using up our csa share: rainbow chard and asparagus

I’m going to try to share what we do with our CSA share from Victory Acres each week here. It won’t be fancy and probably won’t be all that consistent, but I’ll do my best. Please share what YOU do with your share in the comments!

We used up the rainbow chard, asparagus, and some of the garlic scapes and oregano all in one dinner. I first got started on the asparagus and broccoli (not from the CSA but we had some of that for dinner too). Preheat your oven to 425 degrees and put your baking sheet(s) in the oven to preheat as well. While that’s going on, prep your asparagus. These were so fresh and pretty that I just snipped off the ends and washed them off. My favorite way to cook asparagus is just with some simple olive oil, garlic, and salt and pepper. So after prepping them, I put them in a shallow bowl and added about 2-3 tbsp olive oil, plus a few cloves of minced garlic and some salt and pepper. Then just mix everything all around in your bowl to ensure that the asparagus is well-coated. Once the oven is preheated, take out your baking sheet and dump the contents of the bowl on the baking sheet – spreading the asparagus out a bit to make sure they aren’t on top of each other. I like my asparagus al dente, so I only roasted them about six minutes, but experiment to see what you like best. I finished them off with a little squeeze of fresh lemon, but that’s totally optional. (Side note: I prepped the broccoli the same way except they needed about 12-15 total minutes in the oven).

I love rainbow chard. It’s so pretty and healthy looking. We made burgers last night, so we wanted to use the chard as our “bun,” but there wasn’t quite enough for all of us, so I added some organic baby spinach that I had on hand. This is our family’s favorite quick and easy way to add some greens to any meal – it works perfectly with kale, chard, spinach, or really any leafy green. Wash and dry your greens (this is where a salad spinner is indispensable and probably our most-used kitchen appliance besides the dishwasher). I just tore up some of the larger pieces of chard and left the smaller pieces as-is. Then heat up some fat of your choice (I used coconut oil here). Once the oil is shimmering a bit at a high heat, dump in your greens. Then add your seasonings of choice: last night, I used some of the garlic scapes (diced) and fresh oregano (just torn up), as well as some garlic salt and fresh pepper. Continue stirring until your greens start to cook down a bit, then set the heat to low and cover the pan. The steam will finish off the greens.

For this meal, we put our burgers on top of the bed of chard/spinach and then just added the roasted asparagus and broccoli. I think, from start to finish, it took 25 minutes, but that was with me manning the veggies and Grant manning the grill!