Last night I did manage to wash the lettuce, which turned out to be not so dirty after all, especially once I hacked off the bottom of the head. This was all so we could tuck some into pitas with felafel and lemon-tahini sauce (From Moosewood, but with the addition of some garlic chives). There's plenty of lettuce left still, and, luckily, some sauce, so I see a salad dressed with it in our future.
Someone forwarded the NYT rhubarb recipes to the CSA dropoff coordinator, who sent the link around to everyone. So far, good reviews for both the compote and the cobbler have come back, so my rhubarb is still in the fridge waiting for me to make up my mind. Tomorrow night will be dessert night, one way or the other.
With the positive response for those recipes, I decided to send in the one I knew for sure I'd be using this week myself: Chinese Cabbage Salad with ramen noodles. I learned it last year from a member of another CSA. It's good with either Chinese cabbage or bok choy, so we were very well supplied with main ingredients this week. I had only one scallion on hand -- the rest of the bunch had gone into my daughter's last batch of guacamole -- so I supplemented with a bunch of garlic chives. And also remembered the dressing is 1)too much and 2)too sweet. So I saved some dressing for another day -- plenty more lettuce and bok choy to come, I'm sure! -- and marked up the recipe so I'll remember to cut the sugar next time. Checking my email after dinner, I was inordinately pleased to see that another CSA member sending in a recipe noted that she'd made the cabbage salad and liked it! (She did recommend reducing the amount of sugar, so all other members are forewarned now, though I failed to do it myself.)
That fellow-CSA member was recommending a recipe for garlic scape pesto since we have scapes coming our way this week, according to the Sunday night email list. Garlic scapes stumped me last year when they arrived via CSA (a different one). I ended up throwing some in stir fry, but their flavor was rather drowned out that way and some I ended up -- egads! -- throwing out. So I am happy to be prepared this time around.
Sunday, June 14, 2009
Thursday, June 11, 2009
Bok choy, lettuce, Chinese cabbage, arugula, mizuna, rhubarb, garlic chives and sage
Yesterday was the first pick up for the new CSA from Stoneledge Farm. Scored bok choy (two big heads), Red Tide red leaf lettuce, Chinese cabbage, arugula, mizuna (whatever that is), rhubarb, garlic chives and sage.
The email from the farm says mizuna is good in salads or lightly cooked, but I'm going to have to investigate more. Just posted a query on facebook, so we'll see if any of my FB friends knows what to do with mizuna. My CSA cookbook does not list any recipes for mizuna, so if FB doesn't pan out may have to dig deeper. But maybe this is overthinking and I should just toss a salad.
On the menu last night was mushroom, onion and sundried tomato sandwhiches with feta cheese (filling already prepared), which were probably calling out for a salad to accompany them, but by the time I got home I was pressed for time and didn't feel like giving the lettuce the thorough washing I could see it would need. Bok choy is much quicker! I cut off the bottom inch and a half of the head, which dispensed with most of the dirt. Then quickly rinsed, chopped, and stir fried with peanut oil, soy sauce, and some of the garlic chives. Which is when I learned how mild the garlic chives are; next time I'll need to add more -- and/or use them raw. So we had a mediterranean vs. asian clash of flavors, but no one was complaining. My son's vegetable repetoire begins and ends with broccoli, carrots, tomatoes and corn, so he would have nothing to do with it. But my daughter deigned to try the bok choy -- then took a full serving (and went back for seconds).
Tonight we had roasted salmon (finally, the warehouse store has wild caught!), accompanied by an arugula salad. As the farm email warned, it was full of small, round (and only "cosmetic") holes, thanks to the flea beetle, since even the "floating row cover" could not dissuade these pests from snacking on the greens. One way we know we're eating organic! Hole-y or not, it was delish. As my mother-in-law pointed out, it actually tasted like arugula, unlike what she'd just had in a mesclun mix from the grocery story. After rinsing it in two changes of water to get rid of the grit, I tossed the arugula with tomatoes, avocados, olive oil and balsamic.
But all I've been thinking about is what to do with the rhubarb. And will we get more next week, so I'll get another chance to experiment? Or is this my one shot for the season? My mother in law mentioned the NYT this week had recipes for rhubarb, so I just looked those up (http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/10/dining/10Appetite.html?scp=1&sq=rhubarb&st=cse). Think I'm sold on the simple compote recipe, but if I get some time this weekend may go for the cobbler. Or maybe a crisp.
The email from the farm says mizuna is good in salads or lightly cooked, but I'm going to have to investigate more. Just posted a query on facebook, so we'll see if any of my FB friends knows what to do with mizuna. My CSA cookbook does not list any recipes for mizuna, so if FB doesn't pan out may have to dig deeper. But maybe this is overthinking and I should just toss a salad.
On the menu last night was mushroom, onion and sundried tomato sandwhiches with feta cheese (filling already prepared), which were probably calling out for a salad to accompany them, but by the time I got home I was pressed for time and didn't feel like giving the lettuce the thorough washing I could see it would need. Bok choy is much quicker! I cut off the bottom inch and a half of the head, which dispensed with most of the dirt. Then quickly rinsed, chopped, and stir fried with peanut oil, soy sauce, and some of the garlic chives. Which is when I learned how mild the garlic chives are; next time I'll need to add more -- and/or use them raw. So we had a mediterranean vs. asian clash of flavors, but no one was complaining. My son's vegetable repetoire begins and ends with broccoli, carrots, tomatoes and corn, so he would have nothing to do with it. But my daughter deigned to try the bok choy -- then took a full serving (and went back for seconds).
Tonight we had roasted salmon (finally, the warehouse store has wild caught!), accompanied by an arugula salad. As the farm email warned, it was full of small, round (and only "cosmetic") holes, thanks to the flea beetle, since even the "floating row cover" could not dissuade these pests from snacking on the greens. One way we know we're eating organic! Hole-y or not, it was delish. As my mother-in-law pointed out, it actually tasted like arugula, unlike what she'd just had in a mesclun mix from the grocery story. After rinsing it in two changes of water to get rid of the grit, I tossed the arugula with tomatoes, avocados, olive oil and balsamic.
But all I've been thinking about is what to do with the rhubarb. And will we get more next week, so I'll get another chance to experiment? Or is this my one shot for the season? My mother in law mentioned the NYT this week had recipes for rhubarb, so I just looked those up (http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/10/dining/10Appetite.html?scp=1&sq=rhubarb&st=cse). Think I'm sold on the simple compote recipe, but if I get some time this weekend may go for the cobbler. Or maybe a crisp.
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