Cooking outside the (CSA) box, w/High Ground Organics

First of all, click here to sign up for the upcoming cooking classes, at Williams-Sonoma. Everyone is welcome, you do not need to be a member of a CSA program.

Below are images and info from the past “Cooking outside the (CSA) box” classes at Williams-Sonoma, Los Gatos using produce from High Ground Organics, Watsonville. I created these dishes with the food that was in the box:

Saturday, Aug 13th cooking class

Scroll down (below the beet green images) to read about how I used the produce in this week’s box, or click on each name, highlighted here, to jump down to the text.

Four dishes, using the food in the box:

1. Red and Green butter lettuce, Mixed Summer Squash, Potatoes, Strawberries

2. Red cabbage, Red Ace beets

3. Potatoes

4. Beet Chips

Beet chips4 — Baked Beet Chips (similar to the now-popular Kale Chips)

Here’s an unusual combination:

Butter Lettuce Wraps stuffed with Roasted Zucchini & Toasted Walnut Pate topped with Smoked Salt, served with Sweet’n Sour Strawberry Dipping Sauce

1. Slice the zucchinis, bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes, or until soft, set aside and allow to cool. 2. Meanwhile make the Strawberry Dipping Sauce, blend well in food processor: Strawberries, Mirin, Sesame Oil, Maple Syrup, Fresh Ginger, set aside 3. Blend well in food processor: cooled zucchini, Toasted Walnut Oil 4. Spread pate on each leaf, top with Smoked Salt and serve with the dipping sauce Go back to top

A German-style Goulash:

Red Goulash w/Zahtar

I love this sweet, sour and herby combination: Red Cabbage, Red Beets, Red Onion, Red Apple, Sherry, Toasted Walnut Oil, Zahtar Seasoning Recipe will be available in my eCookbook, coming soon! Go back to top

Nothing new here, except for the flavored salt:

Potato Sticks w/Malt Vinegar Salt

1. Cut the potatoes into french-fry cuts (I used Williams-Sonoma’s Veggie Slicer, link to come) 2. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes, or until soft 3. Sprinkle with the “Malt Vinegar Salt” and serve Go back to top

July 21

Romaine or Little gem lettuce, Tokyo market turnips, Strawberries, Bintje Potatoes, Cilantro, Mustard greens, Scallions, Mystery

images to come

July 16th

In the box: cipollini onions, white cauliflower, desiree potatoes, strawberries, romaine lettuce, basil, spinach, broccoli

CSA cooking class, Williams-Sonoma#4 (Lettuce wraps, cauliflower steak) — I used the Romaine Lettuce leaves to wrap the potato salad, which had roasted desiree potatoes, dried-sauteed cipollini onions, w/prepared mustard, truffle oil, broccoli florets and ground sumac. Also shown is the roasted cauliflower 'steak' topped w/smoked salt.

CSA cooking class at Williams-Sonoma#1 — The CSA box overflows with large beautiful produce.

CSA cooking class at Williams-Sonoma#2 — I had my laptop playing with a slideshow of images for the "Food storage" blog post.

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CSA cooking class, Williams-Sonoma#5 (cauliflower steak) — The cauliflower "steaks" were a big hit, and soooo simple. It definitely falls under the "Speed Cooking" category.

See more images of the Cauliflower Steaks here.

Strawberry Sorbet — I made a strawberry blueberry spinach smoothie with coconut milk, which was a huge hit. Such a good tasty way to use coconut milk (dairy free) and to hide spinach. (Note: I didn't take an image of the smoothie, so I'm using this image of a strawberry and coconut milk ice cream, it was taken during another event. The strawberry, spinach and blueberry smoothie was thicker and had a much darker blue color.)

Food storage#01 basil — I shared tips for storing the produce. Here is basil in a half-pint jar with water....

Food storage#02 basil — ...stored on the counter covered with a plastic bag, to retain freshness.

Click here to see the Herb Saver, available at Williams-Sonoma.

Click here to see more food storage tips.

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Here are images of the CSA drop sites:

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Upcoming classes:

and

Los Gatos

presents:

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Improv Cooking Classes, by Joni Sare

Learn how to cook healthfully

outside the (CSA) box

Thursday, July 21st • 6:30 – 8:30pm, $10

Saturday, August 13th • 10 to 12pm • $10

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Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) programs are getting more and more popular and more and more accessible. And my goal is to show the ease and wonderfulness of cooking with the foods you receive in a CSA box. Learn how to cook OUTSIDE THE BOX with the food that is delivered direct from the farm to your door. Come to both classes to see a variety of ways to use the greens, veggies, fruits that come in the box each week. I’ll use the fun and fascinating gadgets from Williams-Sonoma, as well as introduce you to condiments, salts and spices.

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Using produce

packaged in a “CSA box” from:

“High Ground Organics” is a 40-acre organic farm located on the coast near Watsonville. They’ve planted several trees, bushes and plants, including apples, pears, blueberries, lettuces and more. Click here to read about their farm. • Read about their CSA program here.

Class location:

Williams-Sonoma, Los Gatos

122 North Santa Cruz Avenue

Los Gatos, CA 95030

(408) 354-7302

More dates to come, mark your calendar!

In these classes, I will share info such as:

anatomy of food
nutritional information
biochemistry of the body
alchemy of cooking
tips and tricks for healthy cooking
and so much more

Go here for an example of what I created for the CSA demo at Intel.

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