The box is back!

[pantryslut]

Terra Firma takes a two-week break at the end of every year. Reasonably enough. But that meant a week without fresh produce once I got back from vacation. Considering the amount of time I spent at home that week, this wasn't such a big deal either, but the last three days or so, I've been seriously jonesing.

Not any more. Now I am blissfully overabundant in the veggie department.

This week in the box:

* carrots (don't ask how many pounds of carrots I have in the fridge)
* bok choy
* a butternut squash
* an onion
* a bunch of romaine lettuce
* purple broccoli
* baby turnips and their attached greens
* spinach
* a truly gargantuan green cabbage
* a handful of navel oranges and Satsuma Mandarins
* three apples

I also have another butternut squash and a couple sweet potatoes hanging around, along with two wee Delicata squash. Also I think I still have a head of red cabbage deep in the fridge somewhere.

I'm planning on having the Delicata and a spinach salad (maybe with apples?) tonight for dinner. And Oyster Beef with Broccoli sometime soon (Sunday?). I imagine the romaine will make a fabulous lunch salad.

The cabbage scares me. It's the size of a child's head. And I must cogitate upon the purpose of the turnips and their greens.

Comments

[clea-the-cat.livejournal.com]

Impressive list. I had a very delicious butternut squash soup for lunch today. I recommend it -- Trader Joe's brand.

[felicks.livejournal.com]

turnip greens are my absolute favorite green.

[pantryslut.livejournal.com]

Yeah? What do you like to do with them?

I don't think I can pick a favorite green. They're all good.

The purpose of turnip greens

[sciamanna.livejournal.com]

Turnip greens have a clear purpose in life. They must become Orecchiette alle cime di rapa.

Of course, you need orecchiette. That's a type of hand-shaped pasta from Apulia in southern Italy -- see this article on about.com for example, which also tells you how to make them at home, and adds (rather sensibly) that you can use farfalle (butterflies) instead if you can't find them and aren't inclined to make them.

I tend to measure things by eye, but one recipe I have here says 500 grams of greens for 400 grams of pasta -- presumably for 4 servings.

Chop up and clean the turnip greens. Boil a large pot of salted water. When it boils, add the chopped-up stems from the greens and any other tough bits you found. Cook them for 5 minutes, then add the rest of the greens. After another 5 minutes or so (the stems should start to be tender at this point), add the pasta.

In the meantime, heat up some xv olive oil in a large pan (or wok), chop up some garlic, salted capers (rinsed) and green olives, and fry them with dried chili to taste and a pinch of salt. You can add sultanas and/or pinenuts if you feel like it. (You can also use black olives instead of green, only I don't like black olives much. And if you're a fish-eater, you can use anchovies instead of capers -- it's the original version, but I really like the capers anyway!.)

When the pasta is cooked, drain the lot in a colander and toss it in the pan with the garlic and stuff (that's why you wanted a large one). Stir-fry together for a couple of minutes until it's all well mixed-up and flavoured. Serve with grated pecorino if you have it (it's still pretty good without it; I wouldn't advise using parmesan because it's not sharp enough).

...now I'm hungry!

Re: The purpose of turnip greens

[pantryslut.livejournal.com]

Now I'm hungry, too. And I happen to have a box or two of orecchiette in the pantry.

Re: The purpose of turnip greens

[sciamanna.livejournal.com]

Let me know how it turned out!

Re: The purpose of turnip greens

[sciamanna.livejournal.com]

I forgot to say that this recipe can also be done with other greens, or with broccoli. In fact, broccoli is the way I do it most often in this vegetably-challenged country... ;-)