Week #9

• Lettuce – it just keeps coming, make a new dressing, make my standby dressing salad is a staple in our house
• Broccoli – the first tiny heads of standard broccoli this week. We are hoping that they will keep on coming but with record breaking temperatures predicted this week we will have to keep our fingers crossed. We tried to bring in a new area this year, up in the goat and pig area so some of our broccoli is “experimental” meaning it may be even smaller than the crop you are getting today. We are experts at Chinese broccoli, the standard stuff is hit or miss in the spring.
• Chinese Broccoli – please don’t disparage our true friend, this broccoli that is edible stem, leaves and flower grows super well in our hoop houses and just keeps on producing. We sauté it up at least three times a week and serve it breakfast, lunch or dinner.
• Garlic – this garlic is fresh out of the field, mild and is not “cured”. It will not last like later season garlic. Let it sit out on your counter, use it now, but don’t expect it to last until fall.
• New potatoes – we are digging some of our early potatoes for you, they have thin skins, so we don’t like to wash them. The gopher is making a grab for them below the surface. If you choose to take the tiny potatoes, consider making Txus’ recipe for roasted tiny potatoes below.
• Kale – crispy kale, kale salad, kale in soups, kale sautéed, so many ways to enjoy this veg that just keeps on giving. Don’t get frustrated with repetition, just experiment or make kale chips every week, they are delicious.
• Sugar snap peas – We had the mega haul of peas on Wednesday, our largest number of subscribers is on Sunday/Monday pick up so sometimes you get more than others. This is how we share the harvest and follow the whims of Mother Nature. We will likely be finishing the hoop house peas this week and move to the outside peas. Outside we compete with the red wing blackbirds for so many of our crops. Enjoy the garden candy while it lasts.
• Zucchini !! – the first group will get some tiny zucchini, but we wanted to share, next week and in the weeks to come there should be more and I will pour on the recipes we love.

It appears summer is here, very little rain and warm and getting hotter temperatures. This is pushing our farming into the wee hours of the morning and late evenings as the blistering sun will keep us from working midday. We are busy tying up tomatoes, weeding onions and transplanting pumpkins, squash and melons. Spring crops are biding us farewell as we wait for summer crops to ripen. The zucchini is in flower with some small fruits today and many more to come. The cucumbers are poking along in the hoop houses where we can protect them from their #1 enemy the cucumber beetle but are susceptible to their #2 enemy the pill bug.  Out of 100 plants, we lost 50 to the pill bugs, we replanted and they seem to be growing. I tried the “cowpots” made of sterilized manure that you plant directly into the soil for the first time. They were a complete disaster. They dried out quickly and stunted all the plants and the weakened plants could not push their roots trough the pots. Fortunately I did only some of the zucchini and some of the cucumbers in these pots, but lesson learned.

We have celebrations for graduations this weekend and next as well as this past Wednesday. I am racing out to finish the harvest to make it to can 11:00 ceremony, then back to a grad party if I can swing it, of a neighborhood friend. It is a time to be proud of all the accomplishments and hard work it takes on the part of the student and the family in support of the student. It is finals week for our student and then she is done with her first year of college.

Here are some recipes to enjoy this week:

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!

Cannellini Beans and Wilted Greens

Chez Panisse Vegetables, Alice Waters

2 cups dried cannellini beans                                                      1 large bunch of chard, kale, spinach,

Bouquet garni: celery, thyme, parsley, bay leaf                   mustard greens or turnip greens (about 1#)

1 onion                                                                                                 6 cloves garlic

1 carrot                                                                                                                3-6 T Olive oil

6 cups of water of chicken stock                                                1 T chopped Rosemary

salt and pepper

Soak the beans overnight.  The next day drain them and put them into a heavy-bottomed pot with the bouquet garni.  Add the onion and carrot peeled.  Cover the pot with water or stock and bring the pot to a boil.  Reduce to a simmer, skimming off any foa that forms on the surface.  Cook the beans until very tender, from 45 minutes to 2 hours, depending on the age of the beans and how long they were soaked.  When fully cooked remove from the heat.

                While the beans are cooking, wash and trim and chop the greens.  Finely chop the garlic cloves and gently saute them in the olive oil with the rosemary about 1 minute.  Add the beans and about 1 cup of their cooking liquid and simmer about 5 minutes until some of the beans have crumbled apart.  Add the greens to the beans and stew together uncovered until the greens are wilted and tender.  Add more of the bean liquid, if need to keep the vegetables moist and a little soupy.  Taste for seasoning and grind in some pepper.  Serve with a drizzle of olive oil over the surface.  Serves 6-8.

Smashed Broccoli and Potatoes with Lemon and Romano Cheese

• Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
• 2# potatoes, halved
• ¾# broccoli (consider using both the Chinese and standard broccoli), cut into chunks or florets
• 1 cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano or Romano Cheese
• Juice of 1 lemon
• Extra virgin olive oil

Fill a large pot with water and salt until it tastes like the sea. Add the potatoes, bring to a boil and cook until the potatoes are quite tender but not fully tender, about 15 minutes from when the water boils.

Add the broccoli and keep boiling until both are fully tender, another 6 minutes or so. Drain all the water and return to the pot.

Mash the vegetable with a potato masher or big spoon until crushed with some big chunks. Add the cheese, followed by the lemon juice and then season generously with salt and pepper. Mash a bit more and fold to blend. Taste and adjust salt, pepper, and lemon. Finish with good amount of olive oil, start with ¼ cup and adjust.

Serve right away.

Txus’ Salt Roasted Mini-potatoes

Take your tiny potatoes and wash well. Place in a single layer on a baking sheet. Cover with Kosher salt (I mean cover them. Place in preheated oven at 400 degrees. Roast for 45 minutes. The potatoes will be slightly shrived in the salt. Brush off the salt and serve with Romesco sauce.

Romesco Sauce

INGREDIENTS

• 1 large roasted red bell pepper from a jar
• 1 garlic clove, smashed
• 1/2 cup slivered almonds, toasted
• 1/4 cup tomato purée
• 2 tablespoons chopped flat-leaf parsley
• 2 tablespoons Sherry vinegar
• 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
• 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• Fine sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Pulse first 8 ingredients  in a blender and then while motor is running gradually add the olive oil. Add salt and pepper to taste.