The time has come. Our first CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) pickup was yesterday. I must admit to being quite excited…you don’t know what’s going to be in your bag until the morning that you pick them up, so I got to spend the past week dreaming about what I could be eating this week. The other members of the family aren’t all on board yet, but I am planning to convince them with all the wondrous meals that we’ll be preparing this summer 
!
Dreaming became reality when I picked up:
- 1 head endive
- 1 head red butter leaf lettuce
- 1 head green butter leaf lettuce
- 1 bunch beets
- ½ lb of fava beans
- 1 lb of broccoli raab
- Garlic curls
- 10 salad turnips
- 1 bunch mint
Yum! When we picked up yesterday we still had one small head green cabbage and ½ head of fennel remaining from our visit to the Falls Church Farmer’s Market, so I needed to make sure that those were incoporated into our (new) weekly meal planning.
So, what are we going to eat this week?!
Tonight, we made an Italian inspired chicken, garlic curls, cabbage, and capers sautee, with farmer’s market butter (from Blue Ridge Dairy), olive oil, and white balsamic vinegar.
I think this falls into the Ditch the Recipe category – I knew that I wanted some protein (the chicken), wanted to add some crispy vegetables, with a little sauce to flavor the starch that accompanied the meal (egg noodles in this case). Given that I needed to use the cabbage, and wanted to try the flavor of the garlic curls, I decided to move into an Italian flavor by using the olive oil plus balsamic combination. Sprinkled with a lemon-herb spice mixture, and served with fresh parmesan, it was quite tasty.
We rounded out the meal with featured local produce: a three-lettuce salad with fennel and shaved Parmesan, and a baguette from Lyon Bakery stand at Union Station that I bought on my way home tonight.
For the rest of the week, we’ll make:
- Sautéed scallop and tangerine salad using the greens, served with a side of broccoli raab and orzo
- Pulled pork sandwiches (from the meat prepared over Memorial Day weekend) served with quick pickled beets
- Quiche, served with a young-root vegetable braise (featuring the fava beans and turnips)
And, then, we’ll revisit the pantry and make a plan for the Farmer’s Market on Friday.
