In a long, laborious process, the main Watchtower's assembly hall had been fully converted into party mode. High above the metal floor, a net of multi-colored balloons waited for their cue to be dropped. The bulkheads and thick windows were decorated with curly streamers, more balloons and large banners with happy sayings. The deckplates were strewn with glittering confetti.
The length of one entire wall was nothing but a buffet and bar. Trashcans placed throughout the area were constantly emptied, but filled again almost instantly.
All told, it would be a damn big mess to clean up the next day, and the Green Lantern didn't envy the custodial crew their job. He sat in a remote corner nursing the same plastic cup of beer he'd had for three hours. He checked his watch. Two hours remained until midnight in the Eastern Time Zone, the time that had been selected as the point of celebration of the New Year on the Watchtower.
As the music from the sound system rattled his fillings, he wondered for the fiftieth time that evening why he was even there. He'd put his name in for duty this night, but J'onn told him only a skeleton crew was needed and all the volunteer spots had been filled.
Two weeks in space on a Lantern Corps mission and he'd missed his opportunity to get in on some overtime at work. What kind of sense did it make that he was forced to *not* work on a holiday? Didn't most people have the exact opposite problem?
His glowing green eyes scanned the room, studying his teammates from afar. Some superheroes, like Flash, were in costume. Others, like himself and Clark, were in casual street clothes. John noted with some amusement that everyone's mouth was engaged in one activity or another. Most were talking loudly or laughing heartily. Some were eating; some were drinking. His teeth ground slightly as he noticed the select few that had paired off, stolen to shadowed corners and were kissing.
"Office romances," he grumbled before taking a large swig of his warm beer. He winced. Not just from the foul taste, but also from the sting of being dumped by not one, but *two* of the League's most beautiful and heroic women.
More than a year prior, Shayera had left him standing broken-hearted on a cliff as she flew into the sunset. For the longest time, he tried to convince himself that she hadn't really dumped him. After all, she *had* said she loved him before she vanished. He hung onto that thread of hope until it frayed under the pull of reality. She was gone and not coming back.
His tentative first steps back into the dating world with Mari, more commonly known to the League as Vixen, started out well. They went to dinner a few times. He attended a couple of her fashion shows. They spent an evening on his couch watching videos, sharing microwave popcorn and slowly reintroducing him to the subtle differences between human and Thanagarian females. Mari took it surprisingly well that night when he pulled up short, blaming his inability to proceed on too much work and too little sleep.
But Mari didn't take it at all well when Shayera showed back up two months ago. Though the former Hawkgirl made no obvious gestures, Vixen couldn't help but notice how antsy he was. He hung on every word Shayera said, every move she made. As he paced while he waited for her to return from putting Grundy down, Mari scowled. He walked by Shayera's side as the group left the scene, leaving Mari behind.
For her part, Shayera, though agreeing to return to the League, seemed to make it a point to avoid him. He tried to corner her, to speak to her, but she was always busy or never around when he was.
His incredible stupidity no longer surprised him, but it did at the time. After hunting after Shayera for days, he returned to Mari for polite conversation. He was actually shocked when she slammed her apartment door in his face. When she finally agreed to talk to him, it was to simply say she'd had a good time while it lasted and she was moving on. Being the rebound girl wasn't her thing and now that the ex had returned, there was no reason for her to spend any more time with him.
The break was clean and Mari remained utterly professional around him at work. She'd discuss mission tactics with him and cover his back effectively; he had absolutely no worries about trusting her.
But he never got the right opportunity tell Mari that Shayera wasn't really back in his life. She wasn't in anybody's life from the look of it. She worked and slept and worked and worked and slept and worked. That was her life now. She exercised in the wee hours of the morning when the gym was empty. She ate alone in her room, as she was only ever seen on quick trips to the commissary to pick up a tray.
John knew she wasn't just avoiding him. Flash also complained bitterly and often about how she'd not answer her door or how she'd never agree to hang with him after a mission or how she wouldn't stop and sit with him at lunch.
Even J'onn found her anti-social behavior unhealthy enough to mention it to the group during a morning staff meeting five weeks ago. Batman, of course, found no problem with a person sequestering herself away from others and the discussion was tabled. It wasn't until she started showing up after missions in need of stitches or bone-knitting that Superman finally brought her before the group.
It was the longest amount of time John had seen her since the day she returned. She stood before their table as if she was on trial, her eyes always forward, her shoulders perfectly squared, her expression devoid of emotions. In five minutes Superman questioned her, told her to be more careful and dismissed her. None of the others got a word in edgewise. John remembered the odd looks of puzzlement and concern on his teammate's faces as well as the knot that formed in his own stomach when Shayera actually called Superman, "Sir."
John gulped the last mouthful of his beer and checked his watch again. Exactly three minutes and forty-seven had seconds passed since the last check. John sighed and let his chin fall to his fist. Absently, he twizzled his empty cup in his fingers as he debated waiting until the new year broke or leaving immediately.
