CSA Charleston: BEETSFAIL and collards FTW

Yet another gorgeous week’s worth of deliciousness from our Pinckney’s Produce CSA!  Here’s the breakdown:

• 1 bunch kale
• 1 bunch collards
• 1 bunch lettuce
• 5 ears corn
• 5 large carrots
• 4 bell peppers
• 3 turnips
• 3 tomatoes
• 5 radishes
• 2 winter squash
• 3 ears decorative red corn

The first night I used the tomatoes and bell peppers to make a variation on shakshuka (which involved some canned tomatoes, an onion, and garlic which I had on had), which was served with a salad made from the lettuce, some of the radishes, and a carrot, and some Shorter No Knead Bread.  Jon has now taken to calling shakshuka his “favorite.”  We had the leftovers the next day. SO GOOD.

I think the next thing I decided to try was the collards.  I found a really awesome recipe that was seriously SO DELICIOUS I’m already wishing I had more, even though I ate it for two days this week.  Seriously, this dish is that good.  What is this amazing dish, you ask? Linguine with Collard Greens and Bacon.  I didn’t have fresh cherry tomatoes, so I used a can of diced tomatoes, and it was still amazing.  Also, I had spaghetti instead of linguine.  Still, I’ll definitely be trying this one again.

The next morning was a lazy Saturday, but I have to mention that one of the best things about baking my own bread lately has been having homemade bread for French toast.  Jon biked all the way to the store just to get the strawberries, and it was one of the best breakfasts ever.

Sunday I spent a lot of time in the kitchen. I used the method I described previously to make corn chowder out of the corn and the turnips, only I didn’t use any cream, so I could freeze it. This yielded 4 quarts for the freezer plus one bowl for me to take for lunch this week. I also attempted to FINALLY do something with the beets I’ve had for oh, several weeks now. I had the two winter squash, so I figured this recipe for Beet Soup in Roasted Squash Bowls would be yummy and fancy. And well, it was…fancy. But not yummy. In fact it tasted mostly like nothing at all. I confess I didn’t finish mine and made a quesadilla instead.

The biggest success of my Sunday in the kitchen was definitely Smitten Kitchen’s Peanut Butter Brownies.  My friend Jen had twittered about making these brownies, and once I saw the recipe (and the gorgeous photography that accompanied it– I’d post a photo, but the blogger’s FAQ forbids it), I knew I had to try them.  THEY. ARE. AMAZING.  And also: so rich I can only eat a tiny square at a time. Also: I used chunky peanut butter and they still came out delicious.

Monday night I turned the bunch of kale into another frittata, because I still had half a brick of fontina cheese to use up.  Still delicious, even with kale instead of mustard greens!  So, with another box coming today, I have a couple of carrots and a handful of radishes left.  I need to get serious about finding something to do with radishes that isn’t on salads.  Over all though, I’d rate my progress this week not bad! Looking forward to seeing what this week’s box brings.

Oh, and the decorative corn is sitting on our mantel.