CSA 2012

Five weeks ago we entered Maryland's CSA season.  Our farm this year is One Straw Farm out in White Hall, MD.  Until this week, I haven't managed to capture a single photo of our share.  Reason?  I was so overwhelmed with greens that I couldn't think.  Must less photograph.  If' you've joined a CSA in Maryland, possibly anywhere, the first month consists of:

• lettuce (romaine, red leaf, green leaf, mizuno, arugula, spinach)
• radishes (pink, purple, white)
• kale (regular and italian)
• chard (swiss and rainbow)
• other greens (beet, turnip, collard)
• cabbage

There were a few other items in there, but the sheer volume of fiberous leafy vegetables needing to be used up in my house was staggering!!!  All good but so very very much.  By week 3 I was using more than I was tossing.  Week 4 I found that I was able to use up all the items (except one head of cabbage which is being saved for golumpkis) before Week 5 veggies walked in the door.  Armed with greens recipes, this is what I found:

Glorious!

 Starting in the top left we have:

• potates
• red cabbage
• beets (I think - they are sort of pink for beets)
• lettuce (I don't know the variety - when you break the leaves off they bleed milky white - very strange)
• scallions (I would call them green onions, but they are red)
• garlic
• yellow squash
• peas
• purple cauliflower

I'm excited.  There are lots of options this week.   The lettuce, peas, cauliflower and squash need to be used first.  They seem to head south quickly.  The bet green also go on that list and I like to eat them when they are as pretty as these ones.  Everything else will hold for a bit, but I don't think it is going to need to.

Except for the cabbage.  I never know quite what to do with all this cabbage.  Maybe I'll try making sauerkraut.  I've never had purple sauerkraut.  It could be fun!

The First Marinara

Each week in August our CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) provided us with a small shopping back of tomatoes. Over the past few weeks I've become an expert at blanching tomatoes. I've even made some decent restaurant style salsa in the blender. Having concocted a salsa I love, I'm turning my attention to marinara. For my first attempt, I'm taking these 4 lovely ripe tomatoes and turning them into marinara...

 

WITH NO RECIPE!

Yup.  You got it.  I'm winging it.  I cook a lot and I know what's in marinara, so how hard can it be?  Ha!

I began by blanching and peeling my tomatoes.  This is the step with which I'm the most comfortable.  I don't like eating tomato skins so they simply must go.  Blanching the tomatoes seems to have the added positive effect of removing any blemishes and bad spots as I'm peeling the skins off.  Once peeled I coarsely chopped the tomatoes and set them aside.

Taking inventory of all the other produce littering my counter top, I found bell peppers, okra, onions, scallions, jalapenos, cilantro, banana peppers, cucumbers, zucchini and basil.  While I like lots of ingredients in my recipes I limited myself to the bell peppers, onions, scallions and basil.  I diced and sauteed the first three ingredients in olive oil, added the basil, minced garlic, low sodium chicken stock and my tomatoes.  The resulting mix looked promising.

After simmering for an hour, I got impatient and took a potato masher to the bubbling mixture.  Another 2 hours and I ended up with a think chunky good smelling sauce.

Just enough for my Monday night dinner!  While it was adequate, I was underwhelmed.  I think my first mistake was adding the bell pepper.  The second...  leaving out the salt.  However, I can say that adding some Parmesan cheese really brightened up the flavor.  Last but not least, seeding the tomatoes might also help.  There were a lot more seeds than I expected

All in all, I'm happy with  my first attempt as marinara.  I'll be trying again next week.  My goal is to find a recipe that I like enough to can a bunch of it for later this winter when I'm no longer overwhelmed in fresh produce.  Maybe another good start would also be to do some reading of existing marinara recipes!

Do you have any suggestions?