John straightened and looked up at his friend. "Just thinking about leaving, actually. This isn't really my type of thing."
"Naw," Flash grinned. "You've gotta do karaoke with us. The D.J. is going on break and we're taking over!"
"You haven't lived until you've seen Hawk and Dove sing YMCA." He grabbed John's bicep and dragged him toward the stage.
John followed heavy-footed behind, determined to draw the line if Flash suggested he should sing "In the Navy."
"Here," the Speedster said, shoving a teetering stack of CDs into his hands. "You can play the tunes." He pointed to the sound system set up to the left of the stage, then zipped off. A split second later he was on the stage, microphone in hand calling for quiet in the room. "Karaoke time!" he happily announced. "Who wants to go first?"
The entire room went silent and everyone looked to see who would soon be the recipient of a Batarang to the skull.
In the back, barely emerged from the shadows, Diana stood. A smirk twitched her lips. Batman stood next to her, his cape drawn tightly around himself. He scowled at the woman next to him.
John kept his eyes on the pair as the audience returned to the matter at hand. He could have sworn he saw Bruce threaten payback and Diana slyly grin and say she was hoping so.
"First up, Don and Hank!" Flash happily announced as the two young men bounded up on stage, big grins plastered on their faces. The Speedster hopped off the stage and moved next to John. "Hit it, GL!"
With a sigh, John inserted the correct CD into the player and pressed the play button. A familiar tune began to play and Hank and Don happily started singing along, complete with fully choreographed moves. John rolled his eyes as they got the entire room to throw their hands into the air to imitate the letters Y-M-C and A. There was a time, years ago -- and he would deny it now if anybody questioned him on it -- that he would have found it fun and actually taken part. But not any more.
His eyes slowly traveled over the vast crowd of colorful figures as they bounced in time to the music. Flash was dancing between Kara and -- surprisingly -- Mari, a huge smile splitting his face as he bumped hips with the women next to him. J'onn looked especially awkward as Clark demonstrated the appropriate moves. At the back of the room, he saw Diana's silver bracelets glint in the light as she happily flung both arms over her head, then back down. Batman stood stoically next to the Amazon, his eyes mere slits under his cowl.
When John spotted a man in blue and gold stumbling through the door followed by a small shiny levitating computer, his spirit raised slightly. Booster Gold, while a nice enough young man, was so full of himself that John typically made it a point to bust his chops at any opportunity. Cockiness was not a trait to be admired in the League. But tonight, the Lantern had only a slight interest in putting the new hero in his place. Tonight, Lantern wanted to know about the just-completed mission.
John left his post at the CD player and pushed his way across the room. He kept a close eye on Booster, watching as he patted clouds of dust off his suit and picked bits of concrete from his hair.
"Booster Gold!" Lantern snapped when it looked like the young man was about to make a break for the punch bowl.
Slipping into his usual Marine attitude he took with Booster, John approached and got into his personal space. "You back from a successful mission, Gold?"
"Mission accomplished, sir!" the rocket-shaped Skeets chirped happily. "And might I say, Booster did a fantastic job of saving a group of elderly women from a falling billboard."
Booster swatted his 'yes man' computer companion away. "Not now, Skeets," he growled under his breath.
Lantern let his glowing green eyes bore into the opaque gold goggles Booster wore. The younger man again swallowed. John said nothing and watched as the usual smirk melted from Booster's face.
"Uh..." Booster twisted his neck slightly as though his collar had suddenly grown too tight for him. "I just thought I'd see how the party was going. I promise I'll write the mission report as soon as I leave here."
"Tour group in town for New Year's. They got caught in the wrong place. Sapphire knocked down a billboard. I shoved the women out of the way."
John looked the man up and down skeptically. "You shoved an entire group of elderly women out of the way in time before a billboard fell on them?"
Repressing a smile, John nodded. Embellishment wasn't needed. Booster had done a heroic thing. The young man just needed to learn to tell the truth right up front and not have his suck-up robot toy creating elaborate stories for him.
"B'wana got all the alley rats to corner Shade." Booster bit his lip, but a chuckle escaped anyway. "Shade's not so tough when a thousand rats are chewing on his toes. Screamed like a little girl."
Though he could easily picture Shade attempting to climb a wall to escape an army of rats, John was more interested in the final League member. "And Hawkgirl?" he asked calmly.
"She...uh..." Booster paused and John could practically see his eyebrows knit together under his cowl.
John felt his neck muscles contract. Adding this incident, that brought Shayera's total number of trips to the med ward after a mission to sixteen. She'd only been on sixteen missions thus far. Each mission report read exactly the same. Shayera would stand her ground, protect innocent bystanders, but not take any swings. Until...
Every injury she'd sustained was from an enemy making the first strike against her. According to her teammates writing the reports, it was almost as though she waited for permission to defend herself.
His fists clenched at his sides, John stepped past Booster and into the hall. He heard the man call after him, "I'll get to that report after the party, I swear!"
