Fresh Pinto Beans in CSA Box

The last box in November includes apples, herbs, komatsuna (which I think of as Japanese collards), sweet potatoes, Asian turnips, snow peas and hulless popping corn. The snow peas will go in a stir-fry, probably with some shiitakes I picked up at the grocery store. The shelling beans will be cooked in a pork stock; I'm pretty sure they're pinto beans. May have to go Mexicana there. I remember a recipe for a chicken stew with collards and sweet potatoes; that will use up the komatsuna and potatoes.

An Assembly of Greens in the CSA box

This week's box featured apples, arugula, kale, a 1/2 dozen eggs, hot peppers (including two poblanos), lots of sweet potatoes and sprouts.

The potato drawer is now the sweet potato drawer. I have plans to make sweet potato pies (plural on purpose) for Thanksgiving. Maybe sweet potato souffle from CI, always reliable. And maybe that veggie sandwich again.

This afternoon, cooked the greens in the fridge (collards, mustard and kale) in a pork stock and then made cornmeal dumplings, for a bowl full of goodness, kind of pot likker soup. Edna Lewis refers to this kind of dish as an "Assembly of Greens." All the squash taking residence on the counter were peeled, sliced and roasted for an hour at 400. I will make a salad with brown rice and vinaigrette with some of the squash and perhaps puree the remainder for a souffle or maybe to use in a cake recipe.

Meet My Pet Cabbage

This week's CSA box was the heaviest ever. Inside: a half dozen apples, a zucchini the size of a cricket bat, a spaghetti squash, braising greens, okra, basil and this 14-pound bowling ball disguised as a cabbage. We put it in our extra refrigerator, next to the apple cider and Mountain Dew stash. We're calling it Audrey II.

The apples will disappear quickly in this house. I plan to make my annual apple pie this weekend, so I hope they last until then. I now have a collection of winter squashes - the spaghetti squash, an acorn squash and a butternut. Maybe I can go "Top Chef" and serve a trio of winter squashes? The braising greens are heavenly. I love sauteed greens, just chopped up a bit and sauteed with olive oil and toasted whole garlic cloves. Taste of autumn for this girl.

Sweet Potatoes This Week

Lots of sweet potatoes and apples in this week's CSA box. I love to get foods that store for long periods of time, like the onions and white potatoes that occasionally appear. I think it's a bad year for the CSA potatoes, none so far in the box. Let's hope for a better year in 2010.

Sweet potatoes make lovely pies and quick breads. I once made a veggie sandwich that began with shredded raw sweet potato that was frozen. The slightly thawed sweet potato patty was put on multi-grain bread with some onion and Monterey Jack or Muenster (not sure) cheese and grilled. It was yummy, unusual and really simple, just requiring the advance prep on the sweet potato.

In other CSA box news: braising greens that Susan identifies as Komatsuma. It's like spinach, but not as tender. Mineral tasting, good raw, but definitely chewy.

A nice rope of lemon grass and a couple sprigs of fennel. The herb will go in a braised chicken dish (bacon, carrots, onions, chicken legs). Lemon grass will be a challenge. Maybe some Asian soup?

Hydroponic lettuce. I crave this lettuce in the wintertime. It is tender and flavorful.

A slew of sweet peppers. I will gather all the peppers in the veg drawer and roast, clean and freeze them. I use peppers prepared this way in the winter in soups, chili and braises.

Okra. I can't believe the okra season is soooo long. I may get to try Dori Sanders' recipe for Summer Cabbage with Sweet Potatoes and Okra. Just waiting on a cabbage to appear in the box.

Muskydimes in this week's box

Life is kind of overwhelming this week. Rain clouds hovered over our county last weekend, dumping two feet of rain in 24 hours. The resulting floodwaters washed out bridges and roads, ruined houses and took seven lives. It's been a sad and strange week, with children out of school, all of us looking for activities and trying to get through the usual routine. (I'm fortunate that there was little damage in my neighborhood, just washed out landscaping and the like.)

My CSA drop off point was flooded, so my friend and neighbor Susan offered to make the pickup, which was about 45 minutes away from us. I was grateful not to spend an hour and half in the car negotiating the road closings.

