CSA Week 4

The Pick List for Week 4:

Green Cabbage
Cheddar Cauliflower
Broccoli
Carrots
Beets
Sugar Snap Peas
Hakurei Turnips
Lettuce
Garlic Scapes

The Cheddar Cauliflower is colored like cheddar but doesn't taste like it. It's slightly more cauliflower-tasting than the usual white kind. The broccoli is nearly broccolini - young enough that the stalk is even tastier than the florets!

Hakurei turnips are a Japanese turnip with round roots and white skin. The greens are mild enough to eat raw, as are the roots. They are sweeter than common turnips.

A visit to another farm stand

I can never get enough of farm stands. We stopped at a great one on the drive north in Tewksbury, MA, The East Street Farm.

We bought apples, carrots (I’m a sucker for the farmer’s own crop and I only got a small bundle of carrots with this week’s pickup), plus whoopee pies and chocolate milk.

The milk was from Shaw’s Farm, whose farmer's rant I really like. I wanted to buy something to show my support. The chocolate milk was the only thing small enough to consume immediately, though we seriously debated the ½ gallon of ice cream.

While rock climbing, we ate the carrots from the East Street Farm – straight out of the bag with the dirt rubbed off. Mmm, vitamin B12.

Chocolate Pudding

I had just a bit of cocoa powder in the house, and nothing else that would really help a sweet tooth. Luckily, I also had two wonderful CSA eggs and light cream. Cream, eggs and chocolate - that's all you need for a great dessert!

Eggs from pastured chickens are so much easier to separate the yolk and whites. I lucked out that my little bit of leftover cocoa powder measured out to just about 1/3 cup.

Chocolate Pudding

1 cup milk
1/2 cup cream
1/3 cup sugar (I'll confess to using Splenda here)
1 Tbsp cornstarch
1/3 cup cocoa
2 Tbsp boiling water
2 egg yolks
1 tsp vanilla extract

Warm the milk and cream in the microwave.

Put the sugar, cornstarch and cocoa into a saucepan. Add the 2 Tbsp of boiling water and whisk into a paste. Whisk in the egg yolks; follow with the warmed milk and cream, then the vanilla. Put the saucepan on the heat, cooking and whisking for about 3 minutes until the mixture thickens. Take off the heat and pour into small glasses. Place in the refrigerator until cool. It's so yummy warm that it's tough to wait for it to cool.

The Best Salsa

My coworker brought in the tastiest salsa she had made from scratch. This is her recipe. It's so fresh and tasty, I had it for dinner with blue corn tortilla chips - and that's it. I was surprised that it used a whole jalapeno, but it really wasn't hot. Don't be afraid of that.

The Best Salsa

In a food processor, add the following and mix:
1 onion
1 jalapeno, with the seeds and stem removed
2 cloves of garlic
Juice of 1 lime
The entire bunch of cilantro, thick stems removed (the farmshare bunch was a little smaller than typical grocery store ones. You may want to split the bunch in half)

After processing, stir in 4 to 5 chopped tomatoes.

Curry in a Hurry

This is a highly adaptable, go-to recipe for using up almost any veggie and/or meat. I base it off of Nigella's Curry recipes, but change it with whatever I have in my cabinets. I always use light coconut milk. Squashes and potatoes should be added to the liquid earliest and cooked for about 15 min before proceeding with the rest. Meats should be added before quick-cooking veggies.

The same recipe can be used for red or green curries.

Curry in a Hurry, for 2 hungry people plus some leftovers

2 - 3 scallions
1/2 Tbsp Olive Oil
1 1/2 Tbsp Green Thai Curry Paste - or more to taste
Chicken cut into strips or shrimp
1 14-oz can of light coconut milk
1 cup of chicken stock
1 Tbsp fish sauce
3 cups of veggies, like peas, green beans, cauliflower, tomatoes, onions

Cooked rice or noodles to serve
Lime wedges

1. Heat the oil in a large saucepan over med-high heat. Add the scallions for a minute or two, then the curry paste.

2. Add the chicken pieces and turn for 2 minutes before adding the coconut milk, stock, and fish sauce. Then add the veggies, except for the delicate veggie like sugar snap peas or asparagus; you don't want them to get mushy.

