mi csa su csa: week 1

We're doing both a meat CSA and a veggie CSA this year, both for the first time. The meat CSA is year round and we're on month 2, but the veggies just started. Since we're getting vegetables we don't usually eat, I thought I'd keep a record of what we've created with them.

Week 1:
scapes
broccoli
zucchini
turnips
arugula
red leaf lettuce
peas

First up: broccoli, a couple scapes and mushrooms pan fried with leftover chicken and homemade chicken broth.

I ate most of the lettuce simply dressed with a tangerine dressing—though I didn't get through all of it.

The zucchini made up the meat of a delicious Persian Kuku Kadoo recipe from Saveur, which we served with roasted turnips, scapes and carrots we seasoned with fresh dill from our herb garden.

The arugula didn't make it, but the peas look like they'll still be good enough to eat in week 2.

spring pork chops...anytime

Fresh peaches this spring have been delicious, so they haven't been lasting long enough around our house to make it into an actual dish before being picked up and just eaten as is. This is a great dish because it uses frozen peaches, which you can get any time of the year. The flavors in this dish come together beautifully, sweet and savory all at once. We served it with roasted asparagus and fried plantains.

3-4 (1-inch-thick) pork chops
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup thinly sliced shallots
1-2 teaspoons finely chopped thyme
1/4 cup brandy
1 (10-ounce) bag frozen peaches, thawed
1/3 cup peach preserves

Sprinkle pork chops on both sides with 1 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper (total) and coat lightly with olive oil.

Heat 12-inch cast iron skillet in oven for 10 minutes at 500 degrees, bring pan back to the stove top and cook pork chops over high heat, turning once, until browned, 3 minutes on each side. Return pan with pork chops to 350 degree oven for 6 minutes, until cooked through. Transfer to a platter and keep warm, loosely covered with foil.

Return skillet to stove top. Heat butter in skillet over medium heat until foam subsides, then cook shallots with thyme, stirring occasionally, until tender and golden-brown, about 5 minutes.

Add 1/4 cup brandy to skillet, then cook over medium heat, scraping bottom of skillet to loosen brown bits. Add peaches, preserves, and 1/4 teaspoon each of salt and pepper and any meat juices from platter. Nestle pork chops in the sauce and cook, until peaches are tender and juicy, about 3 minutes. Plate pork chops and spoon sauce over chops.

Adapted from epicurious.com