Anyone else have a CSA share and sometimes find themselves perplexed with what to do with certain items? This week, I have literally a kajillion chives, far too many to use as garnish. Anyone have any good recipes that would use, say, a cup of chopped chives? And should I do anything with the bulbs or flowers?
Chop them fine to mix in sour cream.
Ditto and put in mashed potatoes.
Broil in a bit of butter and cool, mix with cut tomatoes, cover, let sit In the fridge.
M.
Mmmmmmm, chives. I would love to have too many chives. My CSA box seems to think I want thirty kajillion carrots. And I don't like carrots even at the best of times.
Quote from: ergative on June 19, 2019, 07:39:04 AM
Mmmmmmm, chives. I would love to have too many chives. My CSA box seems to think I want thirty kajillion carrots. And I don't like carrots even at the best of times.
At least if one likes carrots, one can eat them plain! Chives would be weird that way!
The season is still early here, so thus far I have mostly received parsnips, greens, and chives. Every week, chives.
Quote from: scamp on June 19, 2019, 07:44:37 AM
Quote from: ergative on June 19, 2019, 07:39:04 AM
Mmmmmmm, chives. I would love to have too many chives. My CSA box seems to think I want thirty kajillion carrots. And I don't like carrots even at the best of times.
At least if one likes carrots, one can eat them plain! Chives would be weird that way!
The season is still early here, so thus far I have mostly received parsnips, greens, and chives. Every week, chives.
Clearly, you have never met my children. They would solve your chive problem in an afternoon.
Can I send them over, maybe with a handful of the Swiss chard that keeps filling up our basket?
You could wash, chop, and freeze the chives for use in place of mild onion/scallions after the season's over. I was looking up freezing scallions last night because I got lots - the internet's advice was to double-bag them or freeze them in a clean plastic bottle to avoid scenting everything in your freezer.
You can make pesto out of almost any combo of fresh herbs. I haven't tried it but I think chive and parsley would work well. The parsley will tame down the chives and you could probably omit all or most of the garlic and let the chives play that role. Drizzled over new roasted potatoes that would be killer. Freeze any left over in ice cube trays for easy portions later. Now I'm hoping I get chives in my CSA this week. . .
Dip flowers in batter and deep fry...
Chives in butter or cream cheese are a good sandwich spread, particularly for tea sandwiches. If desired, fill the sandwich with tomato, cucumber, roasted veg, meat, or whatever suits. The spread keeps in refrigerator or freezer. Freeze the spread, then slice to top grilled meat or roasted sweet potatoes. Chives are good in omelets and quiche. Use chives in plain yogurt or sour cream as a dip for chips or crudités. Sneak chives into a casserole, soup, or potato salad.
Quote from: San Joaquin on June 19, 2019, 10:56:54 AM
Dip flowers in batter and deep fry...
This works for almost anything, I imagine!
Thanks for the suggestions everyone! I will manage to whittle down my pile of chives, at least until tomorrow, when I likely get more!
Quote from: Puget on June 19, 2019, 10:20:25 AM
You can make pesto out of almost any combo of fresh herbs. I haven't tried it but I think chive and parsley would work well. The parsley will tame down the chives and you could probably omit all or most of the garlic and let the chives play that role. Drizzled over new roasted potatoes that would be killer. Freeze any left over in ice cube trays for easy portions later. Now I'm hoping I get chives in my CSA this week. . .
I hadn't thought of trying chive pesto. I am definitely going to try it next week when I am home.
I grow chives and freeze them in ice cubes so they can easily be added to soups in the winter. Then all you need to do is add the ice cube to the soup for an easy garnish. I also sometimes make a leek and potato soup recipe, but substitute a couple of handfuls of chives for leeks. Or I have a recipe for cheese and onion soup (essentially a thin cheese sauce with the addition of sweated onions) to which I like to add a handful of chives.
Maybe cebolitas asada?
Not sure how chives would sub for green onions, but they're one of my favorite things to grill. Marinate with olive oil, salt, pepper and grill, then serve with lime.
try making Korean chive pancakes (pajeon) with them. You almost certainly have all the ingredients already.
https://kimchimari.com/korean-chive-pancake-buchujeon-with-chive-flowers/
That should use up quite a lot of chives.
The recipe also works with scallions or garlic scapes (although you might have to juliene the scapes.)
So many good suggestions! Thanks!
This weeks challenge:
So much lettuce!
