CSA Help: I got ___ in my CSA box and need recipes!

[kimeats]

Figured I would start a thread for us folks that belong to CSAs and may have gotten something in our boxes that we do not normally cook/eat. Or just for new ideas for the same old veggies :)

This week I received some spinach, snow peas and sugar snap peas, lots of lettuce and herbs. I have no idea what to do with the snow peas or sugar snap peas. I will be braising the spinach with garlic "chips".

[foodrocks]

I also got spring onions with a large white bulb at the end, no clue what to do with them (was thinking of roasting them). Also have radishes, swiss chard and kale to work with. Definitely going to do a creamed kale with bacon, but would love suggestions for the other two.

[Nettie]

I got those onions, too. I was thinking about a pizza topped with caramelized onions or a pissaladiere, or a savory onion tart like this one: http://www.marga.org/food/rest/books/...

[beetlebug]

The one recipe I liked from COTM - Vegetable Harvest used spring onions with potatoes to make a potato salad. I used up a fair amount of spring onions with this recipe.

http://www.chowhound.com/topics/43717...

[seattledebs]

I love spring onions! Use the whole thing. Chop the white part any size you normally would for an onion. Chop the in-between white-and-green section thickly, and chop the green parts any size. Saute in butter with a little salt. Use in omelets, pasta dishes, with chicken or any way you'd use sauteed onions, only these are better.

Are the ones you have sweet or regular? Sweet ones are great sliced thin in a salad with tomato and basil.

Debs
http://www.seattlelocalfood.com

[kimeats]

I chopped up a spring onion and sauteed in hot oil for a few mins, added the sugar snaps and snowpeas and then some garlic, sautee until bright green. finish with a hit of soy sauce and sesame oil and maybe some sesame seeds. Delicious.

[dingey]

Swiss chard leaves are DELICIOUS in curry. I'll try to find the recipe that I used a while ago and loved. It was a basic lentil curry with a bit of lemon and lots of chard leaves. They're just the right level of bitterness to work with the curry, and just tough enough to stand up texturally. Now, chard STEMS I'm still hard-pressed to deal with.

Kale works wonders with sausages. The first kale I ever ate was when I worked as a dishwasher in an upscale Italian restaurant. Our nightly worker food was penne with kale (lightly parboiled and then sauteed with the sausage while it cooked) and sausage. DELICIOUS. Add a bit of pesto. Mmmmm.

Using kale, chard, etc. as a side dish: Wash it, (with kale, parboil it briefly to soften it--usually the CSA stuff is relatively tender to start with, compared to the grocery store kale), and sautee it in some olive oil or butter with carmelized onion and a little garlic (and, with kale, a pinch of nutmeg--it seems to love nutmeg). Toss in some golden raisins as it cooks, and use some balsamic or red wine vinegar at the end, some toasted pine nuts....delicious.

[foodrocks]

Oooo, that last dish sounds awesome. I may have to try it tonight! I took your advice and made a killer soup with italian sausage, Niman Ranch bacon and the kale, they work so well together!

Anyone have any idea what to do with heaps of rosemary and sage, other than pesto?

[kimeats]

Rosemary foccaccia and roasted potatoes? White pizza with rosemary? I'd use the sage with pork chops or in a sauce for pork.

[JasmineG]

Rosemary focaccia is a great idea, I posted about the great recipe in Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone in one of the COTM threads, I could paraphrase it for you if you like (or if it's not too hot to bake where you are). If you're grilling, it's also great to do shish kabobs using the rosemary branches as the skewer. Some lamb kabobs like that would be great.

[Nettie]

Try the recipe for salamoia about halfway down this page: http://www.growitalian.com/sep_2007.htm
It's a condiment that you make by combining salt, garlic, rosemary, and sage in a mortar. Rub it on chicken or pork before grilling or roasting it, or combine it with oil and use it on grilled vegetables.

[Nettie]

I just tried your side dish kale, using last week's onions, which I caramelized, and this week's kale. I topped it with a poached egg--it was really yummy.

