The Springdell Show and Tell- Fall Bridge CSA Pickup #5

 in Springdell Show and Tell  tagged Show / Tell by (updated 1453 days ago)

Hi everyone, Jess here to chat about the lovely veggies you’ll find in the 5th and final installment of the Fall Bridge CSA.

With the winter CSA starting this coming week (hooray!!!), the bridge CSA brings us right to the Winter CSA. It works out that Saturday shareholders will be picking up 2 boxes on the same day! Fear not as the boxes will allow you to start the winter season stocked with a healthy supply of delicious veggies for your winter storage bins. A majority of the veggies in this week’s boxes store well, so take your time and enjoy. The boxes also contain lots of lovely trimmings that minimize your need for a lot of shopping, a win-win!

  • Potatoes– These lovely blue taters have a slightly denser and creamier quality when compared to their buddies. This past couple of weeks, we enjoyed them in a hash (with onion and Springdell Breakfast Sausage) and sliced into rounds and roasted.
  • Onions– Onions store fabulously in a cool dark onion bin – check, pull and immediately use any that are losing their texture, as they may be fixing to sprout. My ripcord idea when I get a lot of onions is usually to caramelize a batch and then add with wild abandon to just about any dish.
  •  Shallots– I store mine near the onions. If/when the greeenhouse parsley graces the shares (as it sometimes has been known to do) try a little Shallot and Parsley Pan Sauce with a big ol’ Springdell Steak! Shallots also go amazing with apples, and can be used in a lovely pan sauce. Add pork chops and sage to the mix, and you have dinner!
  • Turnip– My last turnips were shredded for a Taco Tuesday topping, and a few leftovers went into a cream sauce for my lunch the next day. This week will be the  Apple Turnip Pot Pie recipe from a fellow CSA blogger.  Turnip Soufflé or Creamy Turnip Soup are other yummy ideas.
  • Carrots– Unlike the summer carrots, I store these in the fridge right in the bag after a quick rinse and damp dry. As you may have read, in our household I don’t get to cook with these too often because the boys enjoy them raw over cooked. A quick trip through the mandolin slicer and the kids eat them like chips.
  • Cranberries! – A delicious tartness that can be made into a traditional cranberry sauce, or sprinkled into sweet baked goods. My last batch of cranberrries were sugared and utterly snackable. I may adorn a butternut squash soup and/or scones with some cranberries this week…
  • Johnny Putt Greens– A lovely  mix of nutrient-packed greens, complete with microgreens (we have peppery micro radishes in our bag, but you may get something different).
  • Butternut & Acorn Squash– These beauties like to live in a cool and dark place (mine live in a crate in my basement by the bulkhead door, and I check them once or twice a week to make sure they’re happy.
These are easy peasy- simply dissolve 1 part water and sugar in a saucepan (1/2 cup each is a good amount for this week’s’ berries- and not to a boil, just a few minutes stirring until dissolved). Remove from heat, and stir in the cranberries until coated. Transfer them to a wire rack to dry, then after an hour or so, roll them in sugar. Store in an airtight container in the fridge, and re-roll in sugar as needed (it falls off a little after a day). Put a small bowl on your counter and they’ll disappear.
These lovely blues love a good roasting, and are just so aesthetically pleasing.
This last batch of Brussels Sprouts was so sweet! I cooked a batch of Springdell bacon, left a thin layer of the bacon fat in the rimmed cookie sheet, and tossed these in face-down for a quick sizzle.
I usually try to stick to the veggie successes of the week, but a friend suggested that I include more of my failures as well. (Please rest assured, I have many!) Anyhow, here we go with my spaghetti Squash Hash Browns. The taste was there, but I had let my cooked squash sit and cool for too long before wringing out the moisture (a key in this recipe). Hence, the squash re-absorbed the moisture and the mixture was a bit mushy and wet. Back to the drawing board before I share the full recipe but in the meantime, there are some out there in the Googleverse to try. It’ll definitely shape up to be a good use of this yummy squash.

That’s about it on this end. I hope you enjoy your week, please keep the questions, comments and ideas coming! I’ll keep on trucking over here and see you back here soon.

About Jess

Jess Anderson is the creator of CSA|365 and is passionate about the local food movement. A long time member of Springdell and a busy mother of two, Jess loves keeping her family fed by honest local food.

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