I'm proud to help support a local farmer, especially one that is passionate about preserving native and heirloom varieties. Luckily, this doesn't require any sacrifice on my part - the quality of the produce I get far exceeds that from the grocery store. Just look at the beautiful food I get to eat this week.
That Armenian cucumber is 2 1/2 feet long! As the volunteers and staff prepared for the CSA pick-up yesterday, we worried that members would be overwhelmed by the size of them. After my recent cucumber windfall, I knew I could handle one of these monsters, but not everyone is quite as adventurous in the kitchen. Sampling is an effective way to encourage members to use something from their share that may prove intimidating at first glance, so we got to work slicing and dicing.
The cucumber slices were tasty, but they really needed to be dressed up to get members jazzed up about them. It started with a splash of vinegar and sprinkle of salt and pepper, and soon included red onion slices and tomato chunks. The samples helped with the cukes, but many people have never tried eating their garden weeds, so now the purslane was causing trepidation. The turning point came when we added sprigs of it to the samples, creating a fresh and tasty salad. Suddenly, folks started to get enthusiastic about the possibilities of their share instead of being intimidated by it.
Purslane is considered one of the worst invasive weeds worldwide. I don't consider something this tasty a weed. It is a delicious vegetable that can be eaten fresh, cooked, or pickled. While looking at recipes this morning, I discovered that it can even be dried for winter use. Too bad I won't have any left for drying as I plan to eat it all up. Dinner tonight will be steamed red potatoes with a side salad of cucumber, red onion, tomatoes, and purslane. The other half of the bunch is destined for pickling.
Dessert will be easy this week; all I have to do is cut up that Sharlyn melon. It may seem big weighing in at nine pounds, but I'm not easily intimidated by fruit anymore after that 29 pound watermelon last summer. Considering this melon variety is highly perishable, I may have to puree and freeze part of it to use in summer smoothies. So sad; poor me; what a hardship.
Speaking of enormous vegetables, I suppose I also better tackle my zucchini from last week. It's taking up space in the refrigerator, waiting to be converted into tasty bread. I'll be using the same recipe that I used to conquer last summer's huge squash. Thank goodness it's overcast and a tiny bit cooler today. Heating up the house while baking bread is the pits in the summer, but I'm not crazy about baking quick breads in the solar oven. The breads do not brown as well due to the higher moisture levels inside the oven. I suspect that I'll eventually want a cob oven for outdoor bread baking. We can just tack that on to my super-long project wish list.
21 comments:
Awesome! We have a CSA here, but I opted to go with a local company that offers local and organic in the warm months, and organic in the cold months. It gets delivered in a box! It has forced me to try new things.
That all sounds sooooo good! It's great that you were able to give visuals and tastes of what end products might come out of the CSA box. I'm sure that will help keep people coming. We have two CSAs here but no one delivers (I'm totally jealous!). For now, I'm a total farmers market groupie :)
That is a GIANT cucumber. Giant.
We got the biggest tomatoes at the farmer's market yesterday... but tomatoes are easy when big!
beautiful food! i grew up in AZ and i am amazed at how much wonderful food they can grow, not to mention most of my favorite foods really thrive there! wish i'd appreciated it more when i lived there.
i love cukes. i'm envious. here in utah the farmers market just opened and there's hardly anything...a few herbs and greens and that's basically it.
and i want a cob oven, too. i'm crazy about cob.
ps: started the banana challenge today! we just ran out yesterday. (as fast we go through FOUR BUNCHES of bananas, maybe we'll save money!)
When I first started the CSA, I often had no idea what to do with the stuff that came in my box, but it's actually taught me a lot about cooking - not just how to use those particular items, but how flavors work together, how I can make substitutions, how I can tweak recipes to work with what I have. It's been great, and I've tried a ton of stuff I never would have before.
Holy crap! That is a wicked looking cuke! :o) Good thing you got it, I would NEVER know what to do with it. It's great that your CSA has the samplers and recipes. More farmers markets should do that sort of thing! Awesome!
When this CSA was small, the shares were boxed. Now that there are almost 500 members total (over 3 pick-up days), it's easier to set out the crates and have each person pick up their own share.
CSAs are a great way to reconnect with your food and with seasonal eating. Many CSAs have newsletters and offer recipes. In fact, when searching for ways to use some items we get, especially for heirloom varieties, CSA websites often yield the best information.
It can be a big shift for people to learn to make meals with whatever they receive rather than buy what they want for this week's particular menu. The week's menu becomes ingredient-driven rather than recipe-driven. But, as Melissa says, it teaches you a lot about flavors!
Using up that cucumber will be easy: more fresh refrigerator pickles (they're so good and 4th of July is coming), salad, and agua fresca.
Chandelle, that's a lot of bananas. What will you be substituting? Something local and in season?
Instead of baking traditional breads in the summer how about making flatbreads on a cast iron griddle over your BBQ? I make fresh pita like this and chapati and fry bread... I love flatbreads!
yep, we're going to buy a lot of local fruit, which we usually skimp on, and freeze it for the winter. that should be nice. raspberries, peaches, apples, etc. yum! i am a bit bummed about the smoothie situation...bananas really "make" a smoothie. without it it's much more runny. i'm not sure how i can get that same creaminess without it. oh well.
