This week’s box included: Napa cabbage, turnip greens (those mild ones we love), a daikon radish, apples, purple sweet potatoes, potatoes, a few wee peppers, butternut squash, carrots, cornmeal, and a tomato.You can see a photo that can help with identification on our Facebook page or check out our weekly video on Instagram.
Need storage instructions? Visit our fruit & veggie home pages. Click on the pic and a new page opens with storage instructions and a list of recipes curated by Conne over the years.
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Tonight I picked up my last box of Riverview (and friends) produce for 2023. We are gone next week so will miss the last box of the season. I envy those of you who have one more chance to pick up a heavy, heavy box of fall produce and then come up with fun ways to use the contents.
For this week it’s great fun to see our old friend daikon radish make an appearance. We have more than a dozen daikon recipes at grassfedcow.com. But I’m adding a new one for Chicken and Vegetable Donabe (yes, it’s from The New York Times) because it uses both the daikon and Napa cabbage. Double score! And a carrot. Triple score!
I confess there’s still Napa cabbage from weeks past in our basement refrigerator. Instead of trying to cook a whole one at once, I’ve taken to just peeling off leaves as needed for a recipe. So the recipe below will probably only use 4 or 5 leaves. The rest of that cabbage will go back in the refrigerator and be joined by this week’s cousin. But that means we’ll have beautiful cabbage to enjoy through the rest of 2023. No complaints here.
I’m also adding a recipe from purelyplanted.com for Gut-Nourishing Salad with Creamy Peanut Dressing which I know we will need both pre-and post-Thanksgiving’s crazy meals. Use your cabbage, daikon and greens from this week’s box to make that salad.
I have my eye on those pretty purple sweet potatoes. I love sweet potatoes in all forms and the purple ones are so on trend. You can use them in any of our sweet potato recipes but know that they are denser and drier than orange sweet potatoes and my favorite way to enjoy them is just as baked sweet potato.
And there are dozens of recipes for that cornmeal on the website as well. For many of us, cornmeal is where we started with Riverview (along with grits) and it’s fitting to end the 2023 CSA year with a bag of fresh cornmeal for the freezer. (That’s where I store mine to make sure it stays fresh until it’s all used.)
Chicken and Vegetable Donabe
Adapted from The New York Times.
4 cups low-sodium chicken broth
3 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
1 (2-inch) piece ginger, peeled and halved
1 1/2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken thighs (about 6), sliced into 1/8-inch-thick strips
Kosher salt and black pepper
1/2 pound tender mushrooms, stemmed and broken into large clusters
2 cups Napa cabbage, chopped into 2-inch pieces
1 daikon, peeled, halved lengthwise and sliced crosswise 1/4-inch thick
3 scallions, cut into 1-inch lengths
1 large carrot, peeled and thinly sliced
1/4 cup ponzu
1/2 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
In a large Dutch oven, combine broth, garlic and ginger. Season chicken with salt and pepper and add to pot. Bring to a boil over high, skimming the foam and fat that rises to the top and discarding it. Reduce heat to medium-low and cook, occasionally stirring and skimming, until foam no longer appears in the broth, about 5 minutes.
Add mushrooms, cabbage, daikon, scallions and carrot to the pot, arranging them in sections, and season with salt. Cover and simmer over medium to medium-low heat (maintain a good simmer, but do not boil) until chicken is cooked through and vegetables are tender, about 10 minutes. Discard ginger. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
Meanwhile, in a small bowl, combine ponzu and sesame oil and mix well. Divide donabe among four bowls. Drizzle with some of the ponzu sauce and serve warm.
Gut-Nourishing Salad with Creamy Peanut Dressing
From purelyplanted.com
Dressing:
1/4 cup unsweetened peanut butter, almond butter or tahini
2 tablespoons reduced sodium tamari or coconut aminos
2 tablespoons unseasoned rice vinegar
2 tablespoons lime juice
1 tablespoon maple syrup
1 tablespoon gochujang (optional) or other chili paste
2 cloves garlic
2 teaspoons roughly minced ginger
Put all ingredients to a blender and blend until creamy smooth. Set aside.
Salad
4 cups chopped greens, your choice (middle stems removed, leaves chopped)
2 teaspoons extra virgin cold-pressed olive oil
1 tablespoon lemon juice
3/4 cup shredded carrots
3/4 cup shredded cabbage
1/3 cup pickled red onions (see recipe)
1/2 cup thinly sliced radish
2 tablespoons hemp seeds
Salt and pepper to taste
Optional (to make it extra nourishing):
1 cup cooked buckwheat, quinoa, or other whole grain of choice
1 cup plant-based protein, like cooked chickpeas, edamame, or tofu
Make the pickled red onions (see recipe below) and set aside.
Add the greens to a large salad bowl. Drizzle the olive oil and lemon juice over top. With clean hands, massage until tender, about 30 seconds. Add the carrots, cabbage, onions, radish and hemp seeds to the greens and toss to combine.
Drizzle the desired amount of dressing over top. (I recommend starting with half, tossing, then taste to see if you’d like more.)
Taste for salt and pepper.
Pickled Red Onion, Radishes, Cabbage or Beets
1 medium red onion, thinly sliced
1/2 cup red wine vinegar
1/2 cup water
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano (optional)
1/4 teaspoon salt
Put the onion in a bowl or storage container. Add red wine vinegar, water, optional oregano and salt.
With your hands, massage the onion and vinegar mixture for about 30-60 seconds. Store the onion in a sealed container or mason jar for up to one month Use them on top of avocado toast, sandwiches, stir fries and pretty much anything but your morning oatmeal!
P.S. You can pickle other purple and red veggies this way as well, like sliced radish, cabbage, and beets.