This year I made my first foray into the world of CSAs. With just my husband and I to eat the goods, I had always been leery about spending money only to end up with seven gazillion pounds of tomatoes or a mountain of squash that we couldn’t eat fast enough. So instead I tested out a six week spring share with Milwaukee’s Braise RSA – minimal commitment plus nothing going on in my garden yet to compete.
Braise is run by local chef, Dave Swanson, who makes his boxes a little more special by including a recipe each week. Last week when I got a large bundle of rhubarb, this tasty muffin recipe came along with it. As a big fan of rhubarb and of streusel, this was right up my alley.
Rhubarb Cinnamon Streusel Muffins
recipe from Braise RSA
2 C flour
3/4 C sugar
3 tsp baking powder
2 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 C sour cream
1 stick butter, melted
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 C rhubarb, diced
Streusel Topping:
3 Tbsp butter
3 Tbsp sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 C flour
Preheat oven to 400. Line muffin tins with baking cups.
In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt and whisk well. In a separate bowl, whisk together sour cream, melted butter, eggs and vanilla until smooth. Gently combine the sour cream mixture with the dry mixture with a spatula until just combined. Gently fold in the diced rhubarb. The batter will be thick. Spoon batter into the muffin cups, filling to near the top.
In a small bowl, combine ingredients for topping. Use a fork or a pastry cutter to mix together until crumbly. Sprinkle the topping over the batter for each muffin. Bake until golden, 15-18 minutes, or 3-4 minutes longer for Texas size cups.
CSA Thoughts:
Overall the quality of produce has been amazing and it’s been fun to try odd new items like ramps and nettles among the lettuce and asparagus. I’ve been cooking, blending and freezing away but it’s still been a little hard for me to keep up since spring veggies are fragile and go bad quickly. A summer share on top of my own overflowing garden would definitely be too much for me but would be great if you have a larger family or maybe split it with a friend. The jury is still out on if I’ll do it again…although with an extra mouth to feed arriving soon maybe the volume would be a better match!
Do you do a CSA? Do you have tricks on how to manage the volume of produce? Please share!
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I love rhubarb and it’s about the only thing that’s growing well in my garden right now – these muffins look fabulous! I’ve also held off on CSA for the exact same reasons. I’d love to try new things, my picky husband on the other hand may not do his fair share of eating and I’m afraid we’d just have way more produce than I’d know what to do with. Sharing an order is an excellent idea.
We did a CSA for the first time this year too. We go through Tipi which supplies lots of fruits and veggies to the local Outpost’s. It is worth every penny! We get our box every week and share it with my cousin. It works out great and we hardly waste any food, none yet! Tipi supplies us with a weekly newsletter and allows us to view last years newletters as well. They give us recipes for each item they supply to us in the CSA box and tell us how to store the produce. I bought green veggie bags from Hefty at Target and have been using them with all produce (veggies and fuits) and so far we have not had to throw anything out. Tipi also allows you to order a CSA box every other week. I ahve some rhubarb to freeze and over the weekend I made strawberry rhubarb freezer jam. I enjoy cooking so finding new ways to cook and experiment in the kitchen is so exciting for me.
I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE my CSA from TIPI produce. I will admit that at the beginning of my first year with them I was overwhelmed with the amount of produce, especially greens I was getting. Some of it was going to waste and I was eating salad for breakfast. With some simple changes in my shopping — buying less meat, for the most part, we have enjoyed a wide variety of new vegetables. The produce is always of top quality, organic and tasty. Best of all, my children have become more accepting of a variety of vegetables. This is my 2nd year with TIPI and I recommend my CSA to everybody I know.
@angela and @twinsmom – Wow! TIPI sounds pretty awesome! Every other week would be ideal and I like the idea of the veggie bags for storing greens especially. Will have to look into their CSA next year. Would love to hear what you guys have been cooking up with your produce!
twinsmom is one of my dearest friends and every week I would look forward to hearing what she got from Tipi last year. She is a wealth of knowledge and an awesome cook. She got me hooked on the CSA box! She also told me about the green bags. 🙂 So far I have made muffins, freezer jam and just used my veggies. I must admit I call my friend a lot to ask her what to do with all the veggies or to see what she did with her veggies. I am making turnips tomorrow with dinner. Just slicing them and sauting them in a little butter.
I also want to try this:
SCALLION RICOTTA DUMPLINGS
Beth’s notes: These dumplings are rich and filling. They are delicious alone, or served in soup. They are fragile, so handle gently. Both our children love these dumplings, even the child that (usually) dislikes onions. Recipe adapted from one for Ricotta Gnocci (New York Times, 10/22/10).
Yield: 4 servings, about 30 dumplings
Salt
One 15-ounce container ricotta cheese, preferably whole milk
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 cup freshly grated Parmesan
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. black pepper
1 cup flour
1/4 cup thinly sliced scallions, packed
1. Bring a large pot of water to a boil and salt it. Combine the ricotta, eggs, Parmesan, salt and pepper in a large bowl. Mix with a fork. Add the scallions and flour and mix well.
2. Drop the dough by rounded tablespoons into the boiling water. You will be able to cook half the dough at one time. Bring the water back to a boil and simmer gently, 10 minutes cooking time total. The dumplings will rise to the surface during cooking. Remove from the boiling water with a slotted spoon, set aside, and keep warm. Cook the second batch of dumplings. Serve immediately when all the dumplings are cooked
These look like absolute heaven! I haven’t worked with rhubarb, but it is really on my list to try. So beautiful!
I made these yesterday and they were terrific!
p.s. Now the good stuf, well all of it is good, is coming in my CSA basket. This week we are starting with the strawberries, peas and zuchini.