Good Old Fashioned Grilled Cheese: Revs 2, Chivas USA 3.

I really should have posted about this two weeks ago. I know. But summer is waning, so I've been trying to spend as little time as possible seated at a computer. Sorry...

Anyways. Grilled cheese is pretty straightforward. Even on a camping grill.

It is also Chris's younger brother, Michael's, favorite food. Naturally, it was an ideal choice for Michael's first ever MLS game and tailgate.

Chris and Michael enjoying pre-game festivities

My grandmother has taught me how to make Weight Watchers microwaved grilled cheese on no fewer than twenty occasions. No offense to Grandma (or to Weight Watchers), but I think Weight Watchers grilled cheese is rubbish. In my opinion, the secret of excellent grilled cheese is fourfold:

1. Use really good bread (in our case, Nashoba Brook Bakery rosemary garlic bread).
2. Choose a cheese that has good stretching properties (in our case, muenster. I am also fond of swiss).
3. Use BUTTER. You're eating a grilled cheese. You're not fooling anyone into thinking it's health food. You may as well be generous with the butter.
4. Do not cook it in a microwave.

I also always use whole grain mustard on my grilled cheese, but I don't think that's an essential ingredient. Some people just don't like mustard. I happen to be a little obsessed with it.

As for the game: Chris and Michael got bumped up to the President's Club, where they enjoyed sideline seats!

At the beginning of the game, Michael pointed to Revs player Diego Fagundez's name in the game program, demanding of Chris "1995?!" (presumably in disbelief). For those who can't do math, that makes Diego sixteen years old. To our surprise, Diego made his professional soccer debut that night. To our delight, he drew a penalty and scored a goal. Go, Diego, go indeed. So this is what it feels like to be excited about something. The Revs lost, but somehow it still felt promising.

Diego prepares to enter the game. Yes, his hair is for real.

Unfortunately, the excitement was short-lived. If you follow the Revs, you know this by our two most recent results. If you don't follow the Revs, well, they're having a tough time finishing the job these days.

But we're still having a good time in the parking lot.

Farm Share Smörgåsbord: Revs 1, Manchester United 4

Yes, this post is two weeks late. No, I do not have an excuse. Other than the fact that while I've NOT been posting, the Revs have, for the most part, NOT been losing. We won't count the rock bottom loss to the Union.

In hindsight: The game vs. Man U was a pain in the ass to get to. I am accustomed to there being no traffic en route to Gillette Stadium In The Middle Of Nowhere. Mostly because the game allegedly drew three times this season's average attendance. In spite of the crappy traffic, I welcome casual and fairweather soccer fans to Gillette, because, hey, if you'll make the trip all the way to Foxborough for a soccer game, you're all right in my book.

We made two dishes for this game, both inspired by the contents of our farm share. And both adapted from one of my go-to cookbooks: Vegetarian Food for Friends by Jane Noraika. I forgot my camera day-of-game, so you're limited to these two sad iPhone photos. But the cookbook has lovely photos of both dishes.

Recipe 1:

Zucchini and Patty Pans

infused with mint and balsamic vinegar

adapted from Jane Noraika, Vegetarian Food for Friends

Ingredients
  1 lb. yellow and green baby patty pan squashes, cut in half (or whatever squashes you have on hand, really)
  1/3 cup olive oil
  2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
  3/4 cup pine nuts lightly toasted in a dry skillet
  1 handful fresh mint leaves, coarsely chopped
  3 zucchini, cut lengthwise into 1/8 inch slices
  sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Preparation
1. Put the patty pans on a preheated grill or stove-top grill pan. Cook on each side about 5 minutes or until tender, turning over when starting to brown.
2. When cooked transfer to a long serving dish. Pour over the oil and vinegar and sprinkle with pine nuts, mint, salt and pepper.
3. Cook the sliced zucchini on the grill for just 1-2 minutes per side. Add to the patty pan mixture and turn to coat. Cover and marinate for about 2 hours in the refrigerator, then serve.

