thoughtful consumption

Food!

Here’s what came this week from Farmers’ Fresh CSA:

• baby spinach
• frisee
• butternut squash
• basil
• eggs (regular add-on)
• lettuce
• Asian eggplant
• blue potatoes
• chestnuts

There were also some pretty apples and tomatoes:

and some goat’s milk sour cream that was really, really good but didn’t make it in the photos.

I also ordered a few things:

• bacon
• Asian eggplant
• dozen eggs
• chicken
• Shiitake mushrooms
• field peas

Plans!

The double order of eggplant is for Eggplant Parmesan. I think I’ll peel and slice the larger ones for this dish. The baby eggplants I’ll slice in half, brush with olive oil and broil for a few minutes. In the last minute, I’ll top with some goat cheese (or the goat cheese sour cream, if there’s any left) and some fresh basil.

The baby spinach, frisee, and lettuce will make a terrific salad. It will go great some night with roasted or braised blue potatoes and sour cream. (There’s not nearly enough sour cream for all the plans I have for it! They include eating it out of the carton with a spoon.)

I plan to chop and cook the tomatoes just a little bit with some garlic. (Maybe I’ll chop and cook the baby eggplants here instead of on their own.) Then we’ll have bruschetta with chopped tomatoes and basil for a late supper one night.

Field peas are cooked and waiting for supper tonight with some bacon and salad. Yum!

I’m by myself Saturday, which makes it a great time to cook with the Shiitakes. Chris is lukewarm on the idea of mushrooms. (Although he always eats them up once they’re cooked.) I’m thinking to sauté these guys with white wine and cream, lemon juice, and vegetable broth from the CSA and serve them over grits or polenta. Sauteed mushrooms are another thing that will go nicely with a little salad. And a little more white wine.

The butternut squash I’m going to leave alone for a couple of weeks to make sure it’s cured. We do have a little delicata squash from a couple of weeks ago that’s probably ready. We’ll peel cube and roast it next week. With more salad. Fall has really come to be my favorite food season!

There’s only one thing I know to do with chestnuts. Fortunately, we’re supposed to have a cold snap soon which will make an open fire a reasonable proposition.

The chicken is going in the freezer now with some chicken feet. I’ll roast the chicken and then use the carcass and feet for stock. I’m not sure where these feet come from. I mentioned that I wanted to try to make some stock with chicken feet to my mother, and she had some in her freezer that she gave me. I’ve decided that things that come from my mother’s freezer count as local food.

I’ve got some beef bones in the freezer, too. Got to get on that stock-making wagon soon.

Enjoy your food!