"csa" news and stories

• CSA options are proliferating across the country, and Cape Cod is no exception.
• A sure sign of approaching summer: The clam shacks are opening.
• And of course there's plenty of fish for tacos.
• How to take a summer staple like the hot dog to the next level? Two words: mac and cheese.

• Though community-supported agriculture shares in Rhode Island were once as coveted as Red Sox season tickets, as increasing numbers of farms participate, CSA shares are just as desirable, if less coveted.
• The Providence Journal provides a football-friendly list of spirited food and drink to enjoy with the games.
• "Breathtaking" new Japanese steakhouse Ichigo Ichie presents food "presented with the same dramatic flair as the décor."
• The recipes of 93-year-old Clara Cannucciari have survived the Great Depression and stood the test of time, and "Clara's Cookbook" provides cheap, nourishing fare to today's hungry penny-pinchers.

• Talk about dedication: here's a 3 1/2-hour recipe for caramelized onions.
  
• Thirteen tips to make you a killer farmers market shopper, plus Chicago-area market listings and more.
  
• CSAs (that's Community Supported Agriculture) are on the rise, supplying members with fresh summer produce in exchange for an initial winter investment.
• A dietitian offers some advice on how to read those confusing food labels.
• The Fountain Jet, our favorite kitchen appliance, is the best choice for home soda making.
• If you dined like Frank Lloyd Wright, would the food look like his architecture?
• One maker, one vintage, one grape, one region, one price, and four different pinot noirs from Merry Edwards, plus a mix of Edwards and Ravenswood Winery.
• Recipes: Coconut Cardamom Rice Pudding, Baked Eggplant Parmesan

This gorgeous, enormous, bright green cabbage comes to us from blogger Lelo in Nopo. She and her partner recently rejoined a Portland-area CSA called Organics to You, that drops a box of organic produce right on their front porch each week (I wish there were CSA programs in Philly that delivered) and a couple of weeks ago, that cabbage was part of their share. Such amazing color!

Thanks Lelo!

Source

While I would describe myself as an adventurous eater, I also have to admit that my palate has some definite blind spots. Basically, there are a few tastes that I've never experienced, simply because they've never crossed my plate. This year, my wife and I joined a CSA, which means that we are now trying to figure out what to do with a wide variety of exciting and unfamiliar vegetables.

A couple of weeks ago, we got our first napa cabbage. I'm sure that I've eaten napa before, but I've never really prepared it, and I wanted to do something beyond the obvious. After a little searching, my wife and I came up with a recipe that used napa cabbage as a salad base for filet mignons cooked with shiitakes and mizuna, but the idea of spending $40 on ingredients to make a dish in which napa was an afterthought struck us as a little silly. One night, however, I was making bulgoki and looking for a vegetable accompaniment. As I am not a huge fan of kimchi, and we wanted something on the cool side, I decided to mix up a napa salad. After looking over a few Asian slaw recipes and thinking about how I was going to taste-match with the bulgoki, I put this together. It's tasty, light, colorful, and easy to make. Best of all, it makes a great side for bulgoki!

Now if I can only figure out what to do with all the kale that I got from the CSA...

Napa Salad
1 medium-sized head napa cabbage, cleaned and thinly sliced
2 red bell peppers, cored, cleaned, and julienned
2 Bosc pears, peeled, cored, cleaned and julienned
1/4 cup chopped cilantro (optional)
3 tablespoons rice vinegar
Juice of 3 limes
2 tablespoons grated fresh ginger
2 tablespoons sesame oil
1 1/2 tablespoons sugar
salt to taste

Mix vinegar, lime juice, ginger, sesame oil, sugar, and salt together in a cup or bowl. Combine remaining ingredients and toss with vinegar lime dressing. Serve immediately.