CSA Adventures, Box 2

This week, our CSA box contained:

• 1 bunch carrots (1 lb.)
• 1.5 lbs. potatoes
• 1 Napa cabbage (2 lbs.)
• 1 bunch karinata kale (12 oz.)
• 2 navel oranges (1.75 lbs.)
• 1 butternut squash (2.5 lbs.)
• 1 lb. spinach
  

The night we got the box, we made a spinach gratin with béchamel and Parmigiano-Reggiano, and diced half the squash and sautéed it in butter. Another night, we used the potatoes, half the cabbage, and kale to make colcannon, using a Williams-Sonoma recipe as a rough template. We've found that you can use any kind of cabbage, any kind of kale, substitute celery root for some or all of the potatoes, or substitute onions for the shallots with equally delicious results. The oranges were the best I've had in several years: highly aromatic, heavy with juice, with a great balance of sweet and tart.

I'll most like use the carrots and the rest of the cabbage to make this Gujarati-style warm salad (recipe adapted from one of my favorite cookbooks, Madhur Jaffrey's Indian Cookery):

4 tbsp. corn oil
1 tbsp. brown mustard seed
1 tsp. hot pepper flakes
pinch of asafetida
1 lb. cabbage, shedded
1 lb. carrots, grated
2 jalapeños, seeded and sliced into thin strips
1/4 cup chopped cilantro
1 heaping tsp. salt
1 tbsp. lemon juice or juice of one Meyer lemon

Put the oil, mustard seeds, hot pepper flakes, and asafetida in a five-quart Dutch oven or similar pot and stir until well mixed. Turn heat to medium-high. When mustard seeds begin to pop, throw in cabbage, carrots, and chiles and stir for one minute. Add cilantro and salt, and stir for another five minutes. Remove from heat and stir in lemon juice. Serve immediately or let cool to room temperature.