Eating My Share (8.31.10)

Back to basics.

First off, an apology. My lack of posts had more to do with August travels than the hazy lazy daze of late summer. (If you click on my profile, you can see what I was up to in my new travel blog.) Missing posts aside, it's time to get back to work.

Sometimes eating a CSA share is all about keeping it simple. The great thing about the three "s's" - soups, salads and salsas - is that they use up a large portion of your share without being horribly labor intensive. You pretty much clean your veggies (which you should be doing regardless), chop and mix together. Minimum creativity for maximum effect.

This is really a two-fer, as the photos were taken over the course of two distributions. The week of August 24 brought rain and cooler temperatures, and as I had just returned from a week out west, most of my veggies were looking a little soggy. That is the perfect time to bring out the stockpot. Because I had been traveling, my supplies were depleted, and I could actually see the back of my freezer. In it were several ziplock bags filled with greens. Remember that smoked hock bone I was saving? Found that, too. Into a pot of water it all went. For two days on low.

Ideally, you want to cook mammal bones for three days to get all the nutrients out, but this really requires a crock pot, something I do not own. So, I let my soup simmer on the back burner for two days (turning it off at night; it was still quite warm by the next morning, although being an insomniac limited the time my stock was unheated). The result was a nice rich broth, even before I added any seasoning. I simply strained the stock of the meat, bones and limp greens, and to it I added carrots, cabbage, chives and chicken. I called it "C Soup."

Next came the salad, a mix of green and red leaf lettuce along with green onion, cauliflower, mild peppers, tomatoes and cucumber. I added a basic dressing of apple cider vinegar and olive oil; sonny took his salad with Ranch (of course! hey, just a spoonful of high fructose corn syrup makes the vegetables go down!).

Finally, this week it was tomatillo time. This little vegetable is a toughie. If you aren't used to it, knowing how to use it can be a challenge. I take it easy and go for the salsa verde (recipe below). I add it to eggs or lettuce or garnish meat dishes.

And all three leave room for leftovers (I actually froze a good bit of the soup for later consumption). Et voila, le dîner est servi!

Salsa (almost) Verde

All items should be chopped and then mixed together; add olive oil last.

• About two dozen tomatillos
  
• 1 bunch fresh pipicha, cleaned from stem (or cilantro, if pipicha unavailable)
  
• 1/2 red onion (medium-large)
  
• 1 whole tomato (large)
  
• 6 small poblano peppers
  
• 1/4 cup olive oil

Eating My Share (8.10.10)

Well, it was just two days ago when I was bemoaning my lack of culinary inspiration. Sometimes what you need for inspiration is nothing more than your share itself. Okay, your share, and maybe a trip to the grocery on an empty stomach.

I needed to pick up some sundries (okay, cat food and toilet paper, for the curious among you), which generally must deviate from my locavore commitment (I will never give up commercial grade toilet paper, thank you very much). There is a Food Emporium (for those of you not from New York City, that isn't nearly as nice as the name implies) right next to the park in Tribeca where I pick up my Tuesday CSA share.

I must've hit the store at just the right moment, because as soon as I got there, the aroma from the deli on the opposite end hit my nostrils and I was instantly starving. Happy to find the pet food in the paper products aisle, I was going to make a bee-line for the door. Then I thought, why make life more difficult for myself? The rotisserie roast chicken smelled heavenly, and I knew I wanted to maximize my vegetables. I figured, some chicken with a heaping side of vegetables would make a good dinner.

Inspiration part one, done.

When you sign up for a CSA, you take the bad with the good. Weather is usually the big culprit that interferes with a nice distribution. Tractor trailers can give weather a run for its disruptive money. Particularly when it hits your farmer's van. While your farmer and his wife are in it! Thus it was this past Monday that Pedro and his wife were hit by an 18 wheeler and happily were not badly harmed. However, they did have to go to hospital for a bit, which cut into their harvest time. Our share was pretty basic as a result: corn, cabbage, carrots, onions, cilantro, chives, lemongrass and... wait for it...

THE SEASON'S FIRST TOMATOES!

Can anyone say, "corn salsa?" So from a fairly unglamorous share came my inspiration to forgo the side dish and to garnish the chicken with salsa. The leftovers make for great tortilla chip dippin' or to go with quesadillas or any other protein.

