Kohlrabi, Two Ways (Part II)

I was a little hesitant about eating these raw. After all, "kohlrabi" apparently means "cabbage turnip", and frankly, I can't think of a single vegetable that would be more disgusting to eat raw than either a cabbage or a turnip... well, okay, maybe an onion... oh wait... coleslaw is raw cabbage, and I suppose I eat that occasionally... well, okay, raw turnips are still disgusting in concept!

Anyway, I got a suggestion to try them raw, based on this endorsement. The idea appealed to me nonetheless since I love raw radishes, dipped in a little salt, even more when served with toasted baguette and whipped, herbed butter, so I thought that perhaps, this might be similar in texture. But my uncertainty lingered. To settle the matter, I reserved one of three kohlrabi from our CSA share, chopped up the other two for roasting, and cut a thin slice of the last one for sampling raw to determine whether its fate would be to remain crisp in a salad or be roasted with its brethren.

The verdict should be obvious from the title of this entry. The flavor was slightly sweet and just a touch nutty, the texture crisp but firm with the little flecks of sea salt adding just the slightest hint of a complementary crunch. I sliced up the rest of that puppy (ooh-- bad metaphor, sorry!) and stacked them with slices of ripe tomato. The stacks sat on beds of arugula that had all been tossed with a lemon basil vinaigrette. This was such a refreshing salad due to the contrasts in textures, colors, and flavors. The anise flavor of the basil brightened the nutty flavor of the kohlrabi; the sweet, juicy tomato rounded out the peppery arugula; the soft tomato paired with the crunch of the kohlrabi. In fact, I think John and I liked this side dish better than the roasted kohlrabi: for him, it was the flavor, but for me, it was a texture thing since the roasting seemed to toughen the skin, which admittedly, could be corrected with better trimming.



2 medium tomatoes, thinly sliced
1 kohlrabi, thinly sliced
1 bunch arugula
Juice of half a lemon
2 tbsp fresh basil, chiffonade, divided
1 tsp honey
3-4 tbsp olive oil
sea salt and pepper, to taste

Lightly sprinkle the kohlrabi and tomato slices with sea salt and set aside. Wash and spin dry the arugula. Whisk together the lemon juice, honey, olive oil and some salt and pepper. Mix in half the basil. Reserve 1-2 tbsp of the dressing and use as much of the rest as you want to toss the arugula. Plate the arugula and then equally divide your tomato and kohlrabi slices in stacks between your plates. Spoon some of the reserve dressing on your tomato stacks then sprinkle with remaining basil. Best if chilled before serving.

CSA Count: 4
Kohlrabi, slicing tomatoes, arugula, basil

Summer Squash Lasagne

Oh summer: You're so beautiful with your long, sunny days and moderate climes, but why, little tempestuous strumpet, must you plague us with so much squash?! I think my household alone has consumed 1.5 lbs of summer squashes for the last 6 weeks-- oh wait, I'll subtract the pound that I pawned off on some friends recently but still-- that's a total of 8 lbs! Alas, I can't stay mad at you for long, and if anything, my ire will only truly reach fever pitch when your sister autumn comes along with a metric buttload of acorn, butternut, and other winter squashes. Boo.

But let's not talk about that bitch for now (even though she is otherwise my favorite season.) At least this abundance of squash has kept me on my toes trying to find ways I could use it up without having to resort to zucchini bread. In fact, I made it all the way until the 2nd week of August, or I'd guess, maybe the 4th week of squash in the CSA box, before resorting to that default. This squash lasagna may become a summer staple when squash inevitably rains down next year too!

I layered lasagna noodles with a sauteed mixture of yellow squash, zucchini, tomatoes, garlic, and sweet onion and kept this a white lasagna, using only a bechamel sauce and ricotta in order to keep this light and sunny in flavor and color. A bit of basil and lemon zest in the ricotta mixture brightened up the flavors with a citrus zing that cut through the creaminess and cheesy goodness of the noodles. And like all lasagnas, this is great for creating lots of leftovers that you can freeze for packing for lunch or for taking this to a big potluck which I did for one of 2 neighborhood block parties we went to that week.



