Monday, June 28, 2010

CSA Adventures 2010: Week 2


Share: Week 2


Halloo!  I have eaten all of my week one produce and most of week two's.  Let's discuss.


Week One Wrap-Up
These are recipes made with items from week one's share that were made and/or eaten during week two.  Though they "belong" in week one, they weren't completely blogged about in that week's post.


Grilled garlic scapes


Plate o' scapes

1. Grilled Garlic Scapes
Source: The blog A Cooking Life 
Notes:  I cut the scapes in halves or thirds, depending on length (after cutting off the flower end, as suggested in the recipe), tossed them in olive oil, salt, and a favorite pepper blend, then grilled them on my stovetop grill pan.  They softened up and became pleasantly chewy and mild, like garlicky grilled asparagus.  If you try this recipe, let them cook for quite a while.  More black grill marks = more tender and more flavor.

Weirdxperiment

2.  Pickled Radish Leaves
Source: Japanese Country Cookbook, by Russ Rudsinski, via Chowhound.
Notes:  These were odd.  They didn't taste like much, even after several days soaking in the "pickling" mixture.  Not bad, by any means, but not really worth doing, either.  Please pardon the phone photo.  My camera batteries ran dry, and I wanted to get this post up.




And now, on to the main event:

Week Two's Produce
3 Garlic with stalks
4 Onion
2 Lettuce
4 Bok Choy
5 Radish
1 lb. mixed kale/chard/collards (this should have been a 1/2 lb.  I made an error in distribution!)



Recipes Made - Week Two


Chipotle salad

1. Dan's Famous Mexican Salad (x2!)
Source: Dan's brain.
Notes: On two nights in a row (the second because we were going to another house to eat dinner with 4  friends), Dan made a salad of CSA lettuce, onion, radishes, radish greens, avocado, black olives (the second of the two nights; they were a good addition), and croutons.  What really made this salad memorable was the dressing he made of canned chipotle chiles blended with avocado, lime juice, olive oil, cumin, salt and pepper.  It had a strong, smoky heat.  I rarely eat spicy tossed salads, but this turned out to be a great idea -- so great we ate it twice.


CSA sautee: Bok Choi, garlic, onion

2. Sauteed Bok Choy With Garlic and Onion
Source: I found a recipe for stir-fried baby bok choy on the internet, here, and adapted it.
Notes: I don't know if the bok choy I had qualified as "baby bok choy," but it was small.  I sauteed it rather than stir frying, and added CSA garlic and onion.  It was slightly too salty, and a little soupy (because I didn't measure my chicken stock), but it was good.  I'd make it again, with a tad less soy sauce.  I garnished the dish with sliced onion stalk.




Grilled Cheese on a bed of garlic scapes

Grilled cheese with prosciutto

3. Grilled Cheese Sandwiches with Tomato, Onion, and Prosciutto
Source: Dan's brain
Notes: The onion on these sandwiches was CSA onion -- sweet and crunchy.  We ate them with grilled garlic scapes.
 

Items Remaining at the end of Week One 
  • 3 heads of garlic, with stalks
  • mixed kale, chard, and collard greens
  • a few radishes 

Planned Recipe(s) for Remaining Items

1. Mixed Greens and Eggs
2. Raw Salad with Kale and Collards
3. Anything with garlic! 
4. Radishes...?  I'm not sure.


Final Thoughts on Week Two
I didn't manage to get everything in the share eaten during week two, and what I did eat only made 4 dishes, but I still consider this week a success.  We fed 8 adults with our two Mexican salads, and 4 of us tried the bok choy dish.  Nothing went bad, so I'll eat the rest of the greens and garlic soon, with the produce from week three (which I picked up today). What's your favorite way to eat mixed greens?  Radishes?

Fruit starts in week three!  Stay tuned.


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3 comments:

Mechanic said...

funny you say mixed greens and eggs, i like to sautee "over the hill" lettuce in a dab of olive oil as a side dish for scrambled eggs!

Olga said...

Hi! Thank you so much for documenting your CSA produce usage -- I've just started receiving a vegetable CSA box myself a couple of weeks ago, so going through your old posts has been quite inspirational, seeing that it appears that I am getting very similar ingredients in Chicago as you are in NY.
So, here is my favorite thing to do with "cooking greens". If they are of a heartier variety (kale, collards), blanch them for a couple of minutes, then saute with a bunch of green onions and a clove or two of garlic. (If your greens are chard, beet greens, mustard greens, then don't blanch them first.) After you evacuate the greens, throw some soba noodles into the (same) boiling water so they can cook while you are sauteing your greens. Put noodles in a bowl, top with greens. I also like to add a fried or hard-boiled egg on top and avocado. Maybe some chopped fresh green onion and/or cilantro. Maybe squeeze some lime juice or drizzle some hot (or not) sesame oil on top. This is healthy comfort food I eat in front of TV. This non-recipe is based on one from Heidi Swanson: http://www.101cookbooks.com/archives/garlic-soba-noodles-recipe.html
Another favorite thing to do with greens is sauteing them with onion, garlic, some dried/reconstituted raisins/cherries and pine nuts. But you already know to do that from Molly Katzen's book (which I got based on you favorable reviews :)

Radishes: having grown up in Russia, radishes are one of my favorite vegetables. Here are three things you can do with them:
1) put them into a salad with some greens, cucumbers, bell peppers, green onions, herbs (parsley, dill, cilantro) and feta or goat cheese. Dress with lemon juice and olive oil. I also like to put some avocado on that for nice texture and flavor contrast -- I put avocado on everything though, because it makes everything better.
2) Slice a bunch of radishes thinly, drizzle with olive or walnut oil, season with salt and lots of ground pepper. If you like them crunchy and to have some bite, eat right away. If not, let them sit while you make the rest of your dinner, the radishes will mellow out and will become softer. Drain any liquid they release. Serve as a side dish to something more substantial, like this yummy frittata (that was our dinner last week):http://www.101cookbooks.com/archives/a-tasty-frittata-recipe.html
3) Radish sandwiches -- black bread, like the one you used for your grilled cheese, good butter, sliced radishes, salt. Nom.
I've read (and had at restaurants) about cooked (roasted or sauteed) radishes. They are pretty good that way too, but I prefer them raw. Oh, and you can also have them in a potato salad for July 4th! (recipe from my culinary hero Deb Perelman): http://smittenkitchen.com/2007/06/spuds-most-worthy/

Jennette said...

Olga! Thanks for the comment -- perhaps the best one on the blog! ;) I love all your ideas and can't wait to put them to the test. Hope you'll come back!

Steph -- I had the mixed greens and scrambled eggs last night. I used a recipe that called for a splash of red wine vinegar on the greens before eating them. Yum.

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