What to do with all those CSA greens???

Yesterday my friend Kate and I decided that we needed to organize and store our CSA greens because our fridge was getting a little too out of control and overgrown!  We have a surplus of spinach, kale, collards, radishes, and salad greens that we want to last through the winter. 

We cleaned and cut the kale and spinach, blanched them in boiling water for five or so minutes and moved it to an ice water bath to stop the cooking.  We dried the cooked greens  overnight on a cookie sheet with a towel on it and placed in a labeled zip lock bags to freeze.  That way we can pull it out when we need it and none of it goes to waste!

The salad greens were cleaned and organized, as were the strawberries.  The beets and radishes and an onion was pickled in jars and stuck in the fridge to cure.

I am planning to make pesto with the fresh garlic and garlic scapes (very strange little things- I’ll let you know how that goes).  The chard is going in soup and I’m still at a loss on what to do with the broccoli raab…any ideas?

I think what I am learning is that it takes a lot of work to put food away for the winter but it is worth it.  By taking one night a week to clean, organize and prepare your CSA share or weekly seasonal veggie and fruit purchase you will waste less and be more opt to cook delicious seasonal meals with what you have from the farm.

Cherries in our fruit share this week!  Homemade cherry jam and maybe some bourbon soaked cherries to comeJ

What on earth do you do with radishes?

Our CSA has begun here in Colorado- woo hoo!  That means a weekly box of beautiful and local farm fresh fruit, veggies, and eggs…and a lot of new foods that we have no idea how to cook!

This spring has brough a lootttt of greens and radishes.  I have never had a good relationship with the old radish…it reminds me of one of three things:

1) a garnish at a cheesy buffet

 2) something that you can carve a little weird face out of (see #1) or

 3) something crunchy and tasteless in a salad.

I have vowed to conquer my fear of the radish this year…since I am up to my ears in them and really have no choice J

Some of the best things about having a CSA is that you are challenged to eat new things, prepare things in different ways, and you are forced to find a ton of new recipes.  Also, the farmers will send you their favorite recipes each week depending on that week’s harvest.  They will also talk to you when you pick up your share about how to cook each vegetable harvested that week. 

Yummy ways to prepare radishes:

In our CSA we got delicious (yes I said delicious and I mean it!) French Breakfast Radishes.  The farmer told me the best way to eat them was to slice them and put them on buttered toast and sprinkle with sea salt.  It was so yummy!  They are really good raw too- milder than traditional radishes.  This can be done with regular radishes too.

Pickled Radishes:

I was looking for a way to can radishes and couldn’t really find much about preserving them long term.  I did find some awesome pickled radish recipes that can be stored in your fridge for awhile.  Best eaten after the radishes have cured in the brine in the fridge for a week.  Use excess vinegar for salad dressing!

Pickled Radishes
Makes 1 half pint

6 radishes the size of pin pong balls, sliced very thin (1 heaping cup)
1 large shallot cut into eighths
½ cup vinegar
½ cup sugar
½ teaspoon salt

Place the vinegar, sugar and salt in a small pot and heat over a medium low heat, stirring until the sugar dissolves. Add the radishes and shallots. Heat until the vinegar just begins to boil, and then remove from heat.

Enjoy!

Rosemary Garlic Braid

Garlic came up in my mom's garden in California!  My parents live near the garlic capitol of the world, Gilroy, and some mornings we can smell the garlic fields from our family home- a 30 minute drive from Gilroy! 

Mom decided to make her own garlic braid with the garlic and rosemary from her garden.  She always makes our house feel so rustic and homey.  So beautiful- and a great way to dry your garlic, onions, and herbs!

Pizza's on the BBQ

Last night we had a bbq with some friends and made delicious pizzas on the grill!  We pulled pizza dough into large rectangles and sprinkled on salt, evoo, flour, and some seasonings and cooked the dough right on the bbq.  Once the dough was pretty cooked we added the toppings and then threw them back on the grill to finish.  YUMMMM!  Such an easy summer meal that feeds a lot of peeps. 

We decided to make one savory and one sweet pizza.  Here’s what we made…

Bridge and Mike’s Savory Pie had tomato sauce topped with mascarpone and mozzarella cheese, a drizzle of cream, prosciutto slices, and fresh basil.  So satisfying!

Our pizza was topped with a drizzle of evoo, salt and pepper, dollops of goat cheese, fresh peach slices, and red onion slices.  Once that was taken off the grill we drizzled on honey and topped with fresh arugula and basil.  Perfectly sweet and great in combination with the savory pie!

Happy summer bbq-ing!