Today is the first day of our CSA (which, if you are not in the know, stands for Crime Scene Agriculture). Basically, in Vermont, most of the crimes involve produce, and when a criminal is arrested on a produce-related crime, the cops sell off the evidence at a deep discount to local residents. At least I think that’s what it means. Simone signed up for it, so I don’t know. All I know is that in about an hour I have to go pick up a box of locally grown stuffs and bring it home.
I got an e-mail last night, telling me what I would be receiving in my evidence produce box, and honestly, I don’t know what to make of it, so I am turning to you, loyal readers, to come up with some recipes for me to try. I have definitely been accustomed to eating poorly for most of my life, and though I am excited to try new and healthy things, I am inexperienced.
What on earth can I do with: 5 lbs of rolled oats, beets, mustard greens, garlic scapes, potatoes, mesclun mix, and red peppers? Pretty much the only ingredient I have worked with before here is potatoes…. I also will be getting eggs and chevre, although I don’t actually know what chevre is. It would be nice if it were a new car, but as there are no locally grown new cars in Vermont, I fear it is probably some sort of cheese or something.
So there you have it. Send me some recipes, stat! Tenor Dad needs your help! With delicious(?) food like this coming my way, I will be healthy and skinny in no time! Unless beets make you fat, but I feel like if beets made you fat I would have eaten more of them by now.
We get a CSA box here too. Two recipes:
1. Put everything into a salad, including the goat cheese.
2. Saute any leafy greens in olive oil and garlic.
These are the only things I know how to do with my CSA ingredients. Maybe skip the rolled oats in the salad, actually.
Well… Mustard greens will probably be a bit difficult for the kids (they’re a bit spicy), but they’re good in soup, sautéed (as suggested) or as a garnish to salad. Actually, you could make a potato mustard green soup along the lines of a potato leek soup with them. That could be good. I’d sauté some onions in butter, then add chicken stock, potatoes and mustard greens, roughly chopped. Enough stock to cover the veggies, but not too much more (you can always add more water or stock if the soups too thick). Maybe some herbs – a bay leaf, thyme, whatever you’d like (the garlic scapes could also be good). When the potatoes are falling apart, stick it all in a blender (fish out the bay leaf and throw it away first, if you used one) with a bit of cream and blend until smooth. You can even serve it cold, like a Vichyssoise.
Mesclun makes an excellent salad green, so I’d just add whatever you’d like (red pepper, tomatoes, cucumber, etc.) and eat. If you’d like to add the mustard greens and garlic scapes, I’d use a light hand. Maybe nibble on them a bit first to get a sense of their taste.
Beets are excellent many ways. You can roast them or boil them (with skins on, roasted in tinfoil with a little oil). Once cooked, slip off their skins and eat. You can also dice them up and mix them in a salad. They’re also wonderful peeled, sliced and grilled with a little salt and pepper. They have a lovely sweet taste, but be warned that they turn everything red.
I’d also suggest using the pepper and garlic scapes in omelettes. Sautee them first, then cook up the omelette, adding them and a bit of cheese. A bit of the chevre could be good in the omelette too. You could also sauté the mustard greens with a little salt and pepper and add that to the omelettes.
Chevre’s also good just spread on a bit of bread (it’s goat cheese, btw. You’ve probably at least seen it before). I’m not sure if the kids will like it, though.
And the oats: oatmeal. But they’d be tastier if sacrificed to Ruby’s cookie-baking project. Oatmeal, oatmeal chocolate chip, oatmeal raising. Yum! You can also make crumbles with rolled oats. Here’s a recipe from a site I like that’s nice and seasonal (basically any fruit mixed with sugar forms a good base for a crumble, too. Cherries, apples, peaches, plums, etc.): http://www.food52.com/recipes/4802_rhubarb_strawberry_crumble
Happy cooking!