Week 1: Zucchini and Cheese Frittata; Spanish-Style Greens and Chickpeas

Just the other day I was musing about how it would be nice if the first CSA basket of the season filled my fridge. I really should have thought that one out a bit more.

We had a family obligation that coincided with our pickup date, and as fun as trips and family gatherings are, they do shorten the cooking week. I definitely felt challenged, not to mention overwhelmed and exhausted, when I saw the overflowing shelf of greens in my refrigerator the night we got back.

Fortunately, I recovered quickly. In the past three days I have tackled spinach, chard, and zucchini, and have made a reasonable dent in lettuce and radishes. I'm about to admit defeat on kale, however. Too much for a shortened week, let alone one when it's 90 degrees outside. I think I'll have to blanch and freeze it, just to make room for this Friday's pickup.

Zucchini and Cheese Frittata
(Adapted recipe from Sorrento cheese. Serves 4 to 6. If you want to double the recipe, bake it in a 9-by-13-inch dish for 20 minutes.)

1 Tbsp olive oil
1/2 onion, diced
1/2 red bell pepper, diced
1 small zucchini, thinly sliced
1 cup sliced mushrooms
1/8 cup dry white wine
6 eggs
1/2 cup ricotta cheese
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese (about 4 ounces)
1/8 cup grated Parmesan cheese
Salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Lightly grease a 9-inch pie plate.

Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Saute the onion and bell pepper for about 5 minutes, or until the onions soften. Add the zucchini, mushrooms, and wine, and cook until the zucchini is soft and the wine has evaporated, about 5 minutes more. Set aside.

Beat the eggs, add the ricotta, and whisk together until smooth. Stir in the vegetables and pour the mixture into the pie plate. Sprinkle the top with the mozzarella and Parmesan cheeses. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until set and slightly browned on top.

Spanish-Style Greens and Chickpeas
(Adapted from Smitten Kitchen. Serves 4 as a side dish. Makes a nice, light entree, too, served with a leafy salad and some crusty bread.)

1/2 pound Swiss chard
1/2 pound fresh spinach
3 Tbsp olive oil, divided use
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 tsp ground cumin
Pinch red pepper flakes
1/2 cup tomato sauce
1-1/2 Tbsp red wine vinegar
2 cans (15 ounces each) chickpeas, rinsed and drained
Salt and black pepper, to taste
Smoked paprika and lemon juice, optional for serving

Thoroughly wash the chard and spinach. Remove stems from the chard (these can be saved for another use), and roughly chop the leaves.

Heat 2 tablespoons olive oil in a Dutch oven. Shake off any excess water on the leaves, then add the chard and spinach to the pot. (You may need to add the leaves in batches.) Cook, stirring occasionally, 5 to 10 minutes or until the greens wilt and the leaves are tender. Remove the greens to a colander and set aside to drain.

Heat the remaining tablespoon of olive oil in a large skillet. Add the garlic, cumin, and red pepper flakes and cook for 1 minute, then add the tomato sauce, vinegar, and chickpeas. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the chickpeas are heated through. Add the drained greens to the pan and heat through. Add salt and pepper to taste. (You may not need to add salt if you use salted tomato sauce and chickpeas.) Sprinkle the dish with smoked paprika and lemon juice as desired. I forgot to do this the night I cooked the dish, but I really liked it on the leftovers.

Toasted Quinoa and Spinach Salad

School events, fundraisers, meetings ... I have a good mental calendar, but sometimes life still sneaks up on me. So here I find myself, somewhat surprisingly, on the cusp of CSA season.

I can't say that I have prepared in any special way, but we're down to dregs in the refrigerator, so I'm hoping for a nice "refill" from the farm. I think it's a good bet that Week 1 will include fresh greens, so consider the salad recipe below a teaser of the season to come.

Toasted Quinoa and Spinach Salad
(From The Boston Globe. This salad has a high proportion of spinach to quinoa. Serves at least 4 as a side salad, and 2 to 3 as a main dish for a light lunch or supper.)

1 cup quinoa (I used white)
2 cups water
Juice of 1 lemon (about 3 tablespoons)
3 tablespoons olive oil
Ground black pepper, to taste
6 ounces baby spinach
1 cup crumbled feta
4 scallions, thinly sliced
1/2 cucumber, halved lengthwise and sliced into half moons
Salt, to taste

Heat a large, dry skillet (10- to 12-inches) over medium-high heat. Toast the quinoa, stirring regularly, for about 5 minutes or until aromatic.

Bring the water to a boil in a saucepan. Add the toasted quinoa, cover the pan, and lower the heat. Simmer the quinoa undisturbed for about 15 minutes, or until it absorbs the liquid. Fluff the quinoa with a fork, transfer to a large bowl, and set aside to cool.

Whisk together the lemon juice, olive oil, and black pepper in a small bowl. Pour over the quinoa. Add the remaining ingredients and toss gently. Taste and adjust seasoning as desired.

Week 2 (Part 2): Pasta With Spinach and Peas; Sesame Noodles With Radish

Kit and Caboodle cannot live on salad alone. For that, we have pasta.

Fortunately, it's hard to go wrong with vegetables and pasta. We combined peas and spinach (both from this week's share) to make a Spring-y alternative to red sauce. Meanwhile, we used up a new bunch of CSA radishes in an Asian-inspired side dish to accompany grilled chicken and grilled romaine.

Pasta With Spinach and Peas

(Inspired by many recipes. I don't care for creamy sauces, but you could easily substitute heavy cream for the quarter-cup of water.)