What do I do with beet greens?
Quote from: Trogdor on June 21, 2019, 05:07:56 AM
try making Korean chive pancakes (pajeon) with them. You almost certainly have all the ingredients already.
https://kimchimari.com/korean-chive-pancake-buchujeon-with-chive-flowers/
That should use up quite a lot of chives.
The recipe also works with scallions or garlic scapes (although you might have to juliene the scapes.)
Just took a look - definitely making this! Maybe right now!
+1 on chive pancakes &/or freezing them for later.
I've never used the bulbs, although I assume you can treat them like teeny boiling onions. Your CSA must have a HUGE supply if they're pulling the plants instead of just cutting the leaves.
Lettuce possibilities include wraps and, oddly enough, soup. You either shred or puree the lettuce and add it to a nicely flavored broth/soup/stew in the last few minutes of cooking - it should stay quite green.
Beet greens can be used any way you would use chard.
Beet rolls are fantastic (like cabbage rolls only tastier). Use whatever type of filling you would put in cabbage rolls.
Quote from: Morden on June 28, 2019, 10:10:07 AM
Beet rolls are fantastic (like cabbage rolls only tastier). Use whatever type of filling you would put in cabbage rolls.
I was thinking of some kind of wrap with the beet greens!
I ended up making some chive pancakes, but my ratio of chive to batter was off so they were too thick. Next time I will have it nailed though!
On to the next herb challenge - dill!
My go-to for dealing with CSA plenitude in the summer is to make a big batch of some sort of grain (bulgar, quinoa, couscous, etc) and then make a serious of grain bowls through the week with various combos of raw, cooked and quick-pickled CSA veggies and proteins (I'm vegetarian so this is some combo of cheese, tofu, beans, nuts). Fresh herbs are great in these too. Today's lunch bowl was bulgar with snap peas, spicy radish and carrot refrigerator pickles from last week's share, scallions, basil, feta and walnuts with lemon tahini dressing. That was a particularly successful combo.
I try to process down/pre-cook as much of the produce as possible when I get it so it doesn't go bad and I actually eat it when busy. e.g., last night I roasted and skinned all the beets and washed and cut the beet greens ready to cook.
That sounds great. Would you mind sharing your spicy refrigerator pickles recipe?
Quote from: eigen on June 28, 2019, 03:07:09 PM
That sounds great. Would you mind sharing your spicy refrigerator pickles recipe?
Happily-- I was delighted to realize how easy these were a few years back.
I very loosely use Mark Bittman's 3-day pickle recipe, just for the right ratio of vinegar, salt and water, but everything else is up for grabs.
Use any mix veggies you like/have--I've found carrots, radishes, cauliflower, green beans, and of course pickling (Kirby) cucumbers all to be good. This makes a total of 4 cups brine (he says enough for 2lbs of veggies, but I think it depends on the veggies and packing density), so I often halve it if I just want to make a couple pint jars of pickles.
Bittman says to pre-salt the veggies and let them sit for 2 hours then rinse, but I generally skip this step unless I'm doing cucumbers where you want to get rid of some of the water.
Bring to a boil then cool for 5 min:
3 T salt
2 C water
2 C vinegar (he says white or white wine, but I just used apple cider and it was quite nice)
1/4 cup sugar (can leave out if you want a true sour instead of sweet-and sour)
1/4 cut spices: Whatever you like-- he calls for traditional pickling spice mix, but I often don't have all the components or want a different flavor. This batch I just put in peppercorns and hot pepper flakes. You can also put in crushed garlic or whole hot chiles and/or fresh dil (a use for that CSA dill!)l.
Put the cut veggies into jars or other airtight containers and poor the brine over them. Let them pickle in the fridge for at least 3 days. They will keep for several weeks and get more pickled (and spicier!) as they sit.
Quote from: Puget on June 28, 2019, 02:22:33 PM
My go-to for dealing with CSA plenitude in the summer is to make a big batch of some sort of grain (bulgar, quinoa, couscous, etc) and then make a serious of grain bowls through the week with various combos of raw, cooked and quick-pickled CSA veggies and proteins (I'm vegetarian so this is some combo of cheese, tofu, beans, nuts). Fresh herbs are great in these too. Today's lunch bowl was bulgar with snap peas, spicy radish and carrot refrigerator pickles from last week's share, scallions, basil, feta and walnuts with lemon tahini dressing. That was a particularly successful combo.
This is a great idea!