This Week's CSA - Week 4!
Week 4:
Lately, I've been bombarded by questions about fruit. What about the sugar in fruit? Am I eating too much? What's the best type of fruit to eat? We could spend a whole post talking about fruit, but one way to manage your fruit intake and to guarantee you’re eating more vegetables than fruit is to join a CSA Harvest Box! Four weeks in, and this household is definitely eating well – our meals are mostly homemade and full of fresh, organic vegetables!
What was in this week’s box: green beans, fava beans, beets, basil, fennel, a head of lettuce & cherry tomatoes.
More fava beans! Ahh! These sweet, nutty, refreshing beans are actually a member of the pea family and are also known as “broad beans” in some circles. Aside from their use in stews, favas can be roasted and seasoned with salt for a crispy snack – yum! I’ll have to try that next time, as I’m sure we have not seen the last of the fava beans. Apparently they also go extremely well with olive oil, fresh herbs, hard cheese and plenty of pepper. Here’s a simple, easy recipe to try:
Fava Bean Salad With Mint and Parmesan Cheese
Serves 4
Ingredients
24 oz shucked fava beans
1 oz parmesan cheese, grated on the large holes of a box grater (about 1/4 cup)
1/4 cup fresh mint leaves (from the patio garden), torn into small pieces
2 T extra-virgin olive oil
3/4 tsp ground black pepper
1/2 tsp kosher salt
Directions
Bring large pot of salted water to a boil. Add fava beans and cook until crisp-tender, one to two minutes. Drain fava beans and shock in ice-water bath. Once cooled, drain again and peel away their outer skins using your fingers.
Transfer fava beans to medium bowl and toss with remaining ingredients. Serve.
The rest of the produce (fennel, cherry tomatoes & basil) were turned into a delicious salad shared with friends, the beets were roasted for a quick hash dinner one night, and the green beans were steamed along side local, wild salmon.
What was left after the week: lettuce…only because we accidentally bought a head from the grocery store?!? The parsley, from the CSA box a few weeks ago, is still sitting in water looking fresh and ready to be eaten…maybe I could replant it? Has anyone tried replanting parsley?
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