Every week we'll send you snapshots of veggies in your share. You can always find more recipes and storage info on our
blog and
website.
Mesclun: The greens mix this week includes a diversity of colorful greenhouse greens: spinach, arugula, mizuna, shoots, and baby brassica mix. The greens are pre-washed and ready to eat. Unopened, this bag will last for at least a week or 10 days. Opened, it will start to deteriorate after a few days.
Parsley: Bunches of fresh parsley from the greenhouse this week! This new succession of parsley provides a little pizzazz to most any dish. Parsley has nutritional benefits as well as being an important herb for many types of Middle Eastern and Mediterranean dishes. We recommend storing parsley upright in a jar of water in the fridge, with plastic over it. It will keep for at least a week... in my fridge it'll keep this way for two weeks! If you have the pantry share, try chopping it and tossing onto your pizza (along with fresh garlic) when it comes out of the oven. Please note: Everyday Large shares will all receive parsley this week. Half the Everyday Standard shares will receive parsley. If you do not receive parsley this week, you will receive it next week.
Sorrel: Sorrel is a green leaf vegetable native to Europe. It is also called common sorrel or spinach dock. In appearance sorrel greatly resembles spinach and in taste sorrel can range from comparable to the kiwifruit (or lemons or a combo) to a more acidic tasting older leaf (due to the presence of oxalic acid which increases as the leaves gets older). Young sorrel may be harvested to use in salads, soups or stews. Young sorrel leaves are also excellent when lightly cooked, similar to the taste of cooked chard or spinach. Older sorrel is best for soups and stews where it adds tang and flavor to the dish. Check out this collection of sorrel recipes from the
New York Times. I hope you enjoy - this is a seasonal specialty that will soon be gone until next fall! Store as you would other greens - lightly wrapped in plastic.
Chard: is a delicious nutritious green, high in Vitamins A, K, and C. The beautifully colored stems are why it's called rainbow chard! Chard works great as a spinach substitute but needs to be cooked down a bit longer. It also works well in soups and stews, or sauteed as a side.
Red Beets: Beets are delicious and packed full of nutrients. They may be eaten cooked or raw. Grated beets make a fabulous addition to salads and slaws. Grate some early in the week and place them in a tupperware and then sprinkle them into salads all week. Roasted beets are extra delicious, roasting carmelizes the sugar in the beets. Cube beets and roast them in the oven with a drizzle of oil at 400F until they are tender and just browning at the edges. If you don't eat them all right away, cool and toss into a container and add these to salads.
Peter Wilcox Potatoes: Wilcox potatoes are beautiful purple potatoes. They are nicely textured, firm but not waxy, and wonderful whether roasted, boiled, or sliced into wedges or fried. They have a full earthy flavor that hints of hazelnuts. For best visual and nutritional effects, leave the skin on while cooking. Inside, you'll find a yellowish color.
Fingerling Potatoes: This variety of fingerling, called LaRatte, is an oblong shaped, larger fingerling. It has excellent flavor and texture and is highly sought after by French chefs!
Featured Recipes
Sorrel Soup
This is a very simple light soup that highlights the fresh, slightly lemony flavor of the sorrel. It's from the Sundays at Moosewood Cookbook by Mollie Katzen.
2 c. well-packed, washed and stemmed sorrel leaves
1 medium onion, chopped
3 T. butter
1 T. unbleached white flour
3 c. vegetable stock
2 egg yolks
1 c. milk or half and half
salt and freshly ground black pepper
dash of Tabasco or other hot sauce (optional)
Finely chop the sorrel leaves. In a medium saucepan, sauté the onion in the butter until translucent. Stir in the flour. Mix in the sorrel and cook for a minute or so, just until it wilts. Add the vegetable stock. Bring the soup to a low simmer and cook for about 3 minutes. Beat the egg yolks and milk in a medium mixing bowl. Slowly add 2 c. of the hot soup while stirring constantly. Stir this soup-egg mixture into the soup pot. Reheat the soup gently but don’t let it boil. Add salt, pepper to taste and a dash of Tabasco, if you like.
Pasta with Red Chard and Garlic Chips
An easy option for a lazy night in the kitchen. Good and garlicky. Subsitute any cooking greens for the chard (spinach, kale, pac choi, whatever you have left in the fridge). Great use for this week's spinac or chard!
