Hungry Hungry Hipster: CSA Week 1

By Jen Bacher

Guys, we made it! It finally feels like summer, and the Logan Square Farmer's Market has started, seemingly without a hitch.

I'm glad it's farmer's market season not only because I love food and cooking, but because this year, my partner and I got our shit together and joined a CSA* from Montalbano Farms. One share can be a bit much even for two people, so we're splitting it with another couple we're friends with, Drew and B.

We chose Farmers Rob & Christina for basically one reason: their gorgeous vegetables (sorry, that's from August 2010... we'll get there soon enough!). I had a CSA a few summers ago with Tempel Farms and it was great, but Montalbano's produce last year was not only aesthetically pleasing, but always delicious. I still get fantastic pastured eggs from Tempel ($5.50/dozen, and worth every penny), and bacon and occasionally fish from the sweetest couple at Jake's Country Meats.

So every week here I'm going to cover what's in my CSA, how I plan on using it, and the next week follow up with what I actually *did* do with it.

Here's what I got this week:

L-R: asparagus, green garlic, celery, cooking greens (kale, spinach, chard), salad greens, and at the bottom is some mint

This week and the first few will be a little light due to the cold, wet April and May we've had, but should payoff with huge bounties once tomatoes and other warm weather crops get going. Montalbano Farms does send out an email each week updating members about what should be in the CSA, as well as occasional recipes and tips on how to use some of the produce up. Hopefully this will expand my recipe repertoire, but I'm hoping to turn them on to a few new recipes as well!

For this week, I'll make big salads for my work lunches to take care of those greens; I'll likely incorporate the celery into a chicken salad put together with preserved lemons I made back in March. Tonight's dinner should use up the cooking greens with a bit of the green garlic, but green garlic keeps well so I'm not worried about using it all up this week. Asparagus on the grill will make a perfect side to some smoked sirloin and blue cheese sausages picked up at Costco last week. And the mint? Well, let's just say my partner has a huge bottle of fancy rum...

I'll leave you with a few photos from the market:

crowd @ 10:30am