CSA Shares

Braised Turnips & Apples

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Ok, so this doesn’t sound like the most exciting dish in the world. It’s pretty good, though, and a great way to use up a ton of greens at once if you, like me, are drowning in CSA greens. It’s also a good excuse to whip out not one, but two, meats in a single dish.

Really, me? Why do I insist on writing every damn thing on 1 teeny tiny scrap of paper?

Braised Turnips & Apples

1 bunch baby turnips (or regular turnips)

1 bunch turnip greens

1 bunch Ethiopian kale (or any other green, really)

2 Fuji or other semi-sweet apples

1 onion

2 hot Italian sausages

4 oz. bacon (I used home made bacon flavored with garlic, black pepper and bay)

1 Tbsp. olive oil

1/2 c. white wine

1 c. chicken stock

2 Tbsp. honey

2 tsp. hot paprika

1 tsp. salt

3 tsp. apple cider vinegar

Put the largest pan you have a lid for over medium heat. Add 1 Tbsp. olive oil. While you are waiting for the oil to come up to temperature, slice the onion into thin half rounds and the bacon into 3/4 inch chunks.

Add the onions and bacon to the heated pan. Let the onions soften while you attend to the greens. Wash all greens, remove any tough stems, and slice into ribbons. Add to the pan.

Add the white wine, wait a minute or so, and add the chicken stock. Bring up to a vigorous simmer, cover, and cook on a low simmer 20 minutes.

While your greens are braising, prepare your next additions. Chop the turnips into roughly 3/4 inch pieces. Slice the sausage into bite-sized pieces.

Add the turnips and sausage. Re-cover and cook an additional 10 mins.

While that is working, de-seed the apples and chop into 3/4 inch chunks.

Add the apples and cook an additional 10 minutes. Gather your seasonings.

Add the honey, paprika, salt and cider vinegar. Stir well to combine. Put the lid on and let the mixture cook 5 minutes more.

Serve with mashed potatoes for a hearty stick-to-your-ribs German style meal or with buttered bread for a lighter take.

Serves 2 for dinner + 1 for lunch

CSA Box 9

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Week 9 share from the Little River Market Garden CSA

CSA Share 9

1 bunch hon tsai tai
1 head heirloom cabbage
1 bunch rainbow carrots with greens
2 avocados
1 pint heirloom tomatoes
1 black sapote
1 bunch dill
What I Made With My Share

I made a decent pasta salad with a little dill, the tomatoes, aged balsamic and parmesan. I threw in half an avocado with some of the leftovers, and the dish was even better.

I made a carrot green pesto, which I served with carrot risotto, which was pretty great.

I sautéed the cabbage in a little butter with caraway seeds, home made bacon and egg noodles. This dish was bland but palatable.

I made an asian-inspired concoction of avocado, hon tsai tai, pomegranate molasses, sesame, fish sauce, chili oil, walnut oil, soy and lime served over soba.

I ate the sapote out of hand with a little honey.

The Best Thing I Made This Week

Carrot Pesto Risotto

Or possibly this asian-inspired concoction. I should have written a recipe, but I forgot.

Up Next Week

I have a handful of the dill leftover, so I will have to work to incorporate that with the veggies we get next week.

New To Me Veggies

Heirloom Cabbage – Wtf is an heirloom cabbage? Is it just pretentious hipster cabbage? The Sustainable Seed Co. sells a variety of heirloom cabbage seeds, but doesn’t really go into what makes them ‘heirloom’. From what I can tell, heirloom cabbages like rich heavy loam soil, but will do well in heavy clay. They also need even more moisture (than other cabbage?) to produce well. From the pictures on that site, it looks like my cone head cabbage is called Early Jersey Wakefield Cabbage, a varietal released in 1868. This cabbage was popular in 19th century markets and needs little room to grow. According to Sustainable’s sources, this varietal is the first early cabbage variety and is recognized as the best as well. Well, then. I maybe should have taken more care with my seasonings. I wasn’t aware I had special cabbage. 🙂

Carrot Pesto Risotto

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I got carrots with their tops in this week’s CSA and needed something to do with the greens other than halfheartedly toss a handful in a dish for garnish. Enter pesto. Pesto is one of those great little things to have in your bag of tricks to pull out on a rainy day, or a great way to use up an ingredient you have zero idea what to do with. This pesto doesn’t give you the flavor wallop a traditional basil pesto does, but it’s not half bad. And it’s frugal. Frugal, I tell you. Next time I might add some garlic to the mix to liven things up a bit. I tried a bit of cheese, but it really didn’t make any difference.

