel sauce one of the mother sauces! Whisk over medium heat until thickened.

Grease a 9x9 glass pan and layer sweet potatoe slices, a little cheese, S&P, and then half of the chard mixture topped with half of the sauce. Repeat with remaining ingredients and put a little cheese on top too. Bake for about 45 minutes or so at 400F. I baked mine a little less knowing that I would be heating it up on Monday and because I didn't have as much sauce as the original recipe.

Today was one of those days that I really enjoy living in Cleveland. The weather was beautiful and made for a great evening with friends out on our fire escape patio. The sun was golden, turning the sky into a watercolor painting. With the "heat wave" we have been having I have been reminiscing about summers growing up in St. Louis. Only there, the heat is nearly suffocating but the lively buzz of the city during the summer made it tolerable. Growing up along the Mississippi in a city founded by the French meant we have a lot of southern influences. When I tell that to people they don't believe me because St. Louis is the gateway to the west after all, but in culture and food we are Southerners at heart. I was delighted to see the beautiful collards in this week's share and in homage to growing up in the city who has the second largest Mardi Gras celebration in the USA I prepared them in my interpretation of Dirty Rice.

Dirty Rice and Greens
***Again, if you think you have too many greens, add some more. They cook down considerably and they will be so good you will be wishing for more. This is not really a traditional dirty rice dish but it incorporates a lot of Southern flavors that I personally like.






1-2 lbs collard greens, stems and ribs removed (Source: FFM)
1 large onion, diced
4 cloves garlic, chopped finely
1/2 lb black eyed peas, dried
1Andouille or smoked sausage, sliced
2 C rice
4 C water or stock
1-2 TBL spicy grainy mustard
S&P

Either soak your black eyed peas overnight or place into 2-3 C of salted, boiling water for 2 minutes. Remove from heat and cover for about an hour. When you are ready to prepare your dinner, heat the peas up again and then drain the water off and reserve. Use the black eyed pea water to boil your rice according to the package instructions- 1:2 rice to water ratio. Add 1-2 cloves garlic, 1/4 of the onion and a little olive oil and S&P to the peas and heat up until the garlic is cooked. Meanwhile saute the rest of the garlic and onion in olive oil. Add the sliced sausage to this pan and saute for about 1-2 min. Add your greens in batches. S&P. When the greens are wilted add 1-2 TBL grainy mustard to the pan and stir. Serve the greens, sausage and peas over rice. S&P to taste. If you're feeling spicy, add a little Siracha sauce.

I have struggled with a chronic pain condition for the last 8 years and last year I decided I was going to challenge myself to a half marathon. I started training June of last year for the Cleveland half that would be in May 2010. Unfortunately, I somehow injured my knee in October and wasn't able to run for the next 6 months. I was pretty disappointed that I didn't meet my goal but then I remembered that there was still time in 2010! So, after my knee miraculously healed I started training for the Cleveland Towpath Half Marathon in Oct. 2010. It hasn't always gone as smoothly as I would like but I keep reminding myself that life is a marathon, not a sprint. I just have to finish, it doesn't matter how slow I go to get the job done. While running yesterday I was rocking out to my jams (I love my new Ipod Nano that has a radio!) and dreaming about dinner. I was only out on a 30 minute run and it ended much worse than it started, but the thought of this delicious dinner kept me going. I love me some carbs! Also to my delight this dish photographed as good as it tasted.

Kale Whole Wheat Fettucini
**Swiss chard is another one of my favorite greens and goes well with a fatty meat like bacon. If you're meat free, pine nuts and cranberries are also delicious! This recipe made enough for the two of us to have large helpings and leftovers for lunch.





1 lb fresh whole wheat fettuccine (Source: Ohio City Pasta, FFM)
1-2 lb Kale: any kind of you like (Source: FFM)
1 large onion sliced thinly on a mandolin- 1/4" thick
3-4 cloves garlic diced
red pepper flakes
olive oil
8 oz bacon (Source: New Creation Farm, FFM)
2-3 oz chevre (Source: Lucky Penny Farm)

Clean and destem your chard. You will probably feel like you have way too much chard. You don't, trust me. It will cook down to a manageable portion. Slice up your onions and dice your garlic. Bring salted water to a boil. Cook up your bacon and chop coarsely.

