Simple Salads with Pea Shoots and Shredded Carrots
Lettuce wraps
A usual matter of course as of late, we had a bit of a discombobulated dinner plan. After pulling up some orange roots that I thought were bittersweet in the Community Garden, I wiped the sweat from my brow and passed some now apparent poison ivy oils over my eye. I’m thankful to say I am slowly recovering, but not being able to see with half a swollen face did put a damper on the week. The good news is, I think (hope) the ivy patch may have been eradicated. The Garden’s new sun shelter construction is underway!
It’s been a pleasure working with the Scouts who are bringing this project to life. I’ll share a photo of the final product soon!
My other half was at a conference for most of the week, which left the kids a bit more in charge of dinner (apple tacos, anyone?) Overall, we ate well! Let’s dive in and see the colorful goodies dance on the plate…
If you recall last week I tried this Pickled Daikon and said I’d let you know how it was? Well, it was a hit! Here’s the concoction again (from an old Food and Wine mag) – Boil up a brine of 1/4 cup each of mirin and rice vinegar, 10 peppercorns, 1 star anise, 1 tsp kosher salt and 1 1/2 teaspoons of sugar, just enough to dissolve the sugar. Toss and refrigerate for a couple of hours and enjoy!We had it at a friend’s dinner, accompanied by Herbed Pork ribs, a simple salad, and roasted sweet potatoes.My friend had made wakame with bonito flakes, and a lovely kabocha squash as well (my current favorite squash).This is the beginning of a simple One Pot Salmon, a super easy weeknight dinner. Simply start with rice and liquid to your skillet, cover and simmer. Add the salmon next, and cover back up. Finally, add your veggies and steam the dish until done! The original Real Simple recipe uses snap peas, but I’ve used broccoli, string beans, radishes, asparagus…. Tonight it was shredded carrot and pea shoots. The recipe is so versatile and makes for easy cleanup!I had a little leftover salmon the next day, so made myself a salad with daikon and carrot slaw. It was as simple as tossing the veggies with a favorite dressing. I love delicious things, especially when they are simple to make!Here we have Beef teriyaki top round steak with shredded carrot and daikon, and a little parsley on top.Egg Roll in a Bowl, anyone? Here you see mostly cabbage as I was using this base to test different mixtures. Some onion, shallot and sweet potato were mixed in. All were great, but I still think I like the last share’s test recipe better so far. This batch lasted me a few days!Whatever the filling, lettuce wraps are the best, aren’t they? Remember, if your CSA lettuce is wilting fast, it’s because it’s fresh and not getting chemical help to stay fresh. It’s a little extra step, but separating and washing your lettuce leaves, spin drying and re-bagging before placing them in the crisper is a good way to go. This will give them a much better shelf life than just leaving the leaves on the head. For more info, click here!These beet noodles were so pretty! Even the little nub of beet made a roasted tasty garnish that looked like a little mushroom!I wish I could take credit for the parsley walnut pesto, it was yummy with the simple roasted balsamic beet noodles.
Nowhere in the week did my healthy dinner desperation become more apparent than this meal. We were fresh out of greens, and with my other half still out of town, tacos were the majority vote for dinner. My littlest had the brilliant idea of shredding a storage apple on his taco, and we all followed suit. As we had very little salsa left in what I think is our final jar (I didn’t have time to fully search the back of the pantry), I was grateful for Chimichurri to add to the flavor party!
This brings us to the final hours before the final pickup of the Springdell Winter CSA! I’m hearing of lovely treats that await us, including Ben’s amazing maple syrup and candy (thanks to Farmer Jamie for adding a little dessert to our final crate!) I’ll see you back here tonight to present the final “show” of the 2019 Winter CSA Springdell Show and Tell!
