CSA 2016- Week 17 Kansas City

The items available for Week 17 of the CSA season are: Farm Selected Items : Sweet Bell Peppers, Eggplant and Salad Mix and for the Choice Items: Yellow Squash (and patty-pan squash), Cucumbers, Swiss Chard, Radishes, Salad Turnips, Baby Bok Choy, Cabbage, Green Onions, Baby Kale, Kohlrabi, Beets, Sweet Candy Onions, Spicy Peppers (Jalapeños) and Garlic. For additional recipe ideas, check out my CSA veggie Pinterest board: https://www.pinterest.com/sheriredfearn/csa-veggies-recipes/

Sweet Bell Peppers (Farm selected Item):  Store in plastic bag, in refrigerator. Meal idea: sauté sliced candy onions and sweet pepper for a tasty Philly Cheese Sandwich or Fajitas. Stuffed peppers are also a favorite main dish at our house; zucchini/ yellow squash can also be stuffed using the same recipe. Sweet peppers can easily be preserved by freezing and they can be frozen raw, without blanching first. Cut peppers into the desired size: diced for adding to winter casseroles, soups or sauces; sliced for fajitas; or halved (or the tops cut off) to be used for stuffed peppers (also, after freezing there is no need to parboil peppers before stuffing) and freeze in freezer bags.

Eggplant (Choice Item):Store in plastic bag in the refrigerator, but use quickly, because eggplant doesn’t store well. Eggplant can be sauteed, grilled or roasted.  Two wonderful eggplant recipes (that don’t require salting and draining the eggplant) are No-Fuss Eggplant Parmesan and Smitten Kitchen’s Eggplant Bruschetta (which has a Mediterranean style topping).Here’s a page with detailed instructions about eggplant preparation and recipes: Fine Cooking: How to cook Eggplant. It is great combined with zucchini and tomatoes (such as in Ratatouille). For eggplant recipes from Italy to China, check out these: Global Eggplant Recipes. Moussaka is a greek dish with eggplant. Here is a relatively simple recipe for Moussaka recommended by a CSA member (and also tried and deliciously approved by the Redfearn family). Some chefs suggest salting and draining the prepared (sliced, cubed, etc) eggplant for at least 20-30 minutes before cooking (this takes away any bitterness and also, helps the eggplant to absorb less oil during cooking).

Salad mix (Farm selected Item):  Store in plastic bag, in refrigerator.

CHOICES (Basic shares can choose 2, Premium Shares can choose 5):

Yellow squash (Choice Item, 3 squash will count as one item): store in plastic bag in refrigerator. Yellow squash nearly interchangeable with zucchini and is great raw or sautéed, grilled, or baked into zucchini bread (my kids favorite way to eat zucchini!). Raw zucchini/ squash makes a fresh, flavorful salad as in this: Summer Squash Salad with Lemon Citronette. Zucchini (sliced and broiled or pan fried) can take the place of pasta in lasagna. If you want more ideas, you can try Baked Zucchini FriesSquash baked eggs or Zucchini Fritters  or Chocolate Zucchini Bread or these main dishes Baked Penne with Roasted Vegetables (this is a great recipe to use a lot of vegetables, including zucchini, yellow squash, eggplant, peppers, onions and garlic),  Cheesy Zucchini Casserole (which we make with shredded sharp cheddar, instead of Velvetta). Here’s a couple other zucchini recipes, recommended by CSA members: Curried Zucchini Soup, Zucchini TotsSauteed Zucchini with Cherry Tomatoes (don’t overcook the zucchini!), and Zucchini Chocolate Rum Cake. To preserve: Zucchini or Yellow squash can be shredded and frozen to use in Zucchini bread recipes.

Radishes (Choice Item): Store in plastic bag in refrigerator. Crisp radishes in ice water. Sliced radishes add great flavor to salads. You can also just eat them straight with butter and a sprinkle of salt. There are many variations of radish salads, here are a couple: Radish and Mint Salad , Smitten Kitchen’s chopped salad,  and Radish, Cucumber and Orange Salad. Radishes are milder when roasted or cooked. I cut radishes in half and toss with a little olive oil, salt and pepper and roast at 425F until tender crisp (they can be roasted alongside sweet potatoes or carrots for a nice flavor and color combination).

Salad turnips (Choice Item): Salad turnips are crunchy, sweet and only slightly peppery. Storage Tips: The leaves cause moisture loss during storage, so it is best to remove tops and store the root and greens separately in the refrigerator. Preparation and Cooking: Enjoy salad turnips as you would radishes in fresh salads. Salad turnips can also be thinly sliced and sauteed, or pickled with other vegetables. Other detailed recipes are Salad turnip and radish sandwiches and Turnip and Apple Salad, Roasted turnips, Glazed turnips and more.