9 lasagna noodles, cooked according to package directions
2 cups whole milk
3 tbsp butter
3 tbsp flour
dash of nutmeg
1 tbsp olive oil
1.5 lbs mix of summer squashes (yellow and zucchini used here), thinly sliced
1 medium sweet onion, chopped
2 cloves fresh garlic, minced
2 medium tomatoes, slightly squeezed to remove excess juice and seeds, diced
1 15oz container of part-skim ricotta cheese
2 eggs, beaten
1/2 cup grated Parmesan, plus another 2 tbsp
2 tbsp fresh basil, chiffonade
zest of 1 medium lemon
2 cups shredded mozzarella
salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cook the noodles according to package directions (I add olive oil to the boiling water to help keep the noodles from sticking) and drain, rinsing under cold water once in the colander.

In the meantime, make the bechamel by melting the butter in a small sauce pan over medium heat. Add the flour and whisk to make a roux. Let this cook for about 2-3 minutes while you whisk it into a light brown paste. Add the milk while whisking, being sure to scrape up any lumpy bits of roux to make a smooth sauce. Turn up the heat to medium high and continue to whisk until the sauce thickens, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat and add about a 1/4 tsp of salt and 1/8 tsp of pepper along with a pinch of nutmeg. Set aside.

Heat 1 tbsp of olive oil in a large pan over medium heat. Add the onion and garlic and let saute gently so that the onions become translucent but don't brown. Add the squash and continue to saute until squash softens and becomes slightly shiny, about 7 minutes. Add the diced tomatoes and cook until tomatoes are just heated so they retain their shape but do not fall apart. Salt and pepper to taste.

Mix together the ricotta, eggs, 1/2 cup Parmesan, basil, and lemon zest with 1/4 tsp salt and 1/8 tsp black pepper. You now have all the components to start layering.

In a large casserole dish, spread 1-1.5 ladles of the bechamel sauce (a skin will have formed while it cooled and thickened, so be sure to stir it up first) over the bottom of the pan. Lay three noodles side by side on this sauce layer. Add 1/2 of your vegetable mix then cover with 1/3 of the remaining bechamel sauce. Dot with 1/2 of the ricotta mixture and sprinkle with 1/3 of the mozzarella. Top with 3 more noodles and repeat as above: vegetables, bechamel, ricotta, mozzarella. Finally, top with three more noodles and pour on the rest of the bechamel sauce and sprinkle with remaining mozzarella and the 2 tbsp of Parmesan.

Cover tightly with foil and bake for about 30 minutes. Remove the foil and continue to bake for another 10-15 minutes or until the top cheesy layer gets some nice brown coloring to it. Let sit for 10 minutes before slicing up and serving.

CSA Count: 5
Yellow squash, zucchini, slicing tomatoes, fresh garlic, basil

Green Beans, Potatoes, and Dill

When I was little, I infinitely preferred the taste of canned green beans over fresh ones. I can distinctly remember that it wasn't a truly good day at my pre-school unless lunch had squishy and overcooked canned green beans as a side. Whenever fresh green beans showed up on a dinner plate at home, I think the taste and the crunch actually made me gag. As I look back on that now with a more mature palette, I can only guess that the saltiness and artificiality of canned beans is what made them taste so good to me, given that back then, I also eagerly awaited opportunities to buy Lickamades (purchased with change leftover from buying cigarettes for my daycare teachers at the 7-11, but I digress...)

Of course, sometimes it still takes a bit of sodium and artificiality to get me to eat green beans today, given my deep, dark, and disturbing love of green bean casserole. The kid in me still exists since fresh green beans are among my least favorite of vegetables, so you can imagine my sense of ennui when faced with 3-4 CSA deliveries of green beans. Here's one way I tried to get over the green bean boredom-- lace 'em with some butter and throw in potatoes as a distraction.

