I can’t be the only one who, through sheer volume of food and unavoidably hectic schedules, ends up with a veggie drawer so full that the rest of the refrigerator ends up cluttered with uneaten vegetables from the CSA:  the kale I didn’t get around to eating, the parsnips for which I had the best of intentions, the beets that, though beloved, have remained hidden in their paper bag.

When I brought home my latest CSA haul from the Five Points Farmers Market, I ran into space issues. Where to put a second head of cabbage? (Answer: next to the one I got the previous week that still hasn’t been prepared.) What to do with more turnips? I put the rosemary in a small vase of water, the garlic on the counter. I knew action had to be taken.

It was time to consume serious quantities food, and I needed serious assistance.

With Andrea, my trusty photographer/roommate/sous chef, by my side, we managed to create a quick, convenient meal, using only ingredients already in our kitchen, a meal that (mostly) cleaned out our vegetable drawer.

After deciding on chicken as our main dish, we set about creating two side dishes:  the first, Roasted Vegetables, the recipe for which is a mash-up of deconstructed Beets-n-Sweets, a Joy of Cooking recipe, and Andrea’s own expertise in vegetable roasting. We used whatever had in the house, leftovers from previous CSA batches and the organic garlic included in this week’s haul.

Andrea’s Roasted Vegetables

Roasted Veggies - Photo by Andrea Nolan

2-3 red potatoes, chopped

2-3 sweet potatoes, peeled and chopped

2-3 beets, peeled and chopped

2-3 parsnips, peeled and sliced

½ large eggplant, chopped

8-10 garlic cloves, the skin still on

2-3 sprigs fresh rosemary

Olive oil

½ teaspoon sugar

¼ teaspoon onion powder

Salt and pepper

In a roasting pan, mix the potatoes, parsnips, and garlic. Drizzle with oil. Salt to taste.

In a separate pan, toss the beets with olive oil, sugar, onion powder, and salt and pepper to taste.

Tightly cover each pan with foil and roast the vegetables until tender, 45-60 minutes. Uncover the pans after twenty minutes to allow the vegetables to brown and crisp slightly.

When the vegetables are tender and ready, mix the beets in with the other vegetable mix. Serve warm.

Roasted root vegetables are considered comfort food in this house. The fresh rosemary added a delicious layer of flavor. Andrea only wished she had added more sweet potato since the mixture of sweet and savory made each bite especially delicious. Remember to squeeze the garlic out of their skins before you eat those pieces.

The second side dish was kale with garlic. I want to pause for a moment to talk about my somewhat sick obsession with kale. For those kale virgins, kale is a ragged or frilled green, dark in color and often with a slightly purplish hue. It can be prepared in many of the same ways that spinach can. But where spinach tastes slightly bitter at times, and releases its own juices upon cooking, kale tastes earthy, maintains a satisfying crispiness, and absorbs whatever liquid/fat it is cooked in, making it a popular choice for soups.

I first tried kale when I was living in Provincetown, Massachusetts for the summer. One of my roommates brought home a bunch of kale, a green I was wholly unfamiliar with, and I sauteed it with minced garlic and olive oil. Oh, it was fantastic, and I was hooked. When I salted it, the salt didn’t absorb into the leaf, getting lost in a dark abyss of oil and soft, soaked leaves, like when I salted spinach; rather the salt stood proudly against the green kale, flavorful and ever-present. The kale absorbed the flavors of the oil and garlic in which it was cooked, making every bite burst with the full taste of garlic.

Sauteed Kale with Garlic

Sauteed Kale - Photo by Andrea Nolan

2-3 cloves garlic, minced

Olive oil (amounts will vary)

1 bunch of kale

Heat oil in a large skillet or pot. Add garlic and let cook about two minutes, until the garlic browns slightly along the edges.

Add kale a handful at a time. Kale doesn’t cook down as quickly or as significantly as spinach does, so going a handful at a time will allow each batch to cook down a bit before adding more.

While the kale cooks, it will turn a bright, brilliant shade of green. At this point, add a bit more oil and toss constantly, moving the greens around in the pan to avoid charring. (Charring doesn’t damage the flavor, but it definitely makes the greens crispy, which can be undesirable or unattractive.)

When the kale is wilted to your liking, turn off the heat and remove, seasoning with salt and pepper to taste.

We served these side dishes with chicken drumsticks cooked in olive oil, fresh rosemary, and minced garlic, seasoned with garlic salt and coarse sea salt. The meal was relatively quick to prepare–twenty minutes of prep time and about an hour of baking–and required no extra ingredients. It’s perfect for a homey Sunday dinner, a busy weeknight, or just a decadent homage to root vegetables and, let’s say, your favorite green.

Eat well, CSAcationers, and take care.