3. Simmer for 10 minutes, then add the sugar snap peas and cook for another 3 - 5 minutes.

4. Serve with rice, noodles or Kashi grains. Sprinkle with cilantro and a squeeze of lime.

Pasta Primavera

I’ve been comparing brands of whole grain pasta. My current favorite is the Hodgson Mills brand for its simplicity – only one ingredient, and for its satisfying texture.

Wanting to use up my veggies before a weekend away from home, I made a simple pasta primavera. I wasn't really following a recipe, just making it up as I went. I was even so lazy as to not peel the carrots. They were so young and fresh that the delicate skin didn't need to be removed. The carrots were from my farm’s own crop, non uniform in shape and decidedly not standard grocery store carrots.

Pasta Primavera

Broccoli, washed and cut into florets
2 carrots, cut into 1-inch pieces
2 tomatoes
Spring garlic
1 onion, cut into little moons
1 Tbsp olive oil
A slice of butter
A splash of some red wine from the glass I was drinking while cooking.

I heated the oil and butter in a large saucepan and stirred in the onions, followed by the carrots and garlic for about 5 - 7 minutes. Then I added the broccoli for a few more minutes. Last came the tomatoes, a splash of wine and a ladleful of the pasta cooking water. I cracked on some fresh black pepper, then tossed in the pasta.

Dinner in under 20 minutes!

Asparagus New Potato Dill Salad

I found this recipe online at About.com, of all places. I wanted something that used a good amount of dill and asparagus. I increased the dill quite a bit since I was skipping the anchovies and wanted to add back the strong flavors. I used "Red, White and Blue" new potatoes. I steamed the aspargus in the microwave. It's the easiest way to get the steaming just right and prevent mushyness.

Aspargus, New Potato and Dill Salad

1 pound new potatoes, unpeeled and scrubbed
1/2 pound fresh asparagus, cut into 1-inch lengths
1 whole vidalia onion, chopped
1/4 cup mayonnaise
1/4 cup light sour cream
1 Tbsp lemon juice
1 Tbsp sweet pickle relish
1 tsp dijon mustard
1/4 to 1/2 cup fresh dill, chopped
1/2 tsp kosher salt, or to taste
Black pepper
2 hard-boiled eggs, cut into quarters or slices
3 tsp small capers
Paprika for garnish

Boil the potatoes in salted water until tender; drain and cool. Cut into 1-inch chunks.

While the potatoes are cooking, steam the asparagus until crisp-tender. Rinse in cold water to prevent over softening; drain thoroughly. Cut into 1-inch lengths.

Combine the potatoes, asparagus and onion in a large bowl. In a seperate bowl, whisk together the mayonnaise, sour cream, lemon juice, pickle relish, dijon, dill, salt and pepper. Gently stir into the potato and asparagus mixture until combined. Arrange the hard-boiled eggs and sprinkle with the capers and paprika.

CSA Week 3

The Pick List for Week 3:

Garlic Scapes
Spring Garlic
Cilantro
Dill
Mesclun Mix
Scallions
Red Leaf Lettuce
Kale
Sugar Snap Peas
Broccoli
Collard Greens

The farm told us our pick list changed this week from the original plan thanks to the unusually high heat. It's interesting to be close enough to the fields to know how my menus are affected by weather. The broccoli bumped the cabbage off the list. Broccoli was picked early this week to save it from the heat; cabbage is hearty enough to withstand it.

The sugar snap peas have been my favorite for snacking on. I appreciate them even more now that I know they are the most time consuming to pick. It takes two people three hours on the morning of pick-up day to harvest enough peas for the shares.

The Garlic Scapes are fascinating. They are the flower of the garlic. Before they straighten and open, they are removed from the garlic bulb and can be eaten as a delicacy. They're so curly they look like bracelets!

Green Smoothie

It sounded strange when first suggested, but the Green Smoothie is my new favorite breakfast. I'd love to use my kale for other purposes, but the kale never lasts past Wednesday morning once I tried this recipe.

Green Smoothie

2 or more fruits
raw rinsed greens (like kale, spinach, chard, etc)
fruit juice or nectar
dab of honey
ice (optional)

In a blender thoroughly mix the fruit and juice. Banana is a great emulsifier. Other yummy fruit additions can be frozen or fresh mango, fresh oranges, nectarines, peaches, strawberries, and raspberries. Add the ice till well chopped. Fill the blender to the top with loosely packed greens and blend until incorporated.

The best version I've made so far included strawberries, raspberries, banana and kale with orange juice for the liquid.

