All those greens can seem daunting, but not if you think outside the box! Here are some recipe ideas.
For the past seven years I have subscribed to the same CSA (community supported agriculture) share. It comes from a family-owned organic farm that feeds around 350 households weekly from June to early November. Each week we get a box of vegetables that are fresh from the field, vibrantly colored, nutritionally dense, and absolutely delicious.
After all these years I have a good sense of what I'll get at any given point in the summer, but there's still a surprise element to the share that I love. Perhaps it's a new crop, or an abundance of something I'm not used to eating, that has to be incorporated into my family's diet for a week to ensure it does not go to waste. It's an ongoing creative challenge.
I want to talk about some of the vegetables I'm using these days because if you have a CSA share or a vegetable garden of your own, you might also be looking for inspiration as to how to use them all up. The unavoidable theme at this time of year is greens -- a welcome change from the salad-less days of winter. Here's what my family is eating these days.
Kale:
Kale is a 'free choice' item at CSA pickup, meaning people can take as much as they think they'll eat in a week. Usually that translates to a lot for me, since I figure I'll use it if I have it. I've also just discovered kale caesar salad in a new cookbook by America's Test Kitchen called Nutritious Delicious. (Yes, I realize I'm a few years behind the whole kale salad trend.) I love the recommended method for soaking kale leaves in hot water for 10 minutes before making the salad; it softens it just enough to make it easier to eat.
Garlic scapes:
A fleeting early-summer treat, garlic scapes are the curly snake-like green tops of the garlic plants that must be cut off in order for them to develop bulbs later. The scapes have a garlicky flavor, though it's less pronounced than the bulbs. I used to make garlic scape pesto, but now I'm hooked on chimichurri, using half parsley or cilantro and half roughly chopped garlic scapes. I blend it with olive oil, some freshly squeezed lemon, a spoonful of wine vinegar, salt, pepper, and hot pepper flakes. The result is a zingy, refreshing sauce that goes wonderfully with everything, from grilled veggies and meats to eggs, potato salad, and soup.
Broccoli:
I'm always happy to take home broccoli, as it's one of those workhorse veggies that adapts to any recipe. It holds its own in a Thai green coconut curry, can be spiced and roasted for vegetarian tacos, or turned into a creamy soup, which is one of my favorite ways of getting a satisfying meal on the table in record time. I have a great recipe for cream of broccoli (or cauliflower) soup that is dead-simple: sauté two onions, add two heads of broccoli and 6 cups of stock, simmer till soft, then blend. Meanwhile, make a roux with 1/2 cup butter, 1/2 cup flour, 1 cup milk and 1 cup cream. Whisk roux into soup and season. The roux makes it thicker and creamier than most recipes. At this time of year I finish the individual bowls with a spoonful of garlic scape chimichurri.
© K Martinko -- A happy kid shares his bike chariot with the CSA box.Baby turnips:
These look like white radishes, tiny little globes of sweet crunchiness. Peeling them can be a hassle, since they're so small, but the skins are a bit chewy. Slice them thinly and add to potato or chopped veggie salad; they're almost like a cucumber. You can eat them raw, dipped in hummus or a bit of salt.
Endive:
Last week I got two enormous heads of sugarloaf endive, something I'm not very familiar with. It has a slightly bitter taste but great crunch, so I've been mixing it into other salad greens and creamy dressings. The CSA farmer told us in a newsletter that it's excellent grilled, braised, and roasted. How do you like to eat endive?
