This turned out to be a pretty good way to use a lot of dill at once. The recipe, which calls for ¼ cup fresh dill, isn’t overwhelmingly herbal, but the bread itself baked up a little dry. I might take a hint next time from my friends and their super simple beer bread recipe: add a little sugar to the batter, and bake with some melted butter on top.

Once out of the oven and cooled, we spread sweet, unsalted butter on slices of the bread and topped them with briny smoked salmon. The balanced combination of salty, sweet, and herbal – with a hint of hops from the beer – harmonized well in this Scandinavian-esque snack.

Dill Beer Bread

from an about.com recipe

• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 2½ tsp. baking powder
• 1 tsp. salt
• 2 tsp. ground mustard seed
• ¼ cup minced fresh dill
• 12 oz. porter or other dark beer

Heat oven to 400F. Grease an 9 x 5 loaf pan.

Mix all the dry ingredients together.

Add beer and mix until just blended, then spoon into pan.

Bake for 50 – 60 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out dry.

The overabundance of zucchini this week drove me to search for recipes that would use as much of the squash as possible in one go. That’s when I stumbled upon a recipe for zucchini bread on 101cookbooks.com. Heidi Swanson, who writes this blog, makes a humorous but true point about our real motivations for making zucchini bread:

Zucchini bread is one of the most popular vehicles for this prolific summer crop because it is delicious, portable, easy to share, it involves baking, and most importantly – it gets rid of zucchini. You’ll no doubt notice that most zucchini bread recipes you come across yield two loaves. Why? Because if you were to only make one, you wouldn’t put a respectable dent in the zucchini supply. For example, if I were to cut my zucchini recipe in half, I would only get rid of 1 1/2 cups of grated zucchini – the equivalent of one large zucchini? No good.

Well, I can’t lie: with four zucchini camping out in the refrigerator, baking away three of them at once was a very tempting idea. Plus, Heidi’s ratio of zucchini & butter (for moisture), sugar, and flour are healthier than many other zucchini bread recipes out there on the internet. So, with a couple substitutions and a few omissions (I wanted to try the “standard” version of this recipe first, before delving into one of her many variations), and the added notion of giving one of the loaves to my mom, I baked up the following recipe.

Zucchini Bread

adapted from Heidi Swanson’s recipe on 101cookbooks.com

• 1¾ cups chopped hazelnuts
• zest of two lemons
• ½ cup unsalted butter
• 1 cup sugar
• ½ cup brown sugar, lightly packed
• 3 large eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 3 cups grated zucchini (about 3 medium), skins on, squeeze some of the moisture out and then fluff it up again before using
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1½ teaspoons baking soda
• ½ teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• ¼ teaspoon ground ginger (increase to ½ teaspoon next time)

Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter and flour two 9″x5″ loaf pans – or, line pans with a sheet of parchment, leaving a couple inches hanging over the sides of the pan for easy removal of the bread.

In a small bowl combine hazelnuts and lemon zest. Set aside.

In a large bowl, beat butter until fluffy. Add both sugars and beat again until mixture comes together and is no longer crumbly. Add eggs one at a time, mixing well and scraping down the sides of the bowl between each addition. Stir in the vanilla and then the zucchini (on low speed, if you are using a mixer).

In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon. Add these dry ingredients to the wet ingredients in two batches, stirring between each addition until just combined.

By hand, fold in the hazelnut and lemon zest mixture, reserving a bit of it to sprinkle on the tops of the zucchini loaves before baking. Do not over-mix the batter: it should be thick and moist, like a butter cream frosting.

Divide the batter equally between the two loaf pans. Run a spatula over the top of each loaf to make sure they’re level, then sprinkle with the remaining hazelnut-lemon zest mixture. Bake for about 45 minutes on a middle oven rack, until a toothpick inserted in the center of a loaf comes out with a few crumbs. Remove from the oven and cool the zucchini bread in pan for about ten minutes, then turn out onto wire racks to finish cooling.

I loved this bread’s lemony perfume and bright green specks. The hazelnuts added a warm, toasty crunch as well. I’d never heard of baking hazelnuts in a zucchini bread before, but I figured it would work just as well as the standard walnuts – perhaps even better (since I prefer hazelnuts!). On the downside, there wasn’t enough ginger flavor, which is why I made a note to increase the amount of ground ginger used.

Additionally, Heidi says she makes this bread with whole wheat pastry flour to give it a softer crumb, but I found that all-purpose flour (her recommended alternative) produced a very tender and delicate crumb anyway. This was probably due in part to the fact that I mixed the dry ingredients in by hand, taking great care to not over-mix the batter.

Lastly: Heidi’s preferred add-ins of poppy seeds, crystallized ginger, and curry powder sound fascinating – something I hope to be able to try one day, if I have enough adventurous taste-testers!

This quick and simple dinner, which showcased many of the veggies from this week’s share, also turned out to be more delicious and satisfying than expected.

