The days are getting shorter and I just clicked on "autumn weekly menu" for the first time this year, but it is still hot and humid enough that L. and I broke down and cranked up the air conditioning a few days this week. Occasionally, after dinner as I am cleaning up, a waft of something a little bit chilly drifts in through the open kitchen window and I think: "aha, HERE we go, early fall..." but the next day it is muggy and hot yet again.
It is a very confusing time to cook – my body is thinking comfort food - fatty chunks of pork, long braises of beef and dishes with roots and pulses - but it is really too hot to cook or eat that way. Fall and fall food may be a long time coming this year but, with the winter that is predicted, it seems that I will have plenty of time to cook that way. It would be silly to get ahead of myself.
This Week's CSA box contained:
Herbs: a bunch each of parsley, lemon verbena, sorrel, lavender, sage, red shiso and Mexican mint, an armful of coriander – roots and all – and a large branch of flowering fennel, which had left a dusting of yellow across the red shiso leaves, and which promptly and annoyingly dropped yellow seeds all over the kitchen floor which I had deep cleaned the previous day (of course).
Greens: a gigantic head of romaine and a bunch of curly kale
Alliums: four heads of garlic, three yellow onions
Vegetables: a punnet of Sungold cherry tomatoes, a bunch of radishes, a bulb of fennel, both a yellow and a green pepper as well as a handful of Shishito peppers and a couple of Habaneros, two orange carrots, a pound of crisp Brussels sprouts, four Adirondack Blue potatoes, an American slicer cucumber, two ears of corn, and an acorn squash, perfectly sized for two people.
Fruit: a punnet of Cape gooseberries, a couple each of apples and Asian pears
Kale and carrots aside (which will be added to the stock that I made from the carcass of last week’s roast chicken and turned into soup), and with the addition of lettuce at some point in the week, the contents of this week's box will be transformed into:
Sunday [“Raid” Meal; fridge, freezer and pantry item dinner and since L. is out, just soup for me]
Chicken and Vegetable Soup
Monday [Wildcard; a more complex or fiddly dish than usual to test my culinary skills and this week a dinner party on top of that]
Blackberry Smash Cocktails 🔁 and Coriander and Lemon Verbena Dip with Crudités
Caesar Salad
Scallops, Monkfish and Shrimp Poached in Fennel Milk
Fennel Purée
Crispy Adirondack Blue Potatoes with Roasted Garlic
Tuesday [Pasta but L.'s dad visited and co-opted the menu]
Mixed Salad
Grilled Veal Chops with Tonnato Sauce 🔁
Mushroom Fricassée
Wednesday [L.'s choice of an item I have made in the past]
Green Salad
Stir Fried Bean Sprouts
Thursday [Fish]
Mixed Salad
Grilled Swordfish with Mexican Mint and Lemon
Oven Roasted Brussels Sprouts and Peppers
Friday [Vegetarian but dinner party]
and Stuffed Dates with Brisket Bacon and Szechuan Chili Oil 🔁
Caesar Salad
Spaghetti and Meatballs
Saturday ["Picnic" Dinner; something that is easy to assemble and easy to eat in front of a movie]
Breakfast for dinner:
Brisket Bacon and Buttermilk Pancakes
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