wilted arugula with toasted pecans {sweetened with honey}

we have loved our csa share (community supported agriculture) and are getting ours from {farm indy} this year.

this year is our first year and i am pretty certain we will never go back.  we used to just try and make regular trips to the farmers market on saturdays, but honestly because i work in the world of photography, summer weekends are pretty hit or miss with weddings, so we never were consistent. so the ease of picking up a big box full of fresh delights each week…is amazing!

i love the challenge that i am encountering with a variety of local vegetables that i wouldn’t have necessarily picked.  though we can customize out box, i am trying to stretch myself and not always cook with the same veggies.  with my first box came creations such as wilted arugula, roasted kohlrabi and radishes & turnip au gratin (all three of which will be repeated in our home). Did you know that roasted radish is really good? i had no idea.

here is a quick picture of our first share (i didn’t include the huge bag of mixed salad greens – which happen to be the best salad greens we have ever eaten)

 did i say i love my csa?

so my first creation was slightly sweet, wilted arugula with toasted pecans, topped with raw cheese.  i like arugula in salad, but i knew that it can be pretty bitter and wasn’t sure how my little boys would do with it.  that is where the honey came in.  i figured adding a little sweetness to help balance the bitter may convince a 17-month old and 3-year old that this was good.  it actually worked, though i did have to give a long, drawn out explanation to my 3-year old about the sweet, honey sauce i made to convince him to try it.

next time, i will cut off the stems on my arugula.  it was a little tough and the stems were definitely bitterer.  I may also cut the pieces as they were pretty big bites.