I’ve discovered yet another secret that gets me to inhale and look forward to salad… Poached egg! I added some warmed rice/lentil leftovers, a bit of havarti, and the egg on top. So luxurious and so simple!
Pasta With Stuff
Fancy recipe title, I know. Call it CSA-inspired. Call it Heidi Swanson and Mark Bittman inspired. Call it clean-out-the-fridge. It was all of the above, and it was delicious. The beans made it much more substantial, so no meat was needed. You could easily make it without the pasta as well, and just add even more beans and veggies. Any greens will do, kale, spinach, chard… WARNING: garlic scapes are VERY garlicky, and a bit tangier than garlic. Use with caution, and be prepared to brush your teeth twice after you eat them.
1 lb whole wheat pasta
1 large can canellini beans
fresh basil
garlic scapes (CSA)
broccoli rabe (CSA)
old container of mixed olives
juice and zest of 1 lemon
splash of white wine
some butter/olive oil
parmesan cheese
Boil pasta, when almost done, add chopped broccoli rabe to pot. Meanwhile, drain canellini beans in large colander. When pasta/greens are done, drain into colander with beans, reserve some cooking water. Chop scapes and olives, mix in a bowl with lemon, wine, some olive oil and parmesan cheese. Combine with pasta/beans/greens in the pasta pot, mix well, adding wine and cooking liquid for creaminess. Top with cheese and ground black pepper.
So much lettuce…
Last night, I washed and prepared this week’s and last week’s share from the CSA, I forgot how much lettuce it is.
- 1 summer squash
- cilantro
- 2 kohlrabi
- spinach
- broccoli rabe
- radishes (very spicy!)
- turnips
- 4 types of lettuce
- peas
The washed and chopped lettuce filled 2 gallon-size ziploc bags, I’ll need to eat at least 1 salad a day (with radishes) to get through this. Before the next batch comes…
I also plan to make a kohl slaw, wild rice and lentils with the spinach and peas, roasted turnips, curried squash, and white beans with broccoli rabe.
Any other ideas on using up lettuce?
Ultimate Vegetable Soup
It’s a pretty good feeling to open your fridge and see overflowing vegetables, but I was getting anxious to use up all these CSA veggies from the season. Hence, the ultimate vegetable soup. I like soups like this because they’re good and hearty just as is, or you can make it a totally different meal when reheating individual servings. Add some shredded chicken and stir in an egg. Add some soy, miso and ginger. Add some curry and chickpeas. Add some tomato, white bean and pasta. Endless. I’ll freeze portions and we’ll be eating this for months.
Making the soup was really just a game of throw in whatever seems like it will work. Hence, a more narrative style recipe. You’ll want a LARGE stockpot for this.
- Sautee some onion and garlic in butter or oil, add whole sprigs of rosemary and thyme, chopped sage and parsley.
- Add chopped cabbage, kale and turnip greens.
- Pour in liquids, I used about 2 cups of vegetable stock, 1/2 cup of white wine, and 4-6 cups of water.
- Add chopped turnips, parsnips, potato, and roasted pumpkin/squash.
- For kicks, I put in some chopped preserved lemon.
- Spice it up, I think it’s pretty standard to use salt, pepper, and turmeric. I also added coriander seed, tiny bit of fenugreek and cumin, paprika and tiny bit of chili powder.
- Things I would have added if we had them: carrots and celery.
- Simmer as long as you can handle it. It smells amazing and you will just have to eat some eventually.
Everything except the butter/oil, rosemary, sage, liquids, lemon and spices were from the CSA. Thanks Farmer John!
On a food kick I guess. We got kale in CSA this week, and like many other folks, we’re trying to get creative with the greens. I haven’t tried these kale chips yet, but I would skip the yeast, and add some cajun seasoning or some garlic salt instead. Looks easy enough!
(Source: The Huffington Post)
New Meat CSA Coming to JC!
You can get a share of meat from a farm in NY, pick up every other week at Made With Love bakery. They also have cheese and egg shares. But this would make eating meat a lot more enjoyable!
CSA Report #4
We killed the lettuce this week! A triumphant success! All thanks to amazing taco salads!
Brown some ground turkey, add a packet of taco seasoning and some diced tomatoes. Heat some black beans (would have added cilantro if we had some). In a bowl, pile in chopped lettuce, red onion, tomato, carrots, green onion, cucumber. Add some corn, black beans, browned meat, shredded cheese, and crumble some chips or taco shells on top. Squeeze some lime on, mix and enjoy.
- The 2 week old kohlrabi? An asian slaw with lime, yogurt, and peanuts.
- Green beans - my Indian coconut green beans
- 3 zucchinis - zucchini bread!
- Lettuce, carrots, cukes, onion - taco salads
- Red potatoes and onion - fried for Saturday morning breakfast
- Chard - in omelettes
This week’s challenge - fennel! Ideas?
Go check out Sankofa Farming. A “black wombyn” starting a farm in Mass, using the knowledge of our ancestors to work the earth right. I like her.
Sankofa can mean either the word in the Akan language of Ghana that translates in English to “go back and take” (Sanko- go back, fa- take) or the Asante Adinkra symbol. It is often associated with the proverb, “Se wo were fi na wosankofa a yenkyi,” which translates “It is not wrong to go back for that which you have forgotten.” As a black wombyn farming how can I not implement the sankofa concept in my life; I am choosing it as a life philosophy… I am learning from our ancestors and from some of the mistakes that have been made… I learn not cultivate and control the earth but work with the earth, using natural methods that some of our ancestors used to work with the patterns of the earth and combining them with new technologies that are in line with an ethos of interconnectedness that respects the earth.
CSA Report #3
We had our first failure this week. We had to toss some lettuce. It was a sad day.
- Good thing sugar snap peas last awhile. We have 2 weeks’ worth and they’re still delicious with hummus.
- Broccoli, squash, chard, onion and parsley went into a spicy pasta dish. I added a jar of sauce and some andouille sausage and some of our own basil. Delicious. Made leftovers for the whole week too.
- Lettuce, cucumber and radishes in a salad.
- This new delivery is already in and we now have 3, THREE squash sitting in the fridge, and this is after 1 1/2 went into the pasta. Just eating sauteed squash can get old, so I’m thinking of making a squash lasagna and maybe some quiche.
- Kohlrabi: fate yet to be determined. At least it’s cool looking while sitting out on the counter all week.
CSA Report #2
(From week 1: peas went into a chickpea curry, mint into my water throughout the week.)
- One huge stirfry used up the broccoli, broccoli rabe, turnips, some green onion and 1/2 the sugar snaps.
- Spinach - eggs and stirfry
- Dill in tzatziki (to make tonight, thanks for the instructions Matt!)
- Lettuce in salads, of course
