11.1.17 Wisconsin Grown | Part 26

All good things, CSA shares included, must come to an end. It’s an inevitable truth, but one I still find hard to face every season as the growing season ends and we hunker down with our winter veggies to wait until the start of next season. It feels a long way away. Of course, the end of the CSA season also coincides with the end of the outdoor farmers market season (only a few weeks left!), and the frosty nights have made short work of what remains of our vegetable garden. There’s not much growing anymore, which means winter is quickly approaching.

But, I’m sure, the upcoming cold months will go by much more quickly than I always expect they will. Especially this year, once our newest family member arrives in January. And from there it’s only a few more months until green springy things start popping up. We’ll make it; we always do. And until then, we’re going to eat really well.  Here’s what we’re cooking:

Plenty of Brussels Sprouts this week means we’ll be breakfasting on this delicious Winter Hash, and since we’ve got Turnips this week as well, I figure it only makes sense to sub them for the parsnips in this recipe.

This week’s Cabbage is destined to become Food52’s Okonomiyaki - a delicious, savory Japanese pancake.

Our Butternut Squash is going to get roasted up and tossed into this Wild Rice Pilaf with Roasted Butternut Squash. It’s nutty and sweet, full of squash and sage and some dried cranberries to boot. It’s pretty much the ultimate fall side dish.

We have so many peppers this week, both hot and sweet: Bell Peppers, Banana Peppers, Jalapeno, and Cayenne. One thing I know for sure is that when you have a whole bunch of peppers, you should probably make Homemade Hot Giardiniera; it’s basically the most wonderful condiment of all time.

All of our lovely Carrots this week are getting roasted up in this Sheet Pan Roasted Chicken and Carrots with Harissa Yogurt Sauce for a super easy and satisfying sheet pan dinner.

If you can believe it, our farmers are still managing to give us Tomatoes. It makes me so happy. I’ll cook this week’s down and use them in place of the inferior canned variety to make a big warming bowl of these Steamed  Mussels with Tomato, Fennel, and Saffron Broth. And I’ll top it all off with plenty of fresh Parsley. Sounds heavenly.

Leeks are always good in my book, but trust Yottam Ottolenghi to find ways to really make them shine. Things like his Braised Eggs with Leeks and Za’atar.

I normally tend to fry my Shallots to use as a crispy topping for everything, but this week I think I’ll take things in a different direction  and make David Lebovitz’s Shallot Marmalade. I think it’s going to be lovely with goat cheese on some crusty whole grain bread or crackers, don’t you?

We’ve got more Collard Greens, and plenty of Garlic, so I’m thinking we’ll get braising with them. The Kitchn’s Braised Collard Greens with Bacon sounds particularly good, especially atop a warm bowl of cheesy polenta or grits.

Cauliflower + loads of cheese sounds like exactly what I need right now, so Smitten Kitchen’s Cauliflower Gratin it is. We’ll probably throw some extra Collard Greens in there too just to counteract all of that cheese.