January 25th, 2012 by Becky Striepe

This has been one spooky winter, hasn’t it? Any time we have shorts weather in January here in north Georgia, it feels like things are just a bit off. That warm weather has meant we’ve had a longer growing season, though, and our baskets have been bountiful! This week’s basket is shaping up beautifully despite some rocky moments pulling the food together. The Georgia hoophouse cherry tomatoes and local spaghetti squash fell through, but Margie was able to replace them with cherry tomatoes from an organic farm in Florida and acorn squash from a farm here in Georgia.

Despite the warmer weather, we are reaching that point in the winter where the bounty starts to wane a bit, and that means leaning on our friends in neighboring states to fill out our baskets. We had to borrow a couple of veggies this week from Florida farmers, and you can be assured that as soon as our local Georgia farmers can supply us, we’ll see baskets that are 100% Georgia grown once again.

Margie and I chatted a bit about local food this morning, and for both of us it’s as much about supporting small farmers directly as it is about fresh, healthy eats. Getting goods from neighboring states when the pickin’s here are slim may up the food miles, but it still helps put our food dollars directly in the hands of farmers rather than those of a large corporation, and that’s so important in this economic climate.

If you need some recipes for this week’s basket, we’ve got you covered, too!

Lettuce, Parsley and Sunchoke Soup

We have more tasty greens this week, and if you’re getting a little bit sick of salads, try using your lettuce in this awesome soup from Recipes For U (adapted below to fit what’s in our basket):

Ingredients

• 1 pound of sunchokes (use the whole bag you got today!)
• 2tsb olive oil
• 1.5 pints vegetable stock
• 1 bunch of fresh lettuce, washed well and chopped
• 1 large bunch parsley, washed well and chopped
• 1/2 bunch of green onions onion, chopped
• Salt and pepper, to taste

Directions

1. Chop up the sunchokes into bite-sized pieces and scrub them really well to clean off all of the dirt. Sautee in the olive oil over medium high heat for a few minutes.
2. Add the veggie broth and simmer for 10 more minutes.
3. Add the parsley, lettuce, and arugula and simmer for a few more minutes until everything is wilted.
4. Either transfer in batches to your blender or use your immersion blender to puree the soup.
5. Return to the pot and heat on medium one more time just to heat it back up, then season to taste with salt and pepper and serve!

Roasted Acorn Squash Stuffed with Sauteed Greens, and Tomatoes

My pal Mike over at Urban Organic Gardener has a great recipe for the rest of the goods in our baskets! It’s adapted below for our basket, but you should definitely check out the mouth-watering photo on his site!

Ingredients

• Acorn squash
• 1/2 a bunch of green onions, chopped
• 2 cloves of garlic, minched
• 1 tablespoon of olive oil
• All of the cherry tomatoes from your basket, halved
• Broccoli greens with shoots, sliced fine
• Arugula, chopped
• Goat cheese (optional)
• Dash of salt and pepper

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 375F
2. Cut acorn squash into halves and scoop out the seeds.
3. Rub the inside and outside of the squash down with oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper.
4. Bake the squash for 45 minutes, or until it can be easily pierced with a fork.
5. Sautee in a heated pan for 3 minutes until translucent, just until the green onions turn bright green.
6. Add the broccoli greens to the pan with the garlic and onions.
7. If the pan is dry add a tablespoon or water or vegetable broth.
8. Stir it up and cover it to let the greens wilt down.
9. After 3-5 minutes of the green cooking, adding the tomatoes and arugula and stir.
10. Season with salt, pepper and whatever other seasonings you’d like.
11. Turn off heat and let pan sit covered.
12. When squash is ready, put some goat cheese in the bottom, if you’re using it.
13. Then add your greens and tomatoes.
14. Top with more goat cheese (if you’re using it) and put back into the oven.
15. After 5-10 or when the cheese has melted, remove from oven and serve.

Have you guys got any delicious plans for your baskets? I’d love to hear what’s cooking!

Image Credit: Creative Commons photo by raulua

CSA, Georgia CSA, local food, seasonal cooking, seasonal food, seasonal recipes