A New CSA Season Begins!

The 2012 CSA Season started today. As usual, the beginning of the season in the northeast brings an abundance of greens and a CSA staple - garlic scapes. If you are a new CSA member, you probably don't know what to do with most of what you received. And you might be incredibly overwhelmed/disgusted by how dirty and bug-filled the greens are when they arrive. The easiest way to wash them is to let them sit in a bowl of water for a while and then depending on how dirty they were, rinse again. You are best off getting a salad spinner because the dryer the lettuce is when it is stored, the longer it lasts. Enough on preparations... now what to do with all the greens. Over the years I've learned that there are certain greens that are too bitter for me to eat raw and others that make the most delicious salads. Today, my share basket included Garlic Scapes, Cherriette Radishes, Red Leaf lettuce, Green Leaf Lettuce, Chinese Cabbage, Bok Choy, Mizuna, Suehlihung Mustard greens & Rhubarb. So - I prepared some lunch salads for the rest of the week with the red leaf lettuce, chinese cabbage and radishes, which I complemented with some store-bought carrots, cucumbers, tomatoes, almonds and dried cranberries. While the mizuna is a green that can be added to leafy lettuces for a salad, I decided to mix it together with the mustard greens and sauté with onions, garlic and some grape tomatoes. To cut the bitterness of the greens, once they were almost all done sauté-ing, I added about 1 tbsp of apple cider vinegar (you could prob also use red wine vinegar if you have that on hand). What a delicious side to accompany any meal!