CSA Week 2: Saladocious

I've been boring lately, I know.  I'm just embarking on a new crunchy venture though, so there will be something more interesting in a few weeks.  I think.

Anyway, my second CSA arrived just hours before Shavuos, which meant I was frantically washing greens and putting things away and didn't have a chance to post.  And then I was just lazy all day Friday and didn't bother.  And then I was waiting to try something out but didn't get around to it yet.  This week was a pretty typical early-season box, with lots of yummy salad fixins.

• Arugula
• Spinach
• Red leaf lettuce
• Radishes
• Asparagus
• Chives
• Scallions
• Curly parsley
• Basil plant
• Farm fresh eggs! 

I confess that I discarded the curly parsley: I vastly prefer flat leaf and knew I didn't want to deal with checking it this time.  I probably should have made pesto or something, but whatever.  Don't hate me.  

But the arugula was worth the bother - I love the peppery taste, and that combined with the lettuce and spinach meant that we had the most amazing strawberry salad for lunch on the first day of yom tov - plus another loaded with radishes and scallions on Shabbos.  Plus there's still enough greens leftover for BSB's lunches until the next delivery comes.

I got to utilize my Flip and Tumble mesh produce bags for the first time, and so far so good.  I washed the greens and laid them out on dish towels to dry as much as possible.  Then I chucked the arugula and spinach into one bag and the lettuce in the other...and several days in the fridge later, its a bit limp but still good.  I put the leftover radishes and scallions into one and I think they'll do better; I'll probably stick with the paper-towel-and-ziploc method for greens in the future.

All this brings me to:

CSA Tip #2: Soak wilted leafy greens in cold water to revive them

My chapter's boxes gets dropped off on someone's porch for each CSA member to collect at their leisure.  After a couple of hours out in the summer sun things can get kind of floopy.  But in my lazy, neglectful way I've discovered that abandoning them in a bowl of wash water while I check Facebook lets capillary action do its thing, plumping them back up to crunchy goodness.