What's in the Box

Week Three:



Beets
Carrots
Fennel
Chard
Lettuce
Kohlrabi
Red Potatoes
Zucchini
Walla Walla Onion
Strawberries

We Got Beets!

First, Prepare the beets:

- Remove the beet from the greens.
- Slice off the tops and tips.
- Spray with oil.
- Wrap in tin foil.
- Bake about 25-30 minutes at 350 degrees.

TIP - The beets are easier to peel after their baked.

TIP - Feel free to add garlic cloves, onion chunks, etc. to bake with beets.

While the beets are baking, wash the greens and cut the stems off - these are edible, don't throw them away! If you take a bite of a stem you'll notice they're tough and bitter. Here's the trick:

- Boil about two cups of water in a small saucepan.
- Add a tablespoon or two of salt (don't worry, you're not going to eat this much salt).
- Cut the stems into 1 inch lengths and add to boiling water.
- Boil for approximately 5 minutes (about the time it takes to coarsely chop the greens).
- Strain the salt water off and thoroughly rinse with cold water.

Take a bite now, and you'll notice that the stems are soft and not bitter at all!

In a saucepan on medium heat, saute the stems with just a just a splash (no more than a teaspoon or so) of each: red wine vinegar, soy sauce, and sesame oil.

After a few minutes, add the greens to the stems, cover, and remove from heat. You may wish to blanch the greens first (submerse in boiling water for 30 seconds then run under cold water) to prevent them from cooking down too much and to help preserve their color, but I usually skip that step.

After the beets are done baking (and have cooled a little), remove the skins, slice them, and toss them with the greens. Taste it to see if it needs any more soy sauce or vinegar.



The greens are the best part, in my opinion, and taste great by themselves. If I notice the greens going limp in the fridge, and I don't plan on cooking the beets yet, I'll cook just the greens and leave the beets for later.

I also use this method for preparing turnip greens.

What's in the Box

Week Two:



Potatoes
Onions
Garlic
Collard Greens
Cilantro
Bok Choy
Zucchinis
Beets
Lettuce
Strawberries

Experi-Mint

One challenge I find with the CSA box is finding ways of preserving the veggies that I'm not able to eat right away.

For example, I know what to do with mint - Mojitos! But the amount of mint they put in the box is enough for 8 mojitos, which is about 6 more mojitos than I'm able to drink in a week.

So I'm trying an experiment: Sugar is a preservative, and simple syrup is an ingredient in my mojito recipe, so I decided to muddle enough mint for 2 mojitos in enough simple syrup for 2 mojitos and store it that way in the fridge.


The mint I used was already turning a little brown - so that's why the mint looks like this in the picture. I'll check on it in a week or so to see how it holds up.

UPDATE

After a couple of weeks, the mint turned brown. Not only that, but when I strained the mint out, the syrup was brown, too.



I made the mojito anyway. It tasted fine, but the color was unappetizing, and I missed having the actual mint in the cocktail.

So this doesn't work; good to know.

What's in the Box

Week One:



Blue Potatoes
Scallions
Spinach
Mint
Pea Tops
Carrots
White Turnips
Two varieties of Lettuce
Blueberry Preserves

Plus a bottle of wine: 2008 Pinot Gris