The Oxbow Project
Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) programs have always intrigued me, although I’ve yet to sign up for one. There are a couple of reasons for that: being single and eating out several times a week I’m concerned I’d waste a lot of the produce; I really enjoy browsing through my weekly farmers’ market, talking with the producers and “spreading the wealth” by purchasing from several booths, not just one. But I still think about CSA every year. So I jumped at the chance to experience what it was like to participate when a friend of a friend who’s working with Oxbow Farms asked if I’d be willing to accept one of their small boxes and then blog about what I did with it. (Please see my Review Policy page.)
On Thursday, August 16th I stopped by marigold and mint in Melrose Market to pick up my box. Oxbow sends out a newsletter each week to their subscribers so I knew what would be in the box but I was still anxious to actually see it. Oxbow recommends this small box for 2-3 people or as a subsidy for a larger family growing some of their own produce. I think that’s a good estimate. At $21/week it’s a great way to keep fresh vegetables in the house and to be introduced to some new items, too.
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Smoked Salmon Crostini
This recipe is part of a series of posts. Please see The Oxbow Project for full details.
This is a variation of one of my go-to appetizers. A few ingredients, super easy to prepare and loved by most everyone, it’s pretty perfect. Although I call it an appetizer I’ve been known to make it my entire meal on more than one occasion!
From the Oxbow CSA box: Dill, onion
Smoked Salmon Crostini
- Rustic baguette, sliced thinly on the diagonal, lightly toasted
- Homemade or purchased ricotta (or substitute cream cheese)
- Fresh dill, chopped
- Green onions, thinly sliced
- Capers, drained
- Smoked salmon, I like lox style salmon for this but any smoked salmon or smoked trout is good
- Additional dill for garnish
Make sure the ricotta is well-drained.
Mix the ricotta with the dill, green onion and capers. Spread the cheese on the baguette slices; top with a slice or two of smoked salmon; garnish with a little bit of dill. Eat and enjoy!
Related Posts:
Fresh Zucchini Salad with Lemon Dressing
This recipe is part of a series of posts. Please see The Oxbow Project for full details.
A few weeks ago a friend and I were at The Walrus and The Carpenter and enjoyed a delicious zucchini salad. I loved how they’d made long zucchini ribbons and the salad embodied the freshness of summer vegetables. I couldn’t remember exactly what was in the salad so I created my own version.
I used a slicer to make the zucchini ribbons but a mandoline would work just as well if not better!
Swiss Chard and Mushroom Tart
This recipe is part of a series of posts. Please see The Oxbow Project for full details.
For this tart I started with a Mario Batali recipe and made a few modifications. After making it, there are additional changes I’d recommend and I’ll note them at the end of the recipe. I really liked this recipe and if you have lots of chard or kale it’s a great way to use it. I think it would be good with spinach, too, or a combination of greens.
Roasted Potato and Green Bean Salad
This recipe is part of a series of posts. Please see The Oxbow Project for full details.
A few years ago, at one of my first Outstanding in the Field dinners, I had a salad that I’ve wanted to replicate ever since. The salad itself was rather simple, kind of a riff on a potato salad. What made it memorable was a perfectly cooked and peeled, farm-fresh, medium-boiled egg. When my fork cut into the egg the yolk oozed onto the salad adding another element to the dressing. It was delicious! I wondered how in the world they’d manage to perfectly peel all those fresh eggs, especially since they were only cooked to medium so not as firm as a hard-boiled egg.
A year or so ago I found a blog post that talked about cooking eggs in a pressure cooker. Bells rang, birds sang and I knew I’d found my answer. I researched and bought a new pressure cooker, a Fagor Duo
The key is that once cooked, you need to run all the eggs under cold water for a few seconds and crack the shells immediately. This releases all the steam and stops the cooking. Then you can go about shelling each of the eggs.
Dill Pickled Green Beans
I’m trying something new this year. I had so many green beans, plus a few I’d gotten in an Oxbow Farm CSA box (more about that box soon) that I decided to try pickling them. I’ve made pickled cucumbers many, many times – although not recently, and I love dill pickled green beans so it seemed like a great idea.
As I started my preparations I suddenly started thinking about botulism, a concern when canning anything that is not acidic. Not a pleasant topic but one that needs consideration with green beans. It’s more of an issue when you are just canning beans but pickling them, since vinegar provides acid, reduces the exposure. After checking a few things to make sure I was following good procedures I got to work.
The hard part about pickling veggies is that you have to wait at least three weeks for the pickling to do its magic on the vegetables. So these will go into the pantry for a few weeks and then I’ll be able to check them to see if I like the recipe I concocted. In the meantime, they’re pretty to look at!
The Capital Grille: The Generous Pour
Tuesday night I joined several other food bloggers for a taste of The Generous Pour at The Capital Grille. This event pairs some special wines with your meal for a flat $25. While we had an orchestrated meal due to the nature of the event, normally you’d work with your server to choose wines that complement your food choices.
