CSA Week 5

What did I get in my week five CSA?

4 ears of corn, a head of lettuce, a bunch of fresh basil, 3 pattypan squash, green beans, shallots, and the treats of the week: raspberries and a jar of brown mustard. The package of yellow shoots on the right is the farm's own 'Micro Popcorn'. I bought a package after I was given a sample to taste. They are baby sweet corn shoots that when chewed, overwhelm you with the taste of fresh corn on the cob and a deep sweetness - very unique. The basket on the left has some green apples and golden plums I bought at the farmer's market from Noquochoke Orchards. They made great snacks.

I roasted the corn in the oven to make my new old favorite, elote (see recipe sidebar). I served it with a green salad using the lettuce and shallots, plus tomatoes, jalapenos, avocado and lime juice.

The rest of the lettuce, more shallots and the mustard made great dressings for veggie burgers, which we whipped up throughout the week when we were feeling lazy.

I used the basil and more of the shallots to make a Thai-style fish stir fry. I marinated tilapia in soy sauce, oyster sauce and fish sauce, and stir fried it with garlic, shallots, hot chilis, red pepper and carrots. I stirred in the fresh basil at the end, and served it over brown rice. It was very satisfying!

 On a sunny Saturday, GP and I finally broke out my new Hot Pot BBQ from Black and Blum. 

As you can see, this amazing feat of design is a combination terracotta flower pot and a charcoal grill. When it's not in use, it looks like a regular flower/herb pot. But the top easily lifts off and you have a charcoal grill ready to go for outdoor cooking. I received one this past Christmas and have been waiting to use it for summer grilling. I've kept stumbling upon recipes for panzanella - a salad made of roasted or grilled bread cubes and vegetables, and making it gave me an excuse to finally break out the BBQ.

The BBQ worked great, though GP and I are unsure how frequently we will use it moving forward, only because we really have no outdoor space with our apartment, so we stood in the neighbor's driveway with the pot on the ground, and we're also worried about smoke bothering the neighbors. Also, how do we put the charcoal out when we're done grilling? The grill has no cover to extinguish it, save for the terracotta flower pot, and you are advised not to use that piece, as it will burn. But we also can't stand outside in the driveway watching the pot for hours until the coals burn out. We poured water on the coals once we were done this time, but we'll have to find better places and methods in the future. I also need to plant something in the top!

Regardless, the salad was spectacular. The grill char added a great summer element to it. I based the recipe of off one from Epicurious, using the pattypan squash and shallots, with ciabatta bread, bell peppers and tomatoes. I dressed everything with olive oil, red wine vinegar, lemon juice, thyme and rosemary. 

Lastly, I used the green beans to make a veggie frittata.

That's all for now. I got enough food in week six to feed me for two weeks! Updates to come.

CSA Week 4

Here's the bounty of my 4th CSA week:

Zucchini and summer squash, small kohlrabi (!), shallots, three types of shelled peas, green beans and the treats of the week: a container of blueberries and a jar of strawberry jam. The dozen eggs I bought separately, but they're also from the farm!

So I suppose I should get this out of the way first. I know I mentioned in a previous post that I don't eat blueberries. I really don't, but if push comes to shove (aka if I'm given blueberries in my CSA), there is one form I can eat them in that doesn't bother me too much. Muffins. So, I made a dozen lemony blueberry muffins.

 Speaking of baking, the large zucchini was turned into two baked treats. Zucchini bread:

...and zucchini chips. Honestly, the best replacement for potato chips you'll ever find.

The smaller squashes were sliced and lightly sauteed, (as recommended by Smitten Kitchen), and went on top of pasta and homemade tomato sauce.

I found a great recipe for roasted kohlrabi and potatoes here, and served it with a green salad that incorporated the green beans. I am seriously in love with kohlrabi.

The rest of the green beans, plus the shallots and some eggs went into nicoise salad. This is one of my go-to entree salads, and I base it off of this recipe from The Kitchn. 

Last but not least, I shelled all of the peas and put them into Chinese pea soup with dumplings. As mentioned, Silverbrook Farm sends out recipe ideas via email each week that incorporate the produce everyone gets in their shares. With all of the peas they've been giving out, they recommended people visit Peas.org, an adorable website sponsored by the British Growers Association that encourages people to eat more peas! It is chock-full of recipes, and that's where I found this one. Admittedly, I bought the dumplings and the scallion pancakes I served it with at the Chinese restaurant on my street (I've made dumplings several times before, and it is no small task), but the soup was delicious! I can't attest to the authenticity of it's 'Chinese-iness' (about null I'd say), but I'm eager to make it again.

That's all for now. Will update with week 5 recipes soon!

CSA all the way

So it appears that I'm only making new posts every four months. I apologize for my delinquent blogging, but I've begun something that will hopefully give me enough to write about each week. This year I'm participating in a CSA - community supported agriculture - with a share purchased from Silverbrook Farm in Dartmouth, MA. CSAs are a way for farms to earn a profit by pre-selling shares of their annual harvest directly to consumers. Typically, consumers can purchase CSA shares directly from farm websites, indicating what size share they want (family-sized, half-sized), and how they'd like to receive the shares - picking up at the farm, or at a nearby farmer's market. The consumer pays a set price for the year's harvest (usually June through October) up front, and then picks up their portion of produce, eggs, flowers, etc. from the farm staff each week.