Carrot Pesto Risotto

For the pesto

1 bunch carrot greens, hacked into manageable chunks
2 tsp. lime juice + more to taste
1-2 dried chills, sliced or torn into pieces
1/2 c. extra virgin olive oil
Salt

Blanch the carrot greens in a big pot of salted water for about a minute, or until they are bright green and kind of wilty. Drain and add to the bowl of a large food processor.

With the motor on, add 2 tsp. lime juice, 2 huge pinches salt, chilis and olive oil. Taste. If it needs more brightness, add some more lime juice. If it’s a little dry, add a couple Tablespoons of water.

For the carrot risotto

1 bunch carrots (about 2 1/2 cups), roughly chopped into 3/4 inch segments
Olive oil
1 c. arborio rice
1/2 c. white wine
4 c. stock (I used 2 c. vegetable and 2 c. lobster stock made with my best friend Better Than Bouillon – use all vegetable if making vegetarian or vegan)

Toss the carrots with a glug of olive oil and a generous pinch salt and spread on a baking sheet. Roast in a 450 degree oven about 35 minutes or until browned at the edges and soft.

While you’re waiting for the carrots to brown, make the risotto.

In a medium pot over medium-high heat, sautee the rice 2 mins. in 1 Tbsp. olive oil. Add the white wine, reduce heat to medium and cook 1-2 mins. or until the liquid is mostly absorbed. Add stock by the half cup, stir, and simmer until the rice is al dente and won’t take more liquid.

Serves 2 for dinner.

CSA Box 8

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Week 8 share from the Little River Market Garden CSA

CSA Share 8

1 hand bananas
1 large papaya
1 bunch cutting celery
1 bunch arugula
1 bunch turnips with tops
1 pint heirloom tomatoes
1 quart Asian eggplant
1 bunch dinosaur kale

What I Made With My Share

I gave the papaya away – I just don’t like them and decided to quit pretending that I might someday.

The tomatoes were so good, I ate them out of hand – all of them – while I was prepping dinner one night.

2 of my bananas had split skins, the rest are still ripening on the counter.

I used the cutting celery, some leftover carrot from last week and a handful of carrot greens in this delightful pork stir fry.

I diced and fried the eggplant for use in a pasta with dinosaur kale, farfalle, aged balsamic, truffle oil and parmesan.

I tossed the arugula with some leftover carrot, a diced radish, onion and faro with a pomegranate molasses and walnut oil dressing.

I roasted the turnips, remaining carrots, radishes and some onion and served in a sweet tart sauce over soba.

The Best Thing I Made This Week

This celery and pork stir fry.

Up Next Week

I’m pretty well cleaned out this week. Next week I will start fresh.

New To Me Veggies

Cutting Celery aka Herb Celery -According to author Barbara Pleasant, cutting celery (Apium graveolens var. secalinum) is a more primitive variety of everyday supermarket celery. It’s more flavorful than “regular” celery, and is the perfect plant to grow in home gardens because it can be revisited multiple times throughout the season. Cutting celery is great used fresh in salads or cooked in soups, stews or stir-fries.

Pork and Celery Stir-Fry

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This makes a nice, satisfying weeknight meal. The punch from cutting celery gives great flavor, but if you can’t find it, regular celery will be just fine. I usually add fish sauce to this mixture, but it skipped my mind this time, and it was fine without. If you happen to have some and happen to think about, a good squirt or three would be great here. Carrot greens are not mandatory. I happened to have a ton of them slowly dying in the fridge and decided to give it a go. They were nice, but not in the least necessary.

Pork and Celery Stir Fry

1 Tbsp. sesame oil
1 lb. ground pork
1/2 red onion
1 carrot
4 cloves garlic
1 Tbsp. grated ginger
4 Tbsp. soy sauce (swap coconut aminos if you’re going strict paleo)
1 Tbsp. ketjap manis (sweet soy sauce – swap for a bit of honey or maple syrup if going strict paleo)
3 tsp. lemon juice
1 bunch cutting celery
2 tsp. rice vinegar
Handful carrot greens

Bring sesame oil up to temperature in a wok or large frying pan over high heat. Add the pork and break apart. Keep working and breaking the pork up until it starts to brown.