Wishing a speedy recovery to Pedro's van, giving thanks for his health and this week's meal.

Dinner is served!

Chicken with Corn Salsa

Chicken can be roasted, grilled, rotisseried or purchased hot from your local deli

• 3 ears of corn, cooked (rinse to make cool to the touch)
  
• 3 medium-to-large tomatoes
  
• 1 bunch fresh cilantro
  
• 1 whole white or red onion (medium-large)
  
• 2 cloves garlic
  
• 1/4 cup olive oil
  
• salt to taste (I used about one teaspoon of sea salt)
• sour cream (optional)
• fresh chives for garnish (optional)
  

While corn is cooking, dice tomatoes, onions, cilantro and garlic. Mix in a medium bowl. Add the olive oil and a bit of salt (to taste). If you can allow this part of the salsa to sit for a bit, the flavor will be stronger.

When corn is cooked, run under cold water to cool. With a good knife, cut the kernels away from the cob (I used a large plate to catch all the kernels). Fold corn into tomato mixture.

Slice portions of the chicken. Add salsa to the top. Garnish with a dollop of sour cream topped with fresh chives.

The Dog Days of Summer

So, my goal at the start of the summer was to eat all my share. I'm on week eight, and I have to admit to feeling overwhelmed. I had a great time last week, being out in the countryside with access to a grill. I coated my ears of corn with olive oil and put them on the top shelf of my gas grill (on the bottom shelf were my St. Louis ribs from The Piggery). The food was fresh and beautifully prepared.

However, now I'm back in the big Bad Apple, and I don't have a grill. I don't have any new recipes. It's too hot for soup (even cold soups start with a hot kitchen). I find myself in a kind of frittata purgatory: Yes, eggs and veggies will use up my share, but it lacks any joy of cooking.

I think this is what causes many people not to renew their CSA shares, or to reduce their commitment to a half-share. It's just really tough to get through all these veggies every week. I think the reality is that we have gotten so far away from our nature, that we have evolved to processed foodies. With all these vegetables filling my fridge and erupting out onto my (limited) counters, I am actually craving processed carbohydrates! I see my half-eaten head of cauliflower and my bright orange (now much thicker than the spring garden variety) carrots, and I just cannot fathom eating them all. How sad that modern American eating is leading me to disparage my abundance.

The irony is that I was one of the late arrivals at the CSA last week and I missed out on the Calabaza squash. I've been reading recipes passed along through our CSA message board, and I'm angry that I don't have a Calabaza squash in my inventory. I keep mourning my absent Calabaza (I had to google it for goodness' sake, just to know what it was I was missing!), while my new five ears of corn languish beside baby eggplant (I sauteed about half of them), red onions, mint, cilantro (I manged to make it through all my papalo thanks to the frittatas) and the aforementioned "c" veggies. If only I had my Calabaza, no doubt I would have finished all my carrots and cauliflower!

I admit to pangs of guilt over all the waste. However, if I am to be fair, I am doing a much better job this summer in eating my share than I did last year (with one more mouth to feed; this year my family is down to three). If my goal was to eat more of my food, well, I am still striving toward that goal and am largely succeeding.

I think for next year, I will take some classes this winter (when I will, no doubt, be missing far more than my phantom Calabaza) to learn properly to freeze, pickle and store extra veggies for the non-growing months. It's a process, and I have to take it one lesson (and one share) at a time.

Eating My Share (7.23.10)

Okay, so I skipped a week. My goal in this blog is to post regularly, so I feel that I've failed a bit these past two weeks. Granted, I've been madly job hunting and doing a lot more with my family (even working on my novel), so I have some good excuses. Yet, they are excuses, even if legitimate.

So, back to the food.

I have mentioned that I belong to a pork CSA with the Piggery. What I failed to mention is that I was a vegetarian for 18 years. My switch back to meat was prompted by a very demanding fetus with a penis: I was literally passing out while I was pregnant with my son, while stuffing my face, risking my health, and dreaming of beef. When I found out he was a boy, I gradually started bringing meat back into my diet, my pregnancy weight gain slowed considerably (I no longer felt I was starving to death), and my son eventually arrived big and healthy.

