Tuesday, September 11, 2012

CSA cooking

A little over a week ago, I was able to pick up a friend's awesome CSA share. It was quite the haul and I knew I would have so much fun making delicious meals out of the veggies - perfect for dinners and lunchs the first week of school!
So out of all these amazing veggies, I made...
 A delicious heirloom tomato, yellow pepper, chummus wrap. So simple yet so so so good.
 This might have been the most exciting thing to have whipped up! Okra was one of veggies and it is one I have always loved at Indian restaurants, but never gotten around to buying. Finally, an in! It was actually really easy to make and tasted great, I found a recipe online and tweaked it based on the spices I had on hand:

1.5 lb okra - chopped
2 onions - roughly diced
oil for sautéing
cumin, gharam masala, tumeric, salt, pepper

Chop the okra and the onion. Saute the onion under soft and ad the okra, saute for a few minutes before turning down the flame and covering the pan. Let it all cook for about a half hour, stirring regularly. I added the spices half way through, and let it all meld together!
I also got collard greens and I love sautéing those up in the summer. It made a perfect accompaniment for some seared tilapia. It also gave me some nice leftovers for my first day of school lunch!

Wash and roughly chop the collards. Saute in olive oil until they wilt. I then throw in some veggie stock to help really cook the greens and add some good flavor. When things are really getting cooked I threw in some diced heirloom tomatoes and chopped garlic plus salt and pepper and cooked it all until the stock cooked off and the greens were no longer super crunchy.

For the fish, just a nice tilapia filet seared in some olive oil, simple!
This was a throw a bunch of food in a pan and create something I might never be able to recreate meal!

I had two types of eggplant and some peppers and tomatoes that needed to be used up, plus a little more lettuce. So...

I chopped up the eggplants and started them sautéing in a pan. When it began to brown and soften, I threw in a chopped pepper and let that get soft. Then as it all began to get cooked, I threw in two chopped tomatoes, along with some salt, pepper, garlic, and basil.  I threw in a hit of stock to help the eggplant really cook. It kinda was like a simple ratatouille...

I had intended to make a lentil salad, but alas not enough of those (way to plan on my part), so I made a yellow lentil side - basically boiled yellow lentils in stock with garlic, salt, and pepper!

So, that is the main meals that came out of the bounty of veggies! Now I am seriously contemplating doing this CSA next summer...

Feel free to pin these recipes! I am going to post them on my boards, so either repin or pin from here!

13 thoughts on the matter:

Kmcblackburn said... {Reply}

What a bounty you have! Gorgeous to look at AND eat.

Buckeroomama said... {Reply}

I love Indian food... but okra, not so much.

I love how colorful your final dish turned out!

Susan said... {Reply}

Tamar!

These were some amazing pictures and the food looked delightful!!

Prem said... {Reply}

i love the full orange/red colors of the tomatoes and peppers... esp the lighting. :D

Pieni Lintu said... {Reply}

Looks very delicious

Kim Cunningham said... {Reply}

Looks like you did that haul justice! Very creative takes for using the veg!

Mary said... {Reply}

Wow what delicious bunch of vegetables.

renae said... {Reply}

you are a good cook. i am a bad cook. really really bad! i admit it. i have never been good at it. it frustrates me, makes me get a rash and i start screaming. hahaha, not really, but ya, I'm BAD.

Gina Kleinworth said... {Reply}

You certainly have an abundance of yummies there!!!

Anonymous said... {Reply}

Delicious and lovely colors =)

4 Lettre Words said... {Reply}

Love to "throw a bunch of food in a pan and create something" around here! Yum!

Mary Gene Atwood said... {Reply}

Such gorgeous colors! I am in love with the heirlooms...I will go into mourning when the hot house tomatoes are all we can get.

Susan said... {Reply}

Fun! Those veggies look amazing! Congrats on finding such creative ways to use them.