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
6 cloves garlic, cloves peeled and thinly sliced lengthwise though I am sure crosswise would work as well
1/2 medium onion, finely chopped
1/4 cup dried currants (optional)
1 bunch red chard and/or spinach, stems and center ribs finely chopped and leaves coarsely chopped separately
1/4 cup water
1/2 pound spaghetti
1/4 cup Kalamata olives, cut into slivers
3 ounces feta, crumbled (1 1/2 cups)
Heat oil in a 12-inch heavy skillet over medium heat until it shimmers, then cook garlic, stirring, until golden, about 3 minutes. Transfer garlic with a slotted spoon to paper towels to drain. Cook onion in oil remaining in skillet over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until softened, 3 to 5 minutes.
Stir chard stems into onion mixture with water and 3/4 teaspoon each of salt and pepper. Cook, covered, over medium-high heat until almost tender, about 5 minutes. Stir in chard leaves and cook, covered, until stems and leaves are tender, about 5 minutes.
Meanwhile, cook spaghetti in a pasta pot of boiling salted water (2 tablespoons salt for 5 quarts water) until al dente. Reserve 1 cup pasta-cooking water and drain spaghetti.
Toss spaghetti with chard, olives, and 1/2 cup cooking water, adding more cooking water if necessary. Season with salt and pepper. Serve sprinkled with feta and garlic chips.
Celeriac Remoulade (Celery Root Salad)
This salad is a refreshing cool coleslaw-like salad. A food processor makes the job of grating the celeriac much faster.
* see tips for preparing celeriac here
1/2 cup mayonnaise
2 Tbsp Dijon mustard
1 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
2 Tbsp chopped parsley
1 lb celery root - quartered, peeled, and coarsely grated just before mixing
1/2 tart apple, peeled, cored, julienned
Salt and freshly ground pepper
Combine the mayonnaise, mustard, lemon juice and parsley in a medium-sized bowl. Fold in the celery root and apple and season with salt and pepper. Cover and refrigerate until chilled, at least 1 hour.
Sauteed Swiss Chard
I like this recipe because it uses the entire chard- stems and all!
1 bunch Swiss chard, stems and leaves separated, stems chopped and leaves sliced into 1-inch thick strips
2 tbsp unsalted butter
1 tbsp brown sugar
1 tbsp red wine vinegar
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Fill a medium saucepan with water and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Fill a large bowl with ice water. Add the chard stems to the boiling water and blanch for 2 to 3 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the stems to the ice bath and let cool completely. Drain the stems and set aside.
Melt the butter in a medium skillet. Add the chard leaves, stirring to coat. Cover and cook until wilted, stirring occasionally. Add the chard stems, brown sugar, vinegar, and salt and pepper to taste and cook until tender, about 5 minutes.
Beets with Parsley Salad
2 medium beets without greens
1 cup packed fresh flat-leaf parsley leaves
1/4 teaspoon salt, or to taste
1/4 teaspoon sugar, or to taste
1/8 teaspoon black pepper
2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar
Trim and peel raw beets, then cut into very thin slices (1/16 inch thick – a mandolin is nice here). Make small stacks of slices and cut each stack with a sharp knife into very thin strips (1/16 inch thick).
Toss beets with parsley, salt, sugar, and pepper in a serving bowl until sugar is dissolved. Add oil and toss to coat. Sprinkle vinegar on salad and toss again. Serve immediately.
Roasted Fingerling Potatoes with Seasoned Salt
This is a simple recipe for your potatoes, and a good way to appreciate their thin skin and delicate flavor.
2 teaspoons coarse salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
1/4 teaspoon finely chopped fresh thyme
1/4 teaspoon finely chopped fresh rosemary
1 1/2 pounds fingerling potatoes
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Heat a large ovenproof gratin dish or skillet in the oven 15 minutes. Combine salt, pepper, thyme, and rosemary in a small bowl.
Toss potatoes in a medium bowl with the olive oil. Sprinkle generously with seasoned-salt mixture, and arrange potatoes in a single layer in preheated pan. Roast until they are golden on the outside and tender when pierced with a sharp knife, 25 to 30 minutes. Remove from oven, and serve hot with additional seasoned salt on the side.
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