This week your basket contains: snap peas, spinach, zucchini and/or cucumber, baby beets, SCARLET QUEEN TURNIPS, Asian broccoli or broccoli, spring onions, new potatoes, and lettuce

The hot weather has not been very kind to some of our crops.  We have less spinach than anticipated because much of it bolted (i.e. started making flower heads) or turned yellow.  It would be best to mix the spinach with the beet and turnip greens in a dish such as this one:

ADOBO GREENS

2 lbs. fresh greens

3 cloves garlic, minced

1/3-c. oil

1 Tbsp. lemon or lime juice

3 Tbsp. soy sauce

1/2 tsp. salt

pepper

Chop greens roughly. Cut small stems into bite-sized pieces; discard large ones. Heat oil in large skillet, add garlic, and sauté until it turns golden. Add greens, sauté briefly, then add lemon juice, soy sauce, and salt. Cover and bring to a boil. Remove from heat, add pepper, and serve immediately.  From the Winter Harvest Cookbook by Lane Morgan

While peas don’t usually fare well in the heat, ours have started producing well (we’ll see how they do as the temps get closer to 100) and this recipe is always a good one.  While this calls for beans (also very tasty) we make it with snap peas and snow peas as well.

GARLIC BEANS WITH FILBERTS

1/2 lb. beans, cut to 1-2 inch pieces

2-3 small carrots, chopped

1 small onion, chopped

2-3 cloves garlic

1/2 cup chopped filberts

1 Tbs. olive oil

1 Tbs. butter

salt to taste

Heat olive oil and butter in a heavy frying pan.  Sauté onions and garlic until the onions are translucent.  Add carrots, chopped nuts (almonds or walnuts can be substituted for filberts) and salt.  I tend not to use much salt when I cook, but this is one recipe where I use more than usual.  The effect you are shooting for is for the nuts to take on a salted, roasted taste.  Cook for 3-5 minutes.  Add the beans and cook stirring until they take on a dark green color.  This recipe is also great with snow peas instead of green beans.

Scarlet Queen turnips are a variety that we like to plant for this time of year.  We’ve observed that red vegetables seem to be more pest resistant in general (red lettuces seem to get attacked less by slugs than green varieties planted right next to them for example).  In the case of turnips, the white variety we grow earlier in the year can be riddled by cabbage fly larva while the Scarlet Queens will be fine.  They are tasty to boot, so we see it as a win-win situation.  This is a simple recipe for the turnips.

PEPPERY TURNIP TREAT

2 tsp butter or margarine

2 tbsp honey

1 lb turnips, peeled, finely diced (1/4″)

1/4 to 1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper

1 tbsp minced fresh parsley (optional)