The butter and the potatoes definitely were the spoonful of sugar to get the medicine of green beans down. The crunch of the green beans contrasted nicely with the softness of the chunks of potato. Each bite was nicely balanced: creaminess from the potato and butter, fresh green flavors from the beans and dill, subtle sweetness from the onion. This was a side dish to the salmon in my last post, but since the dill makes me think of springtime, I bet it would also make for a nice side for lamb or some other Easter meal.



1 lb fresh green beans, ends trimmed off and cut in half or thirds depending on length
1 lb baby red potatoes, cut in half
1 small sweet onion, sliced thinly in half moons
1-2 tbsp fresh dill, chopped
2 tbsp unsalted butter, divided
2 tsp olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

Put the potatoes in a large pot and cover with cold water. Bring to a boil and add some salt. After about 10 minutes, add the green beans and cook for an additional five minutes. The potatoes should be fork tender. Drain and rinse with cold water to stop the green beans from cooking.

In a medium pan melt a tbsp of butter with the olive oil over medium heat. Add the onion and cook until softened. Add the potatoes, green beans and remaining tbsp of butter and gently toss until butter is melted, trying to avoid breaking up the potatoes. Add salt and pepper to taste and sprinkle with dill.

CSA Count: 3
Green beans, potatoes, dill

Grilled Treviso Radicchio

Treviso radicchio is such a pretty vegetable: Its stems are a soft, pale green that gradually deepens to a rich, forest green with shades of the purple-red color you'd expect from radicchio in the tips of the leaves. On the night that we ate this, I thought I'd try grilling the treviso since the grill was fired up to cook burgers. Seemed like a waste of effort and time spent lighting coals unless we had another grilled item that night.

Perhaps grilling wasn't the ideal way to use the treviso: it's not as hearty as regular radicchio. The lack of a good crunch resulted in difficulty when trying to cut these into bite sized pieces. I'm not sure how to describe it otherwise-- the leaves were only slightly, not overly wilted from the heat, but for some reason, it just toughened up. But the flavor was still good! The slight char from the grill, the natural bitterness of the vegetable and the sweetness from the dressing I made using balsamic vinegar and honey harmonized, appealing to every part of my palette. I think I'd probably try this again with regular radicchio as I hope that the crunch, heat, and balanced flavors will make a great alternative to a regular salad.



1 head of treviso radicchio, split lengthwise in half
2 tbsp olive oil, plus a little more for brushing the leaves
2 tsp balsamic vinegar
drizzle of honey
salt and pepper to taste

Brush both sides of your treviso halves with olive oil and sprinkle with a little bit of salt and pepper. Place on the grill cut side down and cook for 2-3 minutes, flip over and cook the other side for an additional 2-3 minutes or until you see a slight char form on the ends of the leaves then remove to a plate. Mix together the vinegar and olive oil with salt and pepper to taste and drizzle with honey.

CSA Count: 1
Treviso radicchio

Rainbow Chard Potato Salad

The CSA gods have been plentiful in bestowing us with rainbow chard this summer. After using it in soup and eating them braised, I wanted to find yet another tasty way of using this beautiful vegetable in order to combat some of the boredom I could feel creeping on as this had been the 4th week in a row that we ended up with rainbow chard in our fridge.

Also in the CSA basket that week: new potatoes and dill. Potato salad immediately came to mind, and in a true moment of CSA serendipity, I wondered what would happen if I put the chard in the potato salad? I thought that the pretty stems, when chopped, kind of looked like celery (a potato salad staple, of course), only the bright colors would hopefully pop against the creamy white color of the potato and the dark, green of the chard leaves. If anything, this would hopefully be a feast for the eyes if not for the stomach.

But thankfully it turned out to be a feast for both. The potatoes kept their firmness, thanks to the waxy flesh, while the stems added crunch as well as color, and the leaves added crispness-- kind of like a salad nicoise only without the tuna... and the green beans, come to think of it. Of course, maybe I was more spellbound by how cool and refreshing this salad was on a hot day of 103 degrees (in Seattle-- record breaking!) and that it was kind of comforting after my second day of writing substantive law essays for the bar exam. Despite those specialized circumstances, I think this might be worth a try next time you're looking for a potato salad idea to bring to a bbq or potluck!



