Hi, everyone! Hope you’re staying warm and dry during all this stormy, rainy weather. It’s the perfect weather for cooking warming, hearty meals. Here are this week’s CSA items:
Dried beans: This is a gourmet variety of bean called Tarbais. It’s rich and buttery and creamy and incredible. Its traditionally used in a French dish called cassoulet, which is slow-cooked and usually contains pork. These sturdy beans hold up well to the long cooking time. There are numerous delicious-looking cassoulet recipes online. You may find some calling for other kinds of white beans, because Tarbais beans can be very expensive and hard to find. If you try a cassoulet recipe and like it, feel free to send us all the link! These are also just wonderful eaten in more simple dishes, such as mixed with a bit of roasted veggies and garlic.
Cucumber
Broccoli florets: Here’s a really great recipe called Cowboy Quiche that would work well with some finely diced broccoli in it (and even some grated zucchini!).
Zucchini: This may be the last zucchini for the year! Perhaps a good time to make a few loaves of chocolate chip zucchini bread for the freezer to enjoy this winter.
Garlic: This is a hardneck variety of garlic called Chesnok Red. This is known as one of the best all-around cooking varieties (having won “best baking garlic” taste tests conducted by Rodale, Sunset Magazine & Martha Stewart) because its full-bodied flavor lingers and is retained after cooking. Especially nice choice for baking as it has a very creamy texture. Can be used fresh, too, of course.
Sweet onion
Green beans
Potatoes: This is a mix of red and Yukon Gold baby potatoes. An easy size for boiled potatoes or roasting. Would also work wonderfully paired with your green beans in this recipe for Southern-Style Green Beans with Bacon and Potatoes.
Delicata squash: Two of these for everyone! So many possibilities, as this is one of the most popular types of winter squash and you’ll find a diversity of ways to use it. Here’s one simple and yummy idea: try it sliced and roasted with a maple glaze, such as in this recipe.
Green bell pepper
Spigarello broccoli leaf: I love putting finely diced greens in all kinds of dishes that might not usually call for them, just to add a nutritional boost. Spigarello has become my go-to green for this! So, every time a make a breakfast scramble, enchiladas, chili, soup, casserole, quiche, etc., I grab a bunch of spigarello, chop, and add it in.
Happy cooking, y’all!