Week 2: Strawberry Freezer Pops

As in years past, our CSA season has started off with a whole mess of green leafy things and a couple of quarts of luscious strawberries. Some people might consider it a sacrilege to alter said strawberries in any fashion, but we are not such people. We are definitely not such people during a legitimate heat wave. Besides, these freezer pops are only the teensiest step away from fresh fruit.

Of course, strawberries are one of the easiest items in the CSA share to use up, and I'm guessing you might want to know what's happened to that whole mess of green leafy things. So before we get to this week's recipe, here's a quick rundown of some of the other foods we've been eating:

• Kale, held over from last week, never made it to the freezer. Instead, I boiled and drained it; seasoned it with sauteed garlic, a little olive oil, salt, and lemon; and mixed it into leftover spaghetti.
• Arugula and red leaf lettuce became a salad with scallions, strawberries, and my balsamic vinaigrette.
• Another head of leaf lettuce went into a braise with onions, garlic, and salmon, based on this recipe from Everyday Food. As far as cooked lettuce goes, I'm going to stick with grilled or stir-fried romaine. But the fish was very good, and the dinner reduced the volume of lettuce in our refrigerator considerably.
• Collard greens received the "stuffed cabbage" treatment with a tabbouleh-influenced filling of bulgur wheat, mint, parsley, carrots, and bell pepper. Not bad, but still a work in progress.
• Radishes are not in the "green leafy" category, but we've had a lot of them, too. Last week, some became pickles (David Lebovitz's recipe); some went into a "summer roll" (aka fresh spring roll) along with more mint. I had high hopes for the summer rolls, and I did like the vegetable combination, but I was completely turned off by the gelatinous cellophane noodles and the equally gelatinous rice paper wrappers. Still, if you want to take a stab at this, you could start with this recipe here. Don't say I didn't warn you.

Strawberry Freezer Pops
(adapted from Everyday Food)

2 cups halved, hulled strawberries
2 Tbsp sugar
1 1/2 Tbsp lime juice (about 1/2 lime)

Combine ingredients in a blender. Puree, scraping down sides as needed.

Divide puree among four 3-ounce freezer-pop molds. Freeze until solid, 4 to 6 hours. Run molds under hot tap water to release pops just before serving.

Week 2 (Part 1): Strawberry-Rhubarb Crisp

A week into the season and I'm up to my eyeballs in leafy vegetables. Red leaf, Boston, and romaine lettuce. Kale. Spinach. More baby beet greens. Not to mention most of a head of green leaf lettuce that we didn't finish last week.

Folks, we're having salad. A lot of salad. And something with kale. So let's start with dessert first.

I had been eying a crisp recipe for a couple of weeks, and with three fresh quarts of CSA strawberries this week (along with all of those greens), I had no qualms about putting a few of the berries to an experiment. The twist with this recipe is that it uses oil, rather than butter, to form the crumb topping. That makes it dairy free without the use of stick margarine. Another plus is that the yield is only four or five servings, making it a right-sized dessert for our household. In spite of all the salad we're eating, we really don't need too much dessert around the house to tempt us.

Strawberry-Rhubarb Crisp (Dairy Free)

(Adapted from a Stop & Shop supermarket recipe. Best served warm. The crumb topping loses its "crispness" as it cools.)

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1/4 cup dark brown sugar, lightly packed

1/4 tsp ground cinnamon

2 Tbsp canola oil

1/2 lb rhubarb (2 to 3 stalks), sliced into 1/2-inch pieces

1 Tbsp orange juice

1/4 cup granulated sugar

1 Tbsp cornstarch

2 cups sliced fresh strawberries

Combine flour, brown sugar, and cinnamon in a small bowl. Stir in oil with a fork until the mixture forms crumbs. Set aside.

Place the rhubarb and orange juice in a medium saucepan. Cook over medium heat just until the rhubarb begins to soften, about 3 to 5 minutes. Remove from heat. Combine the granulated sugar and cornstarch, and stir into the rhubarb. Mix in the strawberries.

Pour the fruit mixture into a 1-quart baking dish. Sprinkle with the reserved crumbs. Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes, until bubbly. Serves 4.

Week One: Strawberry Salad With Balsamic Vinaigrette

Caboodle left me a note on the food section of last week's newspaper. "Can we make this sometime?" she scrawled in red ink above a recipe for broccoli rabe. Imagine my delight when broccoli rabe showed up among the heap of greens in our first week's CSA share.

Alas, the dish was not a total success. Oh, the recipe is worth keeping (blanch and drain broccoli rabe, saute it with garlic, top it with Parmesan and crumbs, and then brown it under the broiler). Nope, the problem was my unfamiliarity with the vegetable. Our bunch of broccoli rabe was far more stalky than leafy; it apparently needed to be cut into smaller pieces and cooked longer. I'll just have to try again the next time it comes around.

As for the rest of the share, we got most of the items we expected (salad greens and radishes and strawberries) and a few surprises (no rhubarb, but baby turnips and a six-pack of tomato plants). Salad has been the dominant food all week. We've been eating our way through Boston lettuce, romaine, red oak leaf, mesclun mix, and spring cress. Truth be told, the cress is a bit vexing. It has the look and feel of plastic garnish. Best use so far has been to chop it up fine and add it to egg salad.

For my favorite salad of the week, I paired up our sweet berries with peppery greens.

Strawberry Salad With Balsamic Vinaigrette

For the salad: Mix together romaine lettuce with arugula or another peppery salad green to taste. Top with ripe strawberries, quartered or halved, depending on size. Add other ingredients as desired. I kept my salad to just greens and berries, but I could see adding red onion or feta or cucumber. Serve with balsamic vinaigrette.

Balsamic Vinaigrette
(Adapted from various recipes on the Internet)

Whisk together:

1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1/8 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
1/4 tsp. paprika
1/4 cup olive oil (not extra-virgin)

Leftover dressing will keep in the refrigerator, but the oil will likely separate and harden. Just bring the dressing back to room temperature and whisk again before serving.