4.22.2009

An Explosion of Greens

I cannot keep up. I simply Cannot. Keep. Up. The CSA has an incredibly generous fresh produce allotment, a big bang for the buck, and I haven't been able to keep up with the bounty. This week we have kohlrabi, leeks, carrots, radishes, dill, spinach, mustard greens, and beets. Spouse has a "limited palate" for veggies (ahem), so it's either
  1. come up with a recipe - which he'll grudgingly fix, or
  2. cook it myself - and he hates my cooking, or
  3. or give it up to the chickens and/or compost pile. Noooooo!!!
I want and need to eat more greens regardless of personal circumstance, so it's my goal this week to make at least one dish out of every item I've got. Thankfully the low 90's F weather will be breaking tonight, and stove-top cooking will be more comfortable (I only turn on the air-conditioner when it inches past the upper +90's, or Spouse threatens divorce). Current ideas:
  • Leek & potato soup, or baked leeks with Parmesan cheese.
  • Radishes - raw, with butter & salt.
  • Corn pasta with spinach.
  • Raw carrots with hummus.
  • Roasted kohlrabi, or kohlrabi & apple slaw.
  • Sauteed mustard greens with Romano cheese.
  • Beets - maybe a borscht? (Beets... yurgh.)
To keep me honest in this goal, I'll post every day with what I've managed to conjure up. Feel free to make suggestions on your favorite recipes as well... please. I beg of you!

[pic: the top of the refrigerator. The crisper drawer is still full from the previous week's veggies, bless those green bags that keep produce fresh!]

8 comments:

  1. I'm hoping to get on their list next season. This is encouraging.

    Also trying to cook more, and different things, not just quick and easy same old same old. So I dig your challenge.

    Do ya'll have a juicer? That's about the only way I can deal with beets. Beets and carrots juiced together--VV good.

    Lasagne also a good option with the spinach and if spouse is veg averse, he might not even notice. Also a good way to use up carrots- shredded. Plus, SO easy to divide and freeze for later.

    Pork and something acidic/tomatoey for the mustard greens ?

    HAve fun!

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  2. I used to hate beets until I tried roasting them with olive oil drizzled on top.

    I like kohlrabi just peeled and cut up and eaten raw.

    I like mustard greens raw in salads myself.

    Good luck!

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  3. Last night I finally shredded carrot and sauteed it with olive oil and finely minced onion. It was surprisingly good. The kid ate it!

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  4. Urgh. That was supposed to be "finely" not "finally." The ol' brain has clearly powered down for the night.

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  5. Wow, what a haul! I'm a juicer too, for excess produce. Carrot, beet, parsley -- sparingly on the parsley or it will be too bitter will actually give ya a head rush there's so many vitamins. And then you could do a lot of chop-and-pop into the freezer. I love beets roasted beets, and cubed cooked still warm beets with goat cheese and pears on greens. Roasted leeks are also good.

    Yu could make packs of frozen soup base (chopped up stuff frozen and in the feezer). I'd be dehydrating some of that stuff but at 90+ you may not want to :)

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  6. I had put this up on LJ then realized that you would probably never see it.

    I have the same problem. Tomorrow will be my third bi-weekly delivery of vegetables and fruit and I still have some left over from the first week!!!

    My saving grace is a web site http://www.recipezaar.com/ which allows you to enter in vegetables and search for matching recipes. It helped me in coming up with five recipes for zucchini!

    I also have those green bags. They have saved me from throwing out food, thank the gods!

    Good luck.

    Katrina

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  7. Thanks all, for the comments and suggestions! I've been wanting to get a juicer for some time now - perhaps once I start paid employment again, I'll save up for one.

    Katrina, thanks for the recipezaar suggestion - nice site!

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  8. Damn, I wish I lived closer. I envy you your greens!

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