Local Box 07.16.2008

As I write this now, a fellow on the radio is talking about how expensive food is.  But this week’s Greenling Local Box was quite a deal!  Here’s what I plan to do with the fruits of my $34.99 this week:

  • We LOVED the watermelonade we made last week, so we’ll do it again this week.  A good-sized batch will only use half of this gi-normous watermelon, though, so we’re thinking of turning the other half to sorbet that we can enjoy later in the summer.
  • For dinner tonight, we’re planning to create an eggplant pasta dish, probably this one I found at epicurious.com by searching for the terms eggplant, basil, bell pepper, and pasta — since I still have basil leftover from last week and I’ve got a hankerin’ for pasta.
  • As soon as I empty my salad spinner of the basil it’s kept so well all week, I’ll use it to rinse, spin, and store the lettuce in this week’s box for salads later in the week.
  • As always, we’ll eat the peaches and blueberries straight-up or over yogurt in the mornings.
  • I’m planning to slice the zucchini and summer squash into ribbons, then cook them like pasta and sprinkle with olive oil, salt, and pepper — it’s an idea I got during a conversation with Todd Duplechan, the chef de cuisine at Trio (the restaurant in the Four Seasons Austin) last weekend.
  • I can’t wait to fry the okra per the comment to last week’s post about okra!
  • I’m undecided on the mint.  I’ve been longing for mint tea, but there’s also nothing like homemade mint-chocolate-chip ice cream…
  • And then there are the three mystery items in my box this week — some small onions, a pair of small white squash, and two bright-green peppers!  I’ll query Fearless Forager about these and let you know what she says.

In the meantime, what are you planning to cook out of your Local Box this week?

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Ok, I made coo coo last night and it was AMAZING! I was a little worried my husband wouldn't like it because it's a little, shall we say - different? But he loved it! I made this version:
http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=1662940
I also served steamed sweet potatoes on the side. I think the combination of the coo coo, tomato sauce, and sweet potatoes really brought the dish together. The individual parts are probably not as good by themselves.

Ha ha - I didn't realize that was almost out of cornmeal so I was forced to just make the old standby of stewed tomatoes and okra. However, I got some cornmeal this weekend and since I expect to get more okra in my box tomorrow, I plan to try it this week!!

Shannon, How did your coo coo turn out?!

I am planning to make coo coo with the okra! I've never made it before but it sounds interesting - and who can resist something called coo coo? :)
It is the national dish of Barbados, and it's basically a polenta with okra. I've heard it's also good with a tomato sauce on top. Do a google search as there are several recipe variations out there. If it turns out good I will let you know!

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  1. [...] I’m dying to try okra “coo coo” using the recipe Shannon recommended in her comments to this post. [...]

  2. [...] Last night I whipped up some “coo coo,” a Barbadian dish Shannon had recommended in a comment last week.  Coo coo is kind of like a Caribbean spin on polenta — cornmeal cooked to a thick [...]