CSA Farm Share 2010: Week 2

[surrealestate]

SO MANY VEGGIES! Last week's kimchi turned out great, and very spicy. I love eating it, but it sets my mouth on fire. Luckily, it's not a lingering heat, so if I pause between bites, I'm okay. This week there must be more kimchi because the farms delivered up all the ingredients as if giving an order.

• 2 heads Escarole
• 2 heads Romaine Lettuce
• 2 heads Red Leaf Lettuce
• 2 bunches Scallions
• 2 bunches Beets (with greens)
• 2 bunches Radishes (with greens?)
• 2 bunches Red Chard
• 2 bunches Kale
• 2 bunches Baby (aww) Carrots (also with greens but having tried, I've given up on eating 'em)
• 2 heads Cabbage
  ==
• 1 bunch Scallions
• 1/3 lb Spinach
• 2 heads Lettuce (green)
• 1 bunch Beets (with greens)
• 1 bunch Oregano
• 1/4 lb Garlic Scapes
• 1 bunch Kale (dinosaur)
• 2 Kohlrabi (purple, with greens (purples?))
• 2 Carrots

My current favorite thing to do with kale (and I'm sure it would work with other greens as well), is to eat it raw and marinated. I wouldn't have believed raw kale could be that good until I had a similar dish at a friend's house, so if you're doubting, I suggest trying it. Here's my basic technique:

Raw Marinated Kale

1. Shred or chop the kale into a bowl.
2. Add 1/2-1 tsp sea salt (depending on how much kale there is and how much salt you like).
3. I massage the salt into the kale to speed things up, but you can skip this.
4. Whisk acid (3T) with olive oil (1T) along with a clove or two of fresh minced garlic and pour over kale. The acid can be any nice vinegar (I've been mostly using balsamic, but white balsamic worked, red wine, etc) or lemon juice, etc.
5. Toss it all together and let it sit a few hours or overnight, or however long you can stand to wait. I pack it into a quart-sized take-out container for ease of fridging.
6. Eat! Nomnom so good! Works well with lots of other stuff, too, so have fun.

Comments

I was just wondering what to do with our kale from the CSA

[anotherjen.livejournal.com]

Does one refrigerate the kale while it's marinating?

Re: I was just wondering what to do with our kale from the CSA

[surrealestate.livejournal.com]

I don't think it's necessary if it's just a few hours, but since I've been generally leaving it overnight, I have been.

[dani-namaste.livejournal.com]

Marinated kale is, indeed, lovely. I was surprised the first time I tried it too, but now I can't wait for it. Carrot greens I've only found to be good when in the stock bag (which stays in the freezer until I'm ready to make a bunch of stock), but I have a theory that they might be really yummy in a chimmichurri with parsley, orange vinegar and almonds.

[chhotii.livejournal.com]

I just bought a buttload of kale at Whole Paycheck. How long will the marinated kale last in the fridge after you make it?

[surrealestate.livejournal.com]

Due to various circumstances, the stuff I'm eating Right This Second was made well over a week ago. It'll keep for a while because of the acid.

[chhotii.livejournal.com]

Heh. Turned out to be a moot question, because we had No Problem finishing it off in just over 48 hours. As you said, NOMNOMNOM!

[surrealestate.livejournal.com]

Yep, that's what generally happens. :)

The only reason that batch of mine lasted so long was because I took it Firefly along with way too much other food, but I saved it for last because I was confident it would keep (which it did), whereas some of the other items would not.

Now I need to make more...