Unexpected Food Bounty

Long story short, I unexpectedly ran into some food bounty.  

First, packaged goods, such as candied pecans, whole milk, packaged ham and bags of frozen rice went to the local shelter. After getting that food out of harm’s way, here’s what I’m doing with the perishable food that was left:

2 clamshells of arugula
4 heads of red cabbage
1 bunch of scallions
1 bunch of radishes
1 package of whole wheat English Muffins
1 Lime
1 Shallot
1 Package of 3 endives
1 package of crumbled Gorgonzola
2 unripe avocados
A bunch of bananas
4 unripen pears

I was roasting half a chicken anyway, so included the radishes as part of a roasted vegetable mix along with it. 

The arugula, used it in sandwiches but I took a bunch of it for some pesto (arugula, olive oil, pistachios, garlic, lemon) which I then froze.  A smoothie with arugula, mango, banana and ginger helped with the banana overpopulation.  Bananas are of course a great element in smoothies. The arugula makes the smoothie mix trend spicier rather than a more flat green flavor, like spinach. I made frozen bananas dipped in chocolate and crushed pistachios. I am saving one of the bananas to overripen to use in a banana nut muffin mix.

The too-much red cabbage would be great roasted with grass-fed Porchetta, a nice winter meal. Since I don’t do big roasts:  a small batch of red cabbage slaw with Asian lime dressing for lunchtime veggie burgers with English Muffins, an Asian ramen-style dish with crispy cabbage and scallions for dinner, later in the week a red cabbage and chicken sheet pan dish.  I thought about a cabbage and apple stir fry.

The avocados will join my original stash of avocados which I use all the time:  sliced as a side with some hot sauce or for avocado toast.

The endive had to go quickly, I made a salad with endive, a little red cabbage, apple, walnuts, etc. with gorgonzola crumbles in shallot dressing.  But also made the best French endive side dish there is, roasting it with chicken stock (from the roast chicken) and a little gruyere or parmesan cheese, salt and pepper. 

I plan to poach the pears with a simple syrup, perhaps serve it with chocolate sauce, if their temperament allows them to ripen, dessert being a fine finish to the bounty.