Lettuce Entertain You and Other CSA Talk

(A quick recap:  this is my second season belonging to a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture---basically I pay a farm upfront for a share of their season's harvest).  Every week from now until October, I'll drive to my farm's pick-up spot and get my share of whatever is in season.  When I remember, I'll take a photo of the week's bounty, tell you what I got and what I did with it.  Hope you enjoy this ongoing project).

Week Three

It feels like the first (and second) time. . .but a couple new things:



Pictured are (clockwise from top left):  Green Kale, Pac Choi, Chinese Cabbage, Hakurei Turnips, Garlic Scapes, Lettuce  (do you see Swiss Chard?  it was on this week's list, but I don't see it and don't recall eating it)

It's been a busy week, with little man fracturing his elbow on Tuesday, us picking $40 worth of strawberries on Thursday, and then going to Boston with my husband for the night on Saturday.   I'm happy to say that most of this week's harvest was eaten, although I still need to use up one of the cabbages, the garlic scapes and a head of lettuce tomorrow.  Oh, and we still have some strawberries to eat:

First, though, I'll explain what a garlic scape is since I had never seen one before last year.  When garlic grows, it is a bulb under the ground with the scape appearing above the soil.  Most people cut off the edible scape since the bulb underneath will grow larger when the scape isn't there to consume the plant's resources.  Scapes taste like garlic, but milder, and I like to saute mine with some greens. 

What else did I do with the veggies this week?   Here is a run down:

Cabbage (one head):  made this delicious cold salad with some boiled shrimp.  The recipe doesn't call for rice noodles, but I added them since I happened to have a package in the pantry.

Kale:  I blanched and froze most of it, but I also took two leaves and used them in a smoothie, just for kicks.  To my amazement, the drink was pretty darned good!  I made a lot and froze some for popsicles which my son (the boy who will eat nothing leafy), gobbled up (he had two today, even with the funky color).

Here is what I threw into the blender (I have a regular Waring blender, so I let it run to a while to make sure the leaves were completely pureed):

    two leaves of chopped raw kale, stems removed
    couple of frozen bananas
    handful of strawberries
    about 1/2 cup of vanilla yogurt
    few splashes of half and half
    about a tsp (possibly more) of vanilla extract

(all measurements are estimates; I recommend you play with it to get the taste you like)

Pak Choi:  got this recipe off of our CSA newsletter:

1 large bunch of Pak Choi (or Pac Choi)

2 tsp light sesame or canola oil

2 tsp dark sesame oil

2 tsp tamari

1 tsp rice vinegar

1 TBS toasted sesame seeds

Chop up leaves of Pac Choi and saute them in hot oil for 2-3 minutes.  When greens are cooked, add rest of ingredients and serve. 

Turnips: Boiled them with a bunch of potatoes and garlic cloves for 25 minutes.  Mashed them with some butter, olive oil and reserved cooking liquid.  Added salt and pepper to taste.  My new favorite way to make mashed potatoes, and the kids have no idea they are eating turnips.

Lettuce:  Salads, salads and more salads.   One night, I even made myself a fried egg and some chopped up bacon and threw it on some lettuce.  Kind of odd but pretty yummy nonetheless.

My father-in-law arrives on Tuesday for a week, so I'll do my best to update this series this weekend but may be a little late (as I was today; blame it on the cocktails I had in Boston last night). 

Comments

[Yvie]

The strawberries look so delicious. Mmmm makes me want to make a shake!

Thanks for sharing this recipe Mommy. :)

[suburbancorrespondent]

How the heck did you get the strawberries to last that long? If we don't use ours within 3 days, they're goners.

[Fairly Odd Mother]

The photo was taken on the day we picked (Thursday), but we still have a bunch that are in great shape---I read online that they do well if you store them in the refrigerator in a glass container with a glass lid. I have no idea why, but that has worked so far (oh, and don't wash them first; only wash them right before you eat them; only after washing them should you take off the stem). We froze a bunch of them, made two loaves of strawberry bread and even some jam. We may even go and get more but I sense that the kids don't want to see another strawberry for a long, long time!

[Chicky Chicky Baby]

I'm glad we didn't do the CSA this year since I never would have been able to keep up w/ all those greens! However, next year when we sign up I'll be using your recipes. I like the idea of hiding veggies in smoothies and mashed potatoes.

Mmmm... Mashed potatoes. *drool*