Week 6: Share Contents and Usage Summary

After 5 weeks of the spring CSA season, this share marked the beginning of the summer CSA. This share seemed huge, so it was even more of a challenge to use up entirely.

Qingdao (Chinese) cabbage- slaw with radishes, cucumbers, and scallions

Ching Chiang bok choy- sauteed and used as a bed for gnocchi

Red Romaine lettuce- in salads

Scallions- in salads and pasta salad

Tatsoi- in salads (see photos below)

Cilantro- marinade for shrimp with jalapeno and lime juice

Green head lettuce- salads

Cucumber- in cabbage slaw and on a salad

Today I thought I would enlighten you about the virtues of tatsoi:

Tatsoi

Alternate names: Tat soi, spoon cabbage, rosette bok choy
Characteristics: The small, rounded leaves of this Asian salad green have a mild, mustardlike flavor. The texture is similar to that of baby spinach, and one can be swapped for the other. Baby tatsoi is usually sold loose, but when mature, tatsoi can be purchased whole, in the shape of a rosette, and it is often cooked intact in Chinese stir-fries. Like mizuna, tatsoi is often available only at the farmers' market or specialty gourmet shops.

Another reason to join a CSA: you get easy access to produce like tatsoi that you can only otherwise find at a farmer's market or specialty gourmet shop, if you're lucky!

Look how pretty tatsoi is. I just snap off the leaves and throw them into a mixed salad. They offer a nice texture and color contrast to the green leaf lettuce that also comes from Graceland Farm. I saved the stems. I intend to see if they will make a tasty broth.

Week 5- Share Contents and Usage Summary

• 1 bunch golden globe turnips- braised in white wine, sesame oil, soy with bok choy
• 1 bunch French breakfast radishes- julienned in salads
• 1 bag of arugula- salads
• Qinqdao express cabbage- lo mein
• Ching Chang bok choy- braised in white wine, sesame oil, soy with turnips, lo mein
• 1 bunch red mustard greens- julienned in salads, quick soup with cabbage stems, garlic, radish greens
• 2 heads of lettuce- salads
• 1 bag of loose salad greens- salads

Braised Bok Choy, Quingdao Express Cabbage, and Turnips with Ginger and Soy

Turnips get a bad rap. I admit that I am not used to eating turnips, but I do like them. They are a cruciferous vegetable, which means that they may provide protection against certain cancers. Cool!

This dish, courtesy of Cooks Illustrated, was easy to prepare and the sliced turnips did not take long to soften. I used the Quingdao express cabbage instead of watercress. Don't forget, you can add the turnip greens too.

Prepared this way, I thought the turnips tasted very comforting, like potatoes- and just think how much more nutrition they offer! My two-year old kept asking for more.

Quick Braised Bok Choy, Turnips, and Watercress with Ginger and Soy

Serves 6 as a side dish.

Published January 1, 1996 (Cooks Illustrated Magazine)

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon sesame oil

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger

1/2 pound turnips, peeled, halved and sliced thin

2 heads bok choy (about 12 ounces), washed and cut cross-wise into 1-inch pieces

1 bunch watercress (about 4 ounces), rinsed

1/4 cup low-sodium chicken broth

2 tablespoons soy sauce

2 tablespoons sake

ground black pepper

2 tablespoons toasted sesame seeds

Instructions: 1. Heat oils in large saute pan over medium heat. Add garlic and ginger; saute until aromatic and starting to brown, about 2 minutes. Increase heat to medium-high. Add turnips, saute to soften slightly, about 3 minutes. Increase heat to high; add bok choy and watercress and saute until wilted, about 1 minute. 2. Add stock, soy, and sake; cover and reduce heat to low. Simmer until turnips are just tender about 3 minutes. Season to taste with pepper and garnish with sesame seeds.

Cabbage lo mein with chicken

Here's a recipe for Cabbage Lo Mein that I learned while working for the Emeril Green show. It's a terrific way to use up 12 cups (or more) of greens. I used the chinese cabbage and bok choy, and as you can see, I added sliced chicken breast. I marinated the chicken with a little of the liquid mixture and then cooked it with the peanut oil. Remove the cooked chicken from the pan before cooking the green onions and ginger and add it back when you toss in the noodles.

The leftovers make for a great lunch that you can warm up at the office.

Very Quick Soup with Pak Choy and Arugula

This soup was perfect for today because it's cold and rainy and I'm suffering from a cold and cough. I needed to make something quick that would sooth my throat and give me a little nutrition.

• Heat some homemade stock.
• In a separate pot, wilt a chiffonade of pak choy or other greens over medium-high heat.
• Add a little white wine, let it evaporate (optional step, of course).
• Add the warm stock and let simmer for a minute or two.

