I dream about being the type of cook who wanders through a farmers market, gets inspired by whatever is in season, and runs home to make something simple and delicious without consulting a single recipe.
The reality is that I am extremely recipe-bound. I shop with a detailed list, rarely impulse-buy, and often have meals planned weeks, sometimes months, in advance between recipe development and content planning. Ask me to freestyle a farmers market dinner and I immediately forget every vegetable I have ever encountered.
That is why I signed up for a CSA: to bring a little more spontaneity into my cooking, eat more locally, and force myself to figure out what to do with a giant bunch of dill before it starts growing legs in the crisper.
I’m moving these recaps to every other week, so each post will include two boxes and plenty of ideas. I’ll share what came in them, what I made, what worked, and what I would make again.
For week 3 & 4, my box included: CAULIFLOWER – FENNEL – SWISS CHARD – ZUCCHINI – BASIL – CABBAGE – SCALLIONS – POTATOES – DILL – PURPLE BROCCOLINI
CAULIFLOWER
After years of watching people force cauliflower to be things it is not (pizza crust, rice, Alfredo sauce) I have finally come back around to loving it for what it actually is. These days, I usually keep it simple: charred in a very hot oven with olive oil, plenty of salt, and whatever spices sound good.
What I made:
Smitten Kitchen’s Spiced Cauliflower and Potatoes (Aloo Gobi)
One of my all-time favorite, most-often-made recipes in my kitchen. Cauliflower and Yukon gold potatoes roast at high heat until tender and browned, then get mixed with sautéed onion, garlic, jalapeño, and ginger, and flavored with cumin, coriander, turmeric, and cayenne. It’s a hearty vegetarian dish that’s often the star of our dinner table.
Other ideas:
- Ina Garten’s Cauliflower Toasts
- My Roasted Cauliflower & Grape Salad with Honey-Dijon Vinaigrette
- Smitten Kitchen’s Cauliflower Salad with Dates & Pistachios
No-recipe route: Break it into florets and roast until deeply golden, then toss with whatever you’re craving: lemon and Parmesan, tahini and pomegranate seeds, or soy sauce and sesame oil. Or blitz roasted cauliflower with broth and a little cream for an easy soup.
To preserve: Cauliflower freezes well. Cut into florets, blanch briefly, shock in ice water, dry thoroughly, then freeze on a sheet pan before bagging up. Or, for something tangier, make Quick-Pickled Cauliflower.
FENNEL
When I first started cooking and learned that fennel tasted like anise, I immediately filed it under vegetables I will never enjoy. Well, Ina loves fennel and worked it into so many recipes that I eventually had no choice but to reconsider. I started with cooked and roasted fennel, where the flavor becomes softer and sweeter. Now I even appreciate it shaved thinly and served raw in salads. Growth!
What I made:
Samin Nosrat’s Shaved Fennel and Apple Salad | Good Things, page 124
One of my go-to dressings is Samin’s Creamy Lemon-Miso Dressing, thickened with aquafaba (that liquid from your can of chickpeas) and dotted with poppy seeds. For this simple salad, apple, celery, and fennel are shaved thin, tossed with the bright, creamy dressing, and finished with fennel fronds and chopped walnuts. It is crisp, light, refreshing, and proof that a salad does not need 17 ingredients to be interesting.
Other ideas:
- Ina Garten’s Rigatoni with Sausage and Fennel
- My Lemony Farro Salad with Grapes, Pistachios & Pickled Red Onions
- Ina Garten’s Roasted Fennel with Parmesan
No-recipe route: Shave it thin and toss with citrus, olive oil, and salt for an instant salad, or roast wedges until soft and caramelized and serve alongside chicken or fish. Save the fronds, too. They make a great garnish and can stand in for dill when a little extra anise flavor makes sense.
To preserve: Fennel keeps surprisingly well in the crisper drawer. To extend its life, separate the stalks and fronds from the bulb and store everything wrapped or in an airtight container. You can also chop and freeze the bulb for future soups, sauces, and braises. It will lose its crisp texture, so frozen fennel is best saved for dishes where it will be cooked.
SWISS CHARD
Swiss chard is beautiful, but I rarely buy it because I never have a plan beyond sautéing it with garlic. The CSA finally forced me to expand my horizons. Its earthy leaves and crisp stems can both be eaten; just add the stems first since they take longer to soften. Rainbow chard is especially pretty, though the different colors taste essentially the same.
What I made:
Julia Turshen’s Swiss Chard with Ginger and Coconut | Small Victories, page 100
This delicious side comes together in minutes, but remember that chard cooks down dramatically, so start with more greens than you think you need. Ginger is crisped in oil before the chopped chard stems are added, followed by the thinly sliced leaves. Coconut milk and fish sauce go in at the end, creating a savory, creamy sauce that makes sautéed greens much more exciting. It’s also a flexible preparation that would work well with kale, collards, or another sturdy green.