*In case you're wondering, this is what patty pan squashes look like:

Recipe 2:
Lemon, Fennel, and Scallions
on grilled dill polenta
adapted from Jane Noraika, Vegetarian Food for Friends

Ingredients
DILL POLENTA
   3 tablespoons unsalted butter
   1 tablespoon olive oil
   1 1/2 cups polenta
   1 1/2 oz. fresh parmesan cheese, grated
   handful fresh dill, coarsely chopped
   se salt and freshly ground black pepper
MARINATED FENNEL
   2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
   3 tablespoons olive oil
   2 garlic cloves, crushed
   2 bulbs fennel, sliced
   sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
MARINATED SCALLIONS
   8 scallions
   1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
   1 tablespoon olive oil
   sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
TO SERVE
   1 1/2 oz fresh parmesan cheese, grated
   grated zest of 1/2 unwaxed lemon
   sea salt

You'll also need
   A jelly roll pan, 12x10 inches, lightly greased
   A cookie cutter or glass, 3 1/2 inches in diameter

Preparation
1. To make polenta, melt the butter and oil in medium saucepan. Add 5 cups water and bring to a boil. Pour in polenta in a steady stream, beating all the time. Continue to cook according to package direction, until the grainy texture has disappeared. Stir in the parmesan, dill, salt and pepper. Spoon into the prepared jelly roll pan, then let cool until firm
2. To marinate the fennel, put the vinegar, oil, garlic, salt and pepper in a bowl and mix well. Add the fennel and seta aside to develop the flavors.
3. Out scallions, vinegar, oil, salt and pepper in a separate bowl and set aside to marinate.
4. Cut out rounds of polenta with the cookie cutter or glass. Cook on a preheated grill for about 4 minutes each side, until browned.
5. Add the fennel to the grill. Cook for 5-10  minutes until browned on both sides and tender. While the fennel is cooking, add the scallions and cook for 2-3 minutes until lightly blackened.
6. Serve the polenta piled high with fennel and scallions and sprinkle them with parmesan, lemon zest, and sea salt. Pour any remaining marinate juices over the top.

I'd like to point out that both of these dishes were pretty easy and crowd-pleasing. And convenient to the contents of our share!

Left Coast Veggie Sandwich: USA 2, Mexico 4

I am not cut out for cross-country flying. A full week after arriving home in Boston from a whirlwind tour of LA and Seattle, I swear I still feel jet lagged. Despite my lasting grogginess and the fact that both teams I support lost their matches, the trip was wholly worthwhile.

We kidnapped my high school pal, Kristina, from her home in Santa Monica and whisked her off to the Rose Bowl in Pasadena for her very first USMNT cap. It was to be a friendly little outing to watch the USA play Mexico in the finals of the Gold Cup. Not! I'm not sure Kristina was fully aware of what we were getting her into, but she sure was a great sport. Even after she got hit in the back with a projectile cup of lemonade in the stadium.

The AO tailgate was small in numbers. But it certainly did not lack energy!

On to the food:

Apparently it is frowned upon if you bring a grill in your carry-on airline luggage these days. We left the grill at home and settled on making a cold dish for the big game. This worked out in our favor, as the Rose Bowl parking lot was a balmy 89 degrees with blazing sunshine.

So we wanted something cold. And, since we lacked both time and the amenities of our home kitchen, we wanted something pretty straightforward. Being on the west coast and all, it was only right to include avocado in our dish. Chris LOVES mustard, so there needed to be mustard, too.

What we ended up with was a tomato, avocado and very sharp cheddar cheese sandwich with micro greens and honey spice mustard on sourdough bread. Did you know that Sierra Nevada makes mustard? It's a novelty item, for sure. But it was delicious!

Yet again, the food was yummy. The game was crummy. We didn't have time to wallow in self pity over the devastating loss, though. A mere 6 hours after returning to our host home following the game, Chris and I were back at the airport preparing to fly off to Seattle, where we would ultimately watch the Revs lose to the Sounders. And develop an all consuming envy of the rewarding atmosphere Sounders fans enjoy.

thanks for the support banner, ECS.

