The first autumn menu for 2020. Happy fall everyone!
Today is slated to reach 82 F but my thoughts have already veered from summer warmth to the season ahead. So, here’s to bright blue skies, gorgeous red, yellow, and rust foliage (and to rustling through them during L. and my daily walks), apple cider, just enough crisp air pooling through the open windows to require the use of light blankets at night, the smell of distant fireplaces and bonfires, watching autumn rain from the window in the afternoon while drinking hot cocoa, and to pulling the first sweater of the season from the closet.
With the US elections right around the corner, stressful this time around no matter for who one is voting, and the world – no matter how optimistic one’s base nature – seemingly going down the drain, I think that winter comfort eating will start early this year. My thoughts have certainly turned to stews and casseroles and carbs...And apparently so have L.’s, who was allowed to choose most of the menu this week and happily waded into hearty food territory. From what I can see, this week is basically all about duck. I just bookmarked salads and veggies around his nice, filling, main course choices (though I did commandeer Thursday in its entirety as I had tilapia in the freezer that I wanted gone.)
My CSA box definitely reflects the schizophrenic nature of this in-between-the-seasons moment in time and I have everything needed to make a late summer ratatouille should I so wish, as well as squash, some root vegetables, and apples. My culinary fancy has firmly switched from easy dishes with just a squeeze of lemon and some chopped fresh herbs to woodsy herbs and warm spices like ginger, cumin, coriander, and cinnamon. Which isn’t to say that I won’t be using lemons this week. I plan on making a vat of preserved lemons -- Meyer lemons were on sale at an irresistible price and I overindulged. Also, since fresh sardines which L. and I both adore are still available, I will be making Sardines en Escabèche again (we devoured them, and I forgot to photograph the dish last week). We will also be having sardines for Sunday dinner.
I did surprisingly well with last week’s vegetable surplus – though there are still some to be gotten through, listed below -- by transforming a myriad of them into salads that served as an antipasti appetizer course for Tuesday’s dinner and then as options for a few of this week’s lunches, along with a slice (or two...) of crusty bread. Though I was beyond thrilled with last week’s cauliflower dish – so delicious, especially for a vegetable that I really do not like – I was a bit disheartened to find another one in the CSA box this morning. I was coming around to it, but twice in two weeks is a bit much...
This Week's CSA box contained:
Herbs: a bunch each of purple shiso, flowering garlic chives, parsley, and mint, as well as 3 stalks of lemongrass
Greens: a head of red leaf lettuce and a bunch each of purple kale and spinach
Alliums: a yellow onion, a leek, and a bunch of scallions
Vegetables: 3 small daikon, a spaghetti squash (yuck), a cauliflower (sigh), 2 purple peppers, 2 Zephyr squash, 2 cheerful green striped yellow squash, an eggplant, 4 Habanero peppers, a handful of golf ball sized radishes, 4 heirloom tomatoes, 3 potatoes, and 3 carrots
Fruit: a honking big bag of Moon Drop grapes, a punnet of Cape gooseberries, and 2 red apples
Remainders: A rutabaga, 2 ears of corn, 2 onions, ½ a head of garlic, 1 carrot, 2 mini seedless cucumbers, a tomato, 4 apples, and a few miscellaneous sprigs of herbs left from last week’s mountain of produce.
So, with the addition of the above remainders, the contents of this week's box (minus various items to be used in lunches and snacks, apples being transformed into applesauce as I write this, and with the addition of bean sprouts for Wednesday’s dinner) will be transformed into:
Sunday “Pantry Roulette”; fridge, freezer, and pantry item dinner]
Chinese Cucumber Salad
Grilled Sardines with Soy, Ginger and Grated Daikon Radish
Steamed Shiso Rice
Spinach Ohitoshi
Monday [Wildcard; a more complex or fiddly dish than usual to test my culinary skills]
Tomato Salad with Nipitella Dressing
Tuesday [Pasta]
Summer Squash Carpaccio with Sherry Vinegar Vinaigrette and Garlic Chive Blossoms
Wednesday [L.'s choice]
Green Salad with Shiso Dressing
Thursday [Fish]
Tomato Salad with a Garlicky Dressing
Baked Tilapia with Herbed Breadcrumbs
Roasted Cauliflower Steaks with Almond, Date and Caper Sauce
Friday [Veggie-centric but this week a quarantine vetted friend to dinner]
Miso Duck Ramen with Soy Eggs
Saturday ["Picnic"; something that is easy to assemble and easy to eat in front of a movie]
Warm Duck Fat Poached Hasselback Carrot Salad with Woodsy Herbs
I am well aware that I am lucky beyond words and incredibly grateful to have so much during such difficult times for so many. Won’t you, should you feel the same way, consider – as I do weekly – making a small donation to The Common Pantry? Just a few dollars can make a huge difference to a struggling family.
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