Sunday, June 26, 2016

Week 5

Clockwise from left: quart of strawberries, assorted zucchini, bag of tatsoi, bag of sugar snap peas, radishes, three heads of lettuce, bunch of mixed kale and swiss chard, parsley, little broccoli head

Lovely selection this week and here are some of the plans for it:

  • We're celebrating father's day one week later than everyone else did since Brian was out of town so tonight we'll have a dinner of grilled flank steak, sautéed sugar snap peas with fresh mint, and a salad that will use the radishes and head of iceberg lettuce (it's the lettuce in the foreground.) I know it sounds wacky to get iceberg in a farm share box but the local organic stuff is miles away from the bowling balls in the grocery store. (Not that I don't enjoy the bowling balls--they have their place. We refer to that kind of iceberg as "gateway lettuce" since it was the first lettuce my kids would eat and convinced them not to freak out when romaine then spinach and now--occasionally--arugula appears on their plates.) This head of iceberg will get the royal treatment when served with a homemade blue cheese dressing that is spiked with the parsley and some basil and then sprinkled the sliced radishes and crumbled bacon.
  • I ate half of the quart of strawberries immediately--they were so good I couldn't stop--so what's left will become father's day desert: sliced, tossed with a little honey and a teaspoon of orange flower water and spooned over vanilla ice cream. It's supposed to hit 90 degrees today so we're going to do without the shortcakes.
  • The greens, broccoli and tatsoi will go into a stir fry with garlic, ginger, soy sauce, rice vinegar, sesame oil and seeds and a little honey to be served with kimchi and pressed tofu. The tofu is super basic but becoming a recent family favorite for when we are all sick of chicken: just slice firm tofu into slabs, press between two cutting boards with a cast iron skillet on top for a few hours to get the water out (put a dishcloth underneath the bottom cutting board to soak up the water), then roll each slab in cornstarch, salt and pepper and sauté in some canola oil until it gets crispy and brown. It's about as basic and versatile as a chicken cutlet.
  • That leaves the rest of the lettuce and the zucchini to be used for salads and grilled zucchini with basil and balsamic to accompany some grilled burgers later in the week.