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Is It A Cabbage? Is It A Lettuce? Cooking With CSA
After immersing myself one summer in food books, specifically Michael Pollan’s Omnivore’s Dilemma and Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser, I became interested in sourcing food locally and developing relationships with farmers and food providers from the area. I basically wanted to shake hands with the person growing my carrots.
Fortunately, in Northern California, finding local food sources is relatively easy. Within a few months, we had signed up with a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program through a farm in the South Bay, which provided a box of fresh veggies each week. From there it was a short step to find a fruit CSA and then onto locally grown meat, including beef, lamb and pork. At the moment, chickens scour my backyard for tasty treats, while two beehives provide ultra-local honey, and 75 percent of our family’s foodstuffs are grown on farms within 100 miles. Feels good!
Sometimes, we receive an item that is totally new to our family. Rather than panic, the first step is to go online to the vast resource of the Internet and see if anyone else has advice to share. Here are three examples:
Not sure why this was such a mystery since it is definitely available in the grocery store, but when two bunches arrived in the veggie box from Mariquita Farms, there was quite a bit of head scratching. Is it a cabbage? Is it a lettuce? Is it just an ornamental for the garden? How is Kohlrabi best prepared?
Kohlrabi, according to Wikipedia, is part of the Brassica family, which includes cabbage, broccoli, and cauliflower. One of the recipes from Mariquita Farms suggested peeling the kohlrabi and cutting it into match sticks for a crudités platter. With the beautiful purple color, a salad also felt like a good use for this veggie perhaps a slaw with green cabbage. And another good option was a pickle, preserving the kohlrabi for later. Here are my favorite kohlrabi recipes.
Most of the cuts in the order form from Sierra Farms Lamb are easy to grill – shoulder chops, leg of lamb, rib racks. And braising the shanks is a great Sunday project. But Denver ribs, or breast ribs, were puzzling. Very thin without big chunks of meat, it was unclear if they should be thrown on the grill or braised in a pot.
Epicurious has two recipes for Denver ribs, including a tasty sounding Tex-Mex roasted lamb ribs with cheese grits, definitely dinner-party food. And the New York Times has a super-easy recipe with a honey-Dijon mustard sauce. Looks like the grill is the way to go. Here are my favorite Denver rib (lamb breast rib) recipes.
Again, not the most unusual of fruits, but definitely not something that our fruit basket sees on a regular basis. According to the Kumquat Growers Association in Florida, the best way to eat kumquats is to roll them gently between your fingers and to eat them whole, peel and all, much like a grape.
Kumquat chutney and kumquat preserves looked interesting. A few recipes also suggested candied kumquats, and an orange cheesecake with candied kumquats from Epicurious really stood out. While it was complex and detailed, this recipe received rave reviews! Looking for more kumquat recipes? I made a Foodily menu with some of my favorites.
Do you participate in a Community Supported Agriculture program in your area? What is the most unusual item you have ever received?
Gudrun Enger blogs at Kitchen Gadget Girl.
Photo by Eva Natasa
Food, we love you.
Would love to hear where you source your meat.