Recipe Links: Week 3
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Leaf lettuce mix, bright lights chard, romaine lettuce , kohlrabi, Hakurai turnips with greens, French breakfast radishes, garlic scrapes, nasturtiums, snow peas, pink beauty radishes. Chicago received asparagus and rhubarb this week as well.
Pizza Inspiration
A turnip green and bacon pizza we made from our share last year
This Friday was a beautiful sunny day and I had pizza on my mind, grilled pizza in particular. Any opportunity to eat dinner outside and keep the heat out of the kitchen appeals to me as the days hold their warmth into the evening. Making dough seemed like a bit of a task for a Friday evening, but picking up some pre-made dough from the Willy Street Co-op (or another grocer that sells it) simplified our dinner making quite a bit. For us, CSA pizzas are a great way to indulge a pizza craving without giving into the greasy delivery pizza that leaves us questioning our life choices. A few ideas swirling around in my mind:
A Scotch Hill baked mushroom and arugula pizza from earlier this month
- Turnips, turnip greens, bacon, Parmesan, garlic scape (or leek, if those are still lingering in your fridge) butter
- Turnips, bacon, and blue cheese
- Asparagus, spring onion, and pancetta
- White pizza with garlic scape pesto, topped with dressed greens (yup, salad on pizza is a thing)
- Vegan pizza with garlic scape white bean spread and sauteed greens
- Roasted radish pizza
- Chard, ricotta, nasturtium blossom (added after the pizza comes off the heat)
- Kohlrabi, dill, and feta
- White sauce, mozarella, and sauteed greens
- Provençal onion pizza
I could imagine most of these with a marinara sauce, a creamy Alfredo, or just olive oil and garlic (my go-to).
More recipe thoughts for this week:
Lettuce wraps with grilled chicken, mustard green harissa, yogurt, and mint
Lettuce: Leafy green lettuce stays with us this week. This week, a classic wedge salad with creamy blue cheese dressing and crispy bacon also sounds quite delicious, if unsurprising. Although I have yet to tire of tossing together simple salads for lunch or wrapping up tasty leftovers in lettuce wraps (pictured left), I'm also always on the prowl for new and exciting things to do with lettuce (besides putting it on pizza, see above). I can't say this pico de lettuce recipe is all that shockingly new, after all, it is more or less just salad that's been left to sit for a while, but I do think it would be lovely piled onto a sandwich for a weeknight picnic dinner. For a hot meal, this stir-fried lettuce recipe looks quite tasty, too.
Bright lights chard: With its beautiful parti-colored stems, bright lights chard makes a visually pleasing and substantial salad when left raw and tossed with a sunny vinaigrette. I almost never remove the stems before chopping the leaves, but when I'm looking for more consistency in size, shape, and texture, I'll chop the leaves and the stem separately. When added back to the salad, the stems resemble celery and add a nice cool crunch. Chard can be used in place of spinach in pretty much any application; in fact, many Italian recipes that call for spinach traditionally used chard instead. It's delicious sauteed with a little onion or garlic and sprinkled with cheese and/or pine nuts. For a light, nutritious meal, this crispy paprika-Parmesan fish fillets with sautéed chard would be delicious. On the subject of chard and fish, this recipe for black cod with swiss chard, olives, and lemon also caught my eye.
Radishes: Although radishes aren't mentioned in the name of this recipe, they add some much-needed spice and clarity to this chopped sugar snap pea salad with fresh cheese and mint. If radish heat isn't your thing, try sauteing them in a little butter with some salt and pepper; the flavor will sweeten and mellow significantly with a little coaxing.
Turnips: The mild snowy white Hakurei turnips in our shares are perfect for eating raw in a dish like this shaved turnip and radish salad with poppy seed dressing or in a more free-form lunch salad. This article recommends lightly sauteing them in place of water chestnuts in a stir fry, a great local alternative to a specialty grocery store item. Harukei turnips are also delicious when roasted in miso butter and sprinkled with sesame seeds (black ones are pretty, but regular white sesame seeds taste equally good).
Snow peas The first snow peas of the season are a welcome treat; their fresh sweetness reminds me that the chilly, rainy spring days of April and May are worth enduring. A savory sesame dressing would be one option for serving these crunchy, sweet vegetables. Another great choice would be the chopped sugar snap salad I linked to in the radish section. For something a little spicy, I'd try these sriracha snap peas with red peppers.
Kohlrabi This strange-looking vegetable has a mild, cruciferous flavor. t's as good sauteed as it is julienned and served raw. A cool, crunchy kohlrabi slaw sounds pretty good to me right now, whether it's a kohlrabi and cabbage slaw, a kohlrabi and carrot slaw, or a kohlrabi and apple slaw. Another great option would be to saute in it a little olive oil, and serve with some dill, lemon juice, and feta cheese. The salty cheese and sharp dill balance the green flavor of the kohlrabi nicely.
Nasturtium blossoms I'm content to eat these straight from the package, but if you're feeling fancier than that, there's a lovely recipe for a flower gilded ice cream angel cake on page 73 of From Asparagus to Zucchini, FairShare's cookbook for CSA vegetables.
Garlic scapes Garilc scapes contribute a mild garlic flavor to anything they're added to. I add them to anything from stir fries to buttery pasta dishes, raw vegetable slaws and cream cheeses spread over bread or bagels. They add beautiful color to a dish as well.