Angrily, John strode up the hallway and into an elevator. He punched the button for the medical floor and crossed his arms tightly over his chest as he waited for the trip upstairs to end.
Even the infirmary was eerily silent this night. A single volunteer nurse was on duty to handle any minor problems. Doctors were on call, of course, for more serious injuries. Thankfully none were around at the moment.
Only two people were in the medical bay. A man in green surgical scrubs sat on a tall stool at the back of the room. On a bunk sat Shayera. She no longer wore her trademark Hawkgirl mask or her yellow, green and red suit. Her current costume was nothing more than a black body suit with wing holes in the back, black boots, and a black belt. She had her head down, watching as the nurse repeatedly inserted and pulled a needle and suture through the skin of her left forearm.
The sight of gaping wounds and blood didn't bother him. He was a solider and had seen much worse over the years. Even on her. He'd learned quite a bit about her Thanagarian physiology, so he knew she was resilient. It took a lot to do serious damage, and her injuries healed quickly. That's why, though she'd been patched back together numerous times, she was still on active duty. A typical human would have been laid up in the hospital for weeks -- if not months -- from the injuries she'd sustained.
John forced a swallow, knowing a knife wound was still a knife wound. And though Shayera acted as though she was impervious, he also knew she felt the pain just as sharply as he did.
Cautiously, he approached the medical bunk as the nurse wrapped white gauze tightly around Shayera's left forearm. Beside the bunk sat a tray. Bloodied cloths, an unlidded bottle of antiseptic, an empty syringe and the leftover suture thread were in clear view. John's stomach churned uncomfortably.
The nurse secured the bandage and looked warmly at his patient as he replied, "She'll be good as new. Only eighteen stitches this time."
John nodded and looked at Shayera. "That's twenty-three less than you had in your thigh last week." He knew this, not from her telling him, but from reading the mission report.
"As of today, the count stands at seventy-nine in," the nurse noted, tapping a finger against the computer screen that held the Thanagarian's medical record, "and fourteen out."
"Get some rest and be sure to take your pain medication," the nurse instructed, gathering the tray and removing the gory signs of the League's latest victory.
The two watched the nurse disappear from sight. Shayera's green eyes remained on a distant empty point as John's gaze slipped to her body. He didn't need Superman's x-ray vision to know how many stitches, how many pins, how many screws and how many cracked hollow bones she had. The total was shocking.
"Not true," she returned, sliding from the table and retrieving her mace from the nearby countertop. "Scarecrow needed more stitches."
"Who's being funny?" She attached her mace to her belt then began fiddling with the torn sleeve of her black body suit. She huffed at the damage and started for the door. As was another of her new habits, she was leaving alone.
John muttered a curse to himself and balled his fists. "Shayera!" he called, but ended up trotting after her. He snagged her right elbow and pulled her to a stop. "I want to talk to you."
Shayera's wings drooped slightly. It wasn't something a casual acquaintance would notice as meaning anything. John, on the other hand, didn't consider himself a casual acquaintance. The wilt was something he knew she only did when she was exhausted, yet determined to plod head-long into another conflict.
She turned to face him, her shoulders once again square and her back straight. He could see a slight shine in her eyes. Not tears, not anger, not medication. It was a totally unfamiliar look.
His pause to study her was long enough to annoy her, as she tilted her head and scowled at him. "What do you want to say, John?"
His mouth opened, but nothing came out. There was too much to say, too much to ask. He wasn't even sure if he was angry with her or overjoyed to actually have her attention for more than three seconds.
She took a deep breath and slowly exhaled. It was all the kick in the pants he needed to realize she wasn't going to stay around much longer if he didn't say something. The first thing that popped into his mind flew out of his mouth.
Shayera blinked and said evenly, "No, John, I'm not going to the party." She then turned and again headed for the exit.
John chastised himself with an exasperated grunt. Of course she didn't want to go to the party. He knew that. Hell, *everybody* knew that.
The door to the med bay swished closed and he realized he'd gone and done it again. Allowed her to slip right through his fingers. He set his jaw and started after her.
This time, Shayera didn't turn to him. She simply stopped where she stood. Again her wings sagged minutely. By the time he caught up to her, she'd put on the professional face and military stance.
Her green eyes darted away, then returned. She spread her feet slightly, clasped her hands behind her back and looked up at him.
The question hung in the air unanswered, but the play of emotions that sped through her eyes nearly ripped his heart out. What *wasn't* wrong with her, he reminded himself.
"Fine!" John shouted, throwing his hands in the air. "Run away! That's always your solution anyway." He pursed his lips and waved her off with a disgusted grunt. Pivoting on one heel, he stalked back toward the elevator and furiously slammed a finger against the call button.
As he stood, his brows low and his teeth grinding, he could only think of how much trouble she'd caused him. Was *still* causing him.