I've picked up my share each Monday for three weeks so far at the Boston City Hall farmer's market, where Silverbrook runs a stand. Each week's bounty is different, based on what is being harvested at the farm, and the farm sends me an email a few days in advance to let me know what to expect, along with recipe ideas. Silverbrook has teamed up with other farms and local food producers in southern Mass to put together their shares, so I may get flowers, artisan cheeses and other treats each week. I figured this blog would be a good place to share what I receive each week, and how I cook it. So, without further ado:

Week 1:

Red lettuce, a bag of mixed greens and bok choy, kale, spinach, kohlrabi, scallions, and the treats of the week: strawberries and eggs.

I was most excited about the kohlrabi. I had never really looked at or eaten one before. I found this great recipe on the NY Times website for kohlrabi risotto and it was delicious! The kohlrabi root was a cross between a turnip and a pear, and the greens were subtly spicy.

The spinach went into one of my favorite hot weather standby recipes: Lemony pesto pasta with edamame and almonds from The Kitchn. 

 The kale went into a number of fresh fruit/veggie juices I made using the new juicer GP got me for my birthday :)

The red lettuce was perfect for pulled pork and kimchi lettuce wraps. I occasionally break my ovo-pesco-vegan diet for certain pork and cheese products, and this is one of them. GP and I saw these advertised once and figured that we could easily make them on our own. It's simple: all you need is lettuce, a jar of cabbage kimchi, and a package of pre-made pulled pork, marinated in a BBQ or soy-based sauce (whatever you'd like. I buy the Trader Joe's BBQ pork and mix in their soyaki sauce). Separate, wash and dry the lettuce leaves, and spoon on portions of kimchi and pork. Roll up and eat!

 The bok choy was stir-fried with shiitake mushrooms, and paired with mugwort soba noodles in a miso-butter sauce (taken from this recipe) mixed with the chopped scallions.

The remainder of the greens went into a giant chopped salad with Thai flavors, a favorite from Mark Bittman's Food Matters Cookbook.

The strawberries I ate for breakfast one day, and the eggs were fried up for weekend breakfasts.

Week 2:

A head of pak choi, a giant head of green lettuce, a head of Napa cabbage, Russian red kale, shelling peas, pea tendrils, radishes and the treat of the week: classic French Hannahbells cheese from Shy Brother's Farm in Westport, MA.

 The kale continued to go into fresh juices. My personal favorite, 'The Green Goddess': a green apple, a few stalks of kale, a few sprigs of mint, and half a lime.

 The radishes went into a radish and turnip salad with chives, which I paired with soy-glazed tilapia.

I recently bought The Complete Curry Cookbook, along with several bags of Indian spices to try and explore more Indian curry cuisine. I used up my peas in the cookbook's curried cauliflower recipe, and paired it with garlic sauteed pea tendrils.

 I had some extra kale, and used it in this great recipe for roasted kale and eggplant tapenade.

The pak choi went into a batch of cold soba noodles with wilted bok choy, the napa cabbage I stir-fried, we ate the Hannahbell's cheese by itself and spread on bread, and I made a massive salad with the lettuce for a dinner party.

Week 3:

A bunch of mixed kale, a head of Napa cabbage, a small head of lettuce, leeks, two bunches of sweet peas and one bunch of shelling peas, and the treat of the week: Cloumage cheese curd from Shy Brother's Farm. I also bought some garlic and a jar of Silverbrook's Gingered Pear Jam. (Cat not included.)

 I was in a bit of a pinch to use up this week's food, as I was traveling to Montreal on Tuesday night and wouldn't be back until Saturday. But I managed to use up nearly everything in three dishes that I left for GP while I was gone.

The first I invented myself and dubbed a 'Silverbrook tart', as I used almost exclusively ingredients from my CSA. I baked a puffed pastry sheet half-way, then spread on a thick layer of Cloumage cheese, and topped it with garlic sauteed leeks and cooked peas. I baked the tart until done and sprinkled with black pepper and chopped chives. It was quite delicious, I'm proud of myself!

 All of the kale became a large batch of kale chips. Yumm!

The cabbage, lettuce and leftover pea pods became another massive chopped salad with Thai flavors.

That's everything I've received and made so far, and I'm picking up another portion tomorrow. I'm really enjoying the CSA. It's forcing me to be more creative with my cooking, having to find/make recipes based on what I receive, rather than starting with recipe ideas then buying all ingredients at the store. I'm also saving a lot of money. I paid the cost of my share up front, which I calculated to be less than I would spend on produce from the store for the duration of the CSA, June through October, and each week I only buy about 8-10 extra items to make a week of meals. 

To end, I'd like to share my appreciation for a unique regional dish. As I mentioned, I traveled to Montreal and just got back. While there, I had one gastronomic goal: eat poutine. Poutine is an (in)famous Quebecoise dish of greasy french fries topped with gravy and cheese curds. I first heard about it on an earlier trip to Quebec province, but I wrote it off as disgusting and never tried it. I have since had my first taste at the Saus restaurant in Boston, and I really enjoyed it. It's salty and hot, heavy of course, but not the mess of flavors I assumed it would be. So, in Montreal, my friends and I made our way to La Banquise, Montreal's best and most famous poutine restaurant. 

We got an order of classic poutine and an order of 'La Taquise' - fries with gravy, cheese curds. tomatoes, guacamole and sour cream. They were wonderful, obscene belly bombs and a real taste of local flavor. I recommend that everyone at least try poutine, preferably with a cold beer and an empty stomach!

Until my next CSA pick up!