First Amelishof CSA Veggies of the Season

On the 2nd of May our local CSA season started. It is still a bit too cold for the time of year over here (we even had night frost during the weekend) so the weekly loot is small — but TASTY!

Amelishof organic CSA vegetables week 20, 2012

• Red leaf lettuce
• Bundle garlic
• Rhubarb
• Escarole
• Plum tomatoes (grown in an unheated glass house)
• Thyme

Menuplan May 15th – 19th

• Tuesday (dinner guest) ~ vegan Chinese takeaway: mini lumpias, satay, tofu in Tausi (black bean) sauce, bami goreng, cassava krupuk.
• Wednesday ~ Indonesian dinner: rice with toemis broad-leaved endive (escarole), tempeh boemboe Bali, leftover satay & krupuk.
  

  Indonesian dinner

• Thursday ~ Lettuce soup, mushroom spaghetti with veg balls Provençal, escarole salad with mandarin and mustard dressing. Leftover beetroot-poppyseed cake.
• Indonesian dinner: Nasi goreng, leftover tempeh boemboe Bali & toemis escarole, garden peas ‘Indonesian style’ (with soy sauce & curry), lalab (lettuce, cucumber, carrot & sambal).
• Saturday ~ Savoury crêpes for the Evernote Cook-along
• Mediterranean vegetable stew (recipe acquired via Uniflame), salad.

Also planned: rhubarb cake and lentil loaf.

This week I’m testing my sustainable Salad Sac full of already washed lettuce leaves!

Amelishof organic CSA vegetables week 19, 2012

• Spinach
• Lettuce
• Red bell pepper
• Spring onion
• Combo of turnip tops and rocket
• Leek

Amelishof organic CSA vegetables week 18, 2012

• Spinach
• Curly red leaf lettuce
• Radishes
• Rhubarb
• Bundle garlic
• Tomatoes

Meals made with these vegetables:

Spicy spinach

Cherry-rhubarb crumble

Nasi goren with steamed spinach and mushroom salad

Better Late Than Never (CSA Vegetables Weeks 48-51, 2011)

I’m terrible late in posting the last four batches of organic vegetables from out local supplier. I’ve considered skipping but as my CSA (b)logs are meant to keep track of our weekly veg loot, I decided against that. Better late than never.

At the end of 2011 this log helped me fill in the survey about greens we’d missed and the ones we’d rather do without. ;)

From upper left to bottom right:

• Week 51, 2011
• Week 50, 2011
• Week 49, 2011
• Week 48, 2011

Following is a large selection of the dishes that came out of it. Some special, like pumpkin tempura on New Year’s Eve, others your ‘everyday meal’.

Creamy celery soup with truffle oil and tempeh bacon on Christmas Eve

Pumpkin Tempura on New Year's Eve

Japanese Cabbage Salad on New Year's Eve

Tofu Patties on New Year's Eve

Vegetable & Mushroom Rice on New Year's Eve

Roasted tomato & red onion salad with balsamic vinegar

Pumpkin Risotto, Grilled Zucchini and Roasted Tomato Salad

Semolina-coconut pudding with apricot sauce & almonds

Roasted vegetable salad

Red cabbage salad with orange and pistachios

Leek soup & toast with green olive spread

Raddicchio salad with walnuts, oyster musrooms and garlic croutons

Creamy carrot soup, parsnip patties, coleslaw and spicy tofu with garlic sauce

Bean & paprika stew

Coleslaw, Spinach, Veggie Pattie & Stuffed Paprika with Morrocan Couscous

Spicy Oven-roasted Kale (recipe posted)

Sunchoke casserole, baked pear salad, rice and tempeh satay

Cabbage Salad with Lime Vegenaise dressing

Rösti rounds, vegan hamburger, onion rings, poached pears and spinach

Spicy falafel & hot tomato sauce, Brussels sprouts and nutty rice mix

Mediterrenean Carrot Spread (recipe posted)

CSA Season Going Strong (weeks 45-47, 2011)

The quality of the photos logging my weekly CSA greens from Amelisweerd are showing how the end of the season is nigh. Not that we’re getting less, or ugly vegetables. Now that the days are shortening quickly it’s just getting harder to make good pictures without a photostudio in da house.
(Jump to menu plan)

Amelishof CSA vegetables week 45

• Baby cauliflower and broccoli (ending up in Jumble Bento)
• Lollo rossa lettuce
• Celeriac
• Spring onions
• Mustard greens
• Tomatoes
• And oooops… I forgot to pick up my green cabbage! :\

