csa share 05/05/11

Happy Cinco de Mayo! I had planned to share a fiesta meal with you, but the day got away from me and suddenly it was CSA time. Luckily, Mexican food is delicious every day of the year, and now I have some beautiful produce to share with you.

So grab a margarita while you scroll. I’m going to!

First, I’m cheating. This photo is from 2 weeks ago, but my stock of delicious spinach and arugula was replenished again this week. I’m very happy about that. Have I mentioned that I love arugula? Yes? Good.

The rest will all have matching fonts, fear not!

We’re still getting greens and root veggies, but only for a few more weeks. Soon it will be too warm for delicate lettuces that wilt in the sun. Until then, we’ve got plenty to fill up tacos or layer in sandwiches.

If anyone was worried I might run out of kimchi, now I have another Napa cabbage! This one is only 2 pounds (a double batch?).

Lacinato kale is also called cavolo nero or dinosaur kale. I call it delicious. It’s the easiest type of kale to make into kale chips. I’m probably the only person on the internet who doesn’t get excited about kale chips or smoothies, but you might.

Hey look! Summer squash! Fresh garlic! It’s been a while since I’ve seen those. If you’ve never had fresh garlic, find some. It will blow your mind. If you don’t like garlic, you are obviously a vampire. Please don’t bite me.

Ok broccoli, you can stay, too. I tried to make an awesome broccoli and walnut pesto last week, but my food processor lid broke. It was still delicious, but I didn’t get photos because without the processor it became time-consuming, messy, and a bit ugly. No photo, no post! It’s a big, cruel internet out there.

Since our CSA farm also owns Sun Grown Organics we get some type of sprouts or microgreens most weeks. This week is a micro rainbow mix. I toss it on salads, sandwiches, veggie burgers, breakfast scrambles, stir-fry… just about anything.

Have you ever used lemon verbena? It’s so fragrant — I caught a whiff every few steps the whole way home from the market. It can be made into tea, lemonade, ice cream… lots of beverages and infusions use it.

But the star of the show is this basket:

There aren’t enough berries to sell at the markets yet, so CSA shareholders get first dibs on this season’s crop. Suzie’s Farm grows types of berries that are too soft to ship, so they can only be sold locally. They taste just like summer. There might even be some left by the time my husband gets home from work.

A few recipe ideas:

• Bitter Green Salad of Treviso Radicchio and Arugula from food52
• Radicchio Crostini from La Tavola Marche
• Raw Tuscan Kale Salad from 101 Cookbooks (though it’s a classic recipe found elsewhere, too)
• Alchemical Kale from theKitchn
• Rhubarb Tart with Lemon Verbena from Chocolate & Zucchini
• Crunchy Tofu Spring Rolls from The Hungry Mouse (Napa cabbage)
• Sweet Potato, Black Bean, Spinach, and Pepper Enchiladas from Oh She Glows
• Spinach and Zucchini Soup from 101 Cookbooks
• Marinated Sweet Potatoes with Broccoli from Mollie Katzen
• Chinese 5-Spice Noodles with Broccoli from fresh365

That should get you started. Any more to add?

Stay tuned, I have a special CSA-related post coming soon!
What spring veggies can’t you get enough of?

Tagged as: csa, spring, suzie's farm