Saturday, August 29, 2009

Adventures in CSA: Weeks 10 + 11

CSA: Week 10

I barely made it to the church in time to pick up my CSA vegetables for week 10. And I missed out entirely this past week (week 11) because I was out of town during the pick-up, so things have vacillated from hectic to dull in our kitchen recently (produce-wise).

For week ten's share, I came away with:

1 lb. tomatoes (red, not green!)
3/4 lb. beans (yellow, not green!)
1 lb. cucumbers
4 ears of corn
a bunch of heads of garlic
1/2 lb. cabbage (which came home in time to be added to week 9's slaw)
1 lb. beets


We used almost everything in just a few swell dishes.

Salad 1

1. Tomato and Cucumber Salad. Unlike past weeks' green and unripe (though still nice) tomatoes, these CSA tomatoes were red, ripe, and juicy. I immediately cut them into rough cubes and then chopped and added the cucumbers. I dressed this with squares of mozzarella cheese, oil, vinegar, cilantro salt and pepper to taste. I took the whole shebang to Melissa's apartment for craft night and was delighted to find that it was the perfect side to go with her vegetable quiche.



Lunch Club: Friday

2. Green Bean Salad. I have been trying not to duplicate dishes during these 22 weeks of produce, but I couldn't help myself when it came to the beans. I just had to make this recipe from week eight again. The soy-glazed almonds are so delicious, and the green beans really come to life when they marinate in the soy sauce dressing. I mixed store-bought dark green beans with the lighter, yellow CSA green beans. The CSA beans were clearly superior, but both were good in context.

Everyone at Lunch Club commented on how nice this salad turned out. It's a keeper.





(photo by Dan)

3. Buttermilk Bacon Corn Salad Tomatoes. I made this recipe, which came through my RSS Reader from the fine folk at Serious Eats Thursday evening (without bacon). Then I took a portion to work for David's Lunch Club vegetarian option on Friday before serving the leftovers (with bacon added) for dinner that night. It was light and refreshing through-and-through. I think a lot of different ingredients could be used to customize the flavors to one's personal tastes.


Side note: I used CSA garlic liberally in most of these dishes. Fresh garlic seems much harder to peel, but it smelled divine.


The casualties of our leaving town before the week was up? We had to throw out a bit of cabbage and the three small beets. They just didn't make it. I've mourned them and moved on.

Let's gather here again for week twelve. I'm thrilled to know I'm picking up those new farm goodies tomorrow.


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