CSA - Week 1

(sorry folks, I'm downloading 431 pictures from Jeremy's graduation and my trip to vegas and the computer is only on #50...so pics and stories from those times will have to be back-blogged).

So Wednesday was the first CSA pick up day (courtesy of Farmer Dave's of Dracut, MA) and, since I was in the air at that point, Karen (who also has a share) (HI KAREN!) picked up mine at the East St. Farm Stand for me. This is what was in this week's share (pics will be edited in here once my dinosaur computer downloads everything):

1 small head boston lettuce
1 large head green leaf lettuce
1 large bok choy
1 zucchini
1 kousa squash
1 small bunch (4) beets
1 medium bunch (8-10) radishes
1 bundle (5) garlic scapes
1 bunch (good sized) shell peas

What I've done so far (or plan to do) with these veggies:

Boston & Green Leaf Lettuce - totally got frozen in the back of my fridge. Fed them to the woodland creatures in the woods behind my house. :-( I did, however, go back to the farm stand and bought another head of green leaf and we're having a salad tonight. I washed each rib, spun them in the salad spinner, and wrapped the extra in paper towels and put them in a plastic bag for use later this week. I bought scallops on sale this weekend and hope to grill them and have a nice salad for dinner at some point.

Bok Choy - I plan on making a stir fry modifying the already modified Stir Fry Chinese Cabbage recipe found on Farmer Dave's site. Will probably add some chicken breast in there.

Zucchini & Kousa Squash - I bought a yellow summer squash back at the farm stand and I sliced them into 1/4 inch rounds and marinaded them in Ken's Herb & Garlic marinade. Will be grilling these tonight to have with steak we're having for father's day.

Beets - I chopped off the greens right away and I sauteed them with olive oil, the greens from the radishes, and 2 garlic scapes. Put them in a bowl in the fridge and the next day I took 1/2 of them and added them to scrambled eggs. I think they actually might go well with some scallops. I trimmed the ends of the beets and boiled them whole. When they were cool, they peeled easily. They're in a bowl in my fridge. Will probably eat them tomorrow, unless I want to add some to my salad tonight.

Radishes - see above regarding greens. I plan on making Roasted Radishes with Soy Sauce and Sesame Seeds, also courtesy of Farmer Dave's website.

Garlic Scapes - these are totally new to me, and are AWESOME. I actually bought 2 more bunches of these at the farm stand. A garlic scape is basically the flower stalk that grows out of the ground when growing garlic bulbs. They are cut before the flower opens. They have a very mild garlic flavor. In addition to adding them to the greens I already cooked, I have 2 recipe plans for these guys: White Bean & Garlic Scape Dip, and Garlic Scape & Almond Pesto.

Shell Peas - now, I don't know if these are snap peas or shell peas. Karen tells me they were snap peas, but when I went to the farm stand, they looked the same as what were labeled as shell peas. Anyway, I took these to the Jimmy Buffett concert and they ended up getting packed into someone elses' cooler when it started raining. I hope the new owner attempted to eat them and didn't let them go bad. I did eat a few of them raw with dip and they were good!

So there is my first week of CSA. I'm expecting next week to have much of the same produce due to the time of year but I'm hoping that I'll have more time to plan out meals and recipes for next week's share.