It was almost eery how happy all the Sounders fans seemed. I've grown accustomed to Foxboro, where many people stand cross-armed and frowning. Where the pleading cheers of dedicated, albeit frustrated, supporters echo off of empty seats around the stadium. But not in Seattle. Even as the Revs took a 1-0 lead, fans were smiling. Children were cheering. The entire stadium joined in to a booming "Seattle!"..."Sounders!" call and response. A few folks jeered us, the lone Revs-jersey-wearers in our section, and then quickly added, "Welcome to Seattle, it's great that you made the trip."

Maybe someday, New England...

A Family-sized Farm Share for One.

This was the first week of our CSA share from Farmer Dave's. We're technically splitting the share with our friend, The Paperblog Princess. But she's jetsetting right now, leaving us to kill off the share ourselves.

Chris picked up the first major armload of veggies on Wednesday and promptly flew off to Dayton for a wedding. And so, a family-sized share of veggies quickly became a farm share for one.

Never in my life have I eaten so many variations of lettuce, spinach, bok choy and kale in one week. This photo shows what was left after I made a sizable salad for a potluck dinner on Thursday:

Well, aside from the asparagus. That I just had leftover in my refrigerator already. Needless to say, I felt pretty obligated to create veggie-heavy dishes for all soccer viewing events this weekend. 

First up was the Revs v. Fire tailgate in Foxboro on Saturday. I cooked only for myself, so the dishes were small. My favorite of the night was a green bean and sugar snap pea salad with pickled red onions, inspired (as I often am) by Smitten Kitchen:

Slightly less successful (if only because it tasted really, really green) was braised bok choy with garlic and peanuts:

good and healthy, but pretty bitter...

 The veggiefest continued on Sunday as I hosted my friend Jill to watch USA v. Jamaica on Univision. We enjoyed a strawberry, avocado and fried almond salad with lots of greens:

 Along with a summer beet salad:

I am proud to say that with a little help, I ate my way through 80% of our farm share. Now we just have to figure out to do with next week's share while we're off in LA and Seattle...

As an aside, I am pretty sure these are pea tendrils, but someone correct me if I am wrong:

What, exactly, does one make with pea tendrils?

Farmer's Lunch Sandwich: Revs 1, Red Bulls 2

I took the day off from work last Friday for my first ever Revs bus trip. The planned four hour drive to my home state of New Jersey dragged on into a sweaty, air-conditionerless six hours as we sat in traffic to cross the George Washington bridge. Come on, though. Who actually chooses to go over the GW on a Friday afternoon?!

With a grill completely out of the question (duh, we were on a bus), we aimed to fill a cooler with good eats that met two criteria:

1. Best served cold

2. Easy to eat on your lap

We settled on one of my all-time favorite sandwiches. I first discovered the Farmer's Lunch Sandwich at City Feed & Supply when I worked in Jamaica Plain. I returned three times in one week to keep eating it. Then I went online to try and figure out how to make it for myself. I found a most excellent recipe at The Kitchn, which I adapted only slightly to my taste. City Feed's sandwich includes pickled green tomato, but the onion jam in the kitchn's recipe is a more than adequate replacement. So much more, in fact, that I used the leftover on all kinds of other things. Including, but not limited to, toast, crackers, and tofu.

This is a simple sandwich...which makes it really, really worthwhile to buy good ingredients. Most importantly, you want the sharpest, crumbliest cheddar you can find.

Farmer's Lunch Sandwich

Adapted, ever so slightly, from the kitchn

Ingredients

   1 loaf crusty baguette

   Whole grain mustard

   Sharp, sharp, sharp cheddar cheese

   2 granny smith apples, very thinly sliced

   Juice of one lemon

   Onion Jam (recipe below)

Preparation

1. Slice the baguette into four equal sections, then slice each section in half lengthwise. Spread a generous amount of mustard on each side.

2. Spread a layer of onion jam on the bottom half of the bread. Toss the apples in lemon juice, then add as many as you can fit onto the sandwich. Add a few leaves of lettuce and top with a layer of cheese. Press the sandwich closed.

