Cooking from the garden
The first weeks from the garden…your own or a CSA – heavy on the greens!
Somewhere in the neighborhood of ten years ago, I subscribed to an organic delivery service. I received a weekly delivery of organic produce. The group that delivered received the kind of organic produce that is now common place in grocery organic sections, but at that time – not. It was ultimately my introduction to some vegetables that I had never bought nor eaten. It proved to be a wonderful experience as I was “forced” to research some items and then decide how to incorporate them into my meals.
So, this go around, with my CSA subscription from Swallow Crest Farm…I am better prepared. Also, I have ten additional years of cooking experience :)!
Week 1: spinach, spring greens, cilantro, red leaf lettuce, scallions, radishes
The challenge of week 1 was the spring greens. I am not a “leafy green salad” afficianado and I had that beautiful red leaf lettuce. The “spring green” mix I am …or thought I was…a bit ho-hum about, but after this morning’s processing (end of this post), I am now looking forward to what they will be!
Sunday breakfast: A spinach, bacon, mushroom quiche – with a twist…a shredded potato crust. The side is a pickled radish-cucumber-cilantro-onion slaw. The pickled slaw – I’ve been making a version of it with cucumbers and onions. The addition of the radishes was a bonus. So simple: slice cucumber (I used an English cucumber) and radish, chop sweet onion and cilantro. Over all pour a dressing of vinegar, sugar, wee bit of oil. Optional additions are soy sauce, teriyaki, chili oil, sesame oil, mustard… For this version, I went fairly bland with the dressing. I knew I was going to use it with very flavorful and spicy main dishes. But it is wonderful with the Asian twist of sesame oil and mustard if serving with salmon or halibut, etc. Let the mix sit several hours or overnight or a day or so. It keeps getting better.
One of my “go to” meals is a quick saute of rice, beans and whatever else I have handy. When I’m out, I typically cook a pot of brown or brown and wild rice and a pot of beans. They sit in the frig waiting. On this night: brown rice, white beans, spinach and a bit of meat from baby back ribs with a side of pineapple and a glass of hibiscus refigerator tea spiked with pineapple and ginger syrup. It hit the spot!
Many, many years ago…before I moved to Montana…I lived in West Los Angeles. And I went nearly every day to the UCLA campus to work on-site. A favorite lunch from one of the many campus bistros, was a spinach-mushroom quesadilla. It was HUGE! But I was 30-something…
My current version is much smaller and uses my homemade corn tortillas instead of a GIANT flour tortilla. But it is STUFFED with spinach, mushrooms, guacamole (actually mashed avocado) and cheese. And it is good. This was actually breakfast. So the beverage is a hot cup of strong, black coffee. Yea.
While green, leafy, salads are not normally a big part of my eating…that red leaf lettuce….SO good and tender and I enjoyed it on sandwiches. But I also enjoyed it in this salad:
Red leaf lettuce, roasted red beets, goat cheese and walnuts. I dressed the lettuce and beets with a vinagrette: white wine vinegar, olive oil and fresh squeezed orange juice. That worked for my supper several nights.
So, this morning…with another distribution due in the afternoon…more greens to come and I hadn’t used all of the spinach and none of the spring greens.
Plan B: process and freeze
I washed (vinegar/water spritz and then a good rinse) and destemmed the spinach.
A blitz in the food processor with just enough olive oil to clean the sides of the bowl…
Into a ziploc bag, flattened and into the freezer.
I had intended to freeze any leftover greens as pesto – with garlic, nuts, etc., but on further thought, decided to freeze with just a bit of olive oil so I could use however I wanted when I thaw them.
I ended up with a bag of spinach, a bag of spinach and basil – basil not from the CSA. I had the basil on hand and it needed to be used – perfect fit for the end of the spinach that didn’t fit in bag 1.
The third bag was the spring greens. Again with just enough olive oil to clean the bowl.
Ultimately, nothing wasted. All was eaten or frozen for later use.
On to week 2!
