I ran into a friend and new member of Roxbury Farm as I was picking up my first share of the season today, and I paused as I told her how many years we’d be participating. I knew it was more than five years, so… six? Could it really be lucky number seven? And in fact, it is our seventh year participating in this CSA. This boggles my mind — my boys were still months shy of turning 2 and 4 years old when we began. Babies!
Not surprisingly, having a farm share for half the year has become a way of life for us. My kids think this is just a normal way of doing things, even if they do run off to play Foosball while I pack our bags with produce. (And no, they definitely do not eat the majority of these vegetables. But I do serve them to the boys anyway.) When we got home tonight and I faced enough vegetables to completely cover my kitchen counters, I was reminded again of how much work there is in processing all this food each week!
On Week 1, we received: 1 head of Napa cabbage, a bunch of lacinato (dinosaur) kale, 1 head of Salanova lettuce, a large crown of broccoli, a small bowl of arugula, a small bowl of tatsoi (like an Asian spinach), turnips, radishes, a small bowl of salad mix, 1 summer squash, a bunch of scallions, 6 garlic scapes, and a small handful each of basil, parsley, and cilantro.
Tonight, I made a big salad (by our house rules, I am obligated to link to this Seinfeld bit) by chopping the arugula (I find the bitterness is mitigated if it’s cut up small) and adding it to a little leftover lettuce I had in the house, plus the salad mix I got today. I also added some slices of the raw turnips we got today. I do not love these young turnips, but over the years I’ve found I prefer them raw to cooked. Other vegetables from my fridge rounded it out: red pepper, yellow tomatoes, mushrooms, and cucumber.
I also roasted the yellow squash with zucchini I already had, and cherry tomatoes. The colors are really cheerful! On a separate baking sheet, the broccoli was dusted with kosher salt and red pepper flakes, and roasted until browned.
Oddly, I am excited about the radishes. I adore them with cream cheese. (I know! It’s weird!) We are having lots of family here on Sunday to celebrate Father’s Day, and we’re serving bagels with all the fixings, so I will definitely be slicing up those radishes to pair with a shmear.
Garlic scapes are wonderful in hummus, and tatsoi will wind up in a stir fry later this week. All in all, a great way to dive back into our farm share. Even if we didn’t stop to feed the goats.
We’ve been experimenting with kale chips quite a bit lately, both making them ourselves and sampling different flavors from New York Naturals (their Bombay Ranch is my favorite). Although I adore the kale chips we can buy at our local health food store, they’re pricey and have a little more fat than I’d like. This recipe uses no oil or nuts, so the fat content is negligible.
Low and slow baking is the key here. You can’t rush the recipe by bumping the oven temperature up to 300, or you’ll get burned and bitter chips. These take up to an hour and half to fully crisp up, but the time is worth it.
Because there is no fat in this recipe, the chips are going to want to stick to your pan. I use Silpat liners, which are completely non-stick and work just as beautifully here as they do with gooey cookies. If you don’t have Silpats, consider misting your non-stick baking sheets with oil before baking.
New to nutritional yeast powder? It has a slightly cheesy flavor, and you can find it in the supplements section of your local health food store.
Now, as far as these being “seriously sriracha” — your mileage may vary. What is very hot to me barely registers for J., but to me these are quite spicy. Taste the coating mixture before you combine it with the kale, and adjust the spiciness for your taste. You can also sprinkle the chips with cayenne or the like once they’re cooked to kick them up some more.
Seriously Sriracha Kale Chips
1 medium bunch curly kale, or about 14 oz. before trimming and 7 oz. after
2 Tbsp. nutritional yeast powder
3 Tbsp. apple cider vinegar
1 Tbsp. sriracha sauce (or to taste)
1 tsp. kosher salt (or to taste)
Preheat your oven to 200 degrees F.
Wash the kale thoroughly, then shake and pat dry. Trim the center ribs from all the kale leaves and discard. Place the rib-less leaves in a large bowl and set aside.
Combine nutritional yeast powder, apple cider vinegar, sriracha, and salt in a small bowl. Mix until it is completely smooth. Then, pour the coating over the kale.
With clean hands, toss the kale in the coating. Massage the coating into the leaves of the kale for a minute, until each leaf is covered and shiny. Then distribute kale in a single layer on two baking sheets lined with a Silpat silicone mat.
Bake for 50 minutes, then flip each chip gently (I just peel them off the Silpat — they will still be somewhat damp with some crispy spots). Put the baking sheets back in the oven and continue to check for doneness every 10-15 minutes. The chips should be completely dry and crisp when you remove them from the oven, usually with a total baking time of about an hour and a quarter. You may need to remove smaller pieces from the oven before larger leaves.
Chips will stay crisp for a day or two, on the counter in a sealed container.
I am visiting my sister (and newborn niece) in Brisbane, Australia this week and we are cooking up a storm! She and her husband are vegetarian, so our meal plan reflects that.
In between spending time with my family and cooking, I have been cuddling with koalas and petting this guy:
Yep, really.
I’ve also had a lot of fun shopping in their local grocery, Coles; at their produce shop, Fruity Capers; and at the Davies Park Market. We are headed to a giant market this weekend (Eumundi Markets), so our Saturday and Sunday meals will reflect what we buy there that looks good.
Monday: Leftovers
Tuesday:Baked Tofu with Soy & Sesame, bok choy/mushroom/red pepper (called “capsicum” here) stir fry, brown rice
Wound up with a lot of poultry dishes this week, for some reason. Also, the boys have exhausted my supply of frozen homemade cookies (I usually freeze half of each batch I make so we can dole them out over a longer period of time). I’ve had a request for M&M cookies, but I also have a ton of Hershey’s Kisses leftover from a project in December, so I may look for a “blossom”-type cookie recipe without peanut butter.
And yes, if I could only bake and never cook, I think I would.
I'm Dara, the Chick in the Kitchen. Living in the suburbs of Manhattan with my two school-aged boys and husband. Feeding my family something more diverse than a different shape of pasta each night. Read more about me and CITK, and keep in touch:
I'm Dara, the Chick in the Kitchen. Living in the suburbs of Manhattan with my two school-aged boys and husband. Feeding my family something more diverse than a different shape of pasta each night. Read more 
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