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That looks delish. I could eat like that every night of the week.

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I picked up some chanterelles at the Logan Square Farmer's Market last week (I got totally fleeced--paid $15 for what I thought was a good-sized bag but was actually less than 6 oz, oh well). I made a chanterelle risotto with some sauteed peppers with a few chopped tomatoes added at the end.

Chanterelles:


Risotto in Progress


Peppers


Tomatoes


Nice summer meal:



I also made the scalloped tomatoes with croutons from Smitten Kitchen last week. This was a nice simple dish to put together. I'll definitely be making it again. I also harvested enough green beans from my little patio garden to make a side dish (sauteed green beans with shallots, toasted bread crumbs, chopped pistachios).

Scalloped tomatoes (kinda ugly but tasted great)

I can't get enough of tomatoes lately, but it's rather late in the season for me to be making my favorite tomato tart. I can't say enough about this recipe, which has a beautifully flaky, buttery crust that doesn't even need to be par-baked (just make sure your oven temp is correct and cook it until it's truly golden brown, which may be more than the suggested hour cooking time).

The possibilities to vary this recipe are endless as well. This time, I lined the crust with a thin smear of homemade pesto, used "Ultimo" and "Purple Cherokee" varieties of tomatoes, as well used a mix of gruyère and caciocavalla cheeses.


pre-baked tomato tart by aschie30, on Flickr


tomato tart by aschie30, on Flickr

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Local Beet

I do! You can too!!

Need to know how? Green City Market is holding a Locavore Fair tomorrow (9.11.10) from 9 AM to noon. I'll be there talking local foods as will several other great groups. See here for more.

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Think Yiddish, Dress British - Advice of Evil Ronnie to me.

The Local Beet's very big list of 2013 Farmer's Markets

These all look so tasty! I'm wondering which CSA everyone uses and if you pick up your food or have it delivered? I was also wondering for those that have food delivered, what is proper etiquette in terms of tipping the delivery person?

Search CSA and limit to topic titles and there are numerous threads, though none of them are the holy grail. "Delivery" usually consists of you picking it up at a local drop-off location. I would guess tips are not the norm, but I'm sure a token gift would be appreciated. I believe you said you were a college student, forgive me if I am wrong. Most of your product is going to be delivered during the summer months. You may get 10 lbs of eggplant, rutabaga, collards, etc. in any one delivery. Typically, farmers markets are better suited for the single person. The quality and prices of CSA's vary widely. Seems like the best ones fill up quickly or already have a waiting list.

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i used to milk cows

The outstanding directory of CSAs compiled by Aschie30 at the Local Beet can be sorted and searched by delivery/pickup.

Tomato Mountain, who has employed my wife, offers home delivery. We have been very happy with our box this fall/winter.

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Think Yiddish, Dress British - Advice of Evil Ronnie to me.

The Local Beet's very big list of 2013 Farmer's Markets

It's that time again...the time of year I have to try and like kale. I know, I know, you can make it into chips (but I prefer potato chips--with lots of cheesy powder)


I even added a little cheat lobo Thai larb seasoning (which, if you are in a hurry, makes for a great larb), but I'm still not that crazy about them.

Oops, forgot to post this one too, a recent ramp 'carbonara' (o.k., not that close to carbonara but with guanciale, an egg or two, red pepper flakes, some parm and romano, toasted bread crumbs)

A recent viewing of "Food Inc." combined with my pregnancy got me thinking about joining a CSA again. We selected Angelic Organics for a few seasons several years ago and loved the quality and variety, but simply had too much for the two of us. (Couldn't find anyone who wanted to share at that time.)
The pick-up day/time was also inconvenient for us.

I was extremely happy to discover two new-to-me developments via their web site. They now offer 1/2 shares - a full box, every other week. Direct home delivery is now also an option via "Irv & Shelly's Fresh Picks." Cost is $6.95 per delivery - currently worth it to me for the convenience. Shares are delivered in an insulated bin, so even if you are at work the produce is fine until you get home.

I signed-up and sent in my check. Something to look forward to (in addition to the baby of course, )after hopefully a not too long Winter. I will certainly be using this thread as a resource when all that produce starts rolling in!

