Wednesday, June 10, 2009

It's CSA Time!




My favorite time of year - we picked up our first delivery of fresh produce yesterday. I should say Mark did. We chose to go with One Straw Farm this year instead of Cromwell Valley. We did this for several reasons. One - We really don't like having to volunteer on the farm because I hate nature. Two - It was a bit of a drive and when it was rainy and muddy it was not fun. Three - because we had to go there at a certain time and choose our produce, we quickly realized that we had to get there right when it opened or other people would take more than their share and leave only the broken and wilted produce. Getting there at opening was smack in the middle of a Saturday and totally inconvenient.

One Straw Farm drops off produce shares at various locations and one happened to be right across the street from us. It's also the location of a weekly farmers market which is totally awesome. Tuesday afternoon is our pick up time and because Mark gets home before me he is the one to pick up the share. I am a little concerned about this because I like to be in control and he gets to choose what to pick up. We get 8 items but they can be 8 different things or 8 of one thing or some combo. Someone said I should make him call me from the pick-up so I can help choose. Should I do it? I should just trust him, right? Maybe....

Mark picked up cabbage, kale, swiss chard, garlic scapes, strawberries, arugula and two lettuce. I decided to serve the kale and strawberries for dinner because the strawberries didn't look like they would last. After all the greens I ate last season I didn't think I would say this but I really was looking forward to cooked greens again. I became an expert in cooking kale and chard last year and this is how I made it last night:

Sauteed Kale
1 bunch Kale
2 tsp. chopped garlic
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon soy sauce
splash of white wine

remove stems and clean kale, set aside. Heat a pan on medium with the olive oil. add garlic and soy sauce when hot. Add the kale, toss with tongs and put the lid on, cook for about 5 minutes or until the kale has cooked down by half. Take lid off and add splash of white wine, replace lid. Cook another couple of minutes, its done when it is reduced and before it browns a lot.

This is my best guess for measurements, I just add what looks good, probably you should use less oil. Story of my life. You can drink the remaining wine while cooking, I usually do. Unless you are using actual cooking wine, I don't judge.

As you can see Miss Gimp preferres her greens raw and fresh. Yes she is on the kitchen counter; you can't stop a gimp cat, I've tried, it doesn't work, don't judge.

1 comment:

Brooke said...

I am delighted to find your recipe for cooking greens. I've never done this but I know that I'll be giving it a try before our CSA summer ends. Also great for making use of fresh green food: the recipe for chocolate chip zucchini cookies from Barbara Kingsolver's book Animal, Vegetable, Miracle.