Just read Michael Pollan’s Omnivore’s Dilemma and it reminded / inspired me to get a CSA (community supported agriculture) farm share. For a set price paid at the beginning of the season, I get a half-bushel (who knew that was still a valid unit?) of vegetables and fruits every week until November.
Yeah, I’m kind of impressionable.
I picked up my first share today! It was packaged in a cute box that tells you to eat vegetables because they are good for you.
Look at all these crazy vegetables and fruits I got!
So many veggies in a bushel! I don't even know all their names.
What is this wonky yellow and green thing? Squash maybe?
The farm that organizes this sends a newsletter each week telling me what could possibly be inside. I had to refer to this newsletter to figure out what the hell that green and yellow thing is. It’s a Zephyr Squash, in case you were wondering.
Here’s the very first dish I made with my very first box of produce:
Stir-fried snap peas and daikon radish, with an omelet
Start with a couple handfuls of sugar snap peas and remove the strings. You are supposed to snap off the stem and then peel the string off. I did my best with this and didn’t have any problems with the outcome, but you might do better.
Sugar snap peas. I tried to destring them. Really.
Slice the radish into thin pieces. Here’s the radish. It smelled great even before it was cut. It’s kind of earthy and spicy.
Daikon Radish
I don’t know if you are supposed to peel these things, and I was too hungry and impatient to google it. Before today, I’d never seen a raw daikon radish. See these weird little hairs on the daikon radish? Apparently both edible and weird.
What are these little hairs about? I almost didn't notice them.
Melt a little butter and a little olive oil in a pan and add garlic or shallots. Use your judgment for the amounts, but try to use both the butter and oil to add a depth of flavor you won’t get with just one or the other. When the shallots have browned a bit (or the garlic is a bit softer) add the radish and peas.
Saute for about five minutes, until the veggies are crisp and also tender.
Add a squirt of lemon or orange juice.
Finish with salt and pepper, to taste.
I wanted some protein, so I made a thin omelet in the same pan. Dinner is served (at the unreasonable hour of 10pm, but whatevs)!
So good!
Hat Tip: The idea of cooking the peas and radish together came from the Enterprise Produce newsletter. Good work, farm!
Mmmm! I miss my delivered produce! Boston Organics was great, but not available down here in the burbs.
Thanks for the radish idea, I just picked some from my garden and was wondering what I should do with them!
I’d never cooked with radish before, it’s super tasty! What else do you grow in your garden?
The little hairs on the daikon are just the roots. Same as if you’ve ever pulled up a big carrot or conventional turnip right out of the garden. Parsnips have ‘em too.
The sautee looks fresh and yummy. I’ve never cooked daikon that way before! Also, congrats on your CSA! Do I get to brag about my Michael Pollan signature? I asked him to hit page 11 for me due to these lovely passages:
“To eat with a fuller consciousness of all that is at stake might sound like a burden, but in practice few things in life can afford quite as much satisfaction.”
I nearly cried when I read that sentence. Yes, YES!
And then “But in the end this is a book about the pleasures of eating, the kinds of pleasure that are only deepend by knowing.”
SCRIBBLY SIGNATURE (MhlP?)
Have you seen Food, Inc. now showing at Coolidge?
Awesome re: Michael Pollan signature!
I saw Food, Inc. last weekend and I’m now reading the companion book full of essays. The book adds a whole lot more detail and different perspectives.
Wow, I’ll look forward to that companion book!
For Melyssa, I like to sautee thin-sliced radishes in butter until they’re more translucent, a little browned but still crisp. Then a sprinkle of crunchy flake salt.