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Category: Storage and Preparation

  • Storing Greens

    We get lots of greens here at Red Wagon CSA, be it bagged, bunched or cut heads. 

    We weigh and bag lettuce or greens right before you pickup your CSA share. Everything is harvested then rinsed (aka rejuvenated) in the wash station. Next we spin it to dry it as best we can. Crops like arugula, spinach and cut lettuce get weighed and portioned into bags. Greens like kale, chard and collards are bunched.

    You can store the greens in the sealed bag you get them in from us if you like, but remember; you still need to wash everything before you eat it. Greens will last at least 5 to 7 days stored in plastic bags. Kale and chard and collards all need to be stored in air tight containers and will last at least a week.

    I like to have my greens ready to eat, so I wash and dry them right when I get home from pickup so they are ready to cook or eat for meals during the week. I find they last a little longer too, at least a week and maybe a little longer if I take this extra step. The greens in the top photo were washed, dried and stored in air tight containers  and are all 8 days old!

    Here is my routine; I carefully snip the little red tape that seals the bag so I can reuse the bags, then I wash and dry the greens and put them back in the bag I got them in. That is why I don’t just rip into the bags, I snip carefully! If you have a salad spinner and room in your refrigerator, the spinner is a great storage container. I only have one salad spinner. If I had more I would use it to store more of the greens, I don’t,  thus the reuse of the bags.

    I wash all the greens the same; dunk them in clean cool water and drain and dry them. Things like cut lettuce and arugula I spin in the salad spinner to dry. Drying the greens, all types, is important for long storage.

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    Placing paper towels or dry dish cloths in the container you are storing the greens in keeps the vegetables damp, but not soggy in the bag so you don’t get those weird slimy leaves that make the whole bag go bad.

     

    It just takes a few minutes to do and I find I and more inclined to use the produce if it is ready to eat.

    I hope this is helpful.

    Happy eating.

    Mo

  • Freezing Whole Tomatoes and Tomatillos

    Just a quick post to let you know that you you don’t have to make sauce or peel and prepare tomatoes or tomatillos for later use. You can easily freeze pop your whole tomatoes or tomatillos and it couldn’t be simpler.

    Just put your washed and dried tomatoes or tomatillos in the freezer on a tray until they are frozen hard.

    When they are completely frozen move them to a plastic bag for long storage and to take up less room. Return them to the freezer, use them in 6-9 months.

    When you’re ready to use your frozen tomatoes or tomatillos, just let them thaw at room temperature. Once they’ve defrosted, the tomato skins peel right off! Use the tomatillos without peeling.

  • Storing Shredded or Spiralized Zucchini

    It recently dawned on me that I can shred or make ‘zucchini noodles’ (like they sell at Whole Foods) at home, at a fraction of the price, and store it for at least a week in containers in the refrigerator.

    I find (and Whole Foods knows) if I have food prepared and ready to use I am more apt to make things like zucchini bread, quesadillas or zucchini pancakes. Once the zucchini is shredded, making other at a later date isn’t overwhelming and literally takes a few minutes and there is almost no clean up.

    Shred your zucchini with a box grater or your food processor or if you have a spiralizer use that. Pop the prepared zucchini in the container and cover it until you are ready to use it.

    This zucchini has been stored for 8 days and still looks great. I put a paper towel in the bottom of the container and I think it balanced the dampness of the vegetables. I think for baking and cooking the spiralized noodles I like the stored zucchini better than freshly grated. 

    I am positive that carrots and winter squash will store just as well like this. I’ve never frozen zucchini but I think I’ll try it and I’ll report back. If you have luck freezing zucchini let me know how you do it. Until then I’m off to make some zucchini bread!

  • BIG (really big) Celery This week

    This week CSA is getting celery. It’s all really big. Bigger than what you get at the grocery store. It’s so big I had to stand across the room to take the photo. I put my rolling pin in there for scale.

    Fresh celery has a stronger, more pungent flavor than long stored celery and has more fiber (strings) than store bought. If you quickly sauté this celery to add it to vegetables or sauces, or marinade it in olive oil with lemon or vinegar for a salad, it will tame any bitterness but keep the strong celery flavor. This bean and vegetable soup would be great featuring celery. Or how about making a celery stock? Use this recipe and sub celery for the corn cobs. Risotto is so tasty made with celery stock.

    Until you are ready to use this huge celery, how are we going to store this big thing?

    I’ll show you. Cut and trim about 1/2 the outer stalks off until the stalk is the size of a store bought celery. The inner part of the plant is more tender and mild. Look at this post to see how to best store it for later. It will keep for at least a couple weeks if you store it properly.

    Chop up the outer stalks and leaves to use in the next week or so. It will keep just fine until you are ready to make something like this, subbing celery for beans. Or how about this soup, subbing celery for Bok choy?

