CSA June 2, 2011 - People and Planet

What's in the Bag?

Me picking greens

Prepare for Greens!  Mixed Lettuce, Red Russian or Kurly Kale, Swiss Chard, Cavola Cabbage, Peas, Casey's Walla Walla Onion, Garlic Scapes, Lemons, Cylindra Beets, Artichokes - last of  (darn I forgot the radishes), Flowers, eggs, and this week's special gift:  Strawberry Lemonade Concentrate.

Casey's Onions.  Our neighbor brought us over some onion plants, and Casey planted them for me.  They are sweet Walla Walla Onions.  We'll have them for a few weeks.  The garlic season has just begun.  This week I have sent garlic scapes with the fava beans.  Which of course leads me to a recipe.

Fava Bean Cream

Leo tilling more beds for beans and corn

Bring a large pot of water to a boil over a high heat. Dump in the shelled fava beans and cook for 3 to 5 minutes. Drain and rinse the beans in cold water. (You can refrigerate the beans for 24 hours before continuing if you like.) Remove the skins: pinch a half moon of skin off one end of the bean with your finger and squeeze the flesh out the opening.  Roughly chop the garlic scapes.  Into a food processor add the fava beans, the juice of one lemon,  a cup of warm stock (vege, chicken, or beef) and a handful of pine nuts.

Whir until you end up with a paste.  This will last about 5 months in the freezer or a week in the fridge.  Try it over pasta, rice, fish,  or stirred into a soup.

Sauteed Kale
1 sack of WASHED Kale
3 T. Olive Oil
1/2 c. stock.
2 T. Vinegar (I use rice)
2 cloves of garlic (or chopped garlic scapes)
Salt and Pepper.
Heat the olive oil and cook the garlic till soft but not brown..  Raise the heat to high and add the stock and kale.  Cover and cook for 5 minutes.  Remove cover and continue to cook, stirring until the liquid evaporates, season with salt and pepper and add vinegar.

                                           Cavalo Cabbage

tomato blossom

This is a specialty Portuguese Leaf Cabbage.  It's uses for stuffing.  Basically, steam the leaves, stuff them with filling, roll them up like a burrito, put them in a buttered baking dish, top with stock, cover and bake at 350 degrees for an hour.  I like them stuffed with sauteed onion, leftover cooked rice, hamburger/or soy taco and cheese.  I use beef broth on top.  I drizzle the pan juice over the top and serve with sour cream.  Because, everything is better with cream.


Strawberry Lemonade Concentrate

This is canned Mara des Bois Strawberries, Meyer Lemons and sugar.  To use, pour the contents of the jar into a pitcher and add 4 jars of water and stir.  Serve over ice with a lemon or strawberry wedge.  This also makes a very nice adult drink, mixed with vodka or gin.  Think summer BBQ.  Leo likes his diluted 1-6.  You can also use it as a margarita base.

About the weather
Well, all I can say is it's been about 15 years since we've had lettuce in June.  Usually by now, we are throwing Zucchini into the windows of passing cars.  Today I spotted the first zuke blossom.  We are gearing up for an inch of rain here.  So I'm off to plant more beans, corn, sunflowers, and lots of herbs.  Coming soon, potatoes.  It's been a long wait, as you recall the first potatoes of the year flooded and rotted, so we have had no early potatoes.  These are looking good, and I'll take a peek after the rain to see if we can pinch a row of little red creamers.  Next box June 16.