Just as I was getting excited about getting less greens and root vegetables and more spring veggies, we got another full box of greens, radishes, and herbs. Here’s what we got last week:
dill
navel oranges
mixed lettuce
French breakfast or Easter egg radishes
spinach
stir-fry mix
yellow spring onions
green garlic
fennel
turnips
raisins
Perhaps a reflection of our waning enthusiasm, we’ve done a pretty poor job this time with using our CSA produce. That, combined with a hectic schedule prevented us from undertaking more time-consuming endeavors such as potato salad to make use of the dill.
It was not all a waste, however. TC’s mom and sister were a huge fan of the radishes, devouring them in less than 10 minutes, and his 18-month old nephew put away a good amount of the raisins. We also made a couple of new dishes, the first of which was a tomato, garlic, and potato frittata from the Gourmet cookbook. Frittata — never thought about it before, but it’s a cool word. Say it with me: FRIT-TA-TA.
Anyway, the only CSA ingredient we used for the frittata was the green garlic. Other ingredients included: eggs, parmesan cheese, basil, potatoes, grape tomatoes, olive oil, salt, and pepper. This was my first frittata-making venture, and I was nervous about not using the right kind of pan. The recipe calls for finishing the frittata in the broiler, but I did not have a 10-inch ovenproof skillet. So instead, I tried my best to flip the thing in the pan. I was partially successful. Luckily, TC doesn’t really care as much about presentation as I do. We enjoyed our imperfect looking frittata with a good dose of hot sauce. Overall, I’d say it was pretty good, but we both agreed that it could’ve used more basil and also some minced jalapeno or Serrano peppers.
The other thing we made was roasted mahi mahi with fennel, olives, and orange from theKitchn. We were both exceedingly skeptical about this dish for different reasons. My concern was that I’ve never cooked fennel; TC’s worry was that he hates the taste of licorice. Luckily, the fennel was pretty easy to prepare (thanks to helpful youtube videos) and the licorice flavor was super mild. It was so mild, though, that the whole dish lacked any kind of flavor or spice. It didn’t help that I forgot to add the oregano. D’oh! I think this dish definitely has potential, but as it was, it was just so-so.
Well, at least the CSA box helped us to accomplish one goal this week, which was to force us to try new things! What about you — anything new you’ve tried lately that was a great success or colossal failure?
p.s. If you can’t get enough of CSA goodies, check out this awesome link party organized by In Her Chucks where bloggers from around the country are posting about their CSA treats!