Fennel I love fresh fennel. The subtle anise taste is just lovely in so many dishes, and it pairs perfectly with leeks.
Asparagus. Nice fat stalks -- perfect for grilling!
Tangerines. I love that we get citrus fruit in the box all winter, but honestly, I'm always getting tired of it by this point in the year. Bring on the strawberries!
Green Garlic. I love green garlic, but whew! It makes my car REEK just in the 5 minutes it takes me to get it home from our farm box pick-up location.
Leeks. These were ridiculously huge leeks, bigger around than my wrist. Too big, actually. I think they're better when they're smaller and more tender.
Carrots. Tried something new with the carrots this week -- grilling. I peeled them, and cut the ends off, then rubbed them with a bit of olive oil and salt. Grilled for 15-20 minutes, then tossed with lemon juice and a bit of chopped up fennel fronds. SO good!
Savoy Spinach.
Lettuce. This lettuce was delicious -- so sweet! It made for wonderful side salads for lunch most of last week.
We're starting to get into the real spring crops now, which I always look forward to. I can't wait for the English peas, which are my all-time favorite! And here's what we did with all this lovely produce:
Wednesday: Baked sausages and potatoes, with our homemade sauerkraut, made from cabbages we got in early winter farm boxes. Since it takes a few weeks to ferment, we make big batches all at once -- 10 or more lbs of cabbage, and then it keeps forever in the fridge.
Thursday: Ate a burrito on my way home from my whitewater kayak rolling class.Not exactly healthy or useful for using up farm box stuff, but it was 9:30 at night and I was starving!
Friday: Ate out at our favorite neighborhood place, Sidebar. If you're in the Oakland area, go there! We usually sit at the bar and share a huge bowl of mussels, a chopped salad, and a couple glasses of wine. They also make a stunningly good burger, with house-made pickled cukes and onions.
Saturday: Grilled tri-tip, with grilled asparagus (made with the same recipe I posted last week), grilled carrots, and potatoes. For the potatoes, I cut them into large chunks, then boil them till they're just starting to get tender. Then, I toss with chili powder, harissa, olive oil, and salt and we finish them on the grill.If you don't pre-cook them, they take forever on the grill!
Sunday: Spring green risotto. Made with shitake mushrooms from the farmer's market, fennel, leeks, and spinach. I meant to add green garlic, too, but I forgot. Usually, we use our homemade chicken stock for risotto. This time, we were out, so I used mushroom flavored Better than Bullion. I can't recommend that particular flavor, though -- it's SO salty.
Monday: Meatloaf patties made with leftover tri-tip whirred in the food processor with bread crumbs and a bunch of other stuff that I don't know -- J. made them! On the side -- mashed potatoes and our homemade sauerkraut, again.
Tuesday: Fried rice. I had a bunch of odds-and-ends I wanted to use up, and fried rice is a really good way to do that. This version had leeks, green garlic, spinach, leftover baked tofu, and carrots.
We did good on the farm box this week -- all that carried over was a stalk of green garlic. Much better than we did all winter, when I really struggled to use up winter squash, turnips, and parsnips!
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