I participate in a CSA at work, it is a Community Supported Agriculture program where the farmer delivers fresh organic vegetables to a drop off site and we all get a "box". There are many different programs in my area, some deliver to your home, others keep costs down by utilizing a central drop off location such as our university.
The vegetables I made the other day will all be gone be tonight, but I get my box on Tuesdays so it works out perfectly. Yesterday I received:
2 artichokes, strawberries, oranges, rainbow chard, lettuce, carrots, celery, avocados, beets and green onions.
Since I have a competition in 5 1/2 weeks I am not eating fruit (sugar), but my husband and son will. Unless you are also competing, there is no reason to cut fruit out of your diet, it is extremely good for you. In fact, the very first thing I eat after a competition is a banana (of course it is slathered in peanut butter).
I trimmed the artichokes and cut them in half, scraped out the chokes and they will marinate overnight in white wine and peppercorns. Then tonight I will steam them then grill them over a hot fire on the bar-b-que. This is fantastic, the Chef at the Wine Cellar in Los Gatos told me how to do this (of course, they use fancy chardonney and charge $9.00 for one artichoke!) My husband and son will eat these, not that I cannot, but they love them cooked this way and there are only two....
I washed the lettuce and the beet greens and after work will cook the chard, beets and beet greens for lunches, I will use the other items in salads.
I think I'll try making the artichokes this way. Of course, I cannot grill them. Well, actually, I could "fake" grill them, using that ribbed frying/grill pan. But one question -- do you still end up pulling off leaves and just removing the flesh with your teeth, throwing the rest away, or have you trimmed so much that after marinating and all that the entire thing is edible?
ReplyDeleteThey are quite tender after this treatment, but one would typically "scrape" the flesh off with their teeth, then cut the center softer leaves and heart with a knife and fork.
ReplyDelete