Wednesday, August 24, 2011

This week's surprising CSA haul

Wow. Everything I pulled out of this week's CSA box was my favorite.

A basket of padrone peppers
A head of butter lettuce
A bunch of baby leeks
A bunch of carrots
Three kohlrabi, with leaves
Two baskets strawberries
A head of cauliflower (!)
A small bag of sun-dried tomatoes (!!)
Plus, of course, six amazing eggs

As I was carrying this load to the car, I thought about my sister's CSA, and the fact that she bought into half a share for her and her husband. They don't get through all their fruit and veg, and every week give something or another to our parents. It makes me wonder whether my Fifth Crow Farm CSA box was filled with the intention of it feeding two people over a week. If so, that just confirms that I am a vegetable eating machine, as the only things I've ever thrown out are the green tops of carrots, radishes and turnips.

I have so many leaves in my fridge right now. Let's see: beet greens, kohlrabi greens, red cabbage, red butter lettuce, green butter lettuce, mixed salad greens, swiss chard. The beet greens and chard need to be cooked next. I'm thinking of treating the chard more like spinach, and making a curry with lamb. I was all set to look up a recipe in my pan-asian cookbook when I realized that it was a *vegetarian* pan-asian cookbook, and likely not to have a recipe for lamb curry. Of course, all I really have to do is follow the recipe for potato and spinach curry and add the browned lamb to it....

This blog post is brought to you by the surge of energy that enabled me to make pesto out of the basil plant that's been sitting on my kitchen table for, oh, at least two weeks now. 2 C basil leaves, 4 cloves garlic, 1/2 C walnuts, 1/4 C parmesan cheese, and 2 T olive oil all mixed up in the food processor. Scoop into a jar and cover with a layer of olive oil to prevent oxidation. Store in the refrigerator. I haven't decided yet what to use the pesto on, as I don't eat pasta. Beans or potatoes are always options, or I could spread it over a burger.

Currently listening to The Moody Blues "Days of Future Passed". One song left, and then off to bed with me.

3 comments:

  1. Hey now! I know I don't eat as many fruits and veggies as you, but I think I'm a little bit better than the average person.

    And in my defense, have just weighed today's CSA haul, and it's 23 pounds of fruits and veg. I think that's a lot for anyone. :)

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  2. You should be feeding those carrot tops to a worthy bunny. That was Frou-Frou's favorite treat.

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  3. Sara: That is a lot. I haven't ever weighed mine, but I think it's more in the range of 15 pounds.

    Mom: Was it? I don't think I ever saw him being fed carrot tops. I would give him treats of dandelions, clover flowers, and strawberries. In theory I could use the carrot tops for dye or veg broth, but I'm okay with simply chucking them onto the compost heap.

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