Using up CSA Share #2

Wow. I am so full of vegetables, I think I'm going to pop...

So this week has been crazy work-wise, and I don't think I'll have much time to do anything this weekend either, given that I'm going to the farm all day tomorrow, have to finish up a lot of work, and also still need to pack (eek!). Which meant I had to take care of my CSA share for the week...today.

If you recall, this week's share consisted of:
- spring onions
- 1 head of bok choy
- 1 bunch salad turnips with green tops
- 1 head of escarole
- 1 napa cabbage
- 2 stalks green garlic
- garlic scapes
- 1 bunch flat leaf parsley
- 1 head red leaf lettuce

I had about two hours to cook and eat dinner and prep my CSA share, so time was key. I tried to stick to "recipes" that required very little prep time and minimal dish/pan use.

Spring onions were easy - I just chopped them up and tossed them in the freezer. I tend to do this even with store bought onions because I rarely use more than one at a time. Plus, whenever I need green onions and don't feel like running to the store for some, I can just pull these pre-sliced green onions out of the freezer and toss them into my ramen, eggs, stir fry, etc. Super easy!

I didn't have time to blanch and freeze my greens, so I figured I might as well just eat them. I washed the bok choy and turnip greens and stored them in the fridge so I could cook them tomorrow.

The turnips I snacked on as I was cooking. They were so good! Remember my moment of turnip-insecurity earlier? I'm happy to report that my turnips were delicious. I peeled them and just sliced off pieces to munch on. They tasted like an interesting combination of persimmons and radishes. The similarity to a radish, I totally get. Turnips are a root vegetable, like radishes. But persimmons?! Yeah...I don't know. But I swear, that's kind of what they tasted like...

I chopped up my escarole and sauteed it in a pan with some olive oil, green garlic, and garlic scapes. I sprinkled some red pepper flakes and salt over the top and voila! Dinner!

The napa cabbage was super easy. I sliced it in half and microwaved it for 6-7 minutes. After it was nicely steamed, I just ate it one piece at a time with some rice and gochujang. Also dinner! Om nom nom.

I sliced up the leftover garlic green stem/leaves and tried frying them up in a pan with some garlic scapes. I wasn't sure if this was going to work, since the stem leaves were awfully tough. I had to toss out the inner core, since it was as hard as a piece of wood. After the sliced garlic stem browned slightly, I added an egg and turned the whole thing into a frittata-omelette hybrid. More dinner! Turned out really good :D

The parsley I still don't know what to do with. I tossed some chopped up parsley into my eggs and added some to the escarole, but otherwise, I still have about 3/4 of the original bunch still sitting in my fridge...

The lettuce is going to have to wait until tomorrow. Maybe I'll wash it and turn it into a salad for lunch on Monday.

All in all, not bad for two hours, right? That includes time spent washing dishes that have accumulated in my apartment over the last week...haha...

Bug watch: This week was better than last week. No caterpillars! I only encountered one (already deceased) spider in my escarole as I was rinsing it. It was really small too. Not a problem, although I did make sure to wash each escarole leaf individually after that.

CSA Share #2

This CSA run, I'm happy to report, went much more smoothly than the last one. No rain, no getting lost, got back to the office in less than 45 minutes, #winning, etc.

This week:
- 1 head of bok choy
- 1 head of escarole
- 2 stalks green garlic
- 1 bunch flat leaf parsley
- 1 napa cabbage
- 1 head red leaf lettuce
- 1 bunch salad turnips with green tops
- spring onions
- garlic scapes

I've decided to do a weekly roundup of the highlights of each share...
CWTC (can't wait to cook): This week's CWTC award goes to the turnips. For some reason, I've always been fascinated by the idea of turnips and turnip greens. I think one of my favorite books had a main character that lived off of turnips and bread for a while, but I can't really remember. It seems like the most plausible explanation for my mild obsession, considering my mom never cooked turnips. I remember really wanting to eat a turnip in high school, so I convinced my mom to buy one for me. I cooked it and took a bite, but it was awfully mushy and tasteless. Maybe it was not in season? Or maybe I cooked it wrong? Oh well, I'm still fascinated by them and very excited to cook and eat them. Fingers crossed that this attempt goes better than the last one!
WTF: parsley. What do I do with an entire bunch of parsley?!? I looked up recipes, but all I could find was parsley pesto or parsley soup, and I don't own anything that can puree parsley. :( I feel like it's just going to wilt into sad oblivion in the back of my fridge, which is a shame because it looks so fresh and lively...
TAV: The adventurous veg award this week goes to the garlic scapes. To be honest, I've actually eaten these before many, many times, but I didn't recognize them in their fresh, raw form. I've always eaten them as a Korean side dish called 마늘쫑 반찬 (maneul jjong). But seriously, these are my favorite. Even when I couldn't stand spicy food, I would fight the peppery taste just to relish the texture and taste of the garlic stems. I think I like eating stems in general, because I also like eating sweet potato stems. Hmm. But anyways, fresh garlic scapes are so cute! I'll post pictures when I get a chance.

While I was picking out my produce from the crates of vegetables, I saw another bug (a fat, snot-colored, slimy-looking caterpillar) in a head of Napa cabbage. The man in front of me, who was acccompanying his girlfriend/wife/very good friend, spotted it and amusedly said, "This stuff really is organic isn't it?" Haha...

Free Bird Farm doesn't grow organically certified veg (partly because certification is a hassle, especially for smaller scale organizations and farms), but they do note that they try to stick with organic methods as much as possible. So yes, it is essentially organic. And the sad reality is that organic veg has a higher probability of ending up with frequent live protein supplements embedded in it. Yeck.

Fortunately, I don't think I have any bugs in this particular share (though I might be sadly mistaken). I'll find out when I get around to washing my produce. I just haven't had a free minute all week (thank you work), but none of the produce will go bad in a day or two, so I don't feel too bad about leaving it to languish away in the chilly depths of my fridge.

Preview for the next post: unless I get some free time to cook, my next post will probably be about the field trip to the farm! Every year, my CSA organizes a trip out to the Free Bird Farm, where we get to meet the farmers, tour the farm, help harvest a little bit, and get to know everyone. I guess this is the most visibly "community-esque" part of the CSA experience and I'm really excited. The trip is on Sunday from 7:30am (eek!) to 7 or 8pm. It's an all day trip since the farm is located about 4 hours away by car, so it'll be quite a drive. I'm looking forward to napping the whole time. I haven't roadtripped in a while and this might be just what I need. I've been feeling really closed in and claustrophobic from all the buildings lately, so a little fresh air and countryside should help with that. Plus, I'm going home (to Arizona) in a week too, so that should help as well. YAY!