In the box, muscadines, which my friend Courtney craved and called "muskydimes." My kids will eat them, but to be honest, the taste is too funky for me. Also, green beans, eggplant, basil, lettuce, okra, sweet potatoes and the prettiest bunch of French breakfast radishes ever - fuchsia roots and icy white tops. Too bad I couldn't get a picture, because they are very special. I like the French method of radish consumption: sliced and spread on buttered baguette slices with a smidge of sea salt sprinkled over.

Apple of My Eye

In this week's CSA box:

A pair of ripe, fragrant, homely (so you know they're good) pears.

A half-dozen crisp and sweet apples, the best of which was snagged by Little Miss (above).

So much for the eating-out-of-hand produce. The real meat-and-potatoes, so to speak, are:

Two zephyr squash, with their distinctive half-green/half-yellow coloring. Possible stir-fry candidate, or maybe I'll give in and make a squash casserole. I love the smell of squash and onions frying in butter. One of the Proustian smells of my childhood, and a top-5 favorite, right up there with standing downwind of the Krispy Kreme store.

Pac choi, aka bok choy. Screams stir-fry to me.

Basil for pesto. I love the CSA basil. It's very dark and unbelievably spicy and fragrant.

Green beans for braising. I've made the green bean soup for the summer, and this bunch has a date with a smoked turkey leg and onion, cozied up in the Dutch oven for an afternoon at 300.

Acorn squash. Just table decor until October when I will roast it with other squash. I hope a butternut is in my future.

Okra. The slightly clogged arteries of my Southern heart go pitter-patter when I see okra. Dori Sanders has a parmigiana technique for okra that is interesting and flavorful, but more time-draining than I need, so I will make a quasi-gumbo beginning with bacon, then canned tomatoes, onions, garlic, seasoning and simmering. Served with sauteed shelled shrimp and steamed rice, it's much less work than gumbo, and the simple flavors are appealing to my kids. Besides, when I need a real Louisiana fix, I head to the excellent Cajun restaurant near my home, Gumbeaux's. (you know it's authentic if they mess up on the French plural and possessive.)

This Week's CSA

In the box this week, 5 beautiful Gala apples, okra, a pretty Globe eggplant, a half dozen Chinese eggplants, fresh dill, a pint of Sun Gold cherry tomatoes, and an AWOL winter squash. Farmer's Fresh promises a squash in next week's box.

CSA: What do I do with Purple Cabbage?

When I pick up the CSA box each week, I know when there's a melon or cabbage, because I grunt when I lift it. This week's box featured a personal watermelon and a beautiful purple cabbage that's approximately the size of a bowling ball.

A quick Google reveals that the hollowed-out shell can be used as a decorative vegetal container, perhaps for dips. I'm not putting together a buffet this week, so I'll just have to file that away for future reference. The outer leaves can be used as containers for salads, so I could go that route. I have used purple cabbage previously in my recipe for Chicken Slaw, and that is a dish that my husband really likes, so that's it, a done deal. The chicken slaw is an early post from last year, just cooked, shredded chicken, mixed with shredded cabbage and carrots and onions and cheddar cheese, tossed with a mustard vinaigrette. It's a great summertime meal.

I like sauteed cabbage with bacon or sausage, your usual porkular suspects. Throw some potatoes, leeks and mustard in there, and you have a perfect late summer, taste of autumn, man-pleasing supper.

Also in the box: green beans, due for a braising with tomatoes and onions.

Field peas. Redemption in field peas. Last week's peas were a disaster. In contrast, this week's were clean and dry and fresh. A joy to shell, and an even greater joy to eat. While Lindsey Lou and I shelled the peas, I put a pot of water on to boil, threw in a 1/2 teaspoon of salt, some pepper, a diced onion, two diced Roma tomatoes and one banana pepper, (all from the CSA, so this was something of a hat trick.). When the peas were shelled, I tossed them in the water and let boil for about 45 minutes. Delicious, and probably the best field peas ever.

Another pot of ratatouille is in my future, because I now have a bucketload of the cutest Japanese eggplants, yellow squash and basil. The pepper selection includes banana peppers, jalapenos and a poblano. The only use I know of for poblanos is chiles rellenos. I need to find a use for a single pepper.

How About Them Apples?