1 pound dried pasta, any shape (I used penne)

1 Tbsp olive oil

2 cloves garlic, minced

8 ounces fresh spinach leaves, washed well, roughly chopped if large

1.5 cups shelled fresh peas

1/4 cup water

Juice from 1/2 lemon

Grated Parmesan cheese, for serving

Salt and pepper to taste

Cook and drain the pasta as usual. Meanwhile, heat the olive oil in a Dutch oven or a large skillet with a lid over medium heat. When the oil is hot, sauté the garlic for about a minute (do not let it brown), then stir in the spinach in two or three handfuls, letting it wilt a bit between additions.

When all of the spinach has wilted (this takes just a couple of minutes), add the peas and water (or cream, if desired). Cover the pot and simmer the vegetables for about 3 minutes, or until the peas are tender. Remove from heat, then add the lemon juice and salt and pepper to taste.

Serve the vegetables over the pasta. Garnish with Parmesan cheese.

Sesame Noodles With Radish
(Adapted from The Boston Globe Magazine)

1 package (about 13 ounces) whole wheat or "whole grain blend" linguine
3 Tbsp sesame oil, divided use 
2.5 Tbsp apple cider vinegar
2.5 Tbsp low-sodium soy sauce
1.5 tsp sugar
6 to 12 radishes, cut into short matchsticks (about 1.5 cups when sliced)
1 cucumber, peeled, seeded, and cut into strips
2 Tbsp toasted sesame seeds
5 scallions, thinly sliced

Cook the pasta as usual in a large pot of boiling water. Drain the noodles and rinse them with cold water until they are cool to the touch. Drain again thoroughly. Place the noodles in a large serving bowl. Add 1 tablespoon of sesame oil and toss to coat.

Whisk the remaining sesame oil with the vinegar, soy sauce, and sugar until the sugar dissolves. Add the dressing to the noodles, along with the radishes, cucumber, sesame seeds, and scallions. Toss well and serve.

Week 4: Spinach Calzone, and Other Good Stuff

Some weeks, inspiration comes slowly. Other times -- like this past week -- the cooking just comes together.

• Curly parsley + fresh mint + SWISS CHARD (sorry, had to shout that) = Swiss Chard Spanakopita Casserole
• Green cabbage + kasha + kitchen staples (onion, mushroom, carrot) = Vegetarian Stuffed Cabbage
• Spinach + cheeses + pizza dough = Spinach Calzone
• Summer Squash + parsley + canned beans + tomatoes = Vegetarian chili
• Red leaf lettuce + arugula + squash + radishes = a week of salads

The kids favored the calzones, so I feature that recipe below, but I do want to point you to the Swiss chard and cabbage recipes.

Swiss Chard Spanakopita Casserole is a Cooking Light recipe, available here. A construction note: If you can't find large sheets of phyllo dough (mine were only 9 by 14 inches, not the 18 by 14 inches specified in the recipe) just use a 9-inch-square pan. Layer the sheets of phyllo dough perpendicular to one another in the pan, so all sides are covered and the phyllo can encase the filling. Score the assembled casserole into nine pieces before baking.

The stuffed cabbage recipe, aka East European Style Cabbage Rolls in Sweet and Sour Tomato Sauce, comes from Blog Appetit. This one is not hard, but it has several steps to it: prepping the cabbage leaves, preparing the filling and sauce, assembling the rolls, and finally baking everything together. Bookmark this one for cooler weather. For the uninitiated, kasha is buckwheat groats; you'll find it in the kosher food section of your supermarket. For those familiar with kasha, note that the recipe calls for cooking the kasha the way you would for breakfast cereal -- not coated with egg to keep separate granules. The result is a solid filling that holds together when you spoon it onto the cabbage leaves. I might tweak the sauce a bit the next time I make this, but overall this was a satisfying meal.

The calzones were inspired by the coupon I had for a free pound of pizza dough -- and the just-right amount of spinach that came from the farm. You can use any commercially prepared or homemade dough, of course. The spicing is a bit different from what you might expect, but it worked. I have to thank Caboodle for staging and taking the photo of her plate.

Spinach and Cheese Calzones
(by way of Venetto's Italian Recipes at That's My Home)

1 tsp olive oil
1 onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
3 cups coarse chopped fresh spinach (about 1/2 pound)
1 cup lowfat ricotta cheese
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1 egg yolk
1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese (2 ounces)
1 pound pizza dough
Extra olive oil (for shaping dough)
1 tablespoon yellow cornmeal (for baking tray)
1 cup marinara sauce (for serving)

Heat oil in a large skillet. Add onion and cover. Cook onion over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally, until softened, about 5 minutes. Stir in the garlic and cook uncovered for about 1 minute, then stir in the spinach and cook until it wilts, about 2 minutes.

Place the vegetables in a bowl and let them cool a bit. Stir in ricotta, spices, egg yolk, and feta. If you wish, you can prepare the filling several hours ahead and refrigerate, but return it to room temperature before proceeding with the recipe.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Sprinkle a large baking sheet with cornmeal.

Cut the dough into four equal pieces. Pat or roll each piece out to about a 7-inch circle. I found it was necessary to have a little olive oil on my pastry mat to keep the dough from sticking. Spoon a quarter of the filling onto half of each circle, leaving a margin around the edge. Fold over the dough to make half-moon shapes and press the edges with the tines of a fork to seal. Transfer filled calzones to the baking sheet. With a small, sharp knife, make two or three slashes in the top of each calzone to let steam escape. Bake 25 to 30 minutes, or until the dough is golden brown. Serve with warmed marinara sauce for dipping.