She'd always driven him crazy. Just now, she seemed to go out of her way to do it. She was back in the League, but she was making a point of not belonging, of staying distant from everyone by refusing to interact with anyone outside of her job. She let rumors and rude comments go unanswered, no matter how loudly they were spoken within her presence. Even the bad guys were allowed a free shot at her.
The elevator dinged at the same time realization hit John squarely in his heart. The doors slid open, but he was already running in the opposite direction.
He didn't knock. She wouldn't answer anyway. A quick zap of green energy from his ring popped the electric lock and he forced the door to her quarters open with his hand.
He saw a brief flicker of rage cross her features at his boldness, at him daring to enter without permission. He saw, for an infinitesimal second, the woman he'd fallen in love with so long ago. He smirked and hoped she'd try to take her mace to his skull. His heart pounded with excitement. Perhaps she wasn't lost after all.
Then, she clamped her jaw shut. Her body straightened, her hands went to her sides and her expression went blank again.
His teeth gnashed as she stared blankly through him. She was controlled, submissive, and utterly absent in her own body. But John had seen, not two seconds earlier, her sense of self worth, her fighting spirit, her humor, her devious spunk were still inside, yearning to get out. She just had to break the chains holding them in place.
His eyebrows lowered and his glowing eyes sparked as his arm lashed out and cleared her desktop, sending books, data discs and her mace clattering to the floor. Two strides and he was right in her face. "God dammit, woman!" he snarled, his harsh breaths blowing her hair back. "You will knock this shit off or, so help me Oa..." He paused. He'd have to sound strong; sound like he meant it, or it wouldn't work. "...or so help me Oa, *I'll* knock it out of you!"
The impact of her fist against his jaw landed him flat on the floor. John dabbed the back of his hand against his throbbing lip and was pleased to see blood. "That the best you can do?" He stood back up, raised one fist in defense and waved her forward with his other hand. "Come on!"
Shayera's shoulders rose and fell rapidly with her breathing. Her lip curled and her fists balled. John raised both hands higher to protect his face, leaving his stomach conveniently wide open. He heard the war cry and felt the blow to his midsection.
All his air escaped his lungs. He had no time to recover before Shayera tackled him, bringing him to the ground hard. Flat on his back, he felt her reposition herself on top of him. She grabbed his shirt collar in one hand and yanked his head from the floor. John saw her pull her right fist back.
He felt Shayera's muscles relax. Her fist dropped to her side and she released his collar, landing his bald head against the floor with an unexpected and painful thud. She remained straddling his chest, looking down at him with shame etched in her features.
"I don't hate you, Shayera," he said, taking the hand that was about to sock him in his own. "Yes, I was angry for awhile. But I never once hated you. And no matter what you do," he raised her hand to his lips and kissed it gently, "you can't change that."
She shifted position and he fully expected her to stand up and scuttle away. But to his surprise and delight, she slid further down and rested her head on his chest. Her wings fell over them, her knees pressed into his thighs and her arms tightened against his ribs.
John wrapped his arms around her back; slipped his fingers into her feathers. The sensations were ones he thought he'd never feel again. His eyes slid shut.
He held her tightly for a long time, never once complaining about the coolness of the floor against his back, for he had the heat of her body above him. Nor did he say anything about the silent tears that wetted his shirt.
"I'm so sorry, John," she whispered. And he knew she sincerely meant it...for more than just his issue with Vixen.
He shrugged as best he could in the position he was in. "She's a lovely woman and an outstanding teammate. But she was never what I truly wanted. We both knew that."
John maneuvered himself to where he could raise her chin up. "You're the one I've always wanted," he said, and then kissed her.
"Don't argue, Shayera. We've got better things to do than that." Again he kissed her, not minding the slight twinge of pain the action caused to his split lip. And to his great pleasure, she didn't pull away. Instead, she settled herself more comfortably over him and allowed him to kiss and be kissed until they were satisfactorily re-accustomed to each other's feel.
A long time later, John moved his lips to her ear. "It's a new year," he whispered. "It's time to start over."
He heard her sigh. She then started to move away. John tightened his arms around her and she settled for tucking her head under his chin. "It's hard to start over when you don't even know who you are."
For the first time in he couldn't remember how long, she voluntarily looked him square in the eyes. "Who am I?"
He could tell she wasn't satisfied with that answer because her lips pursed together and she frowned at him. "And who is she?"
"She's not," he assured her. "She's a true hero. Has been for many years. Not to mention she's Earth's savior." Her eyebrow arched at that notion. "If it wasn't for you, this planet would be a hole in space now."
"That's where you're wrong," John said emphatically. "Your people would have sent someone else. Earth was their target. Whether it was you or some other person, they would have put somebody here to do the job you did." He smirked and kissed her nose. "Personally, I'm very glad they sent you."
Shayera studied him dubiously. He did nothing but hold her close, smiling up at her as he waited for her to come to her own conclusions.
Eventually, something happened that he hadn't seen in nearly two years. She smiled. Not the half-guilty, "I'm not allowed to be happy" upturn of her lips he saw two months ago when the woman thanked her for saving her life and that of her daughter, but a full thousand-watt, teeth-showing, beaming smile.
