So my husband and I are trying a new CSA-like service this year — farm fresh produce delivered right to our door by Backyard Produce. Much is organic. Most is semi-local (NC and VA). And it’s seasonal. Unlike a typical CSA, though, which has full or half-shares, these folks have five sizes ranging from Flying Solo ($25/week) to Super Duper ($65/week). And if there’s something in your box you don’t really care for, then you can swap it out and TRADE it for something else. Or save the credit for the next week. And if you are out of town, you can SKIP a delivery too. The flexibility is just amazing.

When the CGP and I did a half-share CSA a few years ago, we found it was just a little too much produce for us and we struggled at times to use it all up. Let’s fast forward a few years … I’m a more adventurous cook now and on a different routine for cooking. So we’re giving the Flying Solo basket a go. This week was a pint of blueberries, a quart of strawberries, two peaches, a large bunch of kale, a pound of yellow squash, and a pound of zucchini. So I think we’re going to see a sangria with the blueberries and peaches, some rhubarb-strawberry pie, and I’m going to try to grill the kale leaves. As I post throughout the season, I’ll try to remember to mention when I’m using something from my box, especially if it’s a new-to-me item.

My friend Bev has been doing a traditional full-share CSA for YEARS. This year, she’s posting each week what’s in her box and what’s she’s planning to do with it — she is much more veggie-oriented than me, so it’s been fun to watch what’s she’s doing. You should check her out at One Week Closer!

A gin-and-tonic can be mighty refreshing on a hot summer day, but I wanted to play around with gin and seasonal produce. I still had some rhubarb syrup begging to be consumed and I thought I’d try something inspired by a Bee’s Knees (thanks Sue!). Then, I saw this AMAZING Cucumber Mint Gin Cooler over on Heather Christo’s blog, so I knew I had to try a couple of gin drinks.

Let’s talk about the gin. I splurged and bought Tanqueray No. Ten Gin. Since these cocktails would have so few ingredients, I really did want a better quality base. This gin has some citrus notes to it, so I was pretty sure it would complement the drinks I had in mind.

Hornet’s Knees
Inspired by Sue’s Bee’s Knees
Serves 1

1/4 cup (2 ounces) gin
2 tablespoons rhurbarb syrup
1 tablespoon lime juice

Put the gin, rhubarb syrup, and lime juice in a cocktail shaker filled halfway with ice. Shake vigorously for at least 10 seconds until the cocktail shaker is icy. Strain into a chilled old-fashioned glass. Consume immediately.

Cucumber-Gin Smash
Inspired by Heather Christo’s Cucumber Mint Gin Cooler
Serves 1

3/4 inch tiny cucumber, peeled and diced
2 teaspoons sugar
3 or 4 mint leaves
1 tablespoon lime juice
1/4 cup (2 ounces) gin
2 – 3 ounces lemon lime seltzer

Put the cucumber, sugar, mint, and lime juice into the bottom of a sturdy wide-mouth tumbler (“Old Fashioned” glass). Muddle these together, making sure to smash the cucumber somewhat. Add the gin and stir to combine. Add some ice and top off with seltzer. Garnish with a thin slice of cucumber.

The last couple of weeks have been a mixed bag, success-wise, in my kitchen. No foodstuffs stood out as I Must Blog This, although a couple were pretty good. Things were more positive on the cocktail front — so watch for that next Tuesday. And there was one spectacular flop!

Early in the week I made blue cheese and walnut scones, based on a recipe for Buttermilk Blueberry Scones over at Average Betty. I’ve made these scones before, so I was already pretty confident in the recipe (what originally drew me to this recipe was that the technique and ingredients are not so terribly different than my buttermilk biscuit recipe, so I felt pretty confident going in I would end up with something **edible**). So early last week, I swapped out the blueberries for a 1/2 cup of crumbled blue cheese (the good stuff) and 1/2 cup of chopped walnuts. Served them fresh out of the oven with my wine jelly. Wow. Good stuff!

I’ve been mulling over the idea of olive oil and chocolate in a sweet treat, like a quick bread or a cookie. So when I found a Basic Buttermilk Quick Bread over at the kitchn, I thought I’d try using olive oil and adding some unsweetened cocoa powder and some chopped bittersweet chocolate. It was **fine**, just not what I was looking for. I do think the underlying recipe is sound, just that my tweaks fell flat. So back to the drawing board on that idea.

I had better luck with the Olive Oil & Sea Salt Brownie Cookies over at Butterlust. I deviated from her published recipe by adding a smidge of finely chopped fresh rosemary and using a smaller amount of chopped 70% chocolate instead of semi-sweet chips. These soft lovelies were a HUGE hit at the office. It hit the flavor profile I was looking for, but you know what, I really like butter in a cookie. It’s not just the flavor — it’s the texture. So I might need to try these again with half butter and half oil.

We were hosting my nieces over the weekend, so Friday night whilst watching Life of Pi with them, I whipped up some brownies using my nearly-foolproof go-to brownie recipe from Hershey’s. Try them — you will NEVER go back to a box again — and they rely on basic pantry staples.

I tried to make rhubarb jam this week and ended up with rhubarb sauce. The phone rang at JUST the wrong moment, the pan nearly boiled over, and I think I killed what little pectin lives in rhubarb. Were I a more experienced jam maker, I bet I could have put in some liquid pectin at the end, but I saw my rhubarb chunks turning to mush so just moved on to the boiling water bath. It’s tasty, if a little sweet and runny. On the other hand, I made a rhubarb-infused simple syrup with a couple of stalks — and THAT turned out lovely.

Finally, I tried to make a childhood favorite, 7-Up Cake. I googled the recipe, found a gazillion sites with the same recipe, so moved forward. I didn’t have butter soft and ready to go, so I swapped with vegetable oil (often this is fine). My darling husband bought JUMBO eggs rather than large, so I had to sub 4 jumbo eggs for the 5 that the recipe called for (this worried me). I didn’t have lemon extract, so I added some lime zest/juice and some ginger liqueur (hmmmmm). I used ginger ale instead of 7-Up (shouldn’t matter). I cooked it the recommended amount of time. I saw a lovely brown crust on the top and pulling away from the sides, so I took it out and let it cool. No, I didn’t test with a skewer — shame on me. When I cut into it — I found ooey warm custard in the center. OH NO! NOT DONE! I threw the nearly-whole bundt ring back in the oven on a sheet pan to try to cook it some more. Amateur move, but I hated the idea of tossing it all out. I took a quick look this morning — looks pretty gooey still. I asked the CGP to try some, but told him that if he didn’t like it, I was going to toss it (I hope he doesn’t eat just to keep from trashing it). I’m so disappointed — and not just because the substitutions were a total bust. I am embarrassed to admit this — I didn’t even LIKE THE FLAVOR! It was cloyingly sweet … no hint of lime or ginger at all. Just sweet. And heavy. Apparently some of the 70s recipes should have stayed in the 70s

I am REALLY REALLY proud of myself. I made jelly last night. Mason-type jars, two-part lids, boiling-water processed and all! And it set up! And it tastes wonderful! And I’m just so tickled!!

My grandmother canned like a fiend. She and my grandfather had a small farm — a few acres of fruits and vegetables grown mostly for personal use but they’d sell the surplus at a roadside stand. So everything got canned (my mouth still waters at the memory of her peach-peeling pies).

Home canning is something of a lost art these days. I know I am completely intimidated by the idea of poisoning my family and friends. But when I stumbled across a recipe for wine jelly over at America’s Test Kitchen Feed, I got to thinking, maybe I **can** do this (no pun intended). So I did a bunch of reading. I bought some jars, a canning kit, the Ball Blue Book. I lurked on the web. I identified a bottle of wine. And finally, last night, I carved out some time to Make Some Wine Jelly.

Which allowed me, this morning, to eat some with cornbread:

I’m imagining this spread on cream cheese on a bagel. Or served with bacon-and-blue-cheese biscuits. Or slathered on a round of warm brie. Oh my — sounds like I need to get baking!

This was my first batch, so consider this a brag post   I am such a newbie at this that I can’t in good conscience tell you HOW to do it, but the DEFINITIVE source for home canning instructions is the USDA Complete Guide to Home Canning [this is the 2009 version — not sure if a newer one is available].

Yes, I like to cook things that are a stretch — some new ingredient or a new technique or something complicated that dirties up 10 pans. But Not Every Day. I have a full-time job and sometimes I work late. Sometimes I don’t get to the grocery store. Sometimes I eat cereal for dinner, or grab fast food on the way home, or order in pizza. I am NOT an ambitious cook 7 nights a week!

So what’s in an everyday meal? First of all, I try to keep my pantry well-stocked with non-perishable and slow-to-perish staples. I try to have some sort of long-life protein in the fridge (breakfast meats) or else in the freezer for quick thaw (shrimp) or overnight thaw (roasts). I also try to keep some versatile frozen veggies like broccoli or green beans. These plus pasta or rice makes up that American standard – meat + starch + veg, right?

