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.