Escarole!!

One of the many things that Scott & I were excited about with joining the CSA was trying foods that were new to us. Last week we had the garlic scapes & kohlrabi... this week we had escarole!



I forgot to take a picture of how beautiful the 2 heads of escarole were before I cooked them. I'm hoping for more in this week's share so that I can add a picture.

Escarole looks a little bit like leaf  lettuce ( in my opinion) but Debra from Plato's Harvest Organic Farm
told us that it can be bitter.

A friend of a friend of mine told me that I just HAD to make escarole & beans!

I spent awhile researching recipes & reading reviews & chose this one here from all-recipes.com

Escarole & Beans

I was a little wigged out about not draining the cannellini beans.. I actually almost used another recipe because of that, but I'm so glad that I chose this one.   WOW!  This was amazing!

The bread here was from the CSA as well
The Artisan Kitchen

Ingredients :

King Arthur Flour
Grain Mix (rolled oats, flaxseed, cracked wheat, rye flakes, steel (can't read the word), millet, sesame seeds barley)
Whole wheat flour
Durum Flour
Seed mix ( flaxseed,sunflower seeds, millet)
Water
Salt
Yeast

One bite of this bread assures me that I could NEVER eat low carb.  I lightly grilled a few slices with a bit of olive oil then spread a thin layer of goat cheese. Yum!!


xoxox

Rhubarb Crunch Recipe

So my first recipe isn't from our goodies from the CSA.. It is from my own veggie garden.

Here is my Rhubarb plant. This is a cutting form my husband's grandmothers' plant.. I forget how far it goes back, I need to find that out.

My mother-in-law gave me this recipe last year and it is simple, made with ingredients that I always have on hand and is perfect for a summer afternoon.

Rhubarb Crunch

1 cup flour
3/4 cup oatmeal
1/2 cup butter; melted
brown sugar
1 tsp. cinnamon
4 cups chopped rhubarb
1 cup sugar
1 cup water
2 Tbsp cornstarch

Preheat oven to 350. Spray a 9 in pan with cooking spray.
Mix first 5 ingredients ( flour-cinnamon)  together until crumbly. Pour half of mixture into prepared baking dish & gently press to make a crust.

Cover the crust with the rhubarb.

 In a cold saucepan, mix water, sugar & cornstarch; whisk until cornstarch is dissolved. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat until thickened.

Pour over rhubarb then crumble remaining topping on top.

Bake at 350 for 1 hour.

YUM!

This would be perfect with a little bit of vanilla ice cream ;)

Enjoy!

xoxo

The Stars of the Farm!!

Here they are!!!

 Plato & Einstein!!

Chickens!!

and Ali!!! ( making avery strange face, I might add)

That cabbage right there .. the third one in.. that's next weeks' cole slaw ;)

Plato & Einstein back to back..

oxox

Week 2

This is all so exciting!!!  I love food!!   Here is what we received this week !!

We picked peas this week ;)

Scott & I picked 2 pounds!!  They were delicious. I made a proccuito-wrapped pork tenderloin on Saturday night & sauteed the snow peas very lightly in butter , salt & pepper. That was it... they didn't need anything else. Just delicious.

Here is everything from week 2!!

xooxox

And so it began....

This year my husband, Scott & I decided to join a CSA.. What is a CSA? It has nothing to do with a crime scene as some have asked... it stands for Community Supported Agriculture.

What does that mean? A local farmer will offer pre-paid 'shares' of that years' food crop to a pre-determined number of families. In exchange, once a week the families go to the farm & pick up their share of that week's crop. More CSA information  I had heard this through friends so I did some research & we picked Plato's Harvest Organic Farm.  Dave & his wife, Sasha  clearly have a passion for what they do.

We are into our second week of the 2010 season & I am beyond thrilled that we chose to join. The produce that we receive is amazing.  The picture above is what we received week one.  There is an optional bread share that we did choose to join as well. The strawberries pictured were not part of the share, but purchased from his neighbor, organic & delicious!

We have received foods that we have never tried before, which is really exciting for me! These are garlic scapes. I sauteed  them with a little bit of butter & olive oil, seasoned with salt & pepper, and boy, were they a hit!!

Many things of the farm are Pick your own  (PYO). The first week was herbs.  I cannot tell you how thrilled I am to have a jar of fresh herbs in my fridge!!!

My main intent of this blog is to post recipes & the information that I've research about the new new-to-me vegetables... The first few posts may not have a lot of information, but I promise to come back & fill in more information!

xoxo