Something I ate at Millennium Restaurant last night had purslane in the salad... I haven't ever seen it growing in my yard, but I'm excited that something that looks like a 5' tall stinging nettle is growing next to the driveway (can you say chanterelle and stinging nettle ravioli? I knew you could!).
I just planted a zucchini plant this morning because the boyfriend wouldn't let me harvest his blossoms for dinner - he's worried he won't have enough zucchini (muah-ha ha ha ha!).
I've had a bit of a mixed experience with my CSA... but I have a pile of summer squash and zucchini in the fridge, so I think I am going to make a pile of zucchini bread to freeze and hold for July 4th.
I am such a dolt. I am new to the CSA thing and I forgot to go get my share yesterday. We've only just had one pick up so far and my husband went and got it. By the time I realized I'd forgotten, it was way too late in the evening to pick up. I called and left a message, but since we can't pick it up today either, our share will get donated to someone else. That is fine of course, I just feel like such a dolt for forgetting. I hate it when life gets so busy that you forget the very stuff you really want to remember :( Lesson learned though - I won't forget again.
Your share looks delicious, Chile -not only are the veggies big, but that is one big CSA with 500 members! Ours has about 40.
That looks absolutely delicious. Thank goodness for your experience in wielding off massive amounts of cucumbers.
Wow, a 2 1/2 foot long cucumber, I would be intimidated too.
Great idea giving out samples, I fear that a lot of people who get CSA shares here might be a bit overwhelmed and not sure what to do with some of the more 'exotic' stuff. I should suggest samples to our farmer.
I have never seen purslane, well actually if it's one of the most 'invasive weeds' I probably have and didn't know it. I've been very interested in a little bit of foraging for wild foods, just get nervous that I won't know what I am doing.
Your dinner sounds perfect.
A cob oven, never heard of that, I'll have to check it out.
Holy crap, that is a huge cucumber! Is an Armenian cucumber different in flavor than the bog standard varieties? I love the pretty striations on the outside. I've never seen that particular breed around here.
Our farmer provides an online newsletter each week to help with the "monsters." It is a huge help. I would like to think I am a little kitchen savvy but that kohlrabi threw me for a loop.
Our CSA has about 200 members divided among four pick-ups in three days. Mine is Tuesdays, the farmers markets are Saturdays. I love it. DH complains that he has to get up earlier on Saturday mornings than any other days of the week! I give him one of those looks and remind him that he eats well as a result.
Freezing locals fruits in season is a lot of work, even if you buy it already picked. But, it is soooo worth the effort. Raspberry season has started here, and in a couple of weeks the black ones will come. 12 quarts is my order this year, most of which will be frozen. Historically I got no help other than driving from the man, but last year after we attended Vegetarian Summerfest I got a terrific compliment from him. He had heard one of the dieticians speaking and said something like "hon, I finally understand the value of all the work you've done freezing all those fruits for us and I really do appreciate it". Wow.
The CSA and farmers markets have really taught me how to cook seasonally, which was a totally new experience. I'm still learning and honestly hope I always will, wherever I happen to be getting seasonal produce.
Shepherds salad is a great place to use cucumbers. Young tender kohlrabis make good salad ingredients and good hummus dippers. The greens go in with the kale.
Purslane, ack, anyone wanna come weed my garden? One plant left to go to seed makes for mmmmmmmmmmm, lots of frustration the following season. Unfortunately neither of us cares for it. :-(
plumerias - might I suggest a Craigslist ad?
Like purslane? Get all you want for free!
U weed, u haul.
Contact "Tired Gardener"....soon!
That melon looks so good. It will be some time before we see those here. Not that we're going hungry at all.
I cracked up about the cucumber. You are the cucumber Queen. I read a casual recipe on the Culinate blog today by Deborah Madison for a bread, butter, lovage and cucumber sandwich. Sounds nice for a hot desert day. In fact the article said she lives in New Mexico now that I think of it.
Umm, Chile, I lived in a house made of cob when I was in Somerset! A lot of the old houses (mine dated from 1800 in places) were cob built as stone was a rarity for worker houses & barns. I found out what cob meant when I read Mrs. Beeton's Book of GARDEN Management & she explained how cob walls were made. The original walls were several feet thick, keeping heat in in Winter & out in Summer. Cob there was mud & straw & often walls still had green plants preserved in them when they collapsed due to neglect or were removed. Cob has to wear "boots & a raincoat" to survive ~ tarred base & then a waterproof coating on the exterior & good plaster on the interior.
(Mrs. B. also mentions rose growers to the Queen in Langport & Kelways Nursery is still there & trading; also the use of human waste for the garden ~ the 2 varieties were collected separately, but I can't remember the details & she's still buried in the container)
Book I mentioned ages back: "Handy Farm Devices & How to Make Them" by Rolfe Cobleigh
There are a ton of CSA's in Seattle- just dont live in the southend- hard to find any that deliver down here- I suppose the neighborhoods are not chic enough!
I have finally found three-but too late in the year to join. Will be joinging up next season though
Yummy! I love love love purslane and am so pleased to learn new tricks to do with it!
And I too am coveting a cob oven...
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