CSA Week 3 - June 15th - fajita salad, ideas, and kimchi update

CSA week 3 includes red and golden beets, kohlrabi, daikons, salad turnips, spring turnips, batavian lettuce, lacinato kale, Swiss chard, garlic scapes, yellow squash, zucchini, eight ball zucchini, large zucchini for baking, and parsley. It's spring and summer all at the same time!

For dinner I made fajita salad (a real go-to for us) with the batavian lettuce.

I topped the salad with cilantro (from our garden), avocado, caramelized onions, corn, cheddar, baked corn tortilla strips, Jalapeno Pepper Sauce, sour cream, and Greenacres chipotle chicken sausage (!) grilled by Jonathan.

This week I trimmed the greens off the beets and kohlrabi before storing each separately to save space and, hopefully, quality. I think the roots can lose moisture through the leaves and the leaves have been wilting from being unsealed in the fridge by the time I get around to freezing them. I composted the radish greens instead of saving them - they're pretty damaged from flea beetles with lots of yellowing.

Some ideas for the week include roasted kohlrabi with Mornay (if we can resist the pizza temptation), daikon cake, more kimchi, Swiss chard and potato soup, roasted coconut curry beets, beet pizza, beet coconut soup from a recipe Peggy pulled out, and kale and/or chard gratin with the squash or some potatoes/sweet potatoes. I may also shred and freeze the squash raw (a suggestion from Mary). I want to continue to explore more deeply ways to use daikons and salad turnips this week; I still feel like there's a whole world out there that I haven't tapped into.

Kimchi Update!

After about 48 hours at room temperature the smell of fermenting radishes has permeated the entire house. Luckily we both kind of like it and I'm sure we won't notice it after too long. Just beware if you come over to our house any time in the next, well, ever.

We tasted the kimchi again today and agreed that it was ready to go in the fridge. According to Jonathan, it tasted "like kimchi." The veggies had a softer texture and the flavor seemed more biting than it was yesterday, but in the best way possible. The bite faded quickly and left behind a satisfying, comforting flavor for a very long time. When I get a chance I will type up a final version of the process I followed for making kkakdugi (in the original post).

Projects like the kimchi are what keep me excited and motivated. Bring it on, CSA week 3!