1 bunch rainbow chard
1.5 lbs new potatoes
2 tbsp fresh dill, chopped
1 small clove fresh garlic, minced
1 tbsp cider vinegar
3 tbsp olive oil
2 tsp Dijon mustard
2 tbsp sour cream
salt and pepper to taste

Scrub the potatoes clean then cut into bite sized pieces and throw into a large pot. Cover with cold water and bring to a boil. Add some salt once the water starts boiling and bring down to a medium simmer. Let cook for about 15 minutes or until you can pierce a piece of potato (alliteration!) with a fork. While the potatoes are cooking, chop the stems off the chard and trim off any tough looking ends. Chop into smallish, 1/4 inch sized pieces then rough chop the leaves. Put these in a colander in your sink.

When the potatoes are done cooking, drain them into the colander holding your chard so that the hot water wilts the leaves but doesn't over cook them. Rinse lightly with cold water then spread out your potatoes and chard on a sheet pan so they can cool and dry out faster.

In the meantime, whisk together the remaining ingredients in a large bowl. Add the cooled potatoes and chard and gently toss, trying not to break up the potatoes. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

CSA Count: 4
Rainbow chard, new potatoes, fresh garlic, fresh dill

Green Noodle Stir Fry

I love where we live on the southern side of Seattle partly because we're so close to the International District, not just Seattle's Chinatown, but also home to Japanese, Thai, and Vietnamese restaurants, shops, and bakeries. There's a restaurant there that specializes in food from Shanghai: yummy steamed dumplings filled with soup made even tastier when you dip them in tangy red vinegar, a pan fried cake which like all Chinese desserts is perfectly not too sweet, and best of all-- hand-shaven green barley noodles. These beautiful noodles are jade green, slightly chewy (or as a reader review I once read accurately described them, the texture of spaetzle) and come to your table stir fried with your choice of meat.

On the last Sunday before the bar exam, John and I took a study break to go downtown for lunch using the light rail train that opened in mid-July. (I have to specifically acknowledge the light rail as it makes heading into downtown so much more enjoyable than my other, highly irritating, bus option, as it is less crowded and makes the trip in 15 minutes as opposed to the 25+ minute bus ride!) We had a pleasant, quick lunch at the cafe in the basement of Elliott Bay Book Company, then stopped by the Japanese mega mart, Uwajimaya for some frozen yogurt. (Coconut frozen Greek yogurt, fresh mango and black berries-- yum!) Since we felt only slightly guilty about going there just for frozen yogurt we decided to walk through the store to see what other impulse buys we could make. We ended up restocking our staple of Chinese sausages and throwing in some chocolate coconut Pocky sticks for good measure.

While in the refrigerated noodle section, we were about to buy udon noodles when I noticed that familiar, bright jade green color. Labeled "vegetable noodles," I decided to give these a try as a switch-up for what had otherwise become a very tired stir fry rut, thanks to yet another share of snap peas from the CSA.

I ended up stir frying these with some small pieces of pan fried tofu, carrots, snap peas, zucchini and a little scrambled egg. The package directions did not require a par boil, which made for a nice quick meal, but the suggested amount of soy sauce (3/4 cup!) frightened me a little, so I reduced the suggested amounts of soy sauce and water. Plus, this made a lot of leftovers for just the two of us, which worked out great for me since I only had an hour for lunch while sitting for the exam and the 100+ temperatures made me reluctant to go anywhere during that break. I have to say, maybe it was the stress of the bar, but these were even better cold the next day! I hadn't planned on blogging about this when I started out (hence the lack of pictures in this post) but the end result was so pretty, thanks to the vivid green of the noodles and vegetables, contrasted with the bright orange of the carrots and the mellow yellow of the eggs and tofu, I just had to share.

