This year I’ve found success with all fava beans we’ve been delivered from Organics to You!

Last year I tried a couple of things with mixed success; mostly we found them kind of tough. The flavor had promise, but we were mixed on the texture. I even posted one of the more successful attempts, an Umbrian inspired dish that had great flavor, but tough beans.

This year I finally caught that there is a second peeling step I’d missed last year! Not sure ow I over looked this step and it does mean that preparing fresh favas is even more labor intensive. That said, they are so tasty and lovely it is entirely worth the effort.

Image by @Edsel Little used under Creative Commons License

Here’s the deal. You have to peel them out of the big pods first. Boil them for 4-5 minutes. Drain. Rinse well in cold water. Let sit for a few minutes. Peel off the tough, fibrous layer. Set aside tender, delicate favas to add to dishes.

The favas, once peeled out of the tough skins, are largely bright green, very delicate, and taste lovely. I have to chase Christie out of the kitchen or she’ll stand there peeling and eating them directly!

Since they’re already cooked and will fall apart if you cook them much further, I set them aside and toss into dishes right before serving just to warm them back up. This discovery has even caused me to revisit a spring soup made with pureed favas featured in the beautiful cookbook Christie gave me for Christmas, Kansha: Celebrating Japan’s Vegan and Vegetarian Traditions.

Mostly I’ve just tossed them into stir-fry dishes, where they are reminiscent of edamame, but with a greener taste and a delicate texture. I’ve also added them at the very end of rustic, northern Italian inspired dishes with fresh tomatoes, gnocchi, and summer squash. I suppose I could tackle more exciting dishes, but right now I’m just basking in the joy of figuring out how to make delicious things with produce I’ve only newly been introduced to.

The whole goal of The Produce Project was to get us to eat more fresh, seasonal vegetables. Here we are, going strong and still experimenting. The favas are a complete success story now that we’ve really figured it out. We hold out hope for the same success with the garlic spears (scarpes, scrapes, etc.). Chard… we finally asked that no more be brought to us and we won’t be growing it. Just not that much of a fan.

The past few weeks can be summed up as, “Waaaaa, new job!!!!!”

I’ve been adapting to a great new job, but it adds 1-2 hours of commuting to my day so it has been a struggle to get the produce put away, much less documented. I have today off (company holiday) so it has made it easier to document our delivery and work on a new recipe post as well!

Today’s Box:

• green kale
• 2 leeks
• cauliflower
• 2 red pears
• spinach
• 4 avocados
• broccoli
• a carnival squash
• red potatoes
• celery
• 2 oranges
• 3 tangerines
• 3 apples
• beets
• turnips

In the fridge:

• cauliflower
• 2 butternut squash
• 2 grapefruit
• 5 pears
• several apples
• half an onion
• 2 heads of garlic
• celery
• a leek
• turnips
• chestnuts
• cranberries
• potatoes, potatoes, POTATOES! Yikes!
• Yams!
• broccoli

The Compost Pail of Shame:

• green kale
• collards
• a bag of overripe pears
• red grapes
• a few baby beets
• a few russet potatoes
• Technically 2 acorn and one half a hubbard squash all went in. Roasted, put in fridge, forgot to move to freezer

Today’s box full of goodies:

• Red Curly Kale
• a serious pile of Russet potatoes (10, good sized too)
• 2 Jonagold apples
• 2 Star Crimson pears
• 2 navel oranges
• broccoli
• 2 turnips
• carrots
• collard greens
• several parsnips
• 4 red beets
• 2 yellow onions
• several scallions
• 2 green bell peppers
• bok choy

In the fridge:

• carrots
• broccoli stems
• apples
• some garlic & elephant garlic
• 1 green bell pepper
• red grapes
• 2 limes
• a lemon
• 4 over ripe pears
• ginger
• celery
• celriac
• some Russet potatoes
• garnet yams
• white cabbage
• bananas
• scallions
• 3 yellow onions
• 2 acorn squash
• dill (likely unusable, need to fully investigate)
• mint
• cranberries
• a smallish Hubbard squash

The Compost Pail of Shame:

• I think we’ve actually managed to not have to toss anything this past week!!

