What I’m Cooking from Our CSA

Discovering the deliciousness of spring onions, garlic scapes and pea shoots.

Photo by author: spring onions, ground coffee, garlic scapes, pea shoots, lettuce and mild Southern chow chow from week one of our CSA

During the early days of the pandemic, I was extremely anxious about potential food supply issues. Purchasing a CSA share from one of our local farms here in Western Pennsylvania felt like a bit of an extravagance (we’re a one-income family these days) but helped to somewhat ease my mind. If you’re not familiar with the CSA concept, it stands for Community Supported Agriculture which means that you sign up and pay in advance to receive a portion of a farmer’s harvest during the growing season.

Which is what I did. I spent considerable time researching various options and local farms while eagerly awaiting the start of our CSA. I chose an organic, family-owned, local — as in the next town north of us — farm. I can spread out our payments throughout the season and pick up our share a few minutes from our home.

I went with a small half-share, meaning that we’ll get a delivery every other week. I’m the only person in this household who has this level of enthusiasm for the CSA because I have very selective eaters. I am, however, determined to introduce at least a few new dishes to our repertoire because no matter what I do, try or offer (and at this point, I swear I have tried everything imaginable) my 18-year-old twins apparently have regressed into culinary…