Kale update (aka I'd Rather Have Cake).

I didn't like it.

I was really hoping to like it. I thought I was supposed to like it. I almost forced myself to like it. But I didn't like it.

Maybe it was the recipe. Or perhaps the fact that I don't really like sauteed greens all that much in general (although can that really be true? The roasted beets with sauteed beet greens was so amazing I made it twice in two weeks). Maybe I was just in a funk (further evidence of this being the 1/4 chocolate cake I ate after dinner. I even decided to post a chocolate cake picture below instead of kale). Whatever it was, I don't think I'm crazy about kale. I'll try again, though, with a different preparation.

For what it's worth, my husband really liked tonight's kale, adapted from a Cooking Light recipe:

Sauteed Kale

6 cups kale
1/4 cup chicken broth
1 tablespoon stone-ground mustard
1 tablespoon minced shallots

Combine all ingredients in a large skillet over medium heat. Cover and cook 8 minutes or until tender.
~~

While kale might not be my favorite, over the weekend, I made a lot of recipes I enjoyed immensely (think strawberry-rhubarb muffins, dandelion greens salad, dilled potato salad with pickled cucumbers, Vermont summer muffins....), and I'll be posting about those soon!

Also, a word about the aforementioned chocolate cake that I devoured this evening: a friend introduced me to the Maple Grove Bakery chocolate cake with cream cheese frosting about a year ago, and I now make special trips to local stores just for this treat. I was thrilled when my CSA pick-up location, Sweet Clover Market, started carrying Maple Grove Bakery products recently. The bakery is located in Quechee, Vermont, but they make small-batch cakes from scratch and deliver them to locations around the state. This home-style baking is so obvious in the finished product, a moist, dense, rich cake just like homemade (or even better, depending on the cook). Since I'd much rather eat chocolate cake than kale, I'm posting a picture of what's left of tonight's cake (and please note there were four people eating. I did not act alone).

Worth the six-year wait.

As I continue waiting for my first CSA delivery (2 more days!), I am distracting my foodie obsession with other delights. This weekend I finally tried an Italian treat that I was hoping to sample on my honeymoon in Rome six and a half years ago. At the time, I was too distracted by gnocchi with Gorgonzola sauce in Campo dei Fiori, paninis in Villa Borghese, suppli on Via Veneto and hazelnut gelatto at every gellateria we saw. Oh, and the occassional bottle of wine (I still buy Frascati when I want to be transported back to that amazing trip). One side note about suppli: if you have never tried these fried balls of risotto stuffed with mozzerella and prosciutto, then you must add this treat to your bucket list. I make it at home now and then (when I can work up enough courage to actually deep-fry something. Seeing that much oil in one spot can send shivers down my spine). Every chop, boil and fry is worth that first bite.

But this weekend, I finally (FINALLY) tried what I have missed out on all these years: stuffed zucchini blossoms, courtesy of L'Amante in Burlington, Vermont. It was undoubtedly worth the wait. My Williams-Sonoma cookbook Rome says that zucchini blossoms are often stuffed with mozzerella and deep-fried (ohhhh yeah), but can also be added to pasta sauces, risotto or frittatas. Not only did L'Amante deep-fry their version, but they dolled it up with so much flavor I could have eaten another antipasti portion as my entree (except for the fact that I absolutely swooned over my entree of basil ravioli topped with eggplant parmigiana...).

Picture this (since taking an actual photo somehow didn't seen appropriate in the middle of dinner with friends): a delicate, fresh squash blossom stuffed with taleggio (a mild, melty, buttery cheese), then dipped in a light tempura-like batter and fried to a delicate crispness, and finished off with a drizzle of sweet honey and rich truffle oil. While I was shamed into sharing with the other three people at my table, I still had an ample portion to savor (and I also tried each of their antipasti: grilled calamari, steamed mussels and prosciutto with grilled bread and fig jam).

Maybe, with any luck at all, my container zucchini plant will produce a few blossoms later this summer that I can snag and experiment with my own stuffed zucchini blossoms. Or maybe I'll leave this one up to the experts and find my way back to L'Amante pronto.