3. Wrap sandwich in a tight layer of wax paper.

Onion Jam

also adapted, barely, from the kitchn

Ingredients

   1 tablespoon olive oil

   5 medium shallots, peeled and thinly sliced

   1/2 cup vegetable broth

   1/4 cup balsamic vinegar

   2 heaping tablespoons apricot jam

   salt and pepper, to taste

Preparation

1. Heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a medium saute pan over medium heat. Add the shallots, season with salt and pepper, and cook about 5 minutes, until they begin to get soft and the bottom of the pan begins to brown.

2. Add the 1/2 cup broth to the shallots, scraping the brown bits off the bottom of the pan while the broth reduces. Add the balsamic vinegar, reduce the heat to medium-low, and cook for about 5 more minutes. Add the apricot jam and stir to combine. The sauce will thicken but should be easily stirred.

Homemade Veggie Burgers, Part 2: USA 0, Spain 4 (Well, At Least the Tailgate was good!)

photo credit: Nathan Gower

Aside from suffering a bitter and soul crushing defeat at the hands of the Spanish National Team, I'd say that Saturday's American Outlaws affairs were a terrific success.

So the US lost 0-4 to Spain. But hey, at least AO Boston threw a heck of a party!

photo credit: Garrett Quinn

As this was the first foray into catering for both AO Boston and the Asphalt Kitchen, we were glad to have the help of volunteer grillers and seasoned tailgate veterans from AO chapters around the country. It was by no mistake that things went relatively smoothly.

While my companions grilled upwards of two thousand burgers and hot dogs on the massive (8 ft!) grills we rented, I handled the veggie burgers and Boca vegan patties for the non-meat eaters among us. Also for the people who didn't get in line fast enough for meat burgers and had to settle for leftover vegan patties (sorry folks).

Aside from a few collapsed casualties, my veggie burgers held up quite well on the grill. The skillet cooking ahead of time definitely helped in this department, as did greasing up the grill to prevent sticking.

As far as this recipe goes: It is very basic and very flexible. A food processor with shredding attachment is handy, especially if you're doubling (or quintupling, as we did) the recipe. I've grated everything by hand in the past using a cheese grater, so it's doable. We also tinkered around with the spices and added some bread crumbs...this was truly a work of experimentation.

Without further ado,


Homemade Veggie Burgers

Adapted from Jen Parmer via Allrecipes.com
Shared with me by Andrew Lind, potluck chef extrordinaire

Serves: approximately 10 patties. Quintupling the recipe yielded 70 patties!

Ingredients
   2 teaspoons olive oil
   1 small onion, grated
   2 cloves garlic, crushed
   2 carrots, shredded
   1 summer squash, shredded
   1 zucchini, shredded
   1 1/2 cups rolled oats
   1/2 cup panko bread crumbs
   1 egg, beaten*
   1/3 cup shredded cheddar
   chili powder, to taste
   cumin, to taste
   hot sauce, to taste
   salt and pepper, to taste
   1 tbsp soy sauce
   1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

Preparation
   1. Heat olive oil in a large skillet over low heat. Cook onion and garlic 5 minutes, until tender and fragrant.
   2. Mix in carrots, squash, and zucchini. Continue to cook and stir for 3 minutes.
   3. Remove from heat. Mix in oats, breadcrumbs, cheese, and egg*. Stir in soy sauce and add spices to your liking.
   4. Transfer to a bowl and refrigerate for about an hour. Or don't, and just hope they'll hold together.
   5. Meanwhile, preheat grill or a clean skillet**
   6. Spread a handful of the flour on a large plate. Using your hands, form veggie mix into 3-inch round patties. Lightly coat each with flour by gently rolling them on the plate.
   7. Oil grill grate or skillet. Cook 5 minutes on each side, or until heated through and nicely browned.

*I used an egg to hold everything together, but if you want to keep your burgers more truly veggie, you could probably forgo the egg and throw in some pureed chickpeas or avocado...or anything sticky...to help with the binding together of your patties.
**This is the point where you can choose which way to go. If you are tailgating, as we were, you may want to start by pre-cooking in the skillet, then heat the patties up on the grill when you get to your parking lot/field/backyard party destination.

photo credit: Covering Soccer

photo credit: Covering Soccer