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CSA Week #22 (Last Share of the Season!)

Wednesday, November 3rd, 2010 by virginia

Sadly, today is the last day of our CSA share for the season. We decided not to do the winter share so we will have to wait until next summer before we can join the CSA again. This was our first year trying it out, and it was definitely a great experience for us. Even though the produce got a bit overwhelming at times, we definitely tried our best not to let anything go to waste.

This week we got our biggest distribution of the season, probably because it was the last share. Our vegetable share contents included:

Winter Squash – 1 each
Brussels Sprouts – 1 each
Radishes – 5 each
Potatoes – 1 lb
Cooking Greens – 1 lb
Bok Choy – 1 each
Cabbage – 1 each
Carrots – 1 1/2 lbs
Onions – 1 lb
Beets – 1 lb
Celery – 1 each

Bok choy, beets, onions, brussels sprouts, celery, carrots, radishes, cabbage, kale, squash, potatoes

I’m excited about the winter squash, which was butternut this time. I might just roast it, or make some butternut squash soup. I was also happy to see bok choy again, since it was always one of my favorites during the season. Everything else looked great as well, and we definitely have enough vegetables to last us for the next few weeks.

Any guesses what our fruit share contained? That’s right, MORE apples! This week the contents included:

Fuji Apples – 4 3/4 lbs
Jonagold Apples – 4 3/4 lbs

Fuji and jonagold apples

The entire bottom shelf of our refrigerator is just packed with apples right now. Some are getting a bit bruised and soggy so I’m going to turn them into a huge batch of applesauce. With the rest, I foresee a few pies and tarts, and maybe a crumble or two. I’m complaining about the amount of apples now, but when we finally do get through them, I know I’ll feel a bit sad.

Joining the CSA was really a great decision for us. We got to try out vegetables that we ordinarily would not have picked up from the supermarket, and it was nice to have fresh produce on hand weekly. Cost-wise, the share was very reasonably priced per week, though you have to pay the total at the beginning of the season. The vegetables and fruits we got more than covered the cost, especially when we saw how pricey certain items were at the local Greenmarkets. We will absolutely join a CSA again next year, and we hope we’ve inspired some of you to check out a CSA as well.

P.S. No worries about CSA posts withdrawal, I’ve still got plenty of recipes to write about. Thanks for reading!

Tags: Apples, Beets, Bok Choy, Brussels Sprouts, Cabbage, Carrots, Celery, Greens, Kale, Onions, Potatoes, Radishes, Squash
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CSA Week #21

Wednesday, October 27th, 2010 by virginia

Oy vey, what a day. Josh and I were supposed to meet up to get our CSA share together at 5:30 but I got stuck at work so he had to go by himself this week. Not a big deal, except that he got there so late they ran out of leeks! Darn, I had already been planning on making a potato leek soup this week. Oh well. This week our vegetable share included:

Potatoes – 1/2 lb
Greens – 1 lb
Radishes – 5 each
Green Tomatoes – 1 lb
Turnips – 3 each
Brussels Sprouts – 1 each

Turnips, radishes, brussels sprouts, kale, green tomatoes, potatoes

The potatoes we got were absolutely covered in mud, but apparently that’s how they stay preserved. Interesting, but super messy. The green tomatoes look like the heirloom variety and I plan on making fried green tomatoes. The brussels sprouts look absolutely amazing and I can’t wait to eat them. For the greens, Josh picked up purple kale, which will of course be made into chips.

For the fruit share, we got apples, apples, and more apples. The share contents included:

Macoun Apples – 5 lbs
Empires Apples – 5 lbs

Apples, apples, and more apples

I really need to do something with the apples in our fridge, and applesauce looks like the best bet. Claire also recommended a bunch of recipes to us, which I might try out this weekend. I think next week is our last week of CSA, and I’m absolutely devastated!

Tags: Apples, Brussels Sprouts, Greens, Kale, Potatoes, Radishes, Tomatoes, Turnips
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CSA Week #20

Wednesday, October 20th, 2010 by virginia

It is really starting to feel like fall out there! The weather is definitely cooling down, and the trees in Central Park are just about ready to change colors. Our CSA share will be ending soon, and it makes me sad to think about that. I think there are only a few weeks left, since the share ends in November. There is a winter share available but it seems to be less vegetables and more dairy and/or meat products, plus there’s only delivery once a month. It doesn’t seem like something that Josh and I would be interested in doing, so we’ll just have to savor our veggies and fruits while we’re still getting them.

