CSA Share: Week 6

I know we have been gone forever!  Vacations do that to people.  Our last 2 shares (Weeks 4 & 5) did not go to waste.  They were donated to the people who were nice enough to watch our animals for us.  We are back now though and the CSA is booming!  Please keep in mind that the items that we get in our CSA share are grown using sustainable/organic practices in as many cases as possible.  Also for those people who are interested in getting a CSA in the future we are keeping track of how many weeks that we have gotten an item in (parentheses) however this is now not including the 2 weeks we were away.  This week we got:

Swiss Chard (1) - approximately 4.2oz

Baby Bok Choy (1) - approximately 5.4 oz

Pesto (1) - approximately 8.3oz (including container weight)

Cucumbers (2) - approximately 1lb 7.6oz

Hard Bulb Garlic (1) - approximately 4.2 oz (and yes you can use the stalk too)

Green Leaf Lettuce (3) - approximately 6.7 oz

Red Leaf Lettuce (2) - approximately 4.4oz

Mixed Herbs (1) - approximately 1.1oz

Patty Pan Squash (1) - approximately 2.7 oz

Okra (1) - approximately .8oz

Baby Zucchini (1) - approximately 1.4oz

Snap Peas (1) - approximately 5.4oz

Japanese Salad Turnips (3) - approximately 8.2oz AND.....

EGGS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And now a word from Chef Z with some ideas for this share:

I have never worked with Swiss Chard before so I am interested in what I can do with it. I am seriously excited about the okra as a I can make faux Jambalaya or Gumbo. We have a hell of a lot of eggs so I will be making a souffle at some point this week. I will provide a recipe for those as they are a little more labor intensive and recipe conscious than most of the food we produce here. The garlic is uncurred (not quite sure what that means yet but it is really juicy) and we are going to use the stalks for some more chicken stock. The baby bok choi is really good when lightly sauteed and it will be used with the snap peas for a stir fry or some other Hawai'ian/Japanese creation. 

Notice: I used bok choi and some snap peas in a stir fry I made last earlier this week and wow can they over cook. Be very careful with them and add them last so they don't become stringy.

Patty Pans are delicious when lightly sauteed with some salt and butter. We are using as many of the Japanese salad turnips as we can but they just keep coming!! 

I will be posting pictures of the food that we made in Hawai'i just to give you all some ideas of the amazing quality of the food that we got out there. 

Oh yeah! Quick side note: M.B. and I got engaged when we were out there.

-- Chef Z & M.B.