The second week of my farm share arrived on a hectic weekend. I had a houseguest and we spent most the weekend out while my vegetables sat cold and neglected in the refri . Since the vegetables were fresh picked they still looked crisp on Monday. They probably would have looked even better if I had more closely followed Margie’s directions for storage.
As you can tell by this post date, my week was not any less frenetic. Even though I love cooking, I don’t relish a weekday evening spent tackling a sink full of dirty dishes or hours of standing after a long day at work. So, I don’t mind using canned, frozen, or prepared foods if it means I’ll have a homemade meal and still get some time to tackle the other housefrau tasks that await me.
I tried the Maya Kaimal Classic Korma sauce from Whole Foods for the first time. To make a colorful vegetable korma, I chopped and sautéed all of the yellow squash with some carrot slices. Then, I added tomatoes, canned garbanzo beans, and frozen peas. After it was all tender, I simmered the vegetables in the aromatic sauce for about five minutes. In total, it took about half an hour. Served with basmati rice, this vegetable korma was rich and flavorful, but not to antacid extremes.
I also heated some store-bought naan (again from Whole Foods) in the oven after brushing it with butter. I used 5-6 ounces of my favorite goat’s milk yogurt (Erivan), a teaspoon of cumin, a pinch of salt, a chopped cucumber and chopped dill to make a raita dipping sauce. I loved this raita, but I am also a yogurt fanatic. This was another 20 minutes.
Rice was the staple of my week – another night I ate some sticky rice with stir-fried tatsoi and mei qing choi. Kept it simple with soy sauce and that was that.
I made pork chops with pearl couscous and mustard greens . In an adaptation of Margie’s recipe, I sautéed the mustard greens in a little olive oil, ½ teaspoon of curry powder, and a small handful of flame raisins. Right before I turned off the heat, I added some slivered almonds. The greens were crunchy and sweet, perfect with the pork.
The honey sweetened my tea.
My arugula , one cucumber and the green lettuce went into a salad along with some store-bought carrots and tomatoes.
A busy week, but I was well-nourished!
8 Comments so far..
I really liked your sticky rice idea so the first think I did with week three’s vegetables was put together a sticky rice with the mizuna and the last of my tatsoi and I think it turned out very nicely. Thanks for the inspiration! Did you actually do the whole steaming in a banana leaf routine for your sticky rice? I’ve never been able to make that work right.
No, I didn’t do the banana leaf trick. I’ve never tried it that way actually! Glad I inspired you.
Week 2 was problematic for me - my oven caught on fire in the middle of cooking dinner. While this turns out to be good news (it is motivating me to update the kitchen), it did put a bit of a crimp in dinner prep. I ended up just steaming the squash and some green beans together. Tasty but not the more elaborate prep I had planned. Most of the produce this time was lettuce/salad so that was how we used it. I know, I know, this stuff is grown in sandy soil and you really have to wash it. But I didn’t quite get that the first time. Experience was a great, gritty teacher. I think I will get a salad spinner to make the cleaning easier. I used the cukes and dill in a refrigerator pickle. They turned out a little too salty. I just added more vinegar and hope to even out the taste a bit. I was very exited by the produce for week 3! Can’t wait to hear what others are doing with it.
I’m glad to hear I’m not the only one that occasionally uses canned or frozen items to ease the cooking process. Your korma sounds delicious and I bet the addition of fresh dill to the raita was fantastic! I feel an Indian night coming on…
That looks delish! I often make a white bean salad that includes a bit of chopped veggies and a can ‘o white beans. Dinner’s on the table in 5 minutes. You just can’t beat that!
Happy Holidays!
[...] pick-up is on Saturday. In the meantime, check out this Critical Miami post and Miami Dish’s reports on CSA [...]
[...] ready to start my weekly cooking and writing again. I haven’t written a CSA Show & Tell since week 2, but I’ll start with week 6, since that’s where we are right [...]
[...] sauce with naan: This is another recipe I often fall back on to use dill from my CSA box. I use 5-6 ounces of my favorite goat’s milk yogurt (Erivan), a teaspoon of cumin, a pinch [...]
Your Name (Required)
Your E-Mail (required - never shown publicly)
Your Homepage
XHTML: You can use these tags: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <strike> <strong>
Audio Bites
Eating Local
Farmers' Market/CSA Show and Tell
Food Events
Food Musings
In Season
Interviews
Make a Day of It
Man on the Street
Menu
Miami Dish Loves
Miami Drink
Recipes
Restaurants
The Vegetarian Grazer
Travels
Uncategorized
Video Bites
Foodbuzz 24,24,24: First Annual Farm to Table Dinner
Food Events: Haiti’s Delights
Menu: Mothers’ Day Tea
Diana: This looks wonderful! The toddler and I
Matthew "mmWine" Horbund: I'm a fan of Rose, myself. As
Eleanor Hoh: Good 10 reasons, thanks for including me
Renée J. (RJ Flamingo): Great post, Trina! If anyone wants to
Renée J. (RJ Flamingo): It's totally hardy enough to live on
Miami Blogs greener miami south florida daily blog under the sun
greener miami
south florida daily blog
under the sun
Miami Dish miami dish on facebook miami dish twitter feed
miami dish on facebook
miami dish twitter feed
Miami Food Blogs all purpose dark an american in turin be a wokstar bee heaven farm’s blog blind tastes cannelle et vanille chadzilla clean plate charlie eating local in the tropics edgy veggie food and thrift finds food for thought gastronaut jones i shot the chef in love with bananas kitchen interviews la diva cucina little river market garden mango & lime meatless in miami mr. and mrs. p occasional omnivore our half box redland rambles short order sustainable suppers the burger beast the fifth drink the food citizen tinkering with dinner
all purpose dark
an american in turin
be a wokstar
bee heaven farm’s blog
blind tastes
cannelle et vanille
chadzilla
clean plate charlie
eating local in the tropics
edgy veggie
food and thrift finds
food for thought
gastronaut jones
i shot the chef
in love with bananas
kitchen interviews
la diva cucina
little river market garden
mango & lime
meatless in miami
mr. and mrs. p
occasional omnivore
our half box
redland rambles
short order
sustainable suppers
the burger beast
the fifth drink
the food citizen
tinkering with dinner
Miami Food Websites eater miami florida table join us at the table slow food miami south florida gourmet south florida menu pages
eater miami
florida table
join us at the table
slow food miami
south florida gourmet
south florida menu pages
Miami Websites ask denisa miami.com urban daddy miami
ask denisa
miami.com
urban daddy miami
@ mango_lime I get annoyed with purists and here I am demanding pabellon and domino! Looks like there's a reina pepiada approximation, tho. 2011-03-21
New Venie truck is very cool looking, though. Design by LEBO. http://bit.ly/gMzonL 2011-03-21
There's a new Venezuelan arepa truck! But where are the domino , pabellon, or queso guayanes fillings? Fusion menu: http://bit.ly/fhsfkr 2011-03-21
More updates...