Weekly CSA #3 – Peas, 1 Lone Zucchini, Tiny Beets and More Greens

CSA week 3 was the first indication that there would be more than just greens for us this summer in our farm share. Rationally, I knew that would be the case, but with the retarded amount of rain we’ve had it seemed like greens would be the only things not getting decimated by over-watering. So in the farm share this week we had 1 zucchini, broccoli rabe, a few tiny beets, a few radishes, some kale, bok hoi, arugula, lettuce, garlic scapes, peas and snow peas.  The following is where it all ended up:

1. Peas, zucchini, garlic scape + radishes – The photo above is where these 4 ended up. I made a quick pasta sauce by adding the peas, chopped zucchini, garlic scapes and thinly cut radishes to a pan with some olive oil and a white onion (chopped). I softened all the veggies just a touch and then added about 1.5 cups of chicken stock, a pinch of red pepper flake and some chopped parsley & basil from the yard. Cooked the sauce down a bit while the pasta boiled. Added a generous sprinkle of grated parm when I was ready to eat.

2. Beets + Mixed lettuce – Ended up in a salad. I roasted the beets and removed the skins, added to the greens along with some pistachios and a quick lemon vinaigrette.

3. Arugula – added to a mixed greens salad

4. Snow peas – served raw as a snack

5. Bok Choi & kale – boiled for about 5 minutes and then drained and sauteed with garlic and olive oil + pinch of salt for about 8-10 minutes

6. Broccoli rabe – one of my favorite vegetables – cleaned the lower stems off and boiled the rabe in salted water for about 8ish minutes. Transferred the rabe with a spoon right from the pot of water (you want some rabe water in your saute pan) into a pan which had olive oil and lightly browned garlic. Cover and simmer on low with a pinch of salt for at least 8-10 more minutes until soft. We toasted some yummy crusty bread, added the rabe on top + some grated parm and it was an awesome awesome snack.

Weekly CSA #2 – More Greens (again)

The above picture mostly sums up what happened to our portion of the CSA share for week # 2. This week’s share included: kale, sugar snap peas, bok choi, swiss chard, garlic scapes, and one other green which I am forgetting about at the moment. We have already slacked in our usage since we ate out a few times last week so the following is what happened to our CSA items so far:

1. Kale – Used half of it with some fingerling potatoes in my take on mashed potatoes with kale. The pairing, which I’ve read about elsewhere, is actually pretty tasty. Throw in some butter with that and heck yeah, it’s good. I boiled both together in some water for about 8 or 9 minutes and then tossed them back into a pan with olive oil & butter & some salt & a dash of chicken broth, covered it and let them cook another 15 minutes. Took the lid off and let the taters get a little brown. Definitely a good side dish

2. Bok Choi, Chard, & garlic scapes – all three went into the dish above. It is a brown rice bowl topped with all the greens and scapes and a delicious fried egg. I sauteed some shallots and garlic in some olive + sesame oils and then added the harder stems of the chard and choi + garlic scapes (chopped) + some radishes sliced thin. After a few minutes of saute, I added all the leaves and about 1/3 cup tamari soy sauce, 1 tablespoon fish sauce, 1-2 tablespoons of rice wine vinegar, and juice of 1/2 lime and let the whole thing cook down, covered, until everything was nicely braised. Cooked the egg in some olive oil and added it on top of the bowl. Great Monday night dinner.

The radishes, for those who have never cooked them, were AWESOME in this dish. All the peppery flavor goes out and they just get mellow and succulent:

Sadly I haven’t used the sugar snap peas yet… hoping to get there this week.

Weekly CSA – #1 Greens, Greens and More Greens

This past week we started our weekly farm share from Luna Farms here in Massachusetts. We are splitting a full share with our neighbors which makes it more manageable from both a cost and use perspective (then it won’t go to waste if we don’t get to it all). This week we received mostly greens – bok choi, arugula, braising greens, and kale and . Plus a few odds and ends like garlic scapes (just a few), itty bitty baby onions and radishes (with their gorgeous leafy greens in tact).

I thought I would start posting a sort of weekly diary of what we do with our bounty of gorgeous vegetation. Partly because I feel I’ve been lax in my posting lately (day job wearing me out) and partly because it will be a cool project to look back on for the summer. It’ll be my “what I ate for my summer” project.

Here goes week 1:

1. A pasta dish with a handful of the braising greens and the baby onions mixed in, which included also some fava beans, leeks and sausage. I posted that recipe here.

2. Remaining braising greens + radish greens + garlic scapes sauteed with garlic and olive oil as a side dish with some whole baked trout.

3. Radishes – this one is all my hubby – eaten raw with butter and salt – YUM. I hate raw radishes but this goes to show you butter makes everything better. If we get more radishes I am hoping to try baking them in the oven. This softens the peppery taste and the result is surprisingly good.

4. Kale and bok choi chopped and added to beef soup.

5. Tonight I am cooking remaining kale, arugula, + some baby swiss chard from my own garden with shallots, olive oil and a splash of red wine vinegar as a side dish to go with some steamed clams & mussels.

Looking forward to see what out bounty is for week #2. Hopefully this will spawn some new recipe ideas and help me get back into the swing of things. If nothing else, we’re eating out less and we’re eating all these good for you greens so it’s definitely a worthwhile investment.