Farm Fresh
broccoli, corn, gourmet greens, kale, lettuce, radishes, onions, peppers, potatoes, shallots, squash, tomatoes
What’s for Dinner?
Wednesday – farm fresh frittata
frittata with broccoli & fresh garlic (Food and Wine)
salad with radishes & herbs (Epicurious)
Thursday – thai style
thai glazed corn (Food & Wine)
sai ua sausage (New Seasons)
Friday – TV trays, movie, & pizza
kale, roasted pepper, & feta pizza (Annie’s Eats)
Saturday – soup’s on
tomato soup with grilled cheese croutons (The Splendid Table)
mixed green salad
Sunday – oktoberfest celebration, Gustav’s style
german beer
potato pancakes with sour cream and apple sauce (Williams-Sonoma)
sauteed kale (Bon Appetit)
rouladen (Gustav’s)
buttered egg noodles
apple sharlotka (Deb Perelman, The Smitten Kitchen)
Monday – south of the border squash
winter squash quesadillas (Deb Perlman, Smitten Kitchen)
radish salsa (Mark Bittman)
Tuesday – sammie night, it’s a wrap
elephant’s shelly wraps (Elephant’s Deli)
potato chips
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Wednesday – farm fresh frittata
frittata with broccoli & fresh garlic (Food and Wine)
salad with radishes & herbs (Epicurious)
Frittatas are our year-round friend. But I especially enjoy them in the late summer, when there are so many sensational and varied veggies to add to the mix. Also, they are really meant to be tinkered with – eggs, cheese, and whatever vegetable combo appeals to you. This week, I’ll keep it super simple, using my fall broccoli, and lots of garlic. The recipe calls for parmesan, which would be delicious. Some sharp cheddar, or some good ricotta salata, steps it up a notch.This dinner is also nice because it cooks up in a flash and can really be served at any temperature – just-out-of-the-oven hot, luke warm, or even room temperature if you’ve made it ahead. Add a very simple green salad with our farm fresh lettuce and crunchy radishes – any herbs you have lying around will mix in beautifully, and can be sprinkled atop the frittata as well.
Thursday – thai style
thai glazed corn (Food & Wine)
sai ua sausage (New Seasons)
This is why I read the New Seasons Market Flyer as carefully (more!) than I read the newspaper. I’m always spotting new and exciting dinner ideas – this week, these amazing-looking sausages combining the expertise of our own local and renowned Pok Pok and Olympia Provisions. Grilling sausages with flavors of fresh lemongrass and Thai spices? I just have to try them! And I knew there’d be a veggie in my basket that fit the bill as an accompaniment. With a few simple (and usually-on-hand) ingredients, our ears of corn will be transformed into Thai street food. The glaze of coconut milk, soy, and lime flavors brushed on grilled corn will mix perfectly with our easy “Sai Ua” weeknight sausage dinner.
Friday – TV trays, movie, & pizza
kale, roasted pepper, & feta pizza (Annie’s Eats)
This week, thinly sliced kale ribbons make their way to our pizza! Follow this previous Pizza Night post for a no-fail dough recipe I rely on each week. It makes 
enough for two pizzas, even three if rolled out in the super thin, best-for-crispy-pizza style. I’ll double the topping requirements here, and use some roasted sweet peppers instead of the sun dried tomatoes called for in the recipe. I’m going to roast and peel all of my sweet peppers right when I get them, to have them at the ready this week. This is a “no sauce” pizza; the garlic and red pepper infused oil (simple!) provides the base instead. If you have kids (or adults) that just might not buy into the idea of kale on pizza, throw some pepperoni and olives on the toppings bar – see what happens. Just maybe they’ll find the pizza prettier with some green. No salad necessary…our greens are atop the pizza!
Saturday – soup’s on
tomato soup with grilled cheese croutons (The Splendid Table)
Well this was a no-brainer. It was surely no coincidence that right after picking up more luscious tomatoes in my CSA share I received this Splendid Table weeknight-dinner-ideas email featuring creamy tomato soup. With grilled cheese croutons?!? Yum! The croutons are merely bite-sized morsels of everyone’s favorite grilled cheese, piled on top of a fabulous (and easy!) sounding homemade garden tomato soup. Add a salad of fresh mixed greens sprinkled lightly with olive oil, vinegar, salt and pepper. Summery, yet at the same time the ultimate comfort meal.
