CSA Week Two Wrap-Up

Monday, June 29, 2009 by Marianne 4 Comments

Week two? Success!  What I got and what I did…

• English peas and tendrils – the peas were shelled and eaten raw as a snack, the tendrils went into a green salad that I brought to a BBQ.
• Mustard greens – half went in the BBQ salad, half went into Orzo Soup.
• Swiss chard – Orzo Soup.
• Lettuce – I was all set to try something new and braise my lettuce but it went into my BBQ salad instead.  Oh well, there’s always more lettuce!
• Beets – pizza!
• Radishes – some were eaten as a snack, some went into the salad.
• Strawberries – Gist made me strawberry shortcake – yay!

And now for the recipes…

The salad was, well, a tossed green salad. Lettuce, mustard greens, radish, carrots, a cuke, pea tendrils, and a homemade vinaigrette.

The Orzo Soup was a revelation. I made it on Mick’s suggestion, the recipe comes from 101 Cookbooks, and I was not expecting it to be as perfect and easy as it was.  It’s been rainy and cool just about all month here in Massachusetts, and yesterday was no exception – warm, comforting and nourishing soup was exactly what I needed. Did I mention it’s incredibly easy, like 15 minutes from start to finish easy? Well, it is. First, you boil some stock and cook your orzo in it…

Then you warm some tomatoes with olive oil and red pepper flakes…

…And chop some chard.

When the orzo is cooked, drop the chard into the soup just until it wilts. Serve the soup topped with the tomatoes and a sprinkle of Parmesan. The only thing you need to keep in mind is the fact that because the soup is so simple, you should use the best ingredients possible.  That means homemade broth and the best cheese you can afford.

Orzo Soup
Recipe adapted 101 Cookbooks – you should definitely check out the original, it contains eggs (which I left out, more out of laziness than anything else) and had some nice adaptations.

• 7 cups vegetable broth
• 1 1/2 cups  orzo
• 2 cups chopped chard
• 1 14-ounce can of fire-roasted tomatoes – the original recipe tells you to drain the tomatoes, something I missed until right now.
• 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes.
• Extra virgin olive oil
• Salt & pepper
• Parmesan cheese (to finish)

Bring the broth to a boil in a large saucepan. Add the orzo and cook until just tender – about ten minutes. Stir in the chard.

In the meantime, heat the tomatoes, red pepper flakes, salt and pepper, and a splash of extra virgin olive oil in a separate saucepan.

Serve the soup topped with tomatoes and cheese.

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