CSA: Week 10 Preview: Chard and Bacon Pasta

Two posts in one day?! Only because I had such a delicious dinner that I wanted to make sure I could share it with all of you.

I picked up our10th CSA this morning. I normally put the greens away and wait a few days before using them in a dish.

Since I'm tired of "forgetting" to use them I set out to search for a chard recipe for dinner tonight.

And I discovered a winner! The following recipe is so good that it really could be on Sarducci's menu. You don't know what Sarducci's is? Please make plans to eat there next time you're in Montpelier....

Chard and Bacon Pasta
Adapted from Epicurious

1/2 box of Penne
6 oz Vermont Smoke and Cure bacon, cut into 1/2" slices
1 medium onion, sliced
2 cloves of garlic, chopped
6 cups of chard, stemmed, and chopped
1/2 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil
Parmesan cheese (grated) or Parmesan, Asiago, and Romano cheese mix
Salt and Pepper

1. Prepare the pasta according to packaging directions. Collect 1/2 cup of the pasta water before draining the pasta and set aside. Return the pasta to the pan and cover to keep warm.

2. Cook the bacon in a large pot until it starts to crisp. Remove the bacon and place onto paper towels to collect the grease. Drain all but 1 tablespoon of the bacon grease from the pan.

3. In the bacon-pan, saute the onions over medium heat until softened. Add the garlic and cook for one minute before adding the chard, salt, and pepper to taste. Cook for one minute and add the pasta-water. Continue to cook for a few minutes until the chard is wilted. Add the balsamic vinegar, pasta, and olive oil, and mix thoroughly  Remove from heat. Sprinkle with bacon and grated cheese.

Enjoy!

CSA: Weeks 6 and 7

Summer is in full swing which means we're starting to get the REALLY good veggies! I've been quite happy with the type of veggies we've gotten over the last two weeks, but we discovered that we've needed more than the CSA has been giving us. I found myself going to the farm stand at work or to Montpelier's farmer's market on Saturdays to get extra veggies. It seems odd to be going out for extra veggies instead of extra desserts!. I'ts been really neat to see new, random veggies, like purple carrots and purple peppers.

Last week's CSA included Mesclun mix, red Norland potatoes, colorful (purple!) carrots, (purple!) sweet peppers, pearl onions, turnips, parsley, kale, eggplant, and tomatoes.

We've made a lot of dishes over the last two weeks. While they were good, none have looked appealing enough to take a photo. There's been baked haddock with peppers, onions, and tomatoes, as well as kale chips (which are super easy to make). We used the eggplant on Saturday night to make eggplant Parmesan with fresh basil. A safety dish that's always delicious is oven roasted potatoes. Last night I threw in the carrots, onions, and parsley to jazz up the dish. 

My most favorite thing to make this time of year is bruschetta. Actually, I could eat it all year round. Tom's become the master bruschetta maker: He chops up a tomato, adds some garlic, olive oil, and basil, then adds it to the top of fresh bread. Next he adds Mozzarella cheese before putting it in the oven to broil. He went a little overboard with the garlic last Wednesday.There's no way either of us were getting close enough for a kiss after that meal!

CSA: Week 5 Recap and a Weekend at Camp

Last week's CSA looked mighty delicious: purple viking potatoes, carrots, mixed beets, fennel, lacinato kale, cucumbers, a bag of baby arugula, cauliflower, and beefsteak tomatoes. That's what I expect from a summer CSA!

We spent the weekend up at beautiful Lake Carmi in Franklin, Vermont. Tom's family has a camp and they spend two weeks up there each July. We packed the veggies with us, hoping to cook up some tasty meals, but were only successful in using half of the veggies (I blame it on the Burst-o-berry pie and s'mores)

Beautiful Lake Carmi

No fire is complete with S'mores

Tom is somewhere under there

For dinner on our second night at camp we wrapped the carrots with butter in tin foil and grilled them. Yum. On the third night we boiled the potatoes and they went along with the chicken from the BBQ. The cukes were good on their own, and the tomatoes were used in an English muffin egg and cheese sandwich.

Monday night I was home alone and decided to use the kale in a risotto recipe that I found here. I liked it, but burnt my tongue so half my taste buds were out of commission. Make sure you blow on the risotto before testing it for al-dente! The recipe makes a lot for one person so it's probably better to wait until you have a partner or two to try it with you. 

CSA: Week 3 Recap

This last CSA week was loaded with fresh fruits and veggies and it didn't help that we decided to go berry picking on Sunday. We came home with 7 lbs of blueberries and a carton of raspberries. Yuuuummmmmm.

This week's CSA consisted of: mesclun greens, peas, baby pearl onions, Zucchini, garlic scapes, kale (I had never tried it before!), green tomatoes, red beets, and frozen squash puree. 

