Sunday, November 02, 2008

Irv and Shelly's Fresh Picks

Last Wednesday I received my first box of produce from Irv and Shelly's Fresh Picks. They deliver fresh, locally-grown organic produce right to your door. And what a bounty- even without the green onions and sweet potatoes they erroneously left out of my order. A gigantic, beautiful head of cauliflower, 2 fuji apples, a bunch of beets, a big head of tat soi greens, garlic chives, a pie pumpkin, a red cabbage and a gigantic portabello mushroom.

I love the cooking challenges presented by the randomness of the week's picks. Here's what's happened to the bounty so far:
I roasted the beets straightaway and had a yummy beet and goat cheese salad with olive oil and balsamic vinegar.
I sauteed the beet greens in a little olive oil and water, but we haven't eaten them yet.
I made a few awesome salads out of the tat soi greens- which I'd never had before. Kind of hearty, peppery in flavor. Went nicely with avocado, beets, cherry tomatoes and goat cheese in a vinagrette. Still have a lot of these green guys to eat though.. Perhaps I'll try cooking with them..
Made the Moroccan Pumpkin and Lentils recipe with the pie pumpkin.
Snipped some of the garlic chives over poached cod, but still have a lot of them left...
Ate the apples.

That leaves the cauliflower (perhaps an Indian curry with it and some peas later in the week); the cabbage (a slaw? another soup? I don't know); and the giant mushroom (risotto!) left to deal with. Also a friend gave me 4 giant stalks of brussels sprouts from his garden, so I've got to roast those up today! He suggested braising and freezing the extras.
How I love the fall harvest!

*Update: Cauliflower became creamy curried cauliflower soup; Giant mushroom was sauteed with garlic, olive oil, basil, sliced zucchini and some cherry tomatoes for a pasta topping (but I ate half of it right out of the pan for lunch, sans pasta!); garlic chives went a little limp in the veggie drawer before they got all used up; red cabbage may become a Japanese sesame type of slaw...

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