Next-to-last CSA
Next Monday will be the last CSA box for the year. In this next-to-last box, we got:
This week I'll do a vegetable quiche with last week's broccoli and cabbage and this week's carrots (plus some mushrooms and scallions). We'll have that with salad from the radicchio, and either the green pepper (and stuff) or the apple (and stuff (these represent two different salad directions for me, in terms of taste combinations)). Then later in the week I'll do a carrot, parsnip, turnip, and sausage soup, plus a lima bean risotto with last week's limas.
Since we were caught up on lettuce by this week, and since our bread heel collection in the freezer had reached critical mass, I brought a bread pudding to potluck last night. This always goes over like gangbusters, which is very gratifying, especially since for me it means taking something that would otherwise have been a waste and making a treat out of it.
I'll miss our CSA when it's over this year. I turned it into a creative game of menu planning every week, or really several games at once: "What can I make this week that a) will use as many of these vegetables as possible, so we don't get behind, b) will use as few other vegetables as possible, so we make the CSA investment pay off efficiently, c) will minimize/stretch our meat consumption, for health/environmental/budgetary reasons, d) doesn't involve out-of-season vegetables, so we're not supporting the trucking of produce from very far-away places, e) that might be cooked in a solar oven, and f) that will go together and taste good?"
Plus it's a little like playing my own version of Iron Chef every week - what will the mystery ingredients be this week? how will Iron Chef CSA rise to the challenge? It also guarantees (indeed, demands) some regular culinary exploration: there are very few ruts in my cooking these days, in that I'm consistently cooking with things I would not ordinarily choose, and always searching out and trying new recipes.
And then everything tastes so good because it's so fresh! I'll never forget the time earlier this year that I threw together some soup out of freezer vegetables, and it just tasted like nothing! (And I can taste the frozen vegetables at restaurants, too - that's annoying at the same time it's interesting.)
So yes, I'll miss the CSA this winter. In fact, I'll probably have to substitute the Farmer's Market (which runs all winter) for the CSA, just to keep the fun and freshness and variety in my life! (Not to mention supporting local agriculture.)
Well, I'd better get cooking....
- Sweet potatoes
- Winter squash (kabocha?)
- Green and red bell peppers
- Radicchio (with the outer leaves)
- Apples
- Parsnips
- Carrots
- Turnips
- Broccoli
This week I'll do a vegetable quiche with last week's broccoli and cabbage and this week's carrots (plus some mushrooms and scallions). We'll have that with salad from the radicchio, and either the green pepper (and stuff) or the apple (and stuff (these represent two different salad directions for me, in terms of taste combinations)). Then later in the week I'll do a carrot, parsnip, turnip, and sausage soup, plus a lima bean risotto with last week's limas.
Since we were caught up on lettuce by this week, and since our bread heel collection in the freezer had reached critical mass, I brought a bread pudding to potluck last night. This always goes over like gangbusters, which is very gratifying, especially since for me it means taking something that would otherwise have been a waste and making a treat out of it.
I'll miss our CSA when it's over this year. I turned it into a creative game of menu planning every week, or really several games at once: "What can I make this week that a) will use as many of these vegetables as possible, so we don't get behind, b) will use as few other vegetables as possible, so we make the CSA investment pay off efficiently, c) will minimize/stretch our meat consumption, for health/environmental/budgetary reasons, d) doesn't involve out-of-season vegetables, so we're not supporting the trucking of produce from very far-away places, e) that might be cooked in a solar oven, and f) that will go together and taste good?"
Plus it's a little like playing my own version of Iron Chef every week - what will the mystery ingredients be this week? how will Iron Chef CSA rise to the challenge? It also guarantees (indeed, demands) some regular culinary exploration: there are very few ruts in my cooking these days, in that I'm consistently cooking with things I would not ordinarily choose, and always searching out and trying new recipes.
And then everything tastes so good because it's so fresh! I'll never forget the time earlier this year that I threw together some soup out of freezer vegetables, and it just tasted like nothing! (And I can taste the frozen vegetables at restaurants, too - that's annoying at the same time it's interesting.)
So yes, I'll miss the CSA this winter. In fact, I'll probably have to substitute the Farmer's Market (which runs all winter) for the CSA, just to keep the fun and freshness and variety in my life! (Not to mention supporting local agriculture.)
Well, I'd better get cooking....