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Happy Pig
• Green onions
- • Chinese broccoli
- • Cabbage or broccoli of cabbage
- • Sugar snap peas
- • Lettuce
- • Parsley
- • Kale
- • Garlic curls or scapes
- • Kohlrabi
- • Potatoes
We hope you are enjoying your vegetables. We work hard every day to ensure the freshest, tastiest vegetables make it from our farm to your table. This year we experimented with many different overwintering broccolis and cauliflowers. Some came too early to be really helpful with the CSA. But you all got a chance to taste “Burt” the beautiful big cauliflower we started the season with. Many other varieties followed, sometimes there was not enough for everyone to taste on any given week, but the next week it was available.
We have also experimented with new lettuce. We have tried a variety of new lettuce, the most exciting is Salanova. This lettuce is a great keeper with little bitterness of other lettuce. It made a great salad mix we offered 2 weeks ago. The cabbage you have this week is “Jetma” she started out small but now is quite large weighing up to 8#. We will have “Carafex” soon. This is my absolute favorite cabbage with a very pointy crown and little hard inner core.
The Chinese broccoli is one of a kind. This is the 8th week harvesting it and it is showing no signs of slowing down. The stems are longer and very sweet. If the end feels tough just cut it off. We love it in a simple stir fry and have it at least 4 times a week, breakfast, lunch or dinner. The kohlrabi is a family favorite as well. The kids just love it peeled and sliced and served raw with radishes in their lunch. I ate one just like an apple today. I just peeled it and munched on it while I was harvesting the sugar snap peas.
Juvencio has been working hard to beat back the weeds before he heads to Honduaras. The winter squash and pumpkins got a hoeing and dusting with straw. He also laid down irrigation for all of them. He managed to get the old overwintering cauliflower beds ready for me to plant summer corn. I have given all the tomatoes their first pruning. One of 3 beds had been pruned and tied up twice. The cucumbers are flowering like crazy and they too have required pruning and trellising.
I was able to transplant the first Brussel Sprouts this week. I think this is the earliest yet. We are aiming to have them ready for you at the end of October. We would also like to have them for the add on thanksgiving harvest. As you can see there are many items with very long growing seasons that require special planning to have a successful harvest. Items like fennel, celery, raddichio as well as napa cabbage require careful planning and some luck.
I hope to seed more beets, and the first corn today. We managed to transplant some of my new special melons today with more heading out doors later in the day. I am in the process of planning the canning party to take place the second or third Saturday in Septmeber. It is hard to believe that is just three months away.
Get ready for fennel next week a real spring treat!
Kohlrabi Saute w/ Garlic & Lemon Juice:
2 med Kohlrabi bulbs
1 Tbls olive oil
1 Garlic clove, finely chopped
1 med Onion, chopped
1 Tbls Lemon juice
2 Tbls Parsley, chopped
2 Tbls sour cream
Salt & freshly ground pepper
Peel the tough outer skin from the kohlrabi, then coarsely grate the bulbs. In a skillet, heat olive oil. Add garlic, onion and kohlrabi and saute, stirring for 5 to 7 minutes until kohlrabi is tender crisp. Stir in lemon juice and parsley, then season with salt and pepper to taste. Stir in sour cream, and serve hot.
Parsley Tabbouleh
1 cup of water freshly ground pepper to taste
½ cup bulgur wheat 2 cups finely chopped flat leaf parsley
¼ cup lemon juice ¼ cup chopped fresh mint
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil 2 tomatoes diced
½ teaspoon minced garlic 1 small cucumber
¼ teaspoon salt 4 scallions
Combine water and bulgur in a small sauce pan. Bring to a full boil, remove from heat, cover and let stand until the water has absorbed and bulgur is tender, 25 minutes or so. If any water remains, drain bulgur in a fine mesh sieve. Transfer to a large bowl and let cool 15 minutes.
Combine lemon juice, oil, garlic, salt and pepper in a small bowl. Add parsley, mint, tomatoes, cucumber and scallions to the bulgur. Add dressing and toss. Serve at room temperature or chill for at least 1 hour to serve cold.
Serves 4, generous 1 cup each
Chinese Scallion Pancakes
recipe by Elsa Chen
Ingredients:
2 1/2 cups flour, plus more for flouring the rolling surface
1 cup water
2 teaspoons oil
A bunch of green onions, green and white parts, chopped medium-fine
A few tablespoons of oil to brush on pancakes (a mix of canola or corn oil and sesame oil is good) some salt A few tablespoons sesame seeds (optional)
Directions:
Mix together the first three ingredients by hand or in a food processor. Flour a surface and knead the dough. Let it rest for 20-30 minutes before continuing.
With a rolling pin, roll the dough out on a well-floured surface into a big, flat square or rectangle 1/8 to 1/4 inch thick.
Brush the pancake with a bit of oil, and sprinkle with spring onion pieces and a little salt. Starting at one short end, roll up the dough tightly, jelly-roll style, so you have a “snake.”
Cut the “snake” crosswise into 8 – 10 pieces. Then flatten each piece again gently with your palm and rolling pin to make a little rectangle. Don’t flatten it too firmly, because you want a little air to remain trapped between the layers of the pancakes so they’ll puff up a bit between the layers and be lighter.
Press one or both sides in sesame seeds (optional).
Heat a tablespoon or two of oil in a large skillet. Shallow fry the pancakes until both sides are golden brown and crispy. Drain on paper towels.
Serve plain or with dipping sauce. An easy sauce can be made by mixing soy sauce with a little minced garlic, scallion, and rice vinegar.