Tag: Recipes

recipe \ Vegetable Info

Salad Turnips

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I love these turnips and I owe my membership in a CSA for introducing me to this wonderful vegetable. A far cry from the over-wintered, waxy-skinned, grape-fruit sized turnip that your great-aunt used to boil and mash and serve with cabbage. No, no. This is the jaunty, crisp and versatile salad turnip.

Eaten raw, they are similiar in texture to a radish, but not so hot. Just a mild peppery sweet flavor. They could also be grated into a slaw (see kohlrabi post). Slice, dice, or quarter them and saute with butter or oil. Cook until just tender and still a little crisp. Just a little salt or maybe a teeny bit of vinegar is all they need. Cooked with butter and given a slight drizzle of honey and they are bona fide kids fare.

Don’t forget the greens! Turnip greens are tender and flavorful. Chop and saute with the turnips for a side dish, or cook up with other greens, or by themselves. I like them chopped and used in pasta sauces. Wilted with some olive oil, garlic, bacon, a red pepper if you have it, tossed with some pasta and grated cheese. Very good.

salad-turnips.jpg

recipe \ Vegetable Info

Fava Beans

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Fava Beans

These are crazy looking and not very appetizing in their shells which can get all spotted and black. But inside, cushioned in the soft fuzz of the pod are these wonderfully smooth, pale green fava beans. Fava beans are one of the vegetables on the CSA roster that you will rarely find at the supermarket or area farmer’s markets. Their season is brief. They are not for the convenience minded, favas require a little work before you can enjoy them. But once they have been properly prepared, there is little that can compare. A little like a large edamame, but softer and more mellow. Say, the difference between the Japanese and the Italians.

Shell the beans by running a nail along the seam and pulling it open. Remove the beans. The beans have a thick skin covering them. To remove, boil the beans for a minute or so. Drain and rinse. Now you can pop the bean out by pinching a hole in one end. One lb may not yield enough for a full side dish, but put your beans in a bowl, drizzle with olive oil and some coarse salt and enjoy them as a before dinner treat.

The beans can be added to pasta dishes, or a mix of vegetables like a succotash.

recipe \ Vegetable Info

Kale & Chard

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Kale is the soft green fluted leaf with the purple veins. The chard is the green spinachy leaf with the yellow stem.

Kale: A hearty green that can stand a lot of cooking, so its often found paired with beans and in soups. The stem can be tough, so cut the greens away from the stem, pull apart or coarsly chop and saute with oil and garlic, adding a little water to soften. Good as is, with a little lemon or vinegar. Or chop and add to pasta sauces, soups, etc.

Chard: Use like spinach. Rinse well. You can eat the stem. Wilt the greens is water or oil. They will cook quickly. Chard is wonderful in fritattas.

kale swiss chard

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Yellow Zephyr Zuchini

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yellow-zuchini-small.jpgThis is a bit of a fake out. It is a summer squash and it is yellow, but it is not a yellow summer squash. This is really a yellow zuchini. Aside from the color, the texture and size of the seeds is just what you would expect from the dark green variety of zuchini.

Zuchini can be sliced or diced and sauted in oil or butter. It is great grilled in long horizontal slices or in large pieces on a skewer. Cut up, zuchini can make its way into pasta dishes, soups, chilis. Grated it makes a nice moist tea bread. Choose large ones, scoop out the seeds, stuff and bake.

You can do all of the above with the cute little patty pan squashes that were one of you choices.