I've made a few things..

What have I made over the past few weeks?
Here's the week 5 basket:

What all did we get?

• carrots
• beets (I've got to do something with all of these I'm accumulating!)
• kale
• fennel bulb w/ fronds
• rainbow chard
• cucumbers
• garlic scapes
• two heads lettuce (hidden under the fennel)
• a tomato!

The week 6 basket I forgot to take a picture of, but the Guilford College Farm posted one on Instagram so here's a link.  You should follow them @guilford_college_farm on the 'gram.  What was in it?

• carrots
• beets (I have a problem here)
• fennel bulb (the fronds were not quite as nice on this one so I tossed them
• collard greens
• cucumbers
• garlic scapes
• two heads lettuce
• pt cherry tomatoes (several types)
• 2 tomatoes!

 So there are some salads, gazpacho and beets (roasted and pickled) my future.

A few things I've made recently, from least complicated to most:

Grilled Garlic Scapes
Put garlic scapes in a 1 gallon ziplock bag (you may need to cut them in half).  Add a bit of olive oil, salt and pepper to taste and shake/massage the bag until the scapes are evenly coated.  Grill 5-10 minutes until a bit charred.  Serve as a side (like asaparagus) or how ever you like.

Tzatziki (cucumber yogurt sauce)

Ingredients:

• Cucumber, shredded and squeezed dry in a clean dish towel)
• Greek yogurt (I usually use 2%)
• 1small garlic clove, pressed
• 1-2 tsp lemon juice
• salt and pepper to taste

 Peel the cucumber (or not, I usually don't) and shred using the coarse holes on a box grater.  Pile cucumber in a clean dish towel, wrap up and squeeze to get out as much moisture as possible.  Place cucumber in bowl, and add greek yogurt to roughly equal the amount of cucumber (this is usually about 1/2 - 1 cup cucumber to 1/2-1 cup yogurt).  Stir to mix.  Press a clove of garlic into the mixture (or grate it in w/ a microplane).  Add 1-2 tsp of lemon juice, mix.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Hey, remember that head of red cabbage from a few weeks ago?  I finally got around to doing something with it!
Crispy Braised Chicken Thighs with Cabbage and Bacon (adapted from Serious Eats)
Ingredients:
    2 pounds bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs (4 thighs; 1.15kg)
    Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
    4 ounces chopped pancetta
    1 medium onion, thinly sliced (about 6 ounces; 170g)
    1 pound finely shredded cabbage (about 1 medium head; 450g - I used red cabbage here)
    2 tablespoons (30ml) whole grain mustard
    1/2 cup (120ml) apple cider vinegar
    3 cups (700ml) homemade or store-bought low-sodium chicken stock
    3 tablespoons sugar
    2 bay leaves
    6 sprigs thyme
One of the ways I adapted this was to substitute pancetta for the bacon called for, and to use less of it. I also didn't use any of the oil or butter called for, because between the pancetta and the chicken there is plenty of fat in this dish.

Directions

1.  Pre-heat oven to 350°F
2. Season chicken with salt and pepper, set aside (even better if you can do it the day before)
3. In a 5 qt cast iron dutch oven, heat 1/2 cup water and pancetta over medium heat.  As water evaporates, fat will render.  Cook until pancetta is browned (about 5-10 min?).  Remove pancetta from pan w/ a slotted spoon, leaving fat behind.  Remove (pour or spoon out) fat until there is only 1-2 tbs remaining in the pan. 
4. Place chicken skin side down in the pan. Cook without moving about 8 minutes until skin is crisp (reduce heat if it starts smoking).  Flip over chicken and brown on opposite side, about 3 minutes.  Remove chicken to a large platter or plate and set aside.
5.  Add onion to pan and cook about 4 minutes, until softened and starting to brown.  Add cabbage to pan and cook about 4 minutes, until softened and starting to brown.  Add mustard and vinegar and cook, stirring and scraping up browned bits from bottom of pan. Add chicken stock, sugar, bay leaves, browned pancetta and thyme sprigs and bring to a simmer.
6. Nestle chicken back into the pan, leaving the skin above the liquid but submerging most of the meat. Transfer pan to oven and cook, uncovered, until chicken is totally tender and liquid has reduced by about half, about 45 minutes.
7. Remove from oven and transfer chicken to a serving platter. Season cabbage mixture to taste with salt and pepper. Serve immediately, spooning cabbage and sauce into shallow bowls and topping with chicken.
   
