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.
Spinach: Freshly harvested, field grown spinach! For raw salads or for cooking. Enjoy with some sliced strawberries for a fancy salad. Keep the greens cold once you get home; if they warm up, they'll start to deteriorate. Purple, Yellow, and Orange share members will find basil either inside their spinach bag or bagged separately.
Tomatoes: ALL Share members receive a bag of tomatoes! These are red, pink, and heirloom tomatoes. Store tomatoes at room temperature.
Strawberries: We grew these summer favorites here on the farm, and I'm stoked to have them this week! There are a few main guidelines about keeping strawberries looking and tasting their best at home: keep them in the fridge unless you intend to use them within the day; don't wash them and keep the stems on until you're ready to use them; remove any that start to look sad to keep the rest of the bunch happy. I doubt you'll need these storage tips though, as you might just want to eat them right away!
Red Kale: Red curly kale is very similar to its cousin green curly kale, but it's red! This kale is great pan cooked to bring out its flavor or try making kale chips! Keep kale loosely wrapped in a plastic bag in your crisper drawer. Strip the leaves from the stems and wash them well before chopping and cooking.
Zucchini: This time of year, tender zukes are a treat. Store unwashed in the crisper. Use in a few days. Try grating them, and saute lightly in butter. Or eat them raw in salads. It has a delicate flavor and requires little more than quick cooking with butter or olive oil, with or without fresh herbs. The skin is left in place. Quick cooking of barely wet zucchini in oil or butter allows the fruit to partially boil and steam. Zucchini can also be eaten raw, sliced or shredded in a cold salad, as well as lightly cooked in hot salads, as in Thai or Vietnamese recipes.
Pearl Onions: These are small onions but have a mild, sweet flavor. It's so nice to have fresh onions. Use them wherever you need onions, and don't forget about the tops. You can chop the tops as far up each onion as you want to. The flavor will be zestiest at bottom and mellows as you go up. They have a real zing and are quite a treat in salads and on sandwiches or pickled.
Bunched Beets: These bunched beets are starting to pop up! Fresh, tender beets this week, coming at you with their tender green tops still intact! These bunched beets were freshly harvested and have their tops on. You can eat beet greens as well as the roots. The tops are great in salads or sauteed. Beets are great this time of year grilled in a foil pouch with other veggies, or shaved thinly over salads. It's best to separate the greens and store beets and greens individually wrapped in plastic.
Featured Recipes
Tomato, Cucumbers, Sweet Onion Salad
Try adding feta or goat cheese if you have it. It's like eating dessert. Good balsamic is an important pantry ingredient. I have a couple that are just fantastic and I save them for recipes where their flavor makes a dish special, and I save the lesser grades for cooking with.
2 Tomatoes chopped
1 Cucumber, peeled, seeded and chopped
1-2 sweet onions peeled and sliced thinly
a small handful of basil leaves
drizzle of olive oil
drizzle of good balsamic vinegar
1 tsp toasted sesame oil
1 TB honey
1 TB soy sauce
1 TB rice vinegar
2 cucumbers, peeled, cut in half, scoop seeds out, then thinly sliced
Toss together. Best after a few hours and still excellent the second day
Tomato Salad with Goat Cheese and Basil
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 1/2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 garlic clove, minced
2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil
3-4 medium tomatoes, cored and cut into 1/2-inch-thick wedges (about 2 pounds)
1/3 cup small basil leaves
1.5 ounces goat cheese, crumbled (about 1/3 cup)
Combine first 5 ingredients in a large bowl, stirring with a whisk. Add chopped basil and tomato wedges; toss to coat. Cover and let stand for 1 hour, tossing occasionally. Top with basil leaves and goat cheese.
Strawberry-Rhubarb Compote
Makes a delicious addition to morning yogurt or oatmeal, can be used as the fruit in a quick cobbler, or on ice cream with ginger snaps! In lieu of the ginger, you can opt for a vanilla bean, split lengthwise.
1/2 cup water
3/4 cup sweet apple cider
3 slices fresh ginger, unpeeled
1/4 cup sugar
1/3 cup honey
1 lb rhubarb, trimmed and cut into 3-inch batons, about 1/2 -inch wide
1/2 pound strawberries, hulled and quartered
optional: 1 teaspoon kirsch, or another eau-de-vie
In a large, nonreactive saucepan, heat the water, cider, ginger, sugar, and honey (use less if you want a more tart compote)
When all the sugar is dissolved and the syrup is simmering, add the rhubarb and let the rhubarb cook in the simmering syrup until it's just softened, which may take as little as 5 minutes, depending on the rhubarb. Remove from heat and add the strawberries and the eau-de-vie, if using. When cool, pluck out the ginger slices. Serve warm or store in a jar in your fridge.
Caesar Salad
Here's a Caesar salad dressing from Amy, which she's used for years, modified from the 1975 edition of the Joy of Cooking.
Caesar Salad Dressing
Makes 1 cup dressing or enough to dress a couple large heads of romaine.
Put the following into a blender:
4 cloves garlic
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp lemon juice
1 tsp Worcestershire
2-4 anchovy filets (I never have these and instead add 1 scant tsp anchovy sauce or 7-10 kalamata olives)
2 eggs (you can add these raw, but I cook boil my whole eggs for 2 mins and then spoon the lightly cooked egg into the blender)
Blend the above as well as possible, then with blender on low, add in a slow, steady stream:
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
Add to your liking:
black pepper
more lemon juice
The Salad:
Head of Romaine Lettuce
Croutons
Grated Parmesan
Caesar salad dressing
Chop a head of romaine lettuce, rinse, and salad spin, or put in a colander to dry. (If you don't have a salad spinner and want dry lettuce quickly, you can use the towel spin method which is a good show if you have kids. Just put the washed salad greens onto a clean towel, pull together the corners and then spin in a circle and the water will fly out of the greens into a towel and often do a good job spraying the kitchen too.) Transfer greens to a bowl, add dressing, and toss to coat lettuce well. Add parm and toss again. Plate the salads and top dress with croutons and grated parm to your liking.
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