It's a little embarrassing, but I have to admit I really need to clean up my kitchen before I can cook in any reasonable way, and so I am using a furlough day today to do just that. So, just a few thoughts as I enjoy my last cup of coffee before tackling the job.
It doesn't take deep thought to realize a lot of this week's box consists of similar things. Chard, dandelion greens, and spinach look alike and for the most part cook alike. I could saute any of them in olive oil with a bit of onion and garlic, and the optional sprinkling of parmesan, and they would be delicious side dishes. My goal here, though, is to make them the star of the main course, with enough non-meat protein to make them nourishing as well as delicious. Obviously one way to do this is by adding high-fat elements such as eggs and cheese (the egg-and-chard bake I found at the Sunset magazine website called for 18 eggs!). I don't really want to go there, though, and at least initially I'd like to avoid hunting down exotic ingredients such as farro. I have so far found an intriguing-sounding recipe for chard that uses chick peas (garbanzo beans) and tomatoes, so I will probably try that.
Yesterday I was rushing to finish a project at the office, so I actually worked on it in the morning instead of spending time fixing lunch, so all I did was grab 4 of the small carrots and 4 spears of asparagus, along with an organic avocado I'd picked up at TJ's on Tuesday. At lunch time I was going to buy a side salad from the cafe downstairs, but when I went to the kitchen to wash my salad bowl, I found the leavings of what had obviously been a salad tray for some sort of meeting--happens a lot where I work. So I took the remaining lettuce and cut veggies, including a few olives, and put them in my bowl with a can of yellow fin ventresca tuna (note to self: must see if there is any left at Grocery Outlet--the stuff was a steal and is so good!), the sliced avocado, and a little container of vinegar and oil dressing that had also been sitting with the salad remains. I steamed the asparagus spears in a damp paper towel in the microwave for about a minute and a half and put that in the salad, too.
The peas, in case anyone is wondering, ended up being about a half a cup worth after I hulled them--I popped them in the microwave with a little water, salt, and brown sugar and ate them on the spot.
Last night I didn't use any of the veggies--bad girl! But, anyhow, I hope to get the remaining stuff prepped and put away properly today. I have a chicken from TJ's that needs to be roasted, so will probably just do a side-dish kind of prep tonight: maybe that's a good time to make a lovely salad with the lettuce, with some canned beets and artichoke hearts. I could stuff the chicken with some sherry-and-onion sauteed rice. I will report.
Friday, April 30, 2010
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
First Eatwell Farm CSA Box
I think I'll use one of the green garlic bulbs to replace the shallot in Mark Bittman's basic vinaigrette recipe.
Except that I hope to track down a local source of organic bacon Friday to try a Pennsylvania Dutch vinegar dressing for the dandelion greens, I don't really have a plan yet, except that I need to eat at least 2 kinds of veggies every day and have either eaten or prepared and frozen everything before the next box arrives next Wednesday. All suggestions welcome!
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Yet another start
Well, I haven't managed to keep up with my ambitions yet, but I keep picking myself up and starting over.
Last week I came to one new realization: it's time to just say no to meat from Safeway and its ilk. I've already signed up for and will take delivery of my first basket of goods from a CSA. I chose Eatwell Farm, which has a weekly drop-off in Castro Valley. According to the email I received today, my first load will consist of:
Asparagus
Strawberries (we may only have enough for a few berries per box, and if we get a lot of rain there may not be any!)
Carrots
Fresh Onions
Lettuce
Spinach
Green Garlic
Peas (We're not sure how much we'll have for this week, but you'll get at least a little bit!)
Fava Beans
Chard
Dandelion Greens OR Radicchio
A bit dull, perhaps, as dictated by the season, and I'm going to have to augment the fruit with frozen and farmers' market, but a few of these items are a bit scary. I've only made fava beans once, and I remember it was a pretty labor-intensive process. Dandelion greens, hmm, vague memories of Pennsylvania Dutch bacon vinaigrette shimmer to the surface.
The meat question, though. I did some research last week into various local CSA and other types of free-range, grass-fed, etc. meat providers. There doesn't seem to be a one-size-fits-me solution, so I may have to select a couple of providers, buy a small freezer, and go in with some friends. What's wrong with Safeway? Hormones, cruelty, eco-impact, but also the wasteful assumption that consumers only want the "good" cuts. I can remember picking a random white-paper-wrapped package out of the freezer at my parents' home when I was a kid, and it could be stew meat or steak, we used all cuts--not offal, perhaps, we are after all white bread americans, but certainly not only the grillable. I'm happy to have lamb shanks as well as leg, chops, etc. I could get around some of that by shopping in the Chinese and Mexican markets that surround my neighborhood, but I'm still left not knowing where and how the animals were fed, contained, and slaughtered. Trader Joe's, I thought, might provide a piecemeal compromise, but their lamb, at least when I went to look early this a.m., was all imported from New Zealand--hardly supportive of the world's environment or the local economy. So, in the long run, a small freezer is in my future, and some trips to outlying ranches and farms, and coordination with my friends. In the short run, I have discovered that a local market is a retailer for Llano Seco, an organic pork producer out of Chico, so I'll be checking out Porters Market in the Manor neighborhood of San Leandro tomorrow. I'll be posting photos of my haul tomorrow, and I welcome any ideas for recipes.
Last week I came to one new realization: it's time to just say no to meat from Safeway and its ilk. I've already signed up for and will take delivery of my first basket of goods from a CSA. I chose Eatwell Farm, which has a weekly drop-off in Castro Valley. According to the email I received today, my first load will consist of:
Asparagus
Strawberries (we may only have enough for a few berries per box, and if we get a lot of rain there may not be any!)
Carrots
Fresh Onions
Lettuce
Spinach
Green Garlic
Peas (We're not sure how much we'll have for this week, but you'll get at least a little bit!)
Fava Beans
Chard
Dandelion Greens OR Radicchio
A bit dull, perhaps, as dictated by the season, and I'm going to have to augment the fruit with frozen and farmers' market, but a few of these items are a bit scary. I've only made fava beans once, and I remember it was a pretty labor-intensive process. Dandelion greens, hmm, vague memories of Pennsylvania Dutch bacon vinaigrette shimmer to the surface.
The meat question, though. I did some research last week into various local CSA and other types of free-range, grass-fed, etc. meat providers. There doesn't seem to be a one-size-fits-me solution, so I may have to select a couple of providers, buy a small freezer, and go in with some friends. What's wrong with Safeway? Hormones, cruelty, eco-impact, but also the wasteful assumption that consumers only want the "good" cuts. I can remember picking a random white-paper-wrapped package out of the freezer at my parents' home when I was a kid, and it could be stew meat or steak, we used all cuts--not offal, perhaps, we are after all white bread americans, but certainly not only the grillable. I'm happy to have lamb shanks as well as leg, chops, etc. I could get around some of that by shopping in the Chinese and Mexican markets that surround my neighborhood, but I'm still left not knowing where and how the animals were fed, contained, and slaughtered. Trader Joe's, I thought, might provide a piecemeal compromise, but their lamb, at least when I went to look early this a.m., was all imported from New Zealand--hardly supportive of the world's environment or the local economy. So, in the long run, a small freezer is in my future, and some trips to outlying ranches and farms, and coordination with my friends. In the short run, I have discovered that a local market is a retailer for Llano Seco, an organic pork producer out of Chico, so I'll be checking out Porters Market in the Manor neighborhood of San Leandro tomorrow. I'll be posting photos of my haul tomorrow, and I welcome any ideas for recipes.
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