Thursday night we made homemade pizza with the onion and kale from our CSA. While the pizza was baking Tom was busy making a batch of mint-oreo ice cream to enjoy while watching Harry Potter. We've been having a marathon over the last few weeks in order to get ready for the last movie. Unfortunately, we haven't been able to watch the 6th and part one of the 7th, so we won't be at the midnight showing tonight. 

Licking the ice cream maker's bowl clean!

As I mentioned in my last post, we used many of our veggies in our Thanksgiving feast. Sunday, after our berry picking, Tom cooked up a batch of Greek salad, with turkey of course! We also got to use up some parsley and cherry tomatoes. 

Tuesday night came and so did the weekly scramble-to-use-up-our-veggies-before-the-next-delivery-meal. I roasted my second batch of beets, and sauteed the kale and summer squash with the onion and scapes. 

This week's CSA is very exciting, and includes basil and heirloom tomatoes! 

Now some questions for the readers....

1. Since we don't have a garden I'm curious about yours. How is it doing? Have you been able to harvest anything yet?

2. Is anyone heading to see Harry this weekend? I doubt we'll get the chance as we're heading to a wedding - but next weekend! I'm excited to see it but I'm pretty sure I'm going to cry when it's over. It's been great  growing up with Harry. 

Thanksgiving in July

Saturday night we hosted a Thanksgiving-in-Summer feast at our tiny apartment! The idea came about last weekend when I pulled a turkey out of the freezer that I had gotten for free at work last fall. It sat in the fridge all week, and come Saturday morning we realized it had been thawed a few times previously. Not wanting to make anyone sick, we decided to bag the full turkey idea and picked up a few turkey breasts at Hannaford. After a morning stop to the Montpelier's Farmer's Market we had ourselves some fixings for a feast.

Our menu included:

Appetizers

• Pete's Greens' cherry tomatoes, Pete's Greens' basil, and Maplebrook mozzarella salad. 
• Cabot cheddar cheeses and crackers

Entree

• Sage-Roasted Turkey Breasts (with Pete's Greens sage from our CSA)
• Marshmallow Sweet Potato
• Stuffing 
• Cheesy Zucchini and Summer Squash with Garlic and Parsley, using all Pete's Greens vegetables and herbs from our CSA
• Red Hen Waitsfield Common Bread

Dessert:

• Homemade Vanilla Ice Cream (made by Tom)
• Blueberry and Raspberry Pie (made by me)

Needless to say, we were stuffed after dinner. But seriously, who can pass up homemade pie and ice cream?

CSA Week 2: I love Scapes!

Last week's CSA didn't seem as daunting as the first week, but sadly we weren't home enough to go through everything before it started to go bad. 

Our bag consisted of potatoes (not shown), mesclun mix, nappa cabbage, garlic scapes, scallions, sage, salad turnips, Easter Egg radishes, and Zucchini. Yes, my brain thinks that Zucchini should always start with a capital Z. I had my first radish (yes, I was a very picky eater as a child) when I threw it in with the mesclun mix and other non-csa veggies to make a salad. 

Saturday, while I was busy frosting the wedding cakes, Tom created a delicious nacho dish for lunch using the scapes and scallions. 

Tuesday night came and we realized we had a bunch of veggies left that we needed to eat before our next delivery on Wednesday. When I was in Spain in 2008 I tried a delicious fried Zucchini tapa with honey and salt. I didn't feel like preparing a batter, let alone frying it, so I sauteed slices of Zucchini in olive oil for a couple minutes before adding honey on top and sprinkling with salt. Yum!

We also cooked up the sage, remaining scapes, and scallions with the potatoes. Tom discovered that boiling the potato cubes in water first ensures that they don't burn in the pan and that they're the same texture throughout when eating.

And to update you on the beet situation: my friend, the recent bride, taught me how to roast the beets. I never thought I'd say it but I ate a beet and I liked it!

Our first CSA!

It's been a while since I posted and I blame it in part on our last minute vacation to Spain. We were there for a week and it's been difficult to get out of vacation mode since we got back.

We got our first CSA delivery this Wednesday from Pete's Greens! If you know me then you know that I'm not a huge fan of fruits and veggies. However, I thought that I would use the CSA as a challenge and a way for me to increase my daily intake.

In this first delivery we got mixed greens, red butterhead lettuce, garlic scapes, green wave mustard greens, sage, chiogga beets, and frozen red peppers. They didn't say we would get any, but we found a bag of spinach as well. I'm not complaining because I LOVE spinach!. I had never heard of garlic scapes, never seen mustard greens, and never eaten a beet I enjoyed, but decided to be daring on my first salad and added the scapes and beets.

BIG mistake! Although the beets look really cool, my taste-buds didn't agree. And although the info on the scapes said they could be eaten raw, I highly recommend using them in cooking instead. So now starts the summer of trying new veggies and being creative with recipes.

1. Does anyone have experience with a CSA? How were you able to eat all the veggies that came in it?

2. I don't want to give up entirely on beets. Does anyone have any great beet recipes?