Remember how I said it seemed like an awful lot of food for our first week compared to other CSAs? Yep, it was. Turns out there was a mix-up at our pick-up location around half-shares compared to full-shares and some of us half-share folks (like myself) ended up with a full-share, meaning, sadly, some of the full-share people got short-changed. I'm sure the CSA made it up to them somehow. That's the risk of a CSA dropping food off at a location and not having someone from the CSA physically present to manage the pick-ups. On the flip side, live and learn--I suspect they'll send out more information ahead of time to avoid that happen again. And, I'm happy to say, this week's delivery feels far more manageable for me!
So, what happened with last week's (full-share) delivery?
Roasted kohlrabi
Out of the 4 kohlrabi, I've used two so far. They keep well, so I'll be able to use the second two sometime in the next couple of days and be fine. I peeled and diced the kohlrabi, then tossed them in a flavored olive oil I have named "Tuscan Garden," with some salt and pepper, and roasted them in a 400 (or was it 425?) oven for about 25 minutes.
They were quite good. It's somewhere between a potato and a turnip, I'd say--most of the flavor comes from the seasonings. I'm thinking I'll roast the other two, but then maybe puree them into a soup. On the other hand, what you see in the picture is both kohlrabi, so I'm not quite sure it's enough for a soup--or, at least, not enough to bother with the extra work soup would involve. (That's a turkey burger with goat cheese and roasted red pepper on the right--nummy.) I will say, however, the whole peeling process is a bit tricky as it's a thick skin with pokey things so, forasmuch as I enjoyed the kohlrabi, I'm not sure I'll be out buying them at farmers markets every wek or anything.
I missed the window of opportunity on using the kohlrabi leaves; I'd have had to use them in the first couple of days and just couldn't pull it together to do that. So I can't report on them.
My daughter used some of the snap peas and garlic scapes in a very tasty fried rice. She also added some red bell pepper we had kicking around. I hadn't added any soy sauce yet when I took this picture--I thought the colors were too pretty to ruin yet. I did, however, add it later; glad my daughter learned how to make fried rice, although I was eating it for a week. (She has the same problem I do of not really knowing how to scale certain dishes for any less than an army.)
The rhubarb is still sitting in my refrigerator. I'm hoping it's still good; it's just been a lot busier lately than I thought it would be.
We also still have a lot of snap peas and garlic scapes left, but they're also lasting well. We gave about a third of the snap peas to my mother-in-law, and about half of our apples. I'm still eating apples too. Makes me glad that I'd decided to only pay for the half share this year; if we got that amount of produce every week, we'd be turning green!
Week 2 Delivery
Week 2 delivery
This week, we got (our half-share) delivery that includes:
1 red leaf lettuce
1 green leaf lettuce
1 bunch radishes
2 zucchini (and so it begins)
More snap peas
1 basil plant (in a pot)
2 celtuces
Right. That's not a typo. Celtuces. Never heard of them before. Even the CSA folks said they were new to them too. Apparently they're big in Asia, though (they're also known as "Chinese lettuce"), which means it's quite possible I ate them somewhere along the way and just didn't know it. Here's a link to a description. Apparently you don't eat the leaves so much as the stem. When I looked at them, my first thought was, "I wonder if I could shave this lengthwise and cook it up as shavings?" Sure enough, check out this article from Huffington Post. I really am getting the hang of this cooking thing--woo! So that'll be fun to play with.
The radishes are going straight to my MIL as none of us are radish fans; the basil plant is also going to my MIL because I just put four basils in the ground about three weeks ago here, so I'll be awash in basil in no time. Everything else is going to be used up quite easily, though. Love me some red and green leaf lettuce, and you already know how we feel about snap peas. Although, frankly, we'll probably be glad to see the last of them with all the snap peas we've gotten the last couple of week.