CSA Week 11

In Your Share:

Green Beans
Green Onions
Tropea Red Onion
Yellow Finn Potatoes
Cauliflower and/or Broccoli
Cucumber and/or zucchini
Kale
Basil

Full Shares only:

Romaine Lettuce
Tomatoes (some sites only)

This is a lovely share, and I was tempted to bag one up for myself.  Lots of my favorite items and lots of them.  We are just into our final (and best) rotation of green beans, and finally have enough to give everyone a good fat bag of them.  I ran out of seed for the French Filet type halfway through the bed, so you’ll mostly be seeing the flat Romano beans (also called Italian green beans) for the rest of the year.  I love both kinds, but this year I’ve found myself gravitating to the Romanos.  They are just so succulent and flavorful and cook up beautifully.  This last rotation is especially sweet and juicy, so enjoy!  We’ll be picking it for several weeks, so hopefully you’ll be getting them well into September.

More beautiful cauliflower and broccoli, half shares get one or the other, and full shares get both.  I’ve been eating lots of cauliflower, and I’ve even been branching out from my all time favorites of roasting it or making soup.  This week I had a lot of extra produce, particularly cauliflower, floating around, so I decided to chop it all up in the food processor and dehydrate it into veggie chips.  They are delicious!  They are salty, savory, and crunchy like potato chips but are super nutritious.  I made 2 kinds, a pesto flavored one and a chipotle cilantro flavored one.  Both had a base mostly of kale, cauliflower, walnuts, and green onions (I’ve been swimming in them too), and then I added herbs, spices, and other veggies to them.  I ground everything together, spread it on sheets of parchment paper in the dehydrator (about 3/8″ thick) and dried them until they were crispy.  You could also do it in an oven (preferably convection) on very low heat, although you need to keep a closer eye on them to make sure they don’t burn.  This is a great way to use up lots of veggies and catch up if you still have produce from old CSA shares.

Today’s potatoes are yellow finns, which are our latest variety of potatoes (and Mike’s favorite).  They are super flavorful and make great home fries or roasted potatoes.  I even cut some into thin slabs and grilled them this week, make sure to keep your heat low if you do that!  Yellow finns are similar to yukon golds, but we’ve had better luck growing them.  They are also our best storage potato, so expect to see lots of them in the fall.  Our potato growth this year was a bit spotty (new soil and delayed irrigation), but the yellow finns are all huge and vigorous, so we’ll be having lots.  They’re a good variety to have lots of!

Your onions are a Mediterranean variety of red onion called Tropea, which are meant to be used fresh (though not necessarily raw).  They are a pretty hot onion, and I especially like them for pasta dishes, sautes, and stir fries.  We enjoy growing lots of different kinds of onions, and while each has a bit of a different flavor they can all be used interchangeably in most dishes.  So see which ones you like best.

Full shares got romaine today, which are fresh and lush but unfortunately a bit chewed up.  We’ve had lots of grasshoppers around recently, and there are lots of holes in the lettuce leaves.  It affects the look but not the flavor, and they are perfectly good to eat.  If it really bothers you, grind them up into your veggie chips!

Herbed Romano Beans with Cauliflower or Broccoli

I’ve made this 4 times in the last couple weeks because I can’t get enough!  I first made it with broccoli, but then tried it with cauliflower.  It’s hard to say which is tastier.  Broccoli cooks more quickly, so add the green beans first if you’re using broccoli, and second if you’re using cauliflower.  It’s important to cut the veggies up small for the right effect, I cut my beans thinly on the bias (diagonally) and chop up the cauli or broccoli into very small florets. 

5 cloves garlic, minced
A few sprigs each of fresh thyme and tarragon, minced (or substitute 1/2 tsp each dried)
3/4 pound romano green beans, sliced thinly on bias (about 3 cups)
Broccoli or cauliflower, chopped, to make about 3 cups
2 Tbsp butter
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 tsp red chili flakes (or to taste)
Salt and Pepper to taste

Heat a large frying pan over medium heat.  Melt the butter, then add garlic, thyme, and tarragon.  Saute for a minute or two.

If using cauliflower: add cauliflower florets and salt, cook about 15 minutes or until they are starting to turn tender.  Add green beans and olive oil and cook another 10 – 15 minutes, or until veggies are cooked through and beginning to brown.  Add salt, pepper, and chili flakes to taste.

If using broccoli: add beans and salt and cook about 5 minutes until they start to turn tender.  Add broccoli and olive oil and cook another 5 – 10 minutes, or until veggies are cooked through and beginning to brown.  Add salt, pepper, and chili flakes to taste.

Lemony Greens

I love sautéed greens, especially kale. This is a simple 10 minute recipe that can use up a whole lot of kale. It would also be good with chard, beet greens, komatsuna, or just about any other leafy green. Serves 2 to 4.

In a frying pan or skillet over medium heat, melt:

2 Tbsp butter

Sautee briefly (1 to 2 minutes):

            Zest of ½ lemon

            3 cloves garlic, chopped

Add:

            1 bunch of kale, deveined and chopped into large pieces           

Cook 5 to 10 minutes, until tender. Finish with:

            1 ½ Tbsp lemon juice