I relate this anecdote only so that the vegans/vegetarians out there know that I've walked that walk, but now I am an omnivore. That said, I have enormous respect for the family livestock farmers and responsible hunters everywhere. You need look no further than seasonsend.org to see that hunters are part of the solution and not the problem. The same goes for family livestock farms. Not to get political, but meat eating is as American as baseball. I believe that an effort to get Americans to eat a different kind of meat (i.e. "happy" meat, meaning that the animal had a good quality of life prior to a conscientious slaughter) will allow for more progress towards a greener planet and healthier food chain than protesting carnivorous leanings.

If you are a vegetarian, good for you. This week's meal will not be served on a plate near you. However, if you can find grass-raised pork, you know how amazingly different pork tastes when it was lolling about in the forest on hot days (as opposed to stressing out in a tin hut; I swear you can taste the panic in a corporate farmed pig!) and doing all things piggy before going on to feed its caretaker.

Thus, this week's recipe is pork chops and (nope, not applesauce) peaches! I received two lovely thick chops from the Piggery this week, which I sliced open to the bone (they cut easily; that's how tender this meat is!). I mixed together the stuffing with large croutons I purchased at the supermarket (everything else came from my CSA or the green market; of course, I could have made the croutons myself, but sometimes we all cut corners). As a side dish (borrowed from a fellow CSA member with a fruit share), I cooked up peaches with basil sauce, which required white wine. I learned from some friends that cooking wine is a terrible thing to buy. Get the good stuff and drink the rest. Considering the heat, I accompanied the dinner with white wine spritzer. The prep time was a bit longer than usual, but well worth the effort.

Dinner is served!

Stuffed Pork Chop, Peaches with Basil Sauce

Pork Chop (feeds 2-4)

• 2 pork chops, 1-inch thick or more, sliced mid-way to the bone
• 3 cups large croutons (made from day-old baguettes or purchased)
  
• 1 bunch fresh sage
• 1 whole white or red onion (medium-large)
  
• zucchini of choice (I used avocado squash)
  
• 4 cups chicken broth
  
• salt & pepper to taste
  

Preheat oven to 275 degrees; ideally, you want a clay cooker, but any covered oven-ready cooker will do. Lightly grease pan with oil or cooking spray (no need to add fat; this is just to keep your chop from sticking).

Chop sage, onion and raw squash. Soak croutons in stock. When thoroughly wet (it's fine if there is excess liquid), add in salt, pepper and veggie mix.

Put cold (i.e. room temperature) stuffing between sides of split chop. Place in cooker and roast for 30 minutes.

Cooking time may vary depending on thickness of chop; make sure pork is thoroughly cooked prior to serving.

Peaches Poached in Basil Sauce

• 6 large white peaches, halved and pitted (fairly firm peaches work best)
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup white wine
  
• 1 bunch fresh basil

At medium heat, dissolve sugar in white wine. When completely dissolved, add approximately 2/3 of the basil leaves. Cook on low until boiling; boil two minutes.

Reduce heat and remove basil leaves. Poach peaches approximately five minutes on each side (skin will start to crack. Remove from heat.

With a slotted spoon, remove peaches to a plate. Add remaining basil (feel free to save a sprig or two for garnish, should flare be your fancy) to the sauce and stir gently until submerged in hot liquid. Let stand.

Gently remove peach skin. Serve with several spoonfuls of the sauce and basil. Add a scoop of vanilla ice cream (if you like).

White Wine Spritzer

• White wine left over from peach recipe (any, although Pinot Grigio is nice on a hot day)
  
• Seltzer water (ginger ale or sprite can be used for a white wine cooler, for a sweeter beverage)
• Fresh mint
  

Combine one part wine to two parts seltzer (soda). Serve over ice with a fresh mint garnish.

Eating My Share (7.13.10)

It rained today.

While I am not the regional meteorologist, I note the rain because we have had one of the hottest, driest summers on record. If there is a polar opposite to last summer (when it rained 27 of 30 days in June and never got hotter than 75 degrees), it is this summer with record-breaking, triple-digit temperatures and no rain whatsoever. The downpour was so alluring that my son wanted to run around outside in it.

The heat belies the autumnal trees outside my window (it's so hot that the trees are shedding leaves they are incapable of feeding months early). Grass is brown. Fauna both animal and human move slowly through the haze.

