The Box
Spring CSA Week 5

We did not subscribe to the spring CSA from Farmer Vicki in anticipation of the May Eat Local Challenge, but having the CSA surely makes the challenge that much easier. In the Chicago area, it will still be a few weeks before the first farmer's markets open. Vicki, however, using greenhouse technology provides me and her subscribers with a big box of produce each week. And because of the greenhouse, our box includes, of all things in early May (for this part of the world), zucchini.

Last week's box seemed like a bit of more of the same. This week, the box took a nice detour. New for the week, for the season, well beyond the freaky zucchini, was sorrel and a cabbage. Repeats were more breakfast radishes and white icicle radishes and the ever present carrots and green onions. The bag of mixed greens this week was labeled spicy mesculun instead of just plain mesculun. There was no head lettuce this week.

We intend to use the greens (radish tops, last week's turnip tops) in soup, with locally ground corn. The cabbage, I've been reading a bunch of traditional French cookbooks, and that has me hankering for potee, a spring one pot meal of pork products and cabbage. The chinni, I think we will slice, blanch and freeze since it is hard to do much with two fruits. Finally, the sorrel. Anyone have some good ideas? I tasted a bit. The stuff is incredible. It's green but it feels almost exactly like biting into a lemon. Almost like something served at Moto (beware flash!).