While you’re working periodically on the pork, thinly slice the red onion. Add to the pan, stir.

While the onion is working, chop 1 carrot and mince 4 cloves garlic. Add to pan. Stir periodically to avoid burning, 3 mins.

While that is working, chop the cutting celery.

Add grated ginger, soy sauce, ketjap manis, lemon juice and rice vinegar. Add the cutting celery, stir fry a few minutes until starting to wilt.

Meanwhile, chop the carrot greens.

Taste and add a bit more lemon or vinegar if needed. Top with carrot greens and serve over brown rice.

Serves 2 for dinner + 1 for lunch.

January 21, 2012

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Farm fresh CSA eggs.

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CSA Box 7

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Week 7 share from the Little River Market Garden CSA

CSA Share 7

Bunch pretty, fat carrots with a huge jungle of carrot greens attached

Loose assorted radishes (watermelon, black spanish and breakfast)

1 huge bunch kale

1 bunch mustard greens

1 bunch Chinese leeks

2 bunches Yukina Savoy

3 stalks lemongrass

Leftover hon tsai tai and papaya from last week

What I Made With My Share

Gnocchi with toasted garlic, walnuts and hon tsai tai, which wasn’t half bad.

Another pho-ish bowl incorporating carrot, radish, yukina savoy, lemongrass and Chinese leeks. Yum.

A kale, lentil, apple and onion salad with pomegranate molasses vinaigrette, which was light and tasty.

A mostly inedible dish involving mustard greens, a chickpea mash and the remaining Chinese leeks.

The Best Thing I Made This Week

The pho-ish. I’m not going to bore you with another faux pho dish so soon, so no recipe this week. I’ve been busy attempting to work out while mulling a possible move over this week, so haven’t remembered to write any recipes down.

Up Next Week

I still have the dreaded papaya hanging around my fridge, and rumor has it we’re getting more next week. I spent this week ignoring the papaya to deal with the sudden greens jungle that had taken over my fridge. Ok, and I just don’t want to deal with it.

I also have some errant carrots, a ton of carrot greens and some assorted radishes left over to deal with at some point.

New To Me Veggies

Yukina Savoy

Yukina Savoy is a brassica, similar to bok choy or tatsoi (but larger). I think it’s even tastier than its more familiar counterparts and hope to get this green again.

CSA Box 6

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Week 6 share from the Little River Market Garden CSA

CSA Share 6

1 bunch green Swiss Chard

1 bunch mustard greens

1 bunch flowering hon tsai tai

5 Asian eggplants

1 stem Italian basil

1 ripe papaya

2 star fruit

What I Made With My Share

Mustard green caesar salad with anchovy croutons

This starfruit soba dish

A pasta dish featuring chard, aged balsamic, parmesan/romano cheese, cherry tomatoes and caramelized onions

The Best Thing I Made This Week

The pasta dish was nice, but what really took this week’s cake was the starfruit soba dish. Something about the sweet tartness of the starfruit mixed with the vinegary punch of the dressing just really did it for me this week. I’ll have to make the eggplant from this recipe again, too.

Up Next Week

I have papaya and hon tsai tai left over from this week. I had planned on serving the greens with whole wheat gnocchi, toasted garlic and walnut, but we shall see.

I still have zero idea what to do with the papaya, and really hope it doesn’t become this CSA’s version of strawberries (I got strawberries in every single share last year). I’ve got to find something to do with this papaya.

New To Me Veggies

This week there was nothing terribly new, though I hadn’t had Asian eggplant in awhile and forgot just how much tastier they can be (as opposed to the Italian style big huge eggplants).

CSA Box 5

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Week 5 share from the Little River Market Garden CSA

With the new year, I vow to take less crappy pictures of my veggie shares. This is just sad.

CSA Share 5

5 bananas
1 lemon
1 black sapote
1 head Napa cabbage
3 black Spanish radishes
1 bunch collard greens
1 bunch baby mustard greens
1 yucca

What I Made With My Share

I made a baked pasta casserole type dish with the cabbage, which was pretty great.

