2009 Culinarium Week 4

Finally got back into some sort of routine, if two days counts as routine.  In any case, the days are dramatically hotter now.  We’re into the 4th week of this CSA and it looks like peas and beans are rotating into the box.  I decided not to transfer the produce out of the shipping box, which looks like a reusable wax/polymer coated corrugated unit.  It can be broken down rather easily, designed for reuse.  Scanning photos of a friend’s share box from Zephyr Organics, they look to be of the same design.

2 heads Lettuce, 1.5lbs Strawberries, 1 bunch Green Onions, Spinach, 1 bunch Garlic Pig Tails (aka scapes), 2 bulbs Kolrabi, 1 head Cabbage, 1 bunch Beets, 15oz Peas, 10oz Beans, Cucumber, Zucchini

2009 Culinarium Week 3

I wasn’t able to make use of the share this week since M and I were out of town for the better part of the week.  So A picked up the full share, and reported back what was in the box this week.

1 small bunch of radishes, 8 pcs rhubarb, ½ pint of strawberries, 1 chinese like Shanghai bak choy, 3 kolrabi, 16 asparagus, 1 bucket of green beans,  ½ pint of fresh peas, 6 green onions, 1 bunch red leaf lettuce, 1 bunch green leaf lettuce, Cabbage, 6 beets, 1 cucumber.

A roasted the asparagus, lots of salads, stir fried the greens, sauteed green beans and bok choy.

2009 Culinarium Week 2

Picked up my share yesterday consisting of:

asparagus  (~1lb), 3 zucchini, 1 cucumber, rhubarb (12oz), radishes (1 bunch), 2 bulbs purple Vienna kohlrabi, 1 bunch green onion, 1 bunch spinach, 1 bunch kale, 1 red leaf lettuce, 1 romaine lettuce, 1 green leaf lettuce, bunch of mint, 1 box of mixed greens, and 1 mystery veggie (kudos to buddies A&L for identifying this as tatsoi).

Yes that is right, mystery veggie because I haven’t identified it yet.  I don’t recall the last time I saw this vegetable in the local super market.  At first I thought it was baby spinach, but the stems are too wide.

The other item of interest was the purple Vienna kohlrabi.  I’ve enjoyed kohlrabi for many years, sauteed or even julienned raw into a salad.  There was also more rhubarb, another opportunity to perfect my rhubarb-x pies, maybe next time it’ll be blackberries.  I bought some blueberries this time around instead of strawberries to see if it would work out just as well.  We had a simple salad with the lettuce, radish, mint, and loose leaf vegetables with an orange olive oil.

2009 Culinarium Week 1

So we started this week with another CSA program from Culinarium.  The appeal from this program was two fold.  Good logistics as provided by the Culinarium store site; pick up times through out the day, which was actually easier for my work schedule, and proximity to my home base.  The other factor was the supply source, “Triple Cord Mennonite Farms – 22 organic Mennonite farm families are pooling their harvest to provide you delicious, fresh, sustainably grown produce all season long.”- Culinarium.

I signed up for the full share, splitting the spoils with my sister.

We haven’t met the farmer, Mervin Miller, yet, but perhaps one day we’ll get a chance.

Rhubarb (~2lbs), Lettuce (4-5 heads), Spinach (1 bunch), Radishes (2 bunches), Cucumber, Tomato, Asparagus (1 bunch), Green onions (2 bunches), sausages (2 packages), and 1 shanghai bok choy (I think).

We already ate some of the greens in a salad, and the rhubarb was incorporated into a strawberry rhubarb pie.  The pie dough was a No Fear recipe, which was veritably easy to make.  The orange zest in the pie recipe gave the filling a good brightness, though I did have to add extra sugar as the strawberries weren’t sweet enough.