Hillside Community Garden (CSA)

This page is dedicated to how to eat our summer's produce. You may receive vegetables that you have never seen before and find yourself wondering what you can do with them. The book pictured below is one of several that are intended to help people prepare their farm fresh produce. We can also post your favorite recipes on this page. Please send them to me in an email and I'll post them here.

 This book is a favorite of people who frequent farm markets or who belong to CSAs. You can find it at Amazon.com or possibly at local book stores.

Recipes:

From Elizabeth VanderLei:

Another Kohlrabi recipe.

Bring a large pot of salted water to boil.

Remove leaves and wash Kohlrabi bulb. Chop into 3/4 inch dice.

Peel 4-6 carrots. Chop into 3/4 inch dice.

Add kohlrabi to boiling water. Cook for 7-10 minutes.

Add carrots to boiling kohlrabi. Cook until carrots are tender.

Drain. Mix in pat of butter and fresh-cracked black pepper.

From Renee Morris:

Spicy Shrimp & Kohlrabi

Cut off outer peel of Kohlrabi and crudely dice in strips/chunks. (the thinner, the faster they cook) Saute in four tablespoons of butter with diced onion. Add salt and pepper to taste.

After about 15 minutes, add diced zucchini and squash. (using all those veggies!) Saute for another 5-10 minutes or until soft. Add raw, peeled shrimp to pan (you may add another tbsp of butter). Add one diced clove of garlic and sprinkle with ground cayenne pepper to taste. Salt & pepper. Cook shrimp one minute on each side. Serve over brown rice.

From Shari VandenBerg:

Chicken, Snow Pea and Feta Salad

1 lb chicken breast

2-3 tablespoons soy sauce

2-3 tablespoons olive oil

Freshly ground pepper

Snow peas

2 tablespoons Dijon mustard

2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

1  tablespoon red wine vinegar

¾ cup olive oil

2 tablespoons minced shallots

1 tablespoons minced fresh thyme

3 cups coarsely chopped walnuts (lightly toasted)

Red leaf lettuce

Arugula

6 ounces feta cheese, crumbled

Additional thyme for garnish.

Preparation

Season chicken with pepper. In a skillet, cook chicken with oil and soy sauce. Cool chicken. Reserve drippings. Cut chicken into 1/2-inch-wide strips. Place chicken meat and drippings in a large bowl. Set aside.

Cook peas in large pot of boiling salted water until crisp-tender, 3-5 minutes. Drain. Refresh with cold water. Drain well.

(Can be prepared 1 day ahead. Cover chicken and beans separately and refrigerate.)

Combine mustard and vinegar in medium bowl. Gradually whisk in oil. Add shallots and thyme. (Can be prepared 1 day ahead. Store dressing at room temperature.)

Add beans, dressing and walnuts to chicken and toss to coat. Season with salt and pepper. Place on lettuce. Sprinkle with cheese and additional thyme and serve.

From Joy Ippel:

Arugula Pesto Recipe

Ingredients

2 cups of packed arugula leaves

1/2 cup of walnuts

1/2 cup fresh Parmesan cheese

1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

6 garlic cloves, unpeeled

1/2 garlic clove peeled and minced

Method

1. Brown 6 garlic cloves with their peels on in a skillet over medium high

heat until the garlic is lightly browned in places, about 10 minutes.

Remove the garlic from the pan, cool, and remove the skins.

2. Toast the nuts in a pan over medium heat until lightly

brown, or heat in a microwave on high heat for a minute or two until

you get that roasted flavor. In our microwave it takes 2 minutes.

3a. Food processor method (the fast way): Combine the

arugula, walnuts, roasted and raw garlic into a food processor. Pulse

while drizzling the olive oil into the processor. Remove the mixture

from the processor and put it into a bowl. Stir in the Parmesan cheese.

3b. Mortar and pestle method (photo pictures pesto

produced this way): Combine the nuts and garlic in a mortar. With the

pestle, grind until smooth. Add the cheese and olive oil, grind again

until smooth. Finely chop the arugula and add it to the mortar. Grind

up with the other ingredients until smooth.

Because the pesto is so dependent on the individual ingredients, and

the strength of the ingredients depends on the season or variety, test

it and add more of the ingredients to taste.

4. Mix with freshly prepared pasta of your choice. You may

need to add a little bit of water or more olive oil to mix the pesto

more evenly with the pasta.

Makes enough pesto sauce for an ample serving of pasta for four people.

From Shari VandenBerg:

Here is a recipe that uses up all those beautiful radishes (tops and all). I made it last night, and it was so good! I threw in some pea pods too.

The cookbook From Asparagus to Zucchini has a terrific recipe for
daikon radishes called "Hmong-Style Daikon and Beef." I have
substituted red radishes (greens and all) for the daikon and it's so
good, I now look forward to receiving radishes! For those of you who
don't have the cookbook, here's my adaptation of the recipe:

Hmong-Style Radishes and Beef

oil
1 C. chopped onion (substitute scallions here, if you want, but don't
add them until after the beef is cooked)
1 lb. ground beef (We use local grass-fed beef.)
one bunch radishes and greens, chopped
3 T. chopped cilantro, basil, or mint (or a combination)
soy sauce
pepper (We use Japanese pepper.)
Cooked rice, to serve

Heat a wok or Dutch oven. Add oil and swirl the pan to coat its
surface. Add onions and stir-fry for 2 minutes. Add beef and stir-fry
until most of the pink disappears, another 2-3 minutes. Add 1/2 C.
water. When it comes to a boil, stir in the radishes (not the greens
yet). Simmer until radishes are tender, 3-5 minutes. Stir in radish
greens and herbs. Season to taste with soy sauce and pepper. Serve with
rice.