This week your basket contains: leeks, purple sprouting broccoli, garlic, GREEN GARLIC, Swiss chard , bok choy, MINT, and salad mix (lettuce, Asian greens and arugula)

Thank you to everyone who has returned their renewal forms and surveys.  If you have not done so, please do so as soon as possible. We are getting good ideas from surveys, which we will tabulate and communicate as they come in. One thing we have already done in response to a suggestion is to post a projected harvest list for the week on our website. Look for that on Sunday to make your meal planning easier. WE STILL HAVE SPACES AVAILABLE FOR NEXT YEAR’S VEGGIE SUBSCRIPTION.  If you have friends, family, or neighbors who might like our service, please direct them to our web site.  If they sign up, we’ll reward you with a FREE MONTH OF FLOWER BOUQUETS.

RHUBARB is ready!  We will put together a bunch (approx. 1 Lb.) for just $3.  Just email us to order.  Again this year, we will be offering garden starts in May.  Look for the order form in the coming weeks.

Another question we got on a survey is what does it mean when a vegetable is listed in capital letters on the weekly basket list (like GREEN GARLIC)? It means that it is the first time for seeing this veggie in the basket this season. The green garlic is on the top of your basket to differentiate it from the leeks. If you look (and smell) closely, they are easy to tell apart. Green garlic (an immature elephant garlic) has more of a bulb at the base and the leaves are more widely spaced on the green stem. It smells and tastes like mild garlic too. The resemblance is real, though, as elephant garlic is simply a clove-producing leek. This recipe works with chard in place of spinach and with leeks and green garlic used together.

SPINACH, GREEN GARLIC AND MUSHROOM PIE

¾ Lb spinach and/or other greens

1 cup sliced green garlic

2 Tbs olive oil

2 eggs

1 Lb ricotta cheese

½ cup grated Parmesan cheese

2 cups chopped onion

½ Lb oyster (or other) mushrooms

2 Tbs vermouth

1-2 tsp lemon juice

salt and pepper to taste

Prepare a dough as you would for pizza crust.  Chop the spinach coarsely.  In a heavy pan, sauté the garlic in 1 Tbs of olive oil until limp.  Add the spinach with some salt and pepper and cook until the spinach is wilted and the water it releases is boiled off.  Remove from heat and toss with the lemon juice.  Beat one egg into the ricotta along with the parmesan cheese and mix with the cooked spinach mixture. In another pan, sauté the onion in the remaining olive oil until it begins to brown.  Add mushroom and continue cooking until they begin to brown.  Add salt, pepper and vermouth and stir until the vermouth evaporates. Lightly oil a cookie sheet and sprinkle with cornmeal.  Roll out the dough to about 15×20 inches and place on cookie sheet.  Spread the Ricotta and spinach mixture onto the dough leaving approx. 3 inches around the edges and cover the cooked mushrooms over the spinach.  Pull the edges of the dough over the filling and fold together.  Beat the remaining egg with a spoonful of oil and brush onto the dough.  Bake in a 400 degree oven for about 35 minutes.  When it is fully cooked, allow it to cool for a few minutes before slicing into wedges for serving.

For the first time, some of the lettuce in your salad mix comes from plants started in February. This is a season of transition from overwintering plants to new. The cold and wet weather of the past six weeks has slowed down the new crops by a couple of weeks, making this April more challenging. We’re excited to have some warm weather to speed things up! We’ll be watering and opening hoop houses to keep everything happy.

The bok choy and chard could be used together in the following recipe. In fact, the sauce would also be delicious on purple sprouting broccoli.

SAUTÉED BOK CHOY WITH CASHEW SAUCE

1/2 cup cashews, roasted
1/4 cup white vinegar
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup soy sauce
1 Tbsp. ginger, minced
7 dashes Tabasco sauce
2 Tbsp. basil, finely chopped
2 Tbsp. mint, finely chopped
1 1/2 lb. bok choy, washed and dried

1/3 cup peanut oil
Puree the cashews, vinegar, water, sugar, soy sauce, ginger, Tabasco, basil and mint in a blender. Separate bok choy leaves from stalks, and cut stalks into 1-inch long pieces. Sauté bok choy in a large pan over high heat (oil should not be smoking). Stir briskly for 1 – 2 minutes until it is bright green and well seared. Remove from heat and drape with cashew sauce. Serve immediately.   Serves 4

James harvesting the new lettuce!