Culture Bitch

Perhaps its the fall temperatures that blew in a few weeks ago, but I’ve been on a cooking binge. I have always enjoyed cooking, but lately I find I’m really throwing myself into it with new purpose. I made fresh pasta for the first time (so easy and soooo good), and cooked with short ribs, which I’d never used before. However, I do find that I still tend to gravitate to the same dishes week after week. Good though they are (one can never have too much spaghetti aglio olio), I really want to expand our culinary horizons, and not just when we have company.

Unfortunately, I have an extreme distaste for visiting supermarkets, to a degree most people find odd. This, combined with a lack of imagination when suddenly confronted with piles of produce, whether at a farmer’s market or a store, leads me to buy the same old standby vegetables and make the same old dishes I’m already comfortable with.

For that reason, as well as the fact that I want to support local food sources, and try to buy organic as much as possible, I joined my first CSA last week. It actually took me a while to find a CSA that worked for us both in terms of pickup location, and wasn’t already full. Hence, the reason I’m just getting to one in October. I found Enterprise Farm via the Boston Localvore blog, and discovered they had a fall share that runs September through November; because I was joining a bit late (last week), they offered a pro-rated rate, as well as a “small” share size, and had a pickup right near my house. Perfect!

Last Wednesday I arrived at my pickup location to get my box of goodies. A newsletter had been emailed the day before, so I had an idea of what might be in the box, but as with all CSAs it depends on the crop. There appeared to be just about everything that had been on the list. I received:

2 tomatoes
6 tomatillos
3 pears
one delicata squash
a bag of baby potatoes
2 bunches of baby bok choy
a huge bag of arugula
2 onions
a bunch of carrots
a bunch of collard greens
one head of green cabbage

I suspected (and was right) that the CSA box of veggies would push me to find new recipes for items I may not normally buy. As a friend recently commented to me, “it’s like your own Iron Chef show.” (Thankfully I’m not being timed.) So, how did I fare with this first week? Well, over the course of the seven days, I have used:

• the delicata squash and several potatoes, cubed and roasted in the oven with oil, thyme, salt & pepper
• all of the onions & carrots, two ways: in a pan sauce for duck breasts, as well as to make a shrimp stock
• about half the arugula, for a shrimp risotto with arugula pesto
• all of the collard greens, sauteed with pancetta as a side dish
• the cabbage, from which I made a gigantic bowl of coleslaw
• one of the tomatoes, in grilled cheese & marinated tomato sandwiches
• all of the bok choy, sauteed with garlic as a side dish
• one pear, brought to work for a snack

I still have the tomatillos, two pears, one tomato and half a bag of arugula left. I had never had a delicata squash before, and discovered it is really delicious, so hopefully I’ll get another one this week (it’s on the list). The arugula pesto is something I never would have thought to make before, but was good and is definitely a keeper. The collard greens and boy choy are items I probably never would have bought on my own, so I’m glad I tried them, and would buy them again, though as a leafy green I still prefer swiss chard.

Not being a fan of cooked cabbage, I discovered there’s really no uncooked dish you can make with a cabbage beside coleslaw. And a head of cabbage makes a LOT of coleslaw. Thankfully, cabbage is not in this week’s distribution.

Some of the items in this week’s list are the same (carrots, potatoes, onions, tomatoes), as well as a few new ones that I’m looking forward to (spinach, sweet corn, eggplant, peppers). A couple of things I’m completely unfamiliar with are on the list: Mizuna and Tatsoi. I don’t have the slightest idea what do to with either of those. (Food Bastard, any suggestions?)

All in all, I enjoyed my first week of challenging myself not just to find new recipes, but use as much of the produce as possible. Hopefully I can keep up the pace. Stay tuned!