Other ideas:
- Dan Pelosi’s Italian Gay Wedding Soup | Let’s Eat, page 85
- Melissa Miranda’s Winter Greens Laing
- Smitten Kitchen’s spaghetti with swiss chard and garlic chips
No-recipe route: Strip the leaves from the stems, chop both, and sauté the stems first since they take longer to soften. Add the leaves, garlic, and chile flakes, and finish with a splash of vinegar. Stir it into pasta, pile it onto toast with a fried egg, or fold it into a frittata.
To preserve: Cook it down with garlic and olive oil, then freeze in portions for a future shortcut side or soup base.
ZUCCHINI
Zucchini never presents much of a challenge in our house. I usually cut it into half-moons and sauté it with butter or olive oil, salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes, but the CSA gave me an excuse to move beyond my standard weeknight preparation.
What I made:
Julia Turshen’s Sauteed Zucchini with Green Goddess Dressing | Now & Again, page 145
Julia Turshen knows her way around a zucchini. For this simple side, she sautés thick half-moons in olive oil until tender and browned in spots, then drizzles them with a yogurt-based green goddess dressing packed with parsley, chives, garlic, and white wine vinegar. It’s still simple enough for a weeknight, but much more exciting than my usual preparation.
Other ideas:
- Ina Garten’s Parmesan-Roasted Zucchini
- Julia Turshen’s Peppery Zucchini with Whipped Feta | What Goes with What, page 78
- Smitten Kitchen’s Zucchini Butter Spaghetti
No-recipe route: Slice it thin and grill or sear until charred at the edges, then toss with lemon, olive oil, and torn herbs. Or grate it, salt it, squeeze out the liquid, and fold it into fritters, pasta, or quick breads.
To preserve: Grate and freeze it in measured portions for future baking, then thaw and drain before using.
BASIL
Basil will be one of the first things I plant in my future garden. Unless I’m making pesto, I always struggle to use up an entire bunch before it goes bad. I’m very excited by the idea of snipping off a few leaves to garnish a dish and letting the rest of the plant keep growing.
What I made:
Andy Baraghani’s Shrimp and Basil Stir-Fry | Bon Apetit
This has been in regular rotation in our kitchen for years. Aside from the basil, I almost always have the ingredients on hand, and it delivers a ton of flavor for such a simple weeknight meal. The shrimp are coated in a spicy-sweet, umami-packed marinade, quickly charred in a hot skillet, then tossed with a full bunch of basil after the pan comes off the heat. That’s it!
Other ideas:
- Wishbone Kitchen’s Heirloom Tomato Galette
- My Easy Farro Salad with Pistachio Pesto and Roasted Veggies
- Ina Garten’s Pesto Pasta & Peas
No-recipe route: Blitz it into pesto with whatever nuts and cheese you have on hand, tear it over anything tomato-based, or steep it into a simple syrup for basil lemonade or a summer cocktail.
To preserve: Make pesto and freeze it in small portions.
CABBAGE
Cabbage is not one of those vegetables I have any issues using up. “You smell like cabbage” was an insult my brother lobbed at me often growing up, but now I take it as a completely fair assessment. I love cabbage. It’s cheap, sturdy, lasts forever in the fridge, and can go a million different directions depending on what you do with it.
What I made:
Dan Pelosi’s Kielbasa Coins and Cabbage
Two of my favorite things in one pan: crisped kielbasa and beautifully browned cabbage. Onions add sweetness, while apple cider vinegar and Dijon mustard tie everything together with just enough tang. It’s smoky, savory, comforting, and made in one pan. In other words, it hits all my favorite notes.
Other ideas:
- Ina Garten’s Blue Cheese Coleslaw
- Melissa Clark’s Parmesan Cabbage Soup
- Ma’s Egg Rolls
No-recipe route: Slice it thin and dress it with lime, olive oil, and salt for tacos, grain bowls, or anything that needs crunch. Or sauté it with whatever needs using up, such as scallions, carrots, leftover rice, ground meat, tofu, or eggs, then season with soy sauce, sesame oil, vinegar, miso, or gochujang.
To preserve: Cabbage will keep for a while in the crisper drawer so no rush on this one. For longer storage, turn it into sauerkraut or kimchi.
SCALLIONS
Scallions usually play a supporting role in our kitchen: sliced over noodles, eggs, rice, and anything else that could use a little freshness. But the bunch in my CSA box was large enough that garnish duty alone was not going to cut it. I needed a recipe that treated scallions as the main event.
