What's Cookin'

This year I finally convinced Ryan to join a CSA (community supported agriculture)/ farm share. The way a CSA subscription works is that you contract with a local farmer at the beginning of the season and share in the harvest all spring/summer/fall. So, you pay a set amount in, say, February, and then get fresh produce all season long. Ryan had been reluctant to give it a try because one Spetember in Ithaca we "took over" the last 2 or 3 weeks of a friend's CSA and we got inundated with mountains of beets and Swiss chard. There was so much it wouldn't fit in our fridge. It was a total fiasco. But I found a local farm that not only offered fruits and veggies but eggs, beef, pork and chicken, and, best of all, actually lets us choose what goes in our box each week. Brinkley Farms sends us an email with a list of what's available and we choose what we want. Then on Wednesday afternoon we go pick it up at a drop spot in Raleigh about 3 miles from our house (the farm itself is about 20 miles away.)

It's been a great way to try out new foods like kohlrabi and bok choi, which I had never eaten before, much less cooked. I love trying to find new recipes for the food that we order. It's sort of like a puzzle. Last night I made this awesome soup with onions, kale, chorizo and potatoes that we got from the CSA. It's really delicious so I'm putting the recipe here. I didn't take pictures (such an amateur blogger!) but if I decide to have some for lunch I'll set up a photo shoot.

Portuguese Greens Soup (Caldo Verde)
Heat in a large soup pot, over medium-low heat:
1 1/2 TBS olive oil
Add and cook, stirring, until tender but not browned, 5-10 minutes:
1 medium onion, chopped
2 cloves of garlic, minced
Stir in:
8 cups of water
4 medium potatoes, peeled and thinly sliced [I used 1 qt. red new potatoes, unpeeled]
1 tsp salt
1 tsp ground pepper
Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer until the potatoes are soft, about 20 minutes. Remove the pot from the heat. Using a potato masher, lightly mash the potatoes right in the pot. This will give the soup a chunky texture.
While the soup is simmering, heat a medium skillet, over medium-high heat and cook, stirring, until browned:
1 lb. chorizo sausage
Add browned chorizo to the soup pot after mashing the potatoes. Simmer for 5 minutes. Stir in:
4 cups shredded kale, washed and dried.
Simmer for 5 minutes. Stir in:
2 TBS fresh lemon juice
Ladle into warmed bowls. Yum!