thoughtful consumption

This week, we had two meals with two characteristics in common:

• They were made entirely of CSA ingredients (except for salt, pepper, olive oil, rice vinegar, and milk).
• They photographed really well.

They were also pretty simple, which is kind of a prerequisite for meals I make.

Here they are. I hope they’ll give you some ideas and inspiration for your CSA kitchen.

Scrambled eggs, salad, and sweet potatoes

Scrambled local eggs are an incredible treat. I cook mine with local butter and a little milk to make them fluffier and to stretch the eggs a little. The salad is a couple of kinds of local lettuce plus chervil and green onions. I dress this delicate lettuce with a just little seasoned rice vinegar. It doesn’t need dousing in anything heavy.

…

Bacon, grits, and goat cheese wrapped in sorrel

So this might rank as my favorite meal ever. The local bacon is everything it looks – thick and chock full of flavor. The grits are cooked with milk and topped with garlic chives and nothing else. I reserved the bacon drippings in case the grits needed more seasoning or moisture. They didn’t.

(Now I’ll use the drippings for cooking veggies in the next week or two. Or maybe Sea Island peas I got a couple of weeks ago.)

Sorrel is the best! It’s got a wicked-strong lemon flavor that’s perfect paired with goat cheese. (You can’t see the cheese because I wrapped the leaves around it.) The goat cheese I made myself a few months ago (from local milk) and froze. I’m pleased that it defrosted just fine.

I saved the sorrel stems and had planned to use them in a stir-fry yesterday. When I pulled them out, however, I ended just snacking on them like candy. Like Lemonheads. Not as sweet, but a perfect pick-me-up in the early evening.