CSA Week One Wrap-Up

Tuesday, June 23, 2009 by Marianne 7 Comments

I love the CSA in the early season – not only can I eat everything in my box with no problem but I can also supplement its contents with a trip to the farmers’ market.

To review, this week’s share contained baby bok choy, kale, spinach, lettuce, arugula, hakueri turnips, green onions, and strawberries, plus my broccoli that I got from Bill. I supplemented that with a trip to the Winchester Farmers’ Market on Saturday where I picked up more strawberries, a loaf of bread, a bunch of radishes, a red potato, a summer squash, a log of chèvre, and a wedge of blue cheese. This was, of course, supplemented with items from the supermarket and my pantry.

How did I use it, let’s see…

• Baby bok choy – a baby bok choy salad that was featured in this week’s newsletter
• Kale – African Pineapple Peanut Stew, of course!
• Spinach – My new go-to greens recipe – Greens & Beans Pizza.
• Lettuce – We just ate it, as we will continue to do throughout the season (I don’t mean to knock lettuce, but it is the one thing in our CSA that I could live without. I know other people like it because it is easy and straightforward but I just find it dull!)
• Arugula – also on the pizza.
• Hakueri turnips, broccoli, radishes, potato, and summer squash – made up my Roasted Supper Veggies.
• Green onions – they were everywhere – in the stew, on salads and in my frittata.
• Strawberries – Ha! Those I just ate!

On to the recipes…

This pizza is amazing and I think that every single green that I get this summer will have its place on it. I created the recipe by combining this recipe for a similar pizza and this recipe for a dip/salad that Amanda made. I also jazzed the whole thing up with roasted garlic because I just love it!

The garlic becomes a part of a white bean paste, that is spread all over some pizza dough…

It’s then topped with cheese and baked for a few minutes. The crust comes out of the oven and it topped with some greens…

…And baked ’til done!

Greens and Beans Pizza

• Pizza dough
• Greens – if they are CSA greens, make sure you clean them well.  I used arugula and spinach.
• Taleggio cheese – if you can’t find taleggio, you could substitute fontina or anything else you like.
• Parmesan cheese
• White Bean Paste
  • 4 cloves of garlic
  • Red pepper flakes
  • Salt & pepper
  • Olive oil
  • 1 lemon
  • 2 small cans of white beans – I used Great Northern

Roast the garlic.  I put the garlic in a ramekin with some olive oil, red pepper flakes and salt and pepper; covered it with foil and roasted it in a 400 degree oven for about a half-hour.  Let your nose be your guide.

Once the garlic is roasted, let it cool and put it into a bowl with the beans and lemon juice.  Mash it up with a potato masher or a fork.  You’ll use about half  of the paste on the pizza, the rest can be eaten on crackers or on bread.

Roll out your pizza dough and spread the white bean paste all over it.  Top with cheese – I dropped small chunks of the taleggio everywhere and then grated parmesan on top.  Put the pizza into a 550 degree oven for about seven minutes – just until the cheese is melted.

While the pizza is in the oven, toss the very dry greens with some olive oil and salt and pepper.  Take the pizza out of the oven, top with the greens and bake until the greens are wilted and slightly charred and the crust is brown and gorgeous.

Roasted vegetables are delicious, versatile and easy. How easy? Preheat your oven to 400 degrees, toss your veggies with olive oil, salt and pepper. Spread on a baking sheet (or two – it is very important that the veggies not be crowded!). Roast for 10 minutes, check on them and shake ’em up, and roast for five to ten minutes more. YUM!

Half of my veggies were a side dish for Saturday’s supper, pictured above, and half went into a frittata.

This bok choy salad recipe came directly from my CSA newsletter. The only fussy step? Blanching the bok choy.

The rest is quick and easy!

Baby Bok Choy Salad

• 2 bunches baby bok choy, washed and dried
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 2 tablespoons rice vinegar
• 5 teaspoons soy sauce
• 4 teaspoons mirin (sweet rice wine)
• 1 small garlic clove, peeled and minced
• 1 bunch green onions, chopped
• 1 carrot, peeled and grated
• 3 tablespoons almonds, toasted and chopped- I used toasted sesame seeds, because I didn’t have any almonds.

Dressing: Mix together the oil, vinegar, soy sauce, mirin, and garlic.

Salad: Blanch the bok choy by dropping it in boiling water for 30 seconds, removing, and immersing in an ice bath. Remove from the ice water, dry, and slice. Combine the blanched baby bok choy, green onions, carrot, and nuts/seeds. Toss all ingredients with the dressing and serve.

Variation: Replace the vegetable oil with peanut butter and add 2 t of hot chili sauce. Thin with water if necessary.

Week one was a resounding success – today is pick-up day, I can’t wait to see what week two has in store for me!

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