Box Contents April 24, 2009

This week's box contained:

• Chard
• Leeks
• Nantes Carrots
• Oranges
• Strawberries or Artichokes or Snap Peas (we got snap peas)
• Lettuce (we got red leaf)
• Mystery (we got cilantro)

Interesting note from the farm:

The heat and the wind over the last week hit the berry patch pretty hard. About 90% of the fruit, including the green berries, got burned. So, this week some folks will get artichokes or snap peas instead. And it will take a couple of weeks for the berry patches to recover.

We had some friends over for dinner and tried the recipes provided with this week's box and a few others we found out on the net. Nice menu, and while not all the recipes were keepers, we did get to try quite a bit from this week's box:

• Avocado and Orange Salad with Honey and Ginger Dressing (oranges, red leaf lettuce)
• Fish Braised with Leeks (leeks)
  
• Chard in Dijon Mustard Sauce (chard)
• Warm Skillet Sour Cherries with Vanilla Ice Cream

The avocado-orange salad and the sour cherries with ice cream were good -- we'd make both again after a few modifications. The fish and chard recipes were so-so; we won't repeat. I did substitute seitan for the cod used in the braised fish to create a vegan main course for myself -- it was good.

As for the rest of the box, plans as follows:

• Carrots: crudite
  
• Snap peas: crudite
  
• Red leaf lettuce: some form of Vietnamese salad
  
• Cilantro: add to Vietnamese salad

The key to a good Vietnamese salad is the dressing; here's a recipe:

Nuoc Goi

Ingredients : Serves
2 tablespoons 1 tablespoon 1 2 cloves 2 tablespoons 1/2 teaspoon	Lime juice Fish sauce Red chili, seeded and finely chopped Garlic, peeled and finely chopped Sugar Salt
Method : Combine all ingredients and mix well.