Qu'est-ce Que C'est Dans Ma Boite Du CSA? Japanese Eggplant, Zucchini, Kale, Fava Beans, Green Beans, Radishes, Apricots, & Sugar Plums

I'm happy to report that there's one upside, at least, to moving ever-deeper into the jaws of summer: the CSA box is finally graduating away from lettuces, skillet greens and garlic and into more inspiring fare. Fava beans! Japanese eggplant! Oh, the possibilities are endless...

That having been said, I still had kale to contend with in this past delivery, and you've already born witness to the sad results. Will the kale never stop coming?? It feels like I'm caught in some kind of cosmic loop where kale will perpetually show up on my doorstep no matter how I try to stop it. Have you ever seen Groundhog Day? It's like that, except instead of Andy McDowell it's kale. Kale, kale, and more kale. Shudder.

Anyway, moving on.

The three firm little Japanese eggplants went into the topping for bruschetta. I sauteed thinly sliced red onions and the eggplant in olive oil, and once they were soft and brown I added a splash of red wine vinegar. I took this off the heat and mixed in cubed mozzarella, shredded basil, salt, and pepper. That all got piled onto grilled bread and topped with prosciutto and a drizzle of olive oil. Trust me when I say that if you start out with all the ingredients named above, it is nearly impossible to end up with something that doesn't taste good.



On to the green beans. FYI, the word "green bean" is simply a general term for many different types of bean. These guys were long, fat, and slightly leathery, so I think they were pole beans. Recipes do not abound for the pole bean, but I thought the only way to get them tender enough to eat would be to stew them. I did this the Southern way, in salt pork broth. I put a dutch oven over medium-high heat, added a ham hock, and let that give off most of its fat. I then added some finely chopped onion and a pint of water. I let that simmer loosely covered for half an hour, then added the beans (topped, tailed, and cut into 1" lengths) and left them partially covered at a low simmer for 90 minutes. The beans came out tender and with a distinctly smoky, briney, pork-tastic flavor.



The fava beans and a few radishes became a salad (dressed with sage, chives, lemon juice, and walnut pesto) atop slices of prosciutto. It was light, fresh, and flavorful, and very quick to throw together. The recipe can be found in Tom Colicchio's Think Like A Chef.



For the zucchini, I used a recipe from this month's Fine Cooking, which can be found here. The general idea is to saute zucchini and a little bit of red onion, toss it in a Middle Eastern spice blend (I traded za'atar for Ras El Hanout, but the effect is the same), and top with chick peas that you've crisped up by coating them in cornstarch and pan frying them in olive oil.



Now here's an interesting one: did you know that radishes could be roasted? Because they can! And they taste more or less like turnips, which is not really what I expected. I found a recipe for roasted radishes by Gerard Craft (a superstar chef from St. Louis and former Food & Wine Best New Chef) on the Food & Wine website -- the key with this is to make sure you get a good sear on the radishes, to give them that caramelized flavor. Speaking of "searing," be very careful when dealing with with cast iron skillets and 500 degree ovens. A cast iron skillet gets very hot and stays that way for a long time, as I learned the hard way last night when I absent-mindedly grabbed for its handle...suffice it to say that I spent a couple of hours last night with my left hand submerged in vodka (an old Swedish burn remedy).



Aaaannnddd that's all she wrote. Oh -- if you're wondering what happened to the fruits, those were all hoarded by the The Viking and eaten as snacks.