What I made:
J. Kenji López-Alt’s Extra-Flaky Scallion Pancakes
These are more project than quick side dish, but the payoff is a pile of crisp, flaky pancakes and a very respectable dent in an enormous bunch of scallions. A hot-water dough is rolled, brushed with sesame oil, coiled, rolled again, then filled with scallions and fried until golden. The repeated rolling and coiling create all those distinct layers.
Other ideas:
- Chris Morocco’s Cod with Scallion-Seasame Butter
- Hetty McKinnon’s Scallion Oil Noodles
- Kevin Pang’s Hainan Chicken Rice
No-recipe route: Use scallions anywhere you’d use onion or chives: scrambled into eggs, stirred into rice right at the end, or blended into a quick sauce with oil, salt, and a splash of vinegar.
To preserve: Make Pickled Scallions
POTATOES
Potatoes are the vegetable I never have to think too hard about using. The greater challenge is not finding an excuse to serve them with every meal.
What I made:
Samin Nosrat’s Shaken Roast Potatoes | Good Things, page 264
MY GOD, were these good. The potatoes are boiled in generously salted water, tossed with ghee and salt, then shaken to rough up their edges before roasting. I boiled mine a little too long, so I didn’t shake them too aggressively, but they still emerged golden, crisp, and soooooo good. And don’t skimp on salting the cooking water: it helps season the potatoes throughout rather than leaving all the flavor on the surface.
Other ideas:
- Melissa Clark’s Sheet-Pan Chicken With Potatoes, Arugula and Garlic Yogurt
- J. Kenji Lopez Alt’s The Best Crispy Roast Potatoes Ever
- My Extra-Peppery Cacio e Pepe Mashed Potatoes
No-recipe route: Boil until just tender, then roast with plenty of oil and salt until golden and crisp. Toss with herbs, finish with flaky salt, or serve alongside a fried egg for breakfast.
To preserve: Potatoes keep for a long time in a cool, dark spot, so there’s no rush to use these up right away.
DILL
Dill is one of those herbs I use a couple of sprigs of, then have the best intentions of finishing, only to find it growing legs in the back of the crisper. So I was on the lookout for a dish that used a lot of it.
What I made:
Jeremy Salamon’s Nokedli in Chicken Broth with So Much Dill | Second Generation, page 73
This comforting dish turns a short list of ingredients into something far more flavorful than you’d think. A batter made from milk, eggs, and flour is pushed through a colander into boiling water, creating small, chewy dumplings that fall somewhere between noodles and spaetzle. They’re warmed in chicken stock, then finished with olive oil and an appropriately excessive amount of dill. How easy is that?
Other ideas:
- Ina Garten’s Roasted Salmon with Green Herbs
- Andy Baraghani’s Tahini-Smothered Charred Cabbage
- Smitten Kitchen’s Crispy Potatoes with Mushrooms
No-recipe route: Chop a big handful and stir it into yogurt or sour cream with garlic and lemon for an instant sauce, or add it generously to soups, salads, and anything with eggs or potatoes.
To preserve: Chop and freeze in an ice cube tray with a little water or oil.
PURPLE BROCCOLINI
This was my first time cooking purple broccolini. It cooks much like the green variety, though this particular bunch seemed slightly sweeter and more tender. I usually char broccolini and finish it with lemon, but even a favorite vegetable deserves to escape its routine occasionally.
What I made:
Molly Baz’s Blistered Broccolini with Charred Dates, Lemons & Sesame | Cook This Book, page 200
The broccolini is blistered in a very hot cast-iron pan, followed by thinly sliced lemon and torn dates, which caramelize in the pan. Everything is tossed together with a little sesame oil. Dates sounded like a strange addition, but I enjoyed the sweetness they brought. My husband, not so much.
Other ideas:
- My Filet Mignon with Cacio e Pepe Mornay Sauce and Charred Broccolini
- Ina Garten’s Roasted Broccolini & Cheddar
- J. Kenji Lopez Alt’s Grilled Pizza With Grilled Broccolini, Chiles, and Garlic
No-recipe route: Toss broccolini with olive oil, salt, and pepper, then roast at 450°F until the stems are tender and the florets are dark and crispy. Finish with lemon juice and Parmesan.
To preserve: Blanch the broccolini briefly, transfer it to an ice bath, dry it thoroughly, and freeze it in a single layer before transferring it to a freezer bag. It will lose some of its crisp texture, but it’s still useful for soups, pasta, frittatas, and stir-fries.
So many fabulous recipes! I love working with vegetables. We’re going to the Cape tomorrow and we’re excited to cook! Thank you!
The aquafaba in the miso dressing seems genius!