Everyday Food’s Dinner Tonight recently posted some no-recipe, quick dinner ideas. During the summer months, one of my favorite quick dinner strategies is to make a salad using the bounty of that week’s CSA delivery. The general formula is to cook a quick-cooking grain, usually quinoa or cous cous, mix with fruit (fresh or dried) and protein (chicken, pork &/or nuts) and serve atop the fresh greens with a simple vinaigrette. This is even quicker when you have leftover meat on hand. Last week, I had some peaches from the market, pork chops, and there were sweet onions, garlic scape, basil and lettuce in the CSA bag. Later in the summer when tomatoes are plentiful I often make a tomato/basil/mozzarella version. But in the meantime, the first summer peaches called for pork. Here’s what we wound up with this past week.

Recipe: Peachy Pork Quinoa Salad

Ingredients:

• 1 c quinoa
• 1 c chicken or vegetable broth
• 1 c water
• 2 boneless pork chops
• salt
• smoked paprika
• olive oil
• 1 sweet/yellow onion, thinly sliced
• 1 garlic scape or 1 garlic clove, chopped
• 1/3 c chopped almonds
• 2 peaches, chopped
• 6 leaves basil, chopped
• 1 head lettuce, rinsed
• red wine vinegar and/or lemon juice
• salt and pepper

Instructions:

Place quinoa, broth and water in small saucepan and bring to a boil. Stir, reduce heat to low, cover and cook for 10 minutes. Water should be completely absorbed.

While quinoa cooks, heat 1 T olive oil in frying pan over medium high heat. Add onions and cook 6-8 minutes, until golden brown. (If using garlic clove, add to pan for last 1-2 minutes.) Remove from pan. Season pork chops with salt and smoked paprika (or your favorite seasoned salt) and cook 3-4 minutes per side (less if using thin-cut chops). Remove, let sit while assembling salad.

Assemble salad - gently mix almonds, peaches and basil into quinoa. Arrange lettuce, top with onions, garlic scape and quinoa mixture. Slice pork chops and place on top.

Vinaigrette: mix 2 T each olive oil and red wine vinegar, add salt, pepper and a splash of lemon juice.

Makes 2-4 servings.

This Presto Pasta Night dish meets two of my healthier cooking goals — whole grains added by using buckwheat soba rather than a standard white pasta, and added greens by incorporating fresh chard. The sauce was inspired by a Coconut Shrimp Soup recipe from Martha’s Everyday Food.

Recipe: Coconut Shrimp Soba
adapted from Everyday Food

Ingredients:

• 1 lb. shrimp, peeled (thawed, if frozen)
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 garlic scape*, chopped (optional)
• 1 T fresh ginger, grated
• 1 small bunch chard*
• 2 T olive oil
• 1 can (13.5 oz) coconut milk
• 1 t corn starch
• 2 green onions*, sliced
• 4-5 leaves basil*
• juice of 1 lime
• red pepper flakes or chili garlic sauce
• soba noodles

Instructions: Cook soba according to package instructions. While pasta cooks, heat olive oil in saucepan over medium heat. Add garlic, scape and ginger and cook 1 minute. Add chard, saute 2 minutes. Add coconut milk and bring to a boil. Add shrimp and cook 1 minute (if pre-cooked, 4 minutes if uncooked). Stir in lime juice, basil and green onions and remove from heat. Add red pepper/chili sauce to taste and toss with cooked soba noodles. (I dish up the toddler’s first, then add the peppers.)

Notes: Pre-cooked and peeled frozen shrimp is a handy freezer staple for quick weeknight meals. I bought Florida Key West Pink Shrimp this time, which prompted a mock complaint from the husband that it wasn’t local enough. Well, local is relative when buying seafood at Whole Foods … or most grocery stores. Buying seafood sustainably is a difficult endeavor, so when in doubt I often settle for buying American.

* Local ingredients from our Potomac Vegetable Farms CSA.

Submitted to Presto Pasta Nights, created by Once Upon A Feast and hosted this week by Scientist in the Kitchen.

Don’t Forget: Comment to help farmers, and enter to win!

I had been on the hunt for Rainier cherries ever since Ramona reported buying them the weekend I was out of town. I hadn’t realized they were grown on this coast. I finally spotted some at the West End market last Sunday and snatched them up — only to discover another farmer had them cheaper. Oh well, they were worth it. I love the slight tartness and sweet aroma. Which, incidentally, pairs wonderfully with gin.

