Eating on the Farm

After meeting some of you this week at our first official CSA share, I got the idea that it might be of help to hear what your farmers eat on a regular basis (though I'll warn you, it's not all pretty!) 

I was really proud on Tuesday of all the hard work that the four of us have put in so far this season to provide such an excellent first CSA share. This week we offered lettuce heads, kale, collards, bok choi, swiss chard, radishes, kohlrabi and turnips and all of these things have been in our own personal cooking repertoires lately. 

First I should probably say a word about how meat eating is viewed here at the farm and for me personally. I have to come clean and say that before moving here in March I had been a vegetarian for somewhere around six years. That said, I was ready to start eating meat again as long as it was responsibly and humanely raised and sparingly eaten. 

At Frith we eat meat rarely, mostly because we are aware of the expense of it, not just in monetary terms, but in the time and care we put in to raising our animals. As a result we usually eat some form of meat once a week. (Although as a side note and so this post doesn't get that "high and mighty" sounding, we were all raised eating meat at least once a day, and none of that was local or responsibly raised!)

Also just to bring us down to reality, there are days (usually at least twice a week) when all I eat for supper is a massive bowl of cereal and usually it makes me immensely happy! 

But that said, we do have access to this awesome supply of vegetable goodness and there are a lot of fun things we do with them. 

One thing I've been enjoying recently are different variations of veggie tacos. I stir fry some garlic with turnips, turnip greens and some spinach, heat some (corn!) tortillas in the broiler and then mix it all together with some garlic hummus I made last weekend. More often than not I'll throw a fried egg on top for extra protein too. 

Josh does a lot of legumes and grains in his rice cooker, quinoa, rice, lentils and black beans are frequently found in his diet. Thrown over some bread with cheese and some sautéed greens. Josh also takes some kitchen risks that I really respect, like trying out homemade mayonnaise and kale chicken salad. 

Will is probably the most adventurous of the three of us (he's the one who dashes out to the herb garden in the evening to get fresh chamomile for his tea) and is also the one who uses the most produce I would say. He stir fries a lot of vegetables, kohlrabi, turnips, radishes, kale and collards, then stirs some eggs into the mix. (He also rendered lard earlier this season and has been using it as his stir-fry lipid of choice.)

Daniel will be the first to admit that he eats a lot of cheesy bread, peanut butter apples and his homemade granola. But he also has mastered some pretty tasty dishes, including quesadillas with stir-fried veggies. He is also the recognized authority in the house on meat cooking; his nights at the head of our Monday night communal meals have featured pork, lamb and chicken! 

And speaking of those communal meals we share each week, I wanted to put up some links that might help some of you in using up your farm produce, eggs and meat shares. 

These are both excellent vegetarian suppers that just beg to feature our eggs:

http://smittenkitchen.com/blog/2010/04/shakshuka/

(add caramelized onions to the following for a sure winner)

http://smittenkitchen.com/blog/2006/10/ah-ha-ha-come-and-take-my-hand/

For one of the best chicken dinners in recent memory (use turnips instead of sweet potatoes):

http://www.thewednesdaychef.com/the_wednesday_chef/2013/04/melissa-clarks-chicken-curry-with-sweet-potatoes.html

Coconut milk-braised collards and your Frith Farm bacon:

http://food.meltingonline.com/greens-with-coconut-milk-and-bacon/

And this is on my "to-cook" list for next week, good to use with our eggs and some greens from your share:

http://www.notderbypie.com/cypriot-greens-and-cheese-pie/

And for those of you wondering what to do with kohlrabi....Will eats it raw right out of the fields and yes, it is reminiscent of a really juicy apple. But you can roast it, puree it, sauté it, or just read the following blog post for other ideas:

http://www.simplyrecipes.com/kohlrabi/

Enjoy your first week of produce everyone and please let us know if you find a particularly successful recipe. Hope to see you all at the Frith CSA Brunch on Saturday morning!