Again, the over ripe pears, persimmons and some apples went into a simmered sauce last week. I made a sweet and sour stir-fry with red cabbage and soy curls – delicious! We also had some miso & soba stew with leftover Hubbard squash, broccoli stems and some white cabbage. The kale ended up in the bread pudding I made with the leftover Thanksgiving dressing – awesome!

We have a huge pile of Russet potatoes and I’m pondering a shepherd’s pie this week to use up a bunch of them. Might also be a good place for the celriac, onions and elephant garlic. The gratin also calls to me since we all the potatoes as well as the 2 acorn squash. Tonight I made up the bok choy right after opening the box – just stir fried with some garlic pepper then served with qunioa and tempeh. Sunday my Mom and her husband are coming over and I’ll be making a big pot of minestrone soup – great use of some of the bell peppers!

There will be more fresh pear sauce. I’ll either have to can or freeze all the fruit sauce I’ve made up. We’re reaching that point were we don’t get the fruit eaten quickly enough so I make sauce, but we can’t keep up with that either!

I’m looking at getting several of the 32-ounce Jarden plastic freezer jars from Ball. I think these would be great for things like the fruit sauce and especially good for preserving large batches of stock and dashi.

Today’s box full of goodies:

• Red Curly Kale
• 2 green pears
• 3 Granny Smith apples
• 3 Star Crimson pears
• 4 tangerines
• broccoli
• carrots
• collard greens
• celeriac
• yellow onion
• a bulb of elephant garlic
• green bell pepper
• green cabbage
• golden beets with greens

In the fridge:

• carrots
• broccoli stems
• several pounds of apples
• some garlic
• 4 red beets
• 1 green bell pepper
• red grapes
• 3 limes
• a lemon
• two over ripe pears
• ginger
• celery
• some Russet potatoes
• garnet yams
• purple cabbage
• bananas
• scallions
• 3 yellow onions
• 2 acorn squash
• 1 pomegranate
• 2 Fuyo persimmon, also over ripe
• dill
• mint
• cranberries

The Compost Pail of Shame:

• pears
• bok choy
• a Satsuma mandarin orange
• some celery
• 3 pomegranates
• eggplant

Some of the over ripe pears, persimmons and some apples went into a simmered sauce last week. The persimmons add a really lovely note to the pears and apples. I’ve been enjoying it slightly warmed up. I will probably throw the current batch of overly ripe fruit into another small batch like this. Simmered fruit sauces are one of the best ways to get these fruits used up and we love adding it into oatmeal.

Thanksgiving 2010, our first as a married couple, was hugely fun and delicious! We just loved hosting many friends over and making much of the food. Making that meal used up a lot of the veggies in the house. During the week I also made some great lighter dishes including a simple stir-fry and some gingery soup with rice stick noodles & lots of veggies.

We’ve eaten or shared most of the leftovers save for one large slice of pumpkin pie, roast squash and a bunch of my bread dressing. I’m going to turn the dressing and some of the squash into a deliciously savory bread pudding along with the red kale that was delivered today.

The appearance of the collards in the box this week makes me think about making my BBQ Collard Wraps and documenting the recipe! The dish features Anasazi or pinto beans simmered in homemade BBQ sauce and made into rolls along with some red & white qunioa. I think this would be a great place to either use up some of the leftover roast squash or one of the acorn squash.

Because we have extra potatoes on hand along with 2 acorn squash I am going to make another attempt at the gratin. I’ll roast an acorn squash to make that rich sauce I experimented with earlier this month, and will document recipe. Then I’ll use just thinly sliced Russet potatoes for the gratin. I think having just the winter squash appearing in the sauce will make this dish only slightly sweet and very rich.

