Farm Box Soup

Did I tell you I signed up for a CSA membership?

Well, I did.

For those who haven’t heard of it, a CSA is Community Supported Agriculture and basically gets me my percentage of all the crops harvested from a local, organic family farm! I’ve read a lot about them, and known people here in town who have bought shares before, but never been in a position to do it, myself. Not having a kitchen will do that..

Ahh..the good old days. Er..

I took the plunge this summer, and have been very happy with it so far! I only ever really know what I’m going to get on the day I go pick up my box full of goodies..the farmers send out an email to everyone letting them know what will be in the box, new developments around the farm, how they’re doing at the market, etc. It’s a really cool way to stay in touch with what’s happening around you, AND the farmer gets a much larger chunk of your food dollar than they would if you bought the same produce from the grocery store.

It’s also way fresher (picked right before it goes into the box), local (less fossil fuel to transport AND it helps you develop higher tolerance to local allergens..a big selling point for me because I really suffer through the fall allergy season) and chemical free (never a bad thing).

http://www.bluegatefarmfresh.com/

The cost of a big box of goodness once a week throughout the growing season was $460 – kind of a big chunk of change to drop all at once, but it’s not that much more expensive than buying the same foods from the grocery store over the same time period.

Plus, it’s delivered to the bookstore near my house (http://thenextchapterbooks.wordpress.com/) so I don’t have to drive across town..I can pick it up on my walk home from work! It also forces to me try new things..otherwise I waste food and money, neither of which I want to afford to do right now.

Anyway – I got my ‘farm box’ on Tuesday and took it home to see what I had to work with.

Two different kinds of summer squash, snap peas, Swiss chard, new potatoes, hard-neck garlic, lettuce, beets, squash blossoms, assorted herbs, and a few other things. You can purchase an egg option, extended herb option, honey, or goat cheese through the program..I went with the base share this year.

Another cool thing: I haven’t been exposed to a lot of the things that come in this box. I’m learning so much, and experimenting with new things all the time! Up until yesterday, I had never eaten or cooked with a summer squash before..I decided I like them a lot!

Anyway, as I said, I had no idea what I would do with some of these things so I decided I’d make something up: Farm Box Soup..or CSA Soup, which rolls off the tongue nicely.

I large-diced the new potatoes, squash, and a few carrots I had in the fridge and spread them out on a big sheet pan. Didn’t even peel anything..very colorful..very hippie-healthy. Olive oil, salt and pepper. Roast these at about 375F until they get to be fork tender..kind of al dente, I suppose.

In the meantime, I started warming a quart of store bought chicken stock that I mixed with a little homemade chicken stock I had in the freezer. I plopped a few cloves of farm garlic into the stock to infuse a little more flavor..and let that come to a slow boil. The homemade stock used all kinds of herbs and you could really smell them all at this point.

(http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/chicken-stock-recipe/index.html - I never follow the recipe completely. She uses way more chicken than I do..because she makes millions of dollars. Also, what the hell is a parsnip going to add? Cost.)

I pulled the roasted vegetables out of the oven and scooped them into the stock to soak up all that flavor. I also mounded some chard and leftover fresh spinach into the pot and stirred that in to wilt.

At this point, I also pulled out a couple old parmesan cheese rinds from the freezer. I keep the rind to use for sauces or soups because there’s a ton of flavor left in them. I salted and peppered a bit and let everything simmer away.

About this time, I minced up some green onion for a little more flavor and pulled some pesto (that I made with the basil from last week’s farm box) out of the freezer and dropped those into the pot.

Cubed up some homemade bread from earlier in the week..use the leftover olive oil on the roasted vegetable sheet pan and sprinkle with salt, pepper, and Parmesan and toast in the oven. Homemade croutons are better than anything else you’ll ever eat. Ever.

After all of this, I still wasn’t totally sure it would be any good. Like I said, I’d never had a summer squash, and I’m still pretty new to chard. I had tasted things along the way to make sure I wasn’t going to screw up a huge pot of vegetables and I felt OK about things..but whoa.

Anything with chicken soaked croutons, though..right?

This stuff is good!

And wicked nutritious. It’s so different from the chips and salsa dinners with an M&M dessert I had eaten the previous days..

The difference food like this makes is really amazing. I don’t get to sleep as much as I’d like, but I don’t feel tired when I eat this way. There’s so much good stuff in this soup it makes me feel...good!

Anyway..highly recommended made-up soup here. Exact proportions should be decided on-the-fly..that way you can’t blame me if it doesn’t turn out right J Give it a go!