CSA 2013 Partial Share #8
- 1 bunch basil
- 1 bunch leeks
- 1 bunch beets
- 1 bunch carrots
- 1 Japanese eggplant
- 1 Walla Walla sweet onion
- 1 head lettuce
- 1 zucchini
Winner: Japanese eggplant! Cause they're damn tasty (in moderation) and they're purple! :) Alternatively, leeks, because leek soup.
Challenge: basil. It's like the world is mocking me. Look! Giant, fresh clumps of basil with green leaves from plants that happily live in the soil outside with real sunlight! Ha ha, looks nothing like the spindly four-leaf plants pathetically scrabbling to survive in your window garden box, surrounded by mushrooms that SHOULD NOT BE HERE. My basil sprouts, by the way, have four leaves on them after a nearly 6 week struggle to grow. Sad.
P.S. I changed my mind about zucchini. Kind of like the stuff sliced into super thin coins and fried in butter. But that could just be the butter talking.
Showing posts with label leeks. Show all posts
Showing posts with label leeks. Show all posts
Wednesday, July 31, 2013
Wednesday, October 17, 2012
CSA Share #19
Days flying by. Is it just me, or is there tons of great music out there all of a sudden? Taylor Swift, Tristan Prettyman, Zedd, Christina Aguilera...
It seems the flood of great music has been accompanied by an equally overwhelming flood of lettuce. I have four different heads of lettuce, one head of frissee, a lovely mess of arugula, and bunches of swiss chard waiting in my fridge for me. #deathbylettuce
CSA Share #19
- 6.5 oz arugula
- 1 bunch parsley
- 1 bunch opal basil
- 3 leeks
- 5 medium potatoes (2lbs)
- 3/4lb purple string beans
- 1 bunch swiss chard
- 1 head frisee
- 1 head romaine lettuce
- 1 head green leaf lettuce
- 1 head red leaf lettuce
CWTC: potatoes!!! :) potatooooooooes :D
TAV: purple string beans, because they are purple
WTF: lettuce. I am adorable and cute and lovable, but I am not a rabbit. This is a veritable flood of green leafy things. I don't know how to handle this. I was so stressed by all the green that I ate half a chicken yesterday, just to reassure myself that I am not a cow or other ruminant. The farm apologizes for the cubed lettuce, which is the result of a packing mistake that was only realized after the truck was packed.
I am very excited to get potatoes, but sadly, it seems potatoes struggled this year with the heat and drought. 90% of the crop was lost at Free Bird Farms :/ This is the only planned potato week. And there was a frost this week, so the farm lost "the best bean crop" they had all season. I do love green beans, so this is pretty tragic.
We have broccoli and cauliflower to look forward to in the coming weeks. (bleh, broccoli, but yay, cauliflower!) Just a few weeks left now...can't believe the growing season is almost over. Then again, every time I step outside, the frosty air nips at my cheeks and reminds me that it's nearly winter. Scary.
Oh, I also found a new friend in my string beans last night. An skinny little earthworm about an inch long. Not quite sure what to do with him, I herded him into a cup with some decomposing lettuce and let him chill for a while as I sorted my vegetables. I couldn't just kill it, like I had with the caterpillar and grub I discovered earlier this season. I've always had a soft spot for earthworms, given how beneficial they are in the garden and on the end of a fishing line. No fish to catch, so I decided to let this little guy live to see another day. Besides, I'd already gone to the trouble of fishing him out of my veggies and making him a little home. I'd feel like a terrible person if I disposed of him now.
My burst of compassion and humanity translated into a trek down five flights of stairs to a patch of moist dirt, where I gently shook him out and make sure he burrowed away safely under his lettuce scrap. Since I had to take five flights of stairs down, this meant I needed to climb back up five flights of stairs to get home, which, by the way, is no small feat for an out of shape person like yours truly. At 3am.
I have done my gym and civic duty for the day (week?)