Today’s box full of goodies:

• Green Curly Kale
• 3 Granny Smith apples
• 3 Comice pears
• 3 Fuyu persimmons
• broccoli
• cranberries
• carrots
• celery
• yellow onion
• green beans
• green bell pepper
• an acorn squash
• Russet potatoes
• garnet yams

In the fridge:

• carrots
• broccoli stems
• Many pounds of apples
• some garlic
• several red beets
• 2 limes
• several lemons
• many over-ripe pears
• several Orange Turkish eggplant from the garden
• ginger
• celery
• 3 waxy-type and 6 Russet potatoes
• garnet yams
• purple cabbage
• bananas
• scallions
• half a yellow onion
• half a red onion
• an acorn squash
• 2 delicata squash
• 3 pomegranates
• 4 Fuyo persimmon
• baby bok choy
• savoy cabbage
• dill
• mint
• a Valencia orange
• cranberries
• a Satsuma mandarin orange

The Compost Pail of Shame:

• a couple pears
• green onions

By request I made split-pea soup last week and tonight revisited a Japanese-inspired squash & cabbage stew with red miso that is one of Christie’s favorites. I finally went and picked us up our respective favorite hummus from Trader Joe’s and we immediately went through a whole lot of carrots. I also discovered the persimmon and apricot makes for a great smoothie combination!

This week the box is a day early because Thanksgiving is this week! We’re having friends over and are planning to make a big squash stuffed with a dressing made from bread, Field Roast apple/potato sausage, and chestnuts. Cranberry and orange dressing will be freshly made. Christie will be making her fabulous mashed potatoes; this year she’s planning to add fresh mint and dill. I’ll be making my miso shallot gravy with a little fresh parsley. Guests are bringing food and some dishes we’ve been told about include pan-fried Brussels sprouts, green beans and black-eyed peas have been mentioned. In addition to all of that we’re getting a pumpkin pie and lovely, squishy yeast dinner rolls from Sweetpea Baking Company!

Craziness abounds  here at our house. Most rooms are covered in 3 inch holes into the walls with cellulose insulation blow into them. Tomorrow they will do this to our kitchen. This job, which will certainly reduce our heating costs, has meant that we’ve moved most of the furniture and stuff out of the first floor of the house. Stashed a whole lot of stuff into my studio. Tonight we need to move the majority of the kitchen contents into boxes and stash them in the middle of the dining room. Then they will stay that way proba

That said, today’s box full of goodies:

• Green Curly Kale
• 3 Granny Smith apples
• 3 Comice pears
• 3 Fuji Apples
• a pomegranate
• 2 Fuyu persimmons
• broccoli
• cranberries
• carrots
• celery
• yellow onion
• 3 heads garlic
• 2 leeks
• a Delicata squash
• Russet potatoes
• yams
• Italian parsley

In the fridge:

• carrots
• broccoli stems
• Many pounds of apples
• some garlic
• several red beets
• 2 limes
• a lemon
• several pears
• several Orange Turkish eggplant from the garden
• ginger
• celery
• 2 waxy-type and 1 Russet potato
• purple cabbage
• bananas
• green onions
• scallions
• a yellow onion
• an acorn squash
• a delicata squash
• 2 pomegranates
• 3 Fuyo persimmon
• baby bok choy
• savoy cabbage

The Compost Pail of Shame:

• Lacinito Kale
• 3 bananas
• dandelion greens

Last week’s gratin experiment turned into a pretty tasty corn chowder. I also made a some maple glazed, sauteed parsnips that I just loved! It was a really busy week with lots of construction going on in the house and then spending all day Saturday at OryCon. Sunday I was too tired to cope with the kitchen and ate out at Vita Cafe for brunch.

This week I’ve already made an awesome dish with small bits of Soy Curls that were simmered with sauteed onion and bell pepper along with some of the tomato sauce I made earlier this year. I also tried out some twice-baked potatoes that need a little bit of work to be awesome; they were served with sauteed tempeh and curly kale.

Yet to come this week are Delicata squash stuffed with Anasazi beans & rice! Christie requested split pea soup, that may be Thursday’s dinner. The abundance of pears and a couple of over-ripe persimmons are going to become a nice simmered fruit sauce; great in oatmeal in the morning!

