Southside CSA

Our share feeds three in our household: one chef who works at Parish Hall, one expert baker and me, a girl whose cooking skills plateau at stir-fry. We typically plan dinner once a week, where we use the majority of our produce share (half-berry, half-orchard, full veggie). The amount of produce we get in a week is sometimes more than we can manage to eat. Making one meal large enough for leftovers is a convenient way to use it up. This week we received a plethora of blessed veggies: corn, onions, kale, leeks, squash, beets, carrots, and basil along with a bucket of blueberries. We store the veggies in the refrigerator and the basil in a glass of water.

I used a sampling of veggies making what I call the “college stir fry.” It’s hardly gourmet; most of my foodie friends would disdain the way in which I make it, but it’s a simple and effective way to utilize all the CSA produce.

“College Stir-Fry”

• ½ pack udon noodles
• 1 Onion
• 1 squash
• ¼ leek
• 3 leaves kale
• 1 carrot
• beet rabe
• 2 cloves garlic

Sesame Oil

• Rice Vinegar
• House of Tsang Stir-Fry Sauce

Chop/ dice onions, leeks, kale, carrots, beet rabe, garlic, squash/ Boil udon noodles 2-3 minutes. Steam kale in ½ inch of water in pan. Sauté onions, garlic in sesame oil. Add veggies, rice vinegar, stir fry sauce. Add soy sauce for flavoring

One of our main cooking problems is using all the beets every week. Last week we boiled and chopped them and put them, along with the rabe in salads. This week though, my chef roommate finally figured out what to do with the beets- he made beet pasta from scratch!

The process took about two hours but the result was well worth it in deliciousness. He made a linguini with zucchini basil sauce. He also used the corn, leeks and squash. The savory pasta, combined with the sweet corn and zucchini was a refreshing dish for summer.

“Beet Pasta”

Dough:

• 1 ¾ cup flour
• 2 eggs lightly beaten
• 1 egg yolk
• ½ cup beet juice
• salt

To make Pasta Dough:

Mix the flour and eggs.
Whisk the eggs lightly.
Add the flour to the eggs slowly until the dough forms.
Use the beet juice in place of water to bind together the dough.
Knead for 5 minutes or until it is slightly elastic.

Squash/ Basil Sauce

• 2 medium squash
• ½ large leek
• 1 cup picked basil leaf
• milk to cover
• 1 cup corn

To make the Sauce:

Finely chop leeks.
Add roughly chopped squash and corn, as well as leftover cob.
Cook for seven minutes. Add milk to cover and simmer until soft.
Add basil and season with salt.

Filed under: Greig Farm Berry Share, MimoMex Farm Shares, Recipes, Share Care | Tagged: asian cooking, basil, beet, beet greens, carrot, garlic, kale, leek, onion, pasta, Savory Ideas, squash, stir-fry, zucchini |