Kearsarge Mountain CSA: Week 3

Hurray for another week of CSA deliciousness. This bounty was exceptional, I'd say. Here is what I got:

• Peas
• Salad mix
• Herbs (choose between dill and parsley, I chose dill)
• Summer squash
• Beets
• Broccoli
• Rainbow swiss chard
• Garlic Scapes

I also stopped at a little mid-week Warner Farmer's Market and got these amazing shiitake mushrooms from Greenhill Collective Farm. Wahoo! This is definitely a good week! These mushrooms store well in open containers in the fridge and, thanks to the wisdom of farm wiz Ben Dobrowski, I know not to eat them raw since they could cause an adverse reaction. There is always so much to learn when you buy food from the people who grow it themselves! Wonderful!

Here is what I came home with, and I went to work straight way storing these beautiful vegetables.

The broccoli (wahoo broccoli!), squash, peas, salad mix and garlic scapes were too easy. I just put them in the fridge! I will start to experiment with a vinegar soak to clean and help preserve the veggies, but this week is tough since I am housesitting, so I figure I can start that when I am back in my own home. Looking forward to it!

I put the rainbow chard in a vase just like a bouquet of flowers and boy does it look stunning! Food and decoration for the kitchen counter, what could be better? I did the same with the beet greens that I cut from the beet root (see Week 2 for more details). And, of course, the same with the dill.

With all of these delicious greens I am thinking lightly steamed green goodness with every meal.

Also, with this scorching heat I am thinking salads and raw veggies instead of cooking over a hot stove. I definitely made more dill dressing (see week 1), and will be enjoying combinations of salad mix, beets, broccoli, peas, herbs and garlic scapes daily.

But since it has been raining this afternoon, I was struck by the urge to cook something up. Here is what resulted:

Baked potato with sauteed broccoli, zucchini and shiitake mushrooms with a basil cheese sauce and lightly steamed greens

Baking potatoes couldn't be easier. Just poke the potato with a fork all over (choose any kind of potato you like, this time I went for red potatoes) and rub with olive oil, salt and pepper. Bake at 350 right on the rack. I cook them for an hour and then turn off the oven and let them finish in the warm oven for another 15 minutes to conserve energy. While I usually like to cook my veggies as little as possible, a thoroughly cooked baked potato, with a crunchy skin and warm fluffy flesh, is hard to beat. So for this I make an exception, although I have never heard of eating potatoes raw anyway so maybe this is the only way!

For the steamed greens, I cut up CSA chard and beet greens and very lightly steamed them with lemon and pepper and a little water in the pan. When I mean lightly, I mean turn on the burner for like 3 minutes to get the water hot, shut it off and lid it. There is nothing worse than soggy greens, plus they become less nutritious the more they are cooked.

Sauteing the CSA veggies was super easy.

I heated some onion and garlic in olive oil, to which I added my CSA broccoli and summer squash. After that cooked for just a couple minutes, I tossed in my shiitake mushrooms, adding additional olive oil for the mushrooms to soak in. They need extra moisture. After a couple minutes, and adding some salt and pepper, I turned off the burner and lidded the pan so the veggies could cook just a little more while I prepared the cheese sauce.

My basil cheese sauce started with a simple roux (a thickening agent used as the base for lots of sauces). I eyeballed a little butter with a little olive oil for the fat, and tossed in some flour to thicken it up. To that I added milk (from the Contoocook creamery, sold at Hannafords in New London) that I let heat up for a bit. Then I added lots of fontina and parmesan cheese, though you could choose any cheese really. Finally I added a heaping handful of basil from the garden, garlic powder, onion powder and lots of black pepper.

For plating, I threw I heaping pile of greens next to the baked potato. I poured some cheese sauce directly on the potato so it could soak into the flesh.

Then I topped the cheesy potato with the sauteed veggies, more cheese sauce and garlic scapes. So tasty! And everything but the potato and cheese was local! Doesn't get much better :)