Category: My CSA Adventure

I finally got around to making the Baked Goat Cheese and Frisee dish I’ve had my eye on ever since frisee started appearing as an option on our Thursday pick ups.  I love the combination of the two flavors – very decadent. And I reminisced about a similar dish I experienced back in my art school days at a restaurant called the Stolen Grill in Kansas City, MO – which I’m sure not longer exists.  But Alas, although my results were pretty good, they just did not measure up to my cravings.  I’ll have to keep working on it.  If anyone out there has a good recipe, please send it my way.

Baked Goat Cheese With Frisee Salad <CLICK

Ingredients

Marinade

• 1 bunch fresh thyme or rosemary – leaves only
• 3/4 cup  extra-virgin olive oil
• 16 ounces goat cheese (the fresher the better)
• Freshly ground black pepper

Coating

• 2 teaspoons fresh thyme or rosemary for breadcrumbs
• 1 cup cup fine, dry breadcrumbs
• 2 teaspoons of extra-virgin olive oil
• pinch of sea salt

Salad

• 1 tablespoons aged balsamic vinegar
• 4 tablespoons leftover olive oil marinade
• Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 5 cups frisée

1. Mix thyme, black pepper and olive oil in a deep dish, large enough to hold goat cheese rounds in 1 layer.
2. Cut cheese into disks about 3/4-inch thick, add to the dish.
3. Cover and refrigerate for at least 12 hours. Turn cheese over and marinate for at least 12 more hours.
4. Preheat the oven to 375F.
5. Mix bread crumbs with a pinch of sea salt and olive oil.
6. Spread the crumbs on a baking sheet and bake for 5 to 10 minutes, stirring a few times during baking. Once toasted, let cool and mix in chopped fresh thyme or parsley.
7. Remove the goat cheese rounds from the oil and let the excess drip off briefly.
8. Dredge the cheese in the toasted breadcrumb mixture until they’re completely coated. Bake on a cookie sheet or in a gratin dish for 5 to 8 minutes, or until warmed through and soft when you press gently in the center. Don’t over-bake them or they will start drying out.
9. Remove the pan from oven and use a spatula to lift the cheese rounds.
10. Toss the frisée with enough vinaigrette to lightly coat. Evenly divide the salad and the cheese among 4 dinner plates. Serve warm with garlic toasts.

Zucchini Pancakes, Tzatziki, and Greek Style Fish

I wanted to use up the zucchini and some of the green peppers from my CSA share so I hunted around for some recipes and found this really great one for the zucchinis: pancakes from seriouseats.com.  Next time I’ll make them a little smaller so they’re crisper in the middle.  They were really tasty though, so I’ll definitely be making them again.  I have a feeling I’ll be seeing a lot of zucchinis in the near future!

I also made my own Tzatziki to go with the Zucchini Pancakes, which is where the green peppers went.  Three cups of tzatziki sounded like a lot so I halved the ingredients which I adapted from a classic recipe.

And finally as a main dish, I decided on sea food.  I found a great recipe on Cooks.com for a Greek style preparation and I chose Alaskan Halibut.  I used a little less fish than the recipe calls for and therefore less of everything else as well, and I elected to skip the tomatoes all together simply as a matter of personal taste.

The final presentation of all the fixings on the dinner plate didn’t quite turn out as I’d envisioned, a problem that making the pancakes a little smaller should help.

Zucchini Pancakes

1. Shred the zucchini and onion on the large holes of a box grater or in a food processor with the shredding disk. Place the shredded vegetables in a colander in the sink and sprinkle with the salt. Toss to combine. Let drain for 30 minutes, then pick up by the handful and squeeze out as much moisture as possible. Place on a kitchen towel or double layer of paper towels.

2. In a medium bowl, combine the eggs, garlic, cheese, herbs, lemon zest, and pepper. Beat well with a fork. Add the drained zucchini mixture and mix together. Sprinkle the flour and baking powder on top and mix with a fork just until well combined.

3. Heat one tablespoon of the olive oil over medium-high heat in a wide, heavy pan. When the oil is hot, drop the batter into the pan by heaping tablespoonful. Cook for about three minutes on the first side, until nicely browned. Flip and cook for about two minutes more. Place the cooked pancakes on a paper towel-lined plate and repeat with the remaining oil and batter. Serve with a dollop of Greek yogurt, sour cream, tzatziki or applesauce.

Tzatziki

Ingredients:

• 1 cucumber
• 2 cups of Greek or strained yogurt made at home
• 2 teaspoons of crushed garlic
• 2 tablespoons of olive oil
• 1 tablespoon of lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon of dill
• Green pepper-after taste
• Salt-after taste

Preparation:

1. Clean the skin of the cucumber and then remove the seeds from the cucumber because if you chop it with seeds inside it will have a bigger quantity of water and we don`t want that to happen because we want a creamy tzatziki.
2. After you have removed the seeds, chop the cucumber in small pieces or chop it with a mice or blender. Drain carefully the cucumber after you chopped it.
3. Crush the garlic in very small pieces. You will need 2 teaspoons of crushed garlic.
4. Chop the dill in very small pieces.
5. In a bowl mix the yogurt with the chopped cucumber, the crushed garlic and the dill and then add the lemon juice and the olive oil. Then put some green pepper and salt after taste.
6. You will obtain 3 cups of tzatziki sauce.
7. Put the tzatziki sauce in the refrigerator for at least 1hour
8. Don`t forget tzatziki sauce is always served cold.

Greek Style Fish

Ingredients:

• 2 lbs. fish fillets
  1 red onion, thinly sliced
  4 tbsp. lemon juice
  2 tsp. oregano
  4 tbsp. minced parsley
  1 lg. tomato, chopped
  1/2 c. feta cheese

Preparation:

Place fish in lightly oiled baking dish. Cover with onions. Sprinkle on lemon juice and oregano. Mix together parsley and tomatoes and spread over fish. Sprinkle with feta cheese. Cover tightly with foil and bake at 350 degrees for 25 to 30 minutes. Serves 4 to 5.