CSA Booty - Week 3

Week three's CSA share was:

• 1 bunch of beets
• 1 bunch of kale
• 1 wee bunch o' onions
• 2 heads of heads of lettuce: romaine and green leaf
• 1 bunch of amaranth (woo hoo!)
• 2 bunches of chard
• 1 bunch of mustard greens

I am super-excited to see the amaranth. That's it over there <--- . If you're familiar with amaranth at all, it's probably the grain. The flowers of amaranth produce little, little, little seeds that can be cooked like quinoa: steamed is traditional. The greens can be eaten be raw but are best treated as a cooked green - think spinach. It's not a vegetable we ever see in supermarkets and rarely at farmers' market [in this neck of the woods anyway].

So here's what I think I'm doing with these items:

• I'm going to use the amaranth on its own, in a simple sauté, to make sure we can appreciate the flavor of it.
• I'm going to cook the chard leaves and beet greens with chickpeas and Indian spices. We'll eat it with rice and a fresh onion (from the wee bunch o') chutney.
• The beets will be steamed and served with hard boiled eggs, olives, chunks of Mrs. Wheelbarrow's home-preserved tuna and lettuce in a Niçoise-esque salad
• The mustard will be stir-fried with some smoky bacon, garlic and ginger and served with brown rice.
• I'm going to make white bean and chard stem soup that will be topped with a kale & parsley pesto.
• The lettuce wil be salads, yet again - still not tired of fresh salad.

So how'd I do with last week's haul? Here's what we ate (and what CSA items were used) last week:

• Orzo pasta with arugula and chive blossoms (arugula, chive blossoms)
• Panzanella verde (bok choy, lettuce, baby shallots)
• Kimchi (Chinese cabbage)
• Iron skillet pizza (from this great recipe at Food52) topped with arugula and sausage (arugula)
• Pork sandwich with broccoli rabe (broccoli rabe)
• The herbs and chive blossoms were sprinkled over salads and dishes as garnishes.
• The lettuces went into a lot of green salads.

This Summer, I am chronicling my first CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) experience. My CSA share is from Arrowhead Farm, a farm based in Newburyport, MA. Each week, I am posting about what was in my share and what I'm doing with it. By way of full disclosure, I won my share through a raffle and am not paying for it. However, Arrowhead did not know I was entered in the raffle, and I received no special consideration because of this blog.