CSA Booty - Week 4

Week four's CSA share was:

• 1 bunch of amaranth
• 1 pot of pea shoots
• 1 bunch of onion scapes
• 1 bunch of mustard greens
• 2 bunches of beets
• 1 bunch of kale
• 1 bundle of rhubarb

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

• The amaranth is going into callaloo, a Trinidadian soup traditionally made with amaranth (callaloo) leaves, chilies and coconut milk
• The beets are for borscht, hot or cold, depending on the weather
• The rhubarb will become a chutney to be served with some pork chops (see below)
• The kale will go alongside those chops
• The mustard greens are getting sliced thin and are to be served as a salad
• Not sure yet on those pea shoots - maybe in a stirfry, maybe over some poached eggs ... hmmm. They're in a pot, so I can cut what I want and let the rest keep growing.

Also this week I picked up my livestock share. This is a one time pickup and as it is a "mixed" share, I got beef, lamb and pork cuts. For those who are curious, my share totaled 13.5 pounds and contained:

• a huge rib steak (ribeye-ish)
• a beef short rib section (1 3/4 lbs.)
• pork chops
• pork kebabs
• bacon
• ground beef
• ground lamb
• bulk pork sausage
• breakfast sausage
• lamb sausage

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

• I made kale pesto (kale)
• I stuffed squid tubes with mustard greens and chickpeas (mustard, onions)
• We dined on a luxurious Swiss chard gratin (chard, beet greens)
• I quick pickled the beets and sautéed the amaranth and used them on a Niçoise-style salad (beets, amaranth, chive blossoms, lettuce)
• 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. I paid for my livestock share.