CSA Adventures: Box 3. Swiss Chard, Broccoli, Cucumbers, Lettuce, Yellow Squash, and (hooray!) more Spring Onions

Now when we pick up the share on Sunday mornings it seems like there’s an advantage to showing up closer to 10am, since we fill our own box from the assortment of produce and they were out of green beans by the time we  arrived (my children will not mourn the loss of the beans, nor will they cheer the appearance of the broccoli).

The chard was the only item I’ve never prepared at home, so I took up that challenge first. A quick poll of friends and a cruise around the internet revealed that everyone just tears the leaves, chops the stems and sautes them with something – pretty much the same as collards. Based on several recipes found, here’s what I came up with to go with the steak and potato salad we served for dinner.

Swiss Chard with Pancetta and Spring Onions

The spring onions were bigger this week so one of them is comparable to a shallot, which is what I would probably ordinarily use (or a small vidalia).

Ingredients:

• 1 bunch Swiss chard, washed, with stalks chopped and leaves torn from stems (discard stems)
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 4-6 ounces pancetta, diced
• 2 ounces dry white wine
• 1 ounce fresh lemon juice
• 2 Tablespoons olive oil

In a large skillet, heat the olive oil and cook the pancetta and onion at medium heat until they are browned and caramelized. Add the chard stalks and cook for 1-2 minutes, then add the leaves. Simmer for 1-2 minutes then add the lemon juice. Simmer until the leaves are wilted and the stalks are tender. Serve hot.

Some folks found the chard still too bitter, but I loved it with the salty pancetta and tangy lemon. It went well with the mayonnaise-based potato salad and would be very nice in winter alongside risotto.

Serves 4

Grilled Spring Onions

Another use of the spring onions was simply to cut the tops off, trim them, halve them, brush them with olive oil and cook them, cut side down, on the top rack of the grill – 6-8 minutes, depending on your grill and how crunchy (or not) you like them. I served them with a grilled pork loin that had been rubbed with cumin, ground black pepper, sea salt, olive oil, garlic and lime juice.

CSA Adventures: All Local Summer Menu, All on the Grill

Groton, MA

Everything just kind of turned out to be all local, so it wasn’t really contrived, honestly. And in a heat wave it’s key to avoid the stove and oven. Once again, it’s really just a combination of things with no actual recipes (I call this the Mark Bittman approach):

• Tomato and basil salad – tomatoes grown by Springdell Farm, basil from our John Crow Farm CSA. These tomatoes were so good we did not dress them at all – my resourceful daughter put them on the grilled bread for an improvised bruschetta.
• Blood Farm ham steak, grilled. If you ask, they will cut the steaks from a whole ham for you.
• Steamed broccoli (in foil with a drizzle of olive oil and a little crushed red pepper, on top rack of the grill) from our John Crow Farm CSA (from Box 4 – I’m behind in my reporting).
• Grilled sourdough bread (with a little olive oil on it) from Nashoba Brook Bakery.
• Dessert? Local blueberries and peaches from Springdell. Ice cream is nice (Kimball Farm?), but not required.

Stay cool.

CSA Adventures: killed the beets and made a salad. I served it with Grilled Lamb Chops with Rosemary, Garlic & Balsamic Vinegar, if that helps.

Off to an epic start. Not.

I roasted the beets and they just didn’t hold up. Maybe they absorbed too much water in the recent rains because they didn’t really seem to roast the way that golden and red beets do. They looked fine and peeled great but when I sliced them they didn’t hold firm, and the taste was earthy in a way not entirely good. Lesson learned.

My backup vegetable for Father’s Day dinner was a red leaf lettuce salad with cucumbers and blue cheese dressed with a red wine Dijon vinaigrette. It was lovely but needed a little sweetness – next time I will add dried cranberries.

I don’t really need to post a recipe for a green salad so I will share the recipe for the lamb chops I served with it. Also on the menu: Rooney’s potato salad and flourless chocolate cake.

Grilled Lamb Chops with Rosemary, Garlic and Balsamic Vinegar

This is an adaptation of a recipe I found on Epicurious.

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
• 4 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• 4 garlic cloves, minced or crushed
• 2 tablespoons minced fresh rosemary
• 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper (or to taste)
• 8 1 inch thick loin lamb chops, trimmed.

About the lamb: I have tried both New Zealand grass-fed and American local chops. The New Zealand meat has nice flavor but the fat does not grill nicely and is chewy. The American chops are bigger and fattier so they need to be trimmed more, but the remaining fat is more flavorful and edible. Also, the more fat there is the easier it is to burn them, so watch them carefully on the grill.

Whisk the first six items together to make the marinade. Pour a little into a 9 x 13 glass pan, enough to just cover the bottom. Place the chops in the pan and pour the remaining marinade over them. Cover and refrigerate for 4 hours, turning occasionally. (I have been known to let them marinate in a cool place on the counter for an hour before grilling.) If you are going to smoke them on the grill, soak the wood chips (mesquite or whatever you like) while the meat marinates.

Heat the grill to medium – if you have a smoker put that on before you light it. When you have good heat and smoke, grill the chops to desired doneness, taking care to avoid flare-ups that will burn the small chops. We have a very hot grill, so 3 minutes on each side gives us medium rare chops. Adjust your own times as needed. After removing chops from the grill, let them rest for 5 minutes before serving.