The season's first apples are in this week's CSA box. A half-dozen fragrant and perfectly formed Ginger Gold apples. I used to be a Gala girl, then had a fling with Fujis, but now I'm mad for Ginger Golds. I made the world's best apple pie with these beauties last year, (words are insufficient to describe the celestial taste and perfume of that pie), so I'll probably have to hide these to get a sufficient stash for a pie.

Also in the box: green beans, destined for green bean soup, which sounds gross, but is actually bliss.

Okra. I've wanted to make Dori Sanders' Okra Parmigiana since re-reading her "Country Cooking" book over the winter. Fresh pods are a must for this dish and this bag of okra is especially lovely and unblemished.

Field Peas. As pristine as the okra pods are, not so the field peas. I love field peas and actually look forward to some quality shelling time. I am sad to report that the field peas were mildewy and already smelly, probably picked to early and packed too wet. I've reported this to the CSA; they're always good about issuing credit for the occasional bad produce.

A couple of storage onions; I always need onions. Seems like every recipe worth making requires an onion to start with.

And four tomatoes. The tomatoes aren't as big this year; but they are very flavorful. I love the thin skin and pinkish hue of the heirlooms; heirlooms are to store-bought tomatoes as Ginger Golds are to Granny Smiths as Wyeth is to Kinkade.

Watermelon in this Week's Box

In this week's CSA box:

1. Green beans. I'm running out of green bean ideas, so these will go in a pot with a smoked turkey leg and be cooked until just nearly mushy. It will be a nice side dish with the Chicken and Rice dish from Gift of Southern Cooking.

2. Summer squash. These are very fresh and will have to keep for a few days until I can make a squash casserole, which is best done as a two-day affair: sauteed squash and onions one day, the next day, fold in sour cream, an egg, salt and pepper, and bake in a greased casserole in a moderate oven for at least a half hour. Top with toasted, buttery bread crumbs and bake for another five minutes or so.

3. Lettuces and sorrel. Because you can never have too many salads.

4. A personal watermelon. I'd like to know the variety of this melon; it has a very thin rind. It's sweet and has a crunchy texture.

5. Two onions, which will be used in the squash casserole.

6. Tomatoes. Mom's helping me in a project at home, I think I'll pay her in homegrown tomatoes.

7. More corn! This will be taken off the cob and sauteed, for an easy, tasty side dish. I've always wanted to make a version of my grandfather's fried corn, which was thickened with flour, but not this week. The lightness of a quick saute calls to me.

Fresh: This Week's CSA Box

This week's box was heavy with pecans, unshelled. I guess now that I have 10 pounds of unshelled pecans, it's time to have a shelling party. I'd much rather shell field peas or snap beans, but I can't put off the pecans too much longer. I'm not sure how long unshelled pecans can sit before deterioration sets in.

Other items in this week's box: green beans, a cucumber, a cute pattypan squash, a bunch of arugula, a cantaloupe, two onions and an assortment of tomatoes -- one large heirloom type, a yellow, and a dozen or so pear tomatoes. I bought additional tomatoes at the store and I find myself listening to the voice in my head, chanting, "tomato gravy and biscuits, tomato gravy and biscuits." This weekend, I will obey the voices in my head.

The green beans were featured in tonight's menu:

Roast Chicken
Mashed Potatoes & Gravy
Green Beans with Country Ham
Brownies with Cream Cheese Swirls

The brownies are from Everyday Food and are delicious. They may soon be my default brownies, except for the fact that the recipe dirties up four bowls (which is probably my fault, I wasn't in a streamlining mood.)

Brownies with Cream Cheese Swirls

10 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 cup plus two tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/4 cup unsweetened natural cocoa
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
8 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped
4 ounces low-fat cream cheese, at room temperature
1 1/2 cups sugar
4 large eggs

1. Preheat oven to 350. Butter a 9-inch square pan and line with parchment paper. In a small bowl, whisk flour, coca, baking powder, and salt and set aside.

2. Assemble a double boiler with a pan of simmering water and a heat-proof bowl inserted so that the bottom just touches the water. Place the stick of butter in the bowl, along with the chopped chocolate. Heat, stirring occasionally, until smooth, about 2 to 3 minutes. Remove bowl from pan. Add 1 1/4 cups sugar; mix to combine. Add 3 eggs and stir. Add flour mixture and stir just enough to combine.

