Quick Spring CSA Frittata

 By Vani Kannan

The bounty of spring CSA veggies has inspired me to experiment with quick homemade frittatas. One of them had leftover roasted beets, radish, and onion; another had spinach and red onion. Today for lunch, I pulled out CSA onions, parsley, and eggs from our last box of the season.

I sauteed the onions slowly in avocado oil, then beat the eggs with a little water, dill, and black pepper and added them on low heat. While this set, I chopped up some gruyere and gouda cheese from Arthur Avenue and added it on top. Finally, I broiled it for a few minutes to cook the top, and added parsley. 

This was so delicious and a welcome relief from boring weekday lunches.

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Sunchokes - Native Species on Your Plate

By : Shannon Haas

Did you know that sunchokes / Jerusalem artichokes (Helianthus tuberosus) are native to North America? It’s one of the few native plants we still enjoy eating to this day, although it has not been widely cultivated across the continent.

When it’s flowering in the late summer / early fall the plant looks like a sunflower or daisy, all of which share common traits as members of the Asteraceae family. The part we eat is an underground storage stem called a tuber.

Picture by Couleur (2021). Licensed by Pixaby.

This plant grows fairly tall - up to ten feet in height! And it spreads quickly through its underground stem system (rhizomes). Some consider it a nuisance, as it has a tendency to quickly overtake gardens and can grows well in a sorts of soil conditions - a resilient plant, indeed.

My preferred preparation method for sunchokes is to thinly slice them (around ½ an inch thick) and roast them with olive oil and herbs at 425 degrees for around 20 minutes or so, typically flipping them halfway through. They’ll be tender and crispy along the edges. Check out this recipe for more details.

Next time you’re eating some sunchokes, consider the fact that this plant was once cultivated and consumed by Native Americans, and give appreciation to those that determined that this edible tuber was full of beneficial nutrients (and they’re tasty, too!).

You can learn more about the history of the sunchoke and more about where it’s name came from, by reading gardener Nadie VanZandt’s blog post here or by reading this article from FoodPrint (and some more recipes as well).

Puh-tay-toh or Puh-tah-toh?

By : Jenny Pena

If you have been seeing the pattern in our winter boxes you will notice the consistency on one vegetable: POTATOES. But I have to admit I didn’t really think there where so many types; I knew about the purple ones thanks to JetBlue ☺ but before then I thought they were always yellow. The great thing about potatoes is that they are easy to store and comforting during winter months but what are we to do with all these potatoes and can we even get tired of them?

Here are my personal favorite ways to use different types of potatoes:

Sweet Potatoes – known to be nutrient dense, I personally enjoy them cubed and roasted or cooked in the air fryer with some oil and salt. But having a picky toddler, I mix boiled and mashed sweet potatoes to pancake mix and call it “orange pancakes” – he eats them and also gets some nutrients. See a 2-ingredient recipe here or do what I do; I just add one or two tablespoons of mashed potatoes to the “Just Add water” pancake mix and make it a bit healthier.

Yellow Potatoes – I love to make mashed potatoes. Goes excellent with pretty much any protein and they heat up well so it is perfect for batch cooking and easily paired with salad or pan-fried broccoli in olive oil and some garlic. This is one of my favorite ways to make mashed potatoes but a bit of milk or cream or even butter and salt can make them delicious

Purple Potatoes – I found this purple mashed potatoes recipe while researching on what can be special about these colorful ones; apparently they are higher in potassium and serve as antioxidant. See the recipe and some interesting details here. 

These are creamy and for Easter Weekend I decided to experiment and make potato salad using the purple potatoes, carrots included in this week’s box as well as some yellow potatoes I had from previous box. I have to say I love the combination of colors: orange (from the carrots), yellow (from the regular potatoes) and purple (from the purple potatoes; everyone loved it and it was a hit.

I want to share my own recipe below; I didn’t really take measurements but feel free to adjust.

Jenny’s Simple Potato Salad

• 2-3 medium carrots – peeled and diced (If organic, at times I just brush them and dice without peeling them but that’s your choice)
• 2-3 medium purple potatoes – peeled and diced
• 2-3 medium potatoes – peeled and diced
• 2-3 eggs – to boil and later chop to add to cooked potatoes and carrots
• 1 medium onion (red or yellow) – diced and marinating in a bit of salt, vinegar and drizzle of olive oil (you can use lemon as well)
• 2-3 Tbsp. mayonnaise (adjust to taste)

Boil all veggies with a bit of salt until soft (Probably boiling about 15-20 mins but check).

Drain the water from the potatoes and add the chopped boiled eggs (You can boil the eggs with the potatoes, just rinse them before and make sure you add them when water is still cold).

Add the onions (only the onions, keep marinate oil for later if needed) and mayonnaise and mix.

If you would like, add a bit of the liquid where the onions were marinated and taste to adjust salt content.

ENJOY!

 

Also, I would like to encourage you to try and make homemade mayo. If you have not had homemade mayonnaise this is something you must try. My biggest tip is to use extra LIGHT olive oil, if you use the extra virgin (I’ve been there and done that) the flavor would be too strong and to add the oil slowly to allow the emulsification to do the magic. Here is a simple recipe from nocrumbsleft’s blog. 

