Arugula Glut

Dear Tia Fia,
Your pictures from New York look amazing- I am SO jealous. Did you go to a favorite restaurant? Eat in China Town? I'm dying to know. Maybe the two of us should organize a Culinary Adventure Trip (CAT) and go! We'll say it's a business expense and eat our little hearts out.

Have I ever told you that B is really into things like sustainable gardening, organic fruits and veggies, and eating from local/regional producers? And that, on the other hand, I really like CHEAP? Politics in our house get tricky as I debate in realistic (B just asked me to change that to "short-sighted") terms like "Have you seen our bank account?" and B debates from the lofty idealistic "what's better for the whole of us is better than what's good for the two of us" stance.
In October we'll hit our 5 year anniversary, so we'll have had this argument for, oh let's see, 4 1/2 years.

Now I'm thanking you from the bottom of my stingy little heart, your mention of a CSA saved B and me from at least ONE perpetual row. We looked close to home and found Farmer Tom's. For 24 bucks a week we get a 1/2 bushel of organic fruits and vegetables that've been grown by a local farmer. The one down side- that 1/2 bushel is a grab bag and you don't know what you're going to get. This week was our first CSA Surprise and it included apples, pears, cantaloupe, eggplant, broccoli, potatoes, tomatoes, nanners, and parsnips.



And 2 POUNDS of arugula.



What do you do with that much? I mean the peppery bitter green is good, but I can't eat that many salads in a week. I guess I'm thinking a soup, frozen pestos, and this pizza:


Prosciutto Pizza with Arugula
2 par baked personal sized doughs
1/4 pound of prosciutto thinly sliced
4 slices of provolone
olive oil (if you have it use truffle oil on the arugula instead of olive oil)
garlic
as much arugula as you can stand
Parmesan
salt
pepper
red pepper flakes according to taste


Preheat oven to 400. First, mix minced garlic with some olive oil- brush over pizza crust. Lay prosciutto over pizza crust (1/4 pound was enough to cover both my par bakes, but you could use more or less). Cut up provolone into matchsticks (I used 2 thin slices per pizza) and arrange evenly over the pizza. You don't want it like a traditional pizza- just the suggestion of cheese.
Place in oven for 6-7 minutes.

While pizzas cook, mix arugula, Parmesan, a glug of olive oil, and salt and pepper in a bowl- like it's a salad. ( You could add lemon. I wanted to, but B had thrown mine away earlier in the day.) When pizzas are done (cheese just melted) just place the arugula on top so that it covers the prosciutto so much you can't see it. Use red pepper flakes to your discretion.

If you have any ideas for arugula please send them and what are you getting in your CSA Surprise?

Love,
TT