CSA This Week

I have been ridiculously busy this week. It's a combination of finals week at two schools, plus general holiday madness. I did want to update you on what I've been doing with my CSA delivery from last Saturday. This was a lucky week. When I opened my box I literally went "OOOHHH!" in delight. I got more of my favorite green beans, an eggplant, basil, cherry tomatoes, a cucumber, a pepper, chard and some betel leaf. Everything that I love and one weird thing. Perfect.

First I made a stir fry and included last week's bok choy and the pepper.

Yesterday I made eggplant parmesan, using the eggplant and basil and some leftover, wilted tomatoes I had from before. One eggplant made a large pan and it wasn't even a bit acidic or bitter. I did salt and rinse the slices beforehand though, so maybe that helped, or maybe these were just really good eggplants. I now have so much eggplant parm that I'm giving it away and last night, as I breaded and fried individual discs of eggplant, I realized exactly why I haven't made eggplant parm in seven years. It makes a mess in the kitchen and takes forever.

Once the eggplant was finished baking, I steamed the green beans. I find that steamed green beans are a lighter and healthier accompaniment than pasta and go well with anything tomato-y. Now I have a big container of leftovers to snack on all week when I don't have time to cook.

I love to eat steamed green beans cold. When I was little, I had a friend whose mom made them for us as a snack with curry dip and my friend and I would just eat bunches and bunches of cold green beans because we loved the dip so much. I still make the dip as an adult and plan to make some for myself tonight. It's very simple and you really don't need to measure. Just mix plain, greek yogurt with curry powder to taste, a little grated ginger, a squirt of honey or agave, a little zing of lemon juice and if you want it spicy, you can add some hot sauce. It would also be good with minced garlic, a little sesame oil or even some chutney stirred in. Then just dip cold, steamed green beans (or any veggie you like) in it 'til your heart's content.

This evening, I think I'll sautee my chard in my simple, go-to greens recipe (olive oil, salt, garlic and red peppers). I could eat chard endlessly. I guarantee you, I will eat the entire bunch alone in one sitting. I may make some brown rice to go with it. After last night's breaded, fried extravaganza, I think I need to detox.

The Salad

I'm glad that lettuce grows well down here otherwise I'd probably move. Last weekend I got two heads of romaine in my CSA box and I was overjoyed. They really made up for the whole dandelion green mess. I know I'm boring. We've established that already, but romaine lettuce is good and you just can't argue with that. As soon as I got the lettuce home, I cleaned it well (produce from the farm is way dirtier than the grocery store, factory kind) and then rolled it up in a bag. Now, the CSA newsletter said not to do this, but I am rebellious and did it anyway. I find that because my schedule is so hectic, that I will actually eat and use my produce if I take the time to clean it, cut it all up and store it nicely. If I don't do this, I will often let it go bad and then feel like a horrible, wasteful person and the guilt will almost kill me. The newsletter said that veggies don't keep as well if you wash and cut them in advance and that you should only wash and cut them right when you're going to use them. I haven't had any issues and having the already ready lettuce in a bag in my fridge made my week a whole lot easier. In fact, it pretty much made my week because this was a pretty crappy week for me.

The high point of my week was "The Salad." All week I've been enjoying the salad and today I finally remembered to take a picture of it. My sister and I invented this salad last summer and it's addictive. We just call it "The Salad" and I could pretty much eat it every day. The recipe is flexible. Modify as you please. You just use lettuce, feta cheese, roasted peppers, some kind of nut, dried fruit, tomato, avocado if you have some, any leftover meat (optional obviously), cucumber, beans if you've got some, hearts of palm if you have those, fresh herbs if you have some lying around, salt and pepper and a drizzle of olive oil with a splash of vinegar. It's so easy and you can get pretty much all of the ingredients locally, even the feta. I cheat with the nuts. I've been using walnuts. I haven't had a lot of luck finding locally grown nuts around here, but I'm researching. Back when we went to Possum Trot, we learned that macadamias love it here, but the squirrels steal them all. Anyway,as I said, the recipe is extremely flexible. Add in something else, leave a few things out, whatever. It's going to be good. How can it be bad? I had to leave the avocado out. In the background of the picture you can see my scaly looking Monroe avocado. It isn't ripe yet. It still needs a couple days. Today I used my last leaves of romaine, so I hope this Saturday there's more.

Speaking of Bitter and Horrible

This week in our CSA box we received a bunch of red stemmed dandelion greens. I've never had such a thing, although as a child I frequently added dandelions picked in the yard to my mud soups. I found they imparted a lovely yellow hue. Those dandelions aren't the same though. This kind of dandelion green is very popular in Italy so I went to my Italian friend for help. We chopped them up, blanched them and cooked them in sauteed onions and garlic with lots of olive oil, salt and crushed red pepper. I find this a winning combo with most veggies (I usually leave out the onion part though). You can pretty much make any green vegetable taste really good by sauteeing it in olive oil, crushed red pepper, salt and garlic. I'm sad to report that the dandelion greens were one of the most horrible things that I have ever eaten in my entire life. Admittedly, sometimes I have the palate of a toddler and would rather eat macaroni and cheese over pretty much anything else, but still. I eat arugula. I eat collards and callaloo without incident. I've been known to take a nibble of broccoli rabe here and there, but this was out of the question. Dandelion greens are really bitter. In a very bad way.

