Mer Folk CSA - March 8, 2013

What's in the box?

Leo ditches me by hiding in the asparagus.

Lettuce, braising greens - all Asian - Komatsu/Bekana/Choi, Amaranth, Turnips, First Mare des Bois Strawberries of the season,  spinach,  fresh garlic and parsley.  If you got a box, you also receive artichokes and rutabagas.

This week's special gift:  salsa and corn meal.






Amaranth
Think of Amaranth as a stronger spinach.  They are loaded with C & A.  It is NOT good raw.  Yuck, spit.    However, it is really yummy cooked.  Last night for dinner I mixed it with the spinach and we wolfed it down:

Making Hay

James Beard Creamed Spinach & Amaranth
Wash your greens and take the amaranth of the stems.  Chiffonade them.  In a frying pan put 2 T of butter and 2 T. of cream.   Add the greens, and stir till wilted.  Add salt, pepper and serve.  I added Gorgonzola to the cream mixture (because I had it).  It's also great in Indian food and Chinese Food.




Rutabagas
If you are having trouble with rutabagas, go here and make this:  http://newyork.grubstreet.com/2013/03/deborah-madison-rutabaga-in-season-recipe.html  (I use the Deborah Madison Vegetarian cookbook pretty much all the time).

Parsley

Beth washing veges

One of my favorite things to do with parsley is to make parsley butter.  Wash and chop about 1/2 a bouquet of parsley and mix it in with one cube of softened butter.  Take the green parts of the fresh garlic, chop it fine.  Now spread it on French Bread, sprinkle it with salt and paprika.  Broil it and you have delicious garlic bread.  Parsley butter with or without garlic can be used to make spinach or braising greens.  Add a little lemon and put it on potatoes.  With just plain parsley and butter, you can make a mean scrambled egg.  Parsley will keep fresh in a vase on your counter for a week, as long as it has water.  Take it out of the vase and lay it on a cookie sheet and let it air dry to save some for later.

On the farm
Over the weekend we planted cukes and zukes.  I hope to get the squash in by Friday.   Green beans are up!  Which means we'll see them in June.  Peas and lettuce are hating life.  That last little hot spell made them very unhappy.  The tomatoes are up and flowering, so by the Forth of July we should be eating maters.  I'm very sad that all those clouds passed without a drop of rain.   Beth and I decided that if you have something you can get more, but if you have nothing, you can't get any.  Hence, the rain...it's going where they don't need it.

Onions flowering

I'm not sure if we'll even see peas this year.  Remember the bumper crop we had last year?  The complete lack of rain and the excessive spring heat have kept them very small.  I picked one bag this morning.  Last year,  I picked 10 every other day!  Well hopefully it will be a good year for corn, tomatoes and hot weather crops.

Have a great week.  Please remember to return the cloth bags.