Week 6

My trip to Colorado was glorious. But first, this:



Purple carrots!
Hot pink turnips!
Baby zucchini
Ruby chard
Kohlrabi
Lettuce

This is the most cheerful box so far. I've never bought a kohlrabi before, so I'll have to figure out what to do with it, plus another turnip recipe is needed. As good as the slaw was last week with the carrots, these are all too pretty to muddle up. It's getting pretty hot out here, so some chilled marinated zucchini sounds pretty good, maybe on a sandwich? with some nice cheese? I like where this is going.


And now, about last week's vacation. I managed to just miss monsoon season, and it was sunny and mild the whole 5 days. By some other coincidence, everyone I wanted to see was in town and available, which made for a busy week. I caught up with lots of friends while catching up on my Mexican chow consumption. I had nearly forgotten about how lots of places put a bowl of mystery cabbage on the table with the chips and salsa, and some even put a different mystery cabbage on the side of your plate. I need to remember this stuff for when cabbage arrives in my box. I also need to learn to make green chili, because they just don't smother everything with it here like they do out West.


Nor do they serve burritos on pizza-sized plates.

Then there were Wahoo's fish tacos, which would put the taco place by my house out of business in one afternoon, easy. And a dazzling afternoon spent eating lunch on the deck at Fossil Trace golf course, watching the hang-gliders take off from Mt. Zion. And multiple trips to the Golden Diner for good measure.

As hard as it was to come back from such an excellent vacation, I've got a little something to look forward to - this weekend I'll be on the Outer Banks! I'll report back real soon about my attempts to eat my weight in seafood, plus the fate of this week's vegetables.

Off week

No box this week! I am visiting sunny Golden, CO for a few days, the fabulous Miss S. will be collecting the veg. I'm excited to find out what she does with it!

Week 4

More strawberries!
Another head of escarole
Snap peas
Ruby chard
Green lettuce
Two small bok choy

Thoughts:
I hadn't ever had farm fresh peas before today. I grew up thinking peas came from a silver Le Sueur can, and were supposed to be brown. These are so mood-alteringly sweet that I don't know if I have the heart to cook them at all.

Look at the cute little tops:


Speaking of cute, the little cabbages are also adorable. And the little strawberries are still sweet and juicy.

I've got some of last week's escarole soup in the freezer, but that fact might not stop me from trying another soup recipe with this bunch. Even though it's getting pretty warm out, soup is just a nice thing to come home to.

This is why we're friends

One of my lunch buddies stopped by my office the other day, looking for a snack (still sharing this year's haul of Elmer's). When he asked if I had lunch plans, I confessed there was nothing in my fridge except condiments and a bunch of turnips.

J - "I don't know that I've ever had a turnip."
L - "They're kinda funky, you'd know if you had"
J - "Well, that's when you gotta cover it up with lots of mayonnaise."
L - "This is why we're friends."

After this bit of inspiration, I went home to tackle the turnips, top to hairy bottom. The roots went into a slaw with carrots, that I found at Coastal Living magazine while looking for something that also incorporates dill. The greens recipe, from 101 Cookbooks, surprised me as a headline on gmail, and like that, an all turnip meal was devised. There's no mayo involved, but the turnip greens get mixed with cream, eggs, garlic, and herbs, and baked in a buttery pie crust with Gruyere melted on top. Disguising the turnips, mission accomplished.

Here's a photo of the finished product, on a bunny plate:


The slaw was flavorful, and the spiciness of the turnips came through while the funk was well hidden. I think the dill, cumin, and garlic dressing would translate well to all sorts of shredded veggies for a light, summery side. The tarte recipe is written for two shells, with one going in the freezer for later. As much as I would have liked to stash a second crust in the freezer, my food processor is exactly big enough for one pie crust. The recipe, with white and spelt flours and cornmeal, is worth doubling up on for future savory applications, if you have the capacity. Everything went smoothly, until the rolled-out dough got stuck to the counter while i searched for the bottom piece of my tarte pan. Still tasty!

Surprise visit

This week's trip to DC may have been for work, but the real point of it was to take Brooke and Kate out to dinner. Kate, always up for such a task, compiled a long list of restaurants she's been eager to try, read the tea leaves, and chose Policy. This was a very wise decision. We had a great time catching up with each other, and we attacked a good portion of the small-plates style menu.

Kate and I proposed raw oysters, which Brooke insisted she didn't eat...until she tried one and decided to claim her share. Next was pork belly, because no one complains about bacon. When the tuna tartare came, we forgot to be civilized and dove straight in. There were green beans, because Kate (the recovered vegetarian) insisted on a vegetable, tender beef medallions, and a duck and spinach salad. For desert, we had a coffee cake with ice cream, which I barely remember because of the s'mores cheesecake. Graham cracker crust, chocolate filling, and a puddle of burnt marshmallow happiness.

But the real standout was the beet salad. It was lovely, with a swipe of green dressing, a mound of dark beets, and an airy dollop of cheese. But fancy presentation aside, the magic combination was beet, blue cheese, pistachio. This must be remembered for when beets show up in a few weeks.

What a treat it was to see two wonderful friends who share an enthusiasm for beets, and now oysters!

Week 3 (already!)

Thursday snuck up quick this week:
Mixed greens
Turnips
Spinach
Garlic
Green onions
Dill
Very ripe, very juicy, very cute little strawberries

Everything is much less "baby" this week - the greens, turnips, and garlic are all heftier than before. I'm curious to find out how the garlic in particular is developing. Ripe strawberries are always a treat, I ate about half the carton while putting away the rest of the vegetables. The root vegetable, dill, and green onion combo feels Eastern European, so I might look in that direction for something to do with the turnips.

Now, back to last week. I had a short jaunt to DC for work, so I processed as much of the produce as I could over the weekend. The escarole and green garlic went into soup with some potatoes and an onion. It ended up very green and springtime tasting, and I served it with some grated Parmesan on top. Last week's tuna salad hit the spot, so I made more with the radishes. My first attempt pickling the radish greens was not really a success - they gave the less-than-pleasant impression of eating wet newspaper. The arugula went into pasta salad with roasted tomatoes, olive oil, and teeny bocconcini. As fun as the big bumpy kale looked, I knew there wasn't time to get to everything, so I froze it, following these instructions from notmartha. I skipped the salad spinner step, since I don't have [room to store] a salad spinner, so I took more care with the kitchen towel. I'll report back on how this turned out when I get to use it.

Week 2

It's a big week for greens:
Escarole
Mixed baby greens
Arugula
Dinosaur kale, rawr
More radishes
Baby beet greens, 90% confidence

Thoughts:
I had no idea what the beet greens were when I opened the bag. This guide to greens on epicurious was really helpful. Also, this page from The Splendid Table describing the growth stages of greens is pretty neat. I love beets, so I'm pretty excited for the baby version.

I haven't gotten to the radish greens from last week yet, but since I have another bunch, it might be worth trying out that pickling recipe.

Also, the green things from last week have been identified...they're green garlic! This requires further investigation.