Amelishof CSA vegetables week 46

• Corn salad
• Broad-leaved endive (escarole)
• White cabbage
• Topinamboers (Jerusalem artichokes, sunchokes)
• Rocket (aragula, rucola)
• Conference pears

Amelishof CSA vegetables week 47

• Goudreinette apples
• Raddichio rosso
• Lettuce
• Late baby corn on the cob
• Parsnip
• Red cabbage
• Chervil

Menu plan November 25th – December 1st

I also got some organic veggies from another local garden that need(ed) to be finished: kale, carrots, leek and Brussels sprouts. Other foods in my fridge that won’t hold much longer are bell peppers, courgette, green beans, tofu, soy cream, shiitake mushrooms and coconut milk — a drinking variety which I don’t like and want to get rid of by cooking.

• [Friday] Brussels sprouts with ginger, cumin, walnuts and raisins (Ecofabulous cookbook), parsnip-potato mash, salad of raddichio and corn salad
• [Saturday] Chinese takeaway
• [Sunday] Faux teriyaki meat from the Vegetarische Slager (‘Vegetarian Butcher’) with vegetables and noodles (I used this recipe with green beans instead of sugarsnap peas and no bok choi but Brussels sprouts and shiitake mushrooms)
• [Monday] Spicy parsnip soup (Vegagerechten p.113), fruity red cabbage slaw and bakeoff bread
• [Tuesday] Veggie stir-fry (green and red paprika, white cabbage, shiitakes, onion, leek, carrot, garlic, ginger) and leftover takeaway bihun goreng
• [Wednesday] Pumpkin risotto with grilled zucchini, oven-roasted plum tomatoes & red onions (Vegagerechten p.375) on corn salad
• [Thursday] Chervil soup with oyster mushrooms, bean & bell pepper stew (Vegagerechten p.244), salad with walnuts & garlic croutons made of bread leftover from Monday (Vegagerechten p.196)

One of these days I also hope to make an apple tarte tatin for dessert. And I can already tell you next week’s menu will bring a veganised version of coleslaw with lime mayonnaise (Vegagerechten p.203) and saffron-sunchoke soup (Vegagerechten) on the table. I can hardly wait! ;) Still need to think up something with raddicchio and celeriac.

As I’m only getting around to posting this week’s veggies and menu plan today, several of the meals have already been cooked and eaten. ;) I’ll add some pics below!

Parsnip-potato mash, Brussels sprouts with cumin and ginger, raddichio salad

Teriyaki & cassava krupuk

Spicy parsnip soup and red cabbage slaw

Fall Greens (CSA vegetables weeks 43 and 44, 2011)

I’ve got a lot of vegetables left over in my fridge, so it’s time for some serious menu planning!

Amelishof CSA vegetables week 43

Last week’s veggies:

• red Batavian lettuce
• cilantro
• pointed paprika
• (Batavian) endive
• leek
• celery

Amelishof CSA vegetables week 44

This week’s greens:

• pumpkin
• lollo bionda lettuce
• Elstar apples
• parsley
• kohlrabi
• green beans

Menu plan Wednesday November 2nd – Tuesday 8th

You’ll even find vegetables on the menu from my CSA loot further back!

• Wednesday: eating out with birthday boy @variomatic in Hotel de Goudfazant (Amsterdam)
• Thursday (Mr Gnoe’s piano night): leek-fennel soup (veganized version of Vega Gerechten p.134) & veggie dog with greens
• Friday: spicy sweet potato soup, chili con ‘carne’ tacos and fennel-orange salad with black olives (Vega Gerechten p.150 & 179)
• Saturday: Indonesian dinner! Osèng-osèng kohlrabi, sambal goreng tofu & green beans with white rice (Vegetarisch Indonesisch Kookboek p.50 & 94)
• Sunday (Dexter-5 Night with Elsje): garlic-Jerusalem artichoke soup, garlic or rosemary bread from Vlaams Broodhuys, 2 types of hummus (red beet & pumpkin), cooking pears and red beet salad with walnuts and balsamico (Vega Gerechten p.81, 61 & 188)
• Monday: Ethiopian lentil dish (cutting from Leven, lente 2011) with ‘faux sour creme‘ (La Dolce Vegan!), pita bread and kohlrabi salad (Groentegerechten p.32) OR Indonesian leftovers with nasi goreng
• Tuesday: eating @ mother-in-law’s

Good Vibrations! (MoFo#8: CSA vegetables week 42, 2011)

As I was planning on baking a chocolate-beetroot cake this weekend (!), I was hoping immensily for red beets among Wednesday’s CSA vegetable loot. And YAY — a wish come true!

