turkey meatballs for B :)

Parsley Turkey Meatballs

Again, its been awhile...this grad school thing is really getting in the way of blogging about food! And I guess, to be honest with myself, I have let crafting take on the role of major source of procrastination lately. I'm still cooking, but for some reason just not getting around to writing about it :(

This little project, though, was inspired by my dear friend B, who has moved far, far away! We were talking about writing recipes and I thought it would be good to start with something simple so she suggested meatballs. That always sounds good to me! Since its the fall, I decided to make them into a soup and use some CSA veggies, namely the spinach, to make a spinach and rice soup (in a veggie broth) with turkey meatballs, to really make it a meal.

Recipe-

Ingredients:
1 lb. ground turkey (dark meat)
2 eggs, lightly beaten
2 Tbs chopped parsley
1/4 c grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 c bread crumbs
Salt & Pepper to taste

Directions:

Mix all ingredients together in a medium bowl. Heat pan (preferably a cast iron 12 inch skillet) over medium high heat. Form meatballs - I made small meatballs, about 3/4 inch in diameter, since I was using these for a soup. Feel free to make them what ever size you want, and adjust cooking time accordingly. Again, since these were destined for a soup, I just browned them and let them finish cooking in the broth. Spinach and Rice soup with Turkey Meatballs
(in a new bowl I just made - oh crafts!)

One thing that I think is helpful in a recipe is to give the ingredients in the order that they will be used (not so important in this example) and also in the form that they will be added if possible. I think that this helps cooks get there mise en place together, even if they don't tend to do this consciously.

The winter CSA

So this is my first year with a winter CSA share. Its exciting to have a steady flow of veggies through the winter, but I am a little concerned about the variety, or lack there of. I've heard lots of complaints from those in last year's winter share that there was just too much of too few a variety, and lots of heavy roots can get tiresome. I have to admit, though, I love the heavy, savory root veggies of the winter and I look forward to the challenge of finding new ways to use them. For me, soup is always a "go to" option to incorporate just about anything all year round, but in winter I especially enjoy a bowl of warming and hearty soup with a little crusty bread on the side. I really enjoyed incorporating sweet potatoes into this classic black bean soup recipe; it gave the soup a nice contrast to the black beans - with the sweet and toothsome potato cubes - while adding a nice splash of color in an otherwise gloomy looking soup. To do this just add peeled, cubed cooked sweet potatoes, from one or two sweet potatoes, to your favorite black bean soup recipe. If you can, boil the potatoes in the stock you are using before adding the beans, it will add even more flavor to the soup. Take half of the solids out (in this case it was onions, beans and the sweet potatoes) and puree the soup directly in the pot with an immersion blender, then return the solids to the pot and season with salt and pepper and bring back to a simmer.

The magic and mysteries of soup

Fall is here and I can really see it in the CSA share these days. We are now transitioning from all the lovely summer veggies to nice, hearty produce like the beautiful savoy cabbage, sweet potatoes, carrots, and of course squash of all kinds (including, acorn, dumpling, sunshine, butternut and buttercup). Squash can be a little intimidating to make and it does take a little time and care to prepare. This is especially true if you want to peel it and cube which can be a challenge for anyone (darn those sturdy skins!). I find myself roasting them a lot, particularly if I don't know what I'm going to make!

Last week I had some time and roasted a buttercup squash that I made into a delicious "pumpkin" cornmeal cake (alas, I forgot to take picture, but I'm sure I will make it again), and the rest of the squash turned into my favorite chocolate chip squash bread recipe (which I posted here last winter). Yesterday I had a little time, and a lot of squash from this week's share, so I cut an acorn squash in half and roasted it in a greased baking dish at 375 for about 45 minutes. I didn't yet have a plan for it, but I knew that if I roasted it the idea would come. This is also great for me, since I work a pretty full day on Fridays and would be a little pressed for time when I get home. When I finally did get home I decided to make Diane's Friend's "Pumpkin and Cheddar" soup. I happened to have everything on hand, including some home-made veggie stock in the fridge (which I substituted for the chicken stock in the recipe). I love making veggie stock and freezing it for later with all of the wonderful veggie scraps I have left over from prepping everything. Its great to have on hand and is a great last use for these scraps before they head to the compost bin!
The soup was delicious, which I already knew since Diane had made it last week. I love the smooth creamy texture and sweet and spicy flavors. I also added a bit of smoked salt to give a little more smokey flavor as well.

This recipe was featured this week in our CSA newsletter.