1 package "vegetable" noodles (check your local Asian market for them)
1 16 oz package of super firm tofu, cut into 1/4 inch pieces and drained
1/4 canola oil, plus 1 tbsp
2 carrots, sliced thinly on the diagonal
1 medium zucchini, sliced thinly on the diagonal
1 lb snap peas
1/2 tbsp minced ginger
2 cloves fresh garlic, minced
2 green onions, chopped
3/4 cup water
1/4 cup light soy sauce
1-2 tsp sesame oil
3 tsp Siriacha Vietnamese hot sauce
salt, pepper
1/2 tsp Five Spice powder

At least an hour before you're going to start cooking, place the block of tofu between two plates and stack a bowl full of water on the top plate to press out the water. Be sure to pour out water and flip over the tofu at least once to drain water out of both sides. Cut the tofu into small pieces (mine were about a 1/4 inch thick and about 1 inch long) and set on a plate lined with paper towel to drain even more water out. The point is to get these as dry as you can to hopefully cut down on splatter.

In a small frying pan (large enough for a single layer of your tofu), heat the 1/4 cup of canola oil over medium high heat. Carefully add the tofu and cover with a splash guard. Cook for about 4-5 minutes then remove from heat and flip the tofu pieces over before returning to the heat for another 4-5 minutes. Keep removing from the heat to turn the pieces until they are golden on all sides. Remove the tofu to a plate lined with paper towels to drain the oil. Sprinkle with salt, pepper, and five spice powder while hot.

In a large pan or wok, heat the 1 tbsp of canola oil over medium high heat. When hot, add the ginger, green onion, and garlic, stirring quickly to keep the garlic from burning for about 30 seconds. Add your carrots, zucchini, and snap peas, cooking for a few minutes or until the colors are their most vivid. Add the noodles, water and soy sauce and continue to cook for about 5 minutes more or until the water has been mostly absorbed and the noodles are heated all the way through. While that's cooking, scramble your eggs in another pan. Add your egg, the Siriacha and sesame oil to the noodle mixture and plate.

CSA Count: 4
Fresh garlic, carrots, zucchini, snap peas

Shredded Zucchini & Carrot Cappellini

After asking John's advice, I've decided that I should blog my failures as well as my successes. After all, my blog description says I'm documenting my "struggles" to live recipe-free and failures are inevitable since I lack formal culinary training. Besides, this way I can document for myself what worked and what could use some tweaking.

This one wasn't a total failure, only a semi-failure. I think the pasta to vegetable ratio was a bit too high, resulting in less of an emphasis on the vegetable flavors I was trying to showcase and also a little too dry for my taste. But it still served its purposes of 1) trying to use up the many little zucchinis we've been getting from the CSA lately and 2) giving a productive form of procrastination from studying for the bar!

My inspiration was a favorite way to use zucchini during the summer-- saute it in olive oil with mint and a little salt and pepper. I had some feta and kalamata olives left over from grilling pizzas with my family who were visiting last week so I thought I'd combine that with the zucchini idea and make a Greek theme out of it. Lastly, I thought carrots would add a nice sweetness and a little pop of color. I decided to shred my vegetables so they'd cook fast and would make colorful threads throughout the pasta. It cooked fast, but as you can see from the picture of it cooking in the pan, it kind of looks like coleslaw.

All in all, it wasn't bad, but it wasn't great. Again, I think I didn't have enough vegetables in comparison to the pasta since every now and then when there'd be a perfect bite of all the elements, it was complex in a good way. The vegetables did not disappoint in their sweetness which was balanced by the saltiness of feta, the fruitiness of olive oil and the kalamata olives, and a little peppery bite from the fresh oregano and pepper I'd mixed in too. I still have lots of zucchinis left; maybe that's a sign I should shred some more to mix in with my leftovers...



