Share #4, and how I actually finished off most of Share #3

[taylweaver]

 Here's what happened to the rest of last week's share:

Basil: most of it didn't get used before it started to go, but some of it was drying out, so I now have a little container of dried basil leaves. Any suggestions for dried basil?
Dill: went bad before I could use it, but there was very little of it to begin with.
Corn: all got eaten; all got steamed in the microwave due to laziness. The ear last night tasted less good, probably because it was two weeks old.
Zucchini: some of it got sauteed with garlic, as already noted. Some of it got sauteed with onion, a bit of red pepper, and Italian seasoning, and served at Shabbat dinner. (I still have a bit left over, but not very much.)
Onion: most of the massive onion got used, between the Shabbat dishes already mentioned in this post and the last one, and a little bit of it in the egg omelet I made last night. 
Lettuce: hooray! All got eaten in my usual salad, some the first Shabbat (mixed with Share #2 lettuce), some the second Shabbat, plus leftovers from both during the week. 
Fennel: I tried roasting some. It's not a flavor I like. Next time, it goes in the swap box.
Cucumbers: Some in salad, some on its own, all yummy. All gone.
Arugula: What didn't die in my fridge got sauteed with garlic and stuck into pasta with sauce and cheese. Yummy both times.

My favorite recipe/discovery from this share: arugula in pasta.
Ingredients:
- 1 clove fresh garlic
- some arugula (not sure how much)
- elbow noodles
- tomato sauce
- cheese (in my case, muenster)

1. Sautee garlic
2. Add in arugula and sautee with garlic
3. Meanwhile, cook pasta until it's done
4. Mix pasta, tomato sauce and arugula mixture
5. Put cheese on top and melt it in the toaster oven

And now, on to this week's share. Here's what we got:

- 8 ears of corn
- 2 jalapeno peppers
- 2 smallish green field peppers
- 1/2 pound purslane (it's an edible weed, if you haven't heard of it. I hadn't either before various friends got it in last week's share.)
- 1 head of lettuce

- 2 zucchini (smaller this time)

- 1 cucumber (larger this time)

- 1/2 pint cherry tomatoes
- 5 stalks of basil

 

Thing I need to research on: purslane

Thing I forgot to buy Tuesday night when I went to Bed Bath and Beyond: a hand mixer with a food processor attachment (or something like that) so I can make pesto out of all that basil.

Thing I may not be able to eat: jalapeno. I am open to suggestions on how to use them to add flavor without adding too much kick, since spicy doesn't work so well for me.

Comments

[mbarr.livejournal.com]

You may be able to cut out the seeds. That's where the heat is mostly, from what I understand...

[j00j.livejournal.com]

Dried basil should work well in a pasta sauce, I'd think. Or on pizza.

http://recipes.howstuffworks.com/tools-and-techniques/how-to-cook-chili-peppers.htm explains how to handle peppers without, say, getting spicy pepper juice in your eyes. Remove the veins and seeds to get rid of most of the heat.

I would maybe try using some in a curry or stir fry so that there's lots of other stuff to reduce the heat and provide other flavors. Also rice or bread with the curry takes the heat away nicely.

I don't believe I've ever eaten purslane (though I've heard of it), so I wish you luck. It sounds good!

[masteraleph.livejournal.com]

Not a hand mixer- an immersion blender. The one most people have been referring to is this one, with both a whisk attachment and a mini-food processor attachment: http://www.bedbathandbeyond.com/product.asp?SKU=13485062

[taylweaver.livejournal.com]

That's what I meant, and that's the one I looked at last night, but didn't buy because it's $50. I bought a small food processor instead for $40.