Monday, June 22, 2009

This week's veggies

Salad salad salad - we hope to keep the lettuce coming most of the Season. I hope you all like salad!
These early carrots are called Mokum - about 10 days sooner than most, so smaller, but I think sweeter. Everyone gets 1# today, and there should be more in a few weeks.

Kale - we finally have a good growth of kale and chard - these crops like the heat even though they grow in cooler weather, too.

Some shares get broccoli this week. These are the first early pickings of a sprouting type. There should be much more to come through the season. The early cauliflower has not done well -

Chinese cabbage heads are small, but tender. Make an oriental salad or add to regular salad or saute.

Garlic scapes are in everyones' shares this week. They are the seed heads of garlic and need to be clipped off in order to get larger bulbs. They can be chopped and added to anything like regular cloves of garlic. Here's what one food geek has to say about them:

The farmers’ markets and the CSA shares in this area are brimming with garlic scapes. Judging by the comments I heard at the market this morning, not everyone knows what they are or what to do with them. Tonight for dinner I’ll annoint them with some olive oil and grill them just like I do asparagus. They can be chopped thick or thin and added to salads and stir-fries.
My favorite thing to do with them is to make garlic scape pesto. It is super easy to make and refrigerates well for several weeks in a well sealed jar. I also plan on popping some into the freezer to top off my winter soups. I use this pesto on brushetta, pasta, eggs, foccacia, and just about anything I grill like shrimp, salmon, chicken. It’s also fabulous added to mayonnaise and smeared on a big roast beef sandwich.
Now I’m hungry!!!
Garlic scape pesto
1 pound garlic scapes
1 cup grated parmesan cheese
Olive oil (about 1/2 to 1 cup)
Pine nuts if available
Chop the garlic scapes into 3 inch lengths. Put it int he food processor and process until pureed. Add the parmesan and pine nuts and process until smooth. Slowly add the olive oil as the food processor runs and continue until all the oil is combined into the garlic. Store in an air-tight jar in the refrigerator.

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