4 little zucchini
3 small carrots
1 very large clove fresh garlic (yielded ~2 tsp minced)
1/2 Walla Walla sweet onion, sliced thinly into half moons
1 tbsp fresh mint, chopped
2 tsp fresh oregano, chopped
1/3 cup kalamata olives, pitted and halved
1 tbsp feta crumbled (per serving)
12 ounces fresh cappellini
1 tbsp butter
2 tbsp olive oil divided
salt and pepper to taste

Heat water for pasta. Melt the butter and about 1/2 tbsp of olive oil in a large skillet. Shred the zucchini and carrots-- pretty fast and easy when you have a food processor with a grating blade, but can also be done with a grater using the side/section for large shreds. Cook the onion in the skillet over medium heat, careful to not let them brown, just sweating until softened. Add the shredded carrots and zucchini, cooking for about 5 minutes more. Add salt and pepper to taste and toss in the mint and oregano. Salt the water and cook pasta according to package directions. When pasta is cooked, drain and add to the vegetables drizzling with the rest of the olive oil as you mix it in and adjusting seasoning to taste. Plate and top with some of the sliced olives and some feta.

CSA Count: 3
zucchini, carrots, fresh garlic

Fresh Mozzarella, Tapenade & Arugula Panini

It's no secret that I'm always daydreaming about a career that doesn't involve practicing law. A frequent fantasy is to run a store of some kind. My ideal would be a yarn store, situated in a cool looking house with an area where customers can work on projects and have cupcakes and tea. John says that it would just be our living room, not an actual business, but I see nothing wrong with making people feel so comfortable, like they're guests in my home.

Alternatively, my friend Liz and I have frequently dreamed about opening a coffee place that promotes social justice activism. We'd offer free refills if you show us that you wrote a letter to the editor while you were using our free WiFi and host conversation circles and neighborhood events. We'd call it the Human Bean.

The latest fantasy has been inspired by my neighborhood. There's an amazing park that's under construction just a couple of blocks from my house, and recently, a cute little space opened up on the main avenue that is also near the park. I envision that the one thing my neighborhood really needs is a cute place that sells ice cream and sandwiches that people can pick up and enjoy while they're walking through or hanging out at the park. I'd need to learn how to make some seriously good ice cream, but I already know at least one sandwich that would be on the menu: this panini made with fresh mozzarella, tapenade, arugula and fresh basil.

This is such a great sandwich on its own or served alongside a bowl of soup. The peppery arugula and the basil add a fresh, verdant flavor to the saltiness of the olives that's rounded out by the smooth milkiness of the fresh mozzarella. Of course, I don't know why I'm even trying to write a description of how good this is-- it's grilled cheese essentially, so of course it's good!


1 tbsp butter, melted
2 small cloves garlic, smashed
4 slices of a crusty Italian bread, cut on a bias.
6 thin slices of fresh mozzarella
6 leaves of fresh basil, cut into smaller pieces
1/2 cup of arugula
4 tbsp of olive tapenade

Melt the butter with the garlic so that the garlic flavors the butter. Heat a medium-sized pan over medium low heat. Brush the garlic butter on 2 slices of bread then flip them over and top each slice with 2 tbsp of tapenade, 3 slices of mozzarella, the basil and arugula then top with the other slices of bread. Place the sandwiches buttered side down in your heated pan and weigh them down with something heavy like another pan or in my case, two small cast iron skillets. After about 3-4 minutes your cheese should be melted and a nice, browned crust should have formed, but you may want to check to make sure you don't burn the sandwiches. Butter the tops of the sandwiches then carefully flip them over. Weigh them down again and continue to cook for another 2-3 minutes or until toasted on the other side. Slice on a bias and try not to burn yourself by eating it fresh out of the pan.

This is totally my favorite sandwich of late, and I actually frighten myself a little because it makes me realize how much I'm like my dad with this little sandwich shop fantasy described above. A couple of years ago, my father really impressed himself with his teriyaki chicken sandwiches and wanted to run a restaurant that served them exclusively. I don't think this sandwich can be an exclusive menu item, but if I do open my little store, I suppose I could make room for his chicken sandwich too. :) What other sandwiches should be on my menu?

