Summer CSA Week 3 | "Upping our veggie game"

Week 3: July 3 - July 6

We try to talk to people as much as possible in and around the market barn - often in between restocking a vegetable cooler and juggling a couple of small children - to get a sense of who you are and what you’re excited about. And over the past year or so, we’ve been struck by a common refrain we’ve heard from a number of new customers: “We’re upping our veggie game.” It’s a wonderful idea, to make a conscious effort to eat more vegetables, from local farms, grown the right way.

Upping your veggie game isn’t always easy. In particular, signing up for a CSA for the first time can require completely altering the way you cook. Instead of choosing recipes and assembling a shopping list, the “shopping” presents itself and challenges you to find recipes that fit the list of ingredients. And, unfortunately, recipe writers aren’t always concocting dishes from vegetables that are in-season simultaneously. 

We share recipes in this newsletter each week, but we thought it might be helpful to also share a few tips and tricks to help you feel comfortable cooking outside of your comfort zone. Here are a few ways we navigate cooking in a kitchen where the veggies call the shots:

1. Think in ideas, not recipes / A flexible meal idea can be an ever-evolving dish as the season ebbs and flows. Stir fries, pastas, frittatas, and other base dishes will welcome a wide variety of veggies with open arms. As Ashley just said to me, “With a wrap and some hummus, basically any veggie can make a meal.” Having a few of these ideas in your back pocket can make incorporating new and varied vegetables a piece of cake.

2. Find proxies / In a pinch, bok choy can sub for celery, carrot tops can stand in for parsley, and cauliflower can become rice. Scallions, shallots, onions, and chives are all more or less interchangeable in most recipes. Swiss chard, kale, spinach, and other greens can often stand in suitably for each other. Summer squash can even pinch hit for winter squash if that’s what’s on hand. When looking at recipes, we like to think about the role a given veggie is playing (texture, sweetness, acidity, etc.) and then see if we have something fresh that is a worthy understudy. 

3. Simpler is often better / We are biased, but we tend to think that the vegetables we grow taste really good! We select plant varieties for flavor (rather than ease of harvest or durability in storage). Plus, we grow those varieties in healthy soil until they’re ready to harvest - no water-logged lettuce or gas-ripened tomatoes here. So we often find that less is more, when it comes to recipes. Sometimes a little onion or garlic, seasoning, and lemon juice is enough to turn a veggie into a showstopper. Don’t overthink it! The ingredients are good and without too much extra they can be the star of the show.

Hopeful you find cooking with your CSA ingredients a fun adventure - and as always, if you come across any amazing recipes, please share them! We’re always looking for more inspiration in the kitchen.

Have a week that ups your game,

Chris, Ashley, Hallie, and the 10th Street Farm Crew

Please return your CSA bag each week so we can reuse it!

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In Your Bag This Week

Farm Mix Salad Mix: A mix of red and green lettuce with just a splash of mustard greens. Delicious with just olive oil and salt, or dress it up! Store in a bag in your fridge.

Fennel: With a sweet, anise-y flavor, fennel is a divisive but delicious vegetable. We harvest it young so it's tender and juicy. And don't forget to use the fronds! Store in a bag in your fridge.

Flavor Mix microgreens: Mild and tasty, these make an easy salad on their own or can add some color to any other salad. Try them on eggs or sandwiches – or anything, really! Store in a bag in your fridge.

Pea Shoots: Sweet and crisp, these make a great addition to sandwiches, wraps, salads or can be lightly sautéed as a side dish. Store in a bag in your fridge.

Zucchini: A summer staple that’s delicious sautéed, grilled, or baked. Store in a bag in your fridge.

Cipollini Onions: These fresh white onions are perfect in any recipe that calls for an onion! Store in a bag in your fridge.

Cucumbers: Crunchy and refreshing, chop up for a salad, add to sandwiches or just eat raw! Store in a bag in your fridge.

Cabbage (half shares): Equally tasty in a fresh cole slaw and roasted in the oven. Versatile, storable, and beautiful. Store in an airtight bag or container in your fridge.

Cherry Tomatoes (full shares): Our first tomatoes are here! We’re so excited to have cherry tomatoes coming in - and we hope you are too! Store on the counter - never in the fridge.

Romaine Lettuce (full shares): Beautiful crisp lettuce heads. Great for everything from lettuce wraps to salads and sandwiches. Store in a bag in your fridge.

Carrots (full shares): These carrots are sweet, crunchy, and oh so addicting! Store in an airtight bag or container in your fridge.

What should I make with what’s in the bag?

Speaking of flexible recipes, one of our go-to weekend breakfasts is whole wheat carrot waffles. Sounds weird, but trust us, they’re amazing! And they work just as well with fennel, beets, or other semi-sweet veggies. Flexible, easy, and delicious! For half shares (or full shares who still have their napa cabbage from a couple weeks ago) the 4th of July is a great time for cole slaw - another dish that is happy to flex and accept bonus veggies (carrots, onions, fennel, kohlrabi, etc.)

And in terms of simple being better, it’s hard to go wrong with some nicely sauteed zucchini and cippolini onions as a summer side dish. Or we’ve been loving this 5-ingredient cucumber and avocado salad in the hot weather!

If you've found a recipe you're loving, please send it our way. We're always looking for new things to cook and share with other members!

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We wash everything in your bag but we wash them in bulk so some things may need an extra rinse at home. Thanks!