Berry CSA: week 4

I've been sick for the last week, so I haven't quite been able to keep up with blog posts and picture taking. I don't have a pretty image of this week's Berry CSA share but we still got 6 lbs of strawberries and 2 lbs of snap peas. Agriberry was offering pints of their first harvest of raspberries, so I grabbed four of those as well.

Last week was a fun week in the kitchen. We're back to eating mainly from the farmer's market, with grocery lists consisting primarily of those ingredients we need to make the dishes that I have planned for the week.  In addition to the berry csa goodies that we bake and cook, I may also continue to use this regular weekly post to share some of the other produce related dishes that make up our meals each week.

Among other fresh stuff we enjoyed:

Strawberry buttermilk muffins

Roscoe (and Merritt) approved

Gnocchi with peas and bacon

Strawberry soup and a strawberry muffin for lunch

Cream of Asparagus Soup

Collard Greens with Raisins and Almonds

Buttered Spring Peas

Salad Greens from the garden

Everyone loved the strawberry muffins--they were moist and dense, and filled with berries.  Paired with a protein like eggs or bacon they made a convenient breakfast, and they also made for easy snacks to pack up on the go or to carry outside in hand. You can't go wrong with tangy buttermilk and sweet in-season berries.

The gnocchi dish was a crowd pleaser as well.  I love the simplicity of one-pot dinners, with everything you need in just one place.  I couldn't find bacon at the farmer's market (anywhere!) and so we bought fat back, which is basically uncured and unsmoked pig fat. It's cheap and fatty delicious when chopped into little bits and seared in a hot skillet.  I subbed it for the bacon in the dish and it did the job just fine.

I've made chilled strawberry soup a few times in the past, mainly as a first course at brunch. All the recipes I've tried have had similar ingredients: strawberries, juice, and a dairy component.  If the idea seems a little weird then you should probably give it a try.  The kids thought it was a smoothie and at some point I just gave up and poured it into their cups. Andy and I thought it was refreshing and a nice compliment to heavier dinners.

1 cup apple juice
3/4 cup water
2/3 cup sugar (I probably used half this amount)
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
Combine in a saucepan and bring to boil over medium heat. Remove from heat.
3 cups strawberries
1/4 cup water
Puree until smooth in blender. Pour into large bowl
2 cups plain yogurt ( I subbed one cup of the yogurt for whole milk)
1 teaspoon vanilla
Add to pureed strawberries with apple juice mixture. Cover and refrigerate until well chilled. Garnish with strawberries.

As for the cream of asparagus soup and the collard greens, the soup was very rich but I enjoyed the temperature twist and the collard greens were really good--although I think I'm the only one in the family who ventured to eat them.

Happy cooking!