tomatillos

Date: 9/27/2011

Recipe: This recipe was from our CSA newsletter and it was great because it used a ton of the veggies from our box:

2 T oil
1/2 medium onion, chopped
1 leek, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp coriander
2 medium potatoes, diced
1 poblano pepper, diced
1 medium bell pepper, diced
juice & zest of 1 lime
5 tomatillos, cored and chopped
1 large tomato, cored and chopped
salt and pepper to taste
1 can pinto or black beans
3 T cilantro, minced
1 c cornmeal
1/3 c all purpose flour
1 T sugar
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 egg
1 c plain yogurt
1/2 c shredded cheddar cheese

Heat oil in oven proof skillet and saute onions for a couple minutes and then add the leeks. After another minute add the garlic, cumin, coriander, potatoes, and peppers. Saute for a couple minutes and add the lime juice/zest, tomatillos, tomatoes, salt, and pepper. Continue to cook, stirring periodically, for about 8-10 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 375 and prepare the cornbread topping: sift together the dry ingredients. Whisk together egg and yogurt and mix into dry ingredients and set aside. Stir beans and cilantro into skillet and top with cornbread batter. Bake at 375 for 15 minutes. Add shredded cheese and return to oven for 3-5 more minutes, until golden and browning on the edges.

Time to table: 75 minutes

Modifications: I didn’t use any tomatoes because we didn’t have any, and we had also just used the all the leeks in the soup the night before, so we didn’t include that.

Servings: 2 adult dinners, 3 adult lunches, 1 toddler dinner

Ben: Dislike

Erin: Like

Annie: Like

Notes: This was kind of blah. Definitely should use more cheese than is called for. I think the cornbread is a little too dry and crumbly for this kind of dish, it would have been better with a fluffier dough I think. Oh well, we got some lunches out of it and it used up a lot of veggies.

Looks like scrambled eggs with cheese!

Homemade salsa

Date: 9/4/2011

Recipe: The recipe we used was modified from a recipe that Brian sent us:

Original recipe:

1 ice cream pail of tomatoes, blanched and peeled
3 medium onions, chopped
3 green bell peppers, chopped
1/2 cup lemon juice
12 oz. tomato paste
1/2 cup sugar
3 tablespoons salt
1 tablespoon oregano
2 cups vinegar
1 tablespoon garlic powder
3 jalapeno peppers

Simmer all ingredients together for 1/2 hour, over low to medium heat,
stirring it frequently. Process in pint jars (remember if the jars
and lids are super hot from being sterilized and salsa is boiling when
you fill the jars they may seal without the boiling water bath).

Modifications: We made a couple changes to this recipe. I don’t think we had an entire ice cream bucket of tomatoes, but it was close. We added several other ingredients that we had from our box: tomatillos (sauteed and pureed), diced garlic, and cilantro.

Time to table: 2 hours total

Servings: We got a little over a half gallon of salsa.

Ben: Like

Erin: Like

Annie: Like

Notes: Our neighbors had just given us a bag of tomatoes from their garden and then we got two more bags from our CSA this week, so we were inundated with tomatoes. Salsa was the perfect solution as it used all the tomatoes as well as several other veggies we had from the CSA box (tomatillos, garlic, cilantro, bell peppers, jalapenos). I don’t believe canning salsa to be worth the effort in general, but this was a great way to relieve the pressure of all the veggies we’ve had for the past two weeks.