CSA

One of the surprising aspects of our farm share arrangement is the volume of turnips that we have received. I don’t remember if we knew ahead of time that turnips were a major crop, but if we did learn that, I didn’t really understand what that would mean. What it’s meant is that we have received dozens of (smallish) turnips, of several varieties, over the course of the past few months. I have always liked turnips, so this hasn’t been a problem in terms of taste, especially since the particular turnips we’ve received are tender, sweet, and fresh out of the ground when they’re delivered to us.

The challenge is more one of volume. I could, and probably will, fall back on simply roasting turnips as a vegetable dish, but I prefer to find recipes that include turnips as a main ingredient. I’ve found three this fall that I’ve liked—turnips and greens soup, a Marrakesh lamb stew from Simply In Season (that I make with ground turkey), and a chicken soup. Over the course of the fall, I’ve used about a crisper drawer’s worth of turnips in this manner, a fact of which I’m rather proud.

That being said, I currently have a crisper drawer, plus an additional gallon bag, full of turnips. As a result, I find myself trolling the internets looking for turnip recipes. I could try some of Mr. Neep’s suggestions, many of which look quite good, or look through the lists on any number of other cooking sites. A quick read suggests that I can (1) make them into a soup, (2) cook them with butter, (3) mash them with butter, and/or (4) eat them at the side of a big hunk of mammal or mixed in with cheese. Option four doesn’t meet our stringent household dietary codes, but I am pretty sure I can work with the other three categories.

Mmm, turnips. Conveniently, it’s lunchtime.

This fall we are participating in a farm share for the first time, with Even Star Organic Farm, which uses a modified CSA model (and was featured in a Washington Post article this past November). With our winter subscription, we get a box of food each week from November through May (with six weeks off that are allocated throughout that time period, in relation to holidays or low harvest). Unlike the traditional CSA model, the subscription requires less involvement on our part; we don’t need to volunteer, and we don’t bear the risk of poor harvest to the same degree (i.e. we are guaranteed roughly the same volume of food each week).

I have to admit that we’ve been challenged to prepare and eat all of the food we’ve gotten. This is partly an issue of volume—the share is geared more toward a family of four than two—and partly an issue of organization. Many of the greens are things we haven’t eaten regularly before, and I’m also not used to having fresh herbs in such quantity. At several points through the fall, a particular bag of greens went bad by the time I figured out what to do with it. I’ve heard from other people with farm subscriptions that this is typical of the first year, especially with the winter share that includes less common greens and a huge number of turnips. The turnips have been lovely, though: sweet, tender, and flavorful. The challenge has truly been the mustard greens; they don’t cook up as much to my tastes as the varieties of kale, and there’s only so many you can pile onto a sandwich.

Which is what we’re learning we need to do in order to use all the greens: eat them in salads and sandwiches every day for lunch, and cook them up into hot meals every night for dinner. Not, for example, leave them in the fridge until Sunday (we pick them up on Thursday) and only then start figuring out what we have and what do do with them. So far this week, we’ve done ok. Last night, I made Queer Vegan Beans & Greens (named thusly because the recipe came to me via a string of queer vegans): greens sautéed in olive oil with minced garlic, broth, a can of white beans, and red pepper sauce. Today, we had salads for dinner. Tomorrow we’ll likely have more greens sauteed with garlic, in some manner or another.

Of course, we have five more months of greens coming to us, so more creative recipes are welcome!

being not doing

letting it be.

turnips

weekly greens