Yet this is precisely what makes a CSA so amazing. The small farmer may not have to worry about blight (he plants a variety of crops each year), but he is at the whim of extreme temperatures. Just as last year it seemed all that would grow was eggplant and peppers, this year, it's herbs, herbs, and more herbs. Being part of a CSA means that you help the farmer through these extremes. It also means you may end up with a surfeit of one kind of vegetable.

My paternal grandmother died when I was quite young, but I remember how well she cooked (her baking was legend, and that gene skipped right over me and went to my sister). I recall the good ole days when kids disappeared at dawn only to reappear at dusk, hungry and dirty. A quick shower and dinner was served. Grandma always served us a hot dinner during the summer months. When my sister and I complained, she declared, "You eat nothing but cold food on summer days. You need something hot in your belly."

One of the crops that seems to thrive in all this heat is purslane (aka verdolaga). I actually exchanged my mint for an extra bunch with the intention of making a purslane chili. My kids aren't that into beans, and I thought the sweet, chewy texture would make for a nice substitute. As this week's share included fresh (i.e. crisp) carrots, I used up the end of the slightly soggy carrots from last week to add even more body and fiber to the chili.

I picked up tomato puree and diced tomatoes at Whole Foods, along with a mini-baguette and some garlic puree (I finished up my fresh CSA garlic awhile back). The groceries cost me $8. I had a pound of grass-fed beef that I had purchased some months ago (I get my beef every 4-5 months from Maple Avenue Farms in Earlville, NY; I buy 1/4 cow at my local farmers' market and load up the freezer for easy cow pickins). A few spices and some toasted garlic bread later, and...

Dinner is served!

Purslane Chili w/Garlic Bread

• 1 pound ground beef (turkey or meat substitute)
• 1 cup (or more) chopped carrot chunks
• 1 bunch parslane, leaves cleaned and plucked from the stems
• 1 whole green onion (large, if you are using leeks, 4-5 leeks)
• olive oil, seasonings of choice
• 28 ounce can tomato puree
• 14.5 ounce can diced tomatoes (with or without spices)

Put 2-3 T of olive oil in a small stock pot. Chop onion and saute. Quarter carrots, chop and add.

Add spices (I used chili powder, sea salt and Saigon cinnamon).

Add one pound ground beef (or beef substitute). Cook until no longer red.

Pluck parslane leaves and add to mixture.

As this softens, mix butter and garlic and spread on two sides of bread; place on metal pan in oven at 350 degrees for 9 minutes.

Add tomato puree and diced tomatoes to vegetable/meat mix. Rinse cans with water and add to chili (approximately 4 cups total added liquid).

Cover and simmer. At 9 minutes, flip toast and heat for an additional 7 minutes.

After toast is done, serve chili with toast on the side.

Green Eggs and Ham

Perhaps one of the more startling effects of moving far far away from your food source is how we have demonized foods that are, in fact, good for us while replacing them in our diet with non-foods (high fructose corn syrup and industrial corn are not actual foods, for example, having been made - or perfected - in a chemistry lab rather than in nature). One such example is the incredible, edible egg (whatever happened to that campaign?).

According to the USDA's nutritional guidelines, one egg has approximately 70 calories, including 7 grams of protein. Said protein has an Amino Acid Score of 136 (the Amino Acid Score measures protein quality, with a score of 100 or more being a complete protein requiring no supplements). Where eggs have been most demonized is in their cholesterol content, but the evidence that eggs in and of themselves cause elevated blood cholesterol is spurious at best. In fact, one study, Balancing and Communicating Risks and Benefits Associated with Egg Consumption: A Relative Risk, "shows that eggs' contribution to coronary heart disease (CHD) is insignificant when compared to other CHD risk factors such as age, male sex, genetics, smoking, high blood cholesterol, high blood pressure, physical inactivity, obesity and overweight, diabetes, alcohol and stress." [Tran N, Barraj L, Mink P, McNamara D. Abstract presented at Experimental Biology 2007.]

Other studies have shown that fetuses thrive when their moms eat eggs during pregnancy; and yet another study shows that elderly people can safely eat three egg a day.

In short, eggs are good for you. What's not so good is buying eggs from commercial hen houses where layers are maltreated and which are basically legendary in the animal rights' community for heinous farming practices.

I have an egg share that comes from the same farm (La Baraja) where I get my vegetables. Whether for breakfast or not, a vegetable frittata is quick, easy and delicious meal, low in calories and high in nutrients. You can put basically any vegetable into a pan, saute in olive oil (I do not like the way butter makes my eggs taste, but if you prefer, butter away!), add a couple of whipped eggs. Flip, and you have a frittata.

