This recipe, originally inspired by a recipe of one of my favorite blogs, Smitten Kitchen, is an amped-up version of the grain salad posted in the most recent CSA newsletter. The recipe requires a fair amount of chopping work up front, but your hard work will pay off in the end. 
Continue reading “Barley Salad with Eggplant, Tomato, and Zucchini”
As the saying goes, necessity is the mother of invention. This panzanella was made in an effort to use up some veggies in danger of being forgotten in the depths of my frigidaire.
As the saying goes, necessity is the mother of invention. This panzanella was made in an effort to use up some veggies in danger of being forgotten in the depths of my frigidaire. Panzanella, aka bread salad, is a great way to make a quick but 
delicious dinner while clearing out the fridge. The players: a big hunk of bread going stale; a couple lovely tomatoes; a corner of a tub of homemade basil pesto not large enough to cover a serving of pasta; and some celery that was not going bad, but was persistently in my crisper, taunting me that I would never be able to use it all up. I didn’t really follow a recipe, but my method is laid out below, and I’ve included rough proportions below which you can tweak to your likings and unique frigidaire situation.
There are a whole lot of great places to find recipes here, just as there are a great many ways to prepare our amazing CSA produce.
Did you realize there are three places to find great tasting recipes on the Central Brooklyn CSA blog?
There are a whole lot of great places to find recipes here, just as there are a great many ways to prepare our amazing CSA produce.
Eat well.
Pair these quesadillas with a simple salad of greens dressed with oil and vinegar for a light dinner.
(Note: Check out more recipe ideas on our new weekly feature, Recipe Roundup, which will be posted in the Recipe section every Wednesday.)
These delicious quesadillas are a simple and fast way to use herbs. The quesadillas pictured are filled with a mixture of chopped epazote, mint, and oregano, but feel free to play around and use whatever herbs you have in the fridge! Pair them with a simple salad of greens dressed with oil and vinegar for a light dinner.
Fresh Herb Quesadillas
The proportions for the herbs, onions, and cheese are approximate. Feel free to adjust according to your own preferences.
On a whim I decided to compress the tortillas while cooking by putting a small sauce pan on top along with a can of tomatoes, as you see in the photo. The weight helped them to cook fast and evenly. Eventually I realized the can was not needed because the sauce pan alone was heavy enough. This is reflected in the directions below.
(makes 4 quesadillas)
I take this bean thing seriously, so it was a personal challenge to incorporate epazote into my quest to make the best ever bowl of beans.
Recipe by John-Thomas Crockett
I love beans. Black, pinto, kidney, red, pink, garbanzo, it doesn’t matter: beans are my thing. For the past couple of years I have been in charge of the food at my brother’s Super Bowl Bash ( a fact I am quite proud of), and last year I was actually commissioned to make a couple of pots of beans. Think about that for a moment. More than chicken wings, tacos, ribs, or pizza, folks thought beans, my beans, would take the party to higher heights. With humility, I make a mean bean. It is, in fact, a family thing. After decades of bean dominance, my mother is the undisputed Queen of Beans. After years of studying her techniques and stealing glances at her seasoning selections, I think I am ready to challenge for the title “Bean King.”
I take this bean thing seriously, so when we got epazote in our CSA share and I learned it was often used as a bean seasoning, I took it as a personal challenge to incorporate the herb in my next iteration of legume goodness.
Central Brooklyn CSA 
