Recipe : Chicken Thistle Chili and Poblano Corn Bread

Chicken Thistle Chili and Poblano Corn Bread

For the chili:

2 TB oil oil
1 onion
1 green pepper
4 cloves garlic
1 lb ground beef or turkey
6-8 San Marzano tomatoes - peeled and chopped
3-4 cups tomato sauce - freshly made (or canned)
1 poblano pepper - roasted on grill  to blister skin, placed in brown bag for 10 min to steam, then peeled and chopped (seeds removed)
1-3 TB chili powder (to desired taste)
2 tsp salt
2 tsp fresh cracked pepper
1 TB cocoa powder
2 tsp smoked paprika
1 can cannellini beans
1 can black beans

To a stockpot, add the olive oil, onion, green pepper and garlic.  Saute for about 5 minutes.
Add ground beef or turkey to the pot and continue stirring until meat is fully cooked.
Stir  in San Marzano tomatoes and tomato sauce and heat to boiling.
Reduce to medium heat and add chili powder, salt, pepper, cocoa powder, and smoked paprika.
Allow to simmer for an hour.
Check taste and add additional chili powder, salt or paprika, if desired.
Add cannellini and black beans and allow to simmer for an additional 20 minutes.
Serve with warm poblano corn bread!

For the Poblano Corn Bread:

1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
3/4 cup corn meal
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup skim milk
1/4 cup canola oil
1 egg, beaten
1-2 poblano peppers, roasted on grill  to blister skin, placed in brown bag for 10 min to steam, then peeled and chopped (seeds removed)

Heat oven to 400.
Grease 8 inch pan.
Combine all ingredients and stir until well-mixed and moistened.
Pour into pan and bake for 25 minutes or until golden brown.
Serve warm but we've found it tastes even better the next day...  and even better the day after that.

Also - some people enjoy honey on their corn bread!

Still going...

We are starting to feel a little like the Energizer Bunny as the seasons are changing and the garden is still producing but beware - when it stops...  it will feel sudden!  But there's no complaints here this week because we are all still getting to enjoy the fruits of the labor!  So - the question everyone has asked week after week all summer now - what's in the box?

Tomatoes – This definitely has been the year of the tomato.  Last year, we had less than a 10th the number of  tomatoes!  Check out this week's recipe for making farm-fresh chili or consider making some fresh sauce with this collection of tomatoes, as it's the same variety featured in Wegman's Menu magazine this month - the very expensive San Marzano!

The cool weather has put the brakes on the green peppers - so there's a loner in here this week.  Ace is the variety.

Another bunch of kale - have you tried our kale salad, or kale chips or put some in stew?  Andy loves kale salads!

See those round things - look like tomatoes...  but are green and striped.  Those are Turkish Eggplant...  please teach us what to do with them :)

Here's a definite finale in the box - the last of the green beans- enjoy!

A container of hot peppers - hot banana peppers (light green - Hungarian Wax), Anaheim peppers (narrow green), a cherry bomb pepper (round, red, HOT!), and a few jalapenos.  Consider making quesadillas and you can decide how much hot pepper to add.  Hot peppers are excellent on sandwiches and great stuffed with cheeses.  Just don't cut them and then take your contacts out!

Image via Wikipedia

Several poblano peppers- these are the things that look like regular green peppers but are smaller and taper a lot at the end.  There are tons of recipes out there featuring poblanos.  They actually aren't really hot but do have an interesting and rich flavor when added to soups, stews, and chili. Search out some recipes and try them out.   You will be pleasantly surprised.  Don't want to use them now - smoke them or dry them in your dehydrator or oven and transform them into ancho peppers.

What can you do with your share this week?
-Try out our featured Chicken Thistle chili and poblano corn bread recipes.

-Go to epicurious.com and allrecipes.com and search for poblano.  There are over 150 recipes on epicurious alone featuring poblanos.    We plan to make a poblano corn chowder and some chicken-stuffed poblanos later this week. (we already made poblano corn bread to go with the chili on Sunday!)