Personally, I like using up my greens this way. I take whatever greens I have handy - purslane/verdolaga, collards, chard, herbs - and I end up with green eggs (with or without the ham; in today's recipe, I used duck). Read some Dr. Seuss with your meal, and even your kids will be eating!

Green Eggs and (Ham)
aka Veggie Frittata

• 2 farm eggs
• 2 T olive oil
• 1/4 cup meat of choice (I used Duck Rillettes)
• 2-3 cups of green (leafy) vegetables, chopped into bite-size pieces

Place olive oil in saute pan, lightly grill vegetables until slightly soft. Whip two eggs. Sprinkle meat over vegetable mixture, add eggs making sure they spread to edges of pan. When solid, flip once. Serve hot!

Eating My Share (7.6.10)

Week 4 - What's for dinner?

Lunch. Lunch is for dinner. After what was possibly (and without hyperbole) one of the worst days of my life, I just couldn't bring myself to cook last night. I was probably the last person to pick up my share yesterday, and I went home and cried my eyes out before collapsing into bed at midnight and wondering when being an honest, hard-working, compassionate person became a liability. Although, considering that whole Christians and lions thing, I guess, perhaps, it has always been a liability.

But this is my food blog; my philosophical ravings are for a different medium (or at least a different section of my "news feed").

I believe that what differentiates talented cooks from the open-can-and-microwave-crowd is our willingness to experiment. You really have to have some imagination and daring, and your CSA can offer up opportunities not just to try new foods but to try out new recipes.

This week's veggie share came with squash blossoms. These twisted orange flowers are considered a rarity among food choices. Apparently (I didn't know this until I googled) they are so fragile that they rarely last more than a few hours up to a day or so. You can add them to a salad, but that seemed pretty obvious to me. Instead, I found a couple recipes that suggested stuffing and frying them. Wow! Really?

So, I took a walk on the wildside, peeling back the blossoms and stuffing them with pressed mozzarella (from the farmers' market), which was a lot harder than it sounds. Most of the stuffed recipes recommend chevre, and I understand why: You really need to "glue" the blossom around the cheese and chevre lends itself to this quite well. But my kids don't like chevre, so mozzarella it was. I compensated by using extra batter (egg/cream dip followed by copious amounts of whole wheat flour seasoned with Old Bay and sea salt).

Although the photo above doesn't do the meal justice (they came out looking a bit like deep fried mice!), the result was a slightly chewy sweet sidedish that was a flavor unlike any I had ever tasted.

As for the main dish, if you are a CSA member (and if I ever get any readers, I'm guessing they will know this), you probably have more than just a vegetable share. CSAs come in all varieties. I belong to two: Tribeca CSA, where I get my vegetables and eggs (we also have a fruit share option); and The Piggery CSA, where I get pork bi-weekly from June through Thanksgiving. This week's pork share included a smoked hock. I carved off as much of the meat as I was able, putting the bone in the freezer for a marrow soup that I'll make when the temperatures aren't in the triple digits. I chopped the smoked meat and sauteed (olive oil) with fresh herbs from my veggie share: chives, Italian parsley and sage. Since the meat was smoked, I didn't add salt. It was perfectly seasoned just with the fresh herbs.

I figure the total cost of the meal was less than $10. I didn't have to buy anything additional. I just ate my share!

Dinner (or in this case, lunch) is served.

Eating My Share (6.29.10)

Week 3 - What's for dinner?

I've had a stressful few days. I think that is when those fresh vegetables become both a blessing and a curse. They are a blessing because when you don't feel like eating anything, a bunch of fresh carrots (their slightly yellow hue making you wonder what exactly do they do to store bought carrots to make them go bright orange) and a pound of zucchini can be just what you need to get your appetite back.

On the other hand, when it's all you can do to get through the day, the need to clean and prep your veggies becomes the curse part of the equation. Hence, tonight's dinner is brought to you with a nice bottle of inexpensive Spanish wine from Chambers Street Wines.

Happily, that was my only additional purchase, as I toted home two full bags of this week's CSA share. I remembered I had some marinated chicken from Trader Joe's in my freezer. I quickly thought through my vegetable selection and decided steamed carrots and zucchini dressed with fresh chopped chives would be my side dish. Unless you count the wine as the side dish; I view that more as dessert.

