The Wednesday Weekly Reheat

 THE WEEKLY REHEAT

The review will consist of the following: What I ate, What I liked about it; What I didn’t like about it; Any additions I made to it; What I cooked it in; A score that will be out of ♥♥♥♥♥ with 5 being the highest in the lovin’ factor – Enjoy!

- Nut free, fresh basil and garlic pesto served with pan roasted Pete's Greens chicken breast on farfalle pasta:  To make the pesto, Chef Z used 1 bunch of fresh Basil from the week 1 share, 6 cloves of garlic (!!), and Parmesan cheese all in the blender and then drizzled extra virgin olive oil until it reached the desired consistency.  After this was made, Chef Z had it sit in the fridge while the pasta cooked and he pan roasted the Statler chicken breast that had been seasoned with salt & pepper from one of the chickens he had broken down.  Once the chicken was cooked, the skin was removed and the small wing part were eaten as a yummy appetizer.  I love fried chicken skin!!!  The rest of the breast rested and then was sliced into bite size pieces.  Once the pasta was completed, the chicken and pesto were tossed in with it along with some milk to make the pesto go farther.  The meal was served with grated mozzarella on top.  Rating: ♥♥♥♥.  I found the basil and garlic to be spicy and stong on their own but with the addition of the milk it made a great pesto cream sauce.  For a easy, quick throw together meal, this was great!  Sadly there were no leftovers as there wasn't enough sauce!  Next time we are hoping to preserve a batch for other tasty uses.

- Radish Green Pesto on Spaghetti with a poached egg (adapted with lots of changes from Chocolate & Zucchini):  Honestly, I didn't even know that radish greens were edible until I did a Google search.  As luck may have it, they are and so nothing will be going to waste if we can help it!  What I have found is that alone, or in a salad, I'm not a fan as they are very bitter, so it was necessary for me to find a recipe.  This was not a Chef Z creation but a "fending for myself/I'm STARVING" creation which included the following ingredients: 1 bunch of greens from 1 bunch of radishes (stems removed), 1 oz of Cabot cheddar cheese grated or sliced with a veggie peeler, 1 oz of raw almonds, 2 tiny cloves of garlic, 1 cap of concentrated organic lemon juice, 1-10 second long drizzle of extra virgin olive oil all in a 3 cup food processor.  I pulsed the ingredients until mixed then added more olive oil as needed.  I already had the water boiling before I started with the assumption that if it turned out like crap I could use spaghetti sauce on the noodles instead and still be fed in record time.  Once the noodles were cooked (it was about 4oz before cooking) I added about 2 tbsp of the pesto.  Turns out it was nice, mild and nutty!  And since I have extra that I covered with olive oil as Chocolate & Zucchini recommended I have an even faster meal for next time!  I took the left over pasta to work that night (I had made a double batch on purpose) and it definitely held up to a 1 1/2 minute cook time in my Mr. Bento's big container.  Rating: ♥♥♥♥♥ since it was easy, stress free, reheats well, and uses part of a plant that I would have thrown away! 

-Homemade Cheddar and Fresh Chive Baking Powder Biscuits: This was an easy one.  Take your favorite baking powder biscuit recipe (I used Joy of Cooking) and add 6 oz (3/4 c.) Cheddar and 2/3 rds of a bunch chives, chopped.  Bake as recommended until golden brown.  Yummm.  I think I ate half of them...straight out of the oven. Rating: ♥♥♥♥ I think that next time I will use butter instead of Crisco like I did this time (trying to clean out the pantry!) I think it would improve the texture and taste.
-CSA Dump Soup:  Probably like everyone who has ever had a CSA or a garden, we were trying to figure out how to use up some of our old produce.  Chef Z made a soup of homemade chicken stock, turnip greens, escarole, left over Spicy Italian Beef Sausage, and cured pork belly.  It turned out really well!  I suspect that there will be many dump soups in our future!  Rating: ♥♥♥♥♥ Really favorable soup!  It will be great for rainy days this summer and it can be frozen for a quick dinner in the future!

Other than these dishes, I ate a lot of salads this week with a homemade dill dressing that included homemade mayonnaise, yogurt, dill, Worcestershire, hot sauce, parsley,salt and pepper.  I usually do vinaigrette but I had a little yogurt to use up before we go on vacation!  I also had sauteed greens in omelets and over couscous.  Stay tuned to see what we get tomorrow!!

---- M.B.