Sunday, October 31, 2010

Tilapia with Succotash and Turnip and Kohlrabi Au Gratin

Tonight's Supper utilized 5 CSA ingredients: Green Beans, 2 Roma Tomatoes, 1 large Tomato, 1 small bunch of Turnips, and 2 Kohlrabi

The Tilapia was the quick easy part of this dish. I just cut the fillets in half length wise (for portion control), salted and peppered both sides, then pan cooked them in a little olive oil and lemon juice in a non stick skillet on medium heat for about 2 minutes on each side. The only downside is that they fall apart pretty easily when cooked. (Hence the fish pieces on the plate).

Here are the Succotash ingredients:

2 Roma Tomatoes
1 large Tomato
1 medium Tomato (from grocery store)
Green Beans
2 ears of Corn
2 tbsp butter
salt and pepper

First, I washed and cut the ends off the green beans. Then I cut the green beans into chunks, about 1 1/2 inch long:

Then, I blanched the green beans in salted boiling water for 5 minutes, drained, and set aside.

Next, I cut the corn off the two ears of corn and set aside.

Then I peeled the tomatoes. For those of you who have never peeled a tomato, it is actually very easy. You slice a small cross in the tomato on the side opposite the stem. Then you drop the tomato in boiling water for 30 seconds. Then you drop it in ice water for 1 minute. The peel comes right off with your fingers very easily.Then I chopped the tomatoes into about 1 inch chunks. Here are the prepared ingredients:

Then I added the tomatoes, corn, butter, and salt and pepper to a sauce pan. I brought the mixture to a boil, then simmered it for 10 minutes. then I added the Green Beans and simmered for another 10 minutes. In the end, it was a beautiful dish:

This dish tasted very good, and is a beautiful way to honor the ingredients by not altering them too much. This Succotash came out a little acidic for my tastes. This could be because one of the Roma Tomatoes was still a little green. I have also never made this with Green Beans before. In the past, I have always used Lima Beans, which add more starch to the dish and probably do a better job cutting the acid of the tomatoes.

Here are the ingredients for the Turnip and Kohlrabi Au Gratin:

6 slices of white bread
1 bunch of small turnips
2 kohlrabi
1/2 medium onion
4 oz. Gruyere Cheese
salt and pepper

First, I took a small casserole dish and sprayed it with pam. Then I washed and sliced the turnips and Kohlrabi:

Then I blanched the turnips and Kohlrabi in salted boiling water for 3 minutes, drained them, and set them aside.

I tore the white bread into strips. First, I put a single layer of white bread strips in the casserole dish. Then I put one layer of turnip/Kohlrabi slices. Next I salted and peppered the the layer of turnips and kohlrabi. Then, I sliced the onion very thin and put it in the dish in a single layer. Then I grated 4 oz of the cheese, and put half of the grated cheese in the dish as a layer. Next, I put on an additional layer of bread, turnips/kohlrabi, the rest of the cheese, then salt and pepper on top. Here is what the casserole looked like going into the oven:

I baked it at 325 for 25 minutes. Then turned the broiler on for about 3 minutes to get a nice brown on top:

I was working from a recipe from simply recipes. Since I had the Kohlrabi and had not yet been brave enough to use it, I decided to toss it in with the turnips. This dish tasted fantastic. Occasionally, I cook something that is seriously restaurant quality, this is one of those dishes. The Gruyere was a bit of a splurge, but I was happy to find it at Publix, it cost $6, and I only used half of it. Plus now I have another fun ingredient on hand to experiment with for next week's CSA delivery.

Supper:


Here is a picture of our plates:


All I have left from the CSA is 3/4 of a medium green bell pepper (I will slice it and eat it raw at lunch tomorrow), and about 1/2 dozen large beets. I will probably roast the beets tomorrow night.

Speaking of tomorrow night, we will have roasted beets and leftovers. Tuesday I am making a beef roast in the crock pot with carrots, onions, and new potatoes. This is a comfort food, and nothing spectacular or interesting, so I will probably not post the recipe. However, Tuesday is the next CSA delivery, so I will be checking in with the new ingredients!

1 comment:

  1. The gratin looks amazing, and so easy (once you get the veggies chopped and blanched, anyway...).

    Just a quick warning. I don't know if you eat beets regularly or not, So I'll offer this for anyone who might not know. The coloring in beets doesn't break down in the body,so (depending on how much you eat) it can change the color of body waste.

    A roommate once thought her kidney had (painlessly) exploded... until then I just figured everyone knew... Oops.

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