wtf do i do with all these veggies? Winter CSA; Box 1; Day 1; Fennel + Onions

tales of a homecook tryna use up csa veggies in an imaginative and zero-waste style while utilizing items currently in her kitchen with the guidance of simple recipes

today begins my first day of documenting my winter CSA box. It’s the same CSA as my summer one, but this is a fixed price $178 for 4 boxes ($45/box), around 15-20 lbs of fresh veggies and fruit!

I had some beautiful steak in my fridge that I wanted to eat, but what from the veggie box could I use to make up the rest of the meal?
-there were a ton of onions + it’s cold out - so french onion soup came to mind
-and I had leftover miso-ginger dressing from No. 7 North and thought that could either go really well or terrible with shaved fennel
-and im picky about my apples and there were so many pears so why not make a crumble

Fast French Onion Soup by Kenji Lopez
this recipe isn’t online, so here’s a pic of it from his cookbook, The Food Lab
...about 30-45 min (traditionally it takes 2-4hrs)
...definitely involved recipe, but worth those 30 min
...I followed this recipe with minor adjustments
-I only used 2 lbs of onions so i decreased the rest of the ingredients
-I didn’t have chicken stock so I used two chicken bouillon cubes and 4 cups of boiled water, I also didn't have bay leaves or thyme, so while the bouillon cubes ware breaking down I added washed onion skins and a thing of rosemary and let that all sit for about 30 min
-i didn't have sherry, so i used red wine and added apple cider vinegar to turn up the acidity
-shit I learned so much about onions from this cookbook!
-I only had cheddar cheese so that’s what i used and it was delicious

and no im not gonna apologize for this pic cuz it tasted so fucking good

Miso-Ginger Shaved Fennel Salad
-Well good thing i took my chances here, the miso-ginger + fennel flavors worked soooo good
-I used a mandoline to shave the fennel, used its leafs for a pop of color/zero waste
-used leftover dressing from a dope restaurant in greenpoint - if anyone has a good miso-ginger dressing recipe PLZ SHARE

T-Bone Steak
-not from the csa box - wouldn’t be mad if it was tho
-i used Kenji Lopez Alt method… flip often on high heat | cast iron skillet | rare (this was about 2lbs so a total of 12 min) | marinade = mayo, pepper, tabasco, soy sauce, cayenne

Mostly Pear with a lil bit of Apple Crumble
(i had left over crumble top so I decided to use 4 pears and 2 apples to make a crumble)
-the crumble/crisp recipe (actually what is the difference?) is from Max Falkowitz: I made a few edits/additions: shredded cheddar cheese from the farmers market, ground cardamom, walnuts (instead of pecans)
-as for the pears and apples, i cubed them with skin, 3 tbsp of brown sugar, 2 tbsp of cubed butter, 1 tbsp of cinnamon, ½ tspn of ginger, ½ tspn of ground nutmeg, half a lemon juiced
-oven at 350 and baked for 45 min until the top is golden and crispy

honestly this was one of my most favorite homecooked meals i've had in awhile- so flavorful, got my raw veg, ate some insanely flavored soup, and took care of that red meat craving!