My farmer sends out an e-mail a few days before we pick up, giving us an idea of what he is planning to put in our boxes.  Last weekend, he said there would be Romanesque Cauliflower.

We had this for the first time last summer and were absolutely fascinated.  In fact, my daughter remembered that this was the subject of  my very first post.  🙂

The first time, I wasn’t very creative and we made a pretty lame tuna dish with it.

But, this time was going to be different.  I had roasted squash gnocci I had prepared over the weekend.  We had oven roasted bistro chicken leftovers.   I immediately planned an elegant braised cauliflower dish to serve over the gnocci.  It was going to be a visually spectacular dish with the exotic cauliflower and homemade pasta that would create a lovely photo op for a post about another super CSA-based dining adventure. (Optimistic much?)

Eagerly, I arrived to pick up my produce.  The label on my box said I had either bok choy or romanesque cauliflower.  Huh?

But.  we. have. a. plan.

For. cauliflower.

Then I looked in the box, and I had NEITHER bok choy nor romanesque cauliflower.  😦

Here is what we did get: mixed salad greens, garlic, onions, beets (with greens), six lovely pink lady apples, horseradish (okay, this could be fun!), and a big chunk of squash.

For something different, I also received a jar of seafood seasoning.

Gourmet Spice Blend from a Local Chef

I had to go to the grocery store to buy regular old boring cauliflower.  Harumph!

The final dish was yummy and attractive.

But imagine how cool it would have looked with green gremlin houses mixed in!

As for what I did get:

I have a new roast recipe I am trying this weekend and we will probably have the beets and greens with that.

As I type this,   the squash is roasting for squish to make crescent rolls.  Again.  🙂

There is thawed pie crust in the refrigerator, so perhaps a pie is in order, even though they aren’t ugly apples this time.

I’ve never used fresh horseradish before, so I am looking forward to doing some research to see how I can use that.  The kids aren’t excited and my husband has his doubts, but I’m sure we can come up with something my 15 year old will describe as “exotic”.  😉

Check out what others are doing with their CSA bounty at InherChucks’ What’s in the Box Party.