   I also served this with some mashed potatoes to soak up the juices.  Some pics!
   
   The browned pancetta
   
   
   Cooking the chicken
   
   
   
   Cooking the onions
   
   
   
   
   
   
   Cooking the cabbage
   
   
   
   
   
   
   Ready to go in the oven
   
   
   
   All done
   
   
   
   Plated up!
    
   

At a conference, but the veggies keep coming...

So last week I was out of town at a conference, which hindered my ability to use up the Week 3 box.  Fortunately since it arrived on Friday and I didn't leave until Tuesday, that gave me 3 days to hit the cooking greens hard.  but that still left me with a whole lotta lettuce when week 4 arrived last Friday:

Week 4

• 1 lb salad mix (lots of frisee it looks like!)
• 1 lb zuchinni
• 1 crown broccoli
• 1 lb collards
• 1 bunch spring onions (very tiny)
• 1 head lettuce
• garlic scapes (6)
• 1 head cabbage
• 1 bunch cilantro.

So, if you've been keeping track, over the last month, we've gotten 4 pounds of salad mix as well as 9 heads of various types of lettuce (green leaf, romaine, etc.).  We've been pretty good at getting though the salad mix thanks to various salads, sandwiches and, my personal favorite, salad pizza, but to be honest, I'd gotten behind on all the heads of lettuce.  So this weekend I decided to take drastic measures and I made, believe it or not, lettuce soup.  Apparently one of the number one recipies that pops up when you search "How do I use up all the lettuce in my CSA" is this one for Lettuce Soup from Gourmet magazine (RIP!). 

I did take a couple of pics of the prep:
Seemingly all the lettuce in the world (but still not all of it!)

Recipe called for a cup of chopped onion, so I used the green onions in the box this week as well as a yellow onion:

Sauteeing the chopped onions:

The final verdict?  Well, as far as pics, I'll let you go back and look at the one on the website, because it's much prettier.  Mine kind of looked like pureed swamp.  Did not taste bad, a little bitterness from the lettuce (in a good way).  Needed a little extra salt and pepper.  I used 2 tbs of butter (rather than 3) and used an immersion blender to puree the soup.  I took it in for lunch and added some chopped grilled chicken.  I think it would also be good with a squeeze of lemon juice and/or a little sour cream. 

Even after all that, I had a couple of small heads of romaine in the fridge!  I took off a few outer leaves, sliced them in half, brushed the cut halves with olive oil and threw them on a hot gas grill for about a minute.  This is what you get:

Chop it up, add a little olive oil and balsamic, and serve it as a salad (I had some pork tenderloin I had grilled).  I didn't use a recipe, but here's one from the NY Times if you like.

Yesterday I was in a workshop all day so hard to use up CSA items.  I was determined to tackle the worlds largest bag of salad last night for dinner.  Grilled chicken salad w/ vegetables it is!  But then of course I discovered that my grill was out of gas....

Ok, I just spent way too much time looking for a "sad trombone" gif.  And I don't even know how to put a gif on this blog.  Back to food.

Fired up the charcoal grill (because that's how I roll) and dinner was saved.

Grilled Chicken Salad
 2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken thighs, sprinkled with Goya Adobo and marinated in Goya Naranja Agria.
2 red bell peppers, sliced
1 vidalia onion, sliced
2 small yukon gold potatoes, cubed
Zesty Avocado Cilantro Buttermilk Dressing from SkinnyTaste
Salad greens, as much of that giant bag of lettuce from the CSA as you can fit in your bowl.

Grill chicken, about 6 min per side.  Let rest for about 5 minutes before you dice it up.

Saute bell peppers and onions (were supposed to be grilled, but ended up sauteed in a little olive oil)

Steam the potatoes until tender

Make the dressing

Plate it up!

Learn to to arrange food more artfully!

And then sometimes a friend comes by and relieves you of some greens:

 And now the giant bag of salad is officially 75% done (Yes, I weighed it. I'm a scientist).  To recap, what was in the box this week:

• 1 bunch swiss chard
• 1 bunch kale
• 1 pound salad mix (mixed lettuces) 75% gone!
• 1 bunch spring onions used 1 to make dressing
• 1 bunch radishes
• 1/2 pound spinach
• 1/2 pound mustard greens
• 1 bunch mint

Obviously there's  some work to do, but it the weekend and I've got ideas...