We've really been enjoying our CSA boxes from Tomato Mountain this spring. We have been getting A LOT of greens (luckily, I have a coworker who really likes kale--his wife probably hates me right now for how much of it I've pawned off on them). So we've had to get a little creative about how to cook them. I've especially enjoyed the terrific rainbow chard.

Aside from lots of salads and stir-fries using the Asian greens, here are some recent favorite uses:

Spinach and ricotta ravioli with a green garlic, almond, sun-dried tomato 'pesto' (not very inventive but used a lot of spinach):






On a similar theme, ricotta and swiss chard malfatti with browned butter, sage and parmesan

tossed with rice flour before cooking:





Risotto with chard and walnuts:




Chicken breast roulades with swiss chard, guajillo chiles and almonds (inspired by this recipe in the LA times food section)




The swiss chard, pine nut, goat cheese tart from Sunday Dinners at Lucques




Edited to add: We loved the chicken breast roulade filling. The original recipe called for pepitas, ancho chiles and a spice mixture of cinnamon, allspice, pepper. We subbed almonds, guajillo chiles and a spice mixture of Nambe chile powder, cumin, a touch of cinnamon. I will definitely be making this again. It could easily be used as a stuffing for poblano peppers to create a great vegetarian entree. We did not make the hominy in the recipe but I plan to try that next time.

That tart looks amazing! I love chard. Our first box arrives next week - so excited!!

Seriously, both the tart and ravioli look fantastic . . . a great welcome to spring.

That all looks fantastic. I got my first box from Nichols Farm today and need to find a use for lots of green stuff, so that is inspiring.

First box arrived today! A very promising start - 2 heads red leaf lettuce, 1 head green leaf lettuce, a huge bag of young spinach, large bag of arugula, 1 bunch of Swiss Chard, spring onions, a couple of handfuls of basil, 2 stalks of broccoli, a small bunch of baby turnips, and 2 zucchini.

Spent a good chunk of the evening washing, drying, and bagging greens.

For dinner, a salad of asparagus and hard-cooked eggs, and basil, tossed with garlic-yogurt dressing, served over lettuce mix.

Thank you everyone upthread for the inspiring posts! We got our first Angelic Organics box of the year yesterday with lots of greens, some broccoli and a few turnips. I'm looking for suggestions on the turnips.

Here's my Father's Day spinach salad:

http://www.finecooking.com/recipes/spin ... utons.aspx

What is it about spinach that calls out for bacon, cheese, cream, or all of the above?
Jen

Pie - we're with Angelic too. Did you get the bag of basil? I made a big batch of Balsamic-Basil Vinaigrette that should last awhile. Tonight we had a salad of Corn, Pear Tomatoes, Basil Chiffonade, and Bocconcini Mozzarella (marinated overnight with EVO, crushed red pepper, salt & pepper.). I served it over the last of the arugula from the box. Mmmmm!

I'm still waiting on inspiration for the turnips. Nothing I can think of sounds appealing in this heat.

Hi- Did you get Japanese turnips, which are cream colored? I love those. I usually just use them in stir fry or soup. I also use them when I make pasta primavera. I know it is too hot for soup this week though. Probably the easiest thing is stir fry. I have a bunch of dishes that I make when I need to clean out the fridge, such as pasta primavera, vegetable curry, vegetable chili and vegetarian shepherd's pie, but most of these dishes are for days when it isn't anywhere near this hot. Hope this helps, Nancy

No, I didn't get the basil-- bummer! I'm thinking of shaving the turnips and making salad:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/30/dinin ... ecipe.html

Nancy, yes they are cream-colored-- stirfry sounds good!

Jen

Hi- Henry Brockman who sells veggies at the Evanston farmer's market, is married to a Japanese woman, and he grows lots of Asian vegetables, including Japanese turnips, and when people ask him what to do with any of his Asian veggies, he hands them a recipe for a basic stir fry. You can even use the turnip greens in the stir fry. The Japanese turnips are sweeter than regular turnips, and I much prefer them.

They make lovely pickles...