This week our vegetable share contents included:

Celery – 1 each
Greens – 1 lb
Carrots – 1 lb
Turnips – 1 each
Winter Squash – 1 each
Leeks – 1 each

Winter squash, leek, kale, turnips, carrots, celery

I’m curious about the winter squash because we got one a few weeks back but we haven’t eaten yet. I think it’s buried in our fridge somewhere so I hope it’s still ok! I wonder if we’re just supposed to bake it? It has a super hard shell and reminds me of one of those gourds people put out during Thanksgiving. Anyone have suggestions on how to cook it?

The leek is a new item for us, but unfortunately it’s pretty small so I’m not sure what we’ll do with it. The turnips are pretty tiny as well. The carrots I’m already planning on turning into soup. We made a really great carrot ginger soup a while back, but I never got around to posting about it. I should, because it was really yummy. For the greens we got kale, as usual, since we’ll never tire of eating kale chips. Those chips rock! As for the celery, we’ve been making bloody marys out of the previous batches, since these are pretty thin and spindly celery stalks, not the fat watery kind you get from the supermarket. They have a much more concentrated celery flavor, but they’re also kind of bitter.

As for our fruit share, we are getting buried by even more apples and pears. This week our fruit share contents included:

Apples – 5 lb
Pears – 3 lbs

Apples and pears

I’ve been snacking on apple slices with peanut butter, but that gets tiring very quickly. It doesn’t help that Josh and I aren’t really “dessert” people, so when I make a cake or tart out of the fruit, we still have trouble eating it. I’m considering just making a huge batch of applesauce, since some of the apples are starting to get mealy from sitting in the fridge for so long. I’m trying not to let anything go to waste!

Tags: Apples, Carrots, Celery, Greens, Kale, Leeks, Pears, Squash, Turnips
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CSA Week #19

Wednesday, October 13th, 2010 by virginia

No, we haven’t given up on our CSA share. It’s been a while since I’ve written about it but we’re still getting tons of veggies and fruits. We managed to clean out a lot of our fridge before we left for Peru, and while we were away, Felipe and Silva picked up our shares for us. The first week we asked Silva to take some pictures of the share, cook up something, and blog about it. She took gorgeous pics, as always, and posted a few recipes on her blog, Postcards and Snapshots.

The second week, they also picked up our share for us and left the goodies with our doorman. Lisa put them in the fridge for us so that when we got home on Sunday, we had fresh food on hand. We cooked up a feast in honor of Lisa’s birthday that week, using a lot of our CSA items. I didn’t take any pictures but everything turned out so well that we’ll probably make each dish again sometime in the future. As a pre-dinner snack, we served up heirloom tomato bruschetta on slices of baguette from Amy’s Bread. We noshed on this while drinking some Pisco sours that I whipped up using Pisco that I brought home from Peru.

The first course was a creamy zucchini soup, followed by a roasted beet salad with arugula and radishes tossed in a balsamic vinaigrette. The main course was chicken that Josh butterflied and brined before roasting in the oven. The skin was crisp and the meat was tender and juicy. As for sides, we roasted potatoes underneath the chicken so that they basted in the juices and fat that ran off – yum! We also made a rustic ratatouille with zucchini, eggplant, and red pepper. Finally, for dessert, I made a buttery apple tart that paired perfectly with Josh’s homemade vanilla ice cream. We had prepped most things the night before so the dinner was relaxing for all of us, and we were able to enjoy our company.

Going back to the CSA shares, Josh picked up our produce last week before he and Lisa went to the Roger Waters concert at MSG, but I was too lazy to take pictures and post. I had met them for dinner before the show, and then afterward I went home to pack since we left for San Francisco the next day. Now that we’re back, with no travel planned for another month, I hope to get back on track with everything.

This week Josh and I met up to get our share together, which was good because even though the veggie side was a bit light, we got a ton of fruit. This week our vegetable share contents included:

Radishes – 5 each
Broccoli – 1 each
Greens – 1 lb
Fennel – 1 each
Squash – 2 lbs
Turnips – 5 each

Radishes, kale, turnips, squash, broccoli, fennel

The original list also said onions, but we didn’t see any at the pickup site. For the greens, we got kale, which we absolutely love. I made a huge batch of kale chips last night and we gobbled them right up. The secret is to make sure you salt them liberally before putting them into the oven. For the squash, we picked up a large zucchini because those are heartier and last longer in the fridge. The broccoli is a new item for us, and although it’s quite small, I can’t wait to see how it tastes.