I made an inedible tart with the mustard greens. Just… yuck. The crust was decent; the greens, not so much.

Grits & greens – Collard greens with roasted tomato, buttermilk grits and bacon.

The Best Thing I Made This Week

Instead of boring you with another grits & greens recipe featuring tomatoes and bacon, I will instead dig into the archives for this week’s recipe and share something I made with the watermelon radish from last week.

Roasted Sesame Radish Soba with Kale

Up Next Week

Next week, we’re taking a CSA vegetable break. No veggie share this Saturday, so I will have to be creative on my own. I see a lot of grains and veggies in my future in a futile attempt to balance out our ‘retro midwestern appetizer night’ on Christmas Eve, and obscene amount of beef (and Yorkshire pudding) on Christmas day. Cleansing grains & veggies in preparation for one last indulgence night (dumplings on New Years Eve) before the reforms of January roll around.

I have the Spanish radishes and yucca leftover to play with.

New To Me Veggies

Spanish Radishes

I’d seen these radishes but had never cooked with them. Apparently these are popular among food bloggers and CSAs, the top page of Google results brought up blog after blog. From what I’ve gathered (and was told by my CSA grower), black radish works just like regular radish, but is spicy and zippy.

Yucca

I’ve had this in Cuban restaurants, but have never cooked with it. Yucca root is actually named Cassava and isn’t related to the Yucca plant. It is a woody South American shrub prized in tropical and subtropical regions for its starchy tuberous root. According to Wikipedia, dried cassava is used to make tapioca. Apparently, Yucca must be cooked in order to get rid of its toxic cyanogenic glucosides. (Again according to Wiki) Improper preparation can leave enough cyanide to cause “acute cyanide intoxication and goiters, and has been linked to ataxia or partial paralysis.” Well, then. I guess I’ll be cooking mine. Yucca can be used as a potato substitute, served as tapioca, fufu, a flour, or a syrupy juice. You can also turn it into a liquor.

Roasted Sesame Radish Soba with Kale

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This dish started with the question, what can I do with these CSA radishes other than serve them raw or pickled? I’d made simple roast English breakfast radishes before, and knew they turned sweet with heat. I’m happy to report that this dish turned out great – the radishes were sweet, almost turnip-y and the greens worked well with the sauce and carrot. All in all a satisfying, healthy weeknight dish.

Apparently the dish was so good I forgot to take a picture of it. These are watermelon radishes.

Roasted Sesame Radish Soba with Kale

3 watermelon radishes
1 bunch kale
2 small carrots
1 c. vegetable stock
1/2 palm sesame seeds
1 Tbsp. + 1 tsp. honey
1 Tbsp. + 1 tsp. soy
1 Tbsp. mirin
1 tsp. chili garlic sauce
1 shallot, thinly sliced
2 servings soba

Preheat the oven to 425 F. While your oven is preheating, chop the radishes into roughly 1 inch chunks. De-stem the kale and slice it into ribbons. Slice the carrots into thin rounds.

Put the radishes into the oven on a cookie sheet. Bake 25-30 mins. or until they reach your desired softness. I left mine a little al dente, and they tasted just fine.

While your radishes are cooking, add the vegetable stock and kale to a large pan and cook approximately 10 minutes until the liquid has evaporated and the kale is soft. Add the carrot halfway through the cooking time (this will give you crisp carrots – for softer carrots, add at the beginning with the kale).

While all this is working, toast your sesame seeds in a dry pan over high heat until they just begin to brown and smell nutty. Set aside and make your radish dressing.

In a small bowl or measuring cup, combine 1 Tbsp. honey with 1 Tbsp. soy. When the radishes are done, pull the sheet from the oven and pour the radish sauce over. Add the shallots, toss to combine, and put back in the oven for 3-5 minutes. Watch carefully so the mixture does not burn.

Cook the soba according to package directions, about 3 minutes, and drain.

When the radishes are done, add the sesame seeds and toss to coat.

Add the noodles to the pan with the kale and carrots, along with the miring, 1 tsp. honey, 1 tsp. soy, and chili garlic sauce. Toss to combine.

Serve topped with the roasted sesame radishes.

Serves 2