It seems the flood of great music has been accompanied by an equally overwhelming flood of lettuce. I have four different heads of lettuce, one head of frissee, a lovely mess of arugula, and bunches of swiss chard waiting in my fridge for me. #deathbylettuce
CSA Share #19
- 6.5 oz arugula
- 1 bunch parsley
- 1 bunch opal basil
- 3 leeks
- 5 medium potatoes (2lbs)
- 3/4lb purple string beans
- 1 bunch swiss chard
- 1 head frisee
- 1 head romaine lettuce
- 1 head green leaf lettuce
- 1 head red leaf lettuce
CWTC: potatoes!!! :) potatooooooooes :D
TAV: purple string beans, because they are purple
WTF: lettuce. I am adorable and cute and lovable, but I am not a rabbit. This is a veritable flood of green leafy things. I don't know how to handle this. I was so stressed by all the green that I ate half a chicken yesterday, just to reassure myself that I am not a cow or other ruminant. The farm apologizes for the cubed lettuce, which is the result of a packing mistake that was only realized after the truck was packed.
I am very excited to get potatoes, but sadly, it seems potatoes struggled this year with the heat and drought. 90% of the crop was lost at Free Bird Farms :/ This is the only planned potato week. And there was a frost this week, so the farm lost "the best bean crop" they had all season. I do love green beans, so this is pretty tragic.
We have broccoli and cauliflower to look forward to in the coming weeks. (bleh, broccoli, but yay, cauliflower!) Just a few weeks left now...can't believe the growing season is almost over. Then again, every time I step outside, the frosty air nips at my cheeks and reminds me that it's nearly winter. Scary.
Oh, I also found a new friend in my string beans last night. An skinny little earthworm about an inch long. Not quite sure what to do with him, I herded him into a cup with some decomposing lettuce and let him chill for a while as I sorted my vegetables. I couldn't just kill it, like I had with the caterpillar and grub I discovered earlier this season. I've always had a soft spot for earthworms, given how beneficial they are in the garden and on the end of a fishing line. No fish to catch, so I decided to let this little guy live to see another day. Besides, I'd already gone to the trouble of fishing him out of my veggies and making him a little home. I'd feel like a terrible person if I disposed of him now.
My burst of compassion and humanity translated into a trek down five flights of stairs to a patch of moist dirt, where I gently shook him out and make sure he burrowed away safely under his lettuce scrap. Since I had to take five flights of stairs down, this meant I needed to climb back up five flights of stairs to get home, which, by the way, is no small feat for an out of shape person like yours truly. At 3am.
I have done my gym and civic duty for the day (week?)
Wednesday, August 29, 2012
CSA Share #12
Time is flying! Hard to believe, but there's only 10 shares left in the season (barring some unfortunate early frost/storm).
CSA Share 12 is in and it looks pretty solid:
- 5 medium red onions
- 2 large tomatoes
- 1 1/4 lb small tomatoes (~12 ping pong size tomatoes)
- 2 small bulbs garlic
- 1 eggplant
- 3 leeks
- 3 bell peppers
- 6 oz baby salad greens
- 1 bunch cilantro
Lots of heartier vegetables this week than in earlier CSA shares. I noticed we've been getting a lot of stuff from the Solanaceae aka Nightshade family (tomatoes, eggplants, bell peppers), which is fine by me!
CWTC: eggplant! I know, I know. I've had eggplant in the last few shares AND there's still one forlorn eggplant sitting in the bottom of my fridge. But this one is so beautiful! It's a rich, bright purple with creamy white streaks stippled across the skin. Also, I discovered several recipes for eggplant that I want to try (I have another eggplant in my fridge remember?) Baked eggplant chips anyone?
TAV: Cilantro. I normally would place this in WTF, since I'm not sure what to do with an entire bunch, but this time, I'm going to experiment with broiled eggplant marinated in a cilantro-lemon based sauce (lots of eggplant, remember?). Also, I cut off the bottom of the stems, stuck the bunch in a cup of water, and tented an open ziploc bag over the top of the cilantro bunch. Hopefully it'll stay alive until the weekend.
WTF: None. These are all quite literally garden-variety vegetables!
CSA Share 12 is in and it looks pretty solid:
- 5 medium red onions
- 2 large tomatoes
- 1 1/4 lb small tomatoes (~12 ping pong size tomatoes)
- 2 small bulbs garlic
- 1 eggplant
- 3 leeks
- 3 bell peppers
- 6 oz baby salad greens
- 1 bunch cilantro
Lots of heartier vegetables this week than in earlier CSA shares. I noticed we've been getting a lot of stuff from the Solanaceae aka Nightshade family (tomatoes, eggplants, bell peppers), which is fine by me!