    Here is a photo all broken down to a reasonable size to store.

    And another photo show how you can actually get it all in your refrigerator, it did take a little shoving to get it in the drawer, haha.

    Celery Butchery 101. If you want more ideas, ask us at pickup.

    Have a great week.

    Mo

  • Reviving Greens

    Reviving greens to (almost) their just harvested freshness is super easy. You can revive any greens, kale, lettuce, chard, arugula, even broccoli will work using this method.

    This droopy bunch of kale is about a week old. It was in a plastic bag in the refrigerator. It is still fine to eat. If I was cooking the kale I would just wash it and go ahead and cook it. In this case I wanted a kale salad so I am going to revive it to give it a little crunch and freshness back.

    Fill a bowl or your sink with some cold water and add a few ice cubes if you have them. Trim off the stems and submerge your greens in the water for 20-30 minutes.  

    That’s it! Look how bright and happy they are!

    Drain and dry them really well and store them in an airtight container like a salad spinner or plastic bag if you aren’t using them right away.

    Don’t give up on your produce too soon! Give it a dunk and a chance!

  • How to Clean and Prepare Leeks

    I love leeks. I always grow lots of leeks, scallions and chives because I prefer them to white or yellow onions. You will have leeks as a choice this week in your CSA share. I hope you try them.

    Onions and leeks are completely interchangeable in uses. Leeks are always sweet, never hot or spicy like some onions can be, and have a distinct oniony flavor that doesn’t get lost in dishes. Texture wise, when you cook them they almost melt into the background of a dish. Many leek recipes will say; ‘cook leeks until meltingly soft’ that is one thing that makes them special.

    Behold the leek. They sort of look like scallions but the leek stems are flat and scallion and onion stems are round and hollow.

    They take a little more effort to wash and prepare compared to a humble onion, not much more, and with leeks you don’t have to deal with onion paper flying all over your kitchen. One thing is for sure, leeks are dirty. They are either dirty or very dirty. They catch dirt and sand in the layers in their stems.

    First thing you want to do is cut off the tough dark stems and leave all of the white bulb.

    You can save the stem for stock or compost it. If I have room in my freezer I throw them in the freezer and make stock when I have enough other vegetables.

    Next you want to cut off the little ‘root beards’ and decide if you want to keep your leeks whole or cut them into rounds. Usually if you are braising them you will keep them whole and cut a slit down the middle, if you are using them in a soup base or sauteed you will make them round.

    Fill a bowl with water and either swish your whole leeks in the bowl to wash the sand out.

    Or throw your rounds in the water and swoosh them around to let the sand sink to the bottom.

    Fish them out of the water and-TaDa! Your leeks are ready use!

    Use these in any dish like you would onions and I think you will really like the pronounced sweet onion flavor and texture leeks have.

    Mo

     

     

     

     

  • Different kinds of winter squash-which are interchangeable?

    I love late season and storage vegetables and I really love winter squash.

    Here is a primer of some of the different kinds of winter squash we have and which are interchangeable with each other.

    Clockwise these are buttercup, butternut, pie pumpkin (winter luxury), spaghetti, baby butternut and kabocha. We have lots and lots of information on this site about storing and cooking different kinds of squash.

    Let’s look a little deeper into what makes them unique, and similar.

    Kabocha (my favorite winter squash) and buttercup squash both have cork like stems and bright orange, very sweet and dry flesh. The shape stands up to braising in curries or stews and is delicious in soups, ravioli filling and they are dry enough to make squash gnocchi.  These two squash are completely interchangeable with each other and also with a sweet potato!  Kabocha skin is thin so I never peel it. Buttercup is a little thicker so I either peel it or scoop the flesh out and compost it.

    Pie pumpkins and butternut squash are the two ubiquitous winter squash in most people’s repertoire. Almost any thing you can do with any winter squash you can safely substitute one of these. The flesh is orange, slightly firm, slightly stringy, slightly sweet, slightly nutty and not too dry especially if you roast them. I LOVE winter luxury pie pumpkins in this pie.

    I love spaghetti squash but I always say I wish it had a different name. No, it doesn’t taste like spaghetti. It is stringy and very mild in taste, not sweet at all like other squash. It takes on the flavor of whatever you cook or serve it with. It has a chewy almost crisp texture that is sort of like rice vermicelli AND it comes with it’s own bowl! You can cook and eat your whole meal in one go! I can’t really think of anything you can substitute for or with spaghetti squash. In my experience this is the longest storing winter squash. I have kept a spaghetti squash from October to June! That’s 8 months!

    One squash I don’t have on this list or even on this site is an acorn squash. I didn’t have one here today but I’ll find one at the farm this week and fix that!

    Enjoy your winter vegetables and know they will keep for you for a long time.

