CSA Week 1: Cabillaud au pesto de mizuna

Thursday was the first shipment of our CSA and I couldn't be happier. For those of you who don't know, CSA stands for Community Supported Agriculture and basically means that the Boy and I have bought a share in a farm (in this case, Norwich Meadows Farm) and, for the next five months we will be receiving an assortment of freshly-harvested vegetables every Thursday. Not only is this saving us money; it also introduces us to vegetables we don't normally use and ensures that we eat many more vegetables since we certainly don't want to be wasteful. And, it provides us with an opportunity to conveniently get organic vegetables that are not traditional to Chinese cooking. All in all, a very good deal. In a few weeks, we'll also be starting a fruit share with produce from Red Jacket Orchards. Both of these are through a delightful store we discovered purely through our quest for a CSA--Provisions on Beekman. Located right near South Street Seaport, they have local products and fantastic olive oil (I currently have a bottle of their Blood Orange Olive Oil which is absolutely delightful.

So, you ask, what did we get this first week? 4 heads lettuce, 10 garlic scapes, 8 spring onions, 2 lbs. of greens (swiss chard, kale and mizuna) and 4 oz. parsley. I've already used quite a lot of the produce, having made kale, rotelle with swiss chard and garbanzo beans and stir-fried tofu with spring onions, garlic, ginger and soy sauce. But the recipe I'm sharing with you today is one I made on Friday night, when we had my parents over for shabbos dinner.

I was inspired by a recipe I found on serious eats for Cod with Pesto. Wanting to use some of my farm produce, I decided to make a pesto out of mizuna instead of the traditional basil. Spicy and very fresh-tasting, it was a perfect partner to the rich, buttery cod. It also was a perfect opportunity to use my blood orange olive oil. Enjoy!

Cod with Mizuna Pesto

Pesto:

• 1/2 pound mizuna leaves, roughly torn
• 1/8 teaspoon sea salt
• pinch black pepper
• 1 garlic scape, cut into 4 pieces
• 2 tablespoons pine nuts, preferably toasted
• 1/8 cup excellent-quality extra virgin olive oil
• 1/8 cup blood orange olive oil

Cod:

• 2 lbs. cod fillets
• pinch garlic salt
• 1/8 teaspoon black pepper

Begin by preparing the pesto. Add all the ingredients to a food processor and pulse, stopping to scrape down the sides if necessary, until everything is the same texture--that of a liquidy paste. Scoop into a bowl and set aside while you prepare the cod.

Preheat a George Foreman Grill. Rub cod on both sides of each fillet with salt and pepper. Cook in grill for 3 minutes. (Depending on the size of the grill and of your fillets, you may need to do this in batches.)

Serve cod and pesto together, encouraging diners to spoon as much pesto as they like onto the cod. Enjoy!

Links to other mizuna noshes:

• Mizuna and Minced Chicken Stir Fry from Nook & Pantry
• Soba Noodle Salad with Mizuna from Dani Spies
• Wok Sauteed Mizuna and Portobello Mushrooms with Minced Chicken from RecipeGirl.com
• Mizuna Sunchoke Salad with Shiitake Salmon from No Recipes
• Mizuna no Shiraae from Obachan's Kitchen & Balcony Garden