Week 4 share from the Little River Market Garden CSA
CSA Share 4
1/2 lb. baby pac choi
1 bunch arugula
1 bunch hon tsai tai
1 stalk Cuban oreagno
2 small ripe papayas
2 star fruit
5 small cucumbers (leftover from last week)
1 bunch red yardlong beans (leftover from last week)
Dried red chilis (leftover from last week)
What I Made With My Share
I made a faux pho with some of the beans and the pac choi.
I made a grain salad with the arugula, the remaining beans, the oregano, a few dried chilis and most of the cucumbers.
I served the star fruit in a tangy sauce with the hon tsai tsai and beef.
I used the papaya to make a chutney which I will serve next week.
This week I managed to use everything up except for two of the cucumbers and dried chilis, I still have about half of the allotment I started with of those.
The Best Thing I Made This Week
This week it was the faux pho I whipped up. This was a satisfying bowl of warm, brothy noodles and staunched my craving for noodles for a few days.
Up Next Week
Grits & greens, a green tart, tropical fruit bread & a baked pasta casserole in preparation for holiday indulgence.
New To Me Veggies
Hon Tsai Tai
This is a Chinese green with big green leaves (like cale or collards) and purple stems. The taste is mild and mustard-greeny. Best used in stir-fries or soups. I cooked mine too long and it wasn’t the best green I’ve ever eaten.
Baby Pac Choi
This is really small bok choi, and even tastier than the large varieties.
Cuban Oregano
Cuban oregano is large (the plants can reach 2 feet high), with large fleshy leaf pairs. A popular Caribbean seasoning, the leaves have a strong taste and can be used as a substitute for sage. This wasn’t my favorite herb ever, but now knowing that I should treat it like sage rather than oregano, I will use it to better effect next time.
This pho, while not strictly traditional, has a nice taste and satisfies those mid-week noodle in broth cravings nicely.
Faux Pho
Broth
8 c. beef broth
2 stalks celery
2 small carrots
2 cloves garlic, well and truly smashed
1 shallot, chopped
2 star anise podsa
12 peppercorns
1 Tbsp. grated ginger Pho
1c. when chopped red yard long beans (or any other bean, really)
1/2 lb. baby pac choi
1 package per person instant noodle soup Udon noodles (I used the brand from the picture, which I picked up at Super Target) Fixins
Ground ginger
Fish sauce
Soy sauce
Cilantro
Sriracha
Lime juice
First, make the stock. The goal here is for a flavorful stock in its own right. You want something that tastes good before you add all the fixins.
Add the stock to a medium pot over high heat. While your stock is coming up to the boil, slice your celery into thin moons, your carrots into thin rounds, and smash the garlic. Add to the pot as you go.
Once the broth and its additions come up to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer 30 minutes. You can go longer if you would like, just don’t loose too much volume. You want the flavors to marry and the stock to pick up some great fresh taste from the veggies and spices.
While your broth is working, prepare your vegetables. I went with red yard long beans and pac choi, since that’s what came in my CSA share this week. My rule of thumb for any asian soup is this: a green + a color. Any green + something from any other color. Slice the beans thin (about 1/4 inch long) and chop the pac choi into bite-sized pieces.
At the 30 minute mark, strain your broth to take out the solids. They’ve given their all at this point and you have fresh things to add to the pot.
Add the beans and simmer 5 mins.
Add the pac choi, simmer an additional 2 minutes. Kick the heat up to a boil
Add the udon and boil 3 mins or until done.
Split into 2 bowls and season with fixins to your particular taste. I used 1 tsp. ground ginger, 1 Tbsp. fish sauce, 2 Tbsp. soy sauce, 1 tsp. cilantro, 1 tsp. sriracha and 1 tsp. lime juice.
Serves 2, with enough broth left over for a third serving.
I combined the arugula with goat cheese and pumpkin in a kickass ravioli dish
I roasted the radishes and served them with the kale over soba
The Best Thing I Made This Week
This week was great. Each dish I made used the vegetables in a way that made sense and had good taste. I will eventually share all 3, but let’s start at the beginning with Kohlrabi & Apple Slaw Noodles.
