Boston Organics Box 1
I signed up for a service recently called Boston Organics (www.bostonorganics.com). This company delivers organic food from local farmers markets right to your door in the city. All I do is request a certain size box, and the specific proportion of fruits to vegetables (I chose 75% veggie 25% fruit) and once a week I come home from work and there is a giant box of produce sitting in my apartment. I figured this would be fun because I have no idea what is coming in the box until it arrives; whatever is fresh that week is what I get. The box came this past tuesday evening and I was somewhat overwhelmed at first but managed to wash and sort everything. It is exciting trying to come up with new dishes based around what comes in the mystery box. Here is the breakdown of what arrived…$39 2/3 vegetable
2 lbs Fair Trade Bananas (Ecuador)
3 Fuji Apples (Chile)
2 Pluots (CA)
1 Red Grapefruit (CA)
3 Valencia Oranges (CA)
3 Yellow Nectarines (CA)
1 bunch Broccoli (CO)
1 head Celery (CA)
1 bunch Collard Greens (MA)
1 Cucumbers (MA)
1 Green Bell Peppers (PA)
1 bunch Kale (MA)
1 lbs Mixed Summer Squash (MA)
1 2oz Pea Shoots (MA)
1 head Romaine Lettuce (MA)
1.5 lbs Sweet Potatoes (NC)
1 lbs Vidalia Onions (GA)
Tuesday night, I made a grilled summer squash and mint salad with Valencia orange zest and supremes along side a grilled salmon and roasted sweet potatoes. With this dish we opened the 2007 Laetitia Pinot Noir which was lush and elegant. Tons of ripe plum and other dark fruits layered with a perfect balance of earth and spice; excellent with the grilled salmon.
Last night I was in the mood for some comfort food. I made braised chicken legs and thighs with some wilted garlic kale and rosemary fingling potatoes. The chicken was braised in the reduction of an entire bottle of northern Italian white, fresh thyme, lemon, chicken stock, and some other aromatics. After about an hour and half, crispy skin on the outside, fall off the bone tender and juicy on the inside. I strained and reduced the braising liquid and turned it into a rich and velvety sauce (with the help of a little butter) to drizzle over the chicken. If you have never braised or slow cooked chicken legs/thighs before I highly reccomend it. The slow cooking brings out such rich flavors of the dark meat and the texture is tremendous. This dish screamed White Burgundy so I turned to one of our “go-to” wines, the 2006 Vincent Girardin Emotion de Terroirs. Perfect balance between tropical fruit and oak. Creamy, buttery on the palate but not over powering. This wine over delivers everytime; like a baby Puligny Montrachet.
For dessert, I halved a few of the nectarines and pluots, rubbed them in some granulated sugar and grilled them for about 4-5 minutes. The grill really brings out the natural sweetness of the fruit; I don’t even think that the extra sugar was necessary. I drizzled some syrupy balsamic reduction over the warm stone fruits. Vanilla ice cream would have been nice but I didn’t have any. Try this quick and easy dessert at your next BBQ.
