City Fresh Meals
Read on for City Fresh meals...
Meal One: Oregano, potatoes, mixed greens, kale, bok choy, chamomile (all City Fresh), snap peas, fennel (free from Fresh Fork picnic), garlic (Zagara's).
I wasn't really sure what you're supposed to do with fennel so I just chopped it up and put it in the salad. Bad idea. It was too sweet, and too tough; it really just tasted like the type of plant humans aren't supposed to eat. Maybe I should have cooked it? Otherwise, delicious salad.
Chamomile tea is not difficult to make. You measure out how much water you want for the tea, and then add a little more because the flowers are going to absorb a bit of it. Then pick off the flowers (the flavor is in the nectar) and boil 'em until the water turns yellow. I then boil it a little more just to make sure all the flavor is out. Then you strain out the flowers and drink it.
I cannot make stir fried kale. I don't know what I'm doing wrong but it tasted horrible again. The snap peas didn't help - I didn't cut off any of the chewy inedible bits and was forced to constantly spit them out. But now I've learned my lesson.
The potatoes were fried with garlic, butter and oregano and were absolutely delicious. The oregano is prepared for cooking by plucking the leaves off.
Meal Two: onion, zucchini, mixed greens, kale (City Fresh), free fennel from Fresh Fork picnic, Ohio Proud beef (Zagara's)
I sauteed the beef with fennel and onions, boiled the zucchini with butter and salt, and mixed kale, onions and mixed greens into a salad. It tasted pretty good. Props to the cook.
Meal Three: cabbage, onion, potatoes, kale (City Fresh), Ohio Proud beef, garlic, Heritage Fair seasoning (Zagara's), free fennel from Fresh Fork picnic, salt, pepper, peppercorns, bay leaves (not local)
I made a vegetable stock the night before out of fennel, kale, onion, garlic, and all the seasonings listed above. To make stock you dump everything into a big pot filled with lots of water and boil it for about an hour. Or more. Taste it to see if it's flavorful enough. Then you strain out the vegetables. Ideally I think the stock is supposed to be as clear as possible but it's up to the cook. Pretty much any spare vegetables you have can be put into a stock pot. Mark Bittman, the author of Food Matters: A Guide to Conscious Eating, suggests avoiding very strong flavored vegetables, however. This includes cabbage, bell peppers and egg plants (p 150). Other tips from him about soup stock:
*It is not necessary to peal the vegetables, just to wash the skin thoroughly.
*Dried mushrooms add an earthy flavor.
*Bay leaves/thyme are good for stock.
*The vegetables can be browned in olive oil before starting.
*Ham, turkey, chicken, beef bones can all be added. (The marrow releases flavor and it's a good way to get all the nutrition out of your meat products before you throw away the rest.) Also shells from shrimp and even fish bones can be added.
*Dried or canned tomatoes.
*You can make a large amount of stock, freeze it, and bring it out later when you need it. (This is what all the savvy cooks do. Ever seen Barefoot Contessa?) However, do not freeze or refrigerate it right off the stove. Let it cool first.
The next day I added potato, bits of cabbage, kale and onion into the stock. It came out fairly flavorful, given that there was not a bit of meat in it, but tasted too sweet. I shouldn't have used all that fennel, but there was so much that I just didn't know where to use it. :(
The potato stir fry was pretty good, but I'm not gonna lie, I picked out all the bok choy. Another thing I can't cook very well. It tasted bitter and soggy, even though I soaked it in cold water before cooking.
Next up, Fresh Fork!
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