For the fruit, we’ve just been getting tons of apples and our fridge is totally packed. I see a lot of apple pies, apple tarts, and apple chips in our future. This week our fruit share contents included:

Macoun Apples – 4 3/4 lbs
Seckle Pears – 1 quart
Honey Crisps Apples – 2 lbs

Apples and little pears

We now also have tons of these little pears, and a few quarts of plums as well leftover from previous weeks. Anyone know of any good recipes I could try?

Tags: Apples, Broccoli, Fennel, Greens, Kale, Pears, Radishes, Squash, Turnips
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CSA Week #15

Thursday, September 16th, 2010 by virginia

It’s been a crazy hectic week for us as Josh and I are both trying to get everything wrapped up at work in anticipation of our trip to Peru. To be honest, we haven’t even begun packing yet, and we’re leaving on Saturday! Today Josh and I were both running around taking care of some last minute errands, and he drew the short straw so he had to run home to pick up our share before we met up again for a goodbye dinner in honor of our Aussie mate Kate.

This week we’ve really been working on clearing out our fridge because I don’t know what will last until we get back from our trip. I made a wonderful plum cake with some of our Italian plums, and Josh and I made a really delicious peach pie from a recipe sent to us by James. The season is starting to change so this week we saw some new items in both our veggie and fruit shares. This week our vegetable share contents included:

Celery – 1 each
Jerusalem Artichoke – 3/4 lbs
Tomatoes – 2 lbs
Greens – 1 lb
Squash – 2 lbs
Pac choi (bok choy) – 1 each
Corn – 2 each

Kale, Jerusalem artichokes, corn, bok choy, squash, celery, tomatoes

The list we got with the contents said radishes, but I was happy to see corn instead. For the greens, we got some more kale. We’ll have to use those up before we leave because they probably won’t keep. I’m not sure what to do with the Jerusalem artichokes though, which look like knobs of ginger. Anyone know any good recipes?

For the fruit share, our contents this week included:

Grapes – 1 quart
Pears – 1 quart
Apples – 8 each

Pears, grapes, apples

I’m super excited to try the pears, and Josh has already snacked on the grapes, which he says are super sweet but have a weird texture and lots of seeds. We’ll try to eat those quickly, but I think the apples will be ok to keep. Felipe and Silva will be taking our shares next week, and we hope that they enjoy the produce as much as we do!

Tags: Apples, Bok Choy, Celery, Corn, Grapes, Greens, Jerusalem Artichokes, Kale, Pears, Squash, Tomatoes
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Pea Soup

Saturday, September 11th, 2010 by virginia

CSA peas

One of our CSA shares included a 1/2 lb of peas, which really wasn’t so many peas after we shelled them. I’ve never seen fresh peas before, and was surprised to see how un-uniform they actually are.

Peas in a pod

We split open the pods and scraped out all the little peas into a bowl.

Small pile of shelled peas

To make the soup, we sauteed a little bit of onion (just half a small one, since we only had like 3/4 cup of peas) in some butter until the onion was soft and translucent (but not browned). Then we added the peas and cooked them for about a minute. We added just enough chicken stock to cover the peas by about an inch and brought it up to a boil. Once the stock had boiled down a little, we took it off the heat and carefully pureed the soup with our handy immersion blender. We seasoned with salt and pepper, then added a touch of cream to finish.

Creamy pea soup

Because we had such a small amount of peas to start with, we only got one bowl of soup out of it, but it was rich and creamy and absolutely delicious. We had been inspired by the pea soup we had at Nougatine and I thought that our version stood up pretty well, plus it was super easy to make. I liked it so much that I made another batch using a package of frozen peas, and it tasted just as good. The soup makes an elegant starter to any meal, or can be paired with a simple grilled cheese sandwich for something homey and comforting. This is definitely a recipe that we’ll keep on hand for future use.

