How to cook with CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) veggies – easy CSA recipes using fusion Korean cooking methods (week 4)
CSA cooking week 4
July 18, 2020
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| CSA week 4 dishes: (from top left) Korean spareribs braise with rainbow chards stems, braised rainbow chards leaves with carrots, and fresh green leaf lettuce |
This week I
received 1 head of crisp lettuce, 1 head of green leaf lettuce, 1 head of red
leaf lettuce, 3 summer squashes, rainbow chard, and basil
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| CSA week 4 veggies: summer squashes (zucchinis), bok choy, rainbow chards, leaf lettuces and basil |
What do you
do with tough stems of kale or a chard? One
difference I find between the veggies I buy at the store and the veggies I
receive from my CSA farmer is that the veggies that I get from the farm come in whole—the leaves, stems,
and the roots! Since we are used to
eating only the soft part, we tend to throw away the tough parts of
veggies. Chards’ stems are one
example.
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| Beautiful rainbow chards stems! |
In today’s
post, I am going to share a dish I created that makes a good use of rainbow
chard’s stems. Chards come in many
different varieties (Swiss chards, rainbow chards, Fordhook chards, etc.) and we tend to throw out the stems and use
only the leafy part. I have been
thinking about how to use the stems and I decided to use them in my spareribs
braise dish! :)
Recipe #1 Braised spareribs with rainbow chards stems in a spicy gochujang sauce cooked in a pressure cooker
Ingredients: spareribs (about 3.5 lb), rainbow chards (rinsed and chopped about 2 inches long or you can use onions instead), white
wine (1/4 cup, may use chicken stock instead) , tomato paste (1 TB, optional), gochujang (about 2 TB), homemade teriyaki sauce (1/4 cup,
if using soy sauce reduce the amount an add some sugar), chicken stock (about
1.5 cup), garlic powder ( 2 tsp, or 2
cloves of fresh garlic), onion powder (2 tsp, optional), sesame oil, salt and
pepper
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| Spareribs dry rubbed with pepper and salt and key ingredients used in the cooking liquid: gochujang, soy sauce, and chicken stock |
1. Apply a
dry rub on spareribs with garlic powder, pepper, and salt. Leave for about 8 hours. (This is an optional step; I like to marinate
meat if I have the time. 😊)
2. Brown spare ribs in heated oil until golden
brown for about 3-5 min each side.
3. Remove spare ribs from the pan (I use cast iron skillet) and add rainbow chard
stems. Add wine and deglaze the bottom
of the pan (scrape the bottom of the pan to lift off the things stuck on the
bottom)
4. Add tomato paste and stir until everything is
nicely combined.
5. Now make
the gochujang sauce (cooking liquid for the pressure cooker) by mixing the
following: gochujang (about 2 TB),
homemade teriyaki sauce (1/4 cup, if using soy sauce reduce the amount an add
some sugar), chicken stock (about 1.5 cup), garlic powder ( 2 tsp, or 2 cloves of fresh garlic), onion powder (2
tsp, optional), sesame oil.
6. Place spareribs, rainbow chard stems and the
gochujang sauce in the pressure cooker (you can use slow cooker, or can put in
a Dutch oven style pot) and cook until coming off the bone, fork tender for
about 50 min. You may have to adjust the
times according to your cooker.
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| Spareribs braise with rainbow chards stems in gochujang tomato sauce |
Recipe #2: Korean style zucchini (green summer squash) fritter (hobakjeon)
This is a
very easy recipe for zucchini that you can try.
All you need an egg! For the
dipping sauce, you just need a small amount of soy sauce and seasoned rice
vinegar!
Ingredients: zucchini (sliced about ¼ inch thick), egg (1
large size, cracked open and whisked with a fork), soy sauce and seasoned rice
vinegar, cooking oil
How:
1. Dip zucchini slices in the egg
2. Fry the egg battered zucchini in a preheated,
oil coated nonstick skillet until golden brown and then flip over to cook the
other side.
3. Make the dipping sauce by mixing soy sauce
with seasoned rice vinegar. (Soy sauce
can be quite salty, so try using 1 part soy sauce, 2 parts seasoned rice
vinegar as a start.)
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| Zucchini fritter with dipping sauce. On the right is a braised chicken leg dish served with braised rainbow chards leaves! |
Hope you
enjoy your creation!
Thanks for
visiting my blog. Please share your
thoughts and ideas with the rest of the world!!
😊