My Farm Share

A few weeks ago I received a gift in my gmail inbox. It was from Adam. He had ordered a basket of organic vegetables from a local farm to be delivered in a box right to my apartment. I was out in midtown with my girlfriends for cocktails, when I checked my gmail via blackberry and saw my surprise. I read the email carefully and laughed. “How awesome is this?” I said out loud to my girlfriends while I held my cell phone towards them. I won’t carry on about this part though, because he doesn’t like getting too much attention and I don’t want to embarrass him. I will however, carry on about the box of vegetables that arrived outside my apartment door this week. When I woke up Wednesday morning, it was sitting there in the same spot at my door as my neighbors “New York Times” spot at their doors. In my pajamas, I stood there and looked down. I saw “keep refrigerated” looking back at me. As if living in New York City doesn’t spoil you enough with the ability to have Thai food delivered at 2am, now I am actually getting organic produce right from the ground, to the upper east side before even changing out of my PJs. Some may say that whoever thought of me when ordering this, is a genius.

Inside the box was eggplant, lettuce, green and yellow beans, squash, zucchini, cucumber, apricots (fruit pick), and purslane. So many vegetables, so little time to finish all by myself. I decided to start whipping up any recipes that could use the above, and then decided to have a charming “farm like” dinner with Adam to top off the rest. From the farm, to my table, for us. Below is what we cooked for our vegetarian(me)/gluten free(him)/organic local meal (we’re a blast at restaurants together).

Drinks: Ok, so the farm didn’t send me any wine, but that never stopped a girl. Red wine worked with everything that was made (but I think red wine goes with everything anyway, who says I need to eat beef to enjoy my pinot noir?)

For starters: Salad, using all the mesculin greens, cucumber and lettuce. I added goat cheese and candied pecans to the bowl, and drizzled a honey dijon vinaigrette dressing over.


Nature moment: “hey little buddy. I figured I would find someone like you while going through this box”. (My inch worm friend. He was not invited to dinner though).


Dinner: Veggie burgers made from quinoa and walnuts with a slice of monterary jack on top of lettuce (no buns), with blue corn chips and zucchini fries.



Zucchini Fries: Look at this, we can make (almost) any vegetable turn into a modified version of our greasy favorite. Cut the zucchini into strips, drizzle with olive oil, salt and pepper, and bake at 350 for 20 minutes. (When I first started to prepare these, I cut and worked on one of the cucumbers for at least 15 seconds before realizing I was actually cutting a cucumber, and not a zucchini. I think we started drinking wine a tad too early).


Dessert: Apricot cobbler. Every fall I make an apple cobbler, and I thought apricots would make my favorite dessert more “summer like”. So, being I know this recipe like the back of my hand, and I also know it is possible to make it gluten free (and it still tastes amazing); I made this dessert with apricots instead of apples. I baked this a few hours before dinner so it could cool and settle.


In the end, I could not have asked for more of a perfect meal. I highly recommend not only the farm share, but also trying these recipes, and cooking at home as much as possible. After I eat fresh, whole food I feel satisfied, but even more so, clean. When you eat out, you never really know what ingredients/cooking sprays/preservatives are going into our foods. At home though, we have complete control. It is fresh, it is healthy, it is economical, and I do believe when you need to put the time into preparing complete meals like this, it always will taste that much better. And if you have someone to drink the wine and slightly mess up the zucchini fries with, it’s even better.

www.myfarmshare.com for information on how you can get farm food to your table as well.


Love & Apricots,