Don't hate us because we're bountiful

[livius drusus]

I mentioned in the arugula thread that I get a bi-weekly delivery of fresh produce from local farmers. It's been a great way of adding new fruits and veggies to my cooking repertoire, which is a big deal for me because I must challenge myself to keep from reverting to my childhood pickiness.

So, here's where you come in: I tell you what I've gotten every Thursday, and y'all give me ideas of what the hell to do with nature's bounty.

The content of today's box of wonders is as follows:

1 small ambercup squash (I think; it might be a mini-pumpkin too, I suppose)
4 baking potatoes
1 head of greenleaf lettuce
1 bunch spinach
1 head bok choy
2 red onions
4 heads corn
3 zucchinis
1 pint cherry tomatoes
1 gigantic avocado
5 Macintosh apples
5 Gingergold apples
3 Valencia oranges
6 tiny plums
1 cantaloupe

I'm thinking some sort of soup for the Ambercup, although it is smallish, so perhaps just your basic roasting as a side dish.

I have no idea what to do with the bok choy. It's delicious raw (I scarfed up all the little leaves while cleaning and bagging), but I'm open to any suggestions for how to serve it whether raw or cooked.

About the giant avocado, it's the kind with the smooth green skin instead of the textured black and it feels very firm. As in not-quite-ripe firm. Should I refrigerate it or let it sit in the fruit bowl until it's ready? Or is this species always hard as a rock?

[Qingdai]

The gigantic avocado should be soft.

The bok choy is frequently used in stir fry, stir fry with garlic, soy sauce and sesame seeds, serve over rice.

Here is a New Mexican recipe I like.

Saute the chopped onions in butter, add oregano salt and pepper.
Then sliced zucchini, a jalepeno peper (chopped fine), slice the corn off the cob. Saute at medium until it is all nice and soft.

[livius drusus]

Oh, that sounds good. It's like a southwestern ratatouille.

[Qingdai]

It is, it's called "little pumkins" in Spanish. I just can't remember how to spell it.
Use a lot of butter.

[Lady Brik]

You can give the valencia oranges to me.

Originally Posted by Lady Brik

You can give the valencia oranges to me.

I can has chery toemaytoes?

[curses]

Originally Posted by livius drusus

The content of today's box of wonders is as follows:

1 small ambercup squash (I think; it might be a mini-pumpkin too, I suppose)
4 baking potatoes
1 head of greenleaf lettuce
1 bunch spinach
1 head bok choy
2 red onions
4 heads corn
3 zucchinis
1 pint cherry tomatoes
1 gigantic avocado
5 Macintosh apples
5 Gingergold apples
3 Valencia oranges
6 tiny plums
1 cantaloupe

That is a box full of awesome right there.

[BrotherMan]

Call me a simple man but I'd make one big honkin' salad out of all of that. Well, most of it. But that's boring and certainly not what you're looking for.

show spoiler

What? No cilantro?

show spoiler

wooooo!

[livius drusus]

First of all, no Valencia oranges or cherry tomatoes for you. All mines!

Secondly, there's definitely going to be a honking salad involved. The greenleaf lettuce is calling to me. There's no way it'll all go into one single salad, though. Oh, and BrotherMan, here's a nice, fresh for you too.

[biochemgirl]

I like this recipe for Zucchini Oven Chips.

[livius drusus]

Yum. That looks delicious. What exactly is in seasoning salt?

[biochemgirl]

I believe it's just salt mixed with some other seasonings like garlic powder, etc. I never use the stuff myself. Instead I either just use salt or I use Cookies Flavor Enhancer that I like to put on almost everything. It doesn't have MSG and it's made right here in Iowa.

[livius drusus]

The Cookies is just salt, pepper, garlic powder, red pepper, chile powder and "meat tenderizer", whatever scary thing that might be.

Maybe I'll make my own seasoning salt with just my favorite spices (garlic powder, onion powder, oregano, salt, pepper, thyme) ground up together.

[curses]

Originally Posted by livius drusus

The Cookies is just salt, pepper, garlic powder, red pepper, chile powder and "meat tenderizer", whatever scary thing that might be.

According to this it's salt, sugar (in the form of DEXTROSE) and the anti-caking agent calcium stearate.

[Pinecone]

Apple Plum Crisp

[livius drusus]

RECIPE NAO

[Zehava]

Let me give this a shot.

I'm not going to give exact measurements, no cups of this and teaspoons of that, because it's not how I roll when I crisp. I crisp in full commando mode, yes NO UNDERWEAR!!!


Slice the apples and plums and prepare them as you would for an apple pie. Sugar, cinnamon and a little flour for a thickener.

Place the apples and plums in your baking pan, typically a well buttered a 9x12 2in deep Pyrex dish is what I use.

For the topping, combine: (you can add finely chopped nuts if you like)

Rolled Oats
Cinnamon
Brown Sugar
Butter
Flour (again very little)

Mix these ingredients well until you get pea sized crumbles. Spread over the apple/plum mixture and bake until desired doneness.

[livius drusus]

I've never made a pie, I'm afraid, apple or otherwise, so I'm not sure what you mean by prepare the fruit as you would for pie.

[Zehava]

Originally Posted by livius drusus

I've never made a pie, I'm afraid, apple or otherwise, so I'm not sure what you mean by prepare the fruit as you would for pie.

I have to do everything?

Slice the apples however you want. I usually 1/8th or 1/6th then cut those up in smaller pieces.

Cut the plums up as you feel like as well.

Put those in a bowl. Add your sugar, cinnamon and flour.. Sugar/cinnamon to taste and a very lite dusting of flour. Mix well to distribute the dry ingredients.

If we can get Godfry to chime in I'm sure he could provide better and more accurate instructions on how to make apple pie filling (which is all we are doing in this step).

[S.Vashti]

Originally Posted by livius drusus

I've never made a pie, I'm afraid, apple or otherwise, so I'm not sure what you mean by prepare the fruit as you would for pie.

Why haven't you made pie? Don't like it?

[livius drusus]

I'm just not really into baking or making desserts. It usually has to be a special occasion and even then I make either my mom's carrot cake or tiramisu'.

In the case of pie, I'm intimidated by the crust. I fear a gummy mess would ensue instead of lovely flakiness.

[biochemgirl]

Originally Posted by livius drusus

I'm just not really into baking or making desserts. It usually has to be a special occasion and even then I make either my mom's carrot cake or tiramisu'.

In the case of pie, I'm intimidated by the crust. I fear a gummy mess would ensue instead of lovely flakiness.

Making a pie crust is usually much easier than people think. To ensure pie crust success it is critical that the butter be very cold and that you use ice water. And also that you not overwork the dough.

[S.Vashti]

What BCG said. Also, homemade crusts are, by a wide margin, far better than what one gets at any restaurant or frozen or even fresh from the bakery. I've been making crusts for years, and have yet to have one come out gooey and heavy.

If you do baking, you know how important keeping strictly to the recipe is, to get consistent results. Pastry crust is no different, follow the recipes or look at a video, it's very unlikely you can go far wrong, even the first time. And even if it's not perfectly flakey, it will be much better than anything bought.

I had to ask because I was surprised someone didn't make pie, it's so very easy, quick and delicious, even the savory pies.

[livius drusus]

I actually got a cookbook at a garage sale once that was all about pies. Savory, sweet, breakfast, lunch and dinner: all pies. I never even cracked it.

I've eaten most of the fruit from last delivery. If there's quality pie-filling in this Thursday's box, I'll take the plunge.

[Dingfod]

Remember, sweet potatoes make a fine pie too.