Heat olive oil in skillet on medium-high heat and cook your onions 'til golden. Carefully add the chard in batches, allowing each batch to cook down a little bit before adding the next to make room in the pan. When swiss chard is all in the pan, let it wilt down about 5+ minutes. Add garlic and red pepper flakes S&P and cook for another 5 minutes or so until the chard is tender but still green. Cook pasta to al dente- fresh pasta takes about 4-6 minutes. Drain pasta and add to skillet with your greens. Toss in the bacon. Serve with a dollop of chevre or crumbled feta on top.

**Note about the chevre: Lucky Penny gave me a 4 oz container of the chevre about 2 or so weeks ago. I used most of it in the cheesecakes last week and it was still good this week, despite being past it's "use by date" which was a pleasant surprise!

Tonight was another case of "holy crap this tasted amazing" but "holy crap...what, do I photograph?!"  I say "I," but really I just did some of the prep work and all the uploading/blog upkeep.  Kate is the real mastermind behind the photographs.  Anyway, tonight we wanted to put something together fast after a day in lab so we could run over to the Tremont Farmers Market.  Tonight there were a ton of local artists as well as the usual great bunch of booths.  We met up with some good friends, and sat out on the blanket enjoying this summery dish.  Of course had to go to Tremont Scoops for a little something afterward, and as we ate our turtle sunday taking in the shimmering glow of the evening sun, we could help but think how this time of year is truly wonderful.  Well, enjoy this fresh, clean, bowl of goodness!

Giant Bowl of Goodness
**I got tired of having the word salad in my recipes and this description seemed pretty appropriate. If you cant find some of these specialty ingredients, substitute cilantro and parsley.







Cabbage, I had koboku and as they say, necessity is the mother of invention (Source: FFM)
Mint (Source: Minh Anh Vietnamese Market)
Rau Rum (Source: Minh Anh Market)
Cilantro (Source: Fire escape garden)
Green Onions (Source: Fire escape garden)
Optional: Shredded chicken breast, Mango slices

Dressing:
Wasabi Paste (Source: Tink Holl Market)
Sesame oil- only use a few drops as this can be a pretty dominant flavor (Source: Tink Holl Market)
Rice wine vinegar
Lite soy sauce

Whisk together dressing ingredients. Chop greens and herbs. Toss with shredded chicken, sliced mango and greens. S&P to taste. Serve with crusty bread and butter.

Listening (courtesy of the DJ)
Artist(s): Lady Sovereign, The Rolling Stones, Phoenix,

The difficulty with photographing food is that the food often tastes better than it looks. At least that's true at our house, anyway. Sometimes I think I've created an epic failure in the kitchen because it just doesn't look like the picture and in fact, kind of looks like a mess. This has especially been true in our kitchen as of late which I am sure you probably have noticed. Salads start to all look the same and lack the pizazz they have on your tastebuds. I even made a dish last week that looked so horrible I'm embarrassed to post it. But being a home chef means things arent always glamorous even when you are working with top notch ingredients. I have already waxed poetic about my love for greens in what I consider unusual preparations. I was so pumped this week to work with some of my favorite greens- kale, cabbage, collards and mustard greens. I made a very unique but delicious Thanksgiving stuffing with red mustard greens this past year that wasn't too well received by my very traditional in-laws. But I was excited to try some green mustard greens. The best part of Google reader is that I can search all my favorite blogs for "mustard greens" and every possible recipe pops up from people whose food I actually like. (I kind of feel like a commercial for Bing right now). I got lots of ideas and even though we are going through quite the heat wave recently I couldn't resist turning my oven on to bake it. I wasn't disappointed and boy was it worth it to heat the house up a bit. That's what fans and good food are for! 

Mustard Green Tart













**I found a recipe for this savory tart with Turnip greens and figured mustard greens would be a great substitution. Thanks to 101cookbooks.com for this recipe. I have made some changes based on what I had to work with plus I never seem to be able to leave a recipe well enough alone! You can substitute a homemade or store bought (if you have worked late, are lazy, or just plain bad at making pie/tart crusts like me) pie crust for the cornmeal tart shell if you are pressed for time. This recipe is extremely easy so don't let the laundry list of ingredients and instructions fool you.

