Happy Fourth!
We will still be doing our normal Friday pickup at tinyshop this week. I’m stealing this from Tracey of Three Sisters Garden but “try not to think too much about what we’ll be doing for the Fourth.” Although, Lisa has the day off and has offered to join Azziza and I in veggie prep. The extra help will definitely be appreciated and also allow us to also knock-out a side project (hint: its B&B squash). The nature of CSAs with veggies being different each week is that the work it takes to prep shares can shift considerably. There’s probably always more we could do to make the shares as easy for you to use as possible, but we only have so much time and lots of veggies to get through. Yet we persist. For most things, it’s a matter of functionality. The broccoli stems for example this week are delicious, but need the peeling first to be nice for cooking. For some things, there are quicker ways to prep, but sometimes we bend over backwards to make it the prettiest version of itself at any single moment of the season. The carrots for example are stunning with a little tuft of green like we did earlier in the season, but now the carrots look best tuftless. It all takes time to do, but the eyes eat first.
Lots of tasty stuff in the shares this week. Apologies that tropea onions and zucchini didn’t make it into the photo. We had a delivery mixup but fortunately it was all resolved in time to get everything prepped. We’re also including the first round of CSA Club stock in the shares. This is stock made from the CSA Club scraps throughout the season. The recipe below utilizes it for a collards, but you could swap it in for any stock or water in any recipe.
Hope you all enjoy the share!
-Ben
This Week’s Recipe
Braised Collard Greens
An elongated, purple-red variety of onion, tropea onions are extremely popular in Calabria, Italy. Fresh like this, they are pungent and bright, but still loaded with sugar so they caramelize well.
Beets again in this share. A quark in our system of every other week within Nichols’ every week system is that sometimes one group gets things a couple times while the other doesn’t see it all. Luckily beets will last quite awhile in the fridge, and even longer pickled (plus more snackable). We pickle ours with baking spices for a nice cozy vibe.
A fun mix of a different colored carrots. We think that each of colors taste a little different, so definitely taste each of them! I think my favorite are the ruby orange, or white ones.
The first of lots of green beans that we’ll get throughout the season. Green beans are a crop that are somewhat fragile so the quality difference from those at the end of long supply chain terminating at the grocery are a world apart those grown locally. Quickly sautéed with some onion would be a great way to enjoy these.
Nichols planted these blueberry plants back in 2021, and this is the first time they’ve harvested enough to include in the CSA shares. Blueberries can take up to 7 years to reach their full yield so this is still not their full potential but they sure are tasting great already.
We trim the broccoli up into nice florets for you all. This way they’re ready for snacking, roasting, or whatever ambitions a broccoli might have. Don’t skip out on the stems. We peel away the fibrous parts so they’re tender and perfect sautéed with other veggies (maybe in fried rice?).
Zucchini is the most popular of all summer squashes, but they can pretty much all be used the same. At the beginning of the season when they are small, I like to grill them whole, leaving nice char marks along the outside and a savory juicy interior.
A member of the brassica family, collards have a deep savory flavor in comparison to kale. It’s hardy, and stands up well to long slow braising. Check out our recipe here.
This is a fun variety of cauliflower. The cauliflower version of broccolini; the stalks are long and tender with small florets. Roasting whole keeps them looking pretty, but they work just as well chopped and sautéed.
This is pretty classic lettuce. The texture is velvety with a mild flavor. It’ll work well in any sort of salad, and fits great onto sandwiches.