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• Foodsday Tuesday: Pepper Season (phillyist.com)

Recipe: Farm Fresh Edamame (steamed or boiled)

Image via Wikipedia

Recipe: Farm Fresh Edamame (steamed or boiled)

Summary: Once you have fresh edamame you will feel bad for the beans they serve you in restaurants

Ingredients

Farm Fresh Edamame

Boiling Water

Sea Salt flakes

Instructions

1. Edamame can be boiled or steamed. (we typically steam it) Bring water to a boil in steamer or sauce pan. To steam, place pods in steamer for 5 minutes. To boil, add pods to boiling water for 5 minutes. For both methods, after 5 minutes, remove from steamer or boiling water, place in bowl and add 2 tsp sea salt (or more if desired). To eat, place one end of the pod up in your mouth and squeeze the other end. The beans will pop out right into your mouth. You can also bite lightly into the pod to bite the beans into your mouth. You should be able to taste the salt as well as the beans! The pods are not eaten so have an extra bowl for discarding empty pods!

Quick Notes

Have you had edamame before? We love it and this is the first year we've had real success producing a lot of it (and without the deer finding it). If you want to learn a little bit more about this soybean variety known as edamame, check out this link.

Variations

Cook, pop the beans out and toss into salads or other dishes for an awesome treat!

Cooking time (duration): 5

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Ohh - if you missed it - edamame is just a special variety of soybean...  but don't think you will get good flavor from the farmers cow feed field!

Recipe: "You Choose" Eggplant Parmesan

Recipe: "You Choose" Eggplant Parmesan

Summary: Baked or fried - this is yummy!

Ingredients

• 3 fairytale eggplants, cut into 1 inch pieces or 1 large eggplant, cut into 1/2 inch slices


• 1 egg, beaten (Add 1-2 T of water to your egg to get it nice and fluffy)


• 1/2 cup flour (needed for fried recipe only)


• 3 cups of Italian seasoned bread crumbs


• 4 cups pasta sauce (we make a fresh marinara with our tomatoes and herbs)


• 8 oz of mozzarella cheese, shredded (you can add more if you want it extra cheesy)


• 1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese


• 1/2 teaspoon dried basil or several leaves of chopped fresh basil

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees


2. For baked eggplant: Dip eggplant slices in egg, then in bread crumbs. Place in a single layer on a baking sheet. Place in preheated oven for 10 minutes - 5 minutes per side). For fried eggplant - Dip eggplant slices in flour, then egg, then bread crumbs. Place in a fry pan with 5-8 T of olive oil and fry until golden colored.


3. In a baking dish, spread pasta sauce to cover bottom. Place a layer of the baked or fried eggplant slices in the sauce. Sprinkle with mozzarella and parmesan cheese. Sprinkle dry basil on top. If using fresh basil, sprinkle on top during last 5 minutes of baking.


4. Bake in oven at 350 degrees for 35 minutes or until golden brown.

Quick Notes

The baked or fried fairytale eggplant pieces make great snacks by themselves! Try them out. Also, these pieces can be frozen in that state and just reheated later. This entire dish can also be made in full and then frozen. Just pull it out of the freezer to reheat!

Meal type: dinner

My rating: 5 stars:  ????? 1 review(s)

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• Eggplant Lasagna Recipe (notecook.com)

Recipe: Zucchini Marinara

Ever start to feel like you are swimming in summer squash (of any type)?  This is a super simple recipe we collected back a few years ago that takes the best of the season right now and makes a delicious tomato based marinara sauce that great over pasta or for just dipping good bread into it.  Best part is - if you need a break - this freezes really well!

Recipe: Zucchini Marinara

Ingredients

• 2-3 TB olive oil


• 1 onion - chopped


• 2 cloves garlic - crushed


• 1 large zucchini - cut into large moon-shape chunks - roughly 1/2 inch each


• 1 1/2 cups of crushed or chopped tomatoes


• 2-3 TB sugar (optional and to taste)


• 3/4 cup chopped fresh basil


• salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

1. Cook garlic and onion in olive oil until just softened.


2. Add chopped zucchini and cook until softened.


3. Add crushed tomatoes, sugar and 1/2 cup of the basil and mix. Add salt and pepper to taste.


4. Simmer covered for 30-45 minutes.


5. Stir in the other 1/4 cup of basil.


6. Sprinkle with fresh parmesan cheese and serve alone or over pasta.

Quick Notes

You can also modify this recipe by adding in other herbs, cannellini beans, greens such as kale or meat such as chicken or shrimp.

Meal type: dinner

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