Up Next Week
I still have the yardlong beans, cucumbers, and some chilis left over from this week. I plan to throw the beans in everything, use the cucumbers to add some crunch and freshness to a grain and bean dish and pop chilis everywhere I can.
New To Me Veggies
I’m happy to say I have encountered all of these veggies before, though I’m less familiar with the kohlrabi and watermelon radish.
Kohlrabi (aka the German Turnip) is a bulbous brassica that looks kind of like a hot air balloon, with a bulbous body and long stalks growing out of the top. Kohlrabi tastes kind of like a very mild turnip, works well both raw and lightly cooked and takes to dressings well.
The watermelon radish has a thin pale green skin hiding a riot of pinkish red flesh. These radishes are on the large size, and frequently may grow baseball sized. Watermelon radishes taste mild and sweet and they take well to all radish preparations.
Kohlrabi & Apple Slaw Noodles
I’m cautiously optimistic that this single dish will pull me out of my cooking rut. This was great, though next time I may double the sauce amount. It came out on the dry side for my taste so I finished with an additional drizzle of sesame oil. A nice touch, but the sweet/sour/bright sauce would have been even better.
Set a large pot of water on to boil for the noodles. Boil noodles 6 minutes (or the lowest cook time listed on the noodle package – you want al dente). Drain and run under cold water to stop the cooking.
While you’re waiting for the noodles to cook, make the sauce. Combine all ingredients in a small bowl and whisk. Adjust seasoning to taste. You want it to taste great on its own.
Add the sesame oil to your your largest pan over high heat. When the noodles go into the boiling water, toss the kohlrabi bulb and garlic into the pan. Cook, stirring, until the noodles are done.
When the noodles are done, add them to the pan. Keep everything moving so the noodles don’t stick all over the place. Add the kohlrabi greens and cook, stirring, 2 minutes. Add the sauce, carrots and apples. Stir fry an additional 2 minutes to combine everything well.
Week 2 share from the Little River Market Garden CSA.
CSA Share 2
1 bunch kale
1 bunch red yardlong beans
1 bunch Chinese leeks
1 bunch pei tsai
1 bunch Italian basil
1 stem Jamaican sorrel
1/2 lb. green bush beans
1 passion fruit
What I Made With My Share
This week left me feeling uninspired and my cooking really felt it. I haven’t made a week full of food this bad in a very, very long time. Everything was edible, but none of it was very good. I’ve got to get out of this rut!
I made an uninspired Mexican inspired stir fry incorporating the pattypan squash, red long beans, pei tsai, pickled radishes and baked tortilla strips. I had intended for this recipe to come together with some nice slow roasted carnitas, but the entire pot was accidentally cleaned right into the trash. Kind of blew my focus for the dish and it suffered.
I also made an asian stir fry with the kale, red long beans, Chinese leeks and green beans. I don’t know how this ended up not tasting great, but it just didn’t.
The Jamaican Sorrel drink I tried ended up tasting like a huge wad of ginger.
The passion fruit was great – I served it over vanilla ice cream with plum wine.
And I wasted the basil. It looked great and smelled lovely, but I just couldn’t get it together enough to incorporate with the rest of the basket.
The Best Thing I Made This Week
Week 2 of flat and uninspired. The best things I made this week weren’t forced – Cinci by way of Charcuterie Chili (recipe coming soon) and a batch of Pear Soup with Pancetta and Blue Cheese.
Up Next Week
Since I used up all my veggies this week, I am starting with a clean slate.
New To Me Veggies
This week also incorporated veggies that I’m now at least passing acquainted with.
the CSA I joined is Little River Market Garden, and since it’s within a 5 mile radius of where I live, I can’t get more local produce unless I was able to grow it myself (and since I can’t even keep Chia Pet alive I don’t think vegetable gardening is in my near future). Everything LRMG offers is grown in two small local plots and the garden operator (Hi Muriel!) goes to great lengths to really think about what comes in the shares – from a value, variety and learning opportunity standpoint, which is greatly appreciated by food nerds like me. She promised things I’d never heard of, and I’m happy to report that so far she’s right on track. This first box features two (possibly 3) new veggies to me, and I’ve had a great time finding ways to use them.
