Iron Chef Organic

Our organic farm subscription has been a lot of fun so far. However, it has presented me with a new challenge: how to make Mike eat new vegetables. One of the pleasures of cooking for Mike is that he never complains. He is generally grateful to be fed, and not a real picky eater anyway. I've come to rely on this attitude, so much so that once back in college he suggested that I had undercooked some onions and I cried. I am a competent chef, and working with such a flexible eater I was confident, nay arrogant, that I could cook anything well enough to make him like it.

The first issue was Chard. I had never cooked chard in my life, swiss or otherwise. Earlier this year one of my classmates toured the Berkeley community gardens, and came back embarrassed that she hadn't recognized one of the vegetables on the tour. "What's char?" she asked me, figuring I would know. "Greens," I shrugged, "No one really eats them." My first attempt was a recipe for Potato and Swiss Chard Enchiladas that I pulled off the food network. Mixed reviews. The second time (there was a lot of chard) I just mixed it in with some spinach for a pasta sauce, and this went over better, with Mike taking seconds and assuring me it tasted good.

Squash, however, is another story. Mike is clinging to the story that he was traumatized by some spaghetti squash in his youth, and that he simply cannot like squash now. Nevermind that this was sunburst squash (I can't bring myself to say patty pan), a totally different species. He only recently managed to bring himself to eat pumpkin pie. This is one of the weirder food things I've encountered since we learned that Alex cannot stomach cold cheese. Anywhow, first I used the squash to make grilled vegetable kebabs in a cilantro dipping sauce. Mike said he liked the dipping sauce. Then I opted for the old garlic-and-olive oil route, using a basil-infused oil, and a touch of cinnamon and crushed red pepper. It came out very nicely, and I was feeling proud of myself, but Mike was clearly just choking it down for fear of my reaction if he didn't. When I looked reproachful he said, "Look, you've achieved something big. I ate it. I like it better than the squash I had as a kid." The newsletter enclosed with our vegetables warned us to summer for the next few weeks. I will let you know when Mike cracks.