Taking a CSA Break But Still Cooking Organic!

Yesterday was the last basket of my current CSA share commitment. 14 weeks since the first basket arrived! It was my intention to switch our 'subscription' to an every OTHER week program to reduce the pressure of using all the produce in one week, be a bit more pragmatic with the expense, and still carry on our support of the CSA concept. Morning Song Farms disallows vacation skips when you go every other week and I have a lot of travel scheduled this month and through the end of the year. As such, I will use this time to reflect on the experience and make my decision as to whether or not we will continue when the dust settles. I hope to post a bit on a trip or two to a local farmer's market and compare the two organic experiences.

Despite the lack of posts, I think the others here are still going strong with their CSA boxes. Hopefully they will continue to share as well.

In the meantime, I still have lots of zucchini from Morning Song Farm! That's just fine with me as its always been a favorite. Several pieces went into this dish I made for a dinner party last weekend, Vegetable Tian. Its a great baked veggie dish that only uses a little gruyere so it remains a healthy oven dish for a buffet.

I've copied the recipe after the jump but you can get both this and other recipes, as well as a full report on the menu here.


Vegetable Tian:

Adapted from Ina Garten, "Barefoot in Paris".

Ingredients

* Good olive oil
* 2 large yellow onions, cut in half and sliced
* 2 garlic cloves, minced
* 3/4 pound yellow squas, yellow zucchini.
* 3/4 pound zucchini
* 1 1/4 pounds medium tomatoes
* 1 teaspoon kosher salt
* 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
* 1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves, plus extra sprigs
* 2 ounces Gruyere cheese, grated

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

Brush a 9 by 13 by 2-inch baking dish with olive oil. In a medium saute pan, heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil and cook the onions over medium-low heat for 8 to 10 minutes, until translucent. Add the garlic and cook for another minute. Spread the onion mixture on the bottom of the baking dish.

Slice the potatoes, zucchini, and tomatoes in 1/4-inch thick slices. Layer them alternately in the dish on top of the onions, fitting them tightly, making only 1 layer. Sprinkle with salt, pepper, thyme leaves, and thyme sprigs and drizzle with 1 more tablespoon of olive oil. Cover the dish with aluminum foil and bake for 35 to 40 minutes, until the potatoes are tender. Uncover the dish, remove the thyme sprigs, sprinkle the cheese on top, and bake for another 30 minutes until browned. Serve warm.

Banana Zucchini Blackberry Bread

Another delicious use for all that zucchini lying around the house...

1 cup sugar
1/2 cup salted butter, room temperature
1 egg
2 large ripe bananas
1 cup shredded zucchini
1/4 cup milk or almond milk
1 tsp cinnamon
1 1/2 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
3/4 cup chopped walnuts
6-8 blackberries, cut into thirds

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Grease a standard muffin tin or line cups with paper liners.
2. Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add egg and mix in completely.
3. Mash bananas in separate bowl and mix in milk and cinnamon. Add in zucchini.
4. Whisk together flour, baking soda and baking powder in separate bowl.
5. Starting and ending with flour mixture, alternate adding flour and bananas to butter and sugar. Only mix until just incorporated.
6. Fold in walnuts and then gently fold in the blackberries
7. Fill muffin cups with batter and sprinkle tops with demerara sugar.
8. Bake 18-20 minutes.

*I made little breads instead of muffins so drop the temp down to 350 and bake for 35-40 minutes. Yummy!

We Are Not Alone

Someone else has the same CSA pressure to use up all remaining veggies at the end of the week. Check out this post at mykitchenaddiction.com for "CSA Pizza". And it features zucchini! Surprise!

What Do I Do with All This *%&$#@ Zucchini?

If it is summer, it is zucchini time. It wouldn't really make a difference if I were in a CSA or not, when it is summer, there is a constant stream of zucchini coming into our house. It seems that everyone plants this in their summer gardens and everyone gets a bumper crop. My favorite way to eat zucchini is to just grate it and saute it quickly with some shallots or just salt and pepper. On Sunday I still had last week's CSA zucchini (still quite fresh) and this week's. Six was just enough to make one of my favorite recipes Mom used to make when she had her bumper crop of zucchini: Stuffed Zucchini (she used to call it "Zucchini Boats" thinking that would make vegetables sound more exciting to kids I think.) Anyway, these are great with hamburgers or any grilled meat and especially good for Sunday bbq's because they can be made ahead of time and popped into the oven while you are getting everything else readys

Zucchini Boats

• 6 zucchini (medium sized)
• 1/3 mayonaise, low fat will work.
• 1/3 cup parmesan cheese
• 1/2 tomato, peeded, diced, and drained. (I never peel 'em really. . . )
• 1/2 onion, diced.
• Salt and pepper to taste

Parboil in salted water the zucchini until barely tender, 7 minutes. Let cool a minute or two ands slice them lengthwise. Scoop out the center with a small spoon, reserving the pulp. Remove water from pulp by draining over sieve, cheesecloth, or even blotting with paper towel.

Chop pulp and stir in remaining ingredients. Fill shells and place in shallow pan. Salt and pepper to taste nd bake at 425 until filling mixture begins to puff and turn golden. About 20-25 minutes.