Eating my share (06.28.11)

Welcome Tribeca CSA members! I've been asked to be the "official" blogger for the week, so I'm happy to be the representative of a CSA that has brought me so much inspiration (and challenge) these past two-plus years. This week's share (at left, clockwise from bottom) was cilantro, peas, green leaf lettuce, mint, sage, red spring onions, pak choi, and carrots. The challenge is how to use as many of these ingredients as possible.

For my regular readers, all five of you (thanks, mom!), you'll remember when I wrote about my enthusiasm in Week 1 for salad and that I would be over lettuce by August. Well, it's not even July and I'm done with lettuce. I'm now trying to come up with creative solutions.

So what better way to use up lettuce than by way of lettuce wraps. Thus, what follows is my lettuce wrap recipe. A couple of quick notes: I'm a firm believer in using what you have in your kitchen. Thus, I had some garlic scapes from another CSA, along with some Asian spices/oils. This was a good fit for this recipe. As for the cilantro, well, you may think this is not an Asian herb, but since the overwhelming majority of items in the swap box was cilantro, I'm guessing most members of the CSA are looking for a few good cilantro recipes (and you can't say that cilantro isn't an Asian vegetable if you've never tried it in a lettuce wrap!).

Asian Lettuce Wrap

For the crust:

• 1 head lettuce (this week, it was Romaine, and the large leaves - after being cleaned and dried - gave me approximately 15 leaves)  
• 1 pound grilled chicken (I used organic breast meat)
• 1 Tablespoon soy sauce
• 2 Tablespoons sesame oil  
• 1/2 teaspoon wasabi powder
• 1 spring onion (I used one of the large ones from this week's share)
• 4 carrots
• 1/2 bunch cilantro
• 3 garlic scapes
• 1/4 lime 

Use 1T of the sesame oil to fry up the ground chicken (you can substitute beef, pork sausage or - eek - tofu). Season with soy and wasabi. Julienne dice the vegetables. Clean and dry the lettuce. When meat is cooked, transfer to a plate and add the other tablespoon of sesame oil. Unlike the picture above, sautee the carrots, then onion/garlic and finally add the cilantro (the carrots will take the longest to cook; you want them al dente; the onion whites should be translucent). Add vegetables to cleaned lettuce leaves; sprinkle meat along top; squirt with lime juice. Roll or "squinch" the lettuce leaves and enjoy!

Eating my share (06.21.11)

A Remedy For Herbs
 

One of the issues nearly every CSA faces is how to use up all the products you receive each week. Of course, some CSAs establish trade boxes or bi-weekly shares, but it is my humble opinion that you really aren't embracing the notion of the CSA mission if you don't eat what's in your share. Early in the season, that probably means you have a surfeit of herbs.

In just the first two weeks of the CSA season, I've had the following herbs: cilantro, oregano, mint, chives, basil and garlic scapes. That's a lot of zest in my diet, and I always struggle with certain herbs (i.e. mint; I have CSA friends who really begin to dread cilantro, but as readers of my blog know, I adore salsa, so cilantro is the least of my herbal problems).

First off, it's important to remember that herbs should never end up in your compost (trash), excepting maybe the stems. I remember last year somone at the CSA talking about keeping herbs fresh by standing them in a glass of water and covering them loosely with plastic wrap. This would prolong the life of the herb by a couple weeks or more, depending on refrigerator temperature. She then noted, however, that she still wasn't able to use up all her herbs, still throwing away a percentage of them.

I was somewhat incredulous. "Why didn't you dry them?" She just stared. It had never occured to her to dry her herbs. I learned my lesson early on in the CSA experience. While not all fresh herbs dry particularly well (e.g. basil), certain herbs will dry with no effort at all (e.g. oregano, thyme). Whenever I get these herbs in my share, I go ahead and separate out approximately two-thirds to dry. I make sure the herb is clean and separated (ideally, I'd have an Austen-esque kitchen whereby I could hang them upside down, but a flat space away from the cats does almost as well, even if it's far less romantic!).