Tags: Peas, Soup
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CSA Week #14

Wednesday, September 8th, 2010 by virginia

Sorry for the lack of posts lately; we spent most of Labor Day weekend in NJ, and now we’re back again to celebrate Rosh Hashanah. We’ve been eating nonstop and spending lots of time with family/friends. Josh stayed in the city today just long enough to do some volunteer truck unloading and to pick up our CSA share. He also arranged the produce this week and took the pics, so they may look a little different. This week our vegetable contents included:

Watermelon – 1/2
Onions – 3/4 lb
Greens – 1 lb
Tomatoes – 2 lbs
Squash – 2 lbs
Radishes – 5 each

Kale, tomatoes, watermelon, radishes, onions, squash

The original contents list we received also said celery, but unfortunately they weren’t delivered. For the greens, Josh picked kale instead of swiss chard, since we’ve had a lot of chard lately. The watermelon was another half of a yellow watermelon, which we ate with dessert tonight. It wasn’t as sweet as the previous watermelon, but everyone was fascinated by the bright yellow flesh.

The fruit share this week was basically a repeat of last week, and we really do have an overpopulation of peaches in our fridge. Claire just sent us a book about canning and preserving foods (thanks Claire!) so I’ll need to look into that, and I also heard that freezer jam is pretty good as well. This week our fruit share contents included:

Plums – 1 lb
Apples – 11 each
Peaches – 3 1/4 lbs

Apples, peaches, plums

It’s crunch time for us because we have a week and a half to go before we leave on our two-week trip to Peru. We’re really excited about our trip but we want to make sure that we use up all of our veggies and fruits before we leave, or at least find ways of storing them so that they’ll still be good when we get back. We made a pretty good dent last week so I’m confident that we won’t let anything go to waste!

Tags: Apples, Greens, Kale, Onions, Peaches, Plums, Radishes, Squash, Tomatoes, Watermelon
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CSA Week #13

Wednesday, September 1st, 2010 by virginia

The weather this week has been unbearably hot, and I wonder how that has affected our CSA crops. I felt bad because Josh had to run home right after work to pick up our share, and then go out again to meet some people for a happy hour. We had a bunch of repeats this week, and our fridge is absolutely packed with squash and tomatoes. The tomatoes I don’t mind, but does anyone have good suggestions about what to make with squash? We’ve already made squash soup, ratatouille, zucchini bread, and squash pancakes (similar to potato pancakes). We’re running out of ideas, and we still have lots of squash left. This week our veggie share contents included:

Watermelon – 1/2
Peppers – 5 mini
Tomatoes – 1 1/4 lbs
Mixed Greens – 1 lb
Squash – 2 lbs
Beets – 3 each
Spearmint – 1/8 lb
Beans – 1/2 lbs

Greens, squash, watermelon, tomatoes, spearmint, pole beans, mini bell peppers, beets

I’m not sure what kind of greens we got this week. They kind of look like baby collards. Anyone have any idea? The watermelon we got has yellow flesh. I don’t think I’ve had yellow watermelon before, and I wonder if it tastes the same as pink watermelon. We also got a lot of mint, so I foresee lots of mojitos.

We got lots of fruit this week, and I think we currently have more fruit in our refrigerator than we have vegetables. I made a tasty apricot tart with our CSA apricots that were starting to get overly ripe. It was a great way to make sure the fruit didn’t go to waste. This week our fruit share contents included:

Italian Plums – 1 3/4 lbs
Apples – 1 bag
Peaches – 2 lbs

Apples, peaches, Italian plums

The apples we got were similar to macintoshes. The Italian plums this week were pretty soft so we’ll either have to eat them really quickly, or I’ll have to turn them into a dessert. Meanwhile, the peaches we’ve been getting are fantastic. They’re the juicy, sweet, white variety and I’ve been eating a few each day. Can’t believe the summer is almost over!

Tags: Apples, Beets, Greens, Mint, Peaches, Peppers, Plums, Pole Beans, Squash, Tomatoes, Watermelon
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Cherry Clafouti

Monday, August 30th, 2010 by virginia

Cherries

For a few weeks in a row, we got piles of cherries from our CSA fruit share. I love cherries, but there is a limit as to how many I can snack on before I get a little tired of them. I didn’t want the fruit to go to waste so I decided to try out a cherry clafouti recipe I watched Alton Brown make on an episode of Good Eats.

The recipe, which can be found here, has a really short and basic list of ingredients. This was a huge plus, because it was all stuff that we had on hand. All you need to make this recipe is:

– 12 oz cherries
– 2 large eggs
– 1/4 cup sugar
– 1/2 cup whole milk
– 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
– 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
– Butter, for the Dutch oven

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. To prepare the cherries, I cut them in half by running a paring knife all the way around the pit, then splitting them open by hand. I used the tip of the knife to carefully pop out the pit, and put all the cherry halves into a bowl.

