CSA week 1 round-up and week 2 start-up

First up I'd like to thank Marge, who whoever's writing the newsletter, for the more prominent mention this week. I wrote up a little welcome post two weeks ago, but I guess nobody noticed the blog addresses in the little print at the bottom of the last page as there wasn't a hint of new readers in my traffic stats. Also, possibly the relatively familiar vegetables and lack of time pressure meant that people weren't seeking out recipes.

Anyway, I wrote up what I did with most of the vegetables, but there are still some unaccounted for. Unusually, I did mainly what I said I might do in the weekly start-up post. All of the cucumbers and half of the dill went to refrigerator pickles. I used this recipe for a change of pace from my usual except she forgot to actually include dill in the ingredient list so I just judged a reasonable amount to add to the jar. It takes a few weeks for the best flavor to develop so it'll be sitting in the back of the refrigerator for a while before I know how it turned out.

Half of the avocado went to a rather nice guacamole I put together without using a real recipe. I used culantro from my garden instead of the usual cilantro, but I didn't notice any real difference. And I think this is the first time I've added cumin which I think played off the other flavors nicely.




The mizuna I stuffed in rolled chicken breasts and tuna niçoise wraps (good quality tuna, white beans or chick peas with a bit of the canning liquid to moisten, some sweet herbs, tomato and greens. Yummy.) and this alternate presentation of the suon nuong xa I made (which also used some avocado slices). A rice paper wrapper would have been an improvement, but even with just a tortilla, it's a great sandwich. I'm surprised it isn't a staple at those international wrap sandwich shops.

And on to week two. A lighter share this week which is good as I had some trouble getting through everything last time. To start, there's the callaloo. From last year I know that it goes bad fast so I better use it soon. I still haven't had a chance to make callaloo, the dish, as all my callaloo, the vegetable, rotted before I got around to using it last year, so that's my plan for it this time.

The Pei Tsai I'm going to stir fry. In one of my cookbooks, there's a lettuce stir fry recipe on the page opposite a cabbage recipe I've used many times and I've been meaning to try it for a while now. And since I've got the right sort of lettuce at last now's the time.

The butternut squash is nice roasted or in soup or roasted and then in soup. These little ones would make a lovely presentation if they were stuffed, but I'm not likely to have anyone over for dinner so that would just make me sad. Soup it is, then.

The avocado I'd like to find a Caribbean recipe for, but a quick search isn't turning much up. Soup maybe if I roast the squash.

The tomato is a meaty variety that can handle being cooked. Maybe I'll stuff it or it could go into the Thai fried rice I have planned to use up the last of last share's bok choy and lemongrass.

The black sapotes worked well in a sherbet last year. I've got fewer this time around so they won't be the main ingredient if I try that again. I think I may substitute them into my piña colada sherbet recipe and see how that works. I've got a while before they ripen so no rush in deciding.

Finally, the mint. I've never really had much use for fresh mint, particularly this large amount of it. Mojito sorbet?