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“The problem with people who have no vices is that generally you can be pretty sure they’re going to have some pretty annoying virtues.” Elizabeth Taylor

Hi- Several people were wondering what to do with Japanese turnips, and I just ran across this. I am on Henry Brockman's email list, where he lets people know what he is bringing to the Evanston market every Saturday. His sister Terra composes the email, and often includes recipes for whatever he is bringing that week. This week, he is bringing lots of Japanese turnips, and Terra gives suggestions about what to do with them. Here is the link:

http://www.blog.brockmanfamilyfarming.c ... rnips.html

Hope this helps, Nancy

I loved the turnips! I wound up sautéing some garlic and ginger in olive oil and then adding (all from the box,) sliced turnips, Swiss chard, and spinach along with some soy sauce. I covered the mixture and let it cook about 12 minutes. Meanwhile, I cooked some soba noodles, reserving about 1/2 cup of the cooking water. I added the water to the chard mixture and seasoned it with a tiny bit of salt and some crushed red pepper flakes. Tossed everything together and topped with toasted pine nuts and a bit of grated Parmesan. It was delish.

BTW - The flavor difference between the bagged spinach I buy in the winter and the spinach we received from Angelic - night/day.

Amazing thread. I do not partake in a CSA currently, but the pictures in this thread are awe-inspiring.
You all have my deep admiration for creativity and dedication to health eating!
If I could please make a personal request. Most, but not all the posts do include recipes. If you mention a dish you made, can you please post the recipe or link to same.
I have no plans, but I daresay the posts in this thread could be a beautiful book.
Keep 'em coming!

Jill

I loved the turnips too-- I braised them and their greens in a bit of leftover gravy from a braised pork shoulder-- excellent. Thanks for the hint to use the greens. Thanks for the tips everyone!

Kale is perpetually difficult for me-- and Angelic loves loves loves kale-- especially the curly stuff that really fills up the box. I've tried the kale chips-- twice-- and they were awful both times, bitter oily things. I don't know what I did wrong with the chips, but there is good news. The Kitch'n had an article about so-called "massaged" kale salads, which use thin-sliced raw kale that you rub with salt and acid (i.e., lemon juice) to soften it up a bit. Here is one example:
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/aart ... index.html

I tried that tonight with part of a big bunch of kale and it was excellent! I added a bit of mustard to the dressing and used raisins and toasted almonds as the complements to the kale. It took at least 3 minutes of rubbing and massaging before the kale softened and even then it retained substantial chew, but not in a bad way. My marginally veg-averse husband had seconds.



Cheers, Jen

Jen, you got kale? I didn't get kale!

Next box arrives tomorrow. The 1/2 box, every other week, seems to be the perfect amount for the two of us. I was able to use everything we received except 2 zucchini (not Jonathan's favorite and I didn't have time to do a zucchini bread.)

Froze the zucchini and eagerly await tomorrow's treasure...

You didn't get kale? Want some? We get our box on Saturdays, so we must be off in the schedule. My husband doesn't like zucchini either-- too much zucchini-tomato stew when he was a kid. However, he really likes this zucchini salad from Fine Cooking-- you make strips of zucchini with a vegetable peeler and then dress it with a salsa verde (herbs, almonds, lemon juice, capers, olive oil). Give it a try!
http://www.finecooking.com/recipes/shav ... verde.aspx


Here it has some carrot shavings too.

Cheers, Jen

Totally with you on this--not a fan of the chips but I'm actually liking (have to admit not loving) massaged kale salads. I really like the Jean-Georges Vongerichten kale salad recipe. The nice thing about kale salads is that they hold up well once dressed so you can eat the leftovers the next day.

I'm totally making this with the rest of the kale, thank you!!!
Jen

I'm with Angelic as well. This is my 1st time ever belonging to a CSA. I also should disclose, I'm on their Learning Center Board.

I'm having a hard time with the tiny bits of things. A lovely head of broccoli, but not much larger than a big guy's fist, a small head of cauliflower (it's the same size as my fist) and I just roasted the 4 small beets last night when the box came in. I can always add them later to a salad ( I even washed and dried the beet greens).

So far I'm making a list of what's in the box on the side of the fridge and grabbing my cookbooks.

I'm going to try Plenty's Mixed grill for the cauliflower & kohlrabi.

We still eat out a lot & that makes it harder to cook or prepare.

I did make the green couscous, also from Plenty, yesterday with some green onions from the box that was a winner at the Master Gardener meeting & potluck last night.

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Ava-"If you get down and out, just get in the kitchen and bake a cake."- Jean Strickland

Horto In Urbs- Falling in love with Urban Vegetable Gardening