All that Jazz

I came home this week to an overabundance of farm share goodies, and I couldn’t be happier!  By cooking as little as I anticipated he would in my absence, my husband has given me the challenge of using nearly two weeks of our farm share before anything spoils.  We are back to lots of leafy greens, but we also have plenty of peppers, eggplant and tasty husk cherries.  Here are the adventures of the last two nights:

After travelling for 16 hours and not much sleep on a redeye from Lima, yes, I was back at it in the kitchen.  Fall seems to have arrived in New England while I was away, so I was craving comfort food.  With all the title ingredients on hand from the farm, I made potato, leek and corn chowder.*  Granted, the corn wasn’t the freshest, but I deemed it soup-worthy.  Because of the number of ingredients and the fact that I was feeling a little foggy-headed, I prepped everything in advance.  This array of items is my “mis en place.”  Literally translated, it means “putting in place” but it’s essentially getting prepped and organized.

Despite my meticulous planning, I was not thrilled with the outcome.  My attempt to give the soup a kick with a bit of serrano pepper did nothing to help the bland flavor and starchy texture of the soup.  My husband declared it a success, but only after adding an obscene quantity of salt.  I’ll definitely attempt this again, but it will take a little brainstorming to get it right next time.  I welcome suggestions.

Last night was more successful.  I kept it simple: salad and eggplant.  I made breaded eggplant – just coated in egg white and Italian breadcrumbs and topped with some chopped provolone cheese. In the past, I’ve had this fried in a generous amount of olive oil, which makes it pretty soggy.  In an attempt to avoid this, I cooked it two ways:  1.  On the stove with so little olive oil that I needed a basting brush to spread it around the bottom of the pan (an olive oil spray would work nicely too); and 2. Baked on a cookie sheet coated with cooking spray.  Both turned out tasty, but the oven-roasted version was a teensy bit rubbery.  In the end I still preferred that over the stovetop version, which still managed to absorb more olive oil than I had hoped.

I also made a salad using husk cherries.  A rare ingredient for sure.  I sauteed garlic and fresh cayenne pepper in olive oil, added a little raspberry vinegar, a touch of honey and a handful of husk cherries.  Once the cherries were softened a bit, I poured the concoction over some romaine, tossed it with salt and pepper.  Voilà!  My first husk cherry dish!  I would have preferred other types of lettuce, including chicory to balance the sweetness of the dressing, but romaine (admittedly not from the farm) was most in need of immediate consumption.

On the side, I also made some more delicious refrigerator pickles.

And for those who are wondering, I did finally get a great meal on my trip.  About 3 hours before I went to the airport to fly home from Lima.  Amazing octopus and sea bass ceviche.  And, with my tail between my legs, I admit that it was in my hotel.

* My husband is “lactarded,” as he puts it, so I used rice milk in place of whole milk.