CSA Week 7

Here's what's in the box this week:

potatoes

kale

lettuce

oregano

summer squash (1)

zucchini (1)

chard and vinaigrette (went to my friend)

Half the kale was eaten as slaw, since I still had some dressing left over from last week. The other half I turned into kale chips. This is so easy and the kale shrinks down to nothing. It's a great way to use it up, plus way cheaper than the kale chips you can buy in the store! Well, I can't really comment on the packaged kale chips, as I refuse to buy them when I can make my own. These I dusted with chile-lime salt - a seasoning you can find in the Mexican section of the grocery store or online. The key is to spread everything out into a single layer, or they won't dehydrate evenly - even use a few pans if needed. 

For Sunday breakfast, I decided to make a hash with the potatoes. I picked through my growing supply of potatoes for all the smaller ones and boiled them first. I also used the summer squash and zucchini in the hash, as well as the last of the chicken from last week. The key to a good hash is to make sure you get good browning and crunchy bits. That's a bit hard for me, as I just can't seem to leave things alone (it has taken me many years to learn to make good fried eggs, since I have a tendency to flip too soon). For me, the key is to multitask so I get too busy to constantly tend to the pan. 

Still have the oregano left and the lettuce. I'll use the lettuce up in work salads. Will hit the farm stand down the street to beef up my salads with some cucumber and peppers. There's lots of potatoes left, so I was thinking about making a lemon, oregano, potato salad...will have to find a recipe for that...

CSA Week 6

Here's what came in the box this week:

baby beets and greens

rainbow chard

sage

green onion

potatoes 

kale (went to my box sharing friend)

My CSA also started the u-pick farm this week. I picked:

green bell pepper

jalapeno

purple kale

I also was fortunate enough to get 2 bags of lettuce from two of my co-worker's gardens!

I had a work picnic this week, so I used the salad greens to make a giant salad. I added in green onions, radish (from about 3 boxes ago), pickled rhubarb, golden raisins and slivered almonds. I made a honey balsamic dressing that used up the rest of the beet green pesto from about 2 boxes back. The salad was truely large and I ended up with lots left over, so I added the bell peppers and some lunch meat and brought it into work - it was gone...

The beet greens and chard were cooked down on the day I got the box so they wouldn't wilt in the fridge. I then added them to zucchini butter from last year that has been in my freezer and some pasta for lunches for this coming week. The pasta also got some Asiago cheese, baby brie, pasta water and lime juice.

The kale was made into a salad - my favorite kale salad, a kale Caesar slaw. I usually have all the ingredients on hand - anchovy, lemon juice, mustard, olive oil, parmesan. The dressing is so creamy and lemony and bright, I just love it. You also add in a hard boiled egg and that never hurts anything. (http://www.bonappetit.com/recipe/tuscan-kale-caesar-slaw)

I'm constantly amazed at the internet - I do a lot of research at my job to find answers to random questions from my providers and can usually find the answer, so when I was looking for what to do with the sage, an herb I usually associate with the fall, I was not surprised to find a sage and beet dish. What did surprise me was that I found a beet and potato salad with a lemon dressing, and since I love lemon, that sounded yummy to me. (http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/beet-potato-salad-with-lemon-709) This salad is more of the German potato salad style, where you make an acidic dressing and you toss the potatos and beets while warm. This dressing used lemon juice, jalapeno, oil and onion, which I used the green onion for. I only had a small amount of beets, so I used an equal amount of potatoes. It was very good and it is also gone... (see a theme here?)

So what to do with the sage? I added a few leaves to the beets when I roasted them (I know the recipe from above says to steam them, but that's messy with beets and roasting is so much better). I followed a Martha Stewart recipe but added some oil, salt, pepper and the sage. (http://www.marthastewart.com/336625/basic-roasted-beets) Since the beets were from the farm box, I had a wide variety of sizes, so I had to cut some down so the cooking time would be the same - it ended up being about 30 min. Then you let the beets steam off their skins and you just rub them off with a paper towel. It's actually not all that messy and I had only a few red fingers (mostly from cutting the beets to size).

What else to do with the sage? I decided to make a sage, lemon, garlic scape (I have a straggler from the box from 2 weeks ago) and green onion paste for a butterflied chicken. The chicken is from a farmer friend who I also got a few ducks from - those to be used in the future!

So far, I seem to be keeping up with the box. I am interested to see how things progress now that we are getting into the bigger growing season and my box sharing friend is due to have her baby fairly soon - that just means that I will be cooking the whole box and sending goodies to the new parents. I am also happy to report that the u-pick farm has tomatillos - I see enchiladas in my future!!

CSA Week 5

Here's what's in the box this week:

Beet greens 

Rainbow chard

Green onions

Yellow squash

Cilantro pesto

Purple collard greens (given to my friend as part of her share)

The greens were sautéed and added to beans and chicken thigh confit for a quick cassoulet. 

The chicken thighs being sous vide'd in a mix of bacon fat, vegetable oil and ghee. Which, note to self, get the stupid vacuum sealer and stop using jars!! The chicken turned out fine since I was going to shred it anyway but if I wanted to brown the skin, it wouldn't have worked.

A quick search of the Internet archives found a recipe for summer squash pasta with cilantro lime pesto. (http://dishingupthedirt.com/summer-squash/roasted-summer-squash-pasta-cilantro-lime-pesto/) So I used the pesto from the box, added lime zest and juice and some Asiago at the end. The lime is what made it - light and fresh. 

So far, have yet to use the green onions. So they are just going to hang out on my window sill until some great thought comes along. 

Hope everyone had a happy and safe 4th of July!!!