CWTC: eggplant! I know, I know. I've had eggplant in the last few shares AND there's still one forlorn eggplant sitting in the bottom of my fridge. But this one is so beautiful! It's a rich, bright purple with creamy white streaks stippled across the skin. Also, I discovered several recipes for eggplant that I want to try (I have another eggplant in my fridge remember?) Baked eggplant chips anyone?
TAV: Cilantro. I normally would place this in WTF, since I'm not sure what to do with an entire bunch, but this time, I'm going to experiment with broiled eggplant marinated in a cilantro-lemon based sauce (lots of eggplant, remember?). Also, I cut off the bottom of the stems, stuck the bunch in a cup of water, and tented an open ziploc bag over the top of the cilantro bunch. Hopefully it'll stay alive until the weekend.
WTF: None. These are all quite literally garden-variety vegetables!
Tuesday, August 14, 2012
Leek soup
Feeling terribly lazy and overfull from an indulgent weekend, during which I hosted a mini rebellion and declared a temporary vegetable hiatus. Pork buns and Hakata ramen from Ippudo, 짜장면 and 짬뽕 and fried dumplings at Dong Chun Hong, hot coconut bubble tea at Saints Alp...
There were a few moments when I thought I might pop from overeating.
So when I floated back to earth from my food-induced haze, the only thing that really appealed to me was simple fare. Like, really simple. I made leek soup. I forget who taught me this recipe, but I remember them telling me they read it in a book. I think you're supposed to eat this soup for an entire weekend to detox, but that obviously wasn't happening. Oh well! It's quite tasty though.
Simple Leek Soup
1. Cut off dark green leek tops and roots. Strip off outer layer. You should be left with only the white and very light green parts. You can keep the dark green tops for soup stock.
2. Cut leeks in half lengthwise (split it down the middle hot dog bun style).
3. Rinse leeks very thoroughly under cold running water, fanning out the leaves on each side to remove all the dirt. Not sure how to describe this, but it's almost like flipping through the pages of a book under running water.
4. Drop leek halves in a pot of water.
5. Bring the water to a boil and then reduce to a simmer.
6. Simmer for 20 minutes or so, until leeks become tender and slightly transparent.
7. Separate the leeks from the soup.
8. Drink the soup as is or season with salt and pepper to taste.
9. Drizzle leeks with olive oil and season with salt and pepper to taste. Enjoy!
I also cooked my eggplants, but I haven't had the chance to eat them yet, since I forgot to take them with me to work yesterday. I'll probably have them for dinner today. I cooked them the same way as I cooked the chard (minus the blanching part), meaning I finally managed to use up all my thai basil. Success! We'll see if it tastes good later today... It smelled good though, so I have high hopes.
UPDATE: The eggplant is delicious! Japanese eggplant has a thinner skin and the texture is much more delicate than the normal American varieties. Eggplant has been called bland, tends to absorb oil, and can degenerate into a slimy mess, but I think I managed to avoid most of the pitfalls. I circumvented the blandness by using liberal quantities of garlic and thai basil. And I only used a tablespoon of olive oil (max). All you really need is to infuse the garlic flavor into the oil so that the eggplant gets coated with plenty of flavor while it's cooking. It's a deceptive vegetable, this eggplant, looking dry and sad in the pan, almost begging for more oil. But don't be fooled! Just keep stirring and flipping pieces over and soon enough, the eggplant will become tasty and tender.
There were a few moments when I thought I might pop from overeating.
So when I floated back to earth from my food-induced haze, the only thing that really appealed to me was simple fare. Like, really simple. I made leek soup. I forget who taught me this recipe, but I remember them telling me they read it in a book. I think you're supposed to eat this soup for an entire weekend to detox, but that obviously wasn't happening. Oh well! It's quite tasty though.
Simple Leek Soup
1. Cut off dark green leek tops and roots. Strip off outer layer. You should be left with only the white and very light green parts. You can keep the dark green tops for soup stock.
