Posts Tagged ‘Celery’

CSA2 Week #18

Wednesday, October 19th, 2011 by virginia

It was another relatively light week for us, which was good for me since Josh was away again and I had to carry the veggies home in the rain. We didn’t receive any new items but I was pretty happy with what was on the list. This week our share contents included:

Bok Choy – 1 each
Greens – 0.5 lbs
Butternut Squash – 1 each
Carrots – 1 lb
Radishes – 6 each
Celery – 1 each
Sunchokes – 0.5 lbs
Wax Beans – 0.5 lbs

Celery, chard, sunchoke, butternut squash, beans, radishes, carrots, bok choy

We still haven’t done anything with the celery yet but fortunately they keep fairly well. The carrots also keep for a long time, and now I’ve got quite a collection in the fridge. In contrast, the bok choy and the chard need to be eaten relatively quickly, since they start to wilt a bit in the fridge.

We got another sunchoke this week, also known as a jerusalem artichoke. They look like pieces of ginger but are a root vegetable that taste great when roasted. They’re a bit hard to clean but they don’t need to be peeled, so I just chop them up and toss them in the oven with a little olive oil and salt. Flavor-wise, they’re slightly sweeter than potatoes.

The butternut squash we got is a decent size, but I find them hard to prepare because the outer skin is so tough. I might just try cutting it in half and roasting it like that, then scooping out the flesh.

I’m thrilled that we’re still getting radishes, as Josh and I are both loving them this year. I always root around in the bin looking for the largest ones, and they’re always crunchy and slightly sweet, with just a tiny bit of a bite on the finish. Delish!

CSA2 Week #17

Wednesday, October 12th, 2011 by virginia

Josh was away again this week so it was up to me to pick up the CSA share. It was another fairly light week though, so the pickup was quick and easy. Although I enjoy getting tons of veggies each week, we have been struggling to get through everything as of late, so another light week was very welcome. This weekend we really cleaned out our fridge and tried to organize our remaining vegetables as best as we could. Now the fridge looks somewhat neat and organized! This week our share contents included:

Celery – 1 each
Greens – 0.5 lbs
Bok Choy – 1 each
Carrots – 1 lb
Peppers – 2 each
Mini Bell Peppers – 4 each
Radishes – 6 each
Beans – 0.5 lbs

Celery, radishes, string beans, carrots, mini bell peppers, red peppers, bok choy, swiss chard

The celery we got today was huge, though to be honest, we still haven’t eaten the celery from last week. I think we’re going to try and make a savory version of a celery/goat cheese dessert that we had at Del Posto two years ago. It was a shockingly delicious dessert that Josh loved, and I found a recipe for it in an article.

We’re both happy to see radishes again this week, as we can’t stop eating radishes with fresh ricotta on baguette slices. It’s become our go-to meal this year, rather than our usual fresh mozzarella/tomato/prosciutto/basil combo.

As for the carrots, I’m stockpiling the ones we get each week and will make a carrot ginger soup when we have enough of them. We also have quite a collection of mini bell peppers, which are kind of hard to use because of their size. Now that we have so many, plus two regular peppers, maybe I’ll figure out a good use for them.

More roasted bok choy and pasta carbonara with chard are also in the works. Now I just need to figure out something creative to do with all the string beans we have, as I’m tired of sauteed string beans with garlic. Any suggestions?

CSA2 Week #15 & 16

Wednesday, October 5th, 2011 by virginia

Sorry for the lack of posts over the last week. Things have been a bit hectic for us recently and I haven’t found time to sit down at the computer and write anything substantial. We did get our CSA share last week but didn’t take any pictures of it because we were in NJ for Rosh Hashanah. Josh was able to volunteer at the distribution site and pick up our share earlier in the day before we headed to NJ. Last week our share contents included:

Squash – 1 lb
Butternut Squash – 1 each
Bok Choy – 1 each
Carrots – 1 lb
Mini Bells Peppers – 7 each or 0.33 lbs
Tomatoes – 0.75 lbs
Sweet Potatoes – 1 lb
Greens – 0.5 lbs
Radishes – 0.33 lbs

This week Josh is away on business so it was my turn to pick up the share. Fortunately it was a relatively light week, and I’m hoping that will give us a chance to catch up and clear out our fridge a bit. Between the holidays and various other commitments, we haven’t been doing much cooking lately, unfortunately. I’m hoping that we’ll have a chance to get everything organized this weekend. This week our share contents included:

Celery – 1 each
Carrots – 1 lb
Squash – 1 lb
Bok Choy – 1 each
Mini Bell Peppers – 0.3 lbs or 7 each
Radishes – 6 each
Greens – 0.5 lbs
Beans – 0.75 lbs
Fennel – 1 big or 2 small

Fennel, bok choy, carrots, squash, greens, peppers, string beans, radishes, celery

I guess tomato season is over since this was the first week in a long time that we didn’t get any tomatoes. I was happy to see fennel though, since we got it once earlier in the season and it’s one of Josh’s favorites. The last time we got one, he made a great salad with thinly sliced fennel, tomatoes, and chunks of watermelon. It was refreshing and pretty delicious.

Celery is a new item for us this season, though we did get some last year. Celery is definitely one of the items that you can taste the difference between farm fresh and supermarket varieties. The celery we get from the CSA is thinner, a bit tougher, and packs a huge amount of flavor. The celery leaves are slightly bitter but intense. This celery is nothing like the fat, watery sticks we pick up at the supermarket.

Radishes are definitely one of our favorite CSA items, and we’ve discovered a new way to eat them. Instead of using butter on slices of baguette, we used fresh ricotta cheese. The creaminess of the ricotta and the crunch of the radish was just heavenly, and the combination really can’t be beat. It might have also helped that we got the ricotta from Di Palo’s, where they have really excellent cheese.

I’m not sure what kind of greens we got this week. They kind of look like dandelion greens though, and I think they’ll need to be sauteed before they can be eaten since they’re a bit tough. As for the bok choy, I can’t wait to roast another batch. If you haven’t tried roasted bok choy yet, please do so – it’s pretty awesome.

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!

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!

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!