Shannon Phillips

Well, you can probably guess what was in our veggie box this week. Collard greens, kale, chard (but gold chard! that’s a nice change of pace!), leeks, bok choy, broccoflower, radicchio, carrots, oranges, potatoes. Yep, local and seasonal eating means sacrificing some variety in our foodstuffs. But unlike our forefathers, I have the privilege of supplementing with things from the grocery store!

I cooked the radicchio last night in that fettucine recipe: Sam liked it better than I did. He’s very enthusiastic about pasta in all forms. Oh, and I should say, the North African Bean and Squash Stew came out really well. I was able to find what I think is muhammas (“giant pearl” or “Israeli”) couscous at the grocery store, so I used that instead of the vermicelli, and I substituted leeks for the onion. Also I left out the cayenne pepper because Robin and I are spice wimps. But I love cilantro and it really adds a nice bright flavor to the stew. Here’s a picture:

Coinkydinkally, the recipes tucked into the box this week included one that called for couscous (Orange Kale Couscous), so I made that for lunch and I’m eating it RIGHT NOW AS I TYPE. I was more excited that the recipe included a link to a blog, csadelivery.blogspot.com, where Katie DeGraff details what she does with her veggie box. I can’t really explain why I’m so fascinated by what other people are eating, but I am. Maybe it’s because I’m an ethnobotanist’s daughter.

On our vegetables, this week, I’m going to punt. I’m going to use most of them—the broccoflower, the collard greens, the leeks, the carrots—making stocks. It seems kind of wasteful but we’re going down to Reno this weekend to see Pappy and Nonna, so we’re not going to be here for a few days to eat all these veggies, and I don’t want them to go bad. Plus I’m out of home-made stock; I’ve been buying it from the grocery store and I can really taste the difference in my recipes.

Here’s the plan:

Tonight I’ll buy a chicken and roast it with the potatoes. I’ll also buy a couple of steaks and put them in the fridge so that I don’t have to go to the store tomorrow.

Tomorrow I’ll use the chicken bones to make a chicken stock, and the veggies to make a vegetable stock. For dinner I’ll make the steaks (quick, easy) along with creamed chard.

Saturday we’re going to Reno and we won’t be back until Monday. I’m going to assume that we’ll get dinner on the road, although if we’re back in time I’ll make a hot and sour soup with bok choy using the ingredients I’ll have in the fridge. Otherwise I’ll make the soup on Tuesday.