CSA 2011

[Fat Guy]

I thought the last time I bought a CSA share would be my last summer of community supported agriculture. My own unpredictable schedule and needs weren't compatible with having a predetermined weekly selection of produce. This summer, however, a friend with a CSA share asked me to take over her share for six weeks. So starting this past Wednesday I mounted a limited CSA re-engagement. I notice nobody has started a 2011 CSA topic, so I figured I would.

This week, which is week five of the season for this CSA, we got:

Two types of lettuce

Baby onions

Curly kale

Komatsuna

Cilantro

Peas

Purslane

Garlic scapes

We had some of the lettuce and purslane in a salad last night, and we ate all the peas. I'm still figuring out what to do with the rest.

[Jenni]

Curly kale - stirfry with garlic and chillies. Just a suggestion

[Kouign Aman]

Pureed cilantro and lemon / lime sauce on grilled beef.

[blue_dolphin]

Curly kale - stirfry with garlic and chillies. Just a suggestion

I was getting a lot of kale earlier this year that's what I did with most of it - served on its own or tossed with pasta.

I always thought a CSA would be overwhelming for a single person, but after reading Pierogi’s excellent blog earlier this year, I decided to give it a shot and have been getting a weekly box since March from a CSA that offers a choice of a large or small box.

The farmer’s market closest to me is OK, not great and often seemed down to the dregs by the time I could get there after work. I felt like I was getting in a rut of cooking the same stuff all the time and thought the CSA box would be a good way to get myself cooking more often and with more variety. It’s been successful on both fronts. I get the small box and usually do pretty well, except for an excess of salad greens and more radishes than I knew what to do with earlier in the spring.

Nothing too exotic in this week’s box:

Bi-color Corn

Pomelos

1 Lemon

Green Leaf Lettuce

White Carrots (which look yellow to me)

Texas Sweet Onions

Assorted Squash

Mizuna

Red Norland Potatoes

The corn’s gone. A good bit of the lettuce, carrots and mizuna has gone in salads. I think I’ll try grilling the onions and squash.

Not sure what to do with the pomelos.

This CSA runs year round. I’d like to stick with it for the full year just to see how things change through the seasons.

[SobaAddict70]

Steven --

Try glazing the onions in some kind of sweet/acidic sauce. Like balsamic-honey, for example.

My default treatment is to blanch/shock, then sauté in unsalted butter; finished with herbs and lemon juice or white wine vinegar. Not exciting to some, but it works well enough.

Garlic scapes -- chopped up, then combined with oil, lemon juice, salt, pepper, then puréed. Use in risotto, stirred into hummus or tabouleh, over pasta, alongside fried eggs or an omelette, or as a dressing for chicken or fish.

blue_dolphin: try using the pomelos in a citrus/dessert soup or in marmalade.

Edited July 1, 2011 by SobaAddict70 (log)

[Panaderia Canadiense]

OK, I have to ask. What is a CSA?

[FrogPrincesse]

Great new topic. I love my CSA program. We eat a lot more fruit and vegetable that way.

My CSA box from last week is almost all used up.

Sprouting broccoli, yellow squash, Italian basil --> used in pasta primavera last night

White spring onions - used in a bacon and onion tart (flammenkuche)

Pirella lettuce - a salad with more of the Italian basil

Blueberries – made blueberries with candied lime sugar

Ate the peaches "as is" and grilled on the barbecue, devoured the mini pink plums. These were the first stone fruit of the season and they were both delicious.

I haven't used the baby bok choy yet, but it will most likely end up in a stir-fry

For your box , I would probably combine the baby onions and curly kale and cook them in olive oil with some garlic (blanch the kale first), or use them in a topping for a savory tart with goat cheese for example.

You could do a gratin as well with cream, but that might be on the heavy side for July.

[Kouign Aman]

FrogPrincesse, which CSA do you use? We're thinking of trying one starting in the autumn. Its a bit daunting to think of the discipline required, but as many others have posted - it will be good for us.

blue_dolphin, pomelos can be peeled and eaten out of hand, or cut in half like a grapefruit and eaten with a spoon. I quite like them that way.

[SobaAddict70]

OK, I have to ask. What is a CSA?

CSA stands for community supported agriculture.

Basically a farmer sells "shares" to the public for a certain number of weeks. Typically the share consists of a box of vegetables, but other farm products may be included. Interested consumers purchase a share (aka a "membership" or a "subscription") and in return receive a box (bag, basket) of seasonal produce each week throughout the farming season.

