FOOD!

If you’ve been following, you should notice one big difference in this week’s goodies!

Yes, the first batch of pasture raised chickens became available today, and we were able to snag one before they ran out. (This is not part of the CSA, but at an additional cost.)  We put that right in the freezer and hopefully once our summer weekend schedule calms down, we’ll roast it for a cozy Sunday supper.  What else did we bring home this week?  More beets, chard, curly kale, radishes, baby bok choy, eggs, and a new addition - summer squash.  The squash are just starting to be ready, so the ones we got were teeny tiny and they are hidden in the bottom of the basket.  I was promised by Sarah’s brother that soon they would be bigger and so plentiful that I will be wishing I didn’t have so many. 

Tonight we had a plan featuring the beets and chard.  This was a recipe that Julie found a link to on Serious Eats, a food blog she frequents.  Here is a direct link to the “French Peasant Beets”.  I love the note from the original cook: 

Between our CSA and garden, we found ourselves up to our eyeballs in beets a few summers ago. I concocted this dish as an homage to a simple French peasant dinner. When I explained the concept to my husband, he riduculed me, “What peasants eat boucheron and drink Muscadet with their beets?” “Um, French ones?” - Amy_N-B

We pretty much followed the recipe, except we didn’t have any golden beets.  The chard this week was much larger than last week, which was good because we were afraid we would be short on greens.  Here is one leaf next to my knife just to show you how big!

I chopped the greens, Jules chopped the beets:

I think I’ve already said this, but what isn’t delicious when cooked in shallots and butter??

This dish was very simple, all in one pan, and came together so fast.

With the addition of the bucheron and a nice, crusty, warm slice of bread, dinner is served.

Ingredients: Beets, Beet Greens, Chard Greens, Shallots, Butter, White Wine, Bucheron Cheese, Bread.

Ingredients from Uncle Bill’s Farm: Beets, Beet Greens, Chard Greens!

We took off for the weekend and so we took the weekend off. The rest of the bounty was patiently waiting in the fridge for tonight’s dinner. It was a quick entree salad. Check out the beets in this picture taken by Uncle Bill’s Farm:

Julie’s mission - roasting. They turned out delicious and were the highlight of the dish for me. Here they are fresh from the oven:

Once I was home from work we grilled up some spice-rubbed chicken and went to work assembling our salads. Here is Julie’s:

Here is mine:

Slightly different artistic visions, same tasty ingredients.

Ingredients: Spring Mix, Roasted Beets, Goat Cheese, Pecans, Spice-Rubbed Grilled Chicken (salt/pepper, paprika, cayenne, parsley)

Ingredients from Uncle Bill’s Farm: Spring Mix and Roasted Beets!

Dressing: Balsamic Vinegar, EVOO, Dijon mustard, honey, salt/pepper