[NYchowcook]

Please don't roast your tender spring onions! You'd be missing the point of them. They're mild and not as dry as storage onions. Use in salads, saute w/ your chard (and garlic).
When you tire of eating radishes out of hand (I like mine w/ salt), you can make some fancy tea sandwiches w/ butter and thinly sliced radishes. You can make a composed salad.

[kimeats]

I just got a CSA bag containing 4 very large green onions or "spring onions" with bulbs at least 4 inches in diameter. Any ideas for these?
Got some beets too, they are roasting right now to be pickled.

[rudeboy]

Roasting to be pickled? Sounds like my attitude yesterday!

[kimeats]

Yeah they are easier to slice and tend to crisp up better if you roast the beets first then can with brine. What I do is roast with olive oil and then peel, julienne/matchstick the beets and toss with about equal amount of thinly sliced onion then pack into jars and cover with brine. I usually use apple cider vinegar, salt, water and sugar for the brine. The beets and the onions will flavor the rest of the way.

ETA: These are golden beets which look beautiful packed in the jar with onion.

[rudeboy]

oooh - I love the golden beets even more than the red ones. I'd bet that is a great looking jar. Thanks for the follow-up!

[kimeats]

I'll post a photo when I get home tonight.

[jlafler]

That sounds divine.

[Cuoca]

We are getting lots of radishes. What is everyone doing with radishes?

[dexters]

radishes with butter!

I also like radishes sliced very thin on top of cucumbers also sliced very thin, and then top with a little cream cheese.

radish and corn salad, with jalepenos and fresh lime juice & cumin is good too.

[Gooseberry]

use the search bar above - there's recently been a couple great discussions on radishes. Gave me plenty of ideas, especially about cooking with them.

[Missyme]

I've posted this before, but it's worth another post because it's so good: slice radishes, mix with 2 diced hard-boiled eggs, lots of parsley, and a mustardy vinaigrette. One of my favorite salads.

[dexters]

I have so many carrots! I've done carrots with shallots and honey, carrot salad, carrot cake, raw carrots...anything else?

My favorite way to cook fennel is to first blanch it, then put it in a pan with some olive oil and garlic. Let it brown a bit first, and then add some dry vermouth and season. Then top with some bread crumbs & serve. It's a Batali technique, and remains my favorite.

I never get around to cooking sugar snap peas because they always dissappear raw.

[lgss]

Carrot juice used lots of carrots. You can throw in various other ingredients (spinach, cucumber, ginger, parsley, apples, etc) or add oj or apple juice for some variety. Some juicers work better than others for carrot juice. We use our Champion and then save the pulp for carrot bread.

[smtucker]

Carrot with ginger soup is a household favorite. A little olive oil in a pan. Drop in cubed carrots and onions [2/3 carrots to 1/3 onions] with some slices of crushed ginger and some kosher salt. When the vegetables are soft, add enough water to cover and let simmer until vegetables can be mashed with a fork. Use an immersion blender or a potato masher to smash into soup form.

If you don't like ginger, omit it and instead add peppercorns and at least one bay leaf with the vegetables. I like to add fresh tarragon when I add the water. Serve with a toasted piece of good bread topped with goat cheese.

I have frozen this soup successfully. Not quite as nice a texture, but it works pretty well.

[jlafler]

Carrots make good pickles. Actually, one good thing to do with a glut of almost any vegetable is to make pickles. They're easy, and because of the acidity of the brine, they're one of the safer types of home canning.

[seconds]

A few recipes I like for carrots:

Roasted Carrots
http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,1977,FOOD_9936_21484,00.html

Carrot Soup with Ginger and Lemon
http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/4083?cached=F&savedReview=true

Carrot Cupcakes with Orange Icing
http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/foo...

[dexters]

I made this soup tonight. It was really tasty. Thanks for the recipe!

[mrsjenpeters]

dh does carrots glazed with butter and brandy. yum.

