Real Life CSA: week 6

In this week's share, we have the appearance of one of my favorite obscure vegetables, plus the return of one of my favorite items of all time (that I almost ate in the car on the way home).

We always eat up potatoes as a side dish at some point in the week. Last week, I roasted them with oregano, thyme, paprika, garlic powder and salt and they were quite delicious. The romaine lettuce will go in salads, and most likely so will the green onions. It's hard to tell since I didn't remove the bags on the items this week, but these green onions are really vibrant and long. I might make some spicy kale chips this week too - it's been awhile since I made them.

I have a slight addiction to this honey puffed corn from Clarion River. It typically doesn't last long in the house, so it's likely gone by the time you're reading this. 

Fiddleheads are fern tips - a delicious treat that you don't find everywhere. I've had them at restaurants a few time, but have never cooked them myself. Another benefit to sourcing produce from a CSA? They tell you when there are particular things you should know about a vegetable - like the fact that fiddleheads need to be fully cooked so as to avoid stomach distress. I recall seeing fiddleheads a few times in the grocery store for sale, and nowhere did they mention this fact in the display. 

We're soaking up the rhubarb while it lasts. Mark took last week's batch and made homemade frozen yogurt with it. Not sure what we'll do this week, but perhaps my dream of a tart will come true.

I also have to mention that after last week's debacle with ruining the ramps, I was able to redeem myself with my second batch. At the suggestion of an Instagram follower (yes, Instagram is good for more than just showing photos of your cats or your plate), I found a recipe for ramp pesto. And it was amazing. (I used this recipe from Food 52.)

First, you clean the ramps. The recipe suggests you can blanch the leaves, but I didn't bother.

I toasted the walnuts on the stove, and combined them in the food processor with the ramps.

Add a good deal of Parmigiano-Reggiano to the mix.

Blend the living crap out of it in the food processor, adding olive oil slowly through the feed tube. And then you get this loveliness, which we spread on top of garlic bread and ate as a side to our vegetarian bolognese pasta dinner.

I usually eat pestos pretty sparingly because I'm not a huge fan of basil - I only like it in moderation. But I think I need to be open to more pestos, because this was fantastic. And I could breathe a sigh of relief because I didn't ruin our last ramps. Hooray!

What are you enjoying from your CSA this week?