*Season with salt and pepper at each step, finish with sea salt)

Arugula Burgers

I added finely chopped arugula, minced garlic, salt and pepper to two pounds of ground beef and formed 12 mini patties. I grilled six of the burgers and froze the other 6. I served them on sliced baguette pieces that I brushed with olive oil, salt and pepper, and toasted under the broiler. Pak choy and ketchup acted as garnish.

Spring Onion and Ricotta Gnocchi Over Wilted Mustard Greens and Pak Choy

These ricotta gnocchi are tasty. The recipe comes from the cookbook "Simply Organic" by Jesse Ziff Cool. Here is a link to another website where the author has documented every step of the cooking process. I recommend preparing these on a rainy afternoon when you are not pressed to get dinner ready quickly. Enjoy the process and take your time.

I'm a big fan of the fork indentations on gnocchi which make them look really pretty and help them hold sauce. However, I did not take the time to do that- mainly b/c it just wasn't working out (the ricotta dough was behaving differently than the usual potato gnocchi dough does and I didn't want to add any more flour for fear of them becoming dense or overworked). I justified not making the indents by remembering that I was just cooking at home (even though I'm not just cooking at home since I should be making it pretty so I can present a nice photo to you). Oh well, I think I'll just call them "rustic". They look huge because I photographed them on a very small plate.

The author of the blog (that I link to above) interpreted the fork indent differently than I was taught, and in the end her gnocchi look really cute. I was taught to push the gnocchi into the fork and roll it so that the end product is a little cup shape with a fork design. Like these (bottom photo) except with fork ridges.

I was able to freeze half of the shaped/ uncooked gnocchi. Toss them well in flour and freeze them on a plate- make sure none of them are touching each other. Once they are frozen solid, place them in a freezer bag. When you are ready to cook them, gently boil them from frozen.

After I finished cooking the gnocchi in boiling water, I wilted some mustard greens and pak choy in a skillet with a little olive oil. I removed them from the skillet and then sauteed the gnocchi with a little more olive oil and garlic, until the gnocchi became lightly golden. I made a bed out of the greens and placed the gnocchi on top with some grated Parmigiano Reggiano. The greens balance out the richness of the gnocchi.

My 2-year old loved the gnocchi. He can say: "More! Gnocchi! Please!"

Chicken Salad Over Red Romaine

I'm a fan of Martha Stewart's Everyday Food Lighter Chicken Salad recipe. The first day I served it over a bed of lightly dressed red romaine leaves. On the second day I used the romaine leaves as a wrap.

Frittata with chicken, spring onions and mustard greens

Frittata with chicken, spring onions and mustard greens

This frittata, when served with a side salad, makes for a quick, light meal. The leftovers are ideal for a quick breakfast too.

• mustard greens, chiffonade
• spring onions, finely sliced
• 1 1/2 chicken breasts, poached and shredded finely
• 8 farm-fresh eggs, lightly whisked
• shredded mozzarella
• salt and pepper (at every step)

-Heat the oven to 425 degrees.

-Place a 12-inch cast-iron or non-stick skillet over medium-high heat. Spray well with olive oil.

-Cook the greens until wilted. Turn down the heat to medium.

-Evenly spread the greens over the pan. Sprinkle with spring onions and chicken.

-Evenly pour in the eggs and sprinkle with cheese.

-Cook over medium heat until the eggs are firm on the exterior.

-Place the skillet in the oven and cook until the eggs are set.

-Carefully flip the frittata onto a plate and then slide it onto a cutting board. Cut into wedges.

*Use less ingredients if you are using a smaller skillet.

*I actually poached 4 chicken breasts and saved the rest of the cooked chicken for chicken salad. I also saved the delicious poaching liquid to drank as broth- which was so soothing on my sore throat.

Week 4 Share Contents & Usage Summary

Week 4

Japanese giant mustard greens- in frittata, as a bed for gnocchi (wilted)

White pak choy- as a bed for gnocchi (wilted), garnish for burgers, in quick soup

Red romaine lettuce- topped with chicken salad, as wrapper for chicken salad

Green head lettuce- in salads

Arugula- fine chopped in burgers

Spring Onions (scallions)- in frittata, in chicken salad, in gnocchi

Mint- many cups of mint tisane.

Thanks for the mint tisane recipe Farmer John. I've been feeling under the weather this week and I've found this hot beverage to be very soothing to my throat. Here is the recipe, with a few of my adaptations.

Mint Tisane

-Rinse several sprigs of mint, pick off the leaves.

-Place the leaves into a teapot or a large glass measuring cup.

-Pour just-boiled water over mint, let steep 3 or so minutes, drain through small tea strainer.