Sunday – oktoberfest celebration, Gustav’s style
german beer
potato pancakes with sour cream and apple sauce (Williams-Sonoma)
sauteed swiss chard (Bon Appetit)
rouladen (Gustav’s)
buttered egg noodles
apple sharlotka (Deb Perelman, The Smitten Kitchen)
We’ve made Gustav’s Bier Stube an October tradition. Along with its fancier counterpart, The Rheinlander, it offers up a lot of top notch reasons to celebrate. Authentic German fare, best German beer selection in Portland, and a cozy, kitschy ambience perfect for Oktoberfest minus the Munich. I do look forward to this once a year indulgence in Bavarian pretzels dipped in Swiss cheesy fondue, decadent potato pancakes, homemade spatzle, and a hearty sampling of bratwursts, schnitzels, and the like. Given a Sunday supper opportunity, I’d like to cook up my own dinner ala Gustav’s. To start, I’ll try my hand at potato pancakes; I’m sure to purchase the applesauce given the menu list! But applesauce and sour cream are musts as toppers to these traditional delights. One Gustav’s specialty I’ve never tried, but am sure intrigued by, is the rouladen. It’s a very traditional German dish, and is simply mustard, pickles, bacon, and onion rolled up in thinly sliced beef and cooked. For years, taking instruction from my mother-in-law, I’ve made it the easy way – rolling up thinly sliced beef that had been spread with mustard and layered with the other key ingredients, securing it all with a toothpick, and baking. Having seen this recipe on the Gustav’s site, I just might have to try the fancied-up version, which consists of browning and cooking in a red wine veggie sauce. I’ll serve it over buttered egg noodles. For a veggie side, I’ll make this quick sautéed kale (an easy substitute for chard). It’s a go-to side with anything really, considering how easy it is. Add a sprinkling of apple cider vinegar over the cooked greens, and it’ll be right at home in this German dinner. For dessert, Gustav’s offers a traditional apple strudel. While amazing, I’m not bothering with the layers and layers of dough, and will instead make this simple apple cake. It’s actually sort of a combination of a cake, pie, pancake, and clafoutis, and the best part is that it really couldn’t be easier. AND it’s pretty darned healthy, as cakes go. No butter, little sugar, mostly apples. I’m going for it, with whatever northwest apples catch my eye at the market this week.
Monday – south of the border squash
winter squash quesadillas (Deb Perlman, Smitten Kitchen)
radish salsa (Mark Bittman)
Mexican is a favorite in our house, and I twist and turn almost any recipe to fit my veggies at hand. Any winter squash could be used here, and just like the beets, during a non-crazy, non-dinner-time hour, cut, seed and roast the squash slices so they’re ready to roll. I’ll have my roasted poblano chiles at the ready, and they are incredible. But skip that time consuming ingredient, either all-together, or just add jarred roasted peppers if you’re in a time crunch. Add a can of black beans to the mix to get the full-meal-deal. I’ll have purchased tomatillo salsa, plus another couple of favorites for a fun salsa-sampling kind of dinner. It seems it’ll be of those recipes that lends itself to all sorts of whims and wishes. I’ll add this delicious radish salsa – I’ll skip the cucumber, and use whatever onions I happen to have on hand at the time.
Tuesday – sammie night, it’s a wrap
elephant’s shelly wraps (Elephant’s Deli)
potato chips
This veggie wrap is an ideal end-of-veggie-week choice, at least in my house, where these dinners are often a hodge-podge of veggies, desperately trying to clear out the fridge before the Wednesday CSA delivery. They lend themselves perfectly to that frenzy. The greens, hazelnuts, and apple are key ingredients, with the fruit pieces adding just the right sweetness. Use the veggies they list as a guide, adding what you have and love. I’ll use lettuce, kale, and bits and pieces of whatever I’ve got left. Bite-sized pieces of squash, broccoli, or sweet peppers would all be wonderful. Buy some of those giant spinach tortillas, watch a YouTube instructional on how to wrap the perfect wrap, and go for it! Just make sure that all of your veggies & fruit are chopped very small. I put everything into one big salad bowl, toss it with dressing, and have roll-your-own-wraps. A key ingredient is Elephant’s own Stackhouse dressing – with a friendly phone call, you can order this yummy dressing and they’ll have it in their store for you the very next day! Ingredients are: mustard, tamari, agave, tahini, cider vinegar and oil. If you prefer not to bother with Elephant’s pre-made (although I think it would be a worthwhile purchase, good on many a salad and sandwich!) then create your own vinaigrette with these flavors in mind. With all of that healthy salad goodness, what better side than some delicious Kettle Chips!
“What the Kale?!?”
- potato soup with kale and chorizo (Bon Appetit)
- winter squash and sweet pepper soup (Dana Jacobi, Something Different)
Don’t panic and get out the compost bin if all of the sudden you have a giant veggie delivery coming your way, and you still have a fridge full. Here are a few suggestions for preserving the bounty! (Soups and stews freeze wonderfully in those gallon zip lock freezer bags.)
