As I said in my last post, this week's box was going to be a challenge. I am not very good at leafy greens. Don't get me wrong, I love salads. But any sort of green that you are supposed to cook down is hard for me. For some reason, I just don't get the point of them. I see them on a menu and think "I could get that, or a REAL side." Maybe its because I didn't grow up with them. Maybe its because I am not from the South. But I have to admit, many weeks these items ended up in my trash when preparing for the next box to arrive. This week, they did not. I ate them! Every last leaf! And I will have to admit, they really weren't too bad. I think you just need the right recipe and the right meal to put them with.
Let's start with the easy stuff...
Zucchini:
We actually ended up eating these right away when I got home with the CSA last week. We still had the one from the week before left over so we decided to eat them both up. This time I cut them into coins and put them on skewers over the grill. Again, very good this way. I also sprinkled a little parma on top with salt and pepper. The last couple weeks of zucchini have been coming from the "high tunnel." Basically more like a green house instead of the fields. According to last week's letter from the farmer, it sounds like we will start getting ones from the field this week. I am assuming this means we will start getting zucchini in abundance like last year. Once that happens, I will have to stop eating it on the grill and start getting creative!
Baby Turnips:
So, I am boring... I used the same recipe as last week. They are just so damn good that way! If we get them again though, I promise I will try a new recipe. Or maybe with a least 1/2 of them.
Now on to the adventurous stuff...
Swiss Chard:
Last year when we got chard, I tried sauteeing it in bacon and bacon fat. How couldn't that be delicious? Right? Well... not so much. I think I either used too much bacon or the bacon I had was way to fatty because it was like eating limp wet wads of fat. I think I ended up throwing it away. After that disaster, I was a little scared to try to sautee in fat again but most recipes call for it. I found this great easy recipe on Epicurious. You sautee onion and garlic with olive oil and butter. Once carmelized you add the chard and cover. I took the suggestion of some of the reviewers and add goat cheese on top since I had some in the fridge. This was actully quite good. Granted, the flavors in it I like best were the carmelized onions and the cheese but still. The chard countered it well. I would definitely consider making this again. And, do I dare say, seek out chard to make again!
Here is my meal one night. Sauteed Swiss Chard, Fried Eggs (because I kept reading about them in the while searching for chard recipes), toast and baby turnips. I actually ended up being too full and eating the turnips the next day.
Fennel:
Fennel is a weird one for me. I just don't know how to use it. I like the black liquoice taste, but don't love it. After seaching for a while I noticed a lot of recipes pair it back to Italian Sauasage; which makes sense since there are usually fennel seed in sausage. I landed on a baked rigatoni recipe with sausage and other vegetables. First, I have to tell you about the sausage. Since we are going away this weekend, I am trying not to go to the grocery store so I had to get the sausage at Target while I was running errands. I ended up picking up some of their Archer Farm's Chicken Italian Sausage. I am usually all about the full fat, all pork sausages but when I saw how much less fat and calories these had I was convinced I had to try them. Well, I give them a big two thumbs up! They were very tasty! I will say the only downside is they don't have a casing so you don't get that good color on the outside but still. I will definitely buy again. Anyway, on a tangent. So this recipe is actually a great way to use up (or hide) vegetables in a dish. Basically, you just sautee up some veggies with the sausage. In this case onion, red pepper, garlic, basil and fennel. Then you add a jar of spaghetti sauce. Put in a baking dish with some cooked rigatoni and cheese on top and bake for 30 minutes. This was quite good but like I said before, I felt like I was more hiding vegetables than featuring them. But, that can be good at times. Because I added so much to it, it stretched the sauce for way more servings. I end up filling up on the vegetables instead of the sausage and pasta. This recipe though didn't really change my opinon on fennel. You couldn't really taste it. It was just there. I will probbably use a version of the recipe again in the future...just to use up some odds and ends.
Left: all of my veggies cut up and ready tp go into the sautee pan -- Right: Finished product! The cheese looks a littke shiny. I probably should have put it under the broiler. Also, I used one of my pasta bowls to cook it in because they are oven safe up to 500 degrees!
Kale:
Now this one definitely used to end up in my garbage. I know there a tons of things you can put it in but I never got around to it. This time I vowed I would try to use it. Especially just knowing people would find out if I threw it away because of the blog. I have been reading a lot about Kale Chips lately so I decided to give it a try. You make bit size pieces of kale, drizzle or mist with olive oil, dust with seasoned salt and bake for 10 min. Mine actually only took 7 min. And they are actually very good! At first bite, they are just like a really thin, salty potato chip. I brought them to work today and I found myself reaching over for more every few minutes. I think its the salty snack thing. You do have to chew them a little more than a potato chip but they are still good. I did but a little too much salt on them, so be careful.
Finished product!
Garlic Scapes:
Well, I haven't done anything with these yet. We got so many, I think I will have to make pesto again. I don't have time to make it before the trip so I will have to hope they keep and make it when I get home.
Grape Leaves:
What the heck am I supposed to make with these!?!? I looked up some recipes. I basically only found 2. One is for some sort of authentic Greek dish where you stuff them with rice. The second it a appetizer stuffed with cheese. I am leaning torwads the cheese one right now (which shouldn't surprise anyone that knows me). To make either though, I think I am going to need people over because we got so many of them! If anyone has other suggestions, please let me know.
Well, thats it for this week. Tomorrow I leave for a little vacation in Boston. We thought it would be a great place to celebrate the 4th! --And we have never been there. So, next week I will probably write about all the seafood we ate and Chowder Fest! My friend will be taking the CSA for us. I have asked her to keep track of how she uses it so I can still post it. I will also still take a picture of the food tomorrow since I am picking it up.
HAPPY 4th of JULY EVERYONE!! And don't burn anything down with the fireworks!
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