The Suburban Herbivore

Full share from April 28, 2010

Wow! This is my fifth year as a CSA member! I’m super-excited about the coming season for several reasons.

One, my feeble attempt at a vegetable garden last summer was pretty much a fail. I only had a 4X4 plot, and though it was in the sunniest part of our yard, it just wasn’t enough. I got a few tomatoes and cucumbers, and some basil, but it wasn’t a particularly productive garden. The hot peppers that I planted in pots on the back desk did pretty well, though.

The second reason I’m looking forward to my weekly shares is that we’ve had some changes in our family’s financial situation. Getting in a batch of produce each week that was paid for a long time ago is going to be a huge plus in meal planning and saving on groceries – something that I’m planning to start blogging a little more about in general.

I have to say, I wish there were more strawberries this week. As in previous years, we are splitting this share with another couple, and half a pint of strawberries is pretty much just a handful. (But they were delicious!) Here’s what we received: one big bunch spinach, one pint of strawberries, two baby bok choi, one big bunch turnips, one bunch French breakfast radishes, and two enormous heads of lettuce – one Romaine, one red-leaf.

After a long weekend spent out of town, I was skeptical about what might be edible when I returned home. But I was pleasantly surprised to find that nothing had gone bad, and I was able to cobble Pasta with Spinach and Beans together for supper. I used chickpeas because that’s what I had, and you can, too, but white beans have a better texture for this dish. I do recommend using spinach instead of other greens, because this is a no-cook meal (mostly), and the tougher greens won’t wilt as readily.

Ingredients

1 lb spiral pasta
1 bunch raw spinach
1 can white/navy/great northern beans, drained
3-4 cloves garlic, minced
2 tbsp olive oil, divided
1/4 cup pine nuts
1/4 cup shredded parmesan cheese
1/4 tsp salt
black pepper to taste

Cook the pasta using package instructions. Meanwhile, wash and chop the spinach. Saute the pine nuts in about 1/2 tbsp of olive oil. Once the pasta is done, drain it and return it to the pot (or a large bowl). Stir in the spinach, beans, garlic, remaining olive oil, pine nuts (plus leftover oil), cheese, salt, and pepper. Add a little more salt if you like, or perhaps some garlic salt. Serves 4-6.

The produce is beautiful this week! We received swiss chard, spinach, lettuce, beets, broccoli, cabbage, and some lovely strawberries. This year, we are getting a full share and splitting it with friends, so fortunately, they took the cabbage and I am not on the hook for figuring out what to do with it. Generally, a half share is suggested to be a good amount for one to two people, and I’d say that’s right on. I think I’d have to quit my job if I was going to cook everything in a full share myself.

But I feel like things have not been going well here. I still have a entire head of lettuce and all the spinach (one pound) from last week. Plus the beets, radishes, and turnips, but I’m not as concerned about those. Perhaps if I eat salad for lunch and supper today, that will make a sufficient dent in the lettuce, and I might try steaming and freezing the spinach. At least last week’s spinach…

This week we received turnips, spinach, lettuce, onions, beets, radishes, and strawberries. The strawberries were perfect, much better-looking than the previous batches and equally as delicious. I’ve been anticipating the arrival of the beets, positive that this year I will come up with something different to do with them. I stumbled on a great recipe for beet risotto that, though it is kind of a violent fluorescent pink, is pretty tasty. But I’d like to come up with a new recipe. Any ideas?