L. occasionally refers to the vagaries of my character as my sharing characteristics with people who suffer from OCD. I have always felt that my slightly neurotically compulsive nature was simply a by-product of being brought up in Japan. When I woke at 2am last night, jolted out of a sound sleep because I realized that I had not, as I usually do, wiped down the fridge shelves before the 8am arrival of the CSA box, and proceeded to get out of bed and go do so so that my new veggies had clean shelves waiting for them, I realized that he might be on to somethingâŠ
This week is a surprisingly porky week, for which we will have to pay in the weeks to come by upping our veggie intake to clear our arteries, and - because I have been reviewing the blog for transfer formatting issues and broken links - a fair few recipes that I have made in the past which remained delicious in my memory and which I will be trying again/improving upon this week. I have also talked so much about my miso-crusted pork that it is making an appearance at one of this week's dinner parties, by popular demand.
This Week's CSA box contained:
Herbs: a bunch each of lavender, sage, thyme, sorrel, red shiso, parsley, Mexican mint.
Greens: a gorgeous Boston lettuce, an armful of pristine collard greens.
Alliums: a bunch of leeks, a head of garlic and both golf ball-sized yellow and large white onions.
Vegetables: one large green pepper, a handful (again) of shishito, jalapeno and serrano chilis, an eggplant, two ears of late summer corn, several zucchini, a couple of cucumbers, two large carrots, some fall potatoes, a fennel bulb, a punnet of tiny red grape tomatoes.
Fruit: 2 Sweetie red and gold colored apples and 1 small Asian pear that fit perfectly into the palm of my hand.
Chili peppers aside, most of which are being chucked in the freezer again, the contents of this week's box (as well as a punnet of beautiful figs from the local fruit and vegetable stand - photographed above - and some salad greens from the farmersâ market later in the week) will be transformed into:
Sunday [âRaidâ Meal]
Roast Chicken with Thyme, Garlic and Crispy Sourdough
Monday [Wildcard]
Frisée Salad with Potato "Croûtons" and Anchovy Dressing
XL Biscuits đ with Braised Collard Greens, Steamed Eggs and Bacon Fat-Espresso AĂŻoli
Tuesday [Pasta but dinner party instead]
Sweet, Sour and Spicy Pork Spare Ribs
Potato Salad with Peppers and Quick Pickled Cucumber đ
Green Salad
Figs Poached in Fall Spices and Red Wine, with Balsamic Fig and Mascarpone Ice Cream
Wednesday [L.'s choice of an item I have made in the past]
Out
Thursday [Fish]
Out
Friday [Vegetarian but yet another dinner party]
Guacamole with Tortilla Chips
Green Salad
Carrot Purée with Sage
Leeks Fondants
Butter-Carrot Sauce
Chocolate Cake đ with White Chocolate-Lavender Ganache, Black Raspberry Ice Cream
Saturday ["Picnic" Dinner]
Mixed Salad
Margherita Pizza Tear and Share with Chunky Tomato Dipping Sauce đ
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