Tuesday, April 17, 2007

Eat Fresh, Eat Local


We have joined a CSA Farm co-op this year! It has been exciting. We are eating local, fresh, organic produce. Every week, we get a box of whatever the farm is harvesting at the time. It forces creativity. It's pretty fun. The farm we are signed up with is
www.twosmallfarms.com
This week we got a veggie I had never heard of. Have you heard of Cardoon before? We are going to eat it tonight. We'll see how it is! I am making this recipe from Two Small Farms website-

Martin’s cardoon potato gratin:

My friend Martin made this, it was delicious! Of course, anything with 1/2 & 1/2 and cheese could be delicious...

8-10 stalks Cardoon
2-3 medium potatoes
8 oz grated parmesan cheese
1 pint half and half or cream
S & P to taste

Blanch the cardoon stalks in water that has a splash of vinegar or lemon juice until medium tender. You can peel them if you like. We don't. Cut the cardoon stalks in 1/4 inch crescents, across the grain, like you would celery. Peel the potatoes. Cut the potatoes into batons, about like a french fry. Toss the cut, blanched cardoon stalks with the potatoes directly in a gratin dish. Reserve a handful of the cheese for the top and toss the rest of the cheese with the cardoon/potato mixture. Add the pint of half and half (or cream if using.) Season with salt and pepper.
Bake in a 425 oven 40 minutes or so: until golden brown and the potatoes are all the way through.

5 comments:

Trisha said...

cool! I've been wanting to join one for awhile now. How great is that to have fresh local veggies regularly?!

Erin said...

Follow up on this recipe - I think it could use a creamier cheese. I will try something else next time, instead of just Parmesan.
Scott loved it the way it was. But, I think improvement could be made...
Trisha, it has been great. We have been eating healthier. I think it is helping me keep the grocery bill down, too!

Anonymous said...

Erin,

Funny. I signed on, too. Got cardoon this past week and tried that gratin. It has been a stretch to use up all the greens and we decided that we would trade in the dandelion greens for just about anything else! Hope you all keep enjoying it. Like the blogspot.

Jamey

Stef said...

does every town have this?

Erin said...

Stef,
I know the farm who are members with delivers as far as Menlo Park. So, they won't work for you. But, do some web searching. It is very likely Brentwood could have something!