Craziness abounds  here at our house. Most rooms are covered in 3 inch holes into the walls with cellulose insulation blow into them. Tomorrow they will do this to our kitchen. This job, which will certainly reduce our heating costs, has meant that we’ve moved most of the furniture and stuff out of the first floor of the house. Stashed a whole lot of stuff into my studio. Tonight we need to move the majority of the kitchen contents into boxes and stash them in the middle of the dining room. Then they will stay that way proba

That said, today’s box full of goodies:

• Lacinito Kale
• 3 Fuji apples
• 3 Comice pears
• 3 d’Anjou pears
• a pomegranate
• 2 Fuyu persimmons
• broccoli
• dandelion greens
• baby bok choy
• savoy cabbage
• 6 small parsnips
• 2 bell peppers
• carrots
• 3 ears of corn

In the fridge:

• carrots
• Many pounds of apples
• some garlic
• several red beets
• 2 limes
• a lemon
• several pears
• several Orange Turkish eggplant from the garden
• ginger
• celery
• 2 waxy-type and 3 Russet potatoes
• purple cabbage
• bananas
• green onions
• scallions
• a yellow onion
• an acorn squash
• a delicata squash
• 1/2 a kobucha squash
• 3 ears of corn
• a pomegranate
• a Fuyo persimmon
• Romaine lettuce

The Compost Pail of Shame (This list is looking at the past few weeks of stuff that we didn’t get to and had to compost, not just the past week):

• some lettuce
• 2 zucchini
• some red grapes
• a couple pears
• an apple
• an eggplant
• some bananas
• mustard greens
• beet greens
• 3 plums

Well, despite all the eggplant advice it went into the compost this evening. It had a soft spot last Monday and I just didn’t get to it. Tonight I did a full purge of scary produce in the fridge and it looks much more manageable now. Christie is going out of town for the weekend, which means perhaps I should go wild with those few remaining eggplant for Saturday’s dinner!

Ideas for this week include a potato, kobucha squash and chestnut gratin with the fabulous squash/cashew sauce I made last week. Something must be done with half dozen ears of corn languishing; I’m thinking of a beans, quinoa and corn stuffed into the Delicata squash. I have an idea for a purple cabbage, apple, and persimmon salad that I think will be served with the gratin; need to think of a salad dressing for it. Christie also plans to take a bunch of veggies into work to have salads the rest of the week. Today has been rather hectic and I was locked out of the house after damaging my house key – dinner was just Field Roast apple/potato sausages with canned baked beans and some broccoli sauteed with onions.

We’re a couple of weeks behind on keeping track of the produce delivery as we’ve been in the midst of Home Improvement. Last week a new furnace went in and today the insulation and weatherization efforts began. For us this has also meant we’ve been boxing up and moving most of our belongings out of the first floor. Boxes are filling up the basement and one of those portable pods is filled with bits of furniture. All in all, it as been rather chaotic. Shockingly, we’ve managed to use up a lot of the produce on hand.

That said, today’s box full of goodies:

• Lacinito Kale
• 3 red apples
• 3 green apples
• 3 red Bartlett pears
• 3 Bosc pears
• broccoli
• carrots
• red cabbage
• 2 zucchini
• 5 red, waxy potatoes
• green onions
• scallions
• a yellow onion
• an acorn squash
• 3 ears of corn

In the fridge:

• carrots
• Many pounds of apples
• 1 onion
• lettuce
• a pomegranate
• a tomato
• 3 black Plums
• some garlic
• several red beets and greens
• 1 lime
• 2 lemons
• several pears
• red mustard greens
• several Orange Turkish eggplant from the garden
• 1 purple eggplant
• ginger
• 2 bell peppers
• kale out in the garden to
• red grapes
• celery
• 2 waxy-type potatoes
• green cabbage
• bananas
• celery
• broccoli & cauliflower bagged mix (raw, from TJs, leftover from BarCamp – really needs to get used)

The Compost Pail of Shame (This list is looking at the past few weeks of stuff that we didn’t get to and had to compost, not just the past week):

• some lettuce
• a small zucchini
• some red grapes
• some bok choy
• a pear
• a mango
• some bananas
• fava beans
• 2 ears of corn