So we recently returned from the West Coast on a red-eye. We went to bed immediately and slept until early afternoon. Nobody wanted to go to the store, so I looked to the pantry for inspiration. I had some diced pancetta, so that plus eggs, shallots, cheese, and olives yielded a simple but substantial fritatta. I had some cranberries and dates in the fridge, so those plus basic baking stuff became a not-too-sweet cranberry-date-nut bread (and I took half of the loaf to the lovely neighbors who picked up my mail because the post office screwed up and delivered it anyway).

Last night was Date Night, but since we’re about to go on travel again, pickin’s were slim. I had some baby bok choy, cilantro, and 1/3 of a red pepper left over from a very successful Filipino-inspired pancit earlier in the week. I had some corn tortillas in the pantry. And shrimp and some random pineapple in the freezer. So I quick-thawed about a pound of the shrimp and then marinated them for about an hour in the fridge in a tablespoon EACH of tequila, lime juice, and olive oil. The evening before (so SOME thinking ahead!), I had prepped a quick salsa with the pineapple (prob 1/2 cup crushed in its own juice), a small shallot, the last of that red pepper, some of the cilantro, lime juice, and SALT. So when ready to eat — preheat oven to 375F, throw the shrimp on a foil-lined pan and sprinkle with some taco seasoning, then roast off the shrimp for 5 to 8 minutes (more detailed instructions here). Warm your totillas in a dry skillet or the microwave. Dress them with thinly sliced bok choy (or cabbage or lettuce), shredded pepper jack cheese (or monterey or cheddar), the hot shrimp, the pineapple salsa (or bought salsa or hot sauce), and some cilantro (or not).

What a funny word, right? Spatchcock? No, I don’t rightly know where the word comes from. Sounds vaguely Olde English. In any case, it’s just a way of describing how you prepare a fowl (chicken, turkey, etc) for cooking by cutting out the backbone and flattening it out. Plus it makes people giggle.

Why spatchcock? Well, it can cut down on your cooking time when cooking a whole bird. It can be easier to flip/maneuver a whole (albeit large) piece of chicken rather than eight or more individual pieces. Also, it allows you to properly season the chicken both inside and out, because you now have full access to the interior of the chicken. Finally, this seems to be the way to cook a chicken so that the white and the dark get done at the SAME TIME!! I’m totally sold on the technique.

Spatchcock Chicken
Serves 4

1 whole chicken, 4 to 5 pounds
Olive oil
Lime juice
Kosher salt
Fresh ground pepper
Indian spice mix (I use Penzey’s Tandoori Seasoning)
Ground chile powder (I use ground chipotle)

Prepare your spice rub: Pour a couple of good glugs of olive oil in a small bowl. Add a couple of squirts of lime juice. Add a couple of teaspoons of kosher salt. Add a goodly amount of ground pepper. Add a tablespoon or two of Indian spice mix. Add a spare amount of chile powder — depends on your palate — could be 1/8 teaspoon to 1/2 teaspoon. Mix it all together — you are aiming for a gloppy paste. If it’s too thin, add a little more India spice mix. If it’s too thick, add a little more oil or lime juice.

On to the bird! Stick your hand up the chicken’s you know what and check for and remove the giblets. Put them aside. I’m a fan of the liver, the CGP likes the kidneys, and the dog gets the heart.

Turn the bird belly side down so the back is up. Using your poultry shears, cut up one side of the backbone, from arse to neck. I usually start up the right since I’m right-handed. Rotate the bird 180 degrees, and cut down the OTHER side of the backbone from neck to arse. Save that backbone for stock. Your bird should look something like the one to the right.

Now, put use your hands to open that chicken like a book. You should hear a slight crack on the underside, but you can open her up, flatten her out, and flip her over like the pictures below. Slather the spice rub all over, top and bottom. Loosen the skin over the breast and thighs and smear some spice paste under the skin too.

Wash your hands like crazy. Now’s the time to prep your grill and get it heating. Let the chicken hang out on the counter up to an hour. The rest time will help the seasonings do their thang.

Aim for 375F. Put the chicken skin side down on the grate. Shut the lid and ignore it for 20 minutes (except to make sure it didn’t get above 400F). Open the grill, flip the bird over, and walk away for another 20 minutes. Now’s the time to get your meat thermometer. You need to measure a thigh in it’s meatiest place — you are looking for 165F. Check the breast too — again — 165F. Check again at 5 or 10 minute intervals if the bird needs a little more time.

