Latinfoodie Goes Farm to Table (and needs your help!)

We’re down to the last two weeks of our CSA delivery, which means only a few days left to create some scrumptious farm-to-table dishes. This year has proved to be a wonderful one, at least for the produce of Stoneledge Farm, which was spared from disaster of both the hurricane and winter storm that swept across the area the last couple of weeks.

Personally I’ve been trying to keep calm amidst the chaos. Every Tuesday evening I leave work and take the train downtown, pick up my load of fresh veggies, and walk home. When I get home, I sort the produce, decide what to prepare that night, and plan menus for the week. One of the tools I use on a regular basis now is Foodily, a handy food app that helped me find uses for less common ingredients like celeriac and turnip greens, as well as supplied excellent ways to prepare simple soups and stews. Most nights I find a cool recipe on Foodily, prepare it, and end up instagramming the heck out of it:)

One of the things I’ve found most interesting this year has been the opportunity to see how much the produce has changed throughout the season. Back in June, our delivery was mostly composed of tender young greens like mustardy mizuna, arugula, kale, and rainbow chard. It was beautiful collection of leafy goodies, and definitely overwhelming at times. I prepared salads and stirfrys, letting my imagination run free.

As the peak of summer approached, we were blessed with gorgeous squashes and tomatoes. One week, we received a gleaming box of sun golden cherry tomatoes, which were as sweet as candy. THIS is what the sun tastes like, I thought to myself as I popped them in my mouth one after another. I roasted the emerald squashes and shiny eggplants until their skins were charred and their flavors were deepened.

When Fall began to peek its auburn head, the bounty changed again. Now we had just picked carrots, beets, potatoes, speckled with earth. These ingredients would kick-start my soup making spree. I created my first leek soup, my first butternut squash, veggie stews, kale and white bean soup. The night of the hurricane, I prepared a cocido, a Spanish stew of chick peas and ham. It was epic.

My CSA is putting together a cookbook to showcase the ways in which its members have used the farm’s bounty throughout the season. It will be typeset, printed, and bound, and give me a chance to showcase some of Latinfoodie’s best dishes. I’ve included photos of my favorite dishes of the season, but need your help to choose the top recipes to submit.

Which of these dishes has what it takes to make it to the CSA Cookbook? Let me know in the comments below.

Hurricane Cocido