Today we fetched our goodies from the farm. In CSA week 4 2020, our box gives us a double-sized bowl of spinach! It’s all green this week, typical for early season stuff. There’s asparagus, as well – we’re certainly not tired of asparagus yet!
When you join a CSA, your kitchen life changes. Take meal planning, for example: instead of plotting out what you’ll cook in the coming week, and going to the store to get the ingredients, it’s all reversed. You bring home a box of stuff. Sometimes you don’t even see it before you’re unloading it in your kitchen. Then you find out what ingredients you have to use in the coming week! It’s a little like a “Chopped” style mystery box every time.
Our share for CSA week 4 includes:
- asparagus
- green onions
- lots of spinach
- sturdy greens for braising
- cilantro
- parsley
I’ve brought the beautiful green stuff home, unpacked it, snapped a photo, then washed and stored the produce. All the while, I’m thinking about what I might cook with this. I’m glad that I can take my time, though I make a point to use at least some of this bounty the day I bring it home. My ideas for this week include (and yes, some of these I’ve listed before, but I didn’t cook them yet!)
spinach
- spinach salad with … all sorts of things! So many salads.
- Japanese ohitashi (spinach salad)
- simple sautéed spinach with garlic and lemon
- creamed spinach with bacon from Simply Recipes
- Korean spinach with sesame and garlic, by Mark Bittman via Simply Recipes
- steakhouse-style creamed spinach from Serious Eats
- a quick spinach/avocado dressing from 101 Cookbooks
- spinach pie quesadilla from Serious Eats
asparagus
- roasted asparagus, tossed with shredded Parmesan: easy and delicious
- creamy asparagus soup from Simply Recipes
- sheet pan supper: salmon, asparagus, & new potatoes from Simply Recipes
- sauté asparagus in oil, then season with salt & pepper and a hefty squeeze of lime juice: a bit different, and very tasty
- pasta with asparagus & mint
green onions
- Chinese scallion pancakes from Serious Eats
- stir-fried chicken with ginger and scallions from Serious Eats
- mashed potatoes with butter-sauteed scallions stirred in
other thoughts
The parsley will be used in various ways throughout the week. A simple gremolata – minced parsley, minced garlic, and grated fresh lemon peel – is a terrific garnish to all sorts of things, certainly including plain roasted asparagus. (As if roasted asparagus is ever plain. I love asparagus.) Cilantro is not my personal favorite, but people in the family like it a lot as a garnish for ramen and noodles. I confess that the sturdy greens for braising may be a challenge. Readers, if you braise greens, leave me a comment, let me know how you like them best. Thanks.