One November night a few years ago, I was invited to dinner by two of my Brooklyn-dwelling friends (and new parents to a beautiful brand new baby girl, Michela), Peter and Stefania. It was an unsurprisingly wonderful meal since they are some of the best cooks I know. I still distinctly recall the delicious roasted pumpkin salad and celery root pie from that evening’s menu, both of which, as they proudly explained, featured ingredients from their CSA. Huh? Their what?
Turns out “CSA” stands for community-supported agriculture and it works like this: you buy an annual membership/subscription from a local organic farm for a flat fee, and each week for ~26 weeks, you get one share of whatever their farm produces from a local pickup location. Stability for the local farmers, and a fun way to get fresh produce for the city-dwelling members - sounded like an interesting idea, but I assumed back then that CSA membership was only for the same kinds of Brooklyn-dwelling intellectuals and hippies that might have a chicken coop in their backyard, and I didn’t give it much more thought.
Fast forward nearly three years. There are already six Whole Foods markets on the 33.77 square-mile island of Manhattan and a seventh is now under development on East 57th Street; farmers’ markets are every where you go (including, as I just discovered last weekend, the small city of Marquette, Michigan where Judd grew up); and even McDonald’s is inviting you to meet the potato farmers behind their famous fries. I dare say the acronym CSA may now be almost as well known as CSI in parts beyond of Prospect Heights.
This season, I jumped on the CSA bandwagon and signed up for the Central Park West CSA. (Thanks to my friend and Lower East Side CSA member, Alex, for sending me a link to this website where you can find your nearest CSA.) Each Wednesday afternoon between 4pm and 7pm, I am invited to pick up our share of whatever Angel Family Farms in Goshen, New York has brought down to West 84th Street. Thee annual membership cost for 20-something weeks was $460. (We did not elect to add on a fruit, egg, or fresh pasta share, which were all optional for an additional annual fee.)
I enrolled in the CPW CSA in early May, several weeks before the first pickup on June 15th, very excited to try the 50 different varieties of vegetables that I'd heard they grow. On the next several Wednesdays in June, I unenthusiastically toted home (and subsequently threw out) more leafy greens than a non-rabbit could possibly be interested in, ranging from rather pedestrian green lettuce and spinach, to more exotic offerings like wild arugula, mizuna, tatsoi, purple tatsoi, and mustard greens. And did I mention the herbs? So many herbs -- huge bundles of dill, parsley, cilantro, sage and oregano. Three weeks in, I was already experiencing what my friend and veteran CSA member, Catherine, has aptly described as “vegetable fatigue.”
Last week though, things finally started to get interesting. There were red and yellow onions, stout little carrots, and huge bundles of swiss and rainbow chard. This week, more carrots (this time white) and onions, peas, and even beets!
One of the most fun parts of being a CSA member is the chance to broaden my vegetable cooking horizons with all of this random produce. Here are two recipes to make Peter and Stefania proud, from earlier this week.
Swiss Chard, Leek, and Goat Cheese Tart with Fresh Herb Crust
(adapted from a recipe by acclaimed cookbook author David Leite, whose wonderful blog, Leite’s Culinaria, was recommended to me by my savvy friend Ann)
1 tablespoon minced fresh rosemary
1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves
1 teaspoon salt
several grinds of freshly ground pepper
12 tablespoons cold, unsalted butter, cut into ½ inch cubes
5 tablespoons iced water, plus more if necessary
Filling
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
4 medium or 3 large leeks*, white and pale green parts only, thinly sliced
1 pound Swiss and/or rainbow chard, stems discarded, and roughly chopped
3 large eggs
1/3 cup heavy cream or half and half
1 teaspoon salt
freshly ground pepper
¼ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
3 tablespoons golden raisins, plumped in boiling water for 10 minutes and drained
3 tablespoons toasted pine nuts
4 ounces fresh goat cheese, crumbled
*as a general rule, leeks and swiss chard (not to mention arugula, spinach, scallions, basil, and cilantro) are grown in soil that contains a lot of sand/grit. Rinse each very thoroughly to remove all grit before chopping. For the leeks, I usually slice them lengthwise and run cold water between each layer. For the chard, I place it in a large bowl of water and jostle the leaves around with my hands. The leaves will float on top of the water, and the sand/dirt will fall to the bottom of the bowl. You may want to repeat that process once or twice with several changes of water. No need to spin the chard leaves dry – just drain them in a strainer.
1. In the bowl of a food processor fitted with a steel blade, pulse the flour, herbs, salt and pepper until blended. Add the butter, and pulse mixture resembles coarse cornmeal, with pieces of butter no bigger than small peas (about 13 to 15 one-second pulses). Add in water and pulse until mixture forms a wet ball (about 5 to 10 one-second pulses), adding more water if necessary. Remove dough from food processor, shape into a disk, wrap in plastic, and refrigerate at least one hour.
2. In a large skillet, melt the butter over medium heat and sauté the leeks, until soft, about 8-10 minutes, stirring frequently. Add the chopped chard leaves and cook down until water has evaporated, about 8-10 minutes. Let cool.
3. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. On a lightly-floured surface, roll out the dough into a 13” circle. Transfer the dough to a 10” or 11” tart pan, fitting it snugly against the sides and bottom, and trim off any excess.** Prick the bottom of the tart with a fork and cover with parchment paper. Fill the tart with pie weights or beans, and bake for 25 minutes. Remove the weights/beans and set the crust aside.
4. In a medium bowl, whisk the eggs, cream/half and half, nutmeg, salt, and pepper. Stir in cooled chard/leek mixture, crumbled goat cheese, toasted pine nuts, and raisins.
5. Pour mixture into pre-baked tart crust and bake until filling is set and puffy, about 25 minutes. Let cool on a rack for at least 20 minutes before serving.
This tart can be served warm or room temperature and is perfect for brunch, lunch, or a light dinner. Serves 6-8.
**I had so much excess crust that I made a second small tart. For the filling, I sautéed a ½ pint of grape tomatoes, which when cooled I mixed with two beaten eggs, a tablespoon of crème fraiche, a ¼ cup of grated pecorino cheese, salt and pepper. If I had had fresh basil, I would have added that, too. It was quite tasty.
4 medium beets, scrubbed but not peeled
½ cup plus 2 tablespoons olive oil
¼ cup red wine vinegar
3-4 ounces crumbled goat cheese
¾ cup toasted walnut halves
salt
freshly ground pepper
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2. In a large bowl, toss beets with 2 tablespoons olive oil, salt, and pepper. Wrap the beets individually with tin foil, place on a baking sheet, and bake until the beets are tender when pierced with a fork, about 1 ½ - 2 hours. Remove from oven and let cool in foil wrappers until cool.
3. When beets are cool enough to handle, peel (you may want to wear rubber gloves for this step), and slice.
4. In a medium bowl, whisk remaining olive oil and vinegar. Add beet slices, crumbled goat cheese, and toasted walnuts. Season with salt and pepper.
Serve with mixed greens and/or a crusty baguette.
So is it worth it to do the CSA?
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