Week 5 - The Taming of the Collards

[Posted by Ruth]

Even more variety in this week's box.

This weeks haul:
2 bunches beet greens
2 baby bok choy
2 bunches radishes
1 bunch beets
2 bunches kale
1 head cabbage
1 cauliflower
2 cucumbers
2 baby garlic
4 kohlrabi
1 bag Asian Mix
1 bag mixed leaf lettuce

So far, I've just made salads and the wonderful Kale chips from this batch.  I did, however, get my Collard Green situation under control this week.  The broth with this was absolutely terrific and so simple.  The bourbon and brown sugar played beautifully off the smokiness of the ham hocks.  Here they are all packed and ready for a nap in the freezer.  We'll be happy to find these in the fall.

Slow cooked collard greens
2 ham hocks

1 onion 
1 T whole peppercorns 
1 T vinegar 
4 bunches collard greens, middle stem removed
1/4 cup bourbon
1/4 brown sugar
salt, pepper to taste

This is best done over two days.  Day one:  put the ham hocks, onion, peppercorns and vinegar in 8-9 cups water and bring to a steady simmer.  Let simmer, covered,  2 - 3 hours.  Strain, cool and refrigerate overnight.  If you like, you can tear the meat off the ham hocks and reserve to add back into the collard greens.

Day 2:  Skim and discard fat off the ham stock.  Bring to a simmer and add the bourbon and brown sugar.  Cut the collard greens into 1 inch julienne strips and stir in.  Cook covered over low heat until very tender.  This may take an hour or more.  When tender enough, remove lid and cook a bit more over medium heat, stirring to reduce the liquid somewhat.  Taste and add salt/pepper if needed.  Serve or cool and freeze for fall!

 

Week 4 - We interrupt this farm share to bring you....peas

[Posted by Ruth]

The warm weather this week made the peas in my own garden go 'splodey' so it was time to pick them.  I loved a recipe in Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything Vegetarian cookbook for lettuce leaves stuffed with peas, mint and ricotta and steamed and decided to make that tonight.  Problem was, none of my remaining few lettuce leaves were large enough for stuffing.  So, plan B - Peas with Ricotta and mint with braised lettuce.

 It was a great little side dish w/ a chicken sausage.

Peas and lettuce with ricotta and mint
serves 2
Approx 2 cups fresh peas
3 cups torn up lettuce
pinch sugar
salt and pepper to taste
2 T fresh mint, leaves only - roughly chopped
pat of butter
1 1/2 cups ricotta


Braise peas and lettuce in a small amount of water w/ sugar, salt and pepper until peas are just tender and liquid is almost gone.  Add in butter and mint, lower head and fold in ricotta until warmed through.  Serve immediately.


The rest of the week has been a busy one but here, in brief, are some of the things we made with our farm share.


A little of this and a little of that....

Sunday brunch was the last of the Wave Hill bread, grilled, topped with goat cheese and sauteed Asian Mix and served with a Stone Gardens Egg.

Monday's dinner was a clean out the fridge dinner.  I had leftover rice and leftover chicken from the Stone Gardens chicken.  I sauteed the summer squash with garlic scapes, sundried tomatoes, pine nuts, capers and rosemary and then stirred in the rice and the chicken.

Here it is before and after the chicken and rice were added.  Done and on the table in under 15 min.

Tuesday I did a fritatta with the last of the zucchini, garlic and some ham.  I love making these during the week because they're great to take for lunch the next day.  

I still have to get a handle on the collard greens, but I did make the ham hock stock for braising them tonight.  The plan is to make them tomorrow night and freeze them in batches for later.

Week 4

(Posted by Denise)

I love food blogs and I especially love Smitten Kitchen! It seems as though I want to make just about everything she posts. And yesterday was no exception.

So I give you the Zucchini Tart (galette).

This was the most delicious galette I have ever made and it went together so easily. My husband ate it right out of the oven for his dinner and I had it at room temperature when I got home from teaching my class. This is going to be a household staple for the summer to come. I'm just imagining this amazing dough surrounding all kinds of farmshare vegetables.

Zucchini Tart

Dough

1 1/4 cups Flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 stick butter, cold, cut into pieces)

1/4 cup sour cream

2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice

1/4 cup cold (ice) water

Filling

2 small zucchinis or 1 large

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 medium garlic clove

1/2 cup ricotta cheese

1/2 cup grated parmesan

1/4 shredded mozzarella cheese

Glaze - egg yolk and a teaspoon of water

For dough

Combine flour and salt in bowl of food processor. Add pieces of butter and pulse until dough resembles course meal (about 6 pulses). In a small bowl stir sour cream, lemon juice and water. Add to flour mixture and pulse until the dough just comes together.

