Week #2 Recap

Week #2 of the CSA allowed us to make mostly familiar dishes. Lettuce, broccoli, and strawberries are all pretty much staples (even though we hardly ever buy fresh broccoli!) so it was not too difficult to come up with meals with those items.

Strawberries

Churn, baby, churn!

Three words: strawberry. ice. cream. Nothing says summer like homemade ice cream made from fresh strawberries. If anyone would like to argue this, I urge you to take a spoonful from our freezer. Hurry up, though, because this frozen bite of heaven won't be around for ever. There's nothing wrong with eating ice cream for breakfast, right? It counts as a serving of fruit...maybe? The recipe for this came from The Joy of Cooking, 8th Edition. This cookbook never fails to provide delicious meals. Go out and grab a copy!

Broccoli

Speaking of The Joy of Cooking, the next recipe we made with our CSA produce was Cream of Broccoli soup, served alongside unremarkable beer bread (I'm blaming the bland taste on beer that was 6 months old). The soup was amazing and very easy to make - celery, onions, broccoli, vegetable broth, a little bit of flour, and some whole milk. This recipe requires a blender or food processor - I prefer mine a little chunky, so we did not fully blend the soup. The beer bread tasted great with the soup, but it was not very flavorful. The Cream of Broccoli soup is definitely a keeper...there were no leftovers from this meal! Beer bread deserves a second chance, but next time I'll use a more recently bottled beer.

Radishes

Spring Radishes Braised with Shallots and Vinegar - served with baked chicken

Radishes...what to say about the radishes? The radish leaf pesto (see previous post) was really good - there were no leftovers from that meal, either! It was easy to make and tasted great. After scouring the Internet for a cooked radish recipe, we found this one: Spring Radishes Braised with Shallots and Vinegar. The next day, we made braised radishes with shallots and balsamic vinegar. Braising is a cooking technique where the main ingredient is first seared, then liquid is added to the pan along with a cover, and the ingredient finishes cooking in the liquid. Usually this is done with meat. The braised radishes were alright- the balsamic reduction was very tasty, but anything topped with this sauce would be delicious.

Final thoughts on radishes: probably would never go out of my way to buy them, but now we have some radish recipes if we are ever gifted a bunch. I'll probably stick to eating radishes raw in salads.

Lettuce

So much for being adventurous with lettuce! As always, this just got used up in salads and on sandwiches. One day, lettuce will be made into something more daring!

Week #1 Recap

Week #1 of our CSA went by really quickly (and deliciously)! We were able to make 3 meals (with plenty of leftovers) with the produce that we received. Here's what we made...and some notes for future meals:

Quinoa with Kale, Black Beans, Corn, and Chicken

Ingredients:

• 1 cup quinoa, rinsed and dried
• 2 cups water
• 1 cube vegetable bouillon, for additional flavor
• 1/2 bunch kale, washed and dried
• 1 can (15 oz.) black beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 cup frozen corn, thawed
• 2 cups grilled chicken, cut into bite-sized pieces
• 1 tsp. ground cumin
• salt and pepper
• olive oil

Directions:

1. Place quinoa in sauce pan with water and bouillon. Bring to a boil, cover and reduce to simmer. Cook quinoa as directed, approximately 15-20 minutes.

2. Pour 1 tbl of olive oil into medium skillet. Heat to medium. Add kale, cooking for 10 minutes, until wilted. Add black beans, corn, and chicken to warm.

3. When the quinoa is done, add into skillet, with cumin. Stir until combined. Enjoy!

Serves: 4

I added half a steamed sweet potato to my bowl of quinoa - optional but delicious.

Leek and Swiss Chard Tart

(from: http://smittenkitchen.com/blog/2008/01/leek-and-swiss-chard-tart/)

I won't post the recipe here, since you can easily find it on the link above from Smitten Kitchen. I did not have any thyme, so I substituted it for parsley, which gave the dish a fresh flavor. I also do not have a tart or pie pan. Instead, I used a springform pan.

We ate our tart with a salad - the lettuce from our CSA. This was my favorite meal of the week...until we ate:

Spaghetti with Kale, Swiss Chard, & Goat Cheese

Ingredients:

• 1/4 box spaghetti
• 1/2 bunch kale, washed
• 1/2 bunch swiss chard, washed and de-ribbed
• 1/2 onion, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 cup crumbled goat cheese
• olive oil

Directions:

1. Prepare spaghetti as directed by box.

2. Pour 1 tbl of olive oil into medium skillet. Heat to medium. Add onion and garlic, cook 5-10 minutes, until translucent.

3. Add kale and swiss chard. Cook until wilted, approximately 10 minutes.

4. When spaghetti is done, add into skillet. Stir well to combine all ingredients. Add goat cheese and stir , to melt the goat cheese onto the pasta.

5. If desired, add additional goat cheese (as pictured), enjoy!

Lettuce

The lettuce was used in salads and on sandwiches all week long. If we get lettuce again, I would try to find other uses for it, such as grilling the lettuce.

Strawberries

The strawberries were SO delicious that we ate them in a day. If we get them again, I would like to make either strawberry ice cream or jam.

Tomorrow we will get 4 new crops from our CSA...wonder what we will get!