CSA Box

It’s Thursday afternoon, again, time to see what goodies Live Earth Farm has sent in the box this week. Now that I’ve blogged this way for a whole, week, it’s time, too, to see how well I used up last week’s box.

Lettuce and dandelion greens, and then baby tatsoi. I made a Big Salad for dinner Tuesday night, topped with salmon cakes. My parents are coming up for Mother’s Day; with luck, I can get Poto and Ms. J. to join us and serve more salad. I did make my pasta with a ton of greens and ricotta salata, but we had to eat it here, as I couldn’t make it to Veggielution this past Sunday. I like pasta with bitter greens, but there is also the possibility of pizza with these.

This made three bags of broccoli, which was critical mass. I am, even as I type, making a cream of broccoli soup for dinner tonight. I sweated in butter some green garlic and a spring onion (which I have to admit, I actually bought at the Willow Glen Farmer’s Market last Saturday; even with all of this veggie bounty, I still go out and buy more), then added all three bags of broccoli, water, and a veggie broth cube. I’ll puree that mess, then add some half and half. Then I’ll freeze part of it. The food blogs are all abuzz this week about Mark Bittman’s Minimalist column about making maximum use of the freezer.

Did I say something about favas’ having a short season? Anyway, I have a lot of new peas in my own garden, and I’m planning a cream of pea soup for Mother’s Day. I’ll make it a pea and fava bean soup. Last week’s fava beans made their way into the lamb shanks.

Oyster mushrooms. I not only went to the Willow Glen farmers market on Saturday, I also went to the Mountain View market after the fava bean harvest on Sunday. It is my favorite market, and I was just across the street. There I bought some “ugly shiitakes” from Far West Fungi, which, combined with CSA mushrooms from two weeks ago, also went with the lamb shanks. I’m not sure what I’ll do with these. Possibly I’ll add them to the stuffed chard I still haven’t made. Along with the lamb sausage I also bought in MV.

If I could change one thing about the LEF CSA, it would be to increase the amount of alliums. I regularly buy more garlic, shallots and onions. These will go in anything savory that I’m making.

I’m still comfortable with my egg reserve; buying a whole dozen every month or so keeps me at the right level. I’ll serve the strawberries on Sunday, as well as put them in the lunchbox. I did make ice cream with last week’s berries. I have a countertop ice-cream maker (the kind with the insert you freeze, but mine also has a motor) so ice cream is very easy.

The apples are supercritcal. I don’t even think I can fit them in the fruit drawer anymore. I’ve committed to making an apple pie for Sunday (I may have to make more than one) and so I’ve taken out my lard to defrost.

That will merit a whole post itself, so hang tight. I’m pretty happy with how I used last week’s box. The chard is the only truly perishable thing left; I’ll either make the whole stuffed chard dish tomorrow, or cut the ribs out and freeze the leaves to do it later.