One of the ways to use up your herbs is simply to remember to use them! I made fried zuchini, dipping the egg-and-cream-washed vegetable slices into a mixture of bread crumbs, whole wheat flour and chopped chives. Green eggs are always my breakfast of choice this time of year (simply add herbs to your eggs; if you're more industrious, try a quiche!). Make mint lemonade (or mint julep/moxito syrup, which keeps in the fridge for weeks). Or try this pesto recipe:

Basil-Mint Pesto

1/2 bunch basil (approx. 40 leaves)
1/2 bunch mint (approx. 40 leaves)
1/2 cup pine nuts (courtesy of Whole Foods, if you cannot find them elsewhere)
2/3 cup olive oil

Clean the leaves and combine all ingredients in a blender. Once creamy, the sauce is enough for a pound of pasta, or spread on crustini for a cool, fresh bread-based snack.

Eating my share (06.14.11)

It's Week 1 of the CSA summer share!

This week I have three CSAs starting up: My vegetable CSA launched on Tuesday, tonight is The Piggery (for which I am CSA coordinator in Manhattan; High Point Farms is also launching summer meat tonight, but I'm taking the summer off after enjoying their beef, chicken and eggs all spring), and on Sunday I start a new monthly CSA from Frolic Farm (very excited about this one, and hope to do an update about them on Sunday after I open my first artisanal box!).

So, what is my first recipe of the new season: It's salad!!! (crickets chirping, crowd goes silent)

Yes, yes, I know that salad is the most lame of CSA recipes. Salad is, in fact, the reason why a lot of people never join a CSA because they worry all they'll ever be eating is salad. While I agree that come August, the last thing I want to see is another head of red leaf lettuce, for the first share, I get overly excited by all the greenery that ends up in my fridge. As I was preparing my salad mix, I was salivating over all the incredible smells given off as my knife tore through the gentle herbs and greens. It's not unlike that thrill at Christmas time when the smell of real pine wafts through the apartment. It's just, well, yummy.

One of the problems with salads is that they are really time consuming to put together. I create a week's worth of salad in a large tupperware-style bowl that I store in the fridge. The biggest problem with this is that the vegetables must stay clean and dry. Nothing will spoil a salad faster than moisture. I have been able to add even items such as diced tomatoes and artichoke hearts (organic, canned) by putting these items inside a small dish and carefully placing on the dry salad mixture before sealing it shut. Of course, those of you who do not live with a NYC-sized kitchen could probably find space for all the individual containers, but I prefer to keep all my salad "fixins" in one spot.

So, this year I am attempting to go a bit (okay, a lot) greener with my greens and switch to cotton towels. Thus, my greens are now being towel dried (as opposed to paper towel dried). While I like the convenience of paper towels, it's such a waste, both in terms of the environment and the actual cost of the paper towels. In fact, I was able to dry all my lettuce with two small hand towels (one on top and one on the bottom). I was really pleased by the results, as the greens were dryer faster with the hand towels.

So, what greens did I use? Torn romaine (CSA) and red leaf (last week's Farmers' Market); diced combo of a few flowering red mustard greens (CSA), metzuna (CSA), cilantro (CSA), and radish greens (CSA). To this I added week old radishes (from FM; my CSA radishes are so good that I'm just dipping them in Kosher salt and eating them by themselves), some chopped baby carrots (yes, I know, but it was a moment of weakness in trying to populate school lunches, so I gotta use them up before they rot... in about six months), a bit of old celery (mostly the flowery stuff; the stalks are on their way to the compost), and a bit of store-bought Granny Smith apple.

To this I added High Point Farms' sirloin steak, which I had marinated in spring garlic (FM), cilantro (CSA), Worcestershire, salt and pepper (organic, but only because it was the only kind sold at the store! my pepper grinder broke). I diced the steak to be stored separately and added as needed.

Dressing a salad is an interesting process. I never personally use commercially made dressings (I do buy ranch for the kids; I pick my battles on more veggies, even if it requires "sauce" on top). I also am a "what's in the fridge" cook, meaning I try to use up whatever happens to be on hand. I almost exclusively use organic apple cider vinegar, even when not putting apples in my salad. I switch between olive and flax oil for the fat. And generally some kind of mustard ends up in there (whether powdered or actual). For this salad, I also added Divine Brine's beet caviar, which I stumbled upon at the Brooklyn Flea a few weeks back. This is also where I discovered Tin Mustard; possibly the best mustard I've ever tasted (I literally have to stop myself from eating it with a spoon!).

The final salad in its "dressed" form is below. Hope you make the most of your early summer salad, and enjoy!