CSA Share 1
2 bunches red yardlong beans
1/2 lb. green bush beans
1 green papaya
1 ripe papaya
1 bunch roselle
1 bunch escarole (?)
1 bunch finger radishes with greens
1 huge patty pan squash
1 yellow & green zucchini
1 small bunch oregano
2 stalks lemongrass
2 black sapote
What I made with my share
Pizza with mozzarella, parmesan and fresh oregano
Tabasco & long bean quinoa with roselle
Open-faced ravioli with zucchini & possible escarole
Thai green papaya salad with green beans and lemongrass shrimp
I ate the sapote out of hand
I let the ripe papaya go too long, and it was gross when I tried to eat it. Not being a huge fan of ripe papaya anyways, I wasn’t but so upset.
The Best Thing I Made This Week
This week, 95% of the things I made ended up tasting flat and uninspired. I hate those weeks, but they happen. My favorite dish this week didn’t incorporate any CSA veggies. The Candy Bacon Brussels Sprouts with Mustard Vinaigrette I made for Thanksgiving dinner ended up being my favorite. Earthy, salty, sweet, tangy – this recipe hit the nail on the head on all notes.
Up next week:
I have the radishes, 1 bunch of long beans & the squash to work through still and I plan to make carnitas, serving the radishes pickled alongside with a bean & squash salad.
I also have another batch of veggies coming this weekend, so we shall see just how backed up I get.
New To Me Veggies
Roselle: According to Wikipedia, roselle is a species of hibiscus native to the Old World Tropics (which makes total sense to grow it here), often used in fiber production and for making infusions (particularly as a diuretic, mild laxative, treatment for cardiac and nerve diseases, and also for cancer treatment. It can also be used as a dye.
It is popular throughout Mexico and the Caribbean as a chicken flavoring and drink, the Indian Subcontinent in dals, and Southeast Asia in stir frys.
The taste is lemony and bright.
Red Yardlong Beans: aka Chinese Long Beans. Native to tropical/subtropical regions of Southeast Asia, these beans grow quickly and are very similar in taste to “regular” green beans, just much longer, and in our case a purplish red.
Black Sapote isn’t 100% new to me, but I haven’t had much luck with eating it in the past. Like most tropical fruit, it’s yum window is really only a day or two – before that and it’s hard and tasteless – after and it’s a nasty rotten mess. I’m not gonna lie: this fruit is kinda gross looking. When ripe, it’s almost mushy and the inside looks like sticky swamp mud. Sapote is also called the chocolate pudding fruit for its resemblance to the stuff and almost chocolatey taste. It is vaguely sweet with bare hints of spice notes. Not half bad, but definitely something to get used to.
1 pound strawberries
6 oz. local Florida blueberries
7 Fair Trade bananas
1 Tommy mango
3 peaches
3 ears local Florida corn
2 local Florida yellow squash
1 bunch spinach
2 slicing tomatoes
2 Vidalia onions
2 large cucumbers
6 red potatoes
2 large heads broccoli
1 head garlic
What I Made: Roasted Potato Tacos with Corn; Malaysian Curry; Thai Salad; Squash and Egg Stir Fry; Vidalia Onion, Spinach and Toasted Broccoli Risotto Topped with a Fried Egg; Mango and Pepper Rice with Cucumber
***
This will be my last CSA-related post until November. I have made the decision to switch from a buying club-style organic focused CSA to a more local CSA that produces all of their fruits and vegetables in a small urban garden less than 5 miles from my house. This CSA runs from November-April and should provide more than enough veggies to feed the two of us well each week.
The decision comes hard, as I love thinking of new and exciting things to do with the vegetables I get with each share and new ways of wringing every last bit of goodness from each box. I will miss having year-round convenience, but it’s a small trade-off to be able to support a local garden.
The particular CSA I have been partaking of is an organic produce buying club, and while certainly worthwhile, there have been a number of smaller, more local-focused farmer’s markets and CSAs that have cropped up in the year and a half since I first joined the CSA. That, and frankly, since the CSA I joined has been growing leaps and bounds (and expanding way out of Florida), the quality and variety have suffered. Partially from this year’s drought, frost and flooding and partially because the CSA has grown so quickly. Organic is lovely, but I’d much rather support someone right in my backyard producing varieties of produce that aren’t farmed with longevity in mind. I’ll take taste over shelf stability any day.
I will continue to post my favorite recipes (maybe even more often!) and what to do with a box of vegetables as I am able. I have a year and a half’s worth of info to share—maybe even in cookbook format–if I can find the time and/or lazybones motivation.
Ok, so I totally forgot to take a picture of this recipe. Here, have a Vidalia onion instead 🙂
Roasted Potato Salad
1/2 lb. small red-skinned potatoes
Canola oil to toss with
1 ear corn, kernels removed
1 Vidalia onion, chopped
1/4 lb. your favorite bacon
3-5 oz. baby arugula
1/4 extra virgin olive oil
2 Tbsp. balsamic vinegar
1 Tbsp. dried cumin powder
1 Tbsp. dried chipotle powder
1 tsp. Dijon mustard
Big pinch red pepper flakes
Salt and Pepper
Preheat your oven to 450 degrees F.
Chop the potatoes into 1/2 inch or so pieces, toss in a little canola oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Roast approximately 25 minutes or until browned and cooked through.
While the potatoes are cooking, slice the bacon into 1/4 inch thick batons (or however you like) and crisp over medium heat. Remove with a slotted spoon to a paper towel to drain.
Add the onion and corn to the bacon fat and kick the heat up to medium high. Cook 10-25 minutes or until browned. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
Combine potatoes with the corn mixture and 3-5 oz. baby arugula in a large bowl.
In a small bowl, whisk the olive oil, balsamic vinegar, cumin, chipotle powder, mustard and red pepper flakes. Taste. Adjust seasoning to your liking.
Pour over potato mixture and toss to coat. Taste again and adjust seasonings to your liking. Add bacon to finish and serve.
1 pound strawberries
7 Pink Lady apples
5 bananas
2 heads broccoli
1 Vidalia onion
11 white button mushrooms
7 medium zucchini
2 slicing tomatoes
1 head green cabbage
10oz. shredded carrots
8 oz. cut n clean greens – Kale – a mix of Red, Tuscan & Curly
2 smallish ears local Florida corn
How I Used My Share
I used the strawberries in jam
The apples I ate out of hand for lunch and used in Broccoli Crunch
The broccoli I used in Broccoli Crunch
I used half of the carrots in the Broccoli Crunch; the other half in Firecracker Chicken Salad
I used 1/4 of the cabbage in the Firecracker Salad as well
The bananas were dispatched by my DH after his runs
The onion was cooked into Buckwheat Groat & Millet Risotto, along with most of the zucchini
Most of the remaining zucchini was used in my Out Of Town Indulgence, along with the mushrooms
It’s a small indulgence, but makes dinner for one something to look forward to
Every time my DH (Darling Husband) is working late and won’t be home for dinner, I try to cook myself a little something I don’t usually get. In years past, this meal consisted of shrimp, asparagus and mushrooms or sushi. Since he now eats shrimp & asparagus and even the occasional spinach, these dinners are now heavy on the mushrooms and/or vegetables he likes less than others (like zucchini. He barely tolerates zucchini, but living in South Florida and belonging to a CSA, we get tons of it all summer long). Tonight’s dinner I whipped up using the mushrooms, some leftover diced zucchini and leftover cooked millet. It’s simple, satisfying, and indulgent (the butter!).
My Husband Is Out Of Town Indulgence
Sautee 3 Tbsp. diced shallots in 1 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil on medium-high heat until beginning to brown on the edges.
Add 1 1/2 c. sliced button mushrooms, 1 1/2 c. diced zucchini, 1 Tbsp. unsalted butter and salt & pepper to taste. Sautee until mushrooms are browned and cooked through and zucchini is almost disintegrating, approximately 5 minutes if your slices are small.
Add 1/4 c. cooked millet and stir to combine. Season with salt & pepper and finish off with a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil to serve.
Gastography 