3. Prepare cream cheese mixture: whisk cream cheese with 2 tablespoons butter. Whisk in 1/4 cup sugar, 1 egg and 2 tablespoons flour.

4. Spread half of the brownie batter into bottom of prepared pan and smooth with an offset spatula. Dollop cream cheese in 3 or 4 spoonfuls onto base. Pour remaining brownie batter in between cream cheese blobs. With the tip of a knife or the offset spatula, make several figure eights to swirl the cream cheese into the brownie batter. Don't overdo the artistry here, Rembrandt. Just 3 or 4 passes will make a lovely marble effect.

5. Bake in a 350 oven for at least 50 minutes. I used convection and it took almost an hour. Test with a toothpick -- just a crumb or two is acceptable. Fingertip test: the batter should spring back slightly when touched in the center. Cool in pan about 30 minutes, then pull out by parchment paper sling. Everyday Food says you can keep these at room temp in an airtight container for 2 days. Serve with vanilla ice cream -- you won't regret it.

Buttermilk Makes It Better

Rose had me at "buttermilk!" This cake, the Buttermilk Country Cake from Rose Levy Beranbaum's The Cake Bible, is the best-textured yellow cake I have ever eaten. It is tender, just slightly crumbly, not dense like a pound cake, but buttery and sweet. I served it with orchard-fresh freestone peaches from the CSA box and a bit of sweetened whipped cream. The peaches were juicy and surprisingly tart, which is ok in my book, given the context of cake and cream.

I just happened to have a quart of Marburger whole-milk buttermilk on hand, one of my secret weapons for tender cakes and quick breads. Not every store carries it, but I find it at Publix and sometimes the Super Wal-Mart stores, and always snag a quart when I do. It is thick and creamy and has freckles in it -- tiny orange flakes that turn golden brown when used in biscuits.

If you don't have The Cake Bible, by all means, go out and get yourself a copy. There is no need to ever purchase a boxed cake mix again. The buttermilk country cake recipe alone will make your reputation as a baker.

Summer in the CSA Box

All that's missing is a swimsuit and sunscreen! Everything that means summer to me is in this week's CSA box from Farmer's Fresh:

1. Four organic peaches. Someday soon I'll tell the story of my red clay South Carolina childhood and why I get so excited about the first peaches of the summer. (and if I'm lucky enough to find Sunny Slopes, I get all teary.)

2. A pint of blackberries (goodness knows, I have enough of these growing by my driveway, but these are certainly prettier.

3. Two cute eggplant (ratatouille will be on the menu this week!)

4. A fragrant bunch o'basil.

5. An assortment of sweet peppers.

6. Two big and a half dozen small tomatoes.

7. A storage onion and its baby cousin.

I can't wait to cook with all of this incredible produce!

Too Much of a Good Thing...Can Be a Good Thing

(Above) Arugula: An Adventure Awaits

(Above) Another Bountiful Box!

This week's CSA box from Farmer's Fresh was stuffed with beautiful veggies, including eight ears of corn! Throughout the season, portions are pretty standard for my family package, but every now and then, the fields must be flowing with milk and honey, because I'll get something like eight ears of corn. I have three ears left over from last week, so this gives me an opportunity to try something new and intensely corn-y. I love corn soup and will probably make that again, or maybe try to replicate my grandfather's fried corn, which is not deep-fried, but a creamy sautee of sweet corn in bacon drippings. Just a note about the corn, which we enjoyed last week "on the cob" (I know, that's a weird way to write it.), it is not as sweet as supermarket corn, which is ok with me. This corn is pleasantly corn-tasting, more so than the supersweet grocery store ears.

Also in the box, arugula, ready for its glamour shot in the salad spinner. It didn't really need the wash, but just like my kids, it got a bath anyway. I love the funky arugula smell! This hefty bunch will be put to use several ways - to punch up salads and pastas. Fine Cooking has two recipes that I've tagged - Pasta with Peas, Arugula and Prosciutto, and Arugula Salad with Nectarines and Fresh Raspberry Vinaigrette. I may be Madmomming (ad-libbing) a bit, and will report back.

Coming out of the box today:

1. Blueberries - these may possibly be the last for the season. Last year, we had blueberries into August, and I haven't made my blueberry pie for the summer. I may be foraging for blueberries soon.

