Greens, greens, greens

Red & green romaine salad

This week's share was even bigger than the last.  I'm leaving town soon, so I knew better than to even try taking everything.  My farm gives the leftover produce to charity, so I know that at least it will go to good use.  Anything is better than something going bad in the fridge.  So, the haul: cauliflower, romaine, collards, Tuscan kale, red Russian kale, arugula, spinach, bok choy, Swiss chard, and basil.  All this to get cooked in 4 days!  I made pesto from the basil (using what I had from last week as well), and two batches of arugula pesto.  That will keep in the fridge for a while, I hope.  My roommate will put it to good use when she's back in town I'm sure.

Ravioli with Swiss chard,
mushrooms & sausage

The romaine is pretty much only good for salads, but I washed and chopped it up before it got too wilty.  I made a big salad with goat cheese, walnuts and cranberries, and still have enough for another big salad!  I served the salad last night to some friends, along with a new dish that used the Swiss chard.  I'm used to seeing fully grown chard, which can be as big as kale or collards, and have thick stems.  A little research on wikipedia revealed that in Europe, these thick stems are preferred, and some people through out those beautiful green leaves!  My roommate had bought some mushrooms that were on the verge of going bad, so I'm glad I could put them to use as well.  To fill out the dish for the size of the crowd, I added some of the amazing pork sausage from last week's pasta dish.  (We even added some of the hot sauce I cooked up earlier that day.)

Spinach & potato Spanish tortilla

The next morning I decided to try and use up even more of what's left in my fridge, since there were two friends that stayed over.  One of my favorite things to do on weekend mornings is make a frittata with a lot of vegetables.  I can have my eggs and breakfast meat (sausage, bacon), but still feel like I'm being at least a little healthy if there's some veggies involved.  This time, I went the Spanish tortilla route to use up some potatoes.  I took my inspiration from Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything.  His tortilla recipe has a version that uses spinach instead of potato; I used both.  With help in the kitchen, everything went much more quickly.  While the potatoes were getting sliced, and the spinach was having the thick stems removed (This is an important step! Those stems are really obnoxious when cooked.), I fried up a few slices of bacon.  This left a good amount of grease for cooking the potatoes with some onion, and eventually the rest of the ingredients.  The end result was perfect: not too heavy, not too light, and plenty of flavor.

Spinach-Potato Tortilla (adapted from How to Cook Everything)

8 large eggs; 4 oz. cheese, shredded (I used cheddar, anything melty will work); 1 lb. new potatoes, sliced; 8 cups spinach, thick stems removed and roughly chopped; 1 medium onion, roughly chopped; 6 slices bacon

Preheat oven to 400.

Cook the bacon in a large, oven-proof skillet over medium heat.  When the bacon is crispy, remove and place on paper towels to drain.  

Using the grease, cook the potatoes and onions, and season with salt, pepper and paprika. Stir occasionally, until soft but not overly brown or crispy.  

Meanwhile, scramble the eggs in a large bowl, and add half the cheese.  When the bacon is cool, chop into small pieces.  

Add spinach to the potato-onion mixture in handfuls and stir to combine.  When the spinach has reduced in volume, add the egg-cheese mixture and bacon.  Let cook undisturbed for 5-10 minutes until it is mostly set.  Sprinkle the remaining cheese on top, and finish in the oven for another 5-10 minutes, or until the eggs are completely set.  Slice into 6 or 8 pieces, depending on how hungry you are!

Still to go before I leave: bok choy, collards and kale.  Finger's crossed that the cauliflower keeps for my roommate!