Speaking of dessert, and on a side note: I mentioned last week that one of the keys to eating your share is to have a good set of items in the kitchen to go with your vegetables. I tend to shop at the green markets around the city whenever I am able for my non-vegetable needs. This past weekend was the first day for this year's New Amsterdam Market, which happily will go to a weekly market in the fall. In the meantime, this once a month market is a standing date on my calendar.

For those who are not familiar with the NAM, it's more like an outdoor Tapas than a true green market. This week's focus was bread, and I bought a baguette with green olives, but I tasted several other breads (tasting is famous at this market; you should definitely come with an empty stomach). I purchased several cheeses, some lamb and a jar of what might be the yummiest caramel ever (made from goat's milk!).

So, our dessert last night was Breyer's vanilla ice cream with goat's milk caramel drizzled on top.

Dinner is served!

Post script...

For me, one of the more difficult items to use from my share is lettuce. Unless you are a die-hard salad fan, going through a head or more of lettuce each week can be a challenge. Here's my secret: Add good cheese! I take my green and red lettuce (and/or the spinach from my share) and add really nice artisan cheese. I picked up some Cabot that crumbles nicely and puts some zing into my salad. I had a few Kalamata olives in the back of my fridge, which I accompanied with a bit of feta. If it's spinach, I usually take a slice of happy bacon and crumble it for a traditional spinach salad. Simply add a couple tablespoons of apple cider vinegar and a touch of your favorite oil (olive or flax is best, imho) and lunch is served!

In addition to using up the lettuce, I find the cheese has an added benefit of helping me lose weight. A plain salad (even when dressed with onions, radishes, Italian parsley and other herbs) just doesn't satisfy. Add an ounce of crumbled cheese (or that slice of bacon) and then suddenly all those marvelous vegetables feel like a meal and not a side dish.

I won't eat that!

When you join a CSA one of the first things you'll notice is that some of the vegetables are types you've never tried. Possibly you've never even heard of Quelites (Lamb's Quarters) or many of the herbs and leafy greens that you are toting home each week. Trying something new can be a leap of faith.

However, this is nothing when compared to foods with which you are familiar and towards which you have a decidedly negative opinion. Some foods just aren't open to ambivalent opinions. Most people know whether or not they like tomatoes or Brussels sprouts, for example. So, what do you do when you get something in your share you're sure you don't like?

Perhaps you trade it out (our CSA has a trade box, where you can put in the vegetable you don't want and take one that someone else left but that you do like). Perhaps you give it away. But this isn't a truly appropriate use of your CSA, the point of which is to eat what the farmer grows. Plus, if you get beets four weeks in a row, you're going to have to learn to eat the beets.

If you don't like a certain vegetable, the first thing to do is try eating it fresh. I don't like radishes, but I discovered that radishes from my CSA farm, La Baraja, taste nothing like store-bought radishes. They are spicy, not bitter, crisp, not soggy, with no bad aftertaste; they do not overwhelm a salad when added in. Same goes for the aforementioned beets. I so loathed beets that I couldn't stand the smell of them! I decided once and for all to get over myself. Beets are amazingly good for you (especially for women; beets are great at keeping UTIs at bay); you can make juice from them or put them in salads. My favorite beet salad is below.

My point is that to be a true part of a CSA, you gotta learn to eat your vegetables. If you have kids, think of it as being a role model. And you may just surprise yourself and find those foods to which you were averse taste pretty darn good when they're fresh and properly prepared.

Beet and Smoked Duck Breast Salad

Ingredients: Beets from your CSA, smoked duck breast (fat removed) from the duck farm that sells on Saturdays at Washington Park Market, green onions (CSA), Fage yogurt (I prefer non-fat), salt & pepper

• Clean and trim beets, wrap individually in tin foil, place on a cookie sheet and cook at 350 for approximately 20 minutes (times may vary depending on size of beets; check them; they should be soft, like a boiled potato)
• Slice duck and onions into small bits, mix in a bowl with the seasoning and approximately 1 cup of yogurt
• When beets are cool peel them - they do stain, so use a knife and a cutting board that you can wash - and dice. Mix with other ingredients.
• Chill and eat as a side dish or on a bed of lettuce.
  

