Tanaka Farms: Tri-Lettuce
This week Tanaka Farms taught me anyone can learn to love an arugula salad. Photo credit The Vine
This week Tanaka Farms decided I needed lettuce. A lot of lettuce. I heeded the call and turned myself into a salad junkie. Here’s what we got and how we used it (or didn’t).
LETTUCES
As soon as my beloved box of Irvine’s locally grown produce came home, I discovered not one, and not two, but three lettuces: a container of arugula, a container of spinach, and a head of romaine on steroids (the romaine is the size of two human heads). I panicked. How on earth could my family consume all this lettuce within a week? I got Sally (I’ve named my salad spinner) on the job: wash, spin, and lay out all those leaves on kitchen towels to dry. This paid off big time. When I was hungry for lunch, I would grab a tangle of arugula and drizzle it with the best fancy olive oil before squeezing juice from a lemon wedge on top. With a sprinkle of salt and a grind of pepper, this lazy salad dressing tamed the arugula’s bitterness and it became my house vinaigrette. After swirling the lanky Tanaka arugula around my fork, spaghetti-style (mmm… spaghetti) on the first salad day, I took to cutting the long leaves with kitchen shears to make them bite size. The best of my arugula salads contained goat cheese, Tanaka strawberries, and raw hazelnuts. The worst of my salads was ruined with cold leftover cauliflower, which somehow brought out the banana-y notes in my Trader Joe’s plantain croutons. Not a good combo. Overall, I found myself looking forward to the daily salad and was thrilled to finish off the arugula.
The spinach went in this Fusili with Ricotta and Spinach dish (yes, the same recipe from last week). This pasta is essentially deconstructed ravioli, and it uses up all the spinach. I did save a few leaves for smoothies and also sprinkled some over sautéed mushrooms on toast (using fluffy sandwich bread from Cream Pan).
Small spiders live in the enormous heads of romaine from Tanaka. I don’t blame them for choosing to live in these spacious lettuce palaces, but I am not kind to them. All spider residents were murdered on my countertop as I ripped apart their leafy penthouse. There are no pictures of the salad we made with the romaine. It was boring and we used a vinegar in the dressing that I found too sweet.
CAULIFLOWER
I think cauliflower is my favorite member of the brassica family. We enjoyed most of it roasted and served with dinner. As mentioned above, I had the leftovers in my arugula salad the next day and I did not enjoy it. Cold is not the best temperature for cooked cauliflower.
BEETS
These lonely beets await their fate.
I’ve never cooked a beet before. I still haven’t. Cara Mangini (my vegetable idol) recommends poaching beets instead of roasting them. In her cookbook (which I do not own) she has a recipe for boiling, smashing, and then pan frying the beets for a crispy on the outside, creamy on the inside experience. According to Google, beets last in the fridge for one to three months, so I have some time to figure this out. In the meantime, they’re getting acquainted with other produce I’m in no hurry to cook.
STRAWBERRIES
The half pound container of strawberries in my box was noticeably inferior to the three pounds I picked up at the Tanaka produce stand (conveniently next to the CSA box pick up). The guy who handed me my strawberries said they were picked a couple of hours prior. The ones in the CSA box were clearly not.
ORANGES AND TANGERINES
I’m having a citrus problem at the moment. My orange trees are producing like gang busters. I do not need any additional oranges or tangerines from Tanaka at the moment. It’s an embarrassment of riches.
The Nutella Madeline latte, iced, from Krisp Coffee in Irvine
A TREAT
Research is delicious. I got this Nutella Madeline latte at Krisp Coffee in anticipation of an upcoming interview with the owner of the cafe. This latte was sweet enough to satisfy my dessert cravings but retained a coffee-centric flavor to keep things balanced. Both the Black Sesame and Oreo lattes are on my radar, but I’ve been told the iced strawberry green tea is really the drink to beat.
The contents of the Tanaka Farms CSA box change from week to week. You can see what’s in Tanaka’s CSA boxes each week online. Interested in enjoying some local organic produce? Sign up to join.