My Favorite Kitchen Gadget, and Other Epicurean Musings

My favorite kitchen gadget. Oh, but there are so many to choose from, you say. The tea press is indispensable, and what about the fine grater that zests lemons and limes in seconds, and please don’t forget the food processor! These are all wonderful things, my friends, but for the summer at least, I have to go with practicality over finesse. As long as our CSA keeps delivering large boxes full of leafy greens, the revered kitchen gadget of the summer will be the salad spinner. It is unglamorous for sure, but when you hate washing lettuce as much as I do, it makes life a little simpler.

CSA pick up day every Thursday has become both like a culinary Christmas and a solemn challenge: How much lettuce can you eat in one week? No kidding. We currently have 5 bags of lettuce and 2 bags of spinach in our fridge. As the season continues, we are seeing more diversity in our produce, but salads of all kinds will likely be a staple of every meal for weeks to come. I have been trying to make some different dishes highlighting the organic local produce we get each week. Unfortunately, I am a better cook than food photographer, so you will have to live with descriptions and second rate photographs.

Grilled chicken salad with warm bacon dressing and crispy polenta cakes. I tricked Doug into eating radishes with this dish by grating it into the dressing.

Herbed spinach dip with crudites. Just add some yogurt, lemon, and lemon zest to a handful of spinach and fresh herbs (I used basil, parsley, and garlic scapes).

Strawberry Rhubarb Pie. One of my best (and more attractive) pies to date. Mark Bittman has a great recipe for an all butter crust for those who don’t like to use shortening, and I think substituting a fruit liqueur like Grand Marnier for some of the water in the crust makes it delicious. I used fresh CSA rhubarb, but used grocery store strawberries, since it wasn’t quite strawberry season here.

Crunchy herbed chicken, lemony risotto with peas, and a garden salad. One of my favorite things about cooking is the chance to put together meals with friends and make dinner a community event. Anne provided from her garden tomatoes for the salad, and the thyme and oregano, which flavored both the risotto and the batter for the pan-fried chicken. The CSA provided the onions and peas for the risotto and the lettuce and radishes for the salad. I don't think I've ever had peas that weren't frozen, and these were delicious. Which leads to your fun food fact for the week: Peas, a legume, have been cultivated for about 9,000 years. Legumes were so well regarded in the ancient world that the four major legumes known to the Romans became names for prominent Roman families: Fabius from fava beans, Lentulus from lentils, Piso from the pea, and Cicero from the chick pea. Now don’t you feel smart?

Ever wonder what my kitchen looks like in the aftermath of these experiments? I absolved Doug of his dishwashing duty this night: