Tomato varietals grown by my CSA. Apparently, I have my own tomato. And it’s awesome.
January 28, 2012
Tomato varietals grown by my CSA. Apparently, I have my own tomato. And it’s awesome.
CSA Box 9
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
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
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.
January 27, 2012
This is only food related.
January 26, 2012
Tasty green concoction
January 25, 2012
Cone-headed cabbage
January 24, 2012
Pretty carrots.
January 23, 2012
CSA heirloom cherry tomatoes. Yum.
January 22, 2012
Yard Bird.
CSA Box 8
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.
Gastography 