Community Supported Agriculture (CSA’s) Part Two
Community Supported Agriculture (CSA’s) Part Two
Jun 30
A while back, I promised to do a follow up on my experience with the CSA program we joined a few months ago. So without further ado, let me just say that it has been a long time since I have had so much fun with food. I don’t think I realized what a creature of habit I actually am. I wear a path through the grocery store and often times buy almost the exact same things every time I go. I try new things frequently when I eat out at restaurants but it has been a really long time since I looked at cooking dinner as anything more than a necessity or a chore. I had forgotten how fun it was to experiment and get creative in the kitchen. Each week when that lovely bag of goodies hits the doorstep it’s like a new game. What vegetable is this? What do I do with the top part of the beet? Also let me mention, that I was unaware that I even liked beets in any format. Come to find out, if you take a few slices of bacon, some scallions and some fresh garlic, mix them together in a pan and add a little water and some chopped up beet greens you can turn something that people throw away into something kind of magical and genuinely nutritious. (So long as you go easy on the bacon anyway.)
So far, I think my favorite new thing has been the Swiss chard. To be honest, I had never eaten the stuff. Come to find out it is extremely delicious when it’s fresh. I like it both raw and cooked and it’s a nutritional powerhouse. I venture to guess that I probably hadn’t eaten anything that good for me in several years. So each week the bag comes and I have fun with bok choy or sidle up to an heirloom squash that I’ve sprinkled with brown sugar and cinnamon. Cooking is all about the ingredients, so when you cook local from the farm, it all tastes pretty spectacular and each week I get a little more confident with my preparation. The internet really helps too! With a flash of the keyboard I can find 20 ways to make kale. Granted, I haven’t found one that really excites me yet but I’m open to suggestions.
We also plan on going up to Carmel Valley to visit the farm sometime in the near future, so I’ll be sure to post pictures of our friends the chickens and get some pictures of where all this earthen goodness is coming from. I’ve had such a great experience with this, that I think I am going to start meddling with the meat supply coming into this house. (Hold your jokes please.) We get some great seafood here in San Diego, so next month I plan on taking a Sushi making course over at the Balboa Park Food & Wine School. I’ll be sure to post on this and let you know how that goes. Afterward, I have set my sights on ordering some fresh sashimi grade fish from Catalina Offshore.
Konichiwa!
