Shiiiiiiitakes!!

I love mushrooms.  They’re right up there next to my friends the eggplant and butternut squash.  I think I might even prefer them over chocolate sometimes… sometimes.  I really like expensive mushrooms that I never get to eat because Freddy’s charges over $12 a lb for the little guys.  I must be in the mushrooms gods’ favor however as I received a whole bunch of them in my CSA share this week.

Well, color me happy! There’s shiitakes in here for two!

I’ve only used a handful of them so far as I had some cremini in the fridge to get rid of, but last night we made pizza and I made a shroom pie.  I used a variation of this crust (less cornmeal, more flour, no pepper, and Earth Balance instead of oil), a half order of this sauce (all crushed toms), the Cashew Ricotta from Veganomicon, and a whole bunch of shroomers.  It was quite tasty.

Also in my share this week was some kale (supposedly, though I think it’s chard), new potatoes, scallions and fava beans. I don’t recall ever having fava beans before.  I’ve definitely never shelled fresh ones so I think I have some learning to do.  I hear you have to shell them not once but twice.  Fun, fun.  Hopefully the taste will be worth the effort.  Anyone have any favorite fava recipes?

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Slippery little suckers

For lunch today I made a quinoa salad with fresh organic greens, slivers of apple, daikon and cucumber, a few almonds and a citrusy red wine vinaigrette dressing – a tasty and nutritious combo.  Well, I sit down after class to eat real quick before going to work.  I’m quickly chomping my way through my salad – munch, munch, crunch, munch – and then I look down in my bowl.  “I don’t remember putting olives in here.  Wait, is that an olive?  What is that?” At this point my heart rate increases a few notches and I get this squeamish feeling in my stomach.  “Hmmm,” I say to myself and immediately decide to quit eating.

I didn’t look at it again until I got home (4.5 hours later) because I wanted somebody else to positively identify the foreign object that somehow made its way into my homemade lunch.

But it was just as I suspected.

When I signed up for farm fresh produce I just assumed that organics had their limits, but I guess with the good comes the bad.  Not that I think they planted the little guy in my mixed greens or anything.

I even washed the salad greens in two separate batches.  And then spun them in the salad spinner and proceeded to separate them again into two different containers and then refrigerate them.  The fridge is probably what did it.  I imagine even slugs need oxygen.

So, the moral of the story is: “be very very careful when washing your greens!”

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I find myself in need of a spork.

This week I got a whole bunch of daikon radishes in my CSA share.  Fantastic.  Now, just what the hell are daikon radishes?  I had no clue, so I wiki’d them.  They look like huge albino carrots, but they don’t taste like carrots.  I’m actually not sure how to describe their flavor and texture.  They’re crunchiness reminded me of celery, but I hate celery.  The flavor wasn’t celeryish though, so that was good.  I’m not really sure what flavor they have actually.  They’re good in soup at least as they didn’t get all mushy after bubbling for close to an hour.  I’ll have to get back to you on the whole flavor thing…

Anyway, chances are you’ve had them in some dish at a Chinese, Korean or Japanese restaurant, but they aren’t something you’ve probably taken any notice of (at least I hadn’t noticed them before – which isn’t really saying much).  I also got some bok choy in my CSA share so I went recipe shopping for some sort of soup I could throw them in.  I decided upon Susan’s Thai Coconut Soup.  The only problem was that I didn’t have any lemongrass, or tofu, or straw mushrooms, so I just threw whatever I found in the pot, wiggled my nose, clicked my ruby red heels together and hoped for the best.

I’m guessing the original version tasted pretty damn good.  Mine was, well… it was good but not really good enough to bother remembering the various 7.4 extra ingredients I added to the soup so as to share the recipe with my readership (small though it may be).  I suggest just trying Susan’s version (she’s actually knows how to cook as to where I just pretend to).

On a side note, if you’re putting noddles in a soup, cut them up.  I’m an idiot from time to time and don’t think about things like this.  It took a spoon, a fork and a pair of chopsticks to eat this soup.  And I still splattered it all over me.

If you have a favorite way to prepare a daikon radish, what is it?

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Well, we only had one casualty.

Last Sunday when I received my first CSA share I was almost in panic mode – I had no idea how I was going to use so much cabbage, and then two bags of salad and braising greens.  Now, one week later, I’m happy to report that the only thing that got wasted were the radishes, and that’s only because they were hidden under my housemate’s cheese and I totally forgot they were there.

I picked up week two today, which seems to be a smaller portion than what I received last week (though I’m not really complaining about that).  I think it’s highly likely that the schizophrenic weather we had here in Portland this past week did some damage to the crop production.  Anyway, I’m the proud owner of some tasty rapini (pasta recipe in Veganomicon – check it out), kale, radishes (to redeem myself with), purple/ green onion thingys, and some more salad greens.  See for yourself.

Also, I went scavenging for some radish recipes – last Friday when I realized I had completely forgotten their existence in my overcrowded fridge – and came across the radish toast idea, which calls for French bread.  I was just about to go buy some bread when I thought, “What the hell, I’ll just make my own.”  I won’t be buying anymore French bread in the future.  It was extremely easy to make, and it tastes superb.  I followed this recipe.  Mine didn’t look as pretty as his because I’m lacking a decent oven and also a baking stone, but I’m not complaining about the results.

I did end up making a piece of radish toast, but I didn’t photograph it.  What I did photograph was Gary’s cucumber bruschetta (cucumber because we didn’t have any tomatoes on hand).  It might seem odd to make bruschetta out of cucumber, but garlic, olive oil and balsamic vinegar are a fairly safe combination for just about anything.

And here’s me being harassed while I try to clean up the mess we made in the kitchen.

Have a good week.

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What do I do with all this cabbage?

Today I received my first weekly share of veggies from 15 Miles Farm.  As you can see from the picture below, I have quite of bit of greens to devour… half of which are cabbage.

I’m sure seasonal eating gets easier with experience, but right now I’m feeling almost panicky with all these greens!  Whatever will I do with them?  Somebody told me to make sauerkraut with the cabbage, but in all honesty I don’t really think I like sauerkraut.  I think.  Do I?  Nope.  I’m fairly positive.  I mean, I could probably eat some here or there, but I have like 4 heads of Napa Cabbage to consume (and who knows what I’ll be getting in my share next Sunday).  I think there are some soba noodles in my future.

According to the email from 15 Miles (I say this because I’ve yet to positively identify half of the various types of green leafy things that are currently residing in my fridge) the following is what I got in my share this week:

• Napa cabbage
• Braising Mix – stir fry vegetables including Morris Heading Collard Greens (heirloom), White Russian Kale (heirloom), Tatsoi, and Mizuna.
• Salad mix – includes Rouge d’Hiver (heirloom), amaranth,pea shoots, lambs quarters, arugula, and Nevada lettuce.
• French breakfast radishes
• Assorted herbs  – oregano, sage, or mint
• Parsely, Italian flatleaf
• and 1 tomato plant

So all of this costs about $25/ week (for me it’s $12.50 because I happened to come upon a half off deal).  $25 may seem a little steep, but it’s all organic.  PLUS, supporting local agriculture is hugely important for our environment and local economy, among other things.  So it’s not that bad of a deal, especially if you can manage to eat what you get without buying many additional items every week.

If anybody has any cabbage ideas…. I need some.

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