Wednesday, January 12, 2011

River Dog Farm Box, Week 2


This is the second in my series of posts about my new membership in River Dog Farms' CSA. The first one can be found here.

Left from last week's box:
1 small head cauliflower, 2 potatoes 1 carrot. Everything else got devoured, and it pretty well lasted me the week. I supplemented with salad greens and a bunch of kale from the farmer's market and also an acorn squash I already had.

This weeks' box contained:

3lbs Satsuma Mandarins
1 lb Watermelon Radishes (3 big ones) (They look like this, for those of you who aren't familiar)
1 lb parsnips
1 huge heads Bok Choi
1 bunch Red Russian Kale
1 bunch Carrots
1 bunch Spinach
1 small bunch Red radishes
1/2 lb broccoli (3 small heads, lots of leaves and stems, small heads)
3 Delicata Squash.

Wednesday: Beef Stir fry with Bok Choi and Broccoli. Based on this recipe from The Pioneer Woman, which is utterly delicious and SO quick. Delicious and easy (I managed to successfully cook it after a wee bit too much wine at happy hour :-) I didn't even use half of the bok choi for it, though - there was so much.

Thursday: Mandarin oranges as snacks, red radishes in my salad at lunch. Dinner will be lamb sausage with roasted potatoes and cauliflower (leftover from last week), plus spinach and mandarin salad with this dressing.

This weekend, we'll probably make a pork roast with Honey-Glazed Roasted Carrots and Parsnips and sauteed kale.

I'm sure the oranges will get eaten, no problem, as I ate every last one from last week's box (other than the two that were rotten inside - ick!) Not quite sure what to do about the watermelon radishes. They'd be good in a cole slaw with red cabbage and maybe pecans, but that's not really very wintery. If I don't use 'em by the end of the week, I'll make them into pickles, maybe with that leftover cauliflower from last week, which I need to use up before it starts to go all spotty.

I'm thrilled, though, to see that it's mid-January and I still have quite a wide variety of produce coming in my box this week. That's pretty wonderful, and one of the joys of living in CA. The boy tells stories of going out with a steel gardening fork to dig out "winter carrots" from the garden as a kid (he grew up in Pennsylvania). I feel very fortunate that we don't have to do that!


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EDT to add: Here's how we've continued to use up this week's box.

Friday: Roasted squash and cauliflower soup. I peeled, chopped, and roasted half an acorn squash I had in the fridge, along with a delicata from this week's farm box and the last of the cauliflower from last week's box in a 400 degree oven for 30 minutes or so, then sauteed some garlic and onions in a stockpot with 1 tbs butter. Added 4 cups home-made veggie broth and the squash / cauliflower. Cooked for a little bit, then blended with an immersion blender. Served topped with crumbled bacon and a swirl of greek yogurt, bread on the side. Delicious, healthy, and super easy!

Saturday: Spaghetti and sausage with farm box kale on the side. We love, love, love kale and it could not be easier to make. Just pull the leaves off the tough stems, and saute in a hot pan with a bit of olive oil and water. It tenderizes quicker if you cover the pan. At the end, sprinkle with salt and lemon juice. YUM!

Sunday: Pork Loin roasted with farm box carrots and parsnips, salad with watermelon radish. We used this recipe, originally from Bon Appetit, which has become my absolute favorite pork recipe. Instead of the baby carrots, we used full-sized carrots and parsnips, cut into long skinny quarters. Also, I usually skip the jalapeno in the carrot part of the recipe, in favor of using extra-spicy chili powder and some smoked paprika. The carrots and parsnips were amazing -- super-flavorful and sweet, a little bit caramelized from the long cooking time. Delicious! Leftovers of this, along with salad from the grocery store, will be my lunch for the next two days.

As of today, Monday, I have left from the box: 1.5 watermelon radish (part of which I'll eat at lunch today), 3 parsnips, 1 or 2 carrots, 1/3 of a bunch of kale, 2 delicata squash, 1/2 bunch bok choi (which probably won't get eaten. I've learned that I strongly prefer baby bok choi -- the big bunches are a little overpowering for me.), a few mandarins, a few broccoli leaves (which will probably go into my next batch of broth).

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