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CSA Bounty – Week Six

CSA Bounty Week Six

This week we got a wonderful variety of vegetables in our veggie share, and some delicious stone fruit in the fruit share.  I decided to display them in a grid this time.  From top to bottom row, left to right:

lettuce, green beans, spring onions, carrots, cucumbers, plums, nectarines, peaches, mint.

I forgot to take a picture of the zucchini!  This week I got a large one, which I’ll use to put in zucchini muffins most likely.  The zucchini from last week went into zucchini fritters.  I’ll post about them at some point, after I tweak a few things.

distribution on a humid cool day

The weather was better than last week – not great, but better.  It was much cooler, thanks to thunderstorms that passed through this afternoon.  It’s still humid, though, and a heat wave is expected this weekend.  I have hopes that it won’t be as intense as last time.

I have plans to make a sorbet out of some of the stone fruit.  Perfect for hot weather!

Additionally, I got a chunk of chevre and some ground pastured beef.  Looking forward to having hamburgers tomorrow!

And finally, our dry bean and grain share was this week and the most striking thing was the oats.  I don’t think I’ve actually seen whole oats before.  They look perfect to sprout – I’ll have to look into a grain mill attachment for my Kitchen Aid.  Or, perhaps I will eat them as hot cereal.  I also came across a recipe for a sprouted oat milk, which is intriguing.

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Fresh Pea Salad

in the bowl

Last week I was fortunate enough to have shelling peas in my CSA share. Usually we get sugar snaps or snow peas in a season, but hadn’t gotten shelling peas before.  I really wanted to find a recipe that highlighted the fresh pea flavor.

peas peas peas

It was also hot last week, so I wanted to find something that involved minimal cooking.

I found this pea salad recipe on the 101 Cookbooks site, which is a great source of recipes with a true vegetable focus.  Heidi Swanson, the site owner, is from the SF Bay Area, so a lot of her recipes remind me of home. Anyway, I found the date-mint combination in the dressing to be quite intriguing, and since I have access to amazing medjool dates here in town, that was a no-brainer to make it.  The mint is refreshing, and I love how the lemon and chile give it a pleasant kick.

date mint lemon spicy dressing

Beware, though – aside from the pepitas, this recipe has virtually no protein, nor is there much fat in it.  Perhaps a little olive oil could be added, but I think even that might weigh things down.  So, this dish is best paired with something containing plenty of good fat, like pastured eggs, a selection of raw cheeses, or perhaps even a grass-fed burger!

pepitas and peas

It is a delicious salad.  So refreshing and a wonderful combination of flavors.  It also allowed me to use up some of my lettuce, always a challenge for a CSA member this time of year.

salad put together

This salad makes a lot, and I ate it for three days, almost finishing it off.  It’s a wonderful salad to share with friends and loved ones.

Fresh Pea Salad
From 101 Cookbooks

I used a hand blender and it worked great! As you add more water to the dressing, it definitely gets easier to grind up.

1 cup fresh mint leaves (just leaves, no stems)
2 dried dates, pitted
1/2 of a small serrano chile, stem removed (half a jalapeño also works)
a squeeze of fresh lemon juice and zest from that lemon

1 1/2 cups fresh peas
1 small head of romaine lettuce, cut into shreds
1/2 cup toasted pumpkin seeds
fine grain sea salt

To make the mint-date dressing, puree the mint, dates, chiles and lemon juice and zest using a food processor or hand blender. Blend until uniform in texture. Thin it out by adding a tablespoon of water at a time until it is a consistency that you can drizzle. Taste and adjust for lemon and spiciness.

When you go to cook the peas, the key is not overcooking them. Fill a big bowl with ice water and set aside. Add some salt (as you would pasta water) and the peas. Bring six cups of water to a boil in a medium saucepan. You are just going to boil the peas for a very short time. Don’t leave the stove. Somewhere between ten and twenty seconds.You want them just barely tender, so they still pop in your – mouth. Quickly drain and dunk the peas in the bowl of ice water.

Just before serving gently toss the peas, lettuce, and pumpkin seeds with about half of the dressing and a couple pinches of salt. Taste and add more dressing if you like. Finish with a pinch or two of your favorite finishing salt (I like fleur de sel).

Serves 2 – 4

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Radish, Orange, and Mint Salad

radishes

Usually, I am not a big fan of radishes – they are bitter-spicy and taste a little like dirt.  I’ve always wanted to enjoy them, mostly because my grandma loves them and I love my grandma; she will eat them raw, out of hand, like tiny apples.

So, I’m happy to say that I’ve found a way to enjoy these round red radishes – finally!

orange

These radishes star in a salad I first tasted at an underground supper club called The Sunday Night Dinner, run by my friend Tamara.  The whole meal was fabulous, but this salad stuck out in my memory as spectacular.  It presented an amazing combination of flavors – earthy, sweet, bright, perfumed.  It was made with minimal ingredients: oranges, radishes, mint, and orange flower water.  The combination is simply amazing.  And addictive.  I had three servings that night.

orange blossom water

As I was planning out my meals for the week, this salad came to mind, and I knew I had to make it.  I searched the internet for it and came across a recipe from Saveur that resulted in this same salad I loved from that original dinner.  The orange juice really ameliorates the spicy nature of the radishes without breaking their spirit, and the mint is another refreshing touch.  The orange flower water perfumes it all beautifully.

This will be the primary way I eat radishes from now on, I expect.

radish, orange, mint

Radish, Orange, and Mint Salad
adapted from a recipe by Saveur

1 to 2 bunches red radishes, about 1/2 lb., washed and trimmed
1 1/2 tbsp. unrefined sugar – rapadura or sucanat work well
1 tsp. orange flower water
1 1/2 tbsp. fresh lemon juice
2 tbsp. fresh orange juice
salt
1 seedless orange
4 sprigs fresh mint, chopped

Shred radishes or slice thinly and julienne. Place in a small bowl and sprinkle with sugar. Stir and set aside to macerate for 15 minutes. Drain off excess liquid, if any. Cover and refrigerate, about 20 minutes, until well chilled.

Whisk together orange flower water, lemon juice, and orange juice in a small bowl, and season to taste with salt. Pour dressing over radishes and lightly toss.

Peel and section orange. Add to radishes.

Chop the mint and add it, mixing everything together.

Serves 2-4.