CSA Meals - Week 9

I have already frozen my green beans from this week's share, but a week ago I was still finishing Week 8's beans. They were delicious for dinner on Tuesday - steamed and tossed with a little balsamic vinegar and herb olive oil. As a main dish, I ate a bowl of homemade lentil soup with a poached egg on top (the picture is below).

Wednesday was a kickball night and we ate bar food at Home Team Grill. I did manage to fit in a cucumber and tomato salad in the afternoon, just to keep my routine going.


The first of three entertaining nights was Thursday, and I made a quick spaghetti carbonara with zucchini. I like Rachael Ray's carbonara recipe, but I wanted to fit some vegetables into the meal. Jamie Oliver has a recipe for carbonara with zucchini, so I used his idea and incorporated summer squash into the process.

Eggplant can be hard to get rid of in my apartment as it's not my or Davy's favorite vegetable, so I decided to make baba ghanoush for an appetizer on Friday night (another night hosting guests). The eggplant we had was tiny, and the recipe called for a large one, but I added a can of chickpeas to make up for it. Served with cucumbers and pita chips, the end result was more like hummus than baba ghanoush, but it had a harmonious blend of flavors. Our main course was tomato and green bean risotto, and the freshness of the ingredients made a huge difference in taste.

The leftover risotto went well with a poached egg on top for lunch on Sunday. We had enough of the eggplant hummus to serve to our friends on Sunday night with cucumber and sweet pepper slices. Shannon brought some wonderful corn from the Goochland farmers market, and I made lime and peanut cole slaw that turned out to be spicier than everyone expected. It was still an interesting variation on cole slaw, a fitting side dish for grilled ribs, and yummy snack for the next few days.

Having a whole week in Richmond and being able to spend so much time with friends really made me appreciate our weekly produce in a new way. It was fun thinking of dishes so that other people could see the value of the share, although by Monday Davy and I were ready for pizza from Mary Angela's. Can you blame us?