Gnocchi with Roasted Beets and Wilted Greens

I used to hate beets. I think it's because when I was little and we'd go to a restaurant with a salad bar, my mother would take me with her and ask me to pick out anything I might want. I saw what looked like canned cranberry sauce: sliced rounds of something deep red and jello-esque and was drawn to it, thinking it was that stuff I liked from Thanksgiving. Mom would say, "I don't think you want that. I don't think you'd like it." I'd stubbornly insist that I indeed wanted that, so she'd shrug and put it on her plate. Back at the table, you can imagine my surprise and disappointment when instead of the sweet but tart jellied goodness I was expecting, I'd instead find something pickled and slightly crunchy. Like the stubborn adult I am today, I'd keep eating it just to avoid admitting I had been wrong.

But this dish made me a convert. Our CSA included a batch of golden beets in our basket last year and included a recipe for gnocchi, beets, goat cheese, and garlic butter. I decided to give it a try but tried roasting the beets instead of boiling them and thought that it was a shame to waste all those lovely beet greens so I thought I might stir those in as well. I love the way beets smell as they're roasting (I do mine with a drizzle of olive oil, sprinkle of salt and pepper with a couple of sprigs of thyme from our garden): the caramelizing sugars almost smell like cookies to me, but there's an underlying verdant aroma to it. So cookies outdoors? Not sure. Also, the greens smell grassy to me, but once they cook, they're subtle in flavor, but a little acidic (as John rightfully pointed out.) The acid is a good counterbalance to the creaminess of the goat cheese and the sweet but distinctly vegetable flavor of the beets. But it's the toasted walnuts that really pull it altogether for me. The crunch is a good texture contrast to the softness of the rest of the dish, plus toasting them brings out the melted butter and who doesn't love that? This paired nicely with a 2007 Sauvignon Blanc we bought on our trip to Napa last September from the Sequoia Grove Winery.
Yep. I like beets. Not enough to eat this, but I wouldn't want to miss a summer or a fall that didn't have at least one dinner with beets. If you think you don't like beets, please give this a try. The colors alone will entice you.

1 16 oz package of gnocchi (unless you have the time to make your own!)
1 bunch of beets (don't know... 1lb?) with the greens still attached.
2 tbsp olive oil, divided
2 sprigs fresh thyme
2 large cloves of fresh garlic, minced
1/4 cup walnuts, toasted
2 oz chevre
2 tbsp butter
1 tbsp chopped chives
1 tbsp basil, thinly chopped
salt and pepper

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Cut off the stems from the beets and reserve the greens. Wash the beets thoroughly and cut each one in half lengthwise. Take a longish piece of aluminum foil (enough so that when folded in half you can make a packet to fit all the beet halves) and drizzle with about 1 tbsp of olive oil. Sprinkle salt and pepper over the beets and lay the thyme sprigs on top. Fold the foil over to cover the beets and roll up the sides. Cook in your oven for about 40 minutes or until fork tender.
In the meantime, toast the walnuts in a toaster oven at about 325 degrees or in a dry pan. Cook for about 10 minutes or until you can smell them (but why trust me? I burned my nuts. That's what she said!) Rough chop the greens and wash and drain them thoroughly. When the beets are done, unwrap the foil and let them cool until you can touch them without burning your fingers off. Peel away the skins and slice the beet halves lengthwise or whatever way you think makes them look pretty.
Cook the gnocchi according to package directions and drain. Heat the remaining tbsp of olive oil in the pot and stir the greens around until wilted. Sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste then set aside. Melt the butter and add the garlic. Cook for 2 minutes over medium heat until the garlic is softened and cooked but not burned. Toss the gnocchi and the greens in the butter until heated through then plate. Sprinkle the beets, walnuts, goat cheese, chives, and basil in hopefully a pretty way and serve.

CSA Count: 3 (4 if you count the lettuce in our salad)
Beets, chives, garlic, little gem lettuce

P.S. Unless you like your food to look like that shirt you were thinking of buying at Filene's Basement, I wouldn't recommend doing this with red beets. The shocking pink stain to the gnocchi is not appetizing (she says from past experience.)