[Panaderia Canadiense]

OK, that makes sense, especially in big cities! Thanks, Soba.

[FrogPrincesse]

Kouign Aman - We use Specialty Produce. It's a little different from a traditional CSA in that you can decide each week if you want to participate or not. They source their organic produce from local farms. And they have various things you can add to your basket (fish, cheese, fresh pasta, etc).

[Florida]

Last box contained:

-Some lettuce

-Strawberries

-Green onions

-Radishes

-Kohlrabi

-A couple of not quite ripe tomatoes

-Basil

-a blend of Snap Peas and Snow Peas

[Pierogi]

Just picked up my share. Love, love love Summer produce.

1 HUGE bunch collard greens

1 small (Kirby) cuke

1 regular cuke

small head cabbage

2 baby onions, with greens

a large of thyme

a large bunch of mint

1 zucchini

1 small yellow squash

1 patty pan squash

7 beets (1 "normal sized, 6 babies)

4 medium tomatoes

16 cherry tomatoes

Plus I added on half-dozen free range eggs and a 6 ounce jar of local sage blossom honey.

Coastal SoCal is just now getting warm enough for the stone fruits to start going crazy. I parked next to a fig tree that's just loaded...another month or so, and those figs will be stunning.

[Fat Guy]

This week:

peas

collard greens

Chinese cabbage

kohlrabi

basil

red spring onions

summer squash/zucchini

lettuce

broccoli

[heidih]

Just picked up my share. Love, love love Summer produce.

1 HUGE bunch collard greens

1 small (Kirby) cuke

1 regular cuke

small head cabbage

2 baby onions, with greens

a large of thyme

a large bunch of mint

1 zucchini

1 small yellow squash

1 patty pan squash

7 beets (1 "normal sized, 6 babies)

4 medium tomatoes

16 cherry tomatoes

Plus I added on half-dozen free range eggs and a 6 ounce jar of local sage blossom honey.

Coastal SoCal is just now getting warm enough for the stone fruits to start going crazy. I parked next to a fig tree that's just loaded...another month or so, and those figs will be stunning.

I highly recommend trying a raw beet prep along the line of one I described here. It keeps for almost a week and is great with some crumbled feta or the like.

I see all the summer squash moved around in a pan with the young onion and lots of butter or good olive oil, and finished with masses of chopped mint. Good on the first day tossed with pasta and the rest mixed with yogurt for a nice salad.

A nice cabbage slaw will also keep for quite some time (hot preps not on my mind now as we are in a heat wave) and the cukes work well incorporated in the slaw.

Thyme stymies me in this season.

The tomatoes I am sure you will just enjoy simply.

If you have any of the lovely NOLA food still in the freezer from your eG blog I think the collards well cooked would form a lovely base or addition to any leftover gumbo along with some rice.

[Pierogi]

I highly recommend trying a raw beet prep along the line of one I described here. It keeps for almost a week and is great with some crumbled feta or the like.

The tomatoes I am sure you will just enjoy simply.

If you have any of the lovely NOLA food still in the freezer from your eG blog I think the collards well cooked would form a lovely base or addition to any leftover gumbo along with some rice.

Heidi, we are on the same vibe for sure ! That was precisely what I did with the "baby" beets. I peeled them, and grated them. Added in just a hint of a very small, thinly sliced red onion, and dressed with orange juice, lemon juice and some olive oil. And some mint. I didn't eat too much of it tonight, (I did have some of those beautiful tomatoes, and one from my own plant, with some basil & reduced balsamic syrup I made earlier in the week), but I know it will keep fine.

Good call on the collards. If this %*_#@ humidity breaks like it's supposed to, might be time to pull some gumbo from the freezer.

The thyme, I agree, is a stumper. I think of that in braises and stews, and I sure won't be doing much of that anytime soon. But the rest of the share couldn't have pleased me more.

[Pierogi]

Today's bi-weekly haul:

3 beets

2 turnips

1 bunch collards

3 summer squash (2 long skinny green ones I'm unfamiliar with, and one small yellow crookneck)

bunch of lemon verbena

bunch of mint

7 nectarines

2 big beefsteak tomatoes

5 medium tomatoes

41 cherry tomatoes

1 large, and 4 small eggplants (aaaacccckkkk...see HERE for my plea for help !)

Other than the dreaded eggplants, a great haul !

[SobaAddict70]

make grilled lemon-and-garlic marinated eggplant.

http://madonnadelpiatto.com/2011/07/17/grilled-garlic-and-lemon-marinated-eggplants/