"Hawkgirl of the Justice League," she announced, a hint of the old confidence finally breaking the surface.
She looked down at him, a long-lost playful glimmer sparkling in her eyes. She lowered herself back to his lips, and he wanted to tell her he loved her -- wanted her to hear it this time. But he knew it would be too much for her to deal with tonight. Morning would come soon enough, though. The first of a whole new year of mornings, and John intended to tell her he loved her on every single one.
If this recipe seems insanely simple, it’s because it is. But enough people have shown over-the-top enthusiasm when I’ve mentioned that I make baked peaches to serve over ice cream that I figured it was worth posting. This recipe is great if, like me, you don’t really like raw peaches.
A note about peaches. For the longest time, I thought that if the pit didn’t come out easily, it just wasn’t quite ripe. But it turns out that there two main types of peaches – clingstone and freestone. Clingstone peaches are where the stone (pit) clings to the flesh of the peach whereas the pits of freestone peaches are free from the peach flesh, like an apricot. With CSA peaches, unless someone tells you which kind of pit the peach has, the only way to find out is to cut into it and see. You might mangle it a bit in the process, but you’ll get better with practice and it will taste the same.
Prepare the peaches. If freestone, split the peaches in half by running the knife all the way around the peach from stem to tip and back and remove pit. If clingstone, run your knife around the peach from stem to tip and back, then wedge out an eighth of the peach by making a cut just to the side of the slice, stem to tip. Then working the knife along the exposed pit, work the peach flesh away. You want to keep the peach pieces as big as possible.
Remove skin (it should peel away easily with your fingers) and slice into wedges. My favorite way to enjoy is over vanilla ice cream, but this also works in oatmeal or shortcake with cream.
Corn: enjoy immediately 🙂 We call fresh corn snack corn and have that as our making-dinner snack. Keep refrigerated as sugars convert to starch (losing sweetness) quicker at room temperature than in the refrigerator.
Green beans: they came in the bag and I’m going to leave them in the bag until I’m ready, keeping an eye on them for any mushiness.
Apples: I like eating cold apples, so mine go right in the fridge. But you could leave them on the counter too if you’re going to eat within a few days.
A new week brings a new wedding celebration, so we only have a few days to use up this share. With so much arugula, I wanted to be sure to highlight it and came across a beautiful whipped ricotta salad recipe.We haven’t had pizza in a while and I won’t use all of the ricotta in the salad, so I thought a broccoli ricotta pizza might be good, especially because this week is unseasonably cool. I never managed to make my beet gazpacho last week and will use up the old beets in that. The new beets, unfortunately, will get rolled into next week. I had hoped to have a fantastic green bean and chicken stir fry to post last week, but I didn’t like how my sauce turned out, so we’ll give that another shot. And at the end of the week, the carrots will go into chickpea sauté and can easily get bumped to next week if need be.
For fruit, the peaches will be baked and served homemade ice cream and the recipe, which will be posted tomorrow (so check back!). The apples will become as an after-work snack with honeyed peanut butter.
The green pepper got added to the ballpark sausage saute when I brought everything home on Wednesday, and, at some point, we used the eggplant in lazy eggplant parm, but now I’m not sure when that was…
Tuesday: Broccoli pizza with roasted garlic bechamel and ricotta with a little side salad of arugula if there’s some left
We’re onto Stillman’s Farm’s summer 2017 week nine CSA, a literal rainbow of produce. This week, I brought home soo many green beans, corn, cucumbers, tomatoes, onions, a pepper, an eggplant, a summer squash, and the first CSA apples of the year!
Left over from last week’s farmer’s market trip, I’ve still got some beets and beet greens. From the Clean Food Club’s Facebook page today, I’m using her gorgeous beet gazpacho as a jumping off point, but I’m thinking with some avocado and my favorite salted olive oil yogurt, while the beet greens can make their way into a penne a la vodka. We got a lot of green beans this week, and I want to do something different. Inspired by some blistered green beans I once had at Myers + Chang, I’m making a green bean and chicken stir fry with noodles. With only one eggplant and two tomatoes, I think I’ll pick up another eggplant or two and another tomato and make my lazy eggplant parm, which I’ll share afterwards. An easy post-wedding celebration dish will be a simple cucumber egg salad. And for the remaining squash and pepper, I’m imagining a riff on a ballpark sausage by cooking down some squash with the peppers and onions over a slab of toasty french bread. The apples will either be eaten for breakfast whole or in oatmeal as a Spiced Apple Compote or serve as an after work snack with honeyed peanut butter. Any remaining cucumbers will get a sprinkle of flaky sea salt.
What do I make when I am desperate to get rid of a whole bunch of midsummer vegetables in a flash? Ratatouille. The basics of ratatouille are eggplant, tomatoes, zucchini/summer squash, and peppers (along with onions and garlic), but if I have too much corn or corn that I forgot to eat right away, in it goes. Awash in green beans? Add it in!
