Since I spent last week eating my way around New York City, I held my CSA share from Whitton Farms for pick up this week. That meant instead of one full veggie share, I got two.
I was feeling quite righteous as I toted my two (very heavy) bags of produce to the car, but as I spread out it out on the kitchen table, I was overwhelmed. Trust me on this: Two full CSA shares is a mess of vegetables. More specifically, the countdown goes like this: two leaves of bread, six large tomatoes, six onions, six plums, six peaches, two DOZEN ears of corn, two bunches of carrots, four beets, four cucumbers, eight zucchini, and 10 yellow squash.
I tried to figure out how many servings of fruits and vegetables this would make for my two-person household, but I couldn’t do the math. So I started cooking instead, starting with the most difficult vegetable: zucchini. Thanks to one of my favorite cookbooks (Simple, Fresh, Southern by the Lee brothers), I hit on a winner: “Roasted Zucchini with Toasted Pecans and Lemon.” The recipe took a few steps (roast the zucchini, make the dressing, chop and roast the pecans, grate the lemon into zest), but it was worth the work and made a delicious pairing with the rest of our summer meal: corn on the cob with salt and butter and thick slices of cheddar-topped whole wheat bread with goat cheese, tomato, and lemon basil.
My husband added a pulled pork sandwich from Tops to dinner (what am I going to do with him?), but he still ate the zucchini, much to my surprise.
Next, I made a simple salad of tomatoes, cucumbers, onions, parsley, sweet basil, and lemon basil with a slightly sweet vinaigrette for my book club meeting and for our next meal at home, I cooked a combination of beans from my garden with my CSA baby carrots until just tender, then tossed them with a little salt, half a tablespoon of butter, and a lot of fresh tarragon. They were delicious, proving yet again that fresh summer vegetables don't need a lot of fancy preparation.
I still have a ton of corn and squash. I’m thinking soup, but please pass along suggestions, as I’m expecting more corn and squash in next week’s bag.
FYI, here’s the ingredients for vinaigrette recipe, which I doubled and though was quite good:1 tablespoon of wine vinegar2 tablespoons of canola oil2 teaspoons of walnut oil1 teaspoon of freshly squeezed lemon juice1 teaspoon of lemon zest2 teaspoons of minced shallot1 teaspoon of sugar
