CSA Week 1!

The Box

Yesterday marked the first pickup of our CSA box from Mountain Meadows Farms.  As a little background, I decided to join the CSA this year to encourage myself to try new and different vegetables I wouldn't normally buy in the store.  The premise is that since I had to pre-pay for my share, I'll feel more obligated to try the weird stuff that shows up!

So far it's worked.  Vis, this weeks CSA box:

Contents:

• Red leaf lettuce
• Curly kale (new to me)
• Kale raab (new to me)
• Broccoli (new to me)
• Small bundle of thyme
• Strawberries!

Once we divvied things up, this is what I was left with:

The Dinner

So last night I decided to embrace my possibly foolish goals and try both the broccoli and the kale raab.  Stir-fry seemed to be a popular method for cooking both, so here's what I ended up with:

Veggie contents of stir-fry:

• carrots
• onions
• green bell pepper
• garlic
• radishes
• kale raab
• broccoli

Adding some broad Asian Noodles:

Finally, topped off with some thinly sliced pork:

The verdict

To be honest, the teriyaki sauce I used (Sov Vay Yeri Yaki) overrode much of the flavor of the broccoli and the kale raab.  And you know, I think I'm pretty fine with that.  In general, I overcooked all of the veggies, but I didn't find the texture of the broccoli or kale repulsive, and got all the nutritional benefits, so I'm going to chalk this one up to the win column.  

I tried a bit of the kale raw, and found it very strongly bitter.  Hopefully this changes a bit with cooking.

I'll probably try to sautee the kale and/or kale raab this weekend with some olive oil, garlic, and maybe some bacon.  Just need to figure out a good main dish to try along with them.  Here's hoping I don't hate them!