The Battle Has Not Been Lost

I'm two weeks into my CSA and tomorrow will mark the third. If this was a battle--Junita v. The Vegetables--I'm not exactly holding my own. I am very sorry to report that the kale from the first week was my first casualty (my excuse: it had a delicate constitution, plus kale is so not a spring vegetable). My second loss was that lovely sprig of spearmint. I did, however, do very well with the asparagus (to be expected) and the turnips (a triumph!). And I learned that in order to get through a bunch of radishes, you simply must sprinkle them in every other dish you make.

Here's a peek at what the second box held:


And here is what I had for lunch later that day:


Tomorrow I'm expecting some escarole, purple scallions, sugar snap peas, fennel, arugula, and salad mix. What to do, what to do? I may go the easy route with the fennel and eat it with some orange segments and olives. The sugar snap peas will go in a quick tofu stir-fry. And wild arugula is always good as prepared above or chopped up and made into a pesto. But purple scallions? If all else fails, I'm just going to fix myself a drink.

Here's to the First Bounty

Tonight:

Pre-dinner Rhubarb cocktail
Spinruts dipped in melted butter and salt
Pasta with asparagus, spearmint, goat cheese, zest of lemon & peas

And, if I'm good, a slice of black bottom coconut cream pie (from the Birchwood).

Ready, Set, Vegetables!

This morning I woke up knowing that today I'd finally get an answer to the question I've had all week. What will appear in my first CSA box tomorrow? I signed up for a Crop Share Agreement with Rock Spring Farm this summer. All year long, as a kind of preview, I've been receiving their weekly e-newsletter, compliments of my neighbor who gets her own box of veggies. Each one offers a snapshot in time of the farm with a summary of what's been harvested and planted, along with a rather frank report on how that week's weather has impacted work on the farm.

At the bottom of the newsletter are recipes--my favorite part--that provide tips for cooking what's in the CSA box. It's a good thing they included a recipe for spinruts, because I am at a loss. Spinruts is a nickname Rock Spring gave a variety of turnip ("turnips" spelled backwards). They've got a special name in order to call attention to their rarity-- not just plain turnips, these are white-rooted Japanese spring turnips. I love the story behind them and I love the elegantly simple preparation they recommend:

Sometimes I think that my life as a vegetable grower has been defined by seeing something, somewhere, and thinking, "I. Have. To. Grow. That." I felt that way the first time a saw a photo of fresh, peeled onions, the first time I dug a patch of heirloom potatoes, and the first time I saw the beautiful, white-rooted, Japanese spring turnips during a slide show at a farming conference in a rural church in upstate New York. I went home to the farm in Maine exclaiming, "We have to grow these!" we call them Spinruts, which is turnips spelled backwards, at the suggestion of a farmers market customer who insisted that if we continued to call the spring turnips, lots of people who deserved to eat something this good would miss out on them entirely. The greens make a great sauté for a tasty side.

Steamed Spinruts

Several spinruts, quartered

butter
salt

Steam the quartered turnips until just barely fork tender - about five minutes. Don't overcook them, and remember that they will keep cooking even after you pull them from the pot. Serve with just a little bit of butter and a dash of salt.

Also included in tomorrow's box:

* Asparagus
* Red Oak Lettuce
* Red Russian Kale
* Spearmint
* Purple Radishes

I can't wait to behold! And I can't wait to eat my spinruts.