Cherry halves

In a separate, medium sized mixing bowl, beat the eggs with the sugar until it has turned into a pale yellow color and is frothy. Mix in the milk, vanilla, and flour, and whisk until incorporated. This is the batter for the clafouti.

Clafouti batter

Butter the inside of the dutch oven and carefully line the bottom with the cherry halves. I made sure that they all faced the same way and were spread out evenly.

Cherries lined up on the bottom of the dutch oven

Carefully pour the batter over the cherries, trying not to disturb them too much. They will float a bit though, so don’t worry.

Pouring the batter over the cherries

Bake the clafouti (with the dutch oven cover off) on the middle rack for approximately 30 minutes. The top should brown lightly (though mine stayed pale for some reason). Insert a knife to check if it’s done; the knife should come out clean.

Baked clafouti

Let the clafouti cool in the dutch oven for 30 minutes, then carefully remove it onto a plate.

Cherry clafouti

Cut into wedges, and serve. Although my clafouti didn’t get brown on top, it was cooked through and had a nice custardy texture to it. I actually preferred it cold, after it had been in the refrigerator overnight. The recipe is really simple and it makes a tasty dessert or a decadent breakfast.

Clafouti autopsy shot

Tags: Cherries, Desserts
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CSA Week #12

Wednesday, August 25th, 2010 by virginia

After a hectic day at work, I was excited to come home to our CSA share. We got a long message from the farm today that made me feel bad about what the farmers are dealing with this summer, in addition to the extreme heat. Also, we learned that heirloom tomatoes should be picked ripe, which means they’ll often be soft and split. That’s a hard thing for me to reconcile because it makes me feel like I’ll have to eat them right away, but now I understand why so many of the tomatoes are in that particular state.

This week our share contents included:

Mini Bell Peppers – 5 each
Watermelon – 2 small or 1 large
Tomatoes – 4 lbs
Cabbage – 1/2 head
Squash – 2 1/3 lbs
Mixed Greens – 3/4 lb

Ruby chard, heirloom tomatoes, watermelon, cabbage, squash, mini bell peppers in front

The mini bell peppers are super cute, and I think we might just eat these whole since they’re basically bite sized. The watermelons were pretty small so Josh picked out one of the larger ones, which is just enough for 2 people to share. We have lots of heirloom tomatoes now, some of which are really soft and some which are slightly firmer. I foresee lots of caprese salads in our future, which is just fine by me. For the mixed greens, Josh got swiss chard with huge leaves and thick ruby red stems. Gorgeous!

Our fruit share is starting to overwhelm us but James just sent us a delicious-looking peach pie recipe that will help me get through our rapidly ripening peach bounty. This week our fruit share contents included:

Italian Plums – 2 lbs
Peaches – 3 lbs
Nectarines – 2 2/5 lbs

Peaches, Italian plums, nectarines

I have absolutely no complaints about the fruit this week. The peaches are large, ripe, and picture perfect. It took lots of willpower not to dig in before I snapped my photos!

In addition, today is Market Day for our CSA. That means in addition to our regular shares, we had the opportunity to order some extra goodies, such as cheese, yogurt, eggs, organic meats, spices, and more. When Josh and I first decided to purchase a CSA share, we debated whether to get an additional egg or dairy share but decided that we wouldn’t use up those items fast enough. Market Day gives us the opportunity to try out some of these item on a one-off basis (you pay per item you choose). We put in our order a few weeks ago and today we received our goods.

This is what we decided to order from Market Day:

Organic Eggs – 1 dozen
Yogurt – 5 containers (6 oz each)
Cheese – 2 packages (8 oz each)
Honey – 16 oz organic wildflower

Organic eggs, assorted yogurt, horseradish cheddar, wildflower honey, garlic and dill cheddar

For the yogurt, there were four different flavors available, so Josh picked out one of each – blackberry, orange, strawberry, and he doubled up on raspberry. For the cheese, he picked horseradish and garlic/dill flavored cheddars (other options included mild cheddar and smoked cheddar). We’re excited to see if organic eggs taste different from regular supermarket eggs, since we debated for a while whether to get a half dozen weekly egg share. If we like these eggs enough, maybe next year we’ll go for the weekly option. Yes, we love our CSA enough that we’re already thinking about next year!

Tags: Cabbage, Cheese, Eggs, Honey, Nectarines, Peaches, Peppers, Plums, Squash, Swiss Chard, Tomatoes, Watermelon, Yogurt
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