This ratatouille recipe serves as a fantastic, silky, vegetable base, but can be modified in a multitude of ways. Looking to add protein? A poached egg or some white beans go nicely. Want to stretch it over a few meals? Add some cooked pasta for the last few minutes. Sometimes I am just in the mood for cheese and will grate a little cheddar or Parmesan over the top. Or for some crunch, add buttered and toasted breadcrumbs (panko, ideally). Clearly, there is a lot of wiggle room, but I share the basic recipe here. Change it up depending on what you’ve got to use.
Dice the eggplant very small, not much bigger than a kernel of corn. If you go bigger, you risk squeaky, undercooked eggplant, an unpleasant texture. Toss with a teaspoon of salt and allow to drain in a colander. You want to allow about an hour, so start this about 45 minutes before you start everything else.
Dice onions. Add to pan when it has come to temperature with a small pinch of salt. Stir occasionally with a wooden spoon.
Add a little more than a tablespoon of olive oil to pan, giving it a a few seconds to warm up, add peppers, and a small punch of salt. Stir occasionally.
While peppers are cooking, dice squash into 1/2 inch chunks. If you go bigger, you risk squeaky, undercooked squash.
Add a little more than a tablespoon of olive oil to pan, giving it a a few seconds to warm up, add squash, and a small punch of salt. Stir occasionally.
While squash is cooking, prepare the eggplant, tomato, garlic, and bail. Separate the tomato solids from the tomato juice, reserving the tomato juice. Separately, rinse the eggplant and squeeze out as much water as you can. Mince the garlic and set aside. Chiffonade the basil and set aside.
Add about a tablespoon of olive oil to pan, giving it a few seconds to warm up, and add the eggplant. Stir occasionally until softened, about 5 minutes.
Add about a tablespoon of olive oil to pan, giving it a few seconds to warm up, and add the tomato solids. Stir occasionally, cooking until dry and a brown crust has started to form at the bottom of the pan.
Deglaze the bottom of the pan. The best way is with about a 1/4 or 1/2 cup of cooking wine, scraping the bottom of the pan with the wooden spoon. If you don't want to use wine, you can use broth, water, or some of the tomato juice.
Add the tomato juice (or remainder of the tomato juice) to the pan as well as all the vegetables, basil and thyme. Stir thoroughly to combine.
Simmer for about an hour and a half for a well combined, silky texture. For a firmer vegetable texture, you can cook as little as a half hour.
Change up the quantities or proportions of anything I've listed above based on what you have. The only thing I would say you definitely need is the tomatoes.
Tomatoes: you can use fresh instead of canned, but you will get cooked tomato skin, which can be kind of tough and curled. I don't mind the texture if I have a ton of tomatoes to use, but just be aware. Also, you you are using fresh, you will need to add more salt.
For some protein, consider adding in cooked or canned drained white beans about 10 minutes before the end of cooking or serve a fried egg over top.
To stretch the vegetables, as they do cook down pretty significantly, separately cook some pasta to an al dente finish and add to the pan about 10 minutes before the end of cooking.
If you are adding more than one thing (e.g. corn, green beans, pasta, white beans), give it a little more time to cook than what I've listed above.
Ever had a post-vacation “hangover” where you have trouble getting back into the swing of things? First world problem, I know, but I’m hoping to get back into it with back posting the two weeks that I missed and uploading a few new recipes.
This week, with my summer 2017 week eight CSA pickup from Stillman’s Farm, I was super excited with the variety of food that we got. I brought home cucumbers, yellow summer squash, green beans, corn, frisée, eggplant, onions, a green bell pepper, beets, tomatoes, blueberries, and peaches!
Frisée: I’m going to leave it in the bag it came in until I’m ready to use. Right before use, I’ll place in a bowl of cold salted water for at least 10 minutes. It will both help to refresh the greens and loosen any dirt or tiny bugs. Stillman’s Farm does not spray their greens at all, so you might find little gnats or aphids squished between the leaves.
Blueberries: sort through and make sure there aren’t any mushy ones. Otherwise, store in the container in a produce bag or transfer to a small tupperware.
Peaches: peaches will usually arrive to you ripe. If you’re not ready to eat them right away, leave them in the fridge so that they don’t over ripen.
Because of a vacation and subsequent weekend getaway, we’ve got a good amount of vegetables left over from last week. My mid-summer go-to for catching up on my CSA share is ratatouille – this should clear out everything left over from last week and make a dent in this week’s share as well. I’ll post that recipe this week. We also got a lot of green beans this week and plan on making a variation on this New York Times warm chickpea and green bean salad with aioli and a green bean and potato salad with burgers and hot dogs for one of the warmer nights this week. The frisée and beets will go into Bobby Flay’s warm lentil salad with beets and goat cheese. Some cucumbers and the tomatoes have already made their way into a Mediterranean inspired pasta salad. The rest of the cucumbers will either be snacks and or be turned into small batch of bread and butter pickles. The peaches will get roasted and served with some homemade vanilla ice cream while the blueberries will make its way into overnight steel cut oat meal along with a hint of brown sugar.
