This weekend – Memorial Day weekend – marks the beginning of picnic season, and also CSA 2022 week 7. Warm weather is in the forecast, which means, at my house, cool suppers with lots of salads. Happily, our farmers at Beaverland Farms have packed a box full of leafy greens and interesting salad ingredients.
While I’m still hoping for more asparagus, and maybe some tender young peas – for the farmers, it’s still late spring – in this week’s box I find an excellent selection:
- salad turnips (hakurei)
- radishes
- baby beets
- spinach
- lots of arugula
- baby romaine
- fennel
When I bring home the box, all the produce needs to be washed, trimmed, and prepped for storage. CSA 2022 week 7 is no different in this way. The time spent at the sink is a good time to think about what’s on hand and how to use it. Fennel is a challenge this week: not only is it not something we use frequently, but all parts of the plant can (and should) be used: the bulb as a vegetable, the fronds as a seasoning herb, the stalks as part of a vegetable stock.
So in no particular order, here are some of my thoughts on this week’s box:
- white bean salad with roasted peppers (that’s a small batch recipe)
- recipe that inspired it from Smitten Kitchen (a large batch)
- arugula salad with lemon vinaigrette: great on its own, also delicious on pizza!
- this fennel orange salad
- caramelized fennel, turnips, & carrots
- butter-roasted radishes and salad turnips
- simply roasted beets (possibly cold, with an orange vinaigrette)
- arugula couscous salad with feta
- and a family favorite: baguette slices with good butter, salt, and thinly sliced radishes
Follow the season with me, and I’ll show off my CSA box of the week, including ideas of how I might use all the good stuff. Feel free to chime in with comments or questions.