Cabbage (Choice Item): Store in the refrigerator. Cabbage can be stir fried, roasted, paired with Kielbasa Sausage, made into salad or into Sauerkraut. Sauerkraut is one of the best ways to preserve cabbage.

Baby Bok Choy (Choice Item): Store in plastic bag in the refrigerator. Here is a basic bok choy recipe with great instructions: Stir-fried Bok Choy . Cooked (leftover) Bok Choy can be added to fried rice. Bok Choy can also be cooked and used inside egg rolls (I just followed the instructions on the back of the package of egg roll wrappers). Bok Choy can also be grilled, as in this Grilled Baby Bok Choy with Miso butter! Bok choy can be sliced and added to soups during the last few minutes of cooking.If you would rather eat bok choy raw; it can be chopped and dressed with an asian- style dressing: Bok Choy Salad

Swiss Chard (Choice Item): Store in plastic bag in the refrigerator. The swiss chard leaves have a very mild flavor similar to spinach. Both the stem and the leaves can be eaten and I usually use both together; chop the stems like you would celery and begin cooking the stems before adding the greens. This is a basic swiss chard recipe: Swiss Chard with Balsamic Vinegar. Our family really likes this Swiss Chard, Sausage, White bean casserole ( I use the stems and leaves of the chard). This Swiss Chard and Ricotta Crostata  is a wonderful recipe, and one of my all-time favorites. Swiss chard leaves can be used just like spinach in my Crustless Spinach Quiche recipe. Swiss chard can also be used in curry, as in these: Saag Paneer (I have used a bunch of swiss chard in place of spinach in this recipe; I washed, then coarsely chopped the chard stems and leaves, and then processed the swiss chard while raw in a food processor) and Curried Lentils and Sweet Potatoes.

Cucumbers (Choice item): store in plastic bag in refrigerator (our cucumbers are not waxed, so will lose moisture and become rubbery if not wrapped). Recipe Ideas: Cucumber infused Water, Smoothies with Cucumbers, Cucumber Salads: Creamy Cucumber Salad with Greek Yogurt and DillCucumber Salad with Garlic and Ginger and even Stir-fried Cucumbers! Pair with tomatoes in an Israeli Salad, Cucumber, Tomato, and Avocado Salad, Greek Salad and Panzanella Salad. Cucumbers are the base for the Mediterranean sauce, Tzatziki. Cold Cucumber Soup is also a refreshing way to use cucumbers.

Green Onions (Choice Item): Store in plastic bag in the refrigerator. Use in lots of Chinese/ other asian recipes (General Tso’s chicken and Korean beef are two Redfearn favorites) chicken salad, egg salad, salad dressing to name a few.

Spicy peppers: Jalapeno or Anaheim peppers. Store in plastic bag, in refrigerator. Ideas: Chop and add to salsa, or use in this Jalapeno Popper Chicken. If you want to try water-bath canning, try this Jalapeno Jelly (I’ve used a combination of peppers). Anaheim and poblano peppers can be stuffed, as in these Chicken and Cheese Stuffed Anaheim Peppers, or Black beans and Cheese stuffed Poblano Peppers, or Rice and Beef stuffed Peppers. Peppers can be frozen; slice or dice and then place in freezer bags, can be used in fajitas, or anywhere you would use cooked peppers (after thawing the peppers are soft).

Kale: store in plastic bag in refrigerator.  Try this Zuppa Tuscana soup (I usually add a can of tomatoes to this soup and sometimes kidney beans). Or, try this method of fixing kale:

Kale, Sausage and Beans

8 to 16 oz. smoked sausage (or omit and increase beans, for a vegetarian version), sliced

1 Onion, chopped

3 (or more) cloves garlic, finally chopped

1 can (or about 2 cups, peeled) tomatoes, with liquid

Kale, 7- 10 leaves, removed from stem and chopped (with Baby kale, add a couple l handfuls of kale leaves, chopped)

1 can drained (or about 2 Cups, cooked) white beans, like great northern or cannellini beans

Brown the sausage in a skillet and then remove sausage to a paper towel lined plate and drain off excess oil. Saute the onions in olive oil over medium heat, till soft and golden, 5- 10 minutes. Add chopped garlic and kale, stir to begin to wilt. Then add tomatoes and cover: lower heat and cook until kale is tender, about 5 to 7 minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in beans and sausage and season to taste (red pepper flakes are a good addition). Can be topped with shredded parmesan cheese.

Sweet Candy Onions (Choice Item):Store in a cool, dry, well ventilated area; in a bowl/ basket on your counter should be fine, but NOT right by Potatoes (Onions produce ethylene, which can cause potatoes to go bad). Here is some inspiration if you need more ideas of how to use onions: 50 Onion Recipes.

Garlic (Choice Item):Store in a cool, dry, well ventilated area; in a bowl/ basket on your counter should be fine.

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