Mustard greens with red potatoes and mushrooms

Ingredients:

• 4 to 5 medium red potatoes, quartered
• 3 tablespoons of butter
• 1 tablespoon bacon drippings, or use more butter
• 8 ounces fresh sliced mushrooms
• salt and black pepper, to taste
• dash red pepper, optional
• 4 cups (about 1 pound) shredded mustard greens

Preparation:

Boil potatoes until just tender; cool and slice. Melt butter with bacon drippings in a large heavy skillet over medium heat; add potatoes and mushrooms. Season with salt, pepper, and red pepper, if using. Cook and stir until mushrooms are tender and potatoes are heated through, about 3 to 4 minutes. Add greens and stir until wilted, about 1 minute.

http://southernfood.about.com/od/collardgreens/r/bl00311f.htm

Garlic Greens

Use turnip greens or collards in this recipe for greens with garlic.

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 to 2 pounds collard greens or turnip greens, boiled or steamed until tender
• 3 to 4 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 2 to 3 tablespoons minced garlic (about 4 large cloves)
• salt and black pepper, to taste
• hot pepper sauce

Preparation:

Drain greens well.
In a large skillet or Dutch oven over medium heat, cook garlic in the vegetable oil until it just begins to brown. Add the drained greens; season to taste with salt and pepper then add a few dashes of your favorite hot sauce.

http://southernfood.about.com/od/collardgreens/r/bl00311e.htm

Mizuna

Description

Elegant, deep green and saw-toothed leaves have a mild yet tangy flavor. This tender green leaf lettuce makes an excellent mix for salads and soups.

Serving Ideas

Mizuna is generally mixed with other lettuces to enhance the appearance, flavor, and nutritional value of salad.

The leaves can be added to soups, add the shredded leaves at the end of cooking; the heat of the broth will cook them sufficiently.

http://www.evergreenherbs.com/Freshlettuces/mizuna.htm

Arugula Pesto Pizza

This pesto has a really interesting flavor, it is spicy and rich all at once.
Here it is on pizza with some mushrooms and mozzarella cheese.
We have two containers left, one for pasta later this week, and one to freeze.

Arugula and Red Pepper Pesto

http://www.seasonalchef.com/recipe0106c.htm#Arugula%20Pesto

1/2 lb. arugula
1 1/2 tablespoon salt
1 tablespoon brown sugar or honey
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
4 roasted red peppers
1 cup toasted piñon nuts
1 cup toasted pepitas (pumpkin seeds)
1 cup olive oil

1. Blend everything together in a food processor, stopping to scrape sides and processing again. We like the pesto rich, salty and oily. A few cloves of sweet roasted garlic are a nice addition.

2. Older arugula can be bitter; this pesto can be cut with fresh spinach for milder flavor.

3. Spread on pizza crust, and top with cheese & veggies; toss with hot pasta (ziti is a particularly good vehicle); add to sour cream for a dip. You can freeze the pesto in greased ice cube trays for easy-access portions.

Springtime asparagus quiche

• 1/2 to 3/4 pound asparagus, trimmed, chopped
• water
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1/2 cup chopped mushrooms
• 4 green onions, with green, thinly sliced
• 1 small tomato, peeled, seeded, diced
• 1 1/2 cups shredded Havarti cheese or Swiss, about 6 ounces
• 4 large eggs
• 1 1/2 cups half-and-half or whole milk
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
• dash nutmeg

Preparation:

In a saucepan, cover asparagus with water. Bring to a boil over high heat; reduce heat, cover, and cook for 5 minutes. Drain and set aside.

In a skillet, heat butter over medium-low heat; add mushrooms. Saute until mushrooms are tender; add green onions and cook for 1 minute longer. Set aside.

Line a 9-inch or 10-inch pie plate with pastry; bake at 375° for 8 minutes. Remove from oven and reduce oven temperature to 350°.

Arrange vegetables and shredded cheese in pie pastry.

Whisk together the eggs and half-and-half; add salt, pepper, and nutmeg. Pour egg mixture over the vegetables. Place the filled pie shell on a large cookie sheet or jelly-roll pan. Place in the oven and cook for 45 to 55 minutes, or until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean.
Serves 6 to 8.

http://southernfood.about.com/od/quicherecipes/r/bl60910d.htm

Strawberry Rhubard Pie

CSA Shopping List for Monday, May 4

Here it is folks! The first of the season:
____
The list of share items follows:
1 lb. asparagus – certified organic – Farmdale Organics
1 bunch red radishes – certified organic – Goshen View Organics
1.25 lbs rhubarb – certified organic – Organic Willow Acres
12 oz large white mushrooms – certified organic – Mother Earth Organics
1 bunch scallions – transitional – Taste of Nature Farm
.75 lbs young flat leaf spinach – certified organic – Elm Tree Organics
1 lb wildfire lettuce mix – certified organic – Farmdale Organics
.50 arugula – certified organic – Farmdale Organics
____

The variety looks great, especially for so early in the season. Lets hope this is a sign of a great growing season ahead.

Getting Started

The 2009 CSA season is about to start and our household are tenting our fingers with glee at the prospect of our first share. This is our third year with Lancaster farm fresh and our second year hosting. I joined my first CSA when I was in college. My roommate and I, two twenty-somethings in our first apartment on Fairmount Avenue, were completely clueless. We laid waste to the cherry tomatoes and other delectables and left more complicated items like Kale and Swiss chard to wilt and decompose in the crisper.

Many years later, my wife and I do a pretty good job of using what is on hand each week. It takes some planning and research, especially when new and interesting items come down the line. It has been a great opportunity to expand out repertoire in the kitchen.

Last year, I thought about blogging our CSA for the first time. Would it be an interesting exercise to write about what we did with our share each week? Well, in the end I could not get excited about the idea. It seemed a bit self-centered and bland.

This year, the host sites were invited to an orientation at the co-op. We toured the packing facility and a couple of the farms. It was amazing to see where everything came from and to meet some of the farmers who grow our food. We toured plastic-sheeted greenhouses that were warm and humid inside despite the raw windy day outside and saw the seedlings that would become our heirloom tomatoes, onions, and watermelons. The farmers told us about what it took to be certified organic and answered our questions.

It was also just as exciting to talk to the other hosts. They all had great ideas about how to best use our CSA shares.

Sometime during the day I decided that I wanted to start a recipe share blog, where CSA members could share ideas about how to cook, or, if needed, preserve and store all of the tasty items that we will be seeing in a few short days.

So here we are. Got a hot tip on what to do with radishes? Want to share your family rhubarb cobbler recipe? Willing to drop a few gems from your secret cook book stash? Drop us an email.

Thanks for sharing,

Todd & Nora
Mt. Airy Philadelphia Site Hosts