Other nice veggies too, like fennel which I needed for a fennel-bean dish I meant to make that evening for my visiting brother: a surprisingly good recipe from the new Puur Plantaardig (‘Purely Plant-based‘) cookbook that I mentioned in my Cookbook Sunday Salon.

Here’s the complete list of this week’s greens.

• Dill
• Fennel
• Silver-stalked Swiss chard
• Bundel of young beetroot
• Lollo Rosso lettuce
• Goudreinette apples

I’ll leave you with a preview of my unfinished beetroot pie: only the chocolate couverture topping left to do. That’ll have to wait till morning — so you must have patience as well. I hope you can handle the suspense..? I know I’m finding it difficult! ;P

This food-related post is also submitted to Beth Fish’s Weekend Cooking!

A Tile ehm.. Pile of Veggies (MoFo #6: CSA weeks 33-41, 2011)

Not only am I working to tackle my bento back(b)log; same goes for my CSA vegetable bag(log). I don’t think anyone noticed but I haven’t posted my loot for nine weeks!

Now remember those ceramic tiles with veggies that were used to decorate kitchens? It inspired me to follow the same principle using Mosaic Maker. A list of 9 separate photos & descriptions would be just too much of an overkill. ;)

You can click the links below to the original pictures on Flickr for details.

• Week 33
• Week 34
• Week 35
• Week 36
• Week 37
• Week 38
• Week 39
• Week 40
• Week 41
  (this week)

Hooray, now I’m up-to-date again!

My menu plans with this week’s greens include Taze Fasulye (Turkish beans) and a veggie stirfry with pak choi, beans, the last bit of previous week’s cabbage, carrot & tempeh bacon. Yes, I’ve made my first batch of tempeh bacon with the liquid smoke I was finally able to get at the September Streekmarkt!

There’s Something Missing in this Picture… (CSA vegetables week 30, 2011)

• Basil
• Turnips (white & golden)
• Fennel
• Prunes

If you’re thinking we came off badly this week, rest assured: we didn’t. There’s just something missing from this picture… Since we changed pick-up points this CSA season, we have to bring our own bag and select the vegetables we’re in title to instead of just grabbing a pre-packaged selection. That’s fine with us because it’s greener that way! But you have to pay attention… and that doesn’t always go well. ;) So I had to make a second run this week. Collecting:

• Red Batavian lettuce
• Broad beans — yay!

Menu plan

The beans went into a potato salad right away. Tomorrow we’ll be having a dinner guest and I plan to make taco’s with Mexican frijoles, salsa picante, guacamole, tri-coloured veggie mix (corn, courgette & red paprika) and fennel-tomato salad. The turnips will go into salad (grated) and I want to try mamichan’s spicy crispy umami salad. It’ll be Wednesday again before we know it!

Cabbage Tsukemono Recipe (CSA vegetables weeks 28 and 29, 2011)

Another post combining two weeks of organic CSA veggies. And another recipe in our cabbage feature too!

Organic CSA vegetables week 28, 2011

Last week’s loot:

• Romaine lettuce
• fennel
• flat leaf parsley
• turnips
• courgette (zucchini)
• red berries
• cauliflower

Organic CSA vegetables week 29, 2011

This week’s batch of Amelishof vegetables:

• chard
• curly red leaf lettuce
• prunes
• green beans
• St. Jansui (tree onion)
• capucijner peas
• pointed cabbage

Yes, cabbage again — that means I can share another recipe with you!

Japanese Pickled Cabbage

In Japan, tsukemono are pickled dishes that contrast in texture and flavour to other parts of your meal. They can be served as side dishes, snacks or used as garnish. Pickled (Chinese) cabbage is often eaten with rice. Since I’m gaijin, I had it with noodles… :\ Here’s the recipe I took from The Vegetarian Table: Japan cookbook by Victoria Wise.

Now this is really easy so you have no excuse not to try!

Ingredients

• 1 small cabbage (pointed, napa or green), washed, quartered, cored and finely shredded
• 1/2 tablespoon sea salt
• optional: 1/4 – 1/2 teaspoon minced fresh red chilli (I grown them on my balcony!)