[Nettie]

I received a couple of beets in my last CSA drop. Now, I love beets, but I normally roast them, and with unseasonably hot temperatures there was no way I was going to turn on my oven just for two beets. I found this recipe from Mark Bittman for Beet Roesti: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/st..., and cooked it in a non-stick crepe pan--it came out perfectly: crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside. Even my husband, who doesn't love beets like I do, thought it was really good, but pointed out that most things cooked in butter taste pretty good.

[i_eat_a_lot_of_ice_cream]

Nettie, can you repost that link? It doesn't work.

Never mind, I found a link! http://yummysmells.blogspot.com/2007/...

sounds good!!!

[Gooseberry]

I love the flavour of both sugar snaps and snow peas, but I tend to julienne them into strips so they cook quicker. A quick saute with olive oil or butter. Mmmm.

[GeeBeeEmm]

I got Sugar Snap Peas last box and cooked them with the recipe that was in the newsletter, which called for steaming and then a quick saute in butter with scapes and lemon balm. Boy, I wish I just steamed them for a minute - i overcooked them and the butter was too much. I did sneak a couple tastes after the steaming - I should have trusted myself to end it there and serve them. Oh well, it's part of the fun of cooking, right?

[Gooseberry]

Experimentation's the name of the game. The more I cook, the more I use recipes as guidelines, and go by feel and taste. I think not enough home (or restaurant) cooks taste before serving.

The lemon balm's a good idea, which I must try. My sugarsnap plants have just flowered - when (if!) they set fruit (can you say 'set snaps'?) I think a saute with lemon balm (or even lemon thyme or verbena) would be a nice homegrown meal.

[scorpioscuba]

I love to saute sugar snap peas with garlic and olive oil and then finish at the end with some soy, rice wine vinegar and sriracha. I pour it over brown rice and have a nice filling, healthy and quick meal!

[jackie de]

We grow sugar snap peas so we have lots at one time. They are wonderful raw and in stir fry's. Iv'e tried them pickled (epicurious recipe) for the first time this year, but haven't tasted them yet, so I can't rec. them. Also another really great way to fix is blanch them---no more than 2 min., cool completely in ice water,dry well and then add about 1 T. sesame oil and a few tea. of toasted seasame seeds. Add kosher salt to taste and you have a great dish!

[montecoretiger]

i have to use up fennel, red cabbage, and escarole.

i have some braising and soup recipes that use cabbage and fennel, but it's really hot out, and braising and soup do not appeal. i'd rather figure out something salady / light / summery to do with them and not sure what.

and escarole i have no idea.

and i still haven't used my kohlrabi from last week -- anyone know how long it keeps in the fridge?

[katecm]

I love to make a raw fennel salad with orange segments, sliced red onion, poppyseeds and goat cheese. You could make that into more of a slaw, using shaved red cabbage to bulk it up. Also, sliced red cabbage makes a great topping for fish tacos.

Escarole you can saute like other greens.

[diva360]

Fennel also works thinly sliced, lightly sauteed with thinly sliced sweet onions. Dress with plenty of lemon juice, parsley, oil, and salt and pepper. Serve this cold as a salad with grilled fish or other proteins.

[mrsjenpeters]

i second the fennel in a salad idea. i like mine with blanched red beets. then either orange segments & red wine vinegar/olive oil, OR with some greens (watercress or something) & a horseradish/creme fraiche dressing, maybe red onion.

[Gooseberry]

I love fennel finely sliced, tossed in a lemon and mustard vinaigrette. So crunchy, so summery, so good.

stirfry the cabbage, also thinly sliced, then douse with some sort of Asian dressing. Nice alternative to coleslaw.

With regards to the kohlrabi - they seem to last quite a while. I kept one for three weeks in the fridge (avoiding it), then used it. I still don't like them, but it wasn't off or soft!

