Beefy Broccoli Rabe

This is sort of a goofy recipe, but John kept talking about how good the rabe was last night (and this is when it had oven fries and BLTs for competition) so figured I’d post it.

Tortellini Pasta Salad with Greens and Pesto

Frozen/refrigerated tortellini is great for making a quick, no-fuss pasta salad. We had this for lunch Sunday, using up some market tomatoes and CSA collard greens in the process.

Basil and Arugula Pesto with Garlic Scapes

This pesto came together really well, combining garden and CSA bounty.

Amusingly, it was born out of a major kitchen mistake – I grabbed a box of raw sugar thinking it was kosher salt, and made, um, sweet pesto, using up just about all my basil. But I had enough basil in the garden to make a second batch, supplementing with arugula. And John claims he’s going to turn the sugary pesto into ice cream. We’ll see how that goes.

Stuffed Cabbage

I’ve actually never made stuffed cabbage before, and I’ve probably only eaten it once or twice. Maybe since we’re such a stuffed peppers-loving household. But between a head of cabbage from the CSA and half a head of another cabbage from the publisher’s garden, something cabbage-y had to be done. And I had a ton of leftover brown rice in the fridge. So there we go!

I used a mix of Wilbur sausage and ground meat substitute, which actually helped bring down the calorie count. This was ridiculously easy to make, and a good make-ahead dish – we’re baking it now to have for lunch/dinner later in the week.

Duck breast with savory orange sauce over braised chicory

Ok, so we got chicory (also called curly endive) in our CSA two weeks in a row. I was fairly stumped by this one – didn’t love the taste raw, and all the recipes I saw were for salads. Until I stumbled on this one.

I used this more of a guide as anything else. I didn’t have all that much duck – basically, I cut the breast off the duck that’s been languishing in the freezer for months. So I had tons of leftover sauce, and I served the breasts whole rather than sliced.

The sweetness of the sauce and richness of the duck were just enough to balance out the very bitter chicory (which still isn’t winning any awards for my favorite veggie, but it worked here). Warning – I burned the duck breast skin a little, so be careful when you’re searing it.

Shrimp, Beef and Greens

This dish was kinda inspired by Triple Delight, one of my favorite Chinese-American takeout dishes. Except it’s only a double delight. And it’s bok choy instead of broccoli. Oh, whatever, take it as you will.

Grilled Margherita Pizza with Whole Wheat Dough

Pizza is one of my cooking Achilles’ heels. It never comes out exactly the way I want it. This was no exception, but it was still tasty. Grilling pizza’s a skill in progress for us. I like it better using charcoal, but still end up burning it a little bit. I also probably would go with shredded rather than fresh mozzarella next time.

Marinated, Broiled Pork Chops

Another recipe from the Pig Cookbook. I decided to make Wilbur pork chops for Mandy and Mike because Mike is a huge pork chops fan. These were a very simple preparation, and tasted great even though I marinated them for half the recommended time because of a time crunch.

Truffled Goat Cheese Toasts

Decadent! Yummy! Easy!

Grilled Chicken Salad with beets, goat cheese and chickpeas

This recipe was on the random side, given what I had in the house. But the flavors came together well. If anything, I might eliminate the chickpeas, though it does bulk up the protein factor.