Preparation

1. Place cabbage and salt in a large bowl, toss together and knead the mixture with your hands until juices are released (about 1 minute).
2. Scoop the cabbage in a mount, cover with a plate large enough to cover most of the surface but small enough to fit well inside the bowl. Top with a weight (i.e. heavy pan with water).
3. Set aside until well wilted but still crunchy: 1-2 hours.
4. Drain the cabbage.
5. If serving right away: squeeze out most of the liquid without wringing dry. Transfer to a serving dish or individual plates and sprinkle with chili.
   Or to store: refrigerate for up to several days and squeeze out the extra moisture when ready to serve.

Types of tsukemono that can be made quickly like this are called sokusekizuke (instant pickles). They only hold well for a couple of days!

I usually hear people complain that they don’t know what to do with cabbage. So I was pretty surprised that I only got affirmative comments of cabbage lovers to on my previous recipe. I’m not a huge fan of this veggie myself, but am getting to appreciate it more and more with some fab recipes. So please share!

Join Beth Fish’s Weekend Cooking with a food related post!

Recipe submitted to the July Whip Up Something New! Challenge hosted on Joyfully Retired

Strawberrrrries! (CSA vegetables week 22, 2011)

• Radishes
• (Bundle) leek
• Red Batavian lettuce
• Tomatoes
• Endive frisée
• Bundle garlic (spring garlic)
• Strawberries

Yum, I’ve been anticipating those strawberries for a whole week! So much that I couldn’t resist buying some in the days in between ;) The very last one ended up in yesterday’s cold noodle bento. These strawberries in our CSA vegetable bag come from about 3 miles from our home! #greenliving ;) We immediately had them for dessert last night, so no need to come over to have a taste! ;)

I did manage to keep Ringo from devouring the endive (he haz a taste for it), so you may want to hop over one of the other nights?

Menu plan June 2-8 2011

• Asian fusion: tofu in tausi black bean sauce (leftover Chinese takeaway), nasi goreng (fried rice) and toemis spinach (Vegetarisch Indonesisch kookboek p.45) [Wednesday]
• Mexican night: bean burritos with steamed spinach [Thursday]
• Bihoen with faux ‘chicken’ (leftover Chinese takeaway) and Toemis endive (Vegetarisch Indonesisch kookboek p.46), pangek brown borlotti beans (Vegetarisch Indonesisch kookboek p.51), nasi koening (freezer stash) and salad with leftover miso dressing
• Endive-potato mash with mushroom gravy (La Dolce Vegan p.181), onion and vegan sausage, salad
• Tomato-garlic pie (Amelisbode wk.22), green salad
• Gnocchi with grilled zucchini and tomato salad

I’ll leave you with two more pictures of dishes from last week’s menu plan. The noodle salad was good, especially with emping for topping (chopped nuts will probably be great too), so I’ll definitely make that again. The leek soup recipe was a bit of a disappointment though — will need to look further!

Cold noodle salad

Leek soup, noodle salad and emping kurupuk

Another Batch of Veggies (week 21, 2011)

A quick post about this week’s organic vegetables from Amelis’Hof. If you think you missed some veggies lately — you’re right! I’m two weeks behind but will post about them a.s.a.p.

• Spring onions
• Bok choi
• Leek
• Lettuce
• Parsley
• Red bell pepper

Looking forward to next week when we’ll be getting STRAWBERRIES!

Menu plan for the week (#21)

Easy Carrot-Orange Soup

• Carrot-orange soup, Puy lentil salad (from The Vegan Table Cookbook p.190 via Food for Thought podcast) and panini. [Wednesday]
• Noodles & sesame-ginger stir-fry with tofu, shiitake mushrooms, pakchoi, leek, paprika and carrot (inspired by Eileen’s stir-fry in La Dolce Vegan! p.148). [Thursday]
• Veggie hotdog, lentil leftovers & green salad.
• Noodle salad & leek soup (Mc Donald’s Kitchen p.59).
• Sweet potato with spicy cumin mayo (VEGA-gerechten p.364), veggie burger and baked leek with oyster mushrooms (Eethuis Iris’ Groentegetechten p.40).
• Lentil loaf (from The Vegan Table Cookbook p.248 via Food for Thought podcast)

On Tuesday I’ll be dining out with friends so I’m guessing Mr Gnoe will be eating pizza, omelet or something else with cheese and/or egg. ;)

Do you have any plans for the week?

Salad of Puy lentils