This was a particularly busty bird. The thighs hit 165F before the breasts were ready. I just pulled them off (the joints gave no resistance — just needed to trim the skin a bit with a small paring knife) and let the breasts go another 10 minutes. Served with char-grilled brocco-flower (drizzled with olive oil, salt, pepper, and tandoori seasoning) and some garlic naan from the freezer of my local Southeast Asian market.

In a previous post, you heard me wax poetic about a hand-delivered Meyer lemon. As I thumbed through cookbooks and browsed the Internet, lemon curd was the frontrunner for a foodstuff that would really showcase the lemon in all its lemony glory. I’d never made it, so there was that challenge as well.

So what do you do with lemon curd? Other than eat it with a spoon straight from the bowl? Smear it on toast (or bagels or english muffins or scones). Fill a crepe. Or, make a tart.

Which is where I went. I wanted to try mini-tarts, for the ideal crunch-to-creamy ratio. I also wanted something that would work better for us two to nibble over the course of a few days — a full-size tart would get soggy (I could assemble 4 or 5 of these little guys just before nom nom nom). And I knew I wanted a sweetish-crust, not a classic pie crust, so I decided to go with a shortbread-cookie crust. The CGP really raved over these!

One thing I read is that the egg whites **may** contribute a certain, well, egginess to your curd. With that in mind, I chose to separate the eggs and use only the yolks (never fear, make these insane macaroons with the whites). I also wanted to avoid straining at the end as I saw in some recipes, so another reason to stick with just the yolks.

Meyer Lemon Curd
Adapted from a recipe by Ina Garten, The Barefoot Contessa

1 large-ish Meyer Lemon, peeled and juiced as described below
1 cup sugar
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, slightly softened, cut into tablespoons
4 egg yolks
1/8 teaspoon kosher salt

Use a vegetable peeler to peel the skin from the lemon, trying to get as little of the white pith as possible. Put about half of the peel in the food processor and reserve about half for another project.

Juice the lemon, yielding (hopefully) about 1/3 cup of juice. Set aside.

Put the sugar in the food processor with the peel and whir until the peel is finely minced and fully incorporated. Add the butter one chunk at a time while the processor is running until the butter and sugar are fully incorporated. It won’t be as fluffy as when you cream for a cookie, but the butter won’t chunky, either. Add the yolks one at a time and process. Add the lemon juice and salt and process until smooth.

Pour into a medium-sized heavy-bottomed saucepan. Heat over low to medium-low heat, stirring CONSTANTLY, until thickened. You are aiming for about 170F, just shy of a simmer. I switched between a wooden spoon and a heat-resistant spatula to make sure I kept sides and corners stirred as well. Remove from heat and cool. Refrigerate if you aren’t going to use it immediately.

Shortbread Cookie Tart Shells
Adapted from a recipe by Ina Garten, The Barefoot Contessa

Makes about 36 shells

2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 sticks butter, cool room temperature
2/3 cup sugar
2 teaspoons ginger liqueur (or one teaspoon vanilla)
Baking spray

Preheat oven to 325F. Spray the wells of your mini-muffin pan with baking spray.

Whisk the flour and salt together in a bowl. Set aside.

In a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugar. Add the liqueur (or vanilla). Gradually add flour mixture on LOW speed and mix well. This is a stiff dough and your mixer will tell you when to STOP.

Dump the dough onto a piece of plastic wrap that has been dusted lightly with flour. Shape into a large disc, wrap, and refrigerate for about 15 minutes.

Pull your dough from the fridge and use a large knife or bench scraper to portion off about 1/3 of the dough. If your muffin pan has 12 wells, wrap and re-refrigerate the larger portion [If your muffin pan has 24 wells, wrap and re-refrigerate the smaller portion]. Portion into 12 [or 24] equal-sized balls, about 1″ in diameter. Drop a ball into each well. Press the ball into well, using your fingers to press the dough against the sides and shape a hollow in each, but not letting the crust rise above the rim of the well.

Bake for 8 minutes and remove from the oven. The shell will have puffed up in the center — gently use the back of a metal teaspoon to press a hollow in the center. Return to the oven and bake another 8 minutes. Remove from the oven while it’s a light golden brown. Again, the shell will have puffed up in the center — gently use the back of a metal teaspoon to press a hollow in the center. Let them cool just 3 or 4 minutes in the pan and then use a spatula to coax them out. Put on wax paper to finish cooling. Fill with lemon curd shortly before serving and garnish with candied lemon peel. Count on 2 or 3 bites per person (I ate 4 in one sitting and admit it was a bit too much LOL). The curd recipe above will fill about 24 of these mini tart shells.

In the interests of transparancy, you need to understand you are going to dirty up ALOT of dishes: