MGP goes out to eat: Casbah Mediterranean Kitchen and Wine Bar

With my CSA coming to an end in a couple of weeks, I want to try a few new things around here while keeping the focus on local, in season, and delicious but not being driven by the contents of my CSA boxes. I'll be checking out the farmer's market, restaurants, and still creating lots of new recipes. But I digress...

Last weekend, my parents came to visit. We checked out lots of Pittsburgh favorites like Church Brew Works, Make Your Mark, and Primanti Brothers, but our adventurous choice for something new to all of us was Casbah. It's just a few blocks from my apartment in Shadyside. Casbah is part of the big Burrito Restaurant Group, which includes several restaurants in Pittsburgh, each one features local food.

The menu at Casbah changes daily to reflect locally available ingredients. When I opened my menu in the low lit dining room, I was delighted at how quickly I knew which vegetables were in season by having seen them in my CSA box: beets, brussels sprouts, greens, squash, pears, potatoes... Even more delightful was the note at the bottom about the farmer's they buy from, including the Penn's Corner Farm Alliance (that's right...the group that runs my beloved CSA). I knew it was going to be good before we even ordered.

Mom and Dad both embraced the local greens in their appetizers. One had prosciutto with arugula (and also some fresh figs) and the other chose the arugula salad with potatoes, mushrooms, and goat cheese (all, I suspect, local). I aimed for a small plate of pasta with the gnudi (a ricotta and flour pasta similar to gnocchi) served on top of squash with fried brussels sprouts.

We departed slightly from the local after the appetizers with plates of cioppino, Alaskan halibut, and duck, though the extensive list of farmers on the big Burrito website leads me to believe that all the vegetables and dairy on the plates were local and the fish is probably all American...but don't quote me on that...I'm just impressed.

The dessert menu kept amazingly to the local as well with options like sweet potato tart and almond cake with pears. We all opted for things with chocolate...but I think I'm going to have to try making a sweet potato dessert soon...I've got a couple in the pantry and if the chocolate hadn't been served with espresso ice cream there would've been a larger argument for that sweet potato tart...just saying.

All in all? I give this place 4 stars on the locally delicious meter.

Radish Quiche and Cider-Glazed Potatoes

Fall in the city can feel just a little less magical than fall in the mountains. But cooking with in season goodies like radishes, apple cider, and potatoes will bring fall to your dinner table, no matter where you are.

Radish Quiche with a side of glazed potatoes and a glass of Village White from Bet the Farm Winery.

Quiche: an elegant dish usually reserved for brunch. But why not serve it for dinner? There's no reason. The base ingredients are inexpensive just eggs, milk, and the ingredients for a pie crust. Add in whatever you have on hand that sounds good (I recommend cheese in any quiche) and you're on your way to dinner! Serve it with a salad or other side (like my cider-glazed spuds) and you've got a treat that won't ruin your weekly grocery budget. Plus, you can eat the leftovers for breakfast.

Radish Quiche
Adapted from Joy of Cooking

1 bunch cherry belle radishes
8 ounces Ivory lace cheese (can substitute havarti), cubed
1 cup milk
3 eggs
1 small yellow onion, chopped small
pinch salt
9-inch pie crust

Chop radishes, both the roots and greens, and steam for 2 or 3 minutes. Place radishes in bottom of pie crust with cheese. Whisk together other ingredients and then pour over radishes and cheese. Bake 30-40 minutes, until quiche is set and knife comes out clean.

I've been inundated with potatoes in my CSA boxes - every week I get a couple more pounds!!  It's a good thing they last awhile because even someone that loves potatoes as much as I do can't keep up with them. These potatoes taste sweet, but there's only one teaspoon of sugar in them. Other root vegetables like carrots or sweet potatoes would probably do well with this glaze, too.

Cider-Glazed Potatoes
Adapted from Glazed Root Vegetables in Joy of Cooking

2 cups fingerling potatoes, cut into thick rounds
2/3 cup vegetable or light chicken stock
1/3 cup Dawson's apple cider
2 T butter
1 tsp. sugar
pinch salt

Simmer all ingredients, covered, until potatoes are tender. Uncover and stir mixture until liquid thickens to a glaze.

Inspired by the English

A popular traditional English tea sandwich is watercress - a microgreen hailed as a superfood for its high nutritional value. It has a long history in England and many followers, including a website dedicated solely to this food: watercress.co.uk.

My beloved CSA box, which I picked up yesterday, did not include watercress, it did, however, include arugula microgreens. These are in the same family as watercress along with brown mustard and chia. Yes, chia, like the pets. I had no idea what to do with my arugula microgreens. I'd eaten a watercress sandwich and grown a chia pet, but neither of these came to mind as I stared at the little bag of greens with heart-shaped leaves and long thin stems. It was only after I did some research that I figured it out. And since eating a Chia Pet is inadvisable, I made a variation on the watercress tea sandwich:

Arugula Microgreens Sandwich (minus the second slice of bread, which is necessary for elegant eating)

Arugula Microgreens Sandwich
A good snack with a cup of tea.

Spread a light layer of cream cheese on a piece of white bread (I used a thin sliced but chewy Italian) and sprinkle a handful of greens on top. Cover with a second slice of bread. Enjoy.

If you like, you could add cucumbers or butter instead of cream cheese, but I really enjoyed that sandwich. I made a second one as soon as the first was gone.