The Dizziest Bug
On the eve of Thanksgiving, I'm grateful for another week of wonderful produce and a little bit of my money going to farmers around the Southwest who aren't trying to fuse trout genes into my potatoes. Box #2 arrived last Thursday with an extra bounty to carry us through the Thanksgiving holiday. No delivery this Thursday, even farmers get a day off. I daydreamed about the produce as I lopsidedly carried away my heavy bag. We got several acorn squash, five pounds of yellow potatoes, more pomegranates, pecans, and greenery of all sorts (salad mix, arugula, spinach).
We split an acorn squash last night to accompany our soup. One of the great things about the produce so far is the reasonable size of the vegetables. One squash was about a pound and split in half and oven baked made two fine servings. It seems impossible to find fruit and vegetables in regular sizes that haven't stretched what flavor they have over too big a canvas. I shouldn't need to unhinge my jaw to eat an apple.
Sunday night we had our greenery in salad form with the New York Times' Green Goddess Dressing which used some of the still-hanging-on herbs from the garden. Thanks to the raw garlic and the anchovy paste, this is one of those things you need to eat together as a couple so both of you have terrible breath. As I was finishing my flavorful salad, I discovered a little bug on my plate that had survived the salad spinner and a bath in vinaigrette. It looked properly shaken and seemed to prove to us the true fresh nature of our salad mix.
We used some of the arugula on open faced baked ham and brie sandwiches on Monday night accompanied by a salad of the roasted yellow potatoes and green beans in a balsamic vinaigrette with sun dried tomatoes both from Sunset magazine, possibly the world's greatest publication. It was a yuppie meal if ever one was noted. Maybe if I called arugula by one of its alternate names, rocket, if would sound more 21st century instead of elitist, or are we past the space age?
Looking forward to the great American holiday. Tonight will be pie baking with the pecans going in to the Mr.'s family recipe and a spin on pumpkin pie using, I must admit, good ol' Libby's canned pumpkin. All the while I will be giving thanks for fabulous fresh produce and the wonders of canned food alike.
NY Times Recipes - 1948: Green Goddess Salad
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/09/magazine/09Food-t-001.html
Sunset - Grilled Open-face Ham, Brie, and Arugula Sandwiches
http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&...