I decided to pawn them off on my dad. He loves bitter food. I asked him how he liked them.

"Umm. They are on the strong side," he replied.

So there. If my dad thought it was strong, it was strong.

Bleck. At least I can say I tried them. Alas, I took no pictures, but cooked down, greens aren't so pretty.

Next time, the dandelion greens are going in the extras box.

If you like dandelion greens, here are some creative and varied recipes for them.

More Precious Than Rubies

This morning I had the most exquisite breakfast - my first ruby red grapefruit of the season. Maybe it's because I haven't had grapefruit in ages or maybe it's because I was really hungry, but this grapefruit was the best I have ever eaten. Purchased at Whole Foods and certified both local and organically grown, this grapefruit was ugly on the outside. It was mottled with black freckles; a bit shriveled. I didn't expect a tremendous amount from it, but my, was I fooled. I didn't even know I liked grapefruit this much. Now I can't wait to get my hands on several more.

Its brazen redness shocked me. This was a very, deep red grapefruit, maybe only a blush or two away from a blood orange, and it was fragrant. Slicing through the zest released a fiesta of perfumed oils and I just love the smell of citrus. It's so bright and uplifting. So is the flavor.

Each time I take my first taste of a grapefruit I cringe a little inside, in anticipation of some imagined, awful bitterness I think it might possess. This is a leftover reflex from my childhood. I remember my grandfather, lover of all bitter, horrible foods from black licorice to mince pie, being a huge fan of white grapefruits. He always tried to get me to eat them and my mouth automatically puckers and stings thinking about how they tasted - hard, sour and bitter as cough medicine. I couldn't stand them even with a snowdrift of white sugar on top. As I grew up I came to like (with a lingering apprehension) the occasional pink grapefruit. The pink varieties are sweeter and honestly, I just like things that are pink. How can you not like pink food? Pink is pretty.

Today's grapefruit was not so much pink as ruby. It was sweet and rich, perfumed and with a hint of bitterness at the end which was pleasant instead of medicinal. Think arugula. Bitter for amateurs. Enough to add balance and depth but not enough to overpower the other flavors.

I loved this grapefruit. It was so perfect, so seasonal, so right here and now. While I ate it, I was glad to be right where I am, here in Florida at the beginning of December, the start of citrus season. I loved its simplicity. Who needs a $45.00 brunch with Belgian waffles and omelet stations when you can have a fruit, pulled off a tree and sliced in half?

Run to the store and take advantage of our beautiful Florida citrus. Be careful if you're on medication though. There are several medications that specify that you must not eat grapefruit while on them. Grapefruit has something mysterious in it that interacts dangerously with some medicines.

Here is a list of some lovely, sophisticated recipes using grapefruit. I notice that many of them pair grapefruit and avocado and I find this intriguing. I can see how they would go perfectly together. How do you like to eat grapefruit?

Chestnuts Roasting

It's officially the Christmas Season and by now you've probably heard these lyrics somewhere: "Chestnuts roasting on an open fire..." I've always associated chestnuts with the holidays and I have many memories of being in New York City and Philadelphia, bundled up to the point where I could barely walk, rushing to get where I was going to get in from the cold, and smelling the roasty smoke of chestnuts on the grills of street vendors. It was a beautiful smell. Even the thought of that chestnut smoke makes my heart ache to visit Herald Square in December. Chestnuts are an "Up-North" thing, I thought.

My dad likes chestnuts a lot. He can't wait until they appear in the grocery stores and doesn't mind where they come from. He painstakingly carves little x's into the shells of each one before charring them on his BBQ grill. We always have them on Christmas and I admit they are the absolute last thing I ever thought would remotely be considered a local product. I almost fainted in Whole Foods this afternoon when I saw an enormous bin filled with Florida chestnuts.

But that's why I'm so glad I started this project. Writing this blog makes me keep my eyes open for the unexpected. It makes me try things and think about my food and the world in new ways. I learn things like this. Chestnuts come from Florida. Well, some of them do anyway. Right next to these homegrown chestnuts were red mesh bags of chestnuts imported all the way from Italy. There were also canned versions and a jarred chestnut cream that looked fancy and french.

