CSA stuff

[hrj]

I succeeded in finishing off all the contents of Box #1 the day before receiving Box #2, so it looks like I'm calibrating fairly well so far. The hardest item was a bunch of greens -- collard, maybe? -- which were a bit more leathery than I prefer my greens. I finally ended up parboiling them before chopping them up and stir-frying with bacon and onion and stuff (as usual). The carrots ended up as dilly carrot soup. (Actually I'm still working on the buch of dill, but I won't count that as "not used up in a week".)

Box #2 again contained carrots, new potatoes, asparagus, and lettuce. Also broccoli, chard, and a half dozen small artichokes. No heavenly strawberries this week, alas. (Only the mere earthly strawberries I picked up at Trader Joe's when I went out on my "topping off the grocery list" shopping. One must not waste strawberry season.) This week I'm being a bit more proactive in my planning, since I want to make sure I use things in order of perishability. So ...

Today I had some of the potatoes, boiled with the stem-ends of the asparagus, and mashed (with the rest of the leftover aquapatys from the Investiture feast), about a third of the lettuce as a salad (with cherry tomatoes from Trader Joe's and other condiments), and also cooked up the artichokes, a second serving of potatoes, and the tip-ends of the asparagus. (Also other non-CSA dinner items.)

Thursday will be the artichoke leaves, cold with a dressing to be named later, more salad, and the chard prepared in my usual fashion (sauted with some chopped bacon, onion, celery, and anything else lying around, finished off with a splash of balsamic), and further mashed potatoes w/garlic.

Friday is scheduled for the artichoke hearts, possibly in a salad with the last of the lettuce, and something with more of the potatoes. (They basically give me enough potatoes for 5 small servings, so I have to come up with something for almost every dinner.)

Saturday & Sunday are dining out, but I'm planning to use the asparagus tips in an omelette Saturday morning. Monday and Tuesday will be soups of carrots and broccoli respectively (well, in either order, I suppose), thickened with more of the potatoes. I'll probably go ahead and cook them up in the next day or so and reheat them later.

Still plenty of room in the menu for expansion (I've left out mentioning dishes made with non-CSA ingredients), especially in weeks when I'm cooking 6 or 7 dinners rather than 5.

Comments

[blaurentnv.livejournal.com]

We signed up for a CSA share, but ours won't start until sometime in June. It's 16 weeks, with pickup at the farm on Wednesdays (not as convenient as yours, but it's the closest one). I hope ours comes up with things similar to yours; they say they grow different things each year, so exactly what they grow wasn't specified.

[hrj.livejournal.com]

It also depends on what comes ripe at any given time -- part of what you're buying is the uncertainty of nature. :)

[onalark.livejournal.com]

I confess to enormous jealousy of your bounty.

[ichseke.livejournal.com]

Oh, I wish we got artichokes ...

[lapioggia.livejournal.com]

Suggestion: take those fresh baby artichokes an slice them super thin, drizzle with lemon juice and let sit in the lemon for at least 10 mins then serve as a salad with shavings of good Parm.

[ichseke.livejournal.com]

Oh. My. God.

Nyah, Nyah

[scotica.livejournal.com]

We got strawberries in our CSA box this week and we can get flats of strawberries at a special CSA price this weekend either at the farmstand in Watsonville or the Mountain View farmers market!

(I have a different CSA —Two Small Farms— and split my share with my neighbor across the street. This year the delivery point is a house just a few blocks away, so my neighbor and I are even environmentally friendly by walking to pick up our vegetable loot! I love my CSA :-)