CSA, Weeks the Three and Four

[leahbobet]

Missed a week, last week, but! I have good reasons! I was being a little too emo for my own good at the beginning of last week, and it was hot, and thus I did not post. We'll double this one up and do it a day early, since I have the feeling I won't be visiting the MyMarket farmer's market tomorrow. I already have too much stuff in the fridge, and I'm going out of town for Readercon in a little over a week.

So, when last we left our intrepid farmshare, we had started with:

5 rhubarbs
1 pint field greens
1 lettuce (bigger)
1 pint peas (woot woot)
1 bunch oregano
1 pint strawberries
12 garlic scapes

6 duck eggs
6 chicken eggs
morel mushrooms
shiitake mushrooms

--and the leftovers from week one.

Add to that week three's takings:

2 Dancine Lettuces (mini butterhead variety)
1/4 lb garlic scapes
1 pint snow peas
1 pint shell peas
1 bunch green onions
1 bunch radishes
1 pint of strawberries

6 duck eggs
6 chicken eggs
morel mushrooms

So for the first week, before I had my post-draft ennui with added dash of it's-too-hot and got super emo, I was mad creative:


Behold ye my side dishes.

Aside from salads the size of my face, of which there were several (note: chestnuts and horseradish cheddar are awesome together in face salad) and some strawberry smoothies, general eating of strawberries, etc., the things I was pretty proud of were a few departures. I had that bunch of asparagus from Week 1 to dispose of, as well as some Jerusalem artichokes, and hadn't actually cooked either very frequently before. But a friend was coming over for dinner and a movie (and helpfully supplying homemade green curry!) so I said I'd step up with the side dishes. And, well.

The asparagus is steamed, with fresh oregano from the bunch I got in Week 2, a bit of butter, and some of the fancy Murray River salt on top. This was pretty seriously amazing; simple and tidy and really good.

As for the Jerusalem artichokes, I did a little googling and got the idea for fries. Sort of.

They were steamed too, and cut into slices (see blurry picture in little bowl). For a dip, though, I stuck together some mayo, a few cloves of chopped garlic, a few teaspoons of wildflower honey from Week 1, and some capers I've had in my fridge for god knows how long. And it was sort of aioli in a really, really nice way.

I think I snacked on those things all week.


Pan shot, here. Magic about to happen.

The other thing that I was pretty smug about: the spinach.

I had some beets that I roasted in anticipation of Russian beet salad, which kind of has yet to happen, but it meant I had some beet greens newly free, and it felt like a waste to just compost them when they are food too. So for my lunch Thursday before last, I chopped up a sping onion really small, some garlic, all the shiitake mushrooms I got from that other market on Brunswick Ave., and sauteed them, along with some of Week 1's spinach, in butter and a little balsamic vinegar.

This was amazing.

I thought I'd made too much for one meal and the rest would probably go a bit slimy? But no. It was too amazing. I ate the whole giant bowl of greens for lunch and was exceedingly smug about it. That needs to happen again, seriously.

And then, well, I got a little deadliney and mopey, and then it was a long weekend and I spent way too much time and cash eating out of doors or at friends' houses (including tasty Indian buffet on Canada Day!), and have no more cooking to report.

Also, this is the first set of weeks where I've started to produce discernable leftovers. One of those face-sized salads lasted a couple days.

---

But since we're back on the wagon, the Week Four veggies, which I picked up a few hours ago:

1 lettuce
1 qt field greens
1 bunch baby beets
1 bunch summer savory
1 qt snow peas
1 head garlic
1 bunch radishes

6 chicken eggs
Hen of the woods mushrooms

And 1 jar organic yogourt from The Depanneur, which is, among other things, a quasi-restaurant/community food space, and where my CSA pickup is, and where I tend to stop in after picking up said CSA veggies for an iced coffee or homemade soda or something.

I did not get duck eggs this week because they were out. So I'm getting double next week.

And now sora_blue is coming over, and I'm going to make some peas and mint raita, and we're gonna eat it and watch bad movies.

Comments

[tithenai.livejournal.com]

OMG this all sounds AMAZING.

[barry-king.livejournal.com]

Beet greens are one of our favourites. In the spring, we'll usually steam the diced root with the leaves, but by season's end, the roots are getting put aside for pickling and borscht while the greens are et alone. The fresher, the less they need, we find. A little salt, lemon, and butter.