Essentials Box | December 4, 2021

This week’s lineup is all-organic with a couple of locally sourced items:

• Cameo Apples (OPMA)
• Beets (Sound Sustainable Farms)
• Carrots (Sound Sustainable Farms)
• Avocado
• Lemon
• Leeks
• Red Leaf Lettuce
• Zucchini
• Sweet Potato

The DGC is also selling a chef’s mix of mushrooms (with Shitake, Oyster, and others), which makes it the perfect time to make Meera Sodha’s vegan recipe for leek, mushroom, kale and pea subji. We made it last week (after getting Meera’s book, East), and it’s a tasty, quick meal for midweek that’s also nicely low-carb on its own.

Essentials Box | November 20, 2021

This week’s lineup is all-organic with seasonal items that will fit well into your Thanksgiving recipes:

• Brussel Sprouts (Sound Sustainable Farms)
• Granny Smith Apples (OPMA)
• Pomegranate
• Parsley
• Yams
• Cremini Mushrooms
• Yellow Onions
• Chard
• Celery

If you’re looking to shake up your traditional holiday fare, here are a couple of recipes to get you started:

  • Butternut Squash and Brussels Sprout Stuffing with Apples (Food 52). We’ll also have some Butternut and Acorn squash in the store this weekend.
  • Roasted Brussels Sprouts and Mushrooms With Gremolata and Quinoa (NY Times)
  • Pomegranate Relish (Martha Stewart)
  • Sweet Potato Pomegranate Salad (Two Peas and Their Pod)

Essentials Box | November 13, 2021

Here’s this week’s all-organic Essentials Box lineup with a couple of locally-sourced delights:

• Romanesco (Sound Sustainable Farms)
• Carrots (Sound Sustainable Farms)
• Carnival Squash (Caruso Farms)
• Honeycrisp Apples
• Bananas
• Limes
• Green Leaf lettuce
• Red Onion
• Gold Potatoes

A hybrid of the sweet dumpling and acorn squash, the carnival squash’s inner, somewhat stringy flesh has a mellow, but sweet flavor similar to sweet potatoes. It’s great baked, pureed, or steamed, or used in soups and stews.

Here are some recipes to get you started:

Carnival Squash

Essentials Box | October 16, 2021

Here’s this week’s all-organic Essentials Box lineup with several locally sourced delights:

• Green Leaf Lettuce (Sound Sustainable Farms)
• Spaghetti Squash (The Crows Farm)
• Honeycrisp Apples (OPMA)
• Bosc Pears (OPMA)
• Bananas
• Red Onion
• Gold Potato
• Red Pepper
• Zucchini

Here’s a primer on how to cook spaghetti squash from Love and Lemons, as well as a few recipe starters:

Essentials Box | October 9, 2021

Here’s this week’s all-organic Essentials Box lineup with several locally sourced delights:

• Green Cabbage (Ralph’s Greenhouse)
• Carrots (Ralph’s Greenhouse)
• Radish (Sound Sustainable Farms)
• Jonagold Apples (OPMA)
• Bartlett Pears (OPMA)
• Limes
• Avocado
• Yellow Onion
• Yams

With this week’s inclusion of cabbage and carrots, DGC volunteer Agen is dreaming about one of his favorite Japanese dishes — okonomiyaki (derived from “okonomi” meaning “as you like” and “yaki” meaning “grilled“). Here’s a real simple recipe from… erm.. Real Simple. Agen also plans on adding in the radish, a bit of yellow onion, and maybe some yam! If you’re a meat eater, don’t forget the bacon!

Here’s also a more traditional recipe (involving Nagaimo yam) from one of Agen’s favorite cooking YouTubers: