Cauliflower Pie

The veggie box is here!

As I have mentioned previously, it can be inspirational to get the fresh vegetables; however, sometimes it can be a bit of work. Years and years and years ago, back when CSA was a new concept to me (we have been doing this for 13 years), I don't think Farmer Steve had it figured out as well as he does now. We seemed to get celery root and eggs in abundance....and not much else. We used to joke with the other family about the celery root. I mean, a bit is OK, but 6 bulbs of it every single week for the summer seemed to get old VERY quickly. Fortunately, there has been improvement and we get more variety and just a couple deliveries of this bulbous vegetable every year. I do remember that year and have to chuckle every time I see it.

See, nothing too pretty about this vegetable.
Fall brings many vegetables and I like to make something hearty with them that uses them right away. I find that if I don't stay on top of the box I end up with....well....old apples and wilting peppers (see 10/30 post by Elizabeth)....or worse. It seems terrible to let any food go bad, so, to avoid that I try to cook with the vegetables on the weekend after they arrive. Or...at least do a mass reduction by cooking them and getting them in a state where they last a bit longer. Parboiling and freezing many items helps to preserve their goodness and allow me to have good ingredients on hand for meals to come together quickly later.

It IS a bit of work to get the box; however, it does pay off in the good meals we have. We like to support those small local farmers and this allows us to do that without making time to regularly go to a Farmer's Market (although that is fun too). I enjoy getting things that I may not normally purchase and am (usually) up for the challenge.

Soups and pot pies seems to work really well for this too. Then I'm ready for the week with healthy dinners so we can all eat the vegetables we should....if the meals are served "fresh" or out of the freezer.

Here is another "pie" version that we enjoy. It's a good CSA recipe since substitutions work well....always good to have the recipe adapt well to what you have on hand! As I searched through my recipes I found a couple that take large amounts of the vegetables I received or look like substitutions of the vegetables I have will work.

This is a cauliflower pie recipe of unknown origin:

3 medium potatoes

Boil and mash them and add

2 T minced onion and a bit of salt and pepper

Put mixture into a sprayed pan (sprayed with Pam) to form a crust and bake at 375 degrees for 30 minutes or so.

meanwhile:

Steam 1 head of cauliflower (usually I do this in the pan I used to cook the potatoes, so it saves on clean up)

Melt 1-2 T butter or olive oil and add:

1 chopped onion (usually I use the rest of the onion after using the 2T minced)

3 cloves garlic, minced

Remove from heat and add:

1 T fresh basil

1 egg

4 oz cheddar, grated

( I mix all these ingredients together in the same pan I used for cooking the potatoes and steaming the broccoli/cauliflower)

Bake entire dish at 375 until warm and bubbly...about 30 minutes or so.

That's the regular recipe. I mad a few changes to work with the items I had.

I added some peeled celery root to the potatoes and boiled and mashed it with them. I threw in some of the par boiled turnip from my freezer. I really think that bag is bottomless.

I sauteed a diced carrot along with the onion as well as one chopped leek and omitted the garlic because....gasp...I was out of garlic. I used about 1/2 huge head of cauliflower and a small head of broccoli.

This is one of those recipes that gives you a full dose of vegetables to make up for the days where you may fall a bit short on the veggie intake!

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