The event runs through September 2 and features nine wines from several wine growing regions. Many of the wines are from lesser known regions or grapes so it’s a great way to increase your wine knowledge and broaden your perspective. If you are not feeling adventurous, don’t worry. There are also wines you’ll recognize like a gorgeous Bordeaux and a Pinot Noir from Russian River. My only complaint (if I actually had one…) is the Northwest is not represented. Since this is a national event I would have loved some great Washington or Oregon wines to gain exposure with diners in other areas of the country. Maybe next year the Northwest will be represented.
We started the night with Lunetta Rosé from Trentino, Italy. This is an elegant sparkler made in the Prosecco-style. Lots of strawberry flavor it was delicious with the amuse, smoked salmon on an onion pita crisp. Two appetizers were accompanied by an oaky Chardonnay and Simčič Rebula, an interesting wine from Slovenia.
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Red Mill Totem House
There was a time in my life when stopping by Totem House Seafood and Chowder was a fairly regular occurrence. We’d grab a couple of orders of fish and chips and head to the Hiram M. Chittenden Locks (more often called the Ballard Locks) to watch the activity. Boating traffic before or after events like the 4th of July fireworks on Lake Union or the Seafair Hydro races was heavy and often extremely entertaining. Boaters not familiar with the locks learned the ropes, so to speak, or sometimes those having partied a little too hardy caused all kinds of commotion with their impared boating skills. Even when it’s just normal traffic it’s always an interesting place to spend an afternoon.
Totem House closed their doors at the end of 2010. A few months later the folks behind Red Mill Burgers, announced they had leased the location and were planning to open it as a combination burger and fish and chips restaurant. It’s been open for several months as Red Mill Totem House. Red Mill Burgers has a very loyal following in this city but I wondered if they’d also be able to pull off the seafood part of the combination.
On Sunday I stopped in, grabbed an order of prawns and chips and made my way to a grassy spot overlooking the locks.
The prawns were decent, not anything to knock your socks off. The breading was crispy and not too heavy; they were not greasy; the Thai Sweet Chili sauce that came with them was good. My fries were a little soggy but that was primarily due to having them wrapped up with the prawns “to-go”. It took me 5 or 10 minutes to get settled at the locks, so the fries would have been steaming that whole time. They were wrapped so well that my prawns were still warm when I unwrapped them.
Making a special trip to eat here is not recommended but if you are nearby or want to grab a picnic to go for the locks or even for Golden Gardens this is a decent option.
Red Mill Totem House
3058 NW 54th St
Ballard – Directly across from the Ballard Locks
Seattle
Make Your Own: Ice Cream Sandwiches
Ice cream sandwiches have always been my favorite of the ice cream novelties. And, if truth be told, it’s really the old-fashioned oblong chocolate wafers filled with vanilla ice-cream that I still have a hard time resisting. But I also love to make my own varieties.
Seafair parties are the perfect time to share them with friends, too. At least when the weather cooperates, as it did this past weekend. On Saturday Seattle finally hit 90°F – the first time in two years! I spent the day at a friend’s house watching the air show over Lake Washington. After the Blue Angels performed we took a break and I handed out the cold, creamy treats.
I made two varieties: cocoa nib cookies with vanilla ice cream and ginger-molasses cookies with peach ice cream. The cookie recipes were both from The Grand Central Baking Book
Green Beans
With the cool spring/early summer we had here in Seattle I planted my garden rather late. I’m still patiently waiting for the first tomato of the year.
I decided to branch out a bit this year and try to get a little more out of my small gardening space. At each end of my row tomatoes I stacked a set of two large planters to give me a sort of terraced gardening area. In one I planted Tuscan kale, which I’ve completely harvested. I left a small section of stem for each plant, though, and I’m starting to get a second round of growth!
A couple of eggplants (one Italian and one Japanese) are so far just hanging in there. One has had tons of blooms but none of the blooms have fruited yet. Keeping my fingers crossed. The remaining space I filled with bush bean plants. One variety got swamped during an early spring storm we had. The drainage holes in the planter must be blocked or maybe aren’t properly placed. It took the plants a few days to recover after they finally dried out. Not sure if I’ll get anything from those plants or not.
The other bean variety, Maxibel, is exceeding my expectations! Today was my second harvest and there will be at least one more, but I’m guessing I might get another small harvest after that. Not only are the plants performing well, the beans are great. They are long but thin, super tasty and tender. I love these beans. And since this is the first time I’ve grown my own I’m especially happy with the results.
My favorite way to cook green beans is pretty simple. I first brown chopped bacon – about a slice per pound of beans, once the bacon is almost done I add chopped onion – about 1/2 of a medium onion per pound of beans, continue sautéing until the onion is soft and turning golden. While the bacon and onion are cooking, blanche the beans for one minute, timing it so that the blanching is done about the time the onions are turning golden. Add the beans to the pan with the onions and bacon, sauté an additional minute or two and then serve. They are also good at room temperature, which is nice for warmer summer weather.
Culinary Fool 