-Drink hot or chill first.

-Options: you can add honey or sugar if you prefer a sweeter taste. You can also mix this 1/2 and 1/2 with lemonade.

Salads: Simple or Decked out?

I was beginning to feel that my everyday salads were boring and unoriginal, and then I read the following quote from Deborah Madison in her cookbook Local Flavors. She reminded me that green leafy salads aren't meant for all seasons and that I should really dig in now.

"A key sign that it's spring isn't only that greens are available but that they have an irrepressible quality. They practically glow...This green glory will fade as the season progresses into labored production when hot days and nights keep plants churning and growing overtime. But for now, everything leafy is at its very best. This, in fact, is one of the prime times for big green salads, now and the fall. Come midsummer, sliced tomatoes and cucumbers will better fit that role."

Here you can see the transformation of a salad. The first photograph shows a quick and easy side salad that contains mixed greens, strips of green onions, thinly sliced radishes, a few slices of laughing cow cheese and *citrus vinaigrette.

For the second salad I just added a few more ingredients: seared chicken tenderloin, cranberries and pepitas- it was still a quick meal to prepare.

Here's how I prepared chicken tenderloins:

• marinated the chicken in a little lime juice, minced jalapeno, minced garlic, and olive oil for about 10 minutes.
• wiped off the marinade, added salt and pepper
• seared the tenderloins on a cast iron skillet over medium/ medium high heat (doesn't take much heat to cook on cast iron)- this only takes a few minutes.

*I did not use that particular citrus vinaigrette recipe, I just threw a similar vinaigrette together on a whim.

Cabbage Salad with Pasta!

For the lunchbox I think pasta salad is a breath of fresh air and a healthy alternative to sandwiches. In regards to this salad, you could almost inquire, "would you like some pasta with your cabbage?"

• 1 pound bow-tie pasta- cooked, tossed with olive oil, cooled
• 1 head chinese cabbage- chiffonade
• 2 links Wellshire Farms chorizo- medium dice
• green onions (green and white parts)- thinly sliced
• celery- 1-inch pieces thinly sliced on the bias
• 1/2 to 1 cup of your favorite homemade red wine vinaigrette.
• cheese would be a nice addition

I initially tossed the salad together with 1/2 cup of dressing. By the next morning the pasta had absorbed most of the dressing, so I tossed in another 1/4 cup.

Gratin of white pak choy, chinese cabbage and mizuna

Life happened this past week. It happens to the best of us. On Thursday I was packing for my weekend trip and I couldn't help feeling anxious about my farm share produce. I was afraid that whatever was left would go bad. I made sure to spin the salad greens dry and I inspected the rest of the produce to make sure nothing was laying in a pool of water.

I prepared huge salads that night and I tried to ease my mind with the words of Farmer John: "most of the greens in your share should be good for a week or more in your refrigerator." Farmer John also recommends soaking droopy greens in a bowl of cold water for 20 minutes before cooking or serving them. I learned that trick in culinary school- I remember it working well on frisee, but it didn't do the trick on the delicate farm share lettuce. From now on I'll make sure to use up that lettuce in the first half of the week.

When I returned from my weekend trip I was relieved to see that most of the produce was in good shape. Since the air was a little chilly I thought a gratin would be fitting way to use the greens. I had been eyeing up the Bright Lights Chard Gratin recipe in the cookbook Local Flavors by Deborah Madison and I am happy with the result. It's warm and gooey with crunch appeal. What a comfortable way to get in your green leafy vegetables!

I made the following adaptions to the recipe:

• Instead of chard, I used white pak choy, chinese cabbage and mizuna.
• I deglazed the pan with white wine after cooking the onion and chard (so much good flavor was building up on the bottom of the pan and besides, deglazing makes clean-up so much easier and the flavor of the wine added complexity to the dish).
• I didn't have goat cheese on hand, so I used shredded mozzarella, which worked well.
• I made two small gratins in individual serving dishes and I had enough leftovers for one more gratin (for best results, store the leftover greens separately from the cheese sauce and breadcrumbs).
• I like to generously *spray breadcrumbs with olive oil before cooking them in the oven. It helps protect them from burning and gives them a pretty glow).
• The author gives a few options- I chose parsley over dill and half and half with a little stock over milk.

*I don't know much about Pampered Chef, but I went to a party once and purchased the refillable spray bottle. Later on I bought another spray bottle so I could fill one bottle with olive oil and the other with an olive oil/ canola oil blend. The second bottle is much prettier and it's made of stainless steal, BUT it works horribly. Who knew I'd like the Pampered Chef bottle so much!

