Flatzas and Vegetables

I haven't been so much on the biweekly CSA updates, but that doesn't mean I haven't chronicled what we got.

I wasn't sure what to do with the cabbage.  I couldn't massage it into a salad.  But I probably could grill it, which is what I'd been doing with most of our vegetables in the summer heat.

Arthur Bryant-ified chicken, corn, mixed veggies, and the arrowhead cabbage, with a surprise inside. We emailed this photo to our parents with the caption "Nothing Is Safe (From Being Grilled)." 

Turkey bacon!  Since I love TB and Brussels sprouts, why can't cabbage go the same way?  We toothpicked some TB onto the cabbage, grilled it TB side down, then cut it up into a warm salad of charred goodness.  It reminded me of a few delicious "grilled Caesar salads" I've had in the past, including one at The Heights in Columbia Heights.

Beets! Onions! Chard!  Also, delish lettuce, cherries, broccoli, squash, corn, cucumber, parsley, and cilantro.

 Obviously I've been eating grilled veggies straight up.  The beets, zucchini, and summer squash are my favorite.  But sometimes I hold off and stick them on a pizza.  I buy Hannaford's multigrain dough because it is delicious.  I'm sure I'm capable of making my own pizza dough, but when it's so cheap and available, and I'm not exactly looking for things to do in my spare time, why not?

Mmmmm. Flatbread.  Major freeform.  Those yellow tomatoes were the bomb.

Stop, you're being ridiculous.

I know they aren't perfect circles (or squares).  They are freeform pizza/flatbread/things that are so delicious yet easy, and they don't make my kitchen a hotbox.

Stretch or roll out the dough to your desired misshapen shape.  Put it on the grill for 2-3 minutes.  Take off the grill (carefully!), flip over so your grilled side is up.  Put on your toppings, and return to the grill.  I suggest any combination of thinly sliced and grilled beets, potatoes, zucchini, squash, tomato chunks, goat cheese, turkey bacon, fresh mozzarella, Tofurkey sausage---whatever!  Get creative!  Or get lazy, and throw a store bought dough on the grill and top it with miscellaneous edibles.  However you slice it, it works.

This is from this past Tuesday.  Potatoes, more summer squash, peaches, green beans, which btw were delicious a few weeks ago. I trimmed some and took them to the Cape, forgot about them, then was surprised (and delighted) to have them as a snack with onion dip that was definitely not organic/CSA material, but it was Heluva Good.  I'm not totally sure what I want to do with the broccoli rabe.  Also, I'm a little excessive on potatoes right now - I bought too many sweet potatoes recently (for company) then promptly forgot to cook and serve them.  So now I have SPs and regular potatoes that need eatin'....it might be time to actually incorporate the vegetables into recipes, as opposed to eating them raw or lightly seasoned and grilled.  Perhaps it's time for African Peanut Soup!  I know this fall I'll be digging back into the archives for my fall CSA recipes.

For now I'll keep enjoying the simplicity of summer.  Take a beefsteak tomato, slice it, and put some goat cheese on top.  Who needs an oven?  Who needs a stovetop?  Not me.

Eat your veggies, and enjoy your week.