Local Box, 04.15.2009

Mmmm… a beautiful selection of bases (beets, zucchini, kohlrabi) and aromatics (oranges, onions, radishes) to choose from as we nourish our tax-sapped selves this week! I’m looking forward to a salad of roasted beets and orange wedges – and perhaps some radish slices, too. What have you got planned for this week’s Local Box?

Potage Saint-Germain

My husband cooks, so I shouldn’t complain. He cooks well, in fact – and the French pea soup he made for dinner last night using Local Box lettuce was no exception.

But I must confess, I was biting my tongue. We are so loaded with vegetables from Greenling right now that I have to pack our crisper drawers to get them to close. The kohlrabi, the green garlic, and the green onions have been booted to regular shelves, since they seem to stay crisp, even out of the drawers. But my dearest went to the grocery store for this recipe. He bought frozen peas, leeks, and fresh mint. Could we really not have substituted green onions for the leeks? Cilantro for the mint?

The soup turned out great, but I think I’ll test my theory. I love the French potage style of soup, so I want to try one with what we already have on hand. Lettuce, cilantro, green onions… what else? Maybe a garnish of microgreens? I’ll let you know how it turns out.

Don’t get me wrong, though. I’m *definitely* not complaining.

What have you eaten from your Local Box so far this week?

Local Box, 04.01.2009

The usual suspects arrived in today’s Local Box. More strawberries we’ll use for fresh eating, lovely greens for any number of dishes, and some lovely purple kohlrabi I’m eager to experiment with further.

How do you plan to eat out of your Local Box this week?

Local Box Lookout, week of 03.30.2009

Here’s the forecast for next week’s Local Box:

• green lettuce
• green garlic
• collard greens
• purple kohlrabi
• strawberries
• spinach
• Swiss chard
• spring leeks
• microgreens
• cilantro

Remember, you can still order next week’s Local Box through today (and possibly later, depending on your zip code). Enter your zip code at www.greenling.com to get started!

Local Box, 03.04.2009

Is cilantro the new okra? I’m not sure it’s reached Key lime or Meyer lemon frequency yet, but we sure have seen a lot of it lately! On a tip from a reader, I’m thinking of turning this new bunch into pesto this week. I’m sure to eat salads of red lettuce and spinach this week, too, and maybe some of those luscious long radishes with butter and salt. What to do with such petite, red kohlrabi, though? Some research is required on that front. How about you? How will you eat out of the Local Box this week?

Local Box Lookout, week of 03.02.2009

Here’s the lookout for Local Boxes next week:

• spinach
• lettuce
• cilantro
• green shallots
• kale
• turnips
• green cauliflower
• oranges
• kohlrabi
• radishes
• Swiss chard
• avocado

Remember, you can still order this week’s Local Box through Saturday and later, depending on your zip code. Click here to check it out!

Beets & Kohlrabi for Dinner

For a Friday-worthy feast after a crazy week, last night we raided the fridge and came out with some Local Box vegges ripe for cooking. We selected beets to make this risotto and kohlrabi to make a Greek dish we found in the fabulous (but unfortunately out-of-print) cookbook, Greene on Greens, by Bert Greene. Here’s our spin on the recipe:

Kohlrabi in Avgolemono Sauce

4 medium kohlrabi (about 2 lbs), with leaves

2 cups vegetable broth

1 T butter

1 T flour

2 eggs

juice of 2 lemons

salt and pepper

• Trim and peel the kohlrabi bulbs, reserving about 1 cup of leaves. Cut each bulb into 1/4″-thick slices. Place slices in a saucepan, add broth, and heat to boiling. Then cover and simmer over low heat for 20 minutes. Drain, reserving 1 cup cooking liquid.
• Trim any tough stems from leaves. Cook leaves in boiling salted water until very tender, about 10 minutes. Drain and press out water. Chop leaves.
• Melt butter, then stir in flour and cook, stirring constantly, 2 minutes. Whisk in reserved cooking liquid and cook 2 more minutes.
• Beat eggs in a small bowl, then slowly beat a ladle of sauce into them. Beat this mixture back into the sauce. Add lemon juice. Cook, stirring constantly, over low heat until thickened, about 10 minutes. Do not allow to boil. Add the leaves, season, and spoon sauce over kohlrabi slices.

We ate leftover kohlrabi cold for lunch today, and we’re looking forward to risotto cakes for dinner.

Local Box Lookout, week of 02.23.2009

Here’s what the folks at Greenling have planned for this week’s Local Box. Remember, you can still order this week’s Local Box through Saturday and later, depending on your zip code. Click here to check it out!

• spinach
• lettuce
• radishes
• green onion
• kale and collard bundles
• sweet potatoes
• carrots
• grapefruit
• kohlrabi
• mustard greens

Local Box, 02.18.2009

There’s lots to love in this week’s Local Box, with more kohlrabi and broccoli, plus ample bok choy and a few oranges to ward off those nasty colds everyone seems to be getting lately. (Note that arugula and beets are also very high in cold-fighting antioxidants!)

A word to the wise: The big bag of salad mix needs a VERY good washing. Whether it’s the dry weather that made lots of dust or the recent rain that splashed everything with mud, those greens are super dirty. My favorite method, adapted from one the head chef taught me in a kitchen I worked in many moons ago, is to pull out my biggest pot or mixing bowl, fill it with cold water, and dump the greens in, swishing occasionally but letting the dirt settle to the bottom. You may even want to repeat this with this batch. Then spin dry and store with something absorbent (like a paper towel or tea towel) until using.

And a question: Do you ever juice your Local Box produce? I recently enjoyed a juice blend made with beets from Daily Juice in Austin.  That made me wonder how I’d go about juicing my own.

Local Box, 02.11.2009

This week’s Local Box brings a newcomer to my kitchen: I’ve never cooked with kohlrabi before! (It’s between the brussels sprouts and the green shallots in the picture, if you’re a kohlrabi newbie like me.) So I’ll need to do a bit of research. (I’ll let you know what I find!) In the meantime, do you have any suggestions about how to cook kohlrabi?

Among the many great greens, here, there’s yet another bunch of rosemary. That’ll be a challenge for me this week, as I know have three bunches of it in my refrigerator! We’ve been using it, alright, but not quickly enough to keep pace. I may bake some rosemary bread or stew some white beans with garlic and rosemary this week to make headway. It’s a good thing it keeps well!

Speaking of keeping: If you can only do one thing on the day you get your Local Box this week, free those mixed lettuces from their plastic bag. Leaves can decay if they’re pressed up against plastic. I went ahead and rinsed and spun mine, then left them in the spinner in the ‘fridge. It’s a great way to keep them aerated, yet humid for maximum freshness.