CSA 2010 - Week 7

The internet has returned to us! Last weekend we were traveling, so I had one of my co-workers pick up (and consume) the share. It was nice to have a break from the CSA, and we were re-energized to get back into it with week 7. Not so re-energized that I got the post up in a timely way, but that's a whole 'nother ballgame. Onward!

We have found that cutting up fruit and calling it fruit salad is pretty boring, but adding some form of dressing really perks it up. This pineapple and mango both ended up dressed with a honey-lime dressing and getting tossed with mint and basil(!). I really liked the addition of the savory elements (there was also some red bell pepper in there) and we enjoyed this dish as much as the winter fruit salad we had made earlier in the season. We got a zillion more valencia oranges this week. These are very juicy, so we will probably mostly use them for that. We did make our citrus salad dessert at least once, but it took four of these suckers to make two small servings, which was a lot of work sectioning for not that much payoff.

These cherries just got pitted and frozen. There were quite a few of them, so they will likely end up in a pie a bit later in the season. Peaches were enjoyed pretty much as-is, though some were cut up and mixed with these blueberries. These apricots were also just enjoyed as snacks and with lunches. Wow, we were really boring with this fruit share. We'll have to flambe something next time or something.

Parsley is sitting in our fridge ignored, but will likely get used soon. These red and golden beets (without the greens this time) made their way into a root vegetable gratin, along with some of these carrots. We really liked this dish, and it's one that can pretty much be made with any root veggies. The beets and carrots made it sweet and colorful, but I can imagine it being good with all different mixes. In a testament to how prepared we were for the zucchinni onslaught, we have still not run out of preparations. These two went into a pasta dish along with this globe and japanese eggplant. Sweet onions Garlic

More corn is always welcome. We love it grilled with a little butter and salt. One thing that we have been impressed by with this new CSA is that when we get herbs, we tend to get very managable amounts. Not so much with this huge bundle of dill. It ended up getting split between the old and the new. The old is our favorite topping for bagels: Dill and Garlic Cream Cheese. The new was an ill-fated first attempt at poaching salmon. The recipe seemed so promising and the paoching liquid smelled so great, but we discovered at the last minute (quite literarlly, the poaching liquid was already at temperature) that the salmon fillets were still frozen. Curses! We muddled through, and it was good enough even with the blunder that we'll likely try it again. I am close to perfecting my cuccumber mojito sorbet. The batch made with these had good flavor, but was a bit too icey. I have since spun up (but not yet tasted) a second batch, and if that goes well I will post the recipe. Lettuce Salad mix with mizuna and baby chard. Mizuna is a great starter green for folks that don't tend to like the sharper flavor of a lot of non-lettuce salad greens. It adds a bit of interest, but is not overly bitter or sharp.