CSA Week 4: Homemade Ranch Dressing and Salad Strategies

This is the final week of our Spring Share for our CSA. Starting next week, we branch out of salads and into a more diverse delivery. I’m proud to say we haven’t been overwhelmed by salad yet and I am a little embarrassed to admit that we actually still wound up buying more salad stuff throughout the week. The bitterness of some of the greens needed more balance and we did actually run out. In addition to planning, I have found that by employing a few strategies, we have no problem getting through all of our CSA greens.

Strategies for Using Fresh Greens

• Wash it right when you get home. I really can’t stress this enough. It takes a little time but if you get it washed, you are so much likelier to use it.
• Read the description of the lettuce. If it’s bitter, combine it with a neutral or sweet lettuce to make it more palpable. You can also use other salad ingredients (dried cranberries, sliced apples, red peppers) to balance out bitter greens.
• Eat a salad at lunch and dinner. Sometimes this takes a stretch of the imagination. For example, last night we got Chinese delivery. Our standard order is steamed chicken and vegetables, sauce on the side. We put a bed of lettuce on our plates, then rice, then chicken/vegetables and then poured the sauce on top. It was awesome.

And now for this week’s share:

 

 

Escarole
White Spear Scallions
Salad Turnips
Spinach
Salad Mix
Saute Mix
Fennel
Radishes
Cherokee Lettuce
Asparagus
Rhubarb

White Spear Scallions: I found a recipe in my 2011 Food and Wine cookbook for a Grilled Tomato-and-Scallion salad. You grill the tomatoes and scallions for about a minute on each side. Drizzle with olive and lime juice. Sprinkle ricotta cheese and serve. Yum! That is on the menu for our Monday BBQ.

Turnips, Radishes, Fennel: So when I asked Manatee about what we should serve at our party on Sunday, his response was burgers, fruit and coleslaw. Eek. Not only does his mother make the best coleslaw ever (and of course without a recipe) but I have developed a deep loathing for cabbages. Probably because last summer, I had a tendency to adopt stray cabbages so I could try making coleslaw. It always resulted in a huge mess and me swearing I will never cook again.
Since Manatee never suggests anything for a menu, I was feeling bad about the whole coleslaw thing and then I found a recipe for radish slaw in The Ultimate Cookbook.
This could be wildly successful and a complete flop because of course I can’t just the follow the recipe as written, I am going to try to also incorporate turnips and fennel. If successful, I will post the recipe afterwards. If a failure, we’ll pretend I never mentioned it at all. Deal?

Rhubarb- Clean Eating, one of our new favorite cooking magazines, included a recipe for rhubarb compote in one of their Spring issues. It includes raw rhubarb, dried apricots and figs, fresh thyme and honey. I am going to serve it with grilled pork tenderloin at the Monday BBQ.

Asparagus-We only got four measly pieces of asparagus. I anticipate a fight in the Badger Girl/ Manatee household.

Escarole, Salad Mix, Saute Mix, Spinach, Cherokee Lettuce: Again, we will be making a huge salad. This is great because we have two big events coming up: a Memorial Day party on Sunday and hosting a BBQ on Monday. We have PLENTY of salad to go around.

Now, even though I have a hard time believing it, not everyone loves my Dijon Vinaigrette (1 cup olive oil, 3/4 cup balsamic vinegar and 1/2 cup Dijon mustard). So, I am going to make a homemade Ranch dressing as well. I am starting with a recipe from Everyday Foods (Thank you Martha).

Homemade Ranch Dressing

1 cup buttermilk

1/2 cup fat free Greek yogurt

1/4 cup light mayo

1 1/2 tsp chopped fresh thyme

1 small garlic clove, minced

pinch of cayenne pepper

1. Mix first three ingredients and then stir in the remaining ingredients.