2. Cut leeks in half lengthwise (split it down the middle hot dog bun style).
3. Rinse leeks very thoroughly under cold running water, fanning out the leaves on each side to remove all the dirt. Not sure how to describe this, but it's almost like flipping through the pages of a book under running water.
4. Drop leek halves in a pot of water.
5. Bring the water to a boil and then reduce to a simmer.
6. Simmer for 20 minutes or so, until leeks become tender and slightly transparent.
7. Separate the leeks from the soup.
8. Drink the soup as is or season with salt and pepper to taste.
9. Drizzle leeks with olive oil and season with salt and pepper to taste. Enjoy!
I also cooked my eggplants, but I haven't had the chance to eat them yet, since I forgot to take them with me to work yesterday. I'll probably have them for dinner today. I cooked them the same way as I cooked the chard (minus the blanching part), meaning I finally managed to use up all my thai basil. Success! We'll see if it tastes good later today... It smelled good though, so I have high hopes.
UPDATE: The eggplant is delicious! Japanese eggplant has a thinner skin and the texture is much more delicate than the normal American varieties. Eggplant has been called bland, tends to absorb oil, and can degenerate into a slimy mess, but I think I managed to avoid most of the pitfalls. I circumvented the blandness by using liberal quantities of garlic and thai basil. And I only used a tablespoon of olive oil (max). All you really need is to infuse the garlic flavor into the oil so that the eggplant gets coated with plenty of flavor while it's cooking. It's a deceptive vegetable, this eggplant, looking dry and sad in the pan, almost begging for more oil. But don't be fooled! Just keep stirring and flipping pieces over and soon enough, the eggplant will become tasty and tender.
Friday, August 10, 2012
CSA Share #9
This drought must be heavily affecting Free Bird Farm. Supposed to get a ton of rain this weekend though. Good for them, bad for me, especially since I have no clue where I put my umbrellas as I was moving to my new apartment.
Anyways, this week's share:
- 2 japanese eggplant
- 2 light green bell peppers
- thai basil
- carrot and carrot tops
- 3 leeks
- swiss chard
CWTC: leeks! I'm thinking about making leek soup this weekend. om nom nom.
TAV: Carrot tops. Must find a new use for them, as I would very much prefer not to repeat last week's toasted grass experiment.
WTF: Thai basil. What to do with MORE thai basil???
I've actually managed to do pretty significant damage to this week's share already. Down to the eggplants, one bell pepper, the leeks, and some thai basil. But before I get ahead of myself, I must admit that it's probably just because the drought is reducing the sheer volume of our shares.
Since my update is a bit delayed, I already made a few things with this week's share, with varying degrees of success.
Bell pepper and carrot sticks make for lovely office snacks, especially with a bit of 된장 or hummus.
Carrot top tea is...interesting. I couldn't stomach (haha) the thought of eating more woody, chewy, bitter stems, so I decided to try carrot top tea. Besides, I fucking love tea. Apparently, carrot top tea is chock full of vitamins and minerals, and detoxes your kidneys. I probably need a liver detoxifier more than anything else, but any kind of detox is probably a good idea for me. Pretty straightforward stuff.
1. Wash and trim carrot tops.
2. Boil a pot of water.
3. Drop carrot tops into the pot and wait one minute.
4. Reduce the heat and let simmer for 10-15 minutes.
5. Remove from heat and let cool.
6. Strain out carrot tops.
7. Refrigerate and enjoy.
The carrot top tea was a pale olive green color and tasted pretty nasty when still warm. Much better after being chilled in the fridge overnight, but it was a struggle to finish the entire glass. I would probably only make two or three cups of tea and call it a night. I don't think I'm capable of drinking more than that in one week. Definitely interesting though!