Cornmeal Tart Shell
2 1/4 C AP flour
1 C spelt flour
scant 1 cup medium coarse corn meal
3/4 tsp salt
1 1/4 C unsalted butter, cut into pieces
1 large egg yolk
1/4 C cold water


Mustard Green Filling
1/4 lb mustard greens destemmed (*I used my entire bunch of mustard greens because I was using an 11" tart shell and because I didn't want to waste any greens, probably about 1 lb)
1 head of green garlic, finely chopped (no easy feat, use your food processor for sure) (Source: FFM)
2-3 green onions, diced (Source: FFM)
2 large eggs + 1 yolk (I ended up using about 4 eggs and 1 egg yolk because I had so many greens and a large tart pan plus I didnt have any heavy cream and I wanted to make sure it wouldn't end up too watery) (Source: FFM)
3/4-1 C vegetable broth (Source: homemade chicken broth using the bones from our chicken from last week)
1/4-1/2 C heavy cream (or, you can use 2% milk plus a few TBL of butter like I did- the butter from FFM is so good I could eat it on a spoon)
S&P
2-3 TSP dijon mustard
bunch parsley (Source: Fire escape garden)
Gruyere or Swiss Harvarti (Source: FFM, Mayfield Road Creamery)


Tart Dough
Combine flours, cornmeal and salt in food processor. Pulse in butter until pebble like mixture forms. Add egg yolk and 1/4 C water. Pulse and add more water if needed to make a ball. Divide dough into two pieces and chill for about an hour before rolling/pressing one disc into your tart pan. Freeze the other half for another day. Chill tart for about 30 minutes and partially bake with pie weights for about 25 min. Let cool while you prepare the filling.

***I did not have the time or trust that I could actually make a tart crust. So I bought a pastry crust and just pressed it into my 11" tart pan. I got the pan at one of my Bridal Showers 3 years ago and I haven't gotten a chance to use it until now and by was I excited. I could've used a regular pie pan as well if I wanted. I did not prebake my crust either. Just refrigerated it after I pressed it into the pan while I made my filling.

Chop greens and green garlic finely. Whisk eggs and cream and dijon mustard with the broth in a large bowl. S&P. Add greens, green garlic and parsley. S&P. Sprinkle some of the grated cheese on the bottom of the tart crust and pour the filling into the crust. Bake for about 30 minutes until the center is set. For the last 5 minutes of baking I sprinkled the rest of the cheese on top. Then I let it set on the counter about 5 or so minutes before I took it out of the pan and served it so that it could set up a little more.

I dread coming down with a summer cold. There's nothing worse than getting sick in the summer other than both you and your hubby getting sick in the summer. It feels like double the punishment. As if being sick isn't bad enough, laying in bed and sleeping through the brief days of sunshine we have in Ohio seems just plain cruel. I originally had pretty grand plans for the beet greens- which you can see in the above picture was the focus today rather than just the beets themselves. Then I got the CSA email for next week and revised my plan. Then I came home from work early and slept for two hours and nothing involving beet greens sounded too appetizing to me. And then I had an epiphany. Biscuits! Biscuits and gravy! That would make me feel better for sure! But then I realized I might feel better briefly, but gravy probably wasn't a brilliant idea. I stuck with my biscuit idea, but swapped the gravy for greens and the sausage for farm fresh eggs. I was dubious that the greens would be all that appealing considering how icky we both felt, but in the end this improvisation was a smash hit for both of us. I'm just glad we hadn't lost our sense of taste yet! Here's hoping its one of those 24 hour flu/cold type things and our house gets back to normal soon.

Green Eggs Minus the Ham
**Swap out beet greens for any green you might have on hand. Make sure your skillet is nice and hot when you cook 'em up since they will release quite a bit of liquid. Poached eggs have been somewhat of a magic trick I haven't quite mastered, probably due to my lack of patience. Hubby followed the directions in Ad Hoc at Home by Thomas Keller and they were perfect. Setting the timer for an exact 1.5 minutes definitely helped.