Wrap dough in plastic and chill for 1 hour. (The dough will be very soft but will come together in the fridge and roll out beautifully.)

Slice zucchini in 1/4 in rounds and place on paper towel lined baking sheets. Sprinkle with salt and allow to drain for 1 hour. Pat the tops dry before using.

Combine ricotta, parmesan, and mozzarella in a small bowl. Add 1 teaspoon of the olive oil.

On a well floured board roll out the pastry to a circle roughly 12 inches in diameter (remember rustic is best so as close as you can get to a circle. Place onto a parchment lined baking sheet.

Spread ricotta filling on the crust to about 1 1/2" around the outer edge. Tile the zucchini rounds decoratively on top of filling. Sprinkle garlic and remaining olive oil over the top. Fold edges of the crust towards the middle.

Brush with egg wash glaze and bake in a 400 degree oven 30 to 40 minutes.

Week - 4

(Posted by Denise - finally!)

So this has been a really busy time of the year for me. School and baseball just ended and we are finally getting into the summer routine. The farm share has been going great. Even though has been a mountain of lettuce, we have been eating on the run a lot and the salads have been great. I'm finding that salad turnips are some of my favorite things and that I love radishes!!

The farm has also provided us with herb plants, which has been great. I am currently growing, chives, oregano, parsley and thyme. Their plants have been beautiful and are doing really well with my marginally green thumb.

I have also developed a love for garlic scapes. (I know that Ruth shares this devotion!) So here is what I have been doing with them...Garlic Scape Pesto. Trust me, this has so many amazing uses. We have had it over pasta, with goat cheese on bruschetta and I have stored away three containers for later in the season when the tomatoes are really great and for a day in January when anything green and springy seems so far away.

Garlic Scape Pesto (this is a double batch so you have some to freeze)

15 - 20 garlic scapes (rinsed and rough chopped)

1/2 - 3/4 cup of parmesan cheese

1/2 - 3/4 cup toasted slivered almonds

3/4 of a cup olive oil

black pepper

Toss the garlic scapes in the food processor and chop until they are fine. Add the cheese, almonds and half of the olive oil. Process until relatively smooth. Add the rest of the oil and process. If you would like the pesto thicker use less oil, and more oil if you would like it to be thinner. Add pepper to taste.

Note: When using the pesto over pasta, save some of the pasta water (1/2 cup) to thin out the pesto and make a sauce that coats the pasta. (I used penne.)

We also used all of the kale in the share for kale chips! It does a mother's heart good to watch their children two whole bunches of kale and not have one single "Yuck" come out of their mouths!

The goat cheese that was used with the garlic scape pesto bruschetta was from Beltane Farms. The cheese is wonderful and if you are at the Wooster street market you have to try it.

Week4

[Posted by Ruth]

O.K., to tell the truth, I'm not a fan of zucchini.  It must run in the family, my Aunt Ruth would only except zucchini of 2" diameter or less from gardening friends.  I think they thought she like the younger, more tender ones; in actuality she just wanted the ones she could put directly into the garbage disposal without having to cut them up!  So, I knew I was going to have to find a way to prepare it that didn't feel like punishment for me.

These zucchini cakes did the trick.  I actually liked them and would make them again.  The baby garlic from the farm share is delicious, by the way.  It was a treat to have really fresh garlic for a change.

Zucchini Pancakes makes about 6

1 good sized zucchini - grated
1 head baby garlic or 1-2 cloves regular garlic crushed
1  to 1 1/2 cups panko break crumbs
3/4 cup grated Parmesan or Asiago cheese
Salt and pepper to taste (don't skimp on the salt)
1/2 tsp of smoked Spanish paprika (you can use regular paprika if you don't have smoked but the smoked adds a nice dimension)
Freshly grated nutmeg - pinch
1 - 2 eggs
Olive or Canola oil for sauteing.

Put the grated zucchini in a clean dish towel, twist and squeeze as much of the water out as possible.  You should have about 2 densely packed cups of grated zucchini after squeezing.
Mix in the smaller amount of panko first, along with the cheese and spices. Add more panko, if necessary, if it looks like there's too much zucchini to hold together.  Taste mixture at this point and adjust seasoning as needed.

Mix in 1 egg at first and check to see if mixture is moist enough to hold together.  If not, add the second egg.

 Form into patties.  Heat oil in pan over medium heat and fry a few minutes on each side.  Turn them gently, so they don't break apart.