I’m trying to think of some kind of casserole that will use up eggplant and all the greens. Christie tends to find the mustard and beet greens too bitter and as she doesn’t like eggplant much either I’m wondering if I could combine them somehow. I’m thinking the acorn squash will be roasted and used as puree in a soup along with the leftover roasted butternut squash that we found kind of lackluster by itself. Perhaps some kind of autumn chowder with the corn, bell peppers, and some beans. There will most likely be some kind of cabbage & ginger stir-fry

here’s today’s box full of goodies:

• red grapes
• 3 Fuji Apples
• 3 Bartlett Pears
• Black Plums
• celery
• red leaf lettuce
• broccoli
• carrots
• Orange! cauliflower
• chard
• radishes
• heirloom tomatoes
• 3 Russet potatoes

In the fridge:

• 2 ears of corn
• broccoli stems
• 1 Asian pear
• carrots
• fava beans
• less than 50 pounds of apples (Christie made a pie), but still a lot
• 2 onions
• several red beets and some beet greens
• 1 lime
• Several lemons
• 1 enormous mango
• several pears
• pounds of tomatoes, many from our garden
• several Orange Turkish eggplant from the garden
• ginger
• a few pounds of peppers from our garden + a couple from prior deliveries
• there’s quite a bit of kale out in the garden to
• red grapes
• celery
• a good-sized fennel bulb
• some summer squash
• 2 waxy-type and 3 russet potatoes
• green cabbage
• some bok choy
• green beans
• bananas

The Compost Pail of Shame (what we didn’t use and had to compost):

• some lettuce
• 2 small zucchini
• some red grapes
• radishes
• a couple of pears

I managed to give away the large eggplant that was delivered last week. This is especially good since we picked several of the orange, Turkish eggplants from the garden on Sunday. Last week I made a Japanese style stew which used a lot of the ingredients we had on hand. On Saturday I made minestrone soup which is a great way to use up a lot of fresh veggies. I’m craving a big stir-fry of green beans and cabbage. I also have yet to answer my desire for raw zucchini pasta & marinara. I’m hoping this weekend I might be up to making applesauce, I’ll probably throw in whatever overripe fruit is in the house as well.

Still in produce catch-up mode, getting back into the swing of things and using up what we have on hand. That said, here’s today’s box full of goodies:

• a BIG eggplant (yikes – I’m overrun with them)
• red grapes
• Romain lettuce
• carrots
• red beets w/tops
• green cabbage
• baby bok choy
• green beans
• 3 Russet potatoes
• 4 chilies (green bell, red bell, Pasilla, and a big fat Jalepeno)
• 3 apples
• 3 green pears
• 3 Asian pears

In the fridge:

• 2 ears of corn
• 3 pluots
• carrots
• fava beans
• 50 pounds of apples (we went to Kiyokawa Family Orchard this past weekend)
• 2 onions
• 1 red beet
• a bunch of radishes
• 2 limes
• 1 enormous mango
• a couple of pears
• a peach
• a Delicata squash
• several tomatoes, including many from our garden
• Orange Turkish eggplant in the garden
• ginger
• many peppers out in our garden
• there’s quite a bit of kale out in the garden too
• red grapes
• a lot of celery
• a leek
• a good-sized fennel bulb
• 3 summer squash
• 4 waxy-type potatoes

The Compost Pail of Shame (what we didn’t use and had to compost):

• a bunch of lettuce
• an eggplant
• a cucumber
• beet greens
• dill
• Italian parsley

I am overwhelmed with eggplant. I keep trying to get the ones made from the delivery while there’s probably a good pound of the small Turkish variety we grew out in the garden. I’ve had to compost two eggplant already and may be seeking a good home for the huge one that was delivered today. I’m trying to figure out some kind of dish with the Turkish eggplant & fennel – wondering if those would pair well in a casserole with tomatoes and some kind of legume.

This evening I’m making, by request, a Japanese inspired stew that will make good use of the garden tomatoes, Delicata squash, some carrots & celery, and a bit of the green cabbage that arrived today. I believe the green beans, bell peppers and bok choy will star together with some tofu in a stir-fry. I’ve also been wanting raw squash pasta & marinara which will put to use some tomatoes as well as the summer squash in the fridge.

We’re just entering the soup/stew & casserole season and I couldn’t be more thrilled!