To supplement the share this week, I headed over to the Union Square Farmer’s Market to pick up some more beets and onions, carrots, potatoes, cantaloupe, apples, and some gorgeous cranberry beans.
Corn corn and more corn. We’re now onto the summer 2017 week five CSA and it’s definitely feels like summer now between the corn and varieties of summer squash.
This week, I brought home corn, green beans, lettuce, kale, summer squash and zucchinis, cucumbers, and raspberries.
Lettuce greens: if starting with a head of lettuce, pull the leaves off individually and place in a bowl of cold salted water for a few minutes. It will both help to refresh the greens and loosen any dirt or tiny bugs. Stillman’s Farm does not spray their greens at all, so you might find little gnats or aphids squished between the leaves. Then spin dry, tear into bite sized pieces, and store in a large ziploc bag or tupperware container.
Raspberries: eat within a day or so. If you want to split them over two days, be sure to sort through and eat the slightly soft ones on day one, leaving the firmer ones for day two.
Due to some plans, we only have a few nights to eat this week’s share so we’re going for recipes that will use a lot at once. The corn and raspberries are long gone, so those don’t even factor in to this week. The kale, I am going to cook and freeze for use later (bring salted water to a boil, simmer de-veined leaves for seven minutes with lid on, drain and squeeze out as much water as possible, then fluff and put in freezer bag to freeze). So that just leaves the lettuce, green beans, summer squashes, and cucumbers.
I love shakshuka, an Israeli dish of stewed tomatoes with chilis and spices and poached eggs and thought that if I swapped out most of the tomatoes with zucchini and summer squash, I could use up a lot of those. These summer squashes (by that I mean any of the softer, non-hard skinned winter squash) cook down really beautifully, so they are perfect for this kind of dish or in similarly slower cooked summer recipes like ratatouille. We’re also going to make a Mediterranean inspired salad with the green beans and lettuce with some Stillman Quality Meats chicken legs currently marinating in lemon juice, garlic, olive oil, and oregano (yet another Stillman’s item – I pick up some herbs for my backyard every spring). Cucumbers will be incorporated in cucumber and egg salad sandwiches. And that does it!
The summer 2017 week four CSA pickup brings us corn! I have heard that we are the first in the state to get corn. The first corn is something to which I always look forward.
For this week, we got some of the aforementioned corn, beautiful radishes, green beans, lettuce, kale, peppery arugula, summer squash, and raspberries.
We’re not perfect and had a bit of a messy week. On Thursday, we had falafel made with beet greens. Still working on that recipe, but hopefully, I will be happy enough with it at some point to post. Last night, we had gnocchi with buttery sautéed squash. Tonight we made tacos with spiced black beans and a corn, radish, and feta salsa. Tomorrow, we’re going to make kale linguini and enjoy that with some red sauce and turkey meatballs. For a quick meal on Monday when we have other plans, we’ll make burgers from Stillman Quality Meats ground beef with a potato and green bean salad, which we’ll make tomorrow. Tuesday will be my apple, onion, and arugula pizza for which I’ll caramelize the onions tomorrow night to save some time. And finally, back to pickup day. We actually ate through our share pretty quick this week, so I am hoping we get beets or Swiss chard (or I’ll just buy some with my Stillman’s bucks) to whip up my Swiss chard penne a la vodka.
Pizza in the summer may sound like a not-so-great idea, but, if you have a gas grill, this Swiss chard and ricotta pizza can be whipped together, no problem.
I say this every time I post a pizza recipe, but there are two tools, I believe, to be essential to good pizza making:
A pizza stone – we have, save for one tragic cracking incident, had the same pizza stone through multiple apartments and states, and it lives, full time, at the bottom of our oven. For good pizza, the stone should be allowed to heat before using so that it can come to a consistent temperature. Preheat the oven to 550 degrees. Once it has reached temperature, wait about another 20 minutes to cook your pizza.
A pizza peel – there seem to be two kinds of pizza peels out there, one where the wood is a little rough and unfinished and the other that is very smooth, more like a composite pressed wood. Turns out, I much prefer the unfinished type because it keeps the dough from sticking to the peel before the pizza goes in the oven. This avoids a lot of pizza transfer frustration.
Prepare the dough. If using store bought, try to buy the day before so it can be split into two balls (put in individual oiled bowls and covered tightly) and refrigerated overnight. I like to let the dough sit at room temperature for about an hour before stretching.
On low, allow to caramelize (about 30 minutes). When done, spread in a single layer on a plate and put in the refrigerator.
Prepare your Swiss chard topping by first stripping the leaves from the stems. Stack leaves and roll the leaves together, forming a tube of leaves. Slice along the roll in 1/2 inch strips.