Later in the week, a second attempt at a green smoothie using collard greens was not quite as good. Collard greens are a little too spicy or peppery. Not a good combination. At least I could feel good about getting my raw greens in!

Keeping the veggies fresh

Farmshare pick up day! My favorite day of the week.

For the first two weeks of the share, I’ve been shoving my farmshare goodies away in the fridge as best they fit in. This week, I tried something a little different. I washed, prepped and tupperwared the dill, cilantro, sugar snap peas, mesclun, and lettuce.

The farm gave me a great tip for lettuce storage. They say to wash it, spin it and store it in the salad spinner. The lettuce stays fresh for a full week like this. Salad making was a snap since the lettuce was ready to go.



A Simple Salad

Lettuce, Garlic scapes, Almond shavings, chopped Cheddar cheese with balsamic vinaigrette - served with a slice of whole grain bread on the side and a glass of red wine.

Balsamic Vinaigrette

¼ cup Olive Oil
¼ cup walnut oil
½ cup Balsamic Vinegar
½ cup Honey
2 scallions, chopped
3-4 cloves of garlic chopped roughly
1 to 2 tsp of grill seasoning
Salt and pepper to taste

Add all ingredients together and puree till smooth. A teaspoon of cornstarch will thicken it, if desired.

CSA Week 2

The Pick List for Week 2:

Sugar Snap Peas
Fennel
Lettuce
Kale
Swiss Chard
Scallions
Spring Garlic

Each pick-up comes with a newsletter of farm notes, instructions and a few recipes.

This week's newsletter included instructions for freezing the peas. The peas are so sweet I can't imagine needing to freeze them. They'll be gone within a few days anyway! It makes me wonder if there will later be so many that I will have to freeze some? I suppose the instructions are handy for blanching almost any veggie.

CSA Week 1

The Pick List for Week 1:

Green Leaf Lettuce
Mesclun Mix
Watercress
Napa Cabbage
Spring Garlic
Spinach
Kale
Scallions

I am so excited at the start of the harvest season. I felt like a kid at a birthday party on my first pick-up day. My friend, who I am splitting the share with, gave me a tour around the farm (well, not the whole thing - just the areas the customers frequent). She showed me the barn where we get our weekly bushel and introduced me to Wendy, the share manager and beekeeper. Wendy seems to be on first-name basis with all the share holders. We shopped the farmer's market, where we get a discount on our pick-up day.

The farm is non-certified organic. They care about soil health and good produce. They raise chickens in pastures with portable hen houses. The produce for the farm share are harvested the same morning as pick-up!

Lucky lucky me.

Mexican Chicken Salad with Black Bean Salsa

It was my turn to host book club and our choice of the month was Michael Pollan's In Defense of Food. With a book like that, I wanted to stick to a main dish that mostly vegetables and was seasonal. I wanted it to be one dish and filling. In addition, I had a gluten-free member attending. Nigella's Mexican Chicken Salad fit the bill perfectly.

I found it is easiest to shred the chicken by hand; I used skinless, boneless chicken breasts that had been cooked in an oven and cooled before shredding.

I had never made anything with jicama before. I wasn't even pronouncing it correctly before this recipe. I made the salsa first so the flavors could marinate.

Mexican Chicken Salad with Black Bean Salsa

For the Dressing:

1 ripe avocado
1/2 cup sour cream, reduced-fat
3 Tbsp lime juice
1 clove of garlic, peeled
1/2 tsp table salt
pinch of black pepper

Place all the ingredients in a blender and process until smooth. It can be kept covered in the fridge for several days.

For the salad:
2 1/2 cups shredded chicken
1 lb jicama, peeled and cut into matchsticks
4 scallions, finely shredded
1/2 cup finely chopped cilantro
3 cups shredded romaine lettuce

Put all the salad ingredients into a bowl, spoon over the dressing and toss with tongs to get everything coated.

Tomato and Black Bean Salsa:
1 15 oz can black beans, well rinsed
2 tomatoes, deseeded and chopped
1 jalapeno, chopped
1 Tbsp lime juice
1 tsp salt

Mix everything. If it's too hot, you can take the edge off with a teaspoon of sugar.

Assemble the salad with the salsa on top and decorate with scallions and cilantro.

Thankfully, I had some of the dressing leftover. It was so delicious. I had it on a salad a few days later and also used it as a dip.