Wednesday, August 05, 2009

Branching out

Y'know, being part of this CSA thing is really making me branch out, food-wise. Two weeks ago there was a great big bag of basil in my crate. The house smelled amazing. Ooof. I hadn't much of an idea what to do with it, so I looked up a recipe for pesto online, and then made some. Pictures will follow as soon as I use it. It's in the freezer right now.

This week was the best crate yet.

CSA share, week of 8/4/09

Buried amongst all that vegetable goodness there's another wee bag of basil. Not enough to make pesto with (though this week's CSA bulletin includes a recipe for pesto using the kale and some walnuts. Hmm. I might try that), but there was just enough to make this:

Caprese salad

Almost too pretty to eat. I managed, though.

4 comments:

Just Me said...

The fragrance from basil is probably one of my favorites. As soon as I read "basil," I immediately thought of the salad (If that's what you'd call it) pictured.

Please let us know what you decide to do with that pretty yellow squash next to the cucumber. I love squash, but my culinary imagination is dang near boring.

What are those pretty striped veggies by the tomatoes and the long slender peppers?

--V said...

The yellow squash is called a pattypan, according to my Mom. I generally cut it in half, put salt and pepper on it, and bake it. Very mild-tasting.

Those stripey things? No idea. I haven't cut into them yet, but I think they're like the thing I got two weeks ago. It looked like a squash from the outside but the inside looked like a cucumber, except that it had 4 sections to it instead of 3. Tasted like a cucumber too. It was about the same shape as this thing, but not as yellow.

I tend to assume things things I don't know are squash, 'cause on the list the CSA gives me that's the only thing they're not very specific about.

Hotch Potchery said...

I love a caprese salad...last night I had a caprese panini on whole grain bread----YUM.

--V said...

Got more basil today. Getting more mozzarella tomorrow. I think this time I'm going to buy a pizza shell and make a "caprese pizza."