[cooking] Salsa Verde

Got all the ingredients for salsa verde in the CSA box a couple weeks ago:

Tomatillos, garlic scapes, japapenos, onions and cilantro (not pictured). I chopped and boiled it all:

Then blended it up with salt and cumin and garlic powder (since I didn't have any cloves to boil with the rest of the veg):

It was good on its own, to have with tortilla chips. The best way was over pulled pork enchiladas. 

This was so amazing, we had it for dinner twice:

I would love to make a huge pot of this salsa verde and can a lot for the winter.

[cooking] Stuffed Squash Blossoms

Last weekend I wanted to make some stuffed squash blossoms. I picked male flowers on Saturday morning:

YouTube videos helped me be able to identify the male vs. female flowers. I left the flowers alone all morning. While they were starting to close up, I made the ricotta cheese:

Ricotta is so easy. 1 qt whole milk + 1 cup cream. Bring to a boil. Add 4 tablespoons of lemon juice and stir slowly on a simmer for 2 min. Strain the curds into a kitchen towel over a colander. I chuck the acidic whey but you could use it in place of the water or milk any baking recipe (I've used it in breads in the past).

So the filling for the squash blossoms is a mix of fresh ricotta, Parmesan, mozzarella, minced garlic scapes, one egg, salt, pepper. 

While I did pluck off the whispy green things at the base of the flower, I left a little bit of stem to act as a handle. I stuffed the blossoms with a spoonful of the cheese mixture (this was the most fiddly part).

I heated up oil in a dutch oven and dragged the stuffed flowers through a plain batter. Fried for a few minutes on both sides.

Oh yeah, and I made some homemade marinara to go with it: saute minced garlic in olive oil, add Italian seasoning, add plain chunky tomatoes, simmer.

This was good. A little fussy. And the stems that I left were not rigid after frying, so I would cut them clean off to the base of the flower next time.

If there are still too many blossoms this weekend, I might pick more and just drape them on pizza. It's nice having fried food but then there's the leftover oil and you're tempted to fry everything in sight because you might as well while the oil is there.

I would definitely make these again for a special dinner.

[spinning] Tour de Fleece 2020

I quietly participated in Tour de Fleece this year. This is pretty much the only time I spin yarn any more. 

First, I worked on a colorful two-ply using fiber from Into the Whirled:

This is 8oz of fiber. Polwarth, I think.

Next was a rainbow gradient, about 4 or 5 oz, of soft fiber purchased at a Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival:

I chain-plied the skein to keep the colors together. I'm very excited to come up with a project for this.

Lastly, I spun 4oz of colorful wool into a low-twist single ply:

This yarn should make some nice stripes.

All the fiber I spun this year was very colorful. I'm so into rainbows and I'm especially thrilled when I catch one outside.

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My knitting mojo is starting to creep back. The weather is getting cooler... and this is the time of year when I'd really be ramping up projects to enter into the fair (no Tunbridge Fair this year). I'm working on a small shawl now that I should be able to finish in a night or two. Not sure what I'll cast on for next. I really want to make a concerted effort to start knitting things with all my handspun yarn...