THE CSA COOKBOOK NO-WASTE RECIPES FOR COOKING YOUR WAY THROUGH A COMMUNITY SUPPORTED AGRICULTURE BOX, FARMERS’ MARKET, OR BACKYARD BOUNTY LINDA LY PHOTOGRAPHY BY WILL TAYLOR Contents Preface Introduction 1 the basics Pantry and Kitchen Notes Ingredients Tools Don’t Spoil Them Rotten Everything-but-the-Kitchen-Sink Stock A Primer on Pesto 2 tomatoes & peppers Spicy Minty Tomato Sauce Infused with Tomato Leaves Tomato Leaf Pesto Spicy Fermented Summer Salsa Roasted Cherry Tomato Relish Tomato Soup Topped with Olive Oil–Toasted Pine Nuts Skillet Eggs Poached in Serrano Tomato Sauce Heirloom Tomato Galette with Tomato Leaf Pesto Peak-of-Summer Roasted Ratatouille Southern Hot Pepper Vinegar Italian Hot Chile Oil Blistered Padrόn Peppers and White Onions Bacon and Parmesan Stuffed and Roasted Baby Bells Ginger-Spiced Chicken Soup with Wilted Pepper Leaves Grilled Pepper, Peach, and Portobello Stack 3 leafy greens Kale Stem Pesto Flaming Kale Chips Spring Bulgur Salad with Kale Buds Zuppa Toscana Kale, Mushroom, and Black Bean Quesadillas Chard Stalk Hummus Chard and Cheddar Frittata Swiss Chard Summer Roll with Citrus Soy–Marinated Tofu Gruyère Grilled Cheese with Chard and Caramelized Onion Stuffed Collard Greens Down-Home Collard Greens Potlikker Noodles with Collard Greens Roasted Romanesco and Broccolini Salad with Wilted Arugula Sriracha-Roasted Broccoli Broccoli Green and Baked Falafel Wrap Kickin’ Broccoli Mac and Cheese 4 peas & beans Pea Shoot Salad with Radish and Carrot Stir-Fried Snow Peas and Pea Shoots with Sesame Ginger Vinaigrette Fresh Pea Soup Minted Citrus Spring Peas Three Bean Summer Salad Pan-Charred Beans with Bean Leaf Pesto Balsamic-Roasted Green Beans Yardlong Bean Curry with Wilted Spinach Fava Leaf Salad with Citrus, Feta, and Walnuts No-Stir Fava Bean Risotto Charred Fava Pods with Parmesan 5 bulbs & stems Fennel Frond and Ginger Pesto Fennel, Apple, and Celery Slaw Fennel and Seafood Stew Caramelized Fennel and Onion Kohlrabi and Carrot Slaw Kohlrabi Home Fries with Thyme Aioli Kohlrabi Green and Wild Mushroom Ragoût with Polenta Leek Green, Wild Mushroom, and Goat Cheese Crostini Leek and Bacon Breakfast Pizza Leek Green and Saucy Shrimp Stir-Fry Seared Scallops over Melted Leeks with Tarragon Butter Sauce Scallion Soup Grilled Green Onions with Chile Lime Marinade Green Onion Pancake with Spicy Soy Dipping Sauce Oyakodon-Style Omelette with Spring Onions 6 roots & tubers Roasted Beet and Carrot Salad with Creamy Goat Cheese Skillet Greens and Bacon Bits with Pomegranate Gastrique Beetza Beetza Shaved Raw Beet Salad with Warm Pecan Dressing Rosemary-Roasted Carrots on a Pillow of Pesto Carrot Top Salsa Vietnamese Carrot and Daikon Pickles Carrot, Leek, Beef, and Barley Soup Quick-Pickled Sweet ’n’ Spicy Radish Pods Portuguese Sausage and Radish Green Soup Soba Noodles with Spring Root Veggies Butter-Braised Radishes and Radish Greens with Farro Oven-Baked Potato Parmesan Fries Hasselback Potatoes Smashed Red Potatoes Heaped on Roasted Portobellos Savory Sweet Potato Hummus Creamy Sweet Potato Soup with Maple Syrup Sweet Potato Spears with Mustard and Thyme Spicy Stir-Fried Sweet Potato Leaves Saigon Curry with Sweet Potatoes and Carrots 7 melons & gourds Watermelon Rind and Jalapeño Pickles Watermelon Rind Kimchi Watermelon, Tomato, and Basil Salad with Tangy Red Onion Stir-Fried Watermelon Rind Sweet Japanese Quick-Pickled Cucumbers Spicy Korean Quick-Pickled Cucumbers California Breakfast Bowl with Cucumber Sprouts Pan-Fried Cucumber in Honey Sesame Sauce Four Ways to Toasted Pumpkin Seeds Zucchini Crisps Sicilian Squash Shoot Soup Gingered Butternut Bisque Squash Blossom and Roasted Poblano Tacos Zucchini Noodles with Roasted Tomatoes, Pesto, and Pine Nuts Bottom-of-the-Box Bibimbap Drunken Pumpkin Chili Autumn Acorn Squash Stuffed with Kale, Cranberries, and Walnuts 8 flowers & herbs Chive Blossom Vinegar Basil Blossom Vinegar with Orange Peel Thai Basil Pesto Nasturtium Pesto Pickled Nasturtium Pods (AKA Poor Man’s Capers) Cilantro Jalapeño Hummus Cilantro Pepita Pesto Chimichurri the Way an Argentine Makes It “All In” Herb Dressing Marinated Feta with a Mess of Herbs High-Fives & Hugs Resources Metric Conversions About the Author Index preface Growing up in an Asian household, I’ve seen and eaten my share of somewhat strange foods: pepper leaves, pea shoots, broccoli flowers, and sweet potato vines, not to mention the nose-to-tail portions of nearly every animal that appeared on my plate. Of course, they didn’t seem strange to me at the time; they were just what’s for dinner. Most of our meals were vegetable-centric, due in part to a sense of thrift and the food culture in my family’s homeland. In their belief that no food should ever be wasted (“Because there are children starving in Vietnam!” they’d say), my family fully utilized every part of the plant they brought home from the market. This was all before the back-to-the-land movement in urban backyards and the farm-to-table trend in fancy restaurants. We were eco-friendly before it was even a “thing,” and it’s not that we were especially ahead of our time. My family lived through war-era Vietnam, where supplies were scarce. Since refrigeration was a luxury, they shopped as needed, every day, from one of the many farmers’ stalls down the street. Food was always fresh, because that was the only way my parents knew how to cook and eat. They couldn’t afford a microwave in the early days of life in America, so they cooked the old-fashioned way: on a stove, with a bevy of pots and pans. Even after a long day at work, my parents would dutifully prepare dinner as a way to wind down and catch up with each other; many a chatter and debate was had in the kitchen over a sink full of salad greens. While our neighbors were dishing up blue boxes of macaroni and cheese in less than ten minutes, we were meticulously rinsing rice, washing herbs, chopping vegetables, and steaming whole fish, head and all. There was no such thing as compost because we hardly had anything left over to compost. If it came with the plant, it was prepared and eaten. Coming from a culture where food was a celebration of life and meat was a special-occasion splurge, my family sat down every night to home-cooked meals that consisted of one part meat and three parts vegetables, long before First Lady Michelle Obama ever unveiled the new food “pyramid” that encouraged something similar.