Another change...

please join me here: Lotus Living Local

A fresh taste for salad greens...

I just discovered balsamic vinegar. Before that there seemed to be only two options available (to me) for salad dressing: conventional salad dressing such as thousand island and ranch, and homemade dressing such as the recipe for ramps dressing. The first is obviously too much for the delicate salad greens from the CSA. It drowns out and weighs down on the greens. The second is time consuming and involves some kitchen appliances that later need to be cleaned like a blender. In a small kitchen, I'm always thinking about whether I should pull out a big kitchen appliance for just a small item.

There is a new store in the neighborhood that sells olive oil and balsamic vinegar in bulk. And there are tons of different flavors. I sampled quite a few. That was new to me. I've never had the experience of pouring a little shot glass of olive oil and shooting it. The store is called Annona Gourmet. I am so glad I went in to check it out.

Actually, I stopped in there to get some aborio rice for risotto. The store didn't have any in stock. I stayed to sample the vinegars and left with a black cherry vinegar. Oh, my, extreme goodness. It was just perfect for those salad greens and took away from the bite of the black radish.

Oh, and the black radish?! So spicy and crunchy. I grated it this time and just dumped it on top of the greens. It has a bite, but that bite was tempered a bit with the black cherry vinegar.

Now I've got to do some more research on vinegar. How does it last? At what temperature should I store it? In the fridge? Or the pantry?

The health benefits include increased calcium absorption, better digestion, regulation of blood sugars, increase in anti-oxidants, the list goes on!

May 14: Box #2

Look at all that goodness! I can't believe how incredibly convenient it is to have of this delivered right to my neighborhood! Oh, yes, I steamed up that asparagus right away for last night's dinner. Have you ever had asparagus that was fresh from the previous day's harvest? It's truly amazing how different fresh vegetables taste.

Parsnips again and no swap box, so I brought them home. This weekend I plan to get my compost pile situated. I don't have an official compost pile. I have three holes strategically placed in my garden. My hubby used a post-hole digger to get me nice, deep holes. And into these I throw my vegetable scraps. So, the vegetables decompose right there in the dirt in my front yard where the soil needs the nutrients the most. It's worked well over the years. But, now I'm thinking maybe I need something larger to accommodate all those parsnips.

It's going to be a cold weekend so we are staying in the city. I'm winging it this weekend with the menu. I figure I've got so many good veggies, I can pick some and roast, or steam whenever I feel like it!

ramp and sausage risotto

Now this is the way to start off the CSA season: ramp and sausage risotto! I found this idea through A Good Appetite on their page that lists the menu for the week. It seems this recipe is floating around the web. One of the things I like about looking for recipes on the web is reading the comments at the end. I like hearing about how others change or substitute ingredients for each recipe. Which is how I operate. Rarely do I have all the necessary ingredients and so I'm constantly changing it to accommodate what I have in my pantry. For this recipe, I did not have any vermouth and immediately thought to add the leftover white wine I had sitting in my fridge. Saw a comment that did this and that gave me confidence as I was cooking.

Also, I have to say that I love recipes that use the whole plant. This ramp and sausage recipe called for the ramp bulbs, stems and leaves. The leaves are sliced thin and added at the end of the recipe. I cut them and left them sitting on the kitchen counter. I had to go into the cupboard space beneath the bowl for a few things and after a while I started thinking perhaps something had died in my cupboard - the smell was so strong. I got worried. Then, I realized the smell was the ramp leaves. Nonetheless, the leaves added another layer of flavor and made the whole meal look like fresh spring!

Oh, my goodness, it was so incredibly wonderful. I took some pictures while I was cooking, but woke this morning with the realization that I did not have the memory card in the camera, so no pictures. They wouldn't have captured the yumminess of this recipe anyway!

It's really fun to think about the fact that while these ramps are available in the woods - in abundance - they won't be there very long. Now I'm all fired up about foraging for my own.

Cooking risotto in this household is fun. There are a lot of "yes, chef!" thrown about. I admit that I am a fan of "Hell's Kitchen" and risotto is always on their menu. I'd never tried a risotto before watching this television show. It was surprisingly easy to prepare.

I bought the sausage at Ready Meats. I bought the regular which seemed spicy enough. I steamed up some broccoli (not from CSA) and served it on top of the risotto. I should have gotten from french bread to prepare some garlic bread, but I forgot, so some biscuits went into the oven.

Now I have spinach, rhubarb and parsnips left until Thursday. I gave all the sorrel to my mother, but plan to keep the next batch for myself. I'm going to try that sorrel dal recipe. Also, I looked at the "best guess" list for this week's delivery and read that we are getting asparagus and salad mix! I love the salad mix! It has flowers in it! So pretty and convenient! Yum!