CSA Week 1: Salad for days



CSA season is like a marathon of food preparation, and it started yesterday.

Last season, I found it stressful to find ways to use all the different vegetables, to the point where I couldn't wait to give them away and I got angry when I forgot to use them up in the forms of veggie kabobs for bbqs, or side dishes at parties and dinners. Eating healthy shouldn't be so stressful.

So this season, we are splitting the share with another couple and I am going to get organized and enlist help. This week's box included:

  • kale
  • spinach 
  • red leaf lettuce 
  • spring mix
  • bok choy
  • broccoli
  • radishes
  • scallions
  • garlic scapes 
  • PYO snap peas 
  • PYO strawberries 
  • PYO lavender

Last night when we got the box, we washed all the greens, and made our own proprietary salad mix that we put in an old supermarket container. I chopped up the broccoli and put the green onions in water.

Tonight I made a radish and greens salad with a homemade mustard dressing from epicurious. The boiled eggs made a nice appetizer and I added some deli chicken to make it a complete meal. I also
packed a second salad for lunch tomorrow. I'll try to post any recipes I use by the end of the week!

Mustard dressing:
3 large eggs
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
2 teaspoons red-wine vinegar
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt, plus more to taste
Freshly ground black pepper
3/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil

In a medium saucepan, bring a few inches of water to a boil. Using a slotted spoon, gently lower in the eggs and cook for 9 minutes (or 8 minutes if you like the yolk a little softer).

Cool off the eggs under running water. Reserve the whites for another use and mash the yolks in a medium mixing bowl. Add the mustard, vinegar, lemon juice, salt, and pepper; stir until smooth. Gradually whisk in the oil, creating a creamy, mayo-like emulsion with a bit more texture. Season and add additional lemon juice to taste.

Source: https://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/green-salad-with-radishes-and-creamy-mustard-dressing-51262910

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Well it's the end of week 1, and I still haven't gotten through all the greens, but I have been putting them on our homemade sourdough with garlic scape pesto, and mixing them in smoothies. I gave away some of the kale, but the remaining portion, I cut up and put in the freezer to use as a mix-in, along with frozen bananas, soy milk and chocolate peanut butter protein powder. All the strawberries have been eaten; the broccoli needs to be steamed and frozen, but that will have to wait until tomorrow. I barely had enough garlic scapes to make the pesto from Food52; however, it makes enough to use multiple times:

Garlic Scape Pesto
1 cup garlic scapes, thinly sliced crosswise
1/4 cup pine nuts
1/2 cup good olive oil
1/4 cup Parmesan
Salt and pepper, to taste

Add the scapes and pine nuts to the bowl of a food processor and pulse until everything is broken up a bit. Then turn the processor back on, and with it running, add the oil a little at a time until it's fully incorporated.

Add cheese, pulse, then season with salt and pepper to taste.
This won't brown like basil pesto will, so if you're not using immediately, just store in a container in the fridge. It will last a week.

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