Hooray, Hooray for the CSA



This dinner brought to you by the letters S and F for Shenandoah Farms!

We were very, very fortunate this year to join our local CSA from Shenandoah Farms (Click here for more info about CSAs).  I don't think you can get a better deal than this one.  Every Wednesday a very large bag of fresh, local produce (and sometimes other goodies like eggs, cheese, nuts, bread, etc.) was delivered to our school office.  Most of my "grocery shopping" was done by picking up my bag of gold on the way out the door. 

Our CSA grows hydroponic lettuce, cukes and cherry tomatoes.  So, for the first time in years, we had salad most of the winter.  It was aaaamazing to see so much green in the fridge while still supporting the local economy and helping the environment.  

Today is the first Wednesday since the first week of school that we have not had a CSA bag to go home with.  I"ll miss the mystery of the CSA bag (Wednesday night is the only night I don't have a planned menu) and the delight of vegis we weren't growing, or which had a poor harvest.  Tonight I had to go shop in the garden - I guess that's the best CSA after all.

Even if you grow and process most of your own produce, I encourage you to find a local CSA.  We'll be back next year for sure.

This was last week's CSA celebration meal.  All of the ingredients (with the exception of the eggs, goat cheese, milk, flour, Bulgar wheat, olive oil, lemon juice and seasoning) were from the CSA bag.  The crepe recipe is from Deborah Madison's Vegetarian Suppers. I adapted it slightly. 

Tabbouleh, Feta Walnut Beet Salad, Stacked Swiss Chard Crepes with Mushroom Sauce
Quite possibly the best meal I've made all year.

Spinach Crepe Cake

I doubled this recipe (While I was making a mess why not have some to put in the freezer?), used a Vitamix (the super hero of blenders), used Swiss Chard instead of spinach, white whole wheat flour instead of regular, and goat cheese instead of ricotta.

Once you have all three parts ready, stack three crepes with filling in between and cover with sauce. 

Stacked Crepes waiting to be covered and cut.

Crepes

1 bunch spinach - cooked for a few minutes

1 1/2 cups milk

3 eggs

3 T butter

1T tarragon

1 c. flour

1 t. salt

Combine in blender to make smooth batter.  If you have two skillets - get them both out and hot.  Spray them, pour a 1/4 c. of batter on the skillet.  Quickly lift the skillet and swirl the batter around so it spreads out evenly.  Cook a few minutes on one side, then flip like a big pancake.  Cook for another minute or so.  Keep doing this until you run out of batter.  Stack the finished crepes on a plate until you're done cooking them all.

Filling

2 c. goat cheese

1 c. mozzarella cheese

2 T parsley

1 T tarragon

1T chives

salt

Mix together.

Mushroom Sauce

2 T butter

3 spring onions - chopped

1 lb. mushrooms - sliced

1 c. broth

Saute mushrooms, add broth, cook until the consistency you like.

Tabbouleh

2 c. Bulgar wheat

4 c. boiling water

Put wheat in bowl.  Pour water over.  Cover bowl with plate and leave sit for 30 min.  Add chopped garlic, olive oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper to taste.  Add whatever vegis you would like - tomato and cukes are classic and oh, so good.  But, other vegis work well too.

Feta and Walnut Beet Salad

Put chopped, cooked, cooled beets in a bowl.  Toss with lemon juice, olive oil, salt and pepper to taste.  Put on plate.  Sprinkle walnuts and feta cheese on top.  Yum-O!