I didn't buy any chestnuts today. The only reason why not is because chestnuts are quite perishable and must be refrigerated. I'm busy this week and won't be able to get to my parents' house to use their grill until next weekend. I would rather buy the chestnuts closer to when I plan to eat them in order to avoid waste and cluttering up my small refrigerator. I also want time to research some chestnut recipes. I've only ever had chestnuts roasted, but there are a million things you can do with them that are more creative than that. They are hugely popular in France and show up in the oddest of dishes where they are called marrons (also the name for the color of my hair). I think when I visited Paris a few years ago I recall seeing some sort of elaborate meringuey, chocolatey, chestnutty torte of some sort that was intriguing. In addition to desserts, chestnuts can be used in savory dishes. They are extremely versatile, so I want to see what I can come up with, but in the end I may just opt for plain. Plain is good. Don't let anybody tell you otherwise.

As I researched Florida Chestnuts, I found two growers who also take online orders, though it seems like the season is just closing up. I guess I discovered these a little too late. If you want some, they have plenty at the Fort Lauderdale Whole Foods.

Shamrock Square, in Monticello, Florida has an extremely informative website that will tell you all about Florida chestnuts. There are also some recipes and an interesting history. Turns out that American Chestnuts were once a staple of our diet and were common in American forests. Many people and animals depended on these trees for food and shelter until a blight caused by an invasive species wiped them all out. Finally, growers like Shamrock Square are helping the species make a comeback. Yet another important reason to eat local!

You can also order from Hillcrest Chestnuts in Lake City.

Pompano Beach Green Market

Because of the Thanksgiving holiday, there is no CSA delivery this week and I decided to make a visit to the Pompano Beach Green Market, which is located at Atlantic Boulevard and Dixie Highway in Pompano. Last year and the year before that I went once, so one could consider today my annual visit. Each year I hope it will get better, so I go, optimistic, and leave a little disappointed.

I think it's great that Pompano Beach has a green market at all. I really do. The market is in a very old section of Pompano, right along the train tracks, and it's appealingly quaint and picturesque. I like the atmosphere. When you visit the Pompano Green Market you really do get a sense of community spirit and I love that.

The market is tiny, but it tries. There is a live band playing and vendors selling homemade soaps, skin creams, a small selection of plants, crafts, books and one booth selling stone crabs, seafood and fish dip. Today, there were only two tents of fresh produce and of course (you know what I'm going to say) the majority of it was not from anywhere around here. This saddens me.

While there wasn't a lot of Florida produce there was some, which is a start. A friend of mine had recommended the booth run by the Indian lady. She has a larger variety of fruits and vegetables than the other produce vendor and more of her items are from around here. At certain points later in the season she will probably sell some items that she grows herself. Today she had local peppers, squash, zucchini, eggplant, green beans, okra and bok choy. I bought all of the above except okra, and she even threw in several free yellow squash for me. This vendor's wares looked fresh and were nicely displayed, even the ones from Honduras and Costa Rica (grumble grumble). While some of her fruits and vegetables were shipped from elsewhere, at least they were all tropical. She had a big pile of boniato which appeared to be of a much higher quality than that in the grocery store.

The other produce vendor was different. This vendor had a couple of the same items, but also had several Northern-style items like russet potatoes, a few, very standard varieties of apple and pears. I find better local variety than that at Whole Foods. I was disappointed in produce vendor two, although on a more positive note, produce vendor two did have some local tomatoes, but none of them were ripe. I'd rather have no tomato than a pink tomato. I can wait a few more weeks and I still have some cherry tomatoes left from last week's CSA box.

It took me less than ten minutes to zip through the Pompano Green Market. I liked the Indian lady's stand the best and was pleased that she offered some locally grown vegetables at extremely inexpensive prices. She told me they came from the Boynton area, so that's really close. I also liked the service she provided and I will be back later in the season to see what else she might have. Next time, I would also like to ask the seafood vendor about the origins of some of his seafood. If he makes his own smoked fish spread, I'll try some of that too. Unfortunately with smoked fish dip, a lot of places use a pre-made food service brand and try to pass it off as their own. Beware of this dirty trick.

The Pompano Green Market has a pleasant atmosphere and is a good place for a short, morning outing. There are locally grown items, but they are outnumbered by things grown out of state and out of the country, so you have to really pay attention to what you're buying and ask the vendors specific questions. While there are better farmer's markets much further south, the Pompano Green Market is a good start and Broward County's best, current option.

The Pompano Green Market runs until April 24th, every Saturday morning from 8am until 1pm.

Pompano Green Market Official Page on the Pompano Historical Society Site

Pompano Green Market on Local Harvest

The Pompano Historical Society Site - some really interesting info on local history in blog form. I really enjoyed this site and found it worth checking out, especially if you like learning about the unique culture and diversity of old Florida.

Happy Thanksgiving

I hope you all have a beautiful Thanksgiving holiday. Celebrate the harvest, the land, the farmers and the animals which provided your feast. May you eat everyday with compassion, mindfulness and gratitude. May every day be a day of thanks.