Sauteed swiss chard with garlic and wilted thai basil
Yum. This was probably the crowning glory of my culinary experiments with my CSA shares this season. I blanched the chard and sauteed it with some aromatics. It's pretty simple, but it's more like a real recipe than anything else I've done so far, so I'll document it as such. Really delicious stuff. Even my coworker thought it tasted good. It probably can't compete with anything from the food trucks or midtown eateries, but hey, one step at a time right? #turtlewinstherace
Ingredients:
- Handful of thai basil
- 7-8 large leaves of swiss chard
- 5 cloves garlic (or to taste)
- olive oil
- salt
1. Wash chard and basil thoroughly.
2. Bring a pot of water to a boil.
3. Drop the swiss chard in the pot of water for about 30 seconds to a minute.
4. Drain and refill pot (with swiss chard still in there!) with cold water. Repeat until water drains cold.
5. Squeeze the water out of the swiss chard, chop into ribbons, and set aside.
6. Slice garlic.
7. Heat a bit of olive oil in a pan (medium-low heat). When a drop of water "spits" back at you, add the sliced garlic. Stir occasionally until the garlic just begins to brown.
8. Add chopped swiss chard to the pan.
9. Sprinkle some salt over the pan.
10. Add the handful of thai basil leaves (stripped from their stems).
11. Stir gently until the thai basil is wilted.
12. Remove from heat and serve!
Yum yum. This weekend will be eggplants and leek soup. We'll see if I can top the swiss chard dish...
Anyways, this week's share:
- 2 japanese eggplant
- 2 light green bell peppers
- thai basil
- carrot and carrot tops
- 3 leeks
- swiss chard
CWTC: leeks! I'm thinking about making leek soup this weekend. om nom nom.
TAV: Carrot tops. Must find a new use for them, as I would very much prefer not to repeat last week's toasted grass experiment.
WTF: Thai basil. What to do with MORE thai basil???
I've actually managed to do pretty significant damage to this week's share already. Down to the eggplants, one bell pepper, the leeks, and some thai basil. But before I get ahead of myself, I must admit that it's probably just because the drought is reducing the sheer volume of our shares.
Since my update is a bit delayed, I already made a few things with this week's share, with varying degrees of success.
Bell pepper and carrot sticks make for lovely office snacks, especially with a bit of 된장 or hummus.
Carrot top tea is...interesting. I couldn't stomach (haha) the thought of eating more woody, chewy, bitter stems, so I decided to try carrot top tea. Besides, I fucking love tea. Apparently, carrot top tea is chock full of vitamins and minerals, and detoxes your kidneys. I probably need a liver detoxifier more than anything else, but any kind of detox is probably a good idea for me. Pretty straightforward stuff.
1. Wash and trim carrot tops.
2. Boil a pot of water.
3. Drop carrot tops into the pot and wait one minute.
4. Reduce the heat and let simmer for 10-15 minutes.
5. Remove from heat and let cool.
6. Strain out carrot tops.
7. Refrigerate and enjoy.
The carrot top tea was a pale olive green color and tasted pretty nasty when still warm. Much better after being chilled in the fridge overnight, but it was a struggle to finish the entire glass. I would probably only make two or three cups of tea and call it a night. I don't think I'm capable of drinking more than that in one week. Definitely interesting though!
Sauteed swiss chard with garlic and wilted thai basil
Yum. This was probably the crowning glory of my culinary experiments with my CSA shares this season. I blanched the chard and sauteed it with some aromatics. It's pretty simple, but it's more like a real recipe than anything else I've done so far, so I'll document it as such. Really delicious stuff. Even my coworker thought it tasted good. It probably can't compete with anything from the food trucks or midtown eateries, but hey, one step at a time right? #turtlewinstherace
Ingredients:
- Handful of thai basil
- 7-8 large leaves of swiss chard
- 5 cloves garlic (or to taste)
- olive oil
- salt
1. Wash chard and basil thoroughly.
2. Bring a pot of water to a boil.
3. Drop the swiss chard in the pot of water for about 30 seconds to a minute.
4. Drain and refill pot (with swiss chard still in there!) with cold water. Repeat until water drains cold.
5. Squeeze the water out of the swiss chard, chop into ribbons, and set aside.
6. Slice garlic.
7. Heat a bit of olive oil in a pan (medium-low heat). When a drop of water "spits" back at you, add the sliced garlic. Stir occasionally until the garlic just begins to brown.
8. Add chopped swiss chard to the pan.
9. Sprinkle some salt over the pan.
10. Add the handful of thai basil leaves (stripped from their stems).
11. Stir gently until the thai basil is wilted.
12. Remove from heat and serve!
Yum yum. This weekend will be eggplants and leek soup. We'll see if I can top the swiss chard dish...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)