It hasn’t been a bad week in general, but it’s been a bad week for blogging. I haven’t been baking. I have been cooking, but it’s either repeats, variations on repeats, random cobbled-together dishes before CSA veggies go bad, or just plain boring. Oh, and I made sushi, but we had dinner guests and I didn’t want to take photos — it’s rude.
We did a pretty good job of working our way through our last CSA share. A few meals were a little … oddly paired, but I felt decent about what we managed to do. I still have a few onions and leeks hanging around, some cabbage, and one more acorn squash. The chard (which I do actually like) wilted before I managed to use it, but overall, not bad.
Then my husband picked up this week’s share. Again, we pick up veggies every other week and it’s a lot for a household of two. This week, we had this note attached to the list:
This week you are getting a bigger box than normal with over 20 items. Since we will not deliver boxes again until January, we thought we’d give you the gift of food to tide you through the holidays.
And, with the note, came a veritable cornucopia of food.
Clockwise from top left: Detroit red and gold beets, green leaf lettuce, green cabbage, sweet peas, haricots verts, leeks, fennel, bunching onions, red chard, gold beets (same bunch, just two photos).
We also got these pretty D’Avignon radishes, and Delicata Zeppelin squash, zucchini, cucumbers, and bell peppers.
My favorite was the herbs:
Parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme. heehee.
Not pictured: a bag of arugula (yummmm), a head of red leaf lettuce, and two bell peppers and a zucchini that went into dinner.
Of course, we are going to be out of town for the next three days, but I am looking forward to some cooking this weekend. We are going to drive up to LA for a short visit, so I will endeavor to take some photos of our touristy romps. That is, if I manage to pack.
{ 10 comments… read them below or add one }
I’m interested to see what you do with the beets. I tried the pickled kind once at Old Country Buffet, and while I didn’t find them disgusting, I did wonder what the point was. Other than that I have no experience with beets.
I have had more success using the beet greens than the roots at this rate. The hubby promised to try them, and I actually didn’t mind them on pizza (roasted and sliced very thin like pepperoni). While I don’t dislike them, I don’t love them. I have a few ideas, but I’ve been (as mentioned) not doing a good job of taking photos of what I’ve made lately.
Do you know about this curry paste?
http://www.maesribrand.com/114g.html
It’s the bomb. Or, if you prefer, da bomb. 1 can + 1 large can of coconut milk (18 oz? 20 oz? I can’t remember) + 3 Tbs fish sauce + 3 Tbs brown sugar + some veggies = delicious. I can’t remember if you do fish sauce or not, but it’s delicious even without the fish sauce and sugar.
I’m not sure how many veggies I do – we usually do a double batch so we have leftovers and I fill up a large mixing bowl pretty full with whatever has struck my fancy (ie, whatever came in the CSA box).
I had not heard of it, but the hubby doesn’t like curry. He seriously cramps my style sometimes. And I eat fish sauce, we just don’t own any. Is there a brand you recommend?
Hah, that’s sort of been my MO with “random” veggies, but sauteed with garlic and butter and onions.
We use the fish sauce that has 3 crabs on the label – Viet Huong. It’s Lynn Rosetto Kasper approved. And Matt-approved, as he’s the one who taught me about this curry. It’s too bad that A’s anti-curry. What’s wrong with him???
Even though you don’t like LRK, I will trust you. =)
The one benefit is that if I get curry when we eat out, he never steals those leftovers! Pad thai? Stir fry? Gone.
I would love to see you use the beets for some baking. I’ve read about chocolate beet cake recipes (and similar) before, but have always been a little fearful of making that myself. Does your CSA run all year round?
Ohhhh, that’s a really good idea! I’ve seen black beans and such used. I like it. I made beet gnocchi (I have some left in the freezer for a photo op!) which he didn’t mind because it “didn’t taste like beets.” I will have to research this further….
Yes, our CSA is year-round! I never got one in Minnesota because we were planning to move and I didn’t want to miss out, so when we moved to California, we wanted to take advantage of the full-year growing season (a very strange concept to those of us from the tundra). It does mess with my ideas of seasonal eating, though. Zucchini in December? Really?
I’m looking into CSA for next year’s season. No response from one email, so I guess I’ll shoot another…perhaps that is not an email they answer in Nov/Dec! Resting up from all that weeding and picking. Never did anything like that in the past and thinking the friend that I’ve dragged into gardening this year, may like to be dragged into that experience next year..perhaps we will split. She’s mostly a SAH mom, but her kids are younger than mine.
My mom used to make Harvard beets and I liked them, but they wouldn’t go over here at my house.. and we’d cook them just like carrots and eat just with butter and salt & pepper. Don’t remember ever hating beets. and they look pretty!
My in-laws did that — they split a box with another household which worked out nicely. We don’t know enough people here to do that, but the every-other-week schedule works well, too. Some programs also offer “half shares” or smaller boxes.