CSA Recipes

Want a household tip?  Course you do. Here it is: It's probably best NOT to sign up for a full share CSA (Community-Supported Agriculture, yo!) when you are either of the following: (1) a nauseous and extremely pregnant person or (2) a feeble-cakes and anemic postpartum person. If you are neither of those things, then totally go for it, man. 10 million pounds of vegetables for the win!

Eh, I'm kidding(ish). I'm still mostly glad we committed to it. Mostly. With a side of, "OMG, NO MORE ARUGULA!"  I think I'll be happier with the CSA once we move away from the all-greens-all-the-time selection and I have a little more energy and desire to cook. In the meantime, I'll keep cooking or freezing what I can, passing on the surplus to the in-laws, and trying not to beat myself up too much for some wilted broccoli rabe and neglected turnips ending up in the trash.

Anyhoodles, here is what I whipped up last week. I'm thinking this will be a regular weekly feature on the ol' blog until our CSA ends in October.

Radish Dip and Kohlrabi Slices

Radish dip recipe here (thanks for the idea, Heather!) and for the kohlrabi I just peeled & sliced it raw. The dip was pretty tasty considering it was made with radishes, of which neither Husband or I am a fan. Raw kohlrabi was an interesting alternative to the ubiquitous carrot stick and Bella liked eating it, too.

 Arugula-Walnut Pesto Pasta with Grilled Chicken

I used my stand-by pesto recipe and subbed walnuts for the pine nuts and arugula for the basil. Then I tossed the pesto with penne noodles and halved cherry tomatoes, topped it with the grilled chicken and extra Parmesan. Here is another chicken pesto pasta recipe that I've done in the past. I'm actually glad I was forced to try arugula pesto as it will be  a way to have pesto all winter long since arugula is much cheaper than fresh basil. And with the amount of surplus arugula pesto I made...we will be having pesto all winter long. Tip: freeze pesto into ice cubes.

Curried Chicken Salad on CSA Greens

Curried Chicken Salad recipe that included chopped CSA scallions in place of onions. Time saver tip - use chunks of thawed frozen mango rather than cutting up a fresh one. Mango is a "clean 15" fruit so I purchase conventional frozen mango.

 Caramelized Onion, Roasted Red Pepper, Arugula & Gruyere Quiche

 

Gotta say that I'm a little proud of this quiche. Didn't follow any recipe, but the basic gist of it is: caramelize half a small onion (i.e. cook diced onions over lower heat forever), then add 5 cups or so of fresh arugula to the pan and cook it until wilted. Chop 2-3 roasted red peppers (note red peppers are one of those "dirty dozen" foods so I used a jar of organic ones) and shred 6 oz or so Gruyere (~1.5 cups shredded). In a prepared pie crust (I had a Trader Joe one on hand), layer half the cheese, the veggies, and the other half of the cheese. Pour a mixture of 3 eggs (beaten) & 1.5 cups milk/half&half over the top. Cook at 350 for 40 minutes or until a knife comes out of the center clean. Let stand at least 10 minutes before diving in. Eat it up because it's freaky good.