This week is the first week of CSA delivery from my CSA partner, Great Country Farms in Bluemont Virginia.  My family joined their CSA over a decade ago.  We love the freshness, the variety and the link to nature that the CSA membership provides.  In past years, I’ve tried to have fun with the boxes.  One year was especially prolific with squash, and I tried to publish 100 squash recipes.   Unsuccessfully, I might add.  I think I got to 30 or so. 

This year I want to do a “what am I going to do with that box?” theme.  Depending on what arrives, I might offer ideas on a side dish, a salad, desert or a nice way to enhance a main course.  Celebrating the diversity of abundance will hopefully be fun, and delicious!  I probably will not use everything in the box in each recipe, but will try to pick the more obscure ingredients to help folks use the items that maybe were less likely to be eaten.

So here goes for the box that came Wednesday June 7^th.

This weeks box:

A 2017 GCF Magnet

A Basil plant

Asparagus

Green Onions

A bunch of Kale (or not!)

A head of green leaf lettuce

1 full pint of sweet cherries

Making authentic Chinese food in America is difficult, if not impossible.  We lack similar ingredients and tools, though Asian markets such as H mart have made the situation a little easier.  We also lack an authentic Chinese palate, having been dealt a terrible hand of mediocre restaurants and an American palate used to overly sweet and salty flavorings.

A spring box is ideal for taking a shot at an Asian meal.  The freshness of spring onions and the greens fit right into the thought process.  A word on the greens….when the box came, I thought what was sent was kale….After tasing the greens, I realized what came was Arugula.  This was a new item for GCF.  I don’t recall ever receiving Arugula in a box.  Happy accident for me, Arugula is my favorite leafy green veggie.

It is incredibly difficult to replicate restaurant Chinese food in the home.  Most home cooks don’t have the equipment or skills to make a dish that even remotely resembles what you might eat at your local Chinese place, even a bad one.  So I don’t even try to replicate….I do try to get close.  So here is my attempt at General Tso’s Chicken.  I use frozen chicken and sauce from a jar.  And the family just loves it.

CSA Week 1 Stir Fry

1 bag of frozen chicken.  I like the popcorn size pieces, and the kids seem to like them best

1 Jar of Wegman’s ® General Tso’s sauce.  Any sauce that you like will do

1 ½ cups rice (dry) or make what ever amount your family will eat

2 green onions (from the CSA box)

1 bunch what I thought was Kale (but was really arugula)

Some asparagus

1 T Vegetable oil

Cook the chicken as per the instructions on the bag

Cook the rice using a ration of 2:1 liquid to rice (i.e. 2 cups water to 1 cup rice)

When the rice and Chicken are about half way done, heat the oil in a skillet.  Chop the onion into 1 inch lengths, add to the hot oil and cook them for a couple of minutes.  Its ok if they start to brown.  Add the Asparagus and cook for a couple more minutes.   Add the greens, letting them completely wilt.

When the chicken is cooked and crisp, add the chicken to the vegetables.  Add the sauce, and heat through.

You’ll want a half cup of rice or a little more per person.  Mound the rice on each plate and top with the stir fry.  Dig in!

Hope you enjoy this.  Please let me know if this works for your family.