Weekly Summary: Week 3

Below is what the farm share contained this week and a summary of how I used the food:

Cilantro- guacamole

Chinese cabbage- pasta salad and gratin

White pak choy- gratin

Lettuce- salads

Mizuna- gratin, salads

White spring onions- pasta salad, salads

Radishes- salads

Salad mix- salads

Weekly Summary (week #2)

Here is a concise summary of how I used up Week #2's vegetables:

• cilantro- in guacamole (my non-local indulgence)
• dill- in egg salad and on roasted potatoes
• radishes- in egg salad and on a few salads (forgot to use the greens; they became compost)
• red spring onions- on a few salads (sliced or julienned), in egg salad, and in stock
• Cantonese bok choy - in a tasty soup
• mizuna- in pesto that I used on pizza, in pasta, and in mayonnaise
• Chinese cabbage (Michili)- in garlic/rice wine stir-fry
• lettuce- in a few salads
• salad mix (spinach, arugula, cress, arugula)- in a few salads

Impressive Bok Choy Soup

This soup does not look spectacular. I wasn't even excited about it.

However, once I tasted it, I was blown away by how such a simple soup could taste so good. I think farm-fresh greens, homemade stock, and a lot of garlic played a major role. I would have added a half cup of couscous, but I didn't have any.

This soup also made me feel healthy and cleansed after a few weekend indulgences. I enjoyed it as a light dinner one night and for breakfast on the following two days. Does anyone else enjoy soup for breakfast?

Impressive Bok Choy Soup

1 (or more) red onion, sliced

Cantonese bok choy stems, chopped

few cloves of garlic, minced

homemade vegetable or chicken stock, or both

Cantonese boy choy leaves, torn into manageable pieces

coarse salt

freshly ground black pepper

Heat some olive oil in medium saucepan over medium heat. Cook the red onion and boy choy stems until soft. Add the garlic and cook it for 30 seconds. Add the stock and the bok choy leaves, and bring to a boil, then gently simmer it for 3-5 minutes. Add a little salt and pepper at each stage in the cooking process.

About the stock:

I took the veggies that I've been storing in the freezer in a bag and turned them into vegetable stock. This time around I had a lot of green onion tops and a lot of celery scraps. I didn't worry that green onions and celery might not make for a balanced stock, I just focused on turning the vegetables into stock. I always keep in mind that later on I can reinforce the stock with other flavors, like carrots and mushrooms.

Just to clarify, I placed the green onions and celery scraps into a stock pot, covered them with cold water and added a bay leaf, a few smashed cloves of garlic, and some black peppercorns. I would have added some thyme sprigs if my herb garden was up and running. Then I slowly brought the stock to a boil over low heat and then let it simmer very gently for a half hour or so.

I usually make stock after dinner, during dish clean-up, and into relaxation time. With the heat on low, the stock can do its own thing while I focus on other things.

One the stock cools I store it in quart containers in the freezer.

Egg Salad with Radish, Scallions & Dill

Since I receive eggs with my share, I could call this "farm share sandwich!" It's a great way to use eggs, radishes, scallions, and dill. Egg salad isn't the prettiest mixture to photograph, but do check out the deep yellow color from the farm eggs.

I was out of greens when I made this recipe. This was a disappointment because I would have preferred to place a scoop of the egg salad on a big bed of greens. As you can see from previous posts, there has been an abundance of refined carbs in my diet lately.

This recipe is roughly based on a Cooks Illustrated recipe of the same name. I swapped the celery for more scallions and added more radishes (although it's not evident in the photograph). I prefer to gently add the dressing to the eggs in small amounts, as needed, because I dislike when I end up with a salad that is too wet.

Egg Salad with Radish, Scallions & Dill

1/4 cup mayonnaise

2 teaspoons Dijon mustard

2 teaspoons lemon juice

1/4 teaspoon salt

freshly ground black pepper

4 scallions, sliced thinly

6 medium radishes, minced

1 tablespoon minced fresh dill

6 large eggs- hard-boiled and diced

Mix together the mayonnaise, Dijon, lemon juice, salt, and pepper. Combine the scallions, radishes, dill, and diced eggs. Gently fold half of the dressing into the egg mixture. Add more dressing as necessary.

Roasted new potatoes with dill

I heart my steamer.

I love the whole concept of "set it and forget it"- at least for 20 minutes.

Timesaver trick: steam a few pounds of potatoes at once. Then during the week, as you need them, all you'll need to do is toss them in olive oil, salt and pepper, and crisp them in a 425 degree toaster oven for about 5 minutes. Place them all cut side up so they can all turn pretty and golden.

Finish the potatoes by sprinkling on some fresh herbs (I used Graceland Farm dill), sea salt, and freshly ground black pepper.

Voila, a terribly easy starchy side dish!