To stretch the dough, spread flour in a very thin layer (I use the side of my hand like I'm spreading butter to keep the layer very thin) and then sprinkle with cornmeal.
Stretch dough using your knuckles or your fingers and the heel of your hand. When you start to get nervous that it might rip, toss it on the pizza peel, oily side up, and continue stretching from the center out.
Shake the pizza peel to see if the dough sticks. If it does, lift up the edges and sprinkle a little more flour. Repeat this until the dough slides easily back and forth.
As this recipe makes two pizzas, dollop half of the ricotta around the pizza. Spread half of the Swiss chard and top with caramelized onions.
Slide the pizza onto the stone and bake for 5 or 6 minutes until topping some Swiss Chard pieces have started to crisp and crust has browned to your liking.
Remove from stone either with another peel or, as we did before we got a second pizza peel, with a fork to a large plate.
Onions can be caramelized ahead of time, either while cooking the previous night or done in large batch and frozen. If the onions are done, pulling this pizza together becomes a lot faster.
While this recipe calls for Swiss chard, other tender leafy greens could be used instead, like beet greens.
This week was our summer 2017 week three CSA pickup from Stillman’s Farm. You can tell summer is here when more variety starts to creep in to the box. This week, we got kale, Swiss card, zucchini and summer squash, green beans, lettuce, mixed baby greens, and blueberries! With the help Stillman’s Bucks, I also got two super early season ears of corn (yummm), garlic scapes, and strawberries.
It took me a full 24 hours to come up with a meal plan this week because we’re still swimming in last week’s box after Fourth of July travel. Vegetables I still need to use from last week include beets, beet greens, lettuce, and mixed baby greens. Proper planning and storage, however, means they’re all still good to eat. We processed all the kale by stripping it from the stems, boiling seven minutes, squeezing out as much water as possible, and freezing for later.
Lettuce greens (heads and mixed spring greens): if starting with a head of lettuce, pull the leaves off individually and place in a bowl of cold salted water for a few minutes. It will both help to refresh the greens and loosen any dirt or tiny bugs. Stillman’s Farm does not spray their greens at all, so you might find little gnats or aphids squished between the leaves. Then spin dry, tear into bite sized pieces, and store in a large ziploc bag or tupperware container.
Tonight we ate a beet, salmon, and farro salad with citrus vinaigrette, orange wedges, and avocado. Good, though not totally pulled together, so I’ll planning to re-make and refine. I am also going to make the Swiss chard pizza, so I can post that recipe this week. Another recipe I’ve worked on and will post this week is summer squash crepes with a lemon goat cheese sauce. For a quick dinner, carrot top pesto from a bunch of carrots I picked up from Drumlin farm last week over pasta and turkey meatballs from Stillman Quality Meats. I am hoping to find fresh pita at the farmer’s market to pull together a falafel with beet greens. For the pickup night meal,finishing off the lettuce and green beans in a Niçoise salad with some fresh fish from Red’s Best at the Boston Public Market.
How you bring home your summer CSA share can set you up to easily, successfully, and deliciously use your share. This is an update from a previous winter-share focused post.
First thing is first – when you pick up your CSA, bring grocery totes. The box that your share is given to you in is awkward to carry. And if you bring the box home, you have to remember to bring it back (and, I don’t know about you, but I never remember to do that) because most farms reuse those box week to week. A better option is to bring a few shopping totes. I bring three bags for our share, which feeds 2-4 people. I could fit the share in two large bags, but I like to have a third bag for delicate items, like tomatoes or peaches.
When you get home, lay everything out on your counter and take an inventory. List what you got and how much to help with meal planning. Including the quantity will help to determine if it needs to be used in one or more dishes. Check if anything is damaged – star those items so that when you go to meal plan, you know that you will need to use those items first so that they don’t spoil. Check out my meal planning post for how I make sure to use up all my vegetables.
Take anything left over from the previous week and consolidate into one of your produce drawers, using the other drawer for the new share. That way, you know what you still need to use up before starting on the new stuff. This is also an opportunity to clean out the empty drawer before you put anything new in. A quick vacuum (yes, I vacuum my refrigerator) and a swipe with a damp towel, and you’re good to go!
Before putting everything away in your fridge, separate leafy green tops from root vegetables. This keeps the root vegetables fresh longer – if you leave the tops on, you will find that your root veggies get soft quicker. Doing this also make storage easier. Then decide if you are going to use the vegetable tops or if you would rather discard them. It is okay to get rid of them – it took me a few seasons just getting comfortable enough with the influx of vegetables to even be able to even to consider using the tops.
I also recommend that you wash and prepare your lettuce immediately. It keeps it fresh longer and makes it more likely that you will use it. Separate the leaves into a big bowl, fill with some salted cold water (helps remove the little bugs that might be on there), and let sit for a few minutes. Remove leaves in batches to your salad spinner and rip into bite-sized pieces to spin down. Store in a large ziploc bag or tupperware container with a folded paper towel to absorb any moisture.