Cooking a CSA Share from the Sustainable Agriculture Project at GVSU

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Aug 17

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Last Wednesday, I took home a CSA share from the Sustainable Agriculture Project at GVSU. I have been working as an intern at the SAP for almost three years, so it goes without saying that I am no stranger to cooking with our produce. It was a unique experience, however, to be able to receive an entire CSA share from our farm. As employees we often only get to cook whatever is not sold at market, so it was a real treat to have a taste of what being one of our CSA members is like. Throughout the week, I experimented with some new recipes, and I thoroughly enjoyed the challenge of curating a number of SAP inspired dishes.

This week I made five different recipes with my share, including a kale smoothie, zucchini pancakes, roasted garlic, cucumber salad, and a veggie pasta salad. Unfortunately, extenuating circumstances helped me to choose my first recipe. My fridge was on the fritz and had frozen some of my kale, so I was not eager to eat it raw. This prompted me to look up kale smoothie recipes. I found one with cherries and having had frozen cherries from Rasch Cherry Farm last month, I thought this would be the perfect recipe to try. Next, I found a zucchini pancake recipe from a book called Food Matters and it was delicious. I love this recipe because you can easily substitute a wide range of veggies for the zucchini. I whipped up some spicy avocado sauce on the side and it was an extremely tasty way to enjoy zucchini.

Over the weekend I went to an outdoor potluck. I decided that a cold cucumber salad and veggie pasta salad would suit the evening well considering how warm it was outside. While my friend and I were chopping and preparing the veggies for these recipes we found ourselves ravenous so we roasted up the two bulbs of garlic, spread it on toast, and sprinkled some sea salt on top for a snack. This is an extremely simple and delectable way to enjoy garlic. We followed a recipe for the cucumber salad but could not find a recipe for the pasta salad that suited our ingredients so we just chopped up all the veggies that were left in the share, roasted them, and mixed them together with pasta. Both of these dishes were a hit at the potluck and they provided a quick way to use up the rest of my share.

Overall, cooking this share helped me to be intentional about eating seasonal, healthy dishes and encouraged me to cook every day. Whenever cooking produce that I helped to grow, I feel a deeper connection to my food. Cooking this share was a rewarding experience and helped me to better understand the sense of connectivity that CSA members experience to their food, the SAP, and our community.

Cherry Vanilla Green Smoothie

Ingredients

1 cup kale
2 cups frozen dark sweet cherries
1 medium banana
½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 tablespoon ground flax seed
2 cups unsweetened coconut milk
water for consistency

Preparation

Place all ingredients in a blender and blend. Add water – if needed – for consistency.

Recipe courtesy of Tammy Kresge

Zucchini Pancakes

Ingredients

3 cups of grated zucchini
½ small onion, grated
1 egg, lightly beaten
¼ cup white or whole wheat flour
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Olive or vegetable oil or butter for greasing the pan

Preparation

Heat the oven to 275 degrees. Grate the zucchini by hand or with the grating disk of a food processor. Mix together the zucchini, onion, egg, and ¼ cup of flour. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Add a little more flour if the mixture isn’t holding together. Put a little butter or oil in a large skillet or griddle over medium-high heat. When the butter is melted or the oil is hot, drop in spoonfuls of the batter, using a fork to spread the zucchini into an even layer, then press down a bit. Work in batches to prevent overcrowding. (Transfer finished pancakes to the oven until all are finished.) Cook, turning once, until nicely browned on both sides, about 5 minutes. Serve hot or at room temperature.

Recipe courtesy of Food Matters by Mark Bittman

Roasted Garlic

Ingredients

large heads of garlic
¼ cup olive oil

Preparation

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cut top 1/4 inch off heads of garlic to expose cloves. Place garlic in small baking dish. Add oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper; toss to coat. Turn garlic cut side up. Cover tightly with aluminum foil. Bake until garlic skins are golden brown and cloves are tender, about 55 minutes. Cool. Squeeze garlic cloves from skins.

Recipe courtesy of Epicurious

Cucumber Salad

Ingredients

1 cucumber, diced
2 tomatoes, diced
½ onion, chopped
2 T. red wine vinegar
3 T. olive oil
salt and pepper, to taste

Preparation

Combine all ingredients in a bowl. Dress with vinegar and oil, salt and pepper, to your taste.

Recipe courtesy of Rachael Ray

SAP CSA Veggie Pasta Salad

Ingredients

2 bell peppers, diced
2 serrano peppers, diced
1 bunch small turnips, diced
1 bunch small radishes, diced
1 small onion, diced
2 tomatoes, chopped
2 T. olive oil
1 bunch of swiss chard, sauteed
12 ounces pasta of your choice, cooked, drained, and cooled
3 T. Bragg’s amino acids
½ cup vegetables broth
¼ t. sea salt
½ t. ground black pepper

Preparation

Heat oven to 400 degrees. Toss chopped peppers, turnips, radishes, and onions with 2 T. of olive oil until all pieces are coated. Spread vegetables evenly on a roasting pan and roast for 25 minutes, stirring occasionally. Once the vegetables are roasted, toss them in a large bowl with the cooked pasta, sauteed swiss chard, braggs amino acids, vegetable broth, salt, and pepper. Then add your favorite spices and enjoy!