Branching out into the non-vegan

There are three people sharing this year's farm share: Monica, who is a pescetarian with a dairy allergy; Lindsay, who has no dietary restrictions, but is dedicated to healthy eating and is sympathetic to the vegetarian cause; and myself, a wayward vegan. I can really only speak to my own preferences, so here they are: I won't eat meat in America. Period. We have an absolutely abhorrent and disgusting meat culture, and I won't have anything to do with it. But I will eat meat raised ethically and cleanly by people who respect the animals. I also avoid eggs and dairy, for similar reasons, but since it's very hard to avoid entirely in our culture, I allow it on special occasions at restaurants or with friends. And, I will eat local, sustainably-caught fish (for the time being) (because I'm a fickle hypocrite.) So, since Monica wasn't available for dinner tonight, we made some allowances...



I wasn't planning on buying fish for dinner, but I passed a little market in Southie and couldn't resist some locally-caught cod. So while driving to Lindsay's, I distracted myself by planning the meal. Cod, baked in the oven over a bed of kale and garlic scapes (both from the CSA,) covered in olive oil, lemon juice, bread crumbs, and cilantro. The cilantro was also from the CSA, and gave it a little extra flavor. We baked the fish at 450 degrees for 15 minutes in a foil packet with everything else as previously mentioned, and it came out PERFECTLY. Lucky me! It was really delectable--so good that I didn't think about the downsides of eating seafood.

On the side, we had two delicious veggie dishes: chickpea salad and roasted kohlrabi. The kohlrabi was easy, just roasted alongside the cod at 450. The chickpea salad, which was delicious, was based off a recipe by Goya that Lindsay found in the Sunday paper. It was (roughly) a can of chickpeas, cut grape tomatoes, cucumbers (CSA,) mozzarella, parsley (previous CSA,) thinly sliced garlic scapes (CSA,) olive oil, balsamic, lemon juice, salt, and pepper.



It's incredible what two people can whip up in less than an hour with five minutes of planning time. And it's incredible how refreshing it is to share a good, home-cooked meal with a friend. After only three weeks, I'm already seriously valuing these meals, and the conversations and lessons learned over them. Thanks, Red Fire Farm!!

Wait, wait... "garlic scapes?" How do you spell that?

Well, last week in the farm share we got a lot of really normal produce. Like, carrots. And broccoli. And excuse me, but I was looking for a challenge! Luckily there was one newcomer to the CSA rotation: garlic scapes! Without a lot of useless drivel, here's what we did with our food.

First, a delicious salad.

That would be spring mix and [roasted] beets from the CSA, blackberries and walnuts from the store, and an impromptu homemade balsamic. (For anyone who likes salad, once you get the ratio of oil-to-vinegar down for a few basic dressing recipes, you can whip up just about anything delicious in a matter of seconds, and you'll never buy bottled dressing again. Time to save your jam jars!)

After this delectable salad, which will turn any beet-hater into a beet-worshiper, we ate a bunch of grilled vegetables. In foil packets, we grilled broccoli, carrots, and garlic scapes sprayed with olive oil; on the upper-rack of the grill, we put four quarters of a head of cabbage. We paired the veggies with some random Russian rice pilaf with *very* roughly translated directions and had a delicious and filling meal.

This was one of those meals that anyone could prepare--it would be next to impossible to ruin, even for the most inept. All it took was cutting and heating. But... YUM!

Kohlrabi Greens

Just a little update on our new friend, kohlrabi: I used the greens in a curry last night, and they tasted just like kale. It was a nice addition to the curry, and I was psyched not to waste such a big part of the plant!

Inaugural Farm Share Supper

This year, I was finally able to do something that I've wanted to do for years: sign up for a local farm share! I learned about the concept of Community-Sponsored Agriculture about three years ago, and while I was never able to get my act together enough to sign up for one in time, I finally did this year in collaboration with Monica and Lindsay. We got a full-season share from Red Fire Farm in Granby, Massachusetts and decided to rotate who picks it up each week at the local Whole Foods, and then to split the bounty between us.



Monica and I are both vegetarians (in fact, both of us are largely--though not strictly--vegan) and Lindsay is sympathetic to that. This week was our first shipment of goodies from Western Mass., and we got together to cook up something fierce. The farm's weekly newsletter informed us that we would be getting cilantro, green garlic, hakurei turnips, purple kohlrabi, kale, spinach, red leaf lettuce, braised greens, and spring mix. Now, obviously we've all grown up with an abundance of hakurei turnips and purple kohlrabi on our dinner tables. For those of you who didn't, hakurei turnips are a small, early-summer root vegetable that look like white turnips. They're crunchy, and slightly sweet. Kind of like a cross between jicama and radishes. Apparently you can roast them, too, but that seems superfluous since they're so good raw. I ate two of them today cut up in a veggie wrap with braised greens (brassica mix,) orange peppers, and hummus. Also, the greens are edible and would be good sauteed with spinach or kale or something.

Kohlrabi is even more unique than hakurei turnips. It looks like a small alien from outer space, and it looks like it came out of the ground (on Mars):
How cute is that picture with the little faces drawn on? Regardless, the part that you eat is part of the stem. I don't know who dreamed this vegetable up, but it's delicious! It's commonly used in Germany (the world's largest producer and consumer of this freak from the cabbage family) and it is also common in the cuisines of India, Israel, China and Africa. Apparently you can eat it raw, but we peeled it, cubed it, partially roasted it, and then threw it in a curry. It tastes a lot like a tender broccoli stem, and has a similar texture. I really, really like it.

So, now that we're all educated, here's what we did about dinner last night: kale chips, dipped in a shocking green garlic and white bean dip, followed by kohlrabi curry, finished off by some mini apple crisps that Lindsay had made and frozen in adorable little Le Creuset ramekins. I'm a sucker for that kind of crockery. Surprisingly enough, this was my first time making kale chips. The dip was a very easy and spicy! hummus-like concoction, and curry was relatively quick. Lindsay will have to speak to the apple crisps; I have no clue what she did there. All I know is that they smelled and tasted like love and paradise.

For the kale chips: cut up a bunch of kale into, I don't know, sexy-sized pieces. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with seasonings that make you happy. Bake in the oven for as long as it takes for them to get crispy at 350o. Obviously, this recipe is extremely precise and it's important that you follow the instructions exactly.

Here's the recipe from the Red Fire Farm website for the Green Garlic and White Bean Dip. It was quick and easy, and we only used four stalks of green garlic instead of six. And we all had garlic breath until 10am today, this the day after.

Here's the recipe for the kohlrabi curry. We doubled it for three of us. It was quick and easy, with not very many ingredients. Sometimes curries can be daunting for people that don't prepare them often, because you sometimes find recipes with, like, 28 different spices that you have never heard of and have to walk down a back alley to find. Not the case here. Definitely a good recipe for beginners to curry, and it was full of flavor and delicious. My fingers still smell like curry, and I love it. Not to mention, Lindsay crunched the numbers for the calorie information, and it wasn't bad.



All around, a ridiculously delicious and successful dinner with good, local food and good friends! I can't wait to see what we'll do with the next set of mystery veggies...