Tuesday 17 June 2008

CSA Bounty!: Week 1

Oh. My. Goodness.

Today we received our first share from our CSA farmers and it was absolutely delicious. Let me say again: absolutely delicious.

It's still early in the season here, and our Spring has been cool, so this first share wasn't big, but boy did it satisfy. We received two crisp heads of lettuce - one romaine and one butter, I think, and then a bag stuffed full of what looked like rainbow chard, some other kind of chard, and some kale.

I wanted to taste this stuff in a fairly unadulterated fashion, so I made a salad with the lettuce, and I sauteed the greens with some butter, sesame oil, salt, pepper and nutmeg.

To the salad I added my favorite salad fixins, which are some pecans and raisins, apple chunks, cucumber, carrot bits, some feta cheese and drizzled this all over with some olive oil and balsamic vinegar. The salad was so, so good. The sauteed greens were yet a step above that - the flavor, the flavor, it just didn't stop. The buttery nutmeg-y kale and chard were like no other greens I've ever had. I can see now how mindful eating becomes easy. When the food is this good, you just can't pay attention to anything else!

And then there was the preparation, which made me smile the whole time, because while I was cutting and washing the lettuce I remembered helping to plant the lettuce (not these exact ones - those are still too small to harvest), and I remembered gently fluffing up the leaves to get the dirt out of the middle of the lettuce. The dirt I was now washing down the drain, I knew exactly where that dirt came from and whose hands had planted this glorious food.

Things just won't ever be the same. That sounds dramatic, and I suppose it is. But my mouth and my mind have tasted goodness, and now nothing is the same.

8 comments:

hmd said...

Your salad looks awesome! So what time is dinner? Enjoy!

Theresa said...

Hey, Heather, come on over!

Simply Authentic said...

It looks incredible! I'm so glad you were able to get a CSA share! I wanted to say thank you for the great comment you left for me also! I appreciated it! Have a good week ahead....:-)

Kale for Sale said...

Nothing is the same at our house after starting to eat local last year. Now that we know the difference it makes eating on the grid not as much fun as it once was. Thanks for the kale tip with nutmeg and butter. I can't wait to try it.

Peak Oil Hausfrau said...

Hey, Theresa, what zone are you in? I will have to look into local CSA's (OKC, Oklahoma) - I currently buy from a Co-op (pickup is today), but maybe a CSA would be better.

PS Thanks for visiting my blog!

Theresa said...

I just had the last of the greens, prepared the same way as the last time, and they were just as good. I had to close my eyes at times just because of the reverie of deliciousness.

Simply A - you're welcome! I really enjoy your blog - it cleanses my spiritual palate :)

I can see how that would happen, Kale - the offerings at the grocery store just aren't very tempting anymore. On the other hand, I went out into the pouring rain yesterday after tai chi to get me some farmer's market cucumbers - I just had to have them!

Hausfrau - depending on which source/map I look at, I'm in Zone 2 or Zone 3. Some even say 2a. Our last frost date is usually somewhere around May 25th, and our first killing frost date can be anywhere from late September to early November, depending on if we get the so-called 'Indian Summer.' I'm glad to have found your blog - you had all sorts of great herb info and I'm in a quandary as to what herbs I should try and plant!

G. Harrison said...

the joy of gardening, food preparation and eating - you are on to something. plus, you take a mean picture, mouth watering pics!

cheers. gord h.

Sam said...

I saute the greens the way you do but never thought to add nutmeg. I should try that next time. And you're right about the taste, I've turned into a food addict since I began eating local last year. Who wants veggies trucked in from S. America when stuff grown so close tastes soo good.