Ahh… the first CSA delivery of the season. To say I’ve been eagerly awaiting it is a major understatement. I’m working my way through the bounty and couldn’t be happier about it. Piles of fresh-from-the-garden green things are an excellent antidote to winter.
The contents (clockwise from top left:
- Spring salad mix
- Spinach
- Sweet potato (presumably cured last fall)
- Pea greens
- Chives
- Mushrooms (shiitake)
- Head lettuce (I chose a butter-leaf type)
Two goals
I have two goals for my CSA participation this year.
- Not to throw anything away (and adding to compost pile counts as throwing away). This is a repeat goal. I usually do a pretty good job, but I could do better, particularly where herbs and some greens are concerned. I intend to assess upon receipt of the goods whether I can and will really eat it all before it goes bad, and if there’s any doubt, I’ll preserve them, primarily through freezing or drying.
- Learn to like mushrooms. My CSA, Rolling Prairie Farmers Alliance, has the good fortune or misfortune, depending upon your point of view, of having a first-rate mushroom grower among its producers. Mushrooms are something that I’ve generally tolerated, rather than liked or enjoyed. Therefore, I’m going to eat the mushrooms I get rather than give them away. After all, there are one of the higher-value (pricewise) goods in any given bag, and one reason I do the CSA is to expand my eating and cooking horizons. So far, I’ve used about half of this week’s mushrooms in a stir fry. I’ll keep you posted, and mushroom suggestions or recipes are welcome.
Jennifer // Apr 25, 2009 at 4:24 am
Mushrooms on homemade pizza are always fantastic! The different greens, like kale and mustards, would be my problem. I love the way they look, but being a vegetarian, don’t seem to have a lot of options other than soup. I wonder if some kind of pesto would work.
Angela Candela // Apr 26, 2009 at 1:16 pm
One of my favoarite things to do with mushrooms, the button type, anyway, is to make a simple marinated salad with the mushrooms sliced, sprinkle on some lemonn juice, sliced scallion greens, salt papper, and toss with a little olive oil. Simple and tasty. It just gets better as it marinates. I got the preipe from the Time Life Italian cookbook.
Janet Majure // Apr 27, 2009 at 8:28 am
Thanks, Jennifer. I have done mushrooms on pizza before, but forgotten. As to the greens, besides soup, I use them in stir-fries and risotto as well as in soups. You might give those a try, and I’m sure you indeed could do some kind of pesto .
I have NOT tried marinating them, Angela. I’ll have to remember that one for the next round of mushrooms.
Mushrooms fail to thwart eat-all resolution (so far) | foodperson.com // May 12, 2009 at 1:04 pm
[…] can’t say I’ve been perfect on my eat-it-all effort with my Rolling Prairie CSA subscription this year. A few chives got away from me (meaning, they […]