Don’t you just love a good, lazy weekend? I do. Scott had been gone all week at Camp MMW down in the Catskills, so I had to cook and clean all by myself. (gasp) It’s nice to have him home.
This week’s farm share came with the usual suspects. I was delighted to see another cantaloupe, which I devoured for breakfast on Saturday and Sunday.
Scott, Tela and I hung out on the deck in the morning while I ate my melon. Although she looks like she’s trying to get away, Tela does like to be held. She was thrilled that Scott was home and she isn’t stuck with boring Katie.
Back in the house, Guinness waits for breakfast to be served.
I finally got around to canning the ears of corn languishing in the fridge. They did deserve to be canned as freshly as possible, but with Scott gone I didn’t have the time at night to babysit the pressure canner. Canning corn takes A LOT of time. Shucking, scraping, boiling and more boiling, then priming the canner, getting the pressure up, and THEN starting the 1.25 hour clock for the canning process to complete. Then depressurizing, cooling, etc. It’s totally worth it, but you have to babysit the canner the entire time. I’m starting to get the hang of keeping the pressure steady, though, which appears to be cutting down on the siphoning issues I had with the green beans.
I also made another beginner’s mistake – I canned two QUARTS of corn. I think we have about two weeks after we pop the seal to eat the corn. There are going to be a few corn-heavy meals some time in the winter, I guess!
Not pictured are the two quarts of summer squash and zucchini I canned during the week. They don’t have to process as long as the corn. Another rookie mistake I made was to cook them a little too long before putting them in the jars. They were a little too mushy and some pieces fell apart when I was removing the air bubbles. Oh well. They’ll be fine in a soup or stew or chili.
Later on Saturday afternoon I sat down with a gin and tonic and my cookbooks to meal plan for the week. Cucumbers and Hendricks gin work very well together.
Scott made an amazing “chili” Saturday night. I’m not sure what the legit definition of chili is, and this may not count, but it was fantastic. I don’t have an exact recipe but the ingredients were something like this:
- 4-5 carrots, diced
- 2 sweet potatoes, diced
- 1 can black beans
- 1-2 cups corn, freshly shucked
- ~1 cup sun dried tomatoes in oil, drained
- 1.5 pounds ground beef
- 1.5 cups chicken stock
- pint of mushrooms
- cumin, coriander, chili powder, a pinch of cinnamon, paprika, salt, pepper
- lots and lots and lots of sriracha
Something like that. I don’t even know. It was incredible.
Pretty much nothing of interest happened on Sunday, with the exception of amazing falafel:
So so so so *SO* good. Here’s my recipe, with bonus cucumber tomato relish salad stuff and smashed dill potatoes. We ate the falafel on a Food for Life brand wheat/gluten free wrap but home made pita bread would be even better.
Falafel with Tomato Cucumber Relish and Smashed Potatoes
Prep Time: 24 hours + 15 minutes
Cook Time: 15 minutes
Ingredients (Serves 4-6)
For the Falafel
- 1.5 cups dried chick peas
- 2 cloves garlic, crushed
- 1 onion, quartered
- 1 teaspoon ground coriander
- 1 tablespoon ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- 1 teaspoon chili powder
- 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
- 1/4 teaspoon cayenne
- 1 cup chopped flat parsley
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- neutral oil for frying (corn)
For the Tomato/Cucumber Salad
- 1 cucumber, diced small
- 10 plum tomatoes, diced small
- 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
- 1 teaspoon sugar (or to taste – adjust if you prefer tangy or sweet)
- 2-3 scallions, chopped
For the Smashed Potatoes
- 6 red potatoes, cleaned
- olive oil
- salt
- pepper
- fresh dill, chopped
Instructions
For the Falafel
Soak the chick peas for 24 hours before use. Cover them with water, leaving about 2″ of water above them.Check on them to make sure they haven’t absorbed all the water.
Place all the ingredients, with the exception of the oil, into a food processor. Process until smooth, adding water if necessary. Taste the mixture – you may need to add more seasoning, depending on how strongly you like the flavor of the spices. I found that the chick pea mixture absorbed the spices very quickly and did some adjusting. Form into small balls (1.5″).
Heat 1.5″ of oil in a frying pan over medium-high heat (350*). Place balls in pan and flatten slightly. Flip when balls are brown 1/2 way up the side. Place on paper towels to absorb the oil. Serve with plain yogurt or sour cream, hot sauce and salad. Serve in a wrap, pita or over a bed of lettuce or spinach.
For the Salad
Combine all ingredients in a bowl and mix well. Set aside.
For the Smashed Potatoes
Preheat oven to 350*. Wrap potatoes in tin foil and bake in oven for 50 minutes. Remove from oven and lay out on a baking sheet. Turn oven up to 500*. Place another baking sheet on top of the potatoes and press down until they’ve squished. Drizzle about a teaspoon of olive oil on each spud along with some salt and pepper and a few sprinkles of dill. Place potatoes in the oven and cook for 15 more minutes.
