Getting Up-to-Date

Due to the end of work, as I mentioned before, I didn't spend a lot of time on my CSA share, neither planning and cooking, nor writing about it, so I do feel a need to share a few successes and failures before I plow ahead.

Week 2, I received a lovely head of "Chinese cabbage", according to Farmer Paul. Stop and Shop had the same sort of cabbage labeled "Napa cabbage". I know I've heard of Napa cabbage, but I'm not sure if I had ever tried it. One of the great things about the CSA is expanding my diet to include all sorts of things. I shredded the whole cabbage into a slaw, adding peanuts, Chinese noodles and sesame seeds and I tossed it with a dressing of soy sauce, sesame oil, and honey. It went over extremely well at Daniel's family birthday celebration. After my grandmother, parents, aunt and uncle went at it, I had an empty bowl to put away. Daniel and Zachary didn't want to try it; they were eating store-bought broccoli. Conrad enjoyed the slaw, though.

Another huge success was grilled baby bok choy. Farmer Paul stated that it was one of those serendipitous successes, as the shareholders love baby bok choy, and the farm was good at growing it. Count me among the bok choy lovers! I had some trepidation: there was a ton of it in the box. But I sliced each one in half (they ranged in size from 5 to 8 inches long, and 1-3 inches in diameter). After brushing each with ponzu sauce and sesame oil, I grilled them on medium just until they had some nice lines on them. They continued to cook and wilt a bit on the serving plate. I sprinkled a few sesame seeds on them just before serving. Daniel said they were too tangy, but the rest thought they were great! So for Daniel, I'll skip Ponzu, I guess.