June 19th, 2024
What’s in your share?
Spring Cabbage*
Fennel*
Summer Crisp Lettuce
Salad Mix
Garlic Scapes*
Sugar Snap Peas
Rainbow Chard*
Broccoli or Broccolini
Spring Cabbage - is so tender and delicate, great for eating raw! This variety, “Fara0”, has been our go-to spring cabbage variety because it matures before the pests emerge, reducing the need to cover it at all times. This cabbage is tender and sweet; perfect for slaws. We usually cut our cabbage into manageable wedges, using a quarter at a time as needed. Keeping the core intact will make prep easier! (Martha will show you how)
STORAGE: You don’t have to keep your cabbage in a bag if it’s whole (just peel any outer layers off that get wilty), but definitely keep it in a bag if you’ve cut into it and want to store the rest for later. The delicate leaves grow into a head that is looser than a storage cabbage, making its ideal storage time about a month before it starts to lose nutritional value.
Some dinner inspiration: Roasted broccoli, sautéed sugar peas and garlic scapes with soy sauce, sesame oil, and sesame seeds, bao (steamed buns) and slow cooked chuck roast, and a slaw made with cabbage, kohlrabi, carrots (coming next week!), garlic scapes, and cilantro (also coming next week).
Fennel - is a bulb that is sweet and has a licorice-y taste. In my opinion, how you cut fennel can make or break a first experience. Make sure to slice it thin - it can be fibrous, like celery (see Martha Stewart's pro-tip). I usually use a mandoline, but it’s definitely sliceable using a sharp knife. It’s a great addition to tomato sauces, cucumber salads, pairs nicely with beans and peppers, and is EXCELLENT roasted. Perhaps you still have endive - its delicious sliced razor thin in a citrusy salad with endive and a creamy dressing. Use the fronds as a garnish for a cocktail or instead of dill in a cucumber or potato salad.
STORAGE: Trim the fronds (the frilly parts) and store in a closed container or in a plastic bag in the fridge. The bulb can last up to a month if the stalks are trimmed off.
PRESERVATION: To extend the harvest, cut and freeze, or pickle with sweet peppers and onions.
*Garlic scapes - are produced only from hardneck garlic varieties. Once the garlic bulb is almost ready to harvest, it puts up a stalk, which, if left to its own accord, will produce a head with dozens of tiny garlic seeds. We cut the scape off before it flowers, so that the plant can put its energy into making nice, big bulbs instead of putting the energy into making a seed. Garlic scapes are a delicacy - there is only one per plant, per season. They can be used as garlic in any recipe, munched on raw if you like having garlic breath, or made into pesto.
STORAGE: Store in a closed container or plastic bag in the fridge. Scapes will last about 2 weeks.
PRESERVATION: Make pesto with garlic scapes instead of cloves and freeze. Pickle, ferment, or chop and freeze.
*Rainbow Chard - is in the same family as spinach and beets. It matures early on in the season, and we like it because it’s like getting two vegetables in one. The stems can be used as celery, albeit, their taste is not the same. If we’re going to saute the chard, we like to add the stems first because they take longer to cook, adding the greens later on. This is a recipe that our workshare, John, shared with me last week:
Recipes to Try
Indian Spiced Cabbage and Fennel
Roasted Cabbage with Crispy Fennel
Swiss Chard with Feta and Pine Nuts
Broccoli, Cheddar, and Spinach Frittata (sub chard for spinach - it tastes similar)
And here is a recipe that our workshare, John, shared the other day!
Swiss Chard and Chicken Enchiladas recipe:
3 cups shredded chicken or use meat from a rotisserie chicken
1 onion diced
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 bundle of Swiss chard (will use stems and leaves)
½ tsp salt and pepper
14oz of salsa verde
Juice of 1 lime
1 ¼ cups shredded jack cheese
8 tortillas
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Saute onion in olive oil for about 3 minutes in skillet
Cut Swiss chard stems and leaves into bite sized pieces. Add stems and garlic to onion and cook another 2-3 minutes until everything is tender. Add leaves and cook 2-3 more minutes. Season with salt and pepper.
Add chicken, ¼ cup salsa verde, the lime juice and ¾ cup cheese to Swiss chard mixture and stir to combine
Spread ½ cup salsa verde in bottom of 13 by 9 baking dish . Fill tortillas and cover with remaining salsa verde and cheese.
Bake 15 to 20 minutes until cheese is melted and enchiladas are cooked through
For anyone whose interested in some nerdy details: This season, we planted our onions where we planted our potatoes last season. Because we have to dig potatoes to harvest them, it is always the case that we missed some the previous year and that the forgotten ones will sprout the following season. Since onions get planted about a month earlier than potatoes, the forgotten potatoes sprouted, which are a target for the dreaded Colorado Potato Beetle - a major pest that can mow down potato plants in a week. The beetles laid their eggs on the old potatoes, which we weeded and squished the eggs before they hatched, and now our actual potato plants have no signs of beetle eggs. This is why crop rotation is crucial in organic farming.