potato and corn chowder.

i love me some soup.  i also love me some friends who help make soup.  christina's sister caroline was in town and they decided to prep all the ingredients we had in the house while i went to the store and procured the others.  so this soup was born.  potatoes, corn, love and all!

ingredients
2 potatoes, peeled and diced
2 1/2 cups water
2 T butter
1 medium onion, chopped
1 1/2 t salt
1 stalk of celery, minced
1/2 red bell pepper, minced
5 cobs of corn
freshly ground  black pepper
1/4 t dried thyme
1/2 t dried basil
1 c milk, room temperature

directions
1.  place the potato and water in a pot, bring to a boil, cover, and cook until tender.  set aside (don't drain em!).
2.  melt the butter in a soup pot.  add the onion and salt and cook over medium-low, stirring frequently.  after five minutes add the celery.  after 5 more minutes add the cooked potates and their liquid, the bell pepper, corn, black pepper, and herbs.
3.  mix it up real well and cover.  reduce heat and cook it for about five more minutes.
4.  use a blender or food processor to puree about half of the soup chunks and then mix that back into the rest of the soup.
5.  stir in the milk.  eat!


this recipe came from (well, i changed a few things) this really really wonderfully awesome cookbook my friend marianne gave me.  it is called the Enchanted Broccoli Forest by Mollie Katzen.  i can assure you that you will be seeing many a recipe from this book in the future!

(by the way, this soup happened before i even moved...so probs about a month ago.  i have no excuse for the delay....)

herb-crusted tofu.

i wanted to make a real nice homecookin' meal using my csa goodies.  i decided to go with the classic corn on the cob, no frills, just a little butter and salt (i wish i had popcorn salt!).  we also had some lovely red potatoes so i decided to make my absolute favorite form of potatoes.  mashed potatoes.  just like my mama makes em.  again, no frills, just some milk, butter, and salt.  (okay i know, this is a salty buttery meal, but i WANTED it.  i mean, it wasn't excessive...).  so what could i make that would go along with this meal?  i'm picturing shake and bake for some reason.  which is NOT what i'm going to use, but it did remind me of a delicious looking recipe for herb-crusted tofu in one of deborah madison's cookbooks.  which IS what i used and oh boy, the flavor was delicious (and no salt or butter in the tofu recipe!).  i did switch up the recipe a little to bake instead of fry them.

herb-crusted tofu.

ingredients

1 16 oz package of extra firm tofu

1 c panko breadcrumbs

1/2 c grated parmesan

1 t dried parsley

1 t dried basil (or marjoram if you have that)

1/2 t dried thyme

1/2 t dried savory

1 egg

2 T milk

directions

1.  preheat the oven to 350.  slice the tofu into slabs about 1/3 inch thick.  blot or drain them on towels (paper or cloth) while you mix the other ingredients.

2.  mix the breadcrumbs, parmesan, and herbs in a flat-ish bowl.  beat the egg and milk in another bowl.

3.  yay for assembly lines!  dip each tofu in the eggs, then the herby mixture, then place on a cookie sheet.

4.  bake at 350 for about 20 minutes, turning halfway if you remember.  just go to whatever crispness/brownness level you like!

whole meal on a plate!  sorry about the awful quality... i
had to take this with photobooth at the last minute because
of a dead camera battery situation.

eating these things.

i've been having moments all over the place.  i think that all the time i really appreciate how great this community-supported agriculture is, but there are these really clear and sincere moments that are happening more and more often where i feel like this is the best thing i could have done.

the stillman's newsletter this week recommended eating the corn right away so we could experience corn at its absolute freshest.  even though cait and i had already had separate dinners on sunday, we decided to make some corn around 930 so we could try it.  THE CORN THAT WE ATE HAD BEEN PICKED THAT VERY SAME DAY.  i can barely handle that.  read it again.  i mean, think about our produce in the grocery stores.  someone picks it when its not yet ripe so it can last the miles and miles it has to travel until it gets to some sort of warehouse then it is sorted and transferred to more trucks that bring it to our grocery stores where it is unloaded then resorted then stocked on the shelves.  you have to wonder... WHAT did they DO to that cucumber to make it last for 2 weeks before i bought it?  its like i've been eating fruits and vegetables my whole life, but i've never experienced them like this.  they literally couldn't have taken a more direct route from the earth to my belly unless i had picked them myself.  (yes we did have a garden growing up, which was amazing, but not enough to regularly harvest from it...mostly just delicious herbs).

oh and apples.  the type of apples we got i think are the earliest of the season.  vista bella is their name.  this is a type of apple i have never once tasted.  well they are REALLY GOOD.  we also shared one that first night to experience it at its freshest and it was startlingly good.

anyways.  produce that was on a plant in the 24 hours before i ate it?  not even comparable to the stuff that ripens in transit or on the shelves.  the verdict?  i am signing up for a csa every summer that i can.  stillman's if i am still in boston next year.  i absolutely recommend it.  DO IT.