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.