CSA week one start-up

I apologize for slacking off on the blog recently. I got busy at work, then I was on the road for a bit and then I got busy again catching up after being away. I had ingredients on hand and interesting recipes picked out to use them, but the free time, energy and inclination to do serious cooking never came together. But that luxury of choice is in the past, the CSA has started. Fingers crossed that, as in past years, the weekly influx of produce will prove more inspiration than burden.

At the start of the CSA last year I said I wanted to perfect some of the recipes I had made in previous seasons instead of constantly trying new ones but I didn't follow through on that. I guess that's inspiration as burden. Huh. This year, I'm even more ambitiously unambitious. I want to not just redo recipes but also do more cooking not worth blogging about--thrown together stir fries and soups primarily. I'm tired of spending all my time thinking about cooking, cooking and then writing about cooking. I do have other interests; these video games aren't going to play themselves. We'll see if I can manage any sort of balance; it should add a little human drama to the blog even as it subtracts posts.

And one last blog-related thing before I get on with talking about the actual share. Marian of the Redland Rambles blog and I have talked a little about starting either a group CSA recipe blog or maybe a discussion group so folks who don't want to commit to regular posting can share their ideas and ask for suggestions. If you'd be interested in participating in either, please post a comment here or in Marian's CSA week one post. I think we'd need a least a half dozen folks involved to make it work.

At long last, let's see what we've got to work with this first week (well, fortnight. Thankfully, we're once again easing into this with no delivery next week).

Starting in the upper left corner, there's dandelion greens. I think I'd like to do another variation on hindbeh bil zayt with them. They work so well with deeply browned onions and garlic that I'm not particularly curious to try other combinations. Some of the parsley and garlic chives, also on the left side, will probably go in that. Otherwise, there's not so much there that I can't just keep them around for garnishing.

Next up is the daikon. I've struggled before finding daikon-centric recipes, but it's the utility starch of Japanese cuisine and often gets thrown into stews and such unremarked upon. That's how I'd like to use it this time around. Or maybe in a slaw; they work well in slaw or so I read.

I looked through my blog archives to see what I've already done for green beans, and it's quite a bit. There's over a dozen recipes there. But I also mention a cold green bean, blue cheese and bacon salad that I never got around to making. That sounds pretty good so I'll have to see if I can dig that recipe up.

There aren't enough cherry tomatoes there to do anything clever with. They'd go well in a salad, but I left the lettuce behind. I remember they grilled up well when my dad used to make shish kabobs. I wonder if that would work in my grill pan?

And finally, there's the bok choy (upper right) and yukina savoy (lower right). I think I'll just stir fry them up with an oyster-sauce-based sauce. That should be just dandy.

What do you guys have planned with your shares?