Homemade pesto

It's been a while since I wrote here—the boxes are still coming every two weeks just we haven't really been cooking that much. We're getting married in a couple of weeks so things have been a little hectic and it was birthday last week too so I don't think we prepared food at home for about a week. And this time of year is not my favourite for what's in season so the boxes have been leaving me a little uninspired.

But on Friday evening I took a bunch of basil I'd bought Monday and made pesto, which is super easy and tasty. The recipe is from the Alice Waters book and is basically a bunch of basil, a clove of garlic, ¼ cup of toasted pine nuts, ¼ cup of parmesan and a ½ cup of olive oil. Alice really wants you to mash it all up with a mortar and pestle but I quickly found mine was too

small so transferred it all to the food processor. And when I reached for the olive oil I found I only had about ¼ cup left so I made up the difference with peanut oil and then added some butter for good measure.

I boiled some linguine, sautéed a zucchini and mixed it all up. There was a whole load of pesto-y butter left at the bottom of the pan so we poured it into a bowl and put it in the fridge. It makes a great pesto butter for spreading on toast the next day.

Osso bucco

So not really a box story as we're all out of box veg right now and no more until Wednesday, but Cioremailed me in the middle of the day—do you want to make Osso Bucco? I didn't know what it is so I had to google it, I guess it has become more of a fixture in American-Italian cuisine than British-Italian. My Dean & Deluca recipe book was well into it too. But veal sounded good so I agreed to pick up the ingredients on the way home.

It was fun to make, and flouring and frying big chunks of veal was a kick—it looked amazing. The end result was good but the meat perhaps a little chewy; maybe the cuts were too thick? I assume it was good meat as I trust Falletti with all other meats—who knows. But this is all part of the a learning experience we've set ourselves; we want to get to know the different parts of meat we eat and how to prepare them. Maybe we'll try it again sometime.

Beignets

No box report last week—we did get a box, but I was away in New Orleans for the week so I didn't photograph or report it. But Cior said it was good, and some of it is still left (tomatoes again).

I brought back a pack of Beignet mix and we tried it out on Sunday; Pretty tasty. I think we made them a little smaller than is convention, and the first batch to hit the pan were probably too thick so we re-rolled the dough. Still got half the box left which will be fun for this weekend—then I need to try making them from scratch.

Capay Tomato Tasting

Last weekend we drove up to the Capay farm for their heirloom tomato tasting festival. It was beautiful up there, especially compared to the dreary weather we've been having in the city. We got there at 5pm just as they were starting, and managed to get a spot in the shade as the sun was still quite high in the sky.

There was beer, music, tomatoes a plenty and a lovely atmosphere. One thing we screwed up was not taking any food of our own—we kind of expected there to be more picnicy foods available for purchase. Instead there was a stall of farm produce and a food vendor with corn, soft tacos and yummy popsicles, but none quite substantial enough for dinner. But at least there was at many tomatoes as you could eat.

I took the self-guided tour around part of the farm, which was fun—nice to see your dinner out in the wild. I think we'd like to go again next year, better prepared with food and maybe even camping out to avoid having to drive home the same evening.

There are more photos.

22 July Box

You'd never know it was summer here, it's so cold and foggy right now. But what's growing in the valley where I don't doubt it's hot and sunny?

• Cherries
• Cameo Apples
• Yellow Nectarines
• Globe Eggplant
• Mixed Squash (zucchini in this case)
• Gypsy Peppers
• Broccoli
• Heirloom Tomatoes
• Cucumbers
• Spearmint
• Nantes Carrots
• Yellow Onions (look red to me)

The apples are huge and delicious. I'm up to my knees in cherries, having just bought a big bag the night before—I'm unable to walk past the huge pile of cherries outside the Haight grocery without buying more every time. I take a big bag into my work meetings to pass around. The eggplant I'm not sure what to do with—I'm not a big fan of eggplant and my previous attempts to roast it have just ended up a big rubbery chunks.

Seeing the tomatoes and other things that would need to be used in the next day or two (carrots, zucchini) I immediately decided to make bolognese again. We'd intended to try using pork rather than beef this time, but I accidentally picked up lamb (prepacked it all looks the same, and I was looking as the labels on the shelf rather than the packs). I worked out pretty well though, imparting a nice meaty flavour to everything. And we made a massive pot so we both had it for dinner, lunch the next day and Cior had what was left for dinner tonight. So that was an onion, half the carrots, half the peppers, most of the zucchini and all the tomatoes, augmented with some yellow squash I had left over, muchrooms, tomato puree, a tin of chopped tomatoes and a bunch of basil.

One last thing—on Saturday we're going to Capay farm to see where all these lovely noms come from!

Quick'n'Easy: Fried rice

I get pretty bored of the canteen at work so one thing I like to do is to make a very quick fried rice in the morning to take with me for lunch. It's a great way to use up odds'n'sods that are left in the fridge; the only prerequisite is that you have some old rice—we quite often have a left over portion or two from ordering takeout. Boiling new rice takes too long and doesn't work very well anyway; it needs to dry out a bit first.

Here's this morning's:

• Sauté half a red onion in some butter (and salt)
• Add two thinly sliced carrots and a diced squash (and more salt)
• When it's looking good, throw in the rice. My rice is usually solidified into the shape of the takeaway container at this point, so I need to break it down a bit with a spoon.
• Once the rice is mixed in, crack an egg into it and mix that in. Once the egg is mixed int, turn of the heat, keep stirring it for a little bit and then let it cool down a little before putting it into a container to take to work.

Step two is where you can chop up anything you have lying around and throw it in. My rice had a few peas in it too, which was an added bonus.

8 July Box

Catching up again. This week we have:

• Bing Cherries
• Yellow Nectarines
• Black Plums
• Summer Squash
• Broccoli
• Green Beans
• White Corn
• Cucumber
• Romaine Lettuce
• Basil
• Nantes Carrots

Quite a good haul. I made a creamy alfredo-style pasta with squash and carrots and a side salad with some of the lettuce and cucumber. We've been coming down with cherries and nectarines since I've also been buying them at the store, but we're getting through them—they're great for summer cocktails and I take a bag of cherries with me for my 2+ hour Friday afternoon meetings at work that we all munch through. We've decided that fruit goes in the fridge whether it's good for it or not; if it's left out it's starting to rot and gather flies after barely a day at the moment.

Corn is gathering in the bottom of the fridge—I'm going to have to take it all out and grill it soon. The broccoli was mostly stalk, which is not my favourite. And I think I may even try the recipe on from the Capay newsletter for spicy green beans this evening.