Fresh Biscuits: I followed a recipe in The Joy of Cooking and they came out great (especially with the butter I still have from last weeks CSA bundle), but use your favorite recipe or stop at Popeyes and get some for a fast dinner

3-4 Farm fresh eggs (Source: Martha's Farm)
Beet Greens (Source: FFM)
Spinach (Source: FFM)
1-2 cloves garlic
1-2 TBL spicy brown mustard
S&P

Bake your biscuits if you haven't already. Keep warm while you prepare the eggs and greens. Bring salted water to boil in a deep saucepan for eggs. Meanwhile, wash and prep your greens. Heat a skillet with olive oil or butter on medium heat. Saute greens until wilted and S&P. Add garlic when greens are almost ready, about 5 minutes after you first placed them in the pan. While greens finish cooking, poach your eggs one at a time for about 1.5 minutes for a soft yolk. Before plating, add 1 TBL of spicy brown mustard to greens and toss to coat. Plate up your biscuits, greens and then eggs. S&P the eggs and serve while piping hot. A little swiss or gruyere would be delicious shaved over the top, but I didn't have any so I skipped it. 

I only recently started liking salads. I know what you're thinking, who doesn't like salads?! But I used to only eat them for the nutritional benefit and, I have to admit, as a vehicle for creamy dressing. My favorite salads were those light on the lettuce and heavy on the toppings- my favorite being dried cranberries or raisins, sunflower seeds, cheese, veggies and croutons. When we began our transition away from a meat centric diet I started reading lots of praise about greens. I had heard so much about their vitamin packed power and was intrigued by the many recipes I discovered that used them in ways besides salads. You probably can't believe that I wouldn't have ever thought of eating greens prepared any other way, but it's true. And I didn't really ever pay attention to the different types of greens that could actually shine in a salad rather than be limp participants overshadowed by far tastier toppings. I've since grown to love swiss chard (I hope we get some through the CSA this year and maybe even our fire escape garden if we're lucky), kale, spinach and the many varieties of lettuce like my peppery favorite- arugala. 


This week's bounty included pea shoots (which we unfortunately didn't receive, but upon thinning my own window box of sugar snap pea shoots I was able to procur!), spinach and cilantro and as we've already shown you, radishes. Although I would have liked to find a more creative way to eat these greens, I realized my bias against salads was again creeping in and I quickly snapped out of it. Forging ahead I developed this recipe based on some of our favorite flavors. I have to say, it was one of the greenest tasting (if green could have a taste!) things I have ever had. Cilantro will be making repeat appearances in my salads in the future that's for sure! Enjoy.

First Harvest Surf and "Turf" Salad
**I know the puns are probably already getting old but I couldn't resist! The earth gave us a beautiful cornucopia of greens this week and they were the inspiration for this dish. You could substitute chicken for the salmon or any other meat, or simply omit it and add a poached egg on top! As with most of my recipes I eyeballed mostly everything and adjusted to my taste. 


Variety of Greens: 
Spinach (Source: FFM CSA)
Cilantro (Source: FFM CSA)
Pea shoots (Source: our fire escape garden)
Super baby lettuces (Source: our fire escape garden, they needed thinning and I hated for them to go to waste!)


Radishes (Source: FFM CSA)
Salmon (Wild Caught)
Maple Syrup (Source: Toby Knoll Sugarbush Farm in MI)
Dijon mustard
Wasabi Paste
White Balsamic Vinegar


Make the sauce for your salmon by mixing maple syrup, dijon mustard and wasabi paste together. I loosely used 3 TBL of mustard, 1 TBL of maple syrup, and 1 TBL of wasabi for two salmon fillets and I had enough left over to thin with the white balsamic vinegar and use as salad dressing. 


Wash and prepare your greens. Thinly slice your radishes on a mandolin and toss with greens. S&P


Heat your grill pan and S&P your salmon. Grill on one side for about 2-3 minutes before flipping. Baste cooked salmon with your sauce near the end of cooking. Serve on top of your salad and drizzle thinned sauce all over the greens. 




***We also had a warm baguette and the rest of our grass fed Blue Gouda (Source: Mayfield Creamery) on the side and the flavors complemented each other perfectly!