[Karen_Schaffer]

I love fennel thinly sliced and served with sliced oranges and drizzled with a bit of olive oil. It's one of our standard salads, so good! You can jazz it up with red onion, black olives, and cheese, but just the basic fennel/orange combo is so good.

The inner leaves of escarole make a delicious salad. They should be sweet with a bitter edge to the flavor. A strong vinaigrette and other strong flavors are good for them. Make a Salad au Lardons with bacon pieces, a vinaigrette using the bacon drippings, and top with a poached or fried egg to make a full meal. Now I'm getting hungry! The outer escarole leaves are best chopped and cooked since they're tougher and more bitter. Braising them with garlic and chile flakes is yummy.

Kohlrabi will keep for weeks in the refrigerator. It's a member of the cabbage family, bred for long storage. But the easiest (and best, imho) way to enjoy kohlrabi is to simply slice it into wedges and eat it like you would celery or carrot sticks. Good kohlrabi should be sweet and juicy. It may or may not need to be peeled, depending on whether it's gotten fibrous next to the skin.

[seattledebs]

I second gooseberry on the fennel salad with mustard/lemon/olive oil dressing.

How about making sauerkraut out of that cabbage? There's an easy recipe here: http://www.wildfermentation.com/resources.php?page=sauerkraut

Debs
http://www.seattlelocalfood.com

[hollyd]

I have a recipe from Lidia's Italy for stuffed escarole. You blanch the escarole and then roll it up with the stuffing, then bake it with bread crumb on top. I wasn't crazy about her stuffing (capers, raisins, breadcrumb, cheese) but you could really stuff them with whatever.

[mrsjenpeters]

oh i remembered something else for fennel. i had some apple & fennel hand pies at a dames de escoffier event with cheddar cheese ice cream that were to die for!

[rudeboy]

You are lucky - I got okra six weeks in a row in Texas. I used to like okra.

[kimeats]

Wow that sucks!
I also have a fruit only CSA and today I got more strawberries and some sweet cherries.

[jlafler]

Oog. If it were me, I'd try pickling some.

[lgss]

Here's a recent thread on kale.
http://www.chowhound.com/topics/530801

[diva360]

Snow peas and sugar snap peas are also good cold dressed with orange juice, soy sauce, garlic, ginger, sesame oil, and some sesame seeds. Cook for a minute and shock as described above, then make the dressing to your taste.

[Val]

I agree with others here that snow peas are delightful raw...they are also delightful raw dipped in hummus! We often use them in our stir-fries, too! Lucky you!

[toodie jane]

steam the snow peas and add to a shrimp/buckwheat noodle cold salad.
Dressing:
2 T soy
1/3 c rice wine
dash cayenne
2 T honey
1/4 t. dry mustard
2 T sesame seed
1 T sesame oil
whisk together and serve over cold cooked soba noodles, bits of cooked ham, cooked shrimp, minced green onion, sliced cukes and bean sprouts

[LaLa]

sugar snap peas and buttermilk dressing dressing

[katecm]

I LOVE to snack on raw sugar snap peas . But, if you're looking for more of a recipe, this may suit you.

1 tablespoon minced shallot
1 tablespoon sherry vinegar
1 tablespoon sour cream or crème fraîche
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
Salt and freshly ground pepper
1/2 pound sugar snap peas
1/2 pound snow peas, halved crosswise
One 10-ounce box frozen baby peas (about 2 cups)

Bring a large saucepan of salted water to a boil. Fill a large bowl with ice water. In another large bowl, whisk the shallot, vinegar and sour cream together. Whisk in the olive oil until emulsified. Season with salt and pepper.
Add the sugar snap peas to the boiling water and blanch for 20 seconds. Add the snow peas and cook for 20 seconds. Add the frozen baby peas and cook for 20 seconds longer, until the sugar snaps and snow peas are crisp-tender and the baby peas are heated through. Drain and immediately transfer the colander to the ice water to stop the cooking. Drain again and pat the peas dry. Add the peas to the dressing, season with salt and pepper and toss to coat.