2. Two zucchini. Maybe grilled with some sort of vinaigrette, or maybe tossed into an arugula pasta. I'm also planning a ratatouille, so if they can hang out until I get eggplant, tomatoes and peppers together...

3. A fragrant bunch of parsley. Tabbouleh, anyone? I love tabbouleh, really grain salads in general, and I think it's time to introduce them to my kids (good luck). Tabbouleh is a good opportunity to showcase the...

4. 6 tomatoes. Two teeny-weeny plus one normal Roma; and one each yellow, orange and red heirloom-type tomatoes.

5. A cute head of garlic. Not nearly as big as the farmer's market garlic I found last month, but it will certainly go to good use in my garlic-loving kitchen.

6. Another pretty cantaloupe. Last week's was sweet and juicy and this one holds promise as well. It can only be better than the supermarket melon I bought two days ago. Pale orange flesh, even paler flavor. If you're a smoothie artiste, as I sometimes pretend I am, melon makes a great fiber-rich filler, just chunk it up and pulverize along with juice, dairy and whatever other fruit is on hand.

A is for Abundance

(Above& Below) Cantaloupe

(Above) Sweet Corn


(Above) Lettuces

(Above) Abundance of vegetables.

The "A" in CSA stands for Abundance this week. The box was packed full of green beans, corn, lettuce, jalapenos, blueberries, a cantaloupe and herbs. I'm very excited about using the green beans in an oven braise with tomatoes. Here's the recipe, a variation of one found in "All About Braising" by Molly Stevens. Her recipe is cooked entirely stovetop and is finished in about an hour, yielding firm, but tasty beans. I like my beans cooked very soft and in the oven; it's easier to chase kids that way.

Braised Pole Beans with Tomatoes

3 tablespoons olive oil

4 cloves garlic, smashed

1/2 teaspoon dried oregano

1 pound green beans, preferably Romano, or pole beans

2 or 3 chopped ripe tomatoes, such as Roma, or heirloom tomatoes, if you can get them, or use one 14.5 ounce can whole peeled tomatoes

1/2 cup water, or more for braising

salt and pepper to taste

soy sauce, optional

In a large ovenproof skillet, heat oil over medium heat and saute garlic for a couple minutes. Add the oregano, green beans, tomatoes, water and seasoning. Go easy on the salt. You may want add soy sauce instead of salt. After ingredients come to a boil, put the lid on the pan and place in the oven set at 300 for a couple of hours. Check every 20 minutes or so to make sure the beans are cooking along and that the liquid is high enough - you want at least half the beans submerged in liquid.

I'm a Poet, Did You Know It?

(Above) Roasted beets. So pretty.

(Above) Blueberries and blackberries.

(Above) Everything else.

This week's CSA box included:

A fresh bunch of broccoli, fit for steaming.

Luscious blueberries, of which I am dreaming.

Blackberries, they make the crows caw.

Cabbage, ready for slaw.

A squash, some call it a pattypan.

And herbs, beets and onions for the roasting pan.

Blueberries!

Not the most original or inspiring title ever, but, honestly, that was the cry of joy from Laura when she read over the packing list to this week's CSA box. We haven't had fresh Georgia blueberries in nine months.

The box also included beautiful green and purple Romano beans, that will go to my Mom's house tonight - a thank you for babysitting. She'll probably cook them in typical Southern style. If they were lingering, I'd either make a bean and tomato braise or perhaps soupe au pistou, a recipe from a recent Gourmet magazine. It's a summer soup featuring green beans, tomatoes, summer squash, potatoes and pasta.

And there's some beautiful summer squash, a fair portion, tender and ready for either the pistou or maybe the summer squash soup from Scott Peacock's Gift of Southern Cooking. I made squash casserole last week, and I loved it, but, amazingly, it's not a big hit with my family. I rarely casserole anything, so it's treated with deep suspicion a la maison. (that French just keeps slipping in.)

Additionally:

1. Two cukes to join the pair already in the crisper. I suspect a cucumber salad is in my future.

2. A pretty garnish portion of purple basil, including the flower. I can use the farmer's market basil to make pesto and use this basil on the top of the pasta. A blog-worthy picture, to be sure.

3. A lovely head of butter lettuce, my favorite. I rinsed and spun it dry, salad-ready.

4. A couple of sweet potatoes. These will keep, so I can amass a collection for a pie, or perhaps roast them to serve with a simple supper.