All about Black Radishes

By : Jenny Pena

I have been a member of Norwood CSA for several weeks being this my very first Winter Season. While I decided to finally join a CSA because I wanted to support local farmers while also adding more fruits and vegetables to my diet. Since I hate wasting foods, every week my goal is to find recipes and ways to make sure I use all the veggies or share with neighbors. But I do have to say that the greatest reward is to be exposed to unknown items, and this past week I was introduced to the Black Radish.

I had no clue how to use it so with the help of some google searches and articles I found online I was able to confirm that this vegetable is packed with nutrients and also can be eaten cooked or raw. Since it was a new item I decided to include the black radish three different ways to find my favorite cooking (or non-cooking) method.

Black Radish can be eaten raw – I sliced it and added it to a nice salad using the spinach that was also included in the box; I sautéed some large dices of the black radish with butter and some thyme; and I sliced it very thin and sprayed some avocado oil and some salt before baking them in the air fryer.

All three methods were easy and delicious but my favorite was the simplest…I enjoyed it raw. It reminds me of jicama and has a great crunch to it. I can see this in my future with some guacamole or maybe used as part of a potato salad.

If you are curious about the benefits, see the following links:

https://www.organicfacts.net/black-radish.html

https://specialtyproduce.com/produce/Black_Radish_752.php

https://sodelicious.recipes/in-the-kitchen/cooking-with-black-radish/

Additionally, Teri Turner known as nocrumbsleft on Instagram and blog here - https://nocrumbsleft.net, one of my favorite food bloggers is the queen of salad platters. She is always sharing new recipes and ideas on how to refresh your salad game and include veggies in your daily meals. I always go to her site for inspiration and ideas on how to use the veggies that come with the CSA.

Fresh Greens for the Spring Solstice

By Vani Kannan

We rang in the Spring Solstice with a CSA delivery full of fresh green veggies. Sunday was a busy day, and I wanted to ring in the new season with something quick and fresh that used up the more-quickly-perishable fresh greens.

All good things begin with onions slowly sauteed in olive oil—one red, one yellow:

Once the red onion was done, I moved some to a second pan and added roughly-chopped CSA bok choy (which is very popular in this apartment). I browned the CSA beef with the rest of the red onion. The rest of the micro-greens joined the yellow onion:

Add a can of tomatoes and mixed Italian spice to the browned beef, boil up some quick pasta (I used Ronzoni Gluten Free cauliflower pasta with fava beans & rice flour from the C-Town on 204th St):

Super-quick, super-tasty, and still warm and comforting enough for early Spring.

I love freestyling simple recipes with CSA veggies. Fresh veggies are so tasty that they don’t need a lot of frills or spices. They taste amazing as is.

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A Great Way to Cook Cabbage

By : Patrice Hall

I have been visiting the SouthernLiving.com site a lot these days, they feature lots of classic recipes which I remember from when I was little having dinner at my Grandma’s home. I find great recipes using ingredients from my CSA share, and this one I find useful for prepping then freezing for later when you are pressed for time and need to place dinner on the table with the least amount of effort. You can find this recipe here - enjoy!


Cabbage Casserole

Active: 20 mins

Total: 40 mins

Yield: Serves 8 (serving size: about 1 1/2 cups)

Ingredients

Ingredient Checklist

5 tablespoons (2 1/2 oz.) salted butter, divided

1 medium (2 lb.) cabbage, shredded (about 10 cups)

1 cup chopped celery (about 2 stalks)

2 medium-size yellow onions, chopped (about 2 1/2 cups)

1 garlic clove, chopped (about 1 tsp.) or to taste

Cooking spray

2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1 1/2 cups evaporated milk (from 1 12-oz. can)

Dash of Worcestershire sauce

1 teaspoon kosher salt, or to taste

1/2 teaspoon black pepper, or to taste

4 ounces Parmesan cheese, grated (about 1 cup), divided

1/3 cup dry breadcrumbs

Directions


Step 1

Preheat oven to 350˚F. Melt 2 tablespoons of the butter in a large skillet set over medium. Add cabbage, celery, onions, and garlic, and cook, stirring often, until tender, 10 to 15 minutes. Transfer to a 3-quart lightly greased (with cooking spray) baking dish.


Step 2

Melt 2 tablespoons of the butter in a medium saucepan over medium; whisk in flour, and cook, whisking constantly, until smooth and thick, about 1 minute. Gradually add milk to saucepan, whisking constantly to remove any clumps. Cook, whisking constantly, until thickened and smooth, about 3 minutes. Remove from heat, and whisk in Worcestershire, salt, pepper, and 1/2 cup of the Parmesan until smooth. Pour sauce over cabbage mixture.


Step 3

Place remaining 1 tablespoon butter in microwavable bowl, and microwave on HIGH until melted, about 30 seconds. Add breadcrumbs and remaining 1/2 cup Parmesan to melted butter, and stir until combined. Sprinkle breadcrumb mixture evenly over cabbage.


Step 4

Bake in preheated oven until casserole is bubbly and breadcrumbs are golden, 20 to 25 minutes.