Bountiful Week Seven from the Taft/Tamarack CSA
*Magic Garlic!!! Yes, this garlic is magic. It makes dreams come true, and has for the past 5 years. The pulling of the garlic bulbs is one of the most aromatic, amazing tasks on the farm…it’s worth putting a few cloves in the ground for yourselves, so you can experience this sensual pleasure, too! Casey sells Magic Garlic Coloring Books for $4 each; if you’d like a copy of the enchanting story of how the farm got started as well as why the garlic is magic, please request a copy from her!
*Volunteer Lettuce Head from Casey’s yard…I don’t know what variety these giant green leaf lettuces are, but they’re not too bad, eh? You can use them for sandwiches, or just add them to your salad mix
*Salad Mix A handful of pirat and forellenschluss lettuces and nasturtium leaves/flowers
*Red Rib Dandelion we got mixed reviews from the last round of red rib from y’all, but it’s ready to harvest again, so hopefully you’re ready for it again. You can put it in your salad mix, or eat it raw for a liver cleanser…you could dry it and use it in teas, too!
*Kale Bouquet! A mix of red Russian, redbor, and dino/lacinato…the trio makes a great slaw, especially when combined with cabbage. I’ve been cooking soba noodles and combining my finely chopped leaves with them and an asian dressing, then topping with toasted sesame seeds and almonds—it’s DAMN good!!!!!
*Rainbow Chard It’s a rainbow of fun—in your mouth! Hee-hee…try it in pasta dishes or in enchiladas…mmm…
*Basil! Genovese and Thai basil in your li’l handful this week…consider making a pesto pizza with the pesto, your summer squash, garlic, and any other fixins you’ve got around the house…we made one last night with Beth Rasgorshek’s whole wheat flour (available at the Saturday market downtown), pesto with pecans, zucchini, summer apples from our backyard, sun-dried tomatoes from last year’s harvest, and feta and raw cheddar cheeses…pretty swanky, and pretty tasty!
*Mint This is without a doubt the best mint we’ve ever eaten, and I’m not just saying that because we grow it! It really is! You can use it in teas, juleps, or other drinks (check out the mojito recipe below), or even in salads and the like. My friend Sarah put some in a quinoa salad, along with parsley, cherry tomatoes, and zucchini, and it was pretty danged tasty! If you don’t want to use it right away, tie it in a bunch and hang it upside down in a shady place (like your kitchen) to dry it. You can then store the dried leaves in a jar, and pull it out whenever you want a tasty treat! It makes great tea fresh or dried
*SUMMER SQUASH!!!!! Yellow crookneck and/or zucchini—FIRST of the SEASON!!! YIPPEE!!! SUMMER IS OFFICIALLY HERE!!!!!!! Don’t worry if you didn’t get a zucchini this week—you’ll have PLENTY of opportunity to get your fill of squash. You can eat the summer squashes raw or cooked…share your favorite squash recipes with us, and we’ll share ours with you as the season goes along. You can always just sauté them and eat plain or in pasta, egg scramblers, lasagnas, tacos, or whatever. I like to chop mine small and put it in salad.
*CARROTS!!!! Yippee!!!!!! We hope you’re as happy about these as we are! Enjoy!!!! (some of them look weird, but they taste GREAT!
*TATERS!!! Pontiac Reds, the first (tiny) harvest from the land on Taft Street! It’s coming along so beautifully there, and the bounty will only get better and better as it heats up…
and a couple of recipes:
Cuban Mojito recipe
the original authentic recipe from Havana Cuba
1 teaspoon powdered sugar (or simple syrup—sugar and water mixed 1:1 (casey’s note))
Juice from 1 lime (2 ounces)
4 mint leaves
1 sprig of mint
white Rum (2 ounces)
2 ounces club soda
Place the mint leaves into a long mojito glass (often called a “collins” glass) and squeeze the juice from a cut lime over it. You’ll want about two ounces of lime juice, so it may not require all of the juice from a single lime. Add the sugar, then gently smash the mint into the lime juice and sugar with a muddler (a long wooden device, or you can also use the back of a fork or spoon if one isn’t available). Add ice (preferably crushed) then add the rum and stir, and top off with the club soda (you can also stir the club soda in as per your taste). Garnish with a mint sprig.
I stole that recipe off the internet (you probably guessed, since my own recipes are never that precise…). I got it from www.tasteofcuba.com
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To be sane in a mad time is bad for the brain, worse for the heart.”–wendell berry
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Tater, Squash, & Egg Scrambler
This recipe uses most of what’s in your share this week, aside from your salad fixins…it’s a lovely, hearty meal for breakfast, lunch, or dinner.
1. Chop your taters into small chunks and cook on the stovetop in olive oil and a little bit of water and salt, covering with a lid to steam the potatoes a bit and shorten the cooking time on them. The smaller you cut the potatoes, the faster they’ll cook.
2. Once they’re cooked until tender, remove the lid, add some chopped garlic and squash, and fry the whole shebang on medium or medium-high until the taters and squash are crisp on some of their edges. Make sure to add salt to taste during this stage.
3. Now that they’re all cooked, push the veggies to one side of the pan and crack in some eggs into the open space (you can scramble them in a bowl with salt and pepper beforehand, if you like). Season with salt and pepper and let them cook before mixing them with the rest of the veggies.
4. Add chopped greens once the eggs have cooked through, and mix the veggies, eggs, and greens together in the pan, cooking until the greens are softened to taste.
5. You can also add in fresh herbs at this time. Basil, oregano, or French Tarragon are my favorites in this dish. Be sure to sample here for salt and pepper, too.