    Have a great week.

    Mo

     

  • Ways To Make The Most Of Your CSA

    Last week I suggested having a look around the recipe section on our website for ideas on managing your CSA. I hope you had a minute to do that. 

    Here are a couple more ideas I hope you will find useful in keeping organized and not overwhelmed. 

    Have a salad spinner (Wyatt’s says you need two!), a good cutting board, a couple really good knifes, a large stock pot and a big mixing bowl. I love my mandolin, it is very inexpensive and you can whip up a salad or a fancy sandwich in no time. I highly suggest getting one. 

    The day before I pickup my CSA I like to clean out my refrigerator, especially all the vegetables and fruits. I chop up anything that will go bad in the very near future and make a salad or soup. That is what I was doing in the above picture. My CSA pickup is tomorrow so I snapped that picture and this one below after I tidied up my refrigerator.

    The two green containers in the middle have a salad I made with last weeks bits and some greens I quickly steamed that I can add to eggs or make a yummy grilled cheese and greens sandwich. 

    I’m steaming the greens here. It takes up a lot less room when you cook them down. 

    CSA’s are all about using what you have. I am sure we have all learned in the past couple of months what pantry staples each of us rely heavily on. Here are some of mine, probably yours too. 

    Citrus and vinegar brightens any dish up. Grains and legumes have been the backbone of so many meals pre, but more so post-covid. Canned tomatoes I can’t live without. Eggs make any vegetable or grain or pasta dish a meal and more satisfying.

    And herbs; using herbs in the past couple months became something that anchored me. I can’t really explain it but a little parsley or chives on some eggs or a boring pasta dish brightened my day. I never want to be without some basic herb in my life. 

    Now that you are ready for this weeks pickup have a look at this post to see how I wash, trim and store my share. 

    Let me know in the comment section below if you have any questions or tips you might have using your CSA share. 

    Have a great week. I’ll see you at pickup.

    Mo

  • Freezing Sweet Peppers and Roasted Chili Peppers

    A couple of years ago I did a post on Freezing Summers Bounty. This is pretty much a repost/reminder  to you that you don’t have to eat all your CSA share in one week. You can easily freeze some and enjoy it in the winter when you are wishing for Summer vegetables.

    To freeze roasted peppers you can just chuck them in the freezer in the bags we give them to you in. Sometimes I like to clean them and chop them so they are ready to throw in a pot of beans or stews. Either way it’s always nice to have a little stash of roasted peppers in the freezer to pull out in the winter.

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    You know those HUGE bell peppers we have been getting. You can freeze those too. Just seed them and cut them up.

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    Then spread them on a tray so they’re not touching each other and freeze until firm. You don’t want to just throw them in a bag or other container and freeze or you will have a huge pepper ice ball that won’t break apart.

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    When they are frozen hard transfer the them to a freezer-safe zip-lock bag or container with as much air pressed out as you can to prevent freezer burn. They take up a lot less room chopped up in a bag.

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    I love having these peppers stashed away for later. You can freeze celery and onions the same way. It just takes a few minutes and it is so handy to have.

    Have a great week.

    Mo

     

     

  • Dinner and Potluck Ideas Using CSA Vegetables

    I love preparing and eating summer vegetables. I don’t have any recipes in this post, just a few pictures of food I made and some I didn’t make, to hopefully inspire you to think outside the box using your shares.

    Remember the tomatillo salsa and herb dressing from earlier this season? Having staples like those ready in your refrigerator makes pulling together dinner really easy. I made a bean and rice bowl that would have been pretty boring if I didn’t have those sauces. I quickly pan roasted some corn and shishitos and chopped up some onions and tomatoes and topped it with the salsa and herb dressing-yum, dinner was ready in just a few minutes. I made plenty for lunches too. Fast and easy  if you have some sauces pre-made.

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    I was at a dinner at a friends house this weekend. Three of us are CSA members and brought food made from our CSA shares.

    I brought a focaccia. I used tomatoes, basil and corn. I wish I used onions now looking at it.

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    Toti, who has a CSA with us made this beautiful salad using braising mix, potatoes, dragon tongue beans, tomatoes, onions. Great job using so many different components of the share this week!

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    Joan is a CSA member at Isabelle farm. She made this deliciously beautiful no-noodle zucchini lasagna. I think there were at least 4 layers of zucchini, sauce and cheese. It was so good. It kind of melted together.

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    Last night I made some zucchini and corn quesadillas to go with chili. I grated up zucchini and added some corn off the cob and mixed it all with a little cheese.  Again, I made plenty for lunches for today.

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    I love hearing what you make with your shares, I hope you liked seeing some improvised uses of our wonderful local food I made and/or ate.

    Have a great week, see you at pick up.

    Mo