Other local highlights this week included corn and peaches appearing at our Alexandria markets (Del Ray and West End), flavorful yellow cherry tomatoes, and sweet onions in our CSA bag.

We had cherries twice Sunday, first, brunch of challah French toast with yogurt, honey and Rainier cherries:

And for dinner, grilled pork chops with Rainier cherry glaze and grilled corn-on-the-cob:

Recipe: Sweet Cherry Glaze

Ingredients:

• 2 c. slightly tart cherries, Rainier or Queen Anne’s are ideal, halved and pitted
• 2 T honey
• 2 T red wine vinegar
• 1 t corn starch
• 1 t water

Instructions: In small saucepan, combine all ingredients and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer for 20 minutes. Dissolve corn starch in water. Gently smash cherries with back of spoon to release juices, stir in corn starch mixture and cook 1 minute more. Serve warm over pork chops, chicken or fish.

In tribute to the beginning of peach season, I bought Dogfish Head’s Festina Peche (DE, 117 mi.), a great summery brew released every year on June 1.

Another local treat was the rich and creamy, organic Moorenko’s Creme Fraiche ice cream, made in McLean, VA (15 mi.), and sold at local Whole Foods.

Other dishes using local produce this week included smashed cherry tomato fusili, and CSA salad with leftover pork, peaches, basil, sweet onions, garlic scape, basil, almonds, quinoa and lettuce.

Farmers/Producers:

• Basil, scapes, lettuce, sweet onions - Potomac Vegetable Farms CSA, VA, 23mi.
• Rainier cherries - Westmoreland Berry Farm, VA, 71mi.
• Yogurt, Pequea Valley Farms, PA, 132mi.
• Honey, Toigo Orchards, PA, 114mi.
• Onions, cherry tomatoes - J&W Valley View Farm, VA, 84mi
• Pork chops - Fauquier County, VA, 67mi. (via Let’s Meat on the Avenue)

Don’t forget: share your favorite food memory and help flooded family farms!

A farmer in Johnson County, Iowa, surveys flood devastation.
Photo by Amy Spencer, used by permission.

As a locavore, it’s easy to take a somewhat myopic view of the world. I admit to seeing the flooding in the Midwest and thinking how fortunate it is that nearly all the produce we buy comes from right here in the mid-Atlantic. I have never seen Iowa except from the air, but I know there are small, family farms struggling to survive even when weather is good. Reports of four million acres of farmland underwater are hard to comprehend. But it is clear that the impact to all farms, commercial or not, will impact already sky-rocketing food prices, which has a disproportionate effect on those least able to afford a locavore diet. I hope you will check out Farm Aid’s Family Farm Disaster Fund, which is supporting local farming organizations in the affected states, and join me in contributing to their relief efforts. After all, locavores need to band together to support farm sources near and far.

You can also show your support by participating in the first-ever FoodieTots give-away. At a Slow Food DC dinner back in May, we received a cookbook titled Kitchen Memories. The book shares personal stories of treasured family recipes from around the world. I’ve already shared my strawberry shortcake memories that turn my thoughts back to my native Oregon every June. So I’d like to hear, what is your favorite local food childhood memory?

Please share in the comments. For every comment, FoodieTots will donate $1 to the Farm Aid fund*. You will also be entered to win a copy of Kitchen Memories and a bonus “No Farms No Food” bumper sticker, courtesy of the American Farmland Trust. I will collect entries until midnight July 17 and feature my favorite stories the weekend of July 19.
So share away!

*Fine print: will donate $1 per the first 100 comments, additional donations to be determined by the response!

This simple no-cook, make-ahead summer soup is the perfect starter for your July 4th barbecue. Refreshing and cool, with a touch of jalapeno heat, it’s just the thing to warm up the taste buds for whatever’s on the grill!

Recipe: Watermelon Gazpacho

Ingredients:

• 1 jalapeno, seeded
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1 red onion
• juice of 1 lime
• 2 c jicama, peeled and chopped
• 6 c watermelon, chopped

Instructions: Coursely chop jalapeno, garlic and onion and chop in food processor until fine. Add jicama, chop, then add watermelon 2 cups at a time. Process until nearly smooth. Stir in lime juice and pour into glass bowl or serving dishes. Cover and chill several hours or overnight. Garnish with fresh parsley or cilantro and enjoy!
Makes 6 servings.

Notes: I bought one of the smaller watermelons at the grocery and used just over a quarter of it - so you can easily get 2-3 times this recipe from one melon, if you need to feed a larger crowd. And if you really need to make it red, white and blue, swirl in a little yogurt and top with a couple blueberries before serving.