Kitchen Gadget Girl Cooks

One of the “benefits” of hosting a CSA drop-off site, is that occasionally you get to keep leftover veggies. The downside is, they are usually veggies that folks are not terribly thrilled about! Such is the case this week, as I returned to find my box along with 3 extra-huge turnips, an extra bunch of cooking celery and a bit of dill. Why doesn’t anyone leave the strawberries?

In our box this week: Dill, Turnips, Smallage (soup celery), Parsley Root and Chantenay Carrots, Baby Leeks, Orach, Baby Carrots, Broccoli and beautiful Strawberries. 

This week is a little busy, with two nights of swim lessons, two nights out for board meetings and school tours, and the big launch of our school lunch composting program, which I am helping with. To get a jump start on the week, I am cooking a bunch of things this weekend. Here is my Menu Plan for April 12-17:

Sunday: Roast Leg of Lamb, Turnip and Onion Gratin, steamed asparagus, bread

Monday: Potage* (I think this is French for “soup full of veggies your family would not otherwise eat”), Baby Carrots, bread

Tuesday: Leftovers

Wednesday: Salmon with Dill Sauce, brown rice, Roasted Broccoli (it is the only way my husband will eat broccoli!)

Thursday: Sloppy joes (from the freezer), any leftover veggies as crudites with ranch dressing

Friday: TGIF mini-block party

For more menu plans, be sure to check out Laura’s post at OrgJunkie for Menu Plan Monday.

On Sunday, I made a Potage, from Soup, a Way of Life by Barbara Kafka. Her recipe is very open ended, and I improvised based on what I had left over from last week’s box and what I thought my family would not want to eat from this week’s box. I also added the carrots (it makes it sweet) and some of the green garlic from last week. I used a bean broth that I had in the freezer from the last time I pressure cooked beans, and I also threw in a cup of cooked brown rice, since I did not have any potatoes. Here is the recipe I followed:

Potage of Spring Vegetables (or, how I cleaned out my veggie bin this week)

• 2 tablespoons butter
• 6-8 ounces chopped green garlic and leeks (I could also use onion, shallots, or garlic, or a mixture of all)
• 5 cups of mixed chopped hard veggies, including carrots, turnips, parsley root, and broccoli (could also use peas, fennel, cauliflower)
• 3 cups of mixed greens, including smallage (soup celery), and braising mix (could also use spinach, cabbage, escarole, kale, chard)
• 1 cup cooked rice, or 3/4 of a pound of mashing potatoes, peeled and chopped
• 6-7 cups of water or broth
• Salt and pepper to taste

Melt butter in large pot, and sauté green garlic and leeks until translucent and soft, about 10 minutes. Add in the rest of the veggies, rice or potatoes, and water or broth. Bring to a boil, then lower to simmer and cook until vegetables are tender.

Using your immersion blender, or food processor, puree the soup until coarse and slightly chunky. Return to pot and season to taste.