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- Salad Mix – if you haven’t tried my salad dressing recipe yet we encourage you to make a batch for the salad this week. There is nothing like spring salad
- Spinach – a staple in our diets, good to eat at least once a week (you will probably see this featured for at least the next 9 weeks!)
- Turnips or radishes -tender white turnips, best if peeled, the radishes can be eaten with skin on. Use the tops as well in the “radish top soup recipe below”.
- Chinese broccoli or cauliflower – We have two lovely beds of Chinese Broccoli just coming on so that we can feed everyone, eat the stems and leaves it is all tender and sweet. This is the last of the cauliflower L. We planted hundreds of plants with different harvest dates and they all came 1-3 months ahead of schedule. Try it roasted with a little Pecorino cheese grated on top!
- Chard or kale
- Green garlic – this is young garlic that is just starting to bulb. Peel the outer leaves away and chop the whole shoot up and use as a garlic flavor for soups or sauces. Don’t use the very top 1/3 as that may be too fiberous.
- Walnuts
- Shallots – use as you would any onion, we love to roast them with a little olive oil and just eat them as a vegetable with dinner.
We have had a busy week. Juve managed to get the entire field composted and tilled and ready for planting. We put out the first zucchini, seeded carrots, beets and radishes outside. We continue to transplant lettuce every week along with scallions to have a steady supply. We transplanted the first peppers into the hoop house in hopes of sweet peppers in July. The sugar snaps are already blooming in one of our greenhouses!
We had the fourth graders last week and this week we had the Environmental AP class from Liberty. As this was their second visit we could get right to work. They stopped in the kitchen first to put on a pot of wonton soup and prep the filling of the wontons. Then the whole group filled flats and managed to get all the winter squash and pumpkins seeded (over 30 flats!). Then we headed out to the field to transplant onions! That was great, we got over 600 feet of onions planted in about an hour. That is a job that usually takes me about 10 hours.
We cleaned up and harvest some bok choi, tasted some spinach in the hoop house and came back to assemble the soup. We added some sautéed beet greens with green garlic on top of the bok choi and wonton soup, it was so great to see everyone enjoy their veggies. As a reward the group got to feed and brush the goats and Felipe. They will visit one more time before the academic year is over and help transplant the beans and squash they helped seed.
We still have lots to get done as we move into warm loving plants like eggplant, peppers and tomatoes. It is still too early to plant them out in the field, but boy is it tempting. It has dropped into the high thirties many nights and frosted pretty good one night. We may not be able to resist a trial of some tomatoes later this week.
The Beaverton Farmers Market opens next Saturday May 2. I will be there with all the plant starts ready to go out in your yards. Please stop by and see me from 8 – 1:30. I sell with Polly from Pumpkin Ridge Gardens so look for me under that banner. I have plant starts available at the farm and have sent out an order form to you all. Get them back to me soon so I can seed especially for you. I will also be at Catlin Gable School on May 3 from 12 – 4 selling starts.
We will put out a sign-up sheet for help with the harvest in the next week or so. We can use extra hands once it comes to pea season.
Raw Green Garlic Uses: mince and add to salads, pound into a paste to make green garlic aioli, use in salad dressings, sprinkle onto any creation using bread or noodles with cheese
Cooked Green Garlic Uses: Poach the last 4″ of the tips and dress with a mustard vinaigrette, dice and saute the tender portions and add to an omelet or frittata, chop and add to stir frys, chop and add to soup.
Green Garlic Soup Au Gratin
8 Stalks Green Garlic
1 Tablespoon Olive Oil
1 Tablespoon Butter
2 Tablespoons Butter, plus 2 teaspoons Butter
8 sl Day-old Bread
1 1/4 c chicken or vegetable Broth
1/4 teaspoon Salt
1/4 teaspoon Ground Black Pepper
1/2 c Parmesan Cheese, grated
Remove and discard upper third of garlic stalks; (green leaf ends) thinly slice bulb. Heat olive oil and 1 T butter until beginning to foam. Add garlic; saute 1-2 minutes. Reduce heat, cover tightly, and cook 15-20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Spread bread with 2 T butter; oven toast until lightly golden. Add broth to garlic, season with salt and pepper and bring to a boil. Ladle into 2 oven-proof serving bowls; cover with toasted bread and top with cheese. Dot each with a teaspoon of butter. Bake at 450F for 10 minutes, until cheese has melted and begun to turn golden.
Lentil Walnut Spread
1 cup lentils
1/2 cup walnuts, chopped
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
salt and black or red pepper to taste
- Wash the lentils, cover with cold water, bring to a boil, and cook until soft, about 1 hour.
- Drain the lentils and combine with the remaining ingredients in a food processor. Blend until smooth, adding water as necessary to achieve a spreadable consistency.
- Correct seasoning.
Serves 8
Radish Top Soup
Don’t through out your radish greens. Believe it or not, those fuzzy leaves can be transformed into a smooth green soup, with a hint of watercress flavor.
6 tablespoons butter
1 cup chopped onions or white part of leek
8 cups loosely packed radish leaves
2 cups diced potatoes
6 cups liquid (water, chicken stock or combo)
salt
½ cup heavy cream (optional)
freshly ground pepper
Melt 4 T butter in a large saucepan, add onions or leeks and cook until golden, approximately 5 minutes. Stir in radish tops cover pan and cook over low heat until wilted, 8-10 minutes. Meanwhile cook potatoes until soft in liquid along with 1 teaspoon of salt. Combine with the radish tops and cook covered, for 5 minutes to mingle flavors. Puree finely in a food processor of food mill. Ad the cream if desired and enrich with 2 T of butter. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Serve hot. (serves 4-6)
Moroccan Chicken and Turnip Stew
2 cups cooked chickpeas
2 small (2 1/2 lb) chickens
3 Tb butter
1 Tb oil
2 onions
5 cups chicken stock
1/2 tsp white pepper
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1/8 tsp powdered saffron
1/2 tsp turmeric
1 lb small turnips
2 cups chopped turnip leaves and stems
1/4 cup lemon juice
Salt and Pepper to taste
Rinse chickpeas in water and rub lightly to remove skins; drain and set aside. Cut chickens into quarters, removing wing tips and backbones; put them aside for stock. Melt butter and oil in a casserole and lightly brown chicken on all sides, cooking in two batches if necessary. Slice onions and stir into butter and oil to color. Then add the chickpeas, stock, pepper, ginger, saffron, and turmeric. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, cover, and simmer for 10 minutes. Add turnips and greens and simmer 20 minutes more. Remove chicken and turnips to a covered warm dish. Boil sauce to reduce, mashing some of the chickpeas against the side of the pan to thicken the sauce; it may take 10-15 minutes to produce a nice thick sauce. Add lemon juice and salt and pepper to taste. Reheat the chicken and turnips in the sauce and serve. Serves 6 to 8. From The Victory Garden Cookbook.
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!