Week 3 Community-Shared Agriculture (CSA) Box (plus how to roast vegetables)

As we head into July, this might be the last of the late-spring produce. I’ll miss it… until next year of course!

Lots of familiar faces in this week’s basket. That’s…  

• 1 bunch of green onions – Used in raw salads and breakfast omelets.
• Over a lb. of new potatoes – Potatoes have a shelf-life of 3 to 4 weeks so these are on the counter awaiting inspiration. I’m thinking that these potatoes + some omega-3 rich purslane from the garden would make a healthy, flavourful potato salad. I might throw in some lemon balm from my herb garden too for good measure. I just ADORE the lemony kick that lemon balm offers. It’s definitely my new favourite herb!
• 1 bunch of radishes – Half were put in lunch salads and the other half were marvelously roasted along with some other veggies. Have you ever roasted radishes? They lose much of their characteristic bite, which some people love and others find ridiculous because that’s the whole point of a radish, right? Unfortunately I don’t love radishes as much as I should so roasting is another easy way for me to enjoy them.

I roasted these radishes, radish tops, Belgian endive and kohlrabi for 15-20 minutes at 425 F with 2 pats of organic butter. They became glossy, caramelized and infinitely delicious and nutritious.

• 2 kohlrabi (I picked green ones this week, which is the colour you can normally source at the grocery store) – Last week’s CSA post offered some special recipe ideas if you’re stuck with what to do with these unexpected beauties. 1
• 1 broccoli crown
• About half/lb. of fresh spinach – Most of this went into lunch salads. I have to wait until next week to secure enough spinach for my dairy-free spinach testing. I have a few leaves left that will likely go into an omelet.
• 2 giant bok choy – I froze the bok choy because the bok choy situation is completely out of hand at my house. Washed and frozen, it will be easy to toss into stir-fries and soups in the fall and winter.
• 1 head of romaine lettuce – Most of this ended up in lunch salads. I have less than 1/3 of the head left… probably more salads. I left my barbecue when I moved from our old home, otherwise I might grill the romaine as a rustic Caesar salad. I don’t use a BBQ a ton but in the summer I really miss it! A barbecue is on my wish list, along with a few other things like a lawn mower… I desperately need one of those too. It’s an understatement that moving costs way more than you ever plan for.
• 2 cooking onions – These will probably be caramellized and added to the epic vegetable and chicken lasagna I intend to make tonight. I plan to use up extra bits of veggies like spinach with a pesto-based sauce using herbs from the garden. I also bought some zucchini that I plan to shave into strips and use in lieu of pasta. One of my favourite ways to love zucchini!
• 4 eggplant starter plants (not shown)  

Based on this week’s bounty, here are a few tips and tricks for your kitchen (and CSA) toolbox:

• How to roast vegetables you don’t necessarily love: Roasting is a great way to enjoy vegetables you may not love as much as you could. Just chop the vegetables into a bite size, season them with salt, pepper and/or your favourite spices, add a bit of fat like ghee, butter, coconut oil or red palm oil, or water or stock (if avoiding oil) and roast at 400 or 425 F.

Depending on the size and hardness of your vegetables, this can take anywhere from 10 to 45 minutes. Whole beets can take an hour or more so I recommend chopping them.

A few of my favourite spice combos: cumin is great with carrots, oregano is great with tomatoes, and cauliflower is great with Indian-based spice blends like homemade curry or garam masala. Experiment, see what you like and try something new!

• Check out my post with tips and advice for getting your family to love vegetables more!

Did you sign up for a CSA share this season? What’s in your local basket?

Life is a plate… Eat up!

Ashleigh

P.S. Did you miss the earlier editions of my CSA series?

Check out Week 1 Community-Supported Agriculture Box

Check out Week 2 Community-Supported Agriculture Box

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