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.