Week #2 2016
Salad Mix – Salanova lettuce from Johnnys’ saves the day. The little lettuces that held on during the flood that ran through the greenhouse in March, have made nice heads with many leaves. Enjoy the mix! Good bye bitter endive!
Bok choi – another early season powerhouse! Sweet and young, eat it now before the on slot of flea beetles turn the leaves to lace.
Cauliflower or Chinese Broccoli – the cauliflower is almost finished and the Chinese Broccoli is just starting. The Chinese Broccoli is special because the stems and leaves are part of the deliciousness. Sautee the whole thing with garlic and a dash of soy sauce and eat over rice.
Kale – amazing stuff, just pumping out the leaves, thank you super food. Enjoy it weekly (we eat it daily!) some of our favorite recipes are listed below, many more on the website.
Spinach – Osbourne seed company has a winner with this very dark green spinach. The vitamins are surging through the leaves and will contribute to your health. Try Polly’s recipe below for Saag, with or without the lamb.
Shallots – held over from last season, strong and flavorful, use as you would an onion.
Walnuts – our grand old tree did well last season. Thanks to all the hands that went into gathering them. Most are in great condition, some are not, hard to tell until you crack them, so enjoy.
We have been busy this week. Juve tilled the main fields just before the rain and the soil was perfect. We planted more sugar snaps along with shallots, green onions, broccoli, cabbage, kohlrabi, and parsley. We managed to get in our early tomatoes in the greenhouse, four beds this year. With the nice rain last week the weeds will be close on our heels.
There was quite the demand for pork, all our piglets are spoken for. We still have beef and possible a lamb. Contact Juve to reserve your meat. The beef may be butchered in the early summer or fall, the pork by the end of summer.
We will have vegetable starts. I sent a list with the weekly email. You can either send me and email, leave me a note or text me. I will have starts available beginning to mid May. I have some kale, shallots and sugar snaps right now, available in the barn. Come see me at Catlin Gable School on May 1, I will be selling all the starts we grow. The Beaverton Farmers Market opens on May 7 and runs through October. Come see me on Saturdays 8 – 1:30, I sell with Pumpkin Ridge Gardens.
Off to harvest
Kale Salad (from Kris Schamp)
(A brief note: I use just kale, and red onion most of the time and it is delicious, this dressing recipe works well on most spicy greens like arugula and mustard as well)
Flax oil (1/8 C)
Lemon juice (1/8 C)
Soy sauce* (less than 1/8 C)
1 bunch kale
Red onion
Shredded or shaved (with peeler) carrots
¼ C pumpkin seeds
1/8 C sunflower seeds
Sesame seeds
Sprouts (any kind)
Mushrooms (optional)
* can use Bragg’s – a low sodium substitute for soy sauce
1) Make the dressing: equal parts flax oil, lemon juice & soy sauce (or Bragg’s – a low sodium substitute for soy sauce. Use less soy sauce if sensitive.)
Marinate very thinly sliced / shaved red onion in the dressing while you prepare the kale.
2) De-stem the kale – try to get the young, tender smaller leaves.
Cut it into ribbons. Place in very large bowl to allow for easy mixing.
Add rest of “dry” ingredients.
3) Add the dressing and marinated onions to the kale mixture. Using hands, gently massage the dressing into the kale; softening down the structure of the kale and aiding the absorption of the dressing by the kale.
Let sit for a while (20-30 mins) before serving. Can be made well beforehand and refrigerated. You can add chopped avocado when serving. Goes well with marinated tofu-you can use the same dressing.
Lyn’s Salad Dressing
1 cup olive oil
1/3 cup white balsamic vinegar
salt and pepper
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1 clove garlic pressed
Add all ingredients to a Mason jar and cover with lid. Shake until creamy and well blended.
Chinese Broccoli
(Lyn’s Quick Stir Fry)
1 bunch Chinese Broccoli (flower, stem and leaves) – remove any hard end of the stem
2-4 cloves of garlic minced
1 – 2 tablespoon soy sauce
¼ cup water
Olive oil
Heat a wok or frying pan and add 1-2 tablespoons olive oil. Add minced garlic until aromatic (about 1 minute) then add the broccoli and toss to coat with oil and garlic for about 1 minute. Add soy sauce and coat then add the water and cover for 3-5 minutes until tender and still bright green. Serve by itself or over rice. . . YUM!
Baked Crispy Kale Recipe
Servings: 4 as snack Prep Time: 5 Cook Time: 20
The biggest secret to getting the kale super-crisp is to dry them in a salad spinner. If there is moisture on the leaves, the kale will steam, not crisp. Also, do not salt the kale until after they have come out of the oven. If you salt beforehand, the salt will just cause the kale to release moisture…thus steaming instead of crisping. I’ve also found that the convection setting on my oven works really well too – I set the convection on 325F and bake for about 10-15 minutes. Have fun with this recipe, I sometimes mix the salt with Cajun or Creole seasoning.
Ingredients:
4 giant handfuls of kale, torn into bite-sized pieces and tough stems removed (about 1/3 pound)
1-2 tablespoons olive oil
sea salt or kosher salt
(I like to grate parmesan or romano cheese over them before baking)
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 350F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Place the kale leaves into a salad spinner and spin all of the water out of the kale. Dump the water and repeat one or two times more just to make sure that the kale is extra dizzy and dry. Use a towel to blot any extra water on the leaves. Place the kale on the baking sheet.
- Drizzle olive oil over the kale leaves and use your hands to toss and coat the leaves. Bake in the oven for 12-20 minutes until leaves are crisp. Take a peek at the 12 minute mark – the timing all depends on how much olive oil you use. Just use a spatula or tongs to touch the leaves, if they are paper-thin crackly, the kale is done. If the leaves are still a bit soft, leave them in for another 2 minutes. Do not let the leaves turn brown (they’ll be burnt and bitter) Remove from oven, sprinkle with salt and serve.
LAMB SAAG
- 4 lamb shanks
- 2-3 Lbs. spinach
- 1 onion, chopped
- 4 Tbs. ghee (or butter and oil mixed)
- 1 tsp. brown mustard seed
- 1/8 tsp. asafetida
- 1/8 tsp. cayenne
- ½ tsp. ground coriander
- ¼ tsp ground black pepper
- 1/8 tsp. grated nutmeg
- ¼ tsp. turmeric
- 1 tsp. ground cumin
- 3 Tbs. water
- 3 Tbs. cream (or use sour cream or yogurt)
- 2 tsp. salt
Cover lamb shanks with water in a large pot. Add 1 tsp. salt and bring to a boil. Simmer until the lamb is starting to loosen from the bone. If you have time, put boiled lamb shanks onto the grill to brown. Chop lamb and set aside.
Meanwhile, wash spinach and strip leaves off of stems. Chop coarsely. Combine cayenne, coriander, black pepper, nutmeg, turmeric and cumin in a small bowl, add water, and stir well. Melt the butter and oil (or ghee) in a 5-quart pan over moderate heat. Add mustard seed and cook until it starts to pop. Add asafetida and let it sizzle, then add spice mixture and onion. Fry for about 2 minutes.
Add spinach to pan, sprinkle with 1 tsp. salt. Cover and reduce heat. Stir occasionally until spinach is all bright green and very wilted. Add water if necessary. At this point, the saag can be removed from heat and can sit if necessary. Before serving, put spinach in a food processor and puree. Return it to the pan, add chopped lamb, stir in cream and reheat briefly.
Adapted from The Best of Lord Krishna’s Cuisine by Yamuna Devi.
by Tori Ritchie