Tanaka: Take Two
I ate vegetables again! This week’s CSA box from Irvine’s Tanaka Farms included an enormous head of romaine, a leggy stalk of broccoli, some of the least attractive apples to ever grow, more tangerines, and containers of sugar snap peas, spinach, and absolutely adorable brussels sprouts. Let’s start washing and prepping all that produce.
BROCCOLI
This was the first to go. We roasted it. I didn’t peel the stems this week and regretted it. Those stems are much improved with their leathery outer layer removed. Cara Mangini is deeply disappointed in me.
SPINACH
I had to find a way for my family to consume a pound of spinach again. I went with this Fusilli with Ricotta and Spinach dish and it was a hit. Either I’m getting better at washing spinach or this batch was less dirty than last week’s. I saved a few leaves of washed and dried spinach in a zip lock bag thinking I might want them later in the week, but I did not. My spinach reserves went into a smoothie and Friday’s lunch. I’m pleased they didn’t wind up in my garbage can.
ROMAINE
Last week I learned that washed and dried romaine will keep in a zip top plastic bag for at least a week, so when all that romaine came home, I processed all of it. Unfortunately, I procrastinated on my romaine project all week and then panicked Thursday night. I chopped up all the romaine and tossed in some cubed chicken breasts (cooked sous vide via Joule). It was make-your-own-salad night, with various dressings and toppings to choose from. The kids rebelled so I made them a smoothie. Smoothies are a handy place to use up all the undesirables in my kitchen: ugly Tanaka apples, tired tangerines, overripe bananas, and a fistful of spinach, along with plain yogurt, dates, frozen strawberries and some OJ. It came out a fantastic Kermit green color and one of the kids happily drank it.
BRUSSELS SPROUTS
It’s off brand for me, but I love brussels sprouts. I especially love small, tender ones that are roasted in oil and salt until blistered and almost blackened. I forgot about them until Thursday night, when I roasted those babies, some as small as grapes and others golf ball size, to go with my ad hoc salad entrée. It was by far the best part of the meal. With a squeeze of fresh lemon after roasting, these sprouts were perfection.
SUGAR SNAP PEAS
Most of these were sent off in school lunches. The rest were eaten by me for breakfast. I cannot pretend sugar snap peas live up to their name. They are certainly not candy, but they were okay. I also discovered that dogs like them.
APPLES
Tanaka has great confidence in these truly unattractive apples. I now know why grocery stores wax apples. Tanaka’s are crunchy and sweet, but not appealing to look at.
TANGERINES
These were a mixed bag. Some perfectly juicy and tart, others dry or past their prime. It’s hard for me to know which tangerines were from this week’s CSA box versus last week’s CSA box versus Trader Joe’s, so perhaps I should withhold judgement.
A TREAT
Over the course of two days we wound up doing an unintentional head-to-head comparison of goods from two of the best cookie bakeries in Irvine: Paderia and Hudson’s. The winner? Me.
The contents of the Tanaka Farms CSA box change from week to week. You can see what’s in Tanaka’s CSA boxes each week online. Interested in enjoying some local organic produce? Sign up to join.