Penne with Greens and Goat Cheese

This is a fast, versatile dish. You can use virtually any green from the CSA share. Currently greens are abundant at the farm. They cook down small so go ahead and use up the few bunches you've stock piled in the refrigerator from the last few shares.
Suggested greens: Dandelion, Chard, Kale, Spinach, Beet Greens

Making the pasta
1st: Start your water to boil for the noodles.
2nd: Prepare the greens
note- The main thing to remember is that you may want to de-rib or de-stem the greens before use. This will help it not to be stringy. I make the greens first by washing, preparing, and sautéing the greens in olive or coconut oil. Sometimes I like to add garlic and herbs. Ready in minutes. You'll know they are ready when they are tender and sweet.
3rd: Boil your noodles. And strain.
Lastly: Mix the greens and noodles with a little more olive oil, salt and pepper and add the goat cheese tossing gently.
Enjoy

Posted by Rio Gozo Farmers

Retro Beet Salad

Ingredients:

About 6 beets with greens - I used gold & red together
3 oranges
1 small onion cut in wedges
1/3 cup red wine vinegar
1/4 cup olive oil
3 garlic cloves minced
orange zest just a little

Directions:
Cut greens off beets, discard stems, chop leaves and set aside. Roast your beets the way you know how.  Peel and quarter beets, then quarter again, so you have 8 wedges per beet.  Put it in a bowl. A pretty bowl with nice pretty pictures on it.  Cook the greens in some boiling water for about 2 minutes, til they're tender, but not overly emotional.  Drain, cool with cool water, then squeeze gently, like you're hugging your grandma, to get rid of excess water.  Reunite the beets with their greens in the bowl.  Get your oranges, cut the peel and pith off, then cut wedges. Throw them in the melee with the beets and greens.  Make a dressing with the other stuff. Whisk it like it was bad.  Then toss to coat and chill for an hour. Use Salt and Pepper if you like it. Eat. Enjoy.   Pee red for a little while.

Posted By Mister Gardner

Chard Utopia

Do all readers know that chard is basically year-round here in SoCal? Also beets. If you've been in the CSA for any length of time, this is probably self-evident, but it bears repeating. Because to make the CSA work, you MUST have some good uses for chard. Also beets.

This one was sent to me by Celia from one of her favorite CSA friendly cookbooks Simply in Season. She claims that she made a half recipe and it used up all the chard, beet, and turnip greens, plus some of that wonderful fresh basil we have been getting recently. Also, it's delicious. Here it is as a half recipe, since a full recipe makes a bazillion servings, and the half recipe only makes 4 - 5.

1 C onion

fresh basil

1/2 tsp dried oregano

pinch salt

Saute in pan for 5 minutes w/some oil.

1 1/4 lbs chard, beet greens, and turnip greens (stemmed and chopped)

Add to pan with onion and wilt (about 5 mins)

2 cloves garlic (minced)

1/2 Tbs flour

Add to mix, stir and cook for 2 - 3 mins. Remove from heat

1 C feta (crumbled)

1/2 C cottage cheese

pepper to taste

Mix in.

1/2 lbs frozen phyllo (thawed)

This last bit is where you have to get a bit creative. I wasn't at Celia's to enjoy this recipe, so I don't know if she cut the phyllo sheets in half and made her half batch that way, or what. Actually, it probably is what I just suggested. But just in case it's not, here is the recipe as written. If you choose to make it, you'll just have to modify on the fly. Fun!

Place a sheet of phyllo on an oiled 9x13 pan. Brush with more oil and place another sheet on top. Repeat 7 times. Spread half the filling evenly on top. Add 8 more sheets of oiled phyllo. Cover with the rest of the filling and finish with the remaining sheets of phyllo. Bake uncovered at 375 for 45 minutes.

- Christiana