CSA Week 5 - July 1st - white beans and cabbage, arugula salad

Tonight Jonathan grilled Greenacres ribeye from the beef he picked up today. It had great flavor and an amazing crust.

For my part I made Heidi Swanson's White Beans and Cabbage from Super Natural Every Day. It's the dish on the cover. I found a practical copy of her original recipe here; I don't think my modifications are worth noting.

(Heidi's cookbook version)

(Katie's version)

What resulted was strikingly similar to col cannon since the beans were partially mashed and I'm sure a lot of the potatoes were, too, by the time all was said and done. It was a tasty dish, but, as Jonathan pointed out, probably not worth the effort for the way mine turned out. I think it would have been worth the effort had I achieved the browning and the crisping that Heidi did on the beans and potatoes. The flavor was nice, though, and the cabbage provided a good texture contrast in the absence of any others. I attribute my issues to the cookware I used (a poorly-seasoned cast iron and then a stainless steel pot when the cast iron got too full) and to my over-cooked Great Northern beans.

I also made an arugula salad.

I was completely struck by the way the few simple ingredients (extra virgin olive oil, lemon juice, salt, pepper, Parmesan) in this salad balanced out the spiciness of the arugula and each other. The Parmesan is essential and I used my microplane for a more even coating instead of a vegetable peeler.