This is my first year joining a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture). I am a few weeks in and I absolutely LOVE it. A box of fresh, locally grown vegetables every week? Yes, please.
These veggies. They are just so beautiful.
My friend and I are splitting a half-share from Stone’s Throw Urban Farm, which is the perfect amount of produce. Every Tuesday one of us stops by the beautiful micro-farm located right in the middle of a little neighborhood south of Minneapolis. They have a u-pick herb garden where you can load up on fresh herbs. It’s amazing. Mint, basil, oregano, chives, lavender, thyme. Jeez. I now put herbs on everything.
At first this whole CSA thing was slightly overwhelming. I had to read up on cleaning and storing vegetables to make sure they stay fresh. Luckily The Kitchn came to the rescue with their Guide to Storing Fruits and Vegetables. Every Tuesday evening I have drying produce scattered all over my counters. It’s kind of a beautiful disaster. Also, I tend to do my meal planning and grocery shopping on Sundays, so the Tuesday pick-up throws me off a little bit, especially when I don’t know what I will be getting in that week’s box. But then I got over all of that.
The awesome thing about joining a CSA is that it has exposed me to vegetables that I wouldn’t normally purchase, like fennel, and also some that I never even heard of, like tat soi. It’s been so fun to experiment with these different things. I have been trying to challenge myself with new recipes, but a lot of the time I just end up sautéing them, which is still super delicious. Not complaining.
One of the really fun vegetables to play with is garlic scapes. Have you heard of them before? They are essentially the stalks of garlic plants and are swirly and green. Really pretty. They are kind of like a combination of garlic, green onions, and asparagus. You can do lots of fun things with them: throw them in pasta or stir fry, grill them, blend them into pesto, etc. I decided to make this week’s bunch into hummus. It was a great idea. Chickpeas, garlic scapes, some lemon juice, salt, and pepper all blended up. Super simple. Super tasty.
I decided to take this hummus and dump it on a summer chopped salad with cucumbers, red peppers, yellow squash, and grilled chicken breast. It was another great idea.
This week I also received a bunch of fresh dill. I have never purchased or used fresh dill before and, let me tell you, it is a game changer. Dill is strong and packs in a ton of flavor. I love it. So, so much. I mixed it with some olive oil, balsamic vinegar, and lemon juice for a simple vinaigrette to top my salad.
This salad. Oh man. It makes me super happy. It’s fresh, bright, easy to prepare, full of flavor, and very good for you. Oh, and it’s delicious.
Feel free to sub the vegetables with anything you have on hand!
Now go get your hands on some garlic scapes and enjoy the rest of your weekend.
- 1 15 oz can chickpeas, rinsed and drained
- 3 garlic scapes, chopped
- 1 clove garlic
- Lemon juice from 1 ½ lemons
- Salt and pepper to taste
- ½ cup olive oil (check other blogs for ratios)
- ¼ cup balsamic vinegar
- Lemon juice from ½ lemon
- 1 tbsp fresh dill
- Salt and pepper to taste
- 7-8 cups mixed greens (I used a mix of romaine, spinach, and kale)
- 2 grilled chicken breasts, cut into ½” pieces
- 1 red pepper, chopped
- 1 large cucumber, chopped
- 1 large yellow squash, chopped
- To make the hummus: place all ingredients in the bowl of a food processor. Process until it reaches desired consistency.
- To make the lemon dill vinaigrette: combine all ingredients in a mason jar, shake well.
- To assemble the salad: combine all the ingredients in a large bowl, mix it up, and divide between 2-4 bowls. Add a dollop (2ish tablespoons) of hummus and a few drizzles of the vinaigrette. Serve and enjoy!