Eating My Share (6.22.10)

Week 2 - What's for dinner?

This week's food comes courtesy of La Baraja farm and Whole Foods.

When I went to Just Food's CSA in NYC Conference in February, one of the workshops I attended was entitled "Caring for Your Share." It was conducted by Just Food's Community Chef Myra Klockenbrink. I went in thinking I would get great tips on prolonging the life of my share, because last year - my first in a CSA and the first for Tribeca CSA - I ended up tossing about half my food (which is not uncommon for someone her first year in a CSA). However, Myra didn't load us down with tips on how to preserve our share. In fact, her advice was simple: To use your share, you must eat it.

Well, duh... But how? Myra's best tips involved preparation: take time to clean and properly store (i.e. away from moisture) your vegetables. The extra time you spend the night you bring home your share will mean ready-to-go portions throughout the week and less waste overall. She also suggested keeping certain basics in the house (e.g. grains or beans to go with your vegetables). She said a good inventory of your kitchen is vital, so if you don't know what you have, keep a notebook. Finally, she reminded us that our bodies don't want heavy meats and dairy during the summer months, that we should focus on vegetable-centric meals.

Thus, I decided this year to follow Myra's advice and eat my share! And I'll do my best to blog about it (these entries are called "Eating My Share" with the distribution date). I may also offer some broader commentary from time to time, but I'll do my best to summarize my prep on Tuesday evenings and what we had for dinner.

First off, all those radishes! I am not sure what I'll do if I get a third bunch next week, but I save space and time by cleaning the radishes first. I know the tops can be used in salads, but I also know I'm not likely to eat them, so off they go! I scrub the radishes clean and dry them and then put them in a small open container in the crisper. When I have a craving for something (I'm trying to lose weight, aren't we all?), I make myself eat a radish first. This serves a dual purpose: I'm using up my radishes and the tangy, spicy taste in my mouth generally doesn't make me want to reach for the ice cream!

Herbs will last longer if you simply put them standing up in a glass of water in the fridge. It's best to clean the dirt from the leafier herbs, but you must make sure they are dry before storing them in the refrigerator. The water can be changed every couple of days; I like those POM ice tea glasses, but any tall tumbler will do. My mint is still doing well from last week. I put the Italian parsley in the glass that was holding dill up until this morning (when I used up the last with some onion, tomato and La Baraja eggs). Cilantro has been doing quite well in the crisper thus far.

I try to plan Tuesday's dinner before I reach the house. I knew I would use all my leeks and roughly half the parsley and purple basil (I read somewhere that Martha Stewart uses purple basil instead of mint in mojitos, and I understand why: very sweet!). The items I know I'll use, I never even put into my refrigerator. I set them on the counter first (or keep them in the bag - counter space is in short supply in NYC apartments).

As part of that plan, I need to consider what I do not have at the ready. Thus, tonight I purchased (from Whole Foods) tricolor pasta shells ($1.69), medley tomatoes ($3.99) and a mozzarella ball ($4.76). My dinner, which had plenty of leftovers, cost me just over $10 (not including the part of my $20 veggie share that I added in). Let's say $15 total (I also used olive oil and spices from my kitchen "pantry"), dinner for three is served!

I put a couple tablespoons of olive oil into a saute pan and tossed in garlic peeled from one of the heads I received in the week 1 CSA distribution. I added approximately half the Italian parsley that came in today's share. While that was softening, I put the pasta shells in a pot to boil. I added salt, pepper and oregano to the fry pan. I then cut up all four leeks (washing as necessary) and added this to the mix. When the vegetables were just starting to soften, I added about 1/3 cup olive oil and reduced the heat.

Turning to my salad, I sliced about half the tomatoes (a nice mix of yellow and red cherry tomatoes, roma and larger yellow tomatoes) and put them on the bottom of a large flat bowl. I then sliced approximately 1/4 pound of the fresh mozzarella (the ball I had purchased was almost 1/2 pound) and put the cheese on the tomato base. I then washed and dried the purple basil and layered this on the cheese. I mixed up some Balsamic vinegar with olive oil and left this on the side to drizzle with a spoon after the salad had been served.

By this time, the pasta shells were cooked. I drained them and added to the veggie mix. I stirred in the pasta until the veggies and spices were evenly distributed.

Dinner is served!