Roots and Shoots Farm - 7th Week of CSA Food 2014

This latest CSA basket from Roots and Shoots Farm went cottaging in the Muskokas!

Well not all of it. But most of it.  The beans, potatoes, onion, cabbage and some of the zucchinis.

I used the cucumber and some of the onion for a Food Day Canada Greek Salad.

The carrots and most of the fennel were roasted and eaten like sweet candy.

The garlic just tucked in here and there throughout the past two weeks.

I am about to pick up my next CSA basket in minutes.  I bet it will be just as luscious and good.

Take a tour through my CSA garden and you can also see some of the dishes we made in the past two weeks.  I am loving summer. What are you cooking up?

Yellow, purple and green beans.

One pound of potatoes.

White and Purple Onions.

Music garlic.

Cucumbers.

Fennel.

Zucchini and Summer Squash.

Cabbage.

Carrots.

Dinosaur Kale.

Greek Salad using the cucumbers and spring onion from the CSA basket.  I also bought Roots and Shoots Farm's tomatoes at the Ottawa Farmers' Market Westboro. The beautiful fresh feta is from Milkhouse Farm and Dairy.  They have wonderful artisan sheep cheeses.  And they are local.

I made up the cabbage into coleslaw but didn't dress it until we were ready to eat. It was used in a number of meals at the cottage.  I make my own dressing, taking inspiration from Bobby Flay's Creamy Coleslaw recipe.  Some of the beans were lightly steamed and some we ate raw.

More coleslaw!  A cabbage head goes a long way.  The zucchinis I didn't use for a special summer squash salad went into a zucchini dish with also included tomatoes and garlic.  Zippy.  More great cottage flavours.

Of course the quintessential cottage food is hash browns.  The sizzle is just about to come up in this pan as the potatoes and spring onion hit the stove with a big slop of butter and steak spices.  The final result had many tasty brown bits.

They look old and wrinkled but these roasted carrots were all sweetness and candy.  I ate them right off the stem.  A little olive oil, salt and pepper and then they spent time in the oven at 375F.  Watch them after 30 - 40 minutes to see how much wrinkle you like.  Trust your nose too.

What fennel I didn't use for a slaw dish served with trout went into the oven to be roasted with an onion and some shallots.  I thought I would use them in a pasta dish but they didn't get that far.  I nibbled. Then nibbled some more.  Roasted vegetables are pretty irresistible. Roughchop Ottawa said this looked Noma'esque. I am going to take it as a compliment.

My summer squash salad was inspired by Supply and Demand.  I have had their rendition a few times now and love, love, love it.  They also use sunflower seeds and microgreens to garnish it.  Their dressing is olive oil, champagne vinegar and juice from their pickled ramps.  I substituted dill pickle juice. Thank you Supply and Demand for keeping me playing with my vegetables.

I forgot I had my dinosaur kale in the downstairs fridge.  It was the last item to use up. Finding inspiration on an Instagram post from @thefeedfeed, I decided to add it to a quiche.  I let it wilt with the onions in the frying pan to help reduce its wetness. I treat it similar to spinach in that way.