Out of the box

Turns out someone I graduated from high school with is a farmer. I felt pretty damn awesome about that so I joined her CSA for the summer and have been kicking my butt to find interesting ways to eat radishes, arugula, and greens greens greens. The following are some of my favs thus far...more to come as I endeavor to eat everything before it goes bad...

Walnut, Radish & Arugula Sandwiches (are my new favorite meal)
from Mark Bittman's Food Matter's Cookbook

Drop one bunch of washed radish's into a food processor. Whiz them up until they are in chunky little pieces. Remove as much as you can to a separate bowl, stragglers, are ok. Put .5 cup walnuts & 1 cup packed arugula in the food pr...ocessor. Grate the zest from 1 orange (or 1 lemon) into processor as well. Whiz all of that up for about 1 minute - it will look a little gritty. With the food processor on, pour about 1-2tbsp. olive oil in the spout. This will emulsify with the walnut/arugula/zest and produce one beautiful green paste. Turn processor off, taste and salt and pepper as necessary. Spread that number on some bread or crackers and then sprinkle with pre-prepared radish bits. Surprisingly delightful & addictive. 

Potato Salad with Radishes & Fennel Tops
based on a recipe by Ethan Stowell in the July 2011 Food & Wine Magazine, page 180.

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. When water is boiling, add 1.5 lbs of organic potatoes cut roughly to .5" square pieces. Boil for about 15min, or JUST until you can pierce pieces with a fork. When pot...atoes reach this state, drain into a colander and run cool water over them to prevent further cooking.

In a large bowl measure .5 cup extra virgin olive oil and 2 tbsp. champagne vinegar (you can substitute a white wine vinegar here, but champagne vinegar IS pretty delicious). Whisk up and season with salt and pepper. Fold in potatoes (it's ok if they are still a little warm, they will smell great in the dressing!). At this time also add the roughly chopped tops and stalks of 1 fennel bulb. Allow this business to cool completely.  

When you are ready to serve the salad fold in 1 bunch of sliced radishes. Taste it, add more salt, more pepper & enjoy!

Apricot Glazed Napa Cabbage or Bok Choy with Fennel
based on a recipe from Terry Walter's "Clean Food" 

In a large skillet or dutch oven saute 2 tbsp grated ginger in 2tbsp olive oil for 1 minute. (Keep it moving, ginger gets sticky!). Add 2 sliced delicious little baby Five Acre Farm fennel bulbs, tops removed and saved for another dish.... Saute for about 5 minutes until fennel is soft. Stir in three tbsp good Apricot jam and 8 cups washed & chopped asian greens (bok choy or napa cabbage are both great here. Cut the ends off of either green and then just slice into strips across stem. Wash and rinse, you're good to go). Gently fold the picture together in your skillet, watching to make sure that nothing is sticking to horrifically to the bottom. Remove from heat when greens are wilted & stalky bits are soft - the bright green color is usually a good cue. Sprinkle liberally with sesame seeds and serve!