Week 4 (6/19 & 22)
Your basket contains a physical promise that summer really will arrive; summer squash or cucumbers! Granted, these came from our hoop houses, but they just advance the seasons by a couple of weeks. Our outdoor plantings of both crops look good, they just aren’t ready to produce. In the meantime, I for one intend to savor this early harvest. Bok choi is particularly good when prepared simply. This is an excellent recipe.
GUANGDONG-STYLE BOK CHOY
1/4 pound shiitake, enoki, or straw mushrooms)
1/2 pound bok choy
5 tsp. oyster or soy sauce
3 tsp. oil
Heat oil and stir-fry mushrooms in a wok for about 2 minutes. Add bok choy and stir fry until limp, about 1-2 minutes. Add oyster sauce (or soy sauce) and simmer for an additional 2-3 minutes. Serve with rice as a typical Chinese meal or substitute quinoa or amaranth, both grains with superior protein profiles. From the Virtualkitchen web site.
For those of you who haven’t tried kohlrabi before, you are in for a treat. This relative of broccoli has a bulb that is like the most tender and sweet broccoli stem you’ve ever tasted (you usually peel the bulb before cooking it). This is, in our opinion, the quintessential kohlrabi recipe.
KOHLRABI AND CHICKEN STEW
3-4 lb. Chicken
2 lb. kohlrabi/broccoli stems
3/4 lb. Carrots
4 Tb butter
4 cups sliced onions
1 cup peeled, chopped tomatoes
2 tsp salt
1 tsp black pepper
pinch saffron threads
1/4 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp ground coriander
1 quart chicken broth or water
4 sprigs parsley
1/2 small cabbage
Cut chicken into serving pieces. Peel kohlrabis and/or broccoli stems; cut larger ones into 1-inch chunks. Cut cabbage into 1/4-inch strips. Peel carrots and slice diagonally into 1/2-inch thick pieces. In a large saucepan, heat the butter and sauté the onions, tomatoes, salt and spices for 4-5 minutes. Add the chicken and cook for 5 minutes. Add the broth or water and parsley. Bring the broth to a boil, reduce heat, cover and simmer for 20 minutes. Add the kohlrabis and carrots, cover, and simmer for 10 minutes. Finally, add the cabbage and simmer, uncovered, 10 minutes longer or until all the vegetables are completely tender. Adapted from The Victory Garden Cookbook by Marian Morash.
All the greens in your basket today (including the kohlrabi leaves; just remove the rib) can be used alone or together. This is a great way to use them.
MIXED GREENS ENCHILADAS
2 Tbs. veg. oil
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 onion, chopped
4 cups coarsely chopped greens
1 Tbs. butter
1 Tbs. flour
½ cup milk
½ cup grated cheddar cheese
6 corn tortillas
½ cup salsa
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Heat oil, sauté onion & garlic until golden. Add greens in small amounts until cooked down. In another pan, melt butter, stir in flour, add milk slowly and then cheese. Stir until thick then mix into cooked greens. Fill the tortillas, roll and place in a lightly oiled baking dish. Spread salsa over and bake for 25 minutes, until edges of tortillas are crisp. Adapted from The Cook’s Garden catalog.
PLEASE COME TO THE FARM THIS SUNDAY, JUNE 24TH. This is the day we have set aside for our first subscriber day pot luck lunch. This is a day for you to come see the farm, tour the gardens, meet other subscribers and share a meal with us all. Things will kick off at 11:00 and go until 3:00. Visit our web site for directions.
If you have paper grocery bags with handles, we need them. Polly uses them at the Beaverton Farmers Market. Just leave them with your empty basket, and we’ll re-use them.