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!