The pesto chicken cutlets were a twist on the standard way of preparing a fried chicken cutlet. I followed the same steps of dredging chicken breasts in 1) flour, 2) egg (beaten), then 3) breadcrumbs, but only after whisking one or two spoonfuls of leftover pesto into the egg. I also used panko breadcrumbs, which fry up lighter and crispier than the bland and grainy breadcrumbs usually found in grocery stores.

The lettuce mix from our CSA share formed the base for the garden salad. I added sliced cucumbers and grated carrots – also from the CSA – and tossed everything in a balsamic vinaigrette. The freshness of the vegetables really shone through in the salad, and reminded me of how fortunate we are to have regular access to local organic produce.

I first tried beer bread this summer, when my friend made it for a potluck. One bite of the crisp, buttery crust and the soft, yeasty inner crumb had me sold, and I knew I had to make it myself. This recipe, which originates from another mutual friend of ours, is surprisingly simple, and makes for a hearty addition to a weeknight dinner.

Beer Bread

recipe courtesy of Sarah M. (and Wendy C.) – thanks, guys!

3 Tbsp butter, plus more for greasing pan
3 cups self-rising flour
½ cup sugar (some prefer adding a couple tablespoons more, for a sweeter taste)
12 oz bottle beer (this determines the flavor of the bread)

Preheat oven to 375°F. Butter a 9″x5″ loaf pan.

Melt butter; set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk together flour and sugar. Add beer, and mix until just combined. Pour batter into prepared pan, then pour melted butter on top of batter. (Allow the butter to sit on top of the batter; do not mix it in.)

Bake for 45-50 minutes, until golden.

I am increasingly becoming a fan of the NYC greenmarkets. I used to avoid the one in Union Square because it sometimes gets pretty crazy there, (though it definitely does not compare to shopping in Hong Kong’s wet markets). Now, however, I find that the lure of fresh, local produce is helping me overcome my resistance to the crowds. (Shopping at smaller greenmarkets also helps, too.)

A couple weeks ago, Avy alerted me to an upcoming one-day event which intended to “foster a regional, sustainable food system by establishing a permanent, indoor public market in the City of New York.” Intruigued – and fully aware that the mobs would descend upon the Seaport, rain or shine – I set off last Sunday to explore the third ever New Amsterdam Market with a few friends.

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It did rain – and it was crowded – but it was also so much fun to see and sample foods that were produced from locally-grown ingredients in a manner that respects our environment and its resources. Some notables:

DAIRY & CHEESE.

Above: Ronnybrook Farm Dairy sampled their flavored butters – (they have a sweet little cafe/shop in Chelsea Market that’s worth visiting); cheese samplings from Brovetto Dairy and Cheese House (their Harpersfield cheese); Saxelby Cheesemongers (what a great name – not to mention their cheese); and Mecox Bay Dairy (of which I tasted their nutty and slightly sweet Sigit cheese).

Life with the Señor has made me into total turophile. Our refrigerator is never, ever without a chunk or two of some cheddar, parmesan, or whatnot.

VEGETABLES.

Above: luscious kale and fresh eggs from Queens County Farm Museum; Italian flat-leaf parsley, tricolor sage, and rosemary (but no thyme?), also from Queens County Farm; ravishing radishes and vine-ripened tomatoes from McEnroe Organic Farm.

BREAD.

The guy at the Balthazar bread stand had an odd habit of yelling out a description of what he was doing – something about only six loaves left, and yes, ladies and gentlemen, this is the very same bread you’d eat if you dined at Balthazar. The man at the Bouchon/Per Se booth, however, seemed much more calm and happy. His bread also happened to be better tasting than Balthazar’s.

POULTRY.

Avy’s friend’s sister, Anita, helps run Bo Bo Chicken. They sell whole chickens (head, feet, and all) to various local restaurants and markets in NYC and beyond. She demonstrated how to cut up a chicken with scissors – the way my mom does at home! After the market closed, Avy experienced the generosity of her friends and tottered home with two big bags of freshly cut chicken.

SWEETS.

Above: Is there a greater comfort food combo than Milk and Cookies? The ladies of this Village bakery sampled what remained of some lovely honey lavender shortbread cookies, and also some peanut butter cookies. Both had a light, buttery texture, which explained why there were only crumbs left to be had. Further down, Paumanok Preserves displayed their extensive jam, jelly, chutney, and fruit butter lineup. They had some fantastic and unique flavors, including a lighthearted Chardonnay wine jelly.

Are you a greenmarket fan, too? What kinds of produce do you like to buy at your local greenmarket – and what do you make with them?

I love Saturday mornings. Señor Habanero and I went to the Sunnyside greenmarket to get some inspiration for brunch (and beyond):

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Fresh zucchini, crispin apples, and sour cherries. The cherries became a tart-and-sweet cherry syrup that laced our vanilla French toast, (something which Mama Cherry Pepper taught me how to make years ago):

A few peach slices balanced the flavors. The bread was made in a bread machine, for a progressive dinner the night before. I took up our friend Alex’s suggestion that the loaf, sliced thick, would be wonderful as French toast. (Here’s the recipe for the bread.)

Later on, the zucchini met a less ceremonious fate in a simple stir-fry that accompanied our feast of the week’s leftovers: