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Recipes for CSA veggies
Hey all, I posted this on the What's Cooking? forum as well, but seeing as some of y'all have CSAs yourselves, I was hoping for a bit of advice.
FH and I have decided to spring for a full share this year of veggies from a farm about 10 miles from here. I'm looking forward to it, but there are several veggies that i've never tried before, and have never cooked. Beets, brussels sprouts, kale, mustard greens, and swiss chard are the ones I'm concerned about that we will get in Spring. I looked online and found one or two recipes that sounded okay, but does anybody else have ideas of good ways to prepare any of those? I'm just worried we're going to try these veggies for the first time and hate them, but not know if we hated them because they were just prepared badly. Advice?
Re: Recipes for CSA veggies
When I was a kid I *hated* beets! But then I tried fresh beets...they're one of my favorite veggies!
I love them roasted, then hot or cool dressed with some olive oil and vinegar mmmm heres a simple guide to roasting: http://localfoods.about.com/od/preparationtips/ss/How-To-Roast-Beets.htm
Because you may or may not have an abundance, look into quick-pickling them too! Where I grew up 'red-beet eggs' were insanely common! I havn't made them for myself yet so I cant give you a 'tried and true' recipe...but Im planning on making some shortly and Ill let you know how it goes! Typically we make them with just the pickling liquid, beets, eggs, and thinly sliced onions. Or for the less adventurous, plain ole' pickled beets are great too for salads!
http://lancastercountyvacations.com/pennsylvania-dutch-red-beet-eggs/
Red beet hummus is another thing Ive enjoyed lately...what I usually do is take my regular hummus recipe (or store bought hummus if you prefer) and add some roasted red beets (skin removed) to taste...I prefer no more than 1/3 of the entire mix to be red beets...because it gets too sweet.
Last recommendation is one of my all time favorite soups! Borshch (or borsh, borsht, borshcht...etc) my basic recipe is as follows:
Ingredients: (amounts are all to your preference)
-Meat/Bones to create stock or low-sodium broth
-2-3 cups of cabbage shredded finely (think long thin thin thin strips)
-1 cup of grated carrot
-1/2 medium onion, diced
-1 large red-beet, grated
-1-2 medium potatoes, diced
-2 tbls tomato paste
-Salt and Pepper to taste along with your favorite herbs (fresh dill is traditional but oregano is delicious too)
1. boil some meat/bones to make a stock, remove the meat/bones and set aside
2. Add one large grated beet and boil until the beet 'turns white' (the color will seep out from the grated pieces)
3. While the beet is boiling, fry the onions in a little olive oil in a pan until they are translucent, add the carrots and cook for an additional 3-5 minutes, stir in the tomato paste to coat. Add a little cooking liquid if it is too thick. Set aside.
4. Once the beet 'turns white' add the cabbage and cook until almost soft (think aldente) approx 20-30 minutes depending on how thin or tender the cabbage is to start with
5. Add the potatoes to the pot with the onion/carrot/tomato mixture
6. Cook until the potatoes are soft
Traditional way to serve is with a scoop of sour cream in the bowl and fresh dill. The recipe can be adapted to taste, obviously, frequently beans (kidney, lima, navy) are added, or garlic, or play with fresh herbs, but what makes borch unique is the rich red beet broth!
Its one of my favorites, I realize it doesn't match everyones taste! But I figured...why not share it! (also Im very tired so please excuse any mistakes I tried but Im fighting some aweful cold)
Oh I was going to add last night before TN went down... two of my favorite places to browse recipes are:
http://www.eatingwell.com/ - eating well magazine, lots of veggie-centric recipes
http://thepioneerwoman.com/tasty-kitchen-blog/ lots of other fun recipes :-)
That's great that you're joining a CSA! I promise you will eat better than you ever have before. Fresh from the farm food is the best. One word of advice: If you try a new food, like say kale, and don't like it, don't discount the veggie itself. It could be the recipe. Kale for example, IMHO tastes best when you cook it for awhile, like 15-20 minutes. Lots of recipes say "steam kale until soft" which is like 5 minutes, but I think it's still at bit bitter at that stage.
In addition to these recipes which use a lot of the veggies you mentioned, we have several farmer's market cookbooks.
Local Flavors by Deborah Madison
A Year in a Vegetarian Kitchen by Jack Bishop
Ithaca Farmer's Market Cookbook
Roasted Autumn Harvest Skillet http://itaintmeatbabe.blogspot.com/2009/09/roasted-autumn-vegetables.html *We use spicy beef sausage, but it's good with vegetarian sausage too.
Sausage and Sauerkraut Skillet http://stolenmomentscooking.com/sausage-sauerkraut-skillet-dinner/ *We leave out the brown sugar any use wayyy less butter, like 1 Tbsp. This comes together in less than 30 minutes.
Indian Saag Paneer http://allrecipes.com//Recipe/indian-saag/Detail.aspx *Add paneer (a firm, Indian cheese) to this, you can get it from Whole Foods (it's next to the packaged cheese) or better quality paneer from an Indian market. Cut up one block of paneer into cubes and saute in olive oil until browned. You can use 1 pound of any "bitter" green (mustard greens, kale, collards, turnip greens) and 1 pound of any "mild" greens (spinach, chard, bok choy, beet greens.) We think it's best with kale and beet greens.
Pasta with White Beans and Arugula http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=10000001911294 *This is an awesome, super flavorful 20 minute dinner. We add 2 tbsp of the oil from the jar of tomatoes also. This is great with home-dried tomatoes too.
Eggs in a Nest http://www.animalvegetablemiracle.com/EGGS%20IN%20A%20NEST.pdf *This is from the wonderul book "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle." It's a great way to enjoy fresh chard. We don't like runny eggs, so we cover the pot for like 10-12 minutes rather than 3-5 like the recipe says.
Quinoa Veggie Salad with Zesty Vinagrette http://allrecipes.com//Recipe/quinoa-veggie-salad-with-zesty-vinaigrette/Detail.aspx *This is great with whatever garden fresh veggies you have on hand. Tomatoes, zucchini, squash, whatever.
Grilled Eggplant Stack http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=10000001634738 *Top 5 favorite recipe of all time. We don't go through all the trouble to cook the dressing. I just whisk together 1/8 cup balsamic vinegar and olive oil. This is great with cous cous.
Chicken with Salsa http://ymlp.com/zZK0Ai *This is seriously good and easy. We use homemade green tomato salsa, but any salsa would work. I don't recommend complicated salsas like black bean or mango though.
I've got a lot of produce centered recipes in my blog as well
http://arugulove.wordpress.com
And ditto SuperGreen's suggestion for the Deborah Madison cookbook Local Flavors. That might be my most used cookbook ever. It's brilliant, and I wish more cookbooks would follow it's organization.
I posted on my blog, recipes I made using CSA veggies as I went along
http://ciboalimentaremangiare.wordpress.com/category/csa-2010/
This cookbook has recipes but also storage tips and other info about common CSA produce:
Asparagus to Zucchini
http://www.csacoalition.org/store/from-asparagus-to-zucchini/
Brussels sprouts are good cooked in hot olive oil in a pan with garlic and salt and pepper.
If you have a juicer, you can juice the kale (a leaf or so with lemon and raspberries or just lemon and some water). It's also good torn up in scrambled eggs or cooked with olive oil and salt and pepper. You could cook the chard the same way. Or, you can tear up some kale and add it to your salad greens.
I've got this book! it's great!
I also lurk on ourshareoftheharvest.org which is a nestie food blog: She had the BEST recipe for beets!
http://ourshareoftheharvest.com/
http://ourshareoftheharvest.com/2010/07/19/nothing-beets-this-ravioli/
I think I made it 4 or five times last summer!