5. A purdy bunch of purple and white radishes. The greens were past their prime, so I lobbed them off, rinsed the roots and put them in a container of ice water. This is my proven method for prolonging the freshness of tender roots vegetables like radishes. I'm longing to try the braised radishes in Gourmet Cookbook, or perhaps in something like egg salad. I can't stop thinking about egg salad on whole wheat bread and finely chopped radishes are divine in egg salad.

The only miss this week was a slimy bunch of broccoli. Frankly, it looked like it was picked too late - the yellow buds were a dead giveaway. In the interest of reduce, reuse and recycle, I trimmed off the slimy buds for the compost pile and saved the stalks for some sort of stock or maybe in a cheesy broccoli soup or maybe slaw, we'll see.

A Sea of Green

(Above) Fennel, with Cher Hair.


(Above) Chard and Cucumbers.

(Above) Red Leaf Lettuce.

This week's CSA box from Farmer's Fresh was filled with green. Cucumbers, chard, lettuce, a bundle of lovage and dill, and a fennel bulb with a ridiculous mane of fronds, reminiscent of either Bob Marley or Cher in all their glory.

I'm becoming pretty adept at cooking greens like chard, using the steam/sautee method that Pam Anderson writes about in "How to Cook Without a Book." Put some olive oil in a skillet, place the greens inside, let them wilt, toss in a minced garlic clove or more, sautee for a minute or so, then serve. The sauteed greens can be saved for other leftover-friendly foods such as frittatas, quesadillas and calzones.

The cucumbers will most likely be used in salads, but I'm tempted to try something new like a cool summer soup with yogurt. If I had tomatoes and a nice stale baguette, they could be tossed in a panzanella (bread salad). Perhaps there's a quick pickle to be made. We love pickles in this house. My grandmother would keep a small glass container (remember the days before Tupperware, when cooks used glass containers in the fridge?) that held a sliced cucumber covered with vinegar, what she called salad oil (vegetable oil), salt and pepper.

The fennel will require an education for me. From what I have read, the bulb is the money part, and the fronds are a nice garnish, but the stalk is best for stock. I have a stash of frozen leek greens that will soon get an addition of fennel stalks, just waiting for stock-making day. Deborah Madison's "Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone" features many fennel recipes, salads, braises and soups, I think that's where I'll head for inspiration.

Dill is one of my favorite herbs and I will probably use it in a homemade buttermilk ranch dressing and possibly with some tuna that I'm cooking tomorrow night. Lovage is new to me, but it smells and tastes quite like celery, so I'll probably toss it into the stockpot and maybe into the salad, too.

This Week's CSA Post: TBA

One of the cool problems/opportunities of a CSA membership is what to do when you're planning a trip out of town. Do you extend the membership a week? Do you completely forget about it and let the kind drop-off site person take it home? Or, do you ask a friend to pick it up and enjoy it? And, if so, which friend?

This is how I got hooked on a CSA membership. My neighbor, Susan, offered me her box last April while she was out of town. I loved the coincidence that the drop-off site was the home of someone I'd known for 25 years, but hadn't made the CSA connection with. Just one afternoon of pulling vegetables out of a bag, and I was hooked. I signed up within a week.

Anyway, this week, my mom will be the lucky recipient of the CSA box. I've shared items before, especially the greens beans and heirloom tomatoes from last summer. This week's box should include lettuce; cabbage, turnip roots or radishes; onions; pecans; squash or sugar snap peas; herbs and possibly strawberries (or as the weekly menu posts it: " Strawberries ??"). I'll post next week how Mom fares as a CSA cook.

Mom's Apple Pie

This fall, with the abundance of fragrant and delicious organic apples from Farmer's Fresh, I got serious about pie making and baking. My mom is a wonderful cook, and bakes terrific cakes, but has always been intimidated by pie pastry, so, although I've learned a lot at my mom's apron strings, pie crust is not one of them.

My favorite resource is America's Test Kitchen Family Cookbook, and I used its recipe for this Double-Crust Apple Pie. The pie was loaded with about a dozen organic apples, mostly Golden Delicious, but a few Fujis in there as well. The Golden Delicious apples were spectacular, deeply fragrant and floral, and the crust was perfect.