Being the curious person I am, I had to weigh everything out at home and compare the costs with what is in the grocery store, just to see what kind of bang for my buck I'm getting. Although, to be honest, I know that whatever we will get will be a good value for organic produce, especially since it was all picked the same day, and not sitting around at the grocery for who knows how long! I don't have the pricing yet from the grocery, I will add it once I remember to check it out and wright it down!
Week 1 consisted of:
2.16 lbs rhubarb
4 oz oregano
1.6 oz thyme
2.9 oz sorrel
1.1 oz bunching onions (sort of like green onion)
6 oz wild spinach (the plants/leaves were a size that I think would be classified as 'microgreens')
Along with the box Mike gave us a newsletter and a herb identification and info sheet. The newsletter quoted some paragraphs from "Eating Seasonally: A Personal Reflection" by David Bruce that extolled the practice of eating seasonally and locally and intoned that getting a share of a CSA was a truly noble deed....I felt almost embarrassed that my main goal was just to get some decent produce up here!
I've never had sorrel before, and when I tried a piece it had a nice lemony taste. We had pork fajitas that week, so I ended up using some of that in mine since I love lemon/lime juice in my fajitas. We chopped up a couple of the onions for use on top of hotdogs, and ate the rest straight with a dash of salt.
Rhubarb is also something I had never really had before (outside of maybe a strawberry-rhubarb pie a while ago, and samplings of strawberry rhubarb jam). I found This Website that covers all things rhubarb. I ate a small slice raw, it was very tart- but I love tart things, I figured there are definately possibilies here! I found a recipe for Cold Rhubarb Soup and made it up one night. Justin and I loved it (although the noodles didn't really go to well with the soup, I would recommend leaving them out), Scott didn't care much for it, since the rhubarb has a bitter taste to him. He compared it to grapefruit, which he also won't eat.
I used the remainder of the rhubarb for fridge/freezer jam, there are several recipes I've found that are pretty simple, just rhubarb and sugar, sometimes they call for strawberry jello. I wanted to get the full rhubarb flavor, so I went for a jello-free version, using 1 1/3 cup sugar to 1 lb rhubarb. I chopped the rhubarb up finely, mixed in the sugar and let it sit in the fridge overnight. In the morning I brought the mixture to a boil on the stove, then down to a simmer. Once the rhubarb started getting soft, I put my hand blender to it and got it to a nice consistency, with a few chunks remaining. I couldn't resist, I had to pull some and pop it in the freezer for a few minutes to try on toast that morning. It was wonderful, sweet and tart, though for my next batch I think I'll go a little lighter on the sugar (but then, I can eat lemon straight!)
I used the recipe they provided in the newsletter for creamy wild spinach soup. The recipe is below. Since I was a bit short on greenery, I tossed in the rest of the sorrel and added a little of the oregano as well. Going through and de-rooting all the little spinach plants I had to admire the dedication it takes the Paquettes to pull all those little suckers from the ground, to give everyone enough baby spinach to do something with. I would go nuts if I had to do that much! The soup was pretty good (I LOVE to make soups, sometimes I think I could toss just about anything together and make a good soup out of it!) though I did end up with some stringy stems even after taking my hand blender to it. That was mainly my fault since I relied on the blender to chop it up when I should have chopped up the spinach before cooking it. When I reheated it yesterday it wasn't as good as the first day, a little of the cooked spinach taste was starting to get in there. But it was still a good soup. I'm not too much a fan of cooked spinach, and after trying canned spinach one time I had never thought of eating it in any way until I had some spinach salad at a friend's. Then I understood that canned spinach to fresh was the same as canned asparagus to fresh- though asparagus is my favorite veggie, canning makes it just awful.
Aside from using some thyme and oregano in the soup, I ended up drying it since it was getting to the point of use it or lose it- we didn't really have any meals planned (or that we could add a side to, it was a hectic week) that I could use them fresh for. Looking back, I forgot we had potatoes and I could have whipped up a batch of potatoes with herbs, baked with butter and lemon juice in the oven.
Overall I was happy with the box, I am revelling in my newfound love of rhubarb, and looking forward to what the next box will bring!
Recipe for Creamy Wild Spinach Soup, provided in the newsletter:
1 lb fresh wild spinach (young little ones you can chup up the stem and all)
1 cup chicken or vegetable broth
3T butter
3T flour
1/2 tsp dried thyme (or 1 tsp fresh)
dash of ground nutmeg
3 cups milk
salt and pepper to taste
Directions:
1. In a large pot, over high heat, combine spinach and stock. Bring to a boil and cook, tossing with a fork, until spinach is wilted (about 5 min) (I used a smaller pot, it worked fine)
2. Transfer to a food processor or blender and puree (I prefer to use a hand blender in-pot)
3. In a soup pot over medium heat, melt butter. Add flour, thyme, nutmeg, salt and pepper. Stir until bubbly. Add milk and stir until slightly thickened (Add a little milk at a time for the best results- I forgot to do this and ended up with some clumps of butterflour that never completely dissolved!)
4. Return spinach to pot and mix well. Simmer until heated through. Ladle into bowls.
*Can serve with a dollop of yogurt or sour cream and a dash of nutmeg if desired.
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