This week’s box included: Napa cabbage, sweet potato, potatoes, grits, cilantro, carrots, purple-top turnips, daikon radish, butternut squash, and a head of collard greens
First, as you probably expect … my thanks to the farmers who make it possible for us to enjoy a box of beautiful organic vegetables every week. It’s so sad when we come to the end of another CSA year. This one will go down in my book as the year of the potato … with both red-skinned and sweet potatoes in the box tonight. So thanks to Charlotte and Wes and all the farmers who provide the fruit (last week’s apples!) and the vegetables we enjoy throughout the year.
What a gift to have greens in this last box – mustard greens which have really been a bright spot for us this year (I hear others got Napa cabbage), and collards – the first and last of the season. I also heard some of the collards had been a little frost bitten – which wasn’t the case with ours – but if yours had some damage, the advice is to use them quickly or freeze them for use later. I have never tried freezing collards, but if you go that route, trim them off their stems and lay them out so they can freeze individually, then wrap up and thaw them out, maybe for the new year?
Purple top turnips were my dad’s favorites and I think of them as an old-fashioned treat. These days, it’s usually hakurei turnips that we see at the farmers markets. This simple recipe for Sweet Potatoes, Sweet Turnips and Greens we’ve posted on grassfedcow.com was written for those hakureis, but I will be making it with diced purple-top turnips and some of those mustard greens. I’ll serve it for Thanksgiving for those who want a treatment for sweet potatoes that’s not so sweet.
And for those carrots? Well, my husband unpacked the box for me today and when he saw the carrots, he found a box of golden raisins from the pantry and set them next to the bag. I think that’s a hint he wants good old-fashioned carrot-raisin salad on the pre-Thanksgiving table.
The butternut squash in today’s box was the biggest we’ve ever received. I had been enjoying all those little ones that have shown up all season, but this big one demands serious consideration. Last week Suzanne made Kaddu, a recipe for sweet and sour butternut squash) from the New York Times. No word on if she had fenugreek seeds in her pantry, but I think this would be excellent even without it. A delicious, sturdy dish for a delicious, sturdy vegetable. And if you got cilantro in your box, you’re set to make this recipe.
I’ll hold onto ours for a few weeks …. while I decide what to do with the last butternut of 2021. If you’re feasting for Thanksgiving, hope it’s a beautiful day for you.