Wednesday, October 28, 2009

CSA Love: Week 1 Recipe Recap

I cooked an unbelievable amount of food this week. I can't stand letting food spoil or go to waste, so my fridge full of CSA veggies was like a time bomb to motivate my kitchen creativity. Here's what I came up with this week:

Green chile
I based the dish loosely on this recipe, but altered the quantities based on what I had on hand. I also threw in some cubed potato, since I had one that needed eating. It came out pretty well!

I'itois onion pancakes
I've talked about these before, made from a Chinese scallion pancake recipe on La Fuji Mama's blog. I made a couple dozen for the freezer (and helped myself to several during the week). They are so amazingly good.

They also make for a decadent little lunch when cut up in bite sized wedges and paired with fried egg and a soy/tahini/chili sauce.

I like these, though I left out the goat cheese since I didn't have any on hand. As a result the flavor was perhaps on the subtle side, and I would consider increasing the onion the next time.


Swiss chard sauteed with sunflower seeds and chili-garlic sauce
Based on a Jacques Pepin recipe suggested by my Uncle. I thought this had a really nice flavor, but to be honest, I've got a bit of a textural issue with cooked greens. I knew this going into it, but I was hoping to overcome it. Not so much.

Braising mix gratin
The Whole Foods website promised that this recipe (meant for swiss chard) would make anyone love greens. While the flavor, again, was fine, the prominent texture here was still that of cooked leafy greens, and I suspect that I'm not the only one out there that has this particular food texture issue. But fear not! I haven't given up on greens yet, and thanks to a comment from Farmgirl Fare Susan, I have an idea of how to enjoy the flavor of greens, without having their texture be the overwhelming focus of the dish.

While waiting for the gratin to cook, I roasted the last of the radishes with a bit of olive oil and salt in my toaster oven. So yummy.

Banana nut muffins
Ok, these have nothing to do with my CSA veggies, but I did have a couple over-ripe bananas that I didn't want to waste, so I made these based on this recipe, but subbed walnuts for coconut. I cut the sugar slightly, but would reduce it even more the next time. Great texture though, and it's always nice to have a bunch of muffins in the freezer for when guests are in town.

9 comments:

Teresa said...

Wow, I'm very jealous of your lunch. I think I had a cookie for lunch today. Oh, and a banana. Not so creative. All that food looks so delicious!

Petit Filoux said...

Goodness, and I thought I'd spent a lot of time in the kitchen recently!! The pancakes look really tasty.

Wendolene said...

What an interesting bunch of recipes! I'm right there with you on the texture issues--cooked vegetables have the potential to go way wrong in that dept.

Meg said...

A post or two back you asked about chard. I use chard in places that spinach would work, sauteed with pasta, stirfrys, salads, etc. I like it because the texture is less mushy than spinach, and has a milder flavor. I often use it with pasta - roasted tomatos, chard, mushroom, maybe some pesto. It makes me feel less guilty about eating a giant bowl of carbohydrates!

Linda said...

Yum! They all look great. i wish i could come up with stuff like taht!

Hilary said...

WOW that looks yummy! You've been eating extremely well!

Rachael Hutchings said...

I'm so glad that you're enjoying the pancake recipe! Great idea to make a bunch and freeze them!!

Riikka said...

Looks good! =) Thanks for the Shalom cardigan pattern! I enjoyed knitting it. You can see the result in my blog (sorry, only in finnish).

Mary Lou said...

I over planted swiss chard and have been trying it in many ways. The most popular, Spanikopita with chard in place of spinach. Lemon zest and a pinch of nutmeg. Yum.