This week from the farm

This past week's CSA had many of the same items as the week prior, including some delicious kale, spinach, and asparagus! So for dinner we had sausage and clams with chickpeas one night and Thai fish-and-noodle soup another.

The sausage and clams with chickpeas dish was Portuguese-inspired, and a very good use of massive quantities of kale! I cut back on the sausage (used mild Italian chicken sausage in place of turkey--lower fat!) and the chickpeas a teensy bit, mostly because I also needed those things for cooking later in the week. I also increased the number of clams, since you can only buy a bag of a gazillion, not 16. Also, I have bad luck with mollusks and usually at least a quarter of them never open.

We had this in deep plate/bowl thingies, with crusty baguette (flax and bran) for dipping. This was a nice, different type of dish, with a little bit of everything! The broth was a little bit weak, though...salty, but not much flavor outside of that. I think this would really soar with a hit of some herb (rosemary perhaps?) or some Tabasco. But decently good overall.

The Thai fish-and-noodle soup, however, was sad. I added canned bamboo shoots, supplemented the amount of asparagus, and omitted the mushrooms and bell pepper. Also used rice sticks in place of noodles, based only on convenience. I thought the addition of the fish fillet on top brought a nice texture balance to the dish, but the soup itself just didn't cut it. I ended up adding a ton of soy to give the broth more flavor, but I think the lime overwhelmed everything and it had kind of a funny flavor. Leftovers were a bit better, but still not something I would ever